of 24. sides which are only consider'd in Venus and Mercury with the Sun These Radiations or Aspects were diversly taken by Astrologers before Regiomontanus for some accâ—unteâ— the place of the Aspects in the Aequator others otherwise as Regiomontanus himself observes Tab. Dir. Probl. 31. Now as touching their Aequation there hath been and yet is some difference depending amongst Astrologers For a sort of Pretenders very strangers to Mathematical Demonstrations do wilfully neglect the latitude of the Planets in Direction And all their Reason is because as they think Ptolemy 3. Quadripart does the like which smells too rank of Ignorance for if they rightly understood Ptolemy they might plainly perceive his Examples there do suppose the Promissors and Significators within the Ecliptique and therefore no Latitude to be consider'd whereas Doubtless if he had directed any of the Planets having Latitude he would have regarded their Latitude very necessary to be known as himself acknowledges Cap. de Applicationibus De bis qui non nutriuntur in Figurâ aequicruria and elsewhere But these men are laught at The truth is Ptolemy made question only whether or no it ought to be observed in the Sextil and Trine Aspect And if he had exploded it which is not to be credited in so great and famous an Artist 't was possible Ptolemy being but a Man might therein have err'd as well as in other things However such as say they follow him do utterly reject it affirming that these Radiations are not to be consider'd as they proceed from one Point of the Heavens to another but according as they concur in the Center of the Earth where they do Angulum Constituere which say they is always the same whatsoever Point or place they proceed from with Latitude or without Another sort there are and they otherwise very Learned who will have them Aequated boâ—h in respect of Longitude and Latitude in which Number is Leovitius and Johannes Blanchinus the latter of which prying as he thought deeper into the matter and making great account of a little space of time Neglected by Ptolemy in taking these Aspects assumes their Aequation for a great Circle passing by the Center of a Star having Latitude and enclin'd beyond the Aequator Proving that the Quartile Aspect ever falls within the Ecliptique and is to be accounted without Latitude that the Opposition always retains the same Latitude which the Body of the Star doth though of Contrary Denomination the â–³ and âš¹ half the Latitude the âš¹ of the same the â–³ of a contrary Denomination and shews that these Radiations cannot possibly make an Angle in the Center of the Earth unless they first truly behold one another in the Heavens whose configuration admits of variation in respect of Latitude And to this Opinion Argol freely subscribes rejecting the Aequations of Regiomontanus and all others as void of Demonstration averring this most agreeable to observation having had as he saith experience thereof in more than a 1000 Genitures But Oranigus as great an Astrologer and Mathematician as any of the other although he denies not but that the Square and Opposite Aspects do always retain the same Point of the Zodiack wherein they are made and require no alteration thereof so that the Latitude is not to be Changed in the Quartiles because they always terminate in the Ecliptique howsoever it be in the Oppositions that they terminating on the Contrary part the Latitude admits of contrary Denomination which the Diametrical Line passing by the Center and cutting the Plane of the Ecliptique demonstrates yet neglecting any Aequation of the Latitude which indeed never ought to be regarded in the Aspects as sufficiently appears by the Doctrine of Triangles and the Dimension of the sides of these Aspects in the Globe he Aequates them only in respect of Longitude which in my Opinion is a way the most exact and Rational of all others and approved of by the most and best of Modern Mathematicians provided we consider them as they do in respect of the Ecliptique not of the Aequator Howbeit it will merit the Pains if in Directions we observe both viz. that of Blanchinus and this of Origanus and by comparing severally the just time of every Accident we shall quickly Discover which of the two may best Challenge our Observance But because the Latter is most regarded and considering how requisite it is to be known of all that Practise the Genethliacal part of Astrology I shall here give you the Grounds and manner of this Equation by the Diagram and directions following The Diagram Wherein let the Point A. represent the Star Arcturus mention'd in the 9 th of Job whose Latitude from the Ecliptique is 31 Degr. 2 Min. North from which Point as from its Pole or Center the Circle B. C. D. is described by the Interval of the Hexagon or Sextile Aspect viz. A. D. 60 degrees And let B. E. D. represent the Ecliptique and A. E. the Latitude of the Star Nâ—â— to determin how much is to be counted in the Ecliptique for the Sextile Aspect of the Star proposed In the Sphaerical Orthogon A. E. D. we have given A. D. 60 degrees A. E. 31 degrees 2 Minutes the Latitude of the Star Ergò E. D. shall be 54 degrees 18 Min. by the following 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the Sine Compl. Lat. Star 58° 58′ 9932914. To the Radius 10000000. So the Sine Compl. Basis A.D. 30. 0. 9698970. To the Sine Compl. E. D. 54. 18. 9766056 The Sextile Aspect Lat. 31° 2′ Next to get the Longitude of the Trine Aspect Substract the Arch of the âš¹ 54° 18′ from the Semi-Circle and the remainder counted from the Place of the Stars Longitude limits the â–³ thereof For look how much the âš¹ Aspect wants of 60 degrees in the Ecliptique by reason of the Stars Latitude and just so much the â–³ exceeds 120 degrees Example The Sextile Aspect of the Star Arcturus is here found to be 54° 18′ which is 5° 42′ short of 60 degrees Now if either 54° 18′ be deduced from 180. or 5° 42′ added to 120 degrees the remainder or Aggregate 125° 42′ is the Trigonal Arch of Arcturus and that added to the place of the Star gives the â–³ sinister thereof 25° 4′ of â™’ So likewise if you add the Hexagon Arch 54° 18′ to the Longitude of the Star ♎ 19° 22′ it gives you the place of the Sextile sinister of Arcturus â™ 13° 40′ whose Point opposite ♊ 13° 40′ is the Trine Dexter of the same Star But if you deduct the said Hexagon Arch 54° 18′ from the Longitude of the of the Star the residue points out the âš¹ Dexter thereof ♌ 25° 4′ In like manner if you would know the Semi-Sextile Aspect of a Planet whose Lat. is 7 degrees Substract the Sine of the Compl. of the Latitude from the Sine of the Complement of the given Aspect and the Sine of the Complement of the Remainder is the Arch of
Primary Foundations of the whole body of Astronomy are Confirm'd Evinc'd and Demonstrated For seeing that the Sun is Eclipsed only in his Conjunction with the Moon and the Moon in her Opposition to the Sun we conclude the cause of the Sun's Eclipse to be the Interposition of the Moon betwixt him and the Earth and the cause of the Moons Eclipse the Interposition of the Earth betwixt her Body and the Sun 's Thus the Solar Eclipses do manifest the Moon to be Lower and less than the Sun The Lunar Evince the Earth not founded infinitly below us as Xenophon Colophonius trifled But that the Heavens under us are distant from the Earth as far upwards in respect of those that be our Antipodes as here they are and consequently that the Earth is not Cubical nor Pyramidal Scaphoidal or otherwise Hollow Nor Tympanoidal nor Cylindroidal but on every side perfectly Round or terminated by a Globosous Figure Because that not only the Shadow of the Earth in the Moon 's Body is always and on every part observed to be round but also for that such as live Eastward do number more hours from their Meridian for the beginning or ending of an Eclepse than such as live Westward proportionally to their distance By Eclipses also of the Moon we know that the Earth is moved or Placed in the middle of the Zodiaque because that she is Eclipsed only in the Opposite Places thereof The Oriental or Occidental Eclipses of the Moon tell us one half of the World is always visible and that daily one half of the Zodiaque Rises above the Horison The Lunar Eclipses best discover to us the Longitudes of Places upon the Earth and assure us the Earth and Water make but one Globe That the Mountains of the Earth are not to be compared to the bigness thereof the equal roundness of the Shadow tells us Wherein we observe no Hiulcity or Cleft by reason of the Vallies nor yet any part thereof extended more than the rest because of the Mountains And although the true and certain place of the Moon cannot be takâ—n by any Instrument whatsoever because of her Parallaxes Nature or rather the God of Nature hath supplyed this defect by her Eclipses For the Moon posited in Mediis Tenebris is then understood to be in Opposition to the Sun By these defects therefore the Motions and Mutations of the Moon are found out and rationally Demonstrated Lunar Eclipses Demonstrate the Shadow of the Earth to be Conical Terminating in a Sharp Point And in the same places of the Moons Transits to be sometimes thicker otherwhiles more slender notwithstanding a certain Rule and Respect had to the Sun's Motion And consequently that the Sun is moved or so seems to be in an Eccentrical Orb. Hence likewise we gather That the Sun is far greater than the Earth and the Moon lesser so the Solar Eclipses demonstrate the Distances of the Luminaries from the Earth to be different and therefore to be moved in Eccentriques or Epicycles Hereby also is found out a Rule for measuring the Distances of the Sun and Moon from the Earth and the Magnitudes of their several Bodies And lastly by Eclipses of the Luminaries The God of Nature forewarns this sinful world of the Revolutions of Kingdoms and States the Death and Detriment of Princes Governours and Great men of Heresies Sects and Seditions in the Church Alterations of Laws and Customs of Drought and Inundations of Rivers Wars Famine Plague and Pestilence In a word the vicissitude of all sublunary things Levate in Excelsum Oculos Vestros videte quis creaverit ista Something farther touching the Doctrine of Eclipses Chiefly from Morinus NOw as touching the Effects of Eclipses it hath been an Antiently receiv'd Opinion That whatsoever the Sun and Moon and the rest of the Planets and Stars bring to pass upon these Inferior Bodiâ—s is done by vertue of their Light which if granted it must necessarily follow that the action of the Luminary deficient being diminished in Partil or wholly intermitted in Total Eclipses these Sublunaries should meet with and suffer great Alterations because the Sun and Moon are the Primary Coelestial Causes of all Sublunary Effects But Johannes Baptista Morinus Astrolog Gallic Lib. 11. tells us That Light doth only Illuminate and nothing else And Lib. 12. That besides Light there is an actual Heat in the Sun and in all the Stars proper and peculiar Influences which penetrate the body of the Earth and do not less affect and dispose it from the places beneath than such as are above it And therefore Eclipses of the Luminaries are not to be considered only as to a privation of their Light in these Sublunaries but as those Eclipses are never but in their Conjunctions or Oppositions whereby they emit their Influence more powerfully than in any other Aspect whatsoever Wherefore both Astronomers and Astrologers observe the same moment of time in which the middle of an Eclipse happens The first whereby to rectifie the Tables of their Motions the Later to the end that by a Coelestial Figure erected to that moment of time they may see what Effects an Eclipse may produce in these Inferiours not in respect of the Light deficient which saith he the Learned Astrologers regard not but of their Influence Which being permitted he further saith That in superterranean Eclipses of the Sun we are depriv'd of his Light and Heat Totally if the Eclipse be Total and in part if but Partil and that so long as the Eclipse lasts But we are not depriv'd of the Sun's Influence or at least no longer than while the Sun is under the Earth which every night causeth a Total Solar Eclipse for many hours together For as the Influence of the Sun whilst under the Earth penetrates the same as is evident from the Figures of those are born by night so the Influence of the Sun above the Earth penetrates the Dense and Opacous Body of the Moon Eclipsing him which neither the Sun's Light or Heat could penetrate she being as black as Ink it self whilst under the Sun 's Discus as by an Optique Tube may easily be observed But Subterranean Solar Eclipses at leastwise such as be Total do more affect the upper Hemisphere of the Earth then the Superterranean and the Reason is because the Influence of the Sun is not of infinite vertue and therefore if it should penetrate the Earth's Gâ—obe it could be but faintly through both the Globes of the Earth and Moon In those Eclipses therefore at least such as are Total we suffer by reason of the Imminute Influence of the Sun toward us which he thought might be the cause why for 30 years together so much War and all manner of mischiefs raged in this Hemisphere of the Earth which Europe divideth For as much as all that while very many Total and nigh Total Eclipses of the Sun happen'd in the Lower Hemisphere as may be seen in Origanus who very carefully
the Office of the First Moveable That the same part of the Earth by the motion of the whole body thereof continually cometh into the Aspect of New parts of the Stellified Heaven whereby that part of the Earth shall be forthwith changed de novo unless we deny it all power of Operating thereupon Whether therefore there be no other Heavens above that of the Fixed Stars unknown I confess to the Aegyptians Chaldaeans Plato Aristotle Hyparchus and even to Ptolomy himself Or whether More according to the Alphonsins yet this is most certain and not contradicted by any That in Mundane Bodies as the Earth Water Air Fire and Heavens there is some First and Supream than which there cannot be any higher otherwise should they be infinite in Operation And also that these very Bodies are the universal Causes of Physical Mutations and subordinate one to another in Operation Therefore in that Subordination there must likewise be one first and supream Physical cause which acteth by it self and borroweth not of any former the power of Operation And from that the Middle and from these the Lowest do receive their vertue of Action Otherwise this Subordination of Causes should it self be quite overthrown For why should the Middle be said to be Subordinate to the Supream and the Lowest to the Middle in their Operation if that which is lower received no influx or vertue from that which is Superiour unto it And can the Lowest without the Influence of the Middle or these without the Influence of the Highest of themselves produce any Effect The First Cause therefore of all things can be no other than the Supream Heaven which if according to the Doctrine of the Ancients it move it moveth also the Bodies that be thereunto inferiour yet is not it self moved by any other Body superiour unto it And if according to Kepler it be immoveable and indued with Stars it hath influence at least upon the Bodies that be subordinate to it but receiveth not influence from any other Therefore either way the First Heaven shall be the First Cause or the first Physical beginning of Physical Effects and Changes For 't is but expedient that the First beginning in every kind should be the most perfect Therefore shall the First Heaven be in the Lineage of Efficient Causes which are of the most universal and powerful Active vertue which is the greatest perfection of an Efficient Cause so that there is no Inferiour Corporeal Cause which it moveth not or into which it instilleth not a vertue or power of Operation and nothing anew generated in the whole World which this vertue of it self toucheth not Which being granted how can any Man doubt but that every thing which is generated and born de novo should be referred to that First Cause thereof For it must be referred either to some part of that Heaven or to that whole Heaven But it ought to be referred to the whole Heaven For the First heaven is not the First and most Universal Cause secundum aliquam sui partem according to some part of it but secundum se totum according to the entire Body thereof Therefore every Sublunary Effect so far as it may be considered secundum se totum to wit in its Beginning Vigour Declination and Destruction must be referred to the whole heaven yet not confusedly but distinctly and orderly as the most orderly motion of Heaven it self requireth For as the whole Effect and whatsoever doth happen from Heaven during the same correspond to the whole Heaven and yet the Beginning is not the End thereof so what was in Heaven of it self the Cause of its Beginning this same thing shall not of it self be the Cause of the End thereof for so no Effect should continue nor indeed any be produced But as the Beginning Vigour Declination and End of things do differ and succeed one another So the Coelestial Causes of these likewise differ amongst themselves and must succeed one another But in Heaven Difference and Succession are not unless in respect of the parts thereof Therefore in Heaven are certain parts that be the Causes of the beginning of things or which do govern the same Others succedent to those which rule the Vigour others that rule their Declination and lastly such as govern the End or Destruction of things What part of Heaven then Nature her self guiding and teaching us shall we call the First Cause of the Natural Beginning of every thing Surely that which in the very Beginning of the thing ariseth above the Horizon thereof and arising causeth the thing it self also to arise For certain it is that of all the places of Heaven the East is more powerful than the rest as is testified by all Astrologers concerning the Rising Culminating and Setting of the Stars and as Experience it self convinceth in the Change of Air. But a Cause is said to be onely more Powerful in respect of a stronger and more difficult Effect Therefore the stronger and more difficult Effect of things must be attributed to the Ascendant Part of Heaven which none will deny to be the Rise or Production of those things But successively that Part of Heaven which is more elevated above the Horizon and possesseth the Mid-heauen in the Rise or Beginning of the thing shall have the Government of the vigour and Operative vertue thereof That which setteth at the same time the Declination of it from its perfect estate And lastly That which obtains the Bottom of Heaven shall be taken for the Cause of its Corruption And this is the simple and of all others the first Division of Heaven whereby it is truly and rationally fitted for the Begetting Increase and Alteration of all Physical things from their own Nature and at length corrupting them And which onely the Ancient Astrologers frequently used in their General and Particular constitutions of Heaven as appears by Holy in the Figure of the Comet which happened in his time For that either a more scrupulous Division of Heaven was harder in those days for want of Astronomical Tables Or because this Division might generically contain whatsoever another could more specially But when once some Astrologer had observed that Heaven was both made and moved rather for the sake of Man than any other Animate or Inanimate Creatures and how many things agreed to Man himself in respect of his more Divine Nature which did not in any wise to more ignoble Creatures He supposed that for Man's own sake also the whole Circle of Heaven was rationally Divided into Twelve parts by great Circles drawn through the intersections of the Horizon and Meridian and cutting the Aequator in so many equal parts which he called Houses the first whereof he placed in the East and delivered to Posterity That it governed the Life of Man and from thence might be had and drawn a conjectural knowledge and judgement concerning Life That the 2. which followâ—th the first according to the Motion of the Planets
and Stupid are the Masters this Age hath produced But let us Instance a few Examples and first of the Coelestial Bodies You know that the Image of the Serpent hath the Nature of a Serpent that is it causeth death by Poyson so oft as the Lord of the Geniture or the Moon is therewith unhappily Posited at the Birth The like of the Scorpion For even the same Images drive away and kill Serpents and Scorpions Spiders and Flyes they expel Poyson and the Plague being deduced from Heaven upon the Terrestrial Chaos at an observed time Leo makes Men Bold Virgo Docile Taurus Robust Aquila procures Honours Lyra instills the love of Musick and the Study of Poesie Sagittary addicteth to Hunting and much more of that Nature marked with their proper Signatures Next let us contemplate the Animals of the Earth how every one beareth its own Nature and how we know the same in most of them by their Effigies viz. by their Countenance Voyce Gesture Habit often by their Colour The Horse by his Gesture bewrays his Pride The Ass his Slowness The Lyon by the Face and Gesture his Courage The Bear his Fierceness The Cock his Chearfulness The like are every where obvious in other Creatures unto any but such as regard the knowledge of nothing Now by observing the outward Forms of Beasts ariseth Physiognomy in Man For look what Beasts a Man resembles most either in Face or Proportion he is truly said to possess the Disposition and Nature thereof If now we descend to Plants and Roots we shall there enter a Theatre of Signatures worthy our Contemplation For Example Solatrum vesicatorium barbarously termed Alkakenge shuts up its Husks so soon as the Vessels thereof are filled with Juice and replenished with little Stony-Grains as if intimating unto us by a Tacite Language That therein resides a vertue of Purging the Bladder and of Diminishing the Gravel and Stone therein Chelidonia not only Blushes with a certain Bloody Moisture and therewith stains the Hands of him that Touches it but in the Root it also shews a Cavity much like the Ventricles in the Heart of Man whereby is intimated that its vertue is to Purge the Blood to quicken the Vital Spirit and to free the Heart from the Injuries of Poyson Cynosbatus as also Mespylus fill the Belly with little Stones that break in pieces the Stone in the Bladder Carduus offends the Fingers of those that touch it by prickles yet such is the secret vertue thereof that it consumes and Expels all pricklings and stingings in the Body of Man The Numulariae resembles in the Leaves thâ—reof the Epiglossis and heals the Inflammation of the Throat Nux Juglans and Moscara râ—present in the Faces thereof the Composure of the Brain and Head and are therefore comfortable to both Orchis in the Root thereof resembles the Testicles and therefore is Venus excited by it The Hypericon and Persicaria are notoriously known to Operate according to their proper Signatures Many Hundreds more might be instanc'd of Flowers Seeds Leaves and Roots The Signatures are most apparent in such Herbs as are least endued with Odour Those that are Sweeter Evidence their Vertues unto us notwithstanding we were Blind by their Smell So also in the Leaves of Trees in Rinds and Barks in Wood and Roots we find such Signaturâ—s as do manifest the hidden Vertues thereof and thereby learn to apply them to Humane use or the Healing of Diseases The like we see in Stones and Metals If this then be so clear in the Stars and Signs of Heaven if so in Animals Plants Roots Stones and Metals Who but a Mad-man or Fool dare say That the like Signs in the Hand of Man are Idle and Vain Man is he for whom all things were made and wherein all things of the Greater World are comprehended although with a Face more Occult. Man only Rejoyceth in this Honour that he hath a Resemblance Operation and Conversation with all things in the World He symbolizeth as I may say with the Matter in the Proper Subject with the Elements in their Fourfold Composure of Body with the Plants in the Vegetative Vertue with the other Animals in the Sensitive with the Heavens in the Sydereal Spirit that is in the Motion and Influence of the Superiour Bodies upon these Inferiour with the Angels in the Intellect Wisdom and Speech with God himself in the Containing Power of all things And therefore we cannot imagine the Signs so variously Pourtray'd in the Hand of Man are in vain But that they are there placed by Nature with intent to make known unto us the Inscrutable Works of GOD if Job Chapter 37. may be Credited That the Explanation of these Signs is named Chiromancy I need not acquaint you Nor what Canons the Ancient and Modern Philosophers have written concerning the same Only this I shall tell you My Author hath not only in this small Tract Reduced all to a Concise and Methodical Discourse and added divers others of his own Observations But also Illustrated the Practick Part thereof with sundry Notable Examples whereby he hath manifested an Astrological Consent and Harmony betwixt the Hands and Genitures of all Men. A work not attempted by any before him And whereas the Masters in this Science have not Assigned the Tubercula or Mounts of the Hand to the Planets without some Successive Discrepancy Nor although all of them deliver it for a general Rule That by how much every one hath a Planet more Dignified at the Hour of his Birth by so much more Evident the Characters and Signs will appear upon the Region appropriated to the same Planet yet hath not this been approved untill by this Author who hath hereby abolished all former Doubts and clearly demonstrated the Truth of that Doctrine Nor hath He thereby in my Judgment restor'd the Art of Chiromancy to more certainty than he hath confirmed the Grounds and Credit of Astrology and dash'd in Pieces the Bug-bear Arguments of all the Enemies of either For what more Convincing to the Judicious than if by Inspection made into the Hand of any Man I truly pronounce this or that Planet Essentially Dignified or Angular in his Geniture or in such or such a Position with other Planets or Stars Another Infortunate Afflicted or Dejected Or if on the contrary by looking first into the Geniture and considering therein the several Positures of the Planets and their Configurations one to another and with other Stars I tell him and that distinctly and truly the Lines and Signatures engraven in his Hand What I say is or can be more satisfaction than this to Rational Mâ—n as touching the Power and Influence of the Planets and Stars upon these Inferiours and consequently of the Lawful use and verity of the Sciences of Astrology and Chiromancy betwixt whom there is such a secret Coherence and Harmony And this I dare undertake to perform for the Honour of these Sciences to the shame of all Malicious and
thereof Otherwise we can hardly explain this matter because of his Inscrutable Majesty That therefore the Celestial Bodies are Animate is hence rightly concluded For it were absurd to deny a Life and Soul to be in Heaven and the Stars the which Inspire both Life and Soul even in the vilest of these Inferiour Bodies They give Life unto Plants which grow without Natural Seed as we see in the Mountains and Places untill'd So likewise to the Earth For if a Lump be taken out of the Bowels thereof and for some time exposed to the Rays of the Sun it yieldeth Grass or some Herbs oftentimes the twiggs of little Trees The Stars also bestow Life upon Animals not generated by Copulation Nor can we be so stupid as to imagine that Plants Trees c. are of a Nobler Condition than the Celestial Bodies This manifest perpetual Operation cannot come but from a Pure and Cleansed Body These things I suppose are sufficient to prove the World hath a Soul placed in Heaven as in the most Noble Part thereof But perhaps you desire it may be further Proved that these Celestial Souls are Rational and participate of the Divine Mind The Matter is not obscure For if the World as Plato saith be the best effect that could be of goodness it self That is of GOD for we Germans so express it because Got sounds nothing else with us than Gut if we rightly enquire the Reason of the Idiom it must certainly participate not only of Life Sense and Reason but also of Intelligence The Soul is the Perfection of the Body And that Body most Perfect which hath the Perfectest Soul Wherefore if the Celestial Bodies be most Perfect they must of necessity enjoy the most Perfect Souls The Heavens therefore do Participate of the Intellect and Mind Which very thing the Platonicks plainly approve by Musical Concords For seeing that Musical Concord is as it were Living Rational and Efficaâ—ious what Resemblance hath it unto Life it self how Pleasing is it to the Mind and even Ravisheth the whole Man And which is more the Mind and all things else are made by the Soul By her they are preserved by her they are moved And therefore Plato did not amiss when he Described the Soul to be she that made preserved and moved all Natural things especially by Musical Numbers and Proportion constituted I say by Numbers not Mathematical as some Calumniate but by Ideal and Metaphysical Proportions of Numbers This Harmony consisteth altogether in Motion because that by an Aërial Nature posited in Motion it moveth the Body By a Purified Air it stirs up the Aërial Spirit the Chain of Soul and Body By affect it at once disposeth the Sense and Affection By signification it Operates upon the Mind Lastly through this Motion of the subtil Air it penetrates vehemently It floweth sweetly through the Contemplation And by its conform Quality poureth out it self with a wonderful Pleasure By its Nature as well Spiritual as Material it at once Ravisheth and Claimeth all that is Man Wherefore let us seriously consider how the Sounds of most sweet Musick elevate and as it were double and treble our Minds And in like sort judge the Melody of the Celestial Bodies who now by a slower but anon by a swifter Motion produce a tone that is Grave or Acute Whereunto agree in these Sublunaries Gravity and Levity Cold and Heat Moisture and Dryness of Elements So likewise Matter and Form in the Gâ—neration of things Meekness and Magnanimity Temperance and Fortitude in Humane Affairs Seeing therefore that Motion is â—very where Free in its own Nature it might easily prevaricate and wander unless it were Ruled by the Intellect and Mind The which we cannot further enquire of in this Place according to the Exigence of the Matter Besides it is absurd for us to have Reasons of our own works For the Celestial Souls and so the Soul of the Universe have no Reasons of theirs of whose Spirit even we our selves are generated and live continually If the Lesser World enjoy an Intelligent Soul such also enjoys the Greater But we will cease to prosecute this any further concluding that the World is a System of Celâ—stial and Terrestrial Bodies constant in Order Number and Measure but Living Animate Intellectual Whence we safely gather that the Soul of the World is a certain singular Life filling all things vivifying all things producing and connecting all things that it may accomplish and preserve one Fabrick of the whole World and be as a Monochord sounding out by the three-fold kinds of Creatures Intellectual Celestial and Corruptible at one Blast one only Life The Mystery of Unity is but known of a few Now can we here pass by the Authority both of the Holy Scriptures and also of the most approved Philosophers Deut. 4.19 Thou shalt not Worship the Sun Moon and Stars which God hath Distributed to all Nations under Heaven Deut. 28.12 God shall open unto thee his good Treasure the Heaven c. Deut. 33.13 Concerning Joseph Thy Blessing shall be of the Precious things of the Sun and of the Precious things of the Moon But above all let us consider those thingâ— which are in Levit. 26.19 I will make saith God your Heaven as Iron and your Earth as Brass The same is repeated Deut. 28.23 And also in Hosea 2.21 And I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth and the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oyl and they shall hear Israel Therefore we hereby see that God doth set the Root of Worldly Benedictions in Heaven as it were in the Soul of the Universe so that the Beginning of Blessings is from Heaven as the Beginning of Motion from our Soul which are of themselves perspicuous enough To this also belongs that in Job 38.33 Knowest thou the Course of Heaven or canst thou dispose the Rule thereof in the Earth The Rule of Heaven proceeds through Terrestrial and all Inferiour things as the Rule of an Emperour or King throughout his Empire and Kingdom As therefore a King is the Soul of his Kingdom so the Heaven and the Stars are the Soul of the World Likewise that of Job 26.13 His spirit hath garnished the Heavens Psal. 33.16 By the Word of the Lord the Heavens were made and by the spirit of his Mouth the whole Army thereof In whatsoever Body the Spirit of God dwelleth and shineth that Body without doubt shall be Animate and Intellectual Psal. 19. God hath set his Tabernacle in the Sun One Day telleth another and one Night teacheth another knowledge There is no Speech nor Language in those Heavens yet understandeth he their Voice Their Line is gone forth through all the Earth and their words unto the ends of the World in them hath he set a Tabernacle for the Sun Psal. 89.5 O Lord even the Hâ—avens shall confess thy wonderful Works John 3. Our Saviour saith to Nicodemus I have told you
of Earthly things and you believe not how would you believe if I should tell you of Heavenly things As if he had said I now propound the Comparison of the Generation of Earthly things to Spiritual which are obvious to you all and yet you believe not much less therefore would you believe if I should dispute of Heavenly things which are not so obvious to your senses Christ is called by the Prophet The Sun of Righteousness How far we might hence Philosophize concerning the Sun and Celestial Fires can hardly be expressed Very notable is that place of Gen. 37. in the Dream of Joseph who saw himself Worshipped of the Sun the Moon and eleven Stars therefore his Father Jacob expounding this Dream Magickly saith Shall I and thy Mother and thy Brethren come and Worship thee Therefore that Holy Father knew that he had the Sun instead of his Father the Moon instead of his Mother in the World and Worldly Generations and 12 Stars for Joseph was as the 12 th Star in that he was the 12 th of the Brethren to stand in stead of the 12 begotten Sons You may understand by those 12 Stars of Heaven the twelve Signs constituting the 12 Moneths by 12 Conjunctions of the Sun and Moon in them by whose Congresses the Year is compleated and its Annual Generations finished There are other things to be seen among the Cabalists notwithstanding we have perspicuously enough enucleated the present matter We write not these things to vain Men that is such as are Ignorant and Proud but to the truly Honest and Ingenious who constantly love the Knowledge of God and his Works and such as have Learned That Divinity is True Philosophy and True Philosophy Divinity to wit Mystically which is that we may yet be more plain By the Workmanship of the Heavens and the Earth touching which all approved Philosophy teacheth and the Inscrutable System thereof to know God himself as in a Glass that he is the most Wise Ineffable and Eternal Goodness The other Authority is that of the Great Philosophers Plato Aristotle Pythagoras Orpheus Trismegistus Theophrastus Avicenne and the like But we will here follow Plato especially a Philosopher most full of Piety and the knowledge of God and his Interpreter the never to be too much Praised Marsil Ficinus of Florence than whom whether Italy ever afforded a greater I shall not easily determine If any man doubt saith Theophrastus the Periâ—atetick whether the Heavens live or not let him not be accounted a Philosopher And he that denies Heaven to be Animate so as that the Mover of it is not the Form thereof destroys the Foundations of Philosophy Neither are the most Noble Poets to be Despised of us M. Manilius in his Proem WHen every species of the glittering Sphere The Stars returning Ranked did appear In their own Seats and by the Fates Decree Each had restor'd its Formal Potency Experience framed Art by various Use Example Guiding where it was Abstruse And though at a vast distance plainly saw The Stars All-Ruling by a Tacit Law The whole World Mov'd by REASON Alternate The same Manilius Cap. 2. GOD and the Vertue of the Divine Soul Do by a Tacit Law and Sacred Course Inspire Turn Round Guide Govern and Controul This Immense Structure of the Universe And all its Natural Parts which Framed be In Different shapes of Air Fire Earth and Sea Lucan also HE that sustains the Earth Pois'd up with Air Is a Great Part of Jove And Boetius THou in consenting Parts disposed hast Th' All-moving Soul ' midst threefold Nature plac'd Which cut in Parts that run a different Race Into it self returns and doth embrace The highest Mind and Heaven doth wheel about With like Proportion And Virgil not the last of the most Excellent Philosophers 6. Aen. By Mr. J.O. AT first the Heaven and Earth the liquid Plain The Moons Bright Globe and Stars Titanian A spirit fed within spread through the whole And with the huge heap mix'd infus'd a scrowl Hence Man and Beasts and Birds derive their strain And Monsters-floating in the Marbled Main These Seeds have Fiery Vigour and a Birth Of Heavenly Race but clogg'd with heavy Earth But enough of the Soul of the World And now seeing it is manifest the World hath a Soul it will be no less apparent That the same World shall consist also of a Spirit which is called the Spirit of the Universe Where the Soul is there also is the Spirit The Soul groans in the Spirit the Intelligence in the Soul The Spirit also of the Universe is the vigour of Divine vertues dilated through all things whose continual Excitation resides in the Soul of the World and the Celestial Bodies Democritus Pythagoras Orpheus and such others called these Vertues Gods Zoroaster Divine Allurements Synecius Symbolical Inticements But some called them Lives others also Souls Nor that indeed undeservedly For seeing the Soul is the Primum Mobile and truly of its own accord or by it self movable but the Body or Matter of it self Ineffectual for Motion and much degenerating from the Soul Therefore we have need of some more Excellent Medium that is to say such a Medium that may be as it were not a Body but yet as if it were a Soul Or as no Soul and yet as it were a Body whereby the Soul may be united to the Body For such a Medium is the Spirit of the Universe it self which otherwise we call the Fifth Essence because it is not wholly subsisting of the Four Elements but a certain Fifth over and beside them Therefore such a Spirit is necessarily requisite as a Medium by whose Intervening the Celestial Soul may be in a Grosser Body And this Spirit is of such a Form in the Body of the World as is ours in the Humane Body Because that as the Powers of our Soule are by the Spirit communicated to the Members So the vertue of the Soul of the World is dilated by that Fifth Essence throughout all things So that nothing can be found in the whole World which wants a vivifying spark thereof Through this Spirit every occult Propriety is propagated unto Herbs Stones Metals and to all living Creatures by the Sun and Moon by the Planets and other Stars of the Eighth Orb. And those things that contain a more plentiful and excellent Spirit of that Nature shall perfect a more manifest and swifter Operation in our Bodies if so be it be duly separated from the Body and Feces for the Feces profit nothing yea they plainly Impede and oppress the Penetrating vertue of the Spirit And indeed all Physicians should have a special Regard that they Artificially segregate the Medicinal vertues of things from the Body and the Elementated Impurities thereof and not so Foolishly hasten to their Patients the Medicines and Feces together But the most part either wholly omit that Labour or account it in a manner Dishonest Leaving that separating Art to
the Diseased Body Nevertheless these Men make too huge a Progress in Philosophy they shall often dispute against Astronomy it self not knowing indeed that they can nothing say or Dispute without that Syderial Spirit communicated to them as also to every Man yet more or less from above by the Heavens and the Stars Truly the Lote which shutteth its Leaves before Sun Rise but when he Ascendeth openeth them by degrees will be accounted more Just and Charitable towards the Celestial Princes then these so Rational Men. And so we believe shall the Cock who applauds the Rising Sun as it were with a Hymn from his Inferiour Rousts But these are from the matter We formerly told you There can nothing be found in this Lower World that wants a vivifying Spark of this Spirit but yet to know under what Star and in which Sign of the Zodiaque every thing Perceiveth its Spirit This is the Work here the Labour is Nevertheless there hath so much of this nature been Manifested to us by sedulous and skilfull Men as is sufficient for Humane Ingenuity and Pains to find out greater things Gold hath in it the Spirit of the Sun and therefore is in value the most precious of all Metals It also nourisheth every Spirit of all things Growing So that the Sun possesseth the vertues of all the Stars No marvel then the Spirit of Gold skilfully extracted or separated from the elementated or Metallique Body should extirpate all Diseases of the Body The reason is manifest by Astronomy it self But that there is Gold of the Solar Spirit to omit other Reasons the purifyed sign thereof sufficiently testifies where you shall find Incense Burning with perpetual Fire which thing true Alchymists know very well and there yet remains such a thing to be found in some Sepulchres that hath continued its Ardour and Fire for more then 100 years Even as the Sun enjoys Perpetual Light The same Metall is not unfitly called the Terrene Chaos because if the Spirit of the Universe residing in it should at a set time be reduced to a competent Form with the Body plainly produces the same or even greater things then that Essence of the Sun so earnestly sought for by Covetous Persons So also to other Metalls there in a Proper and Perpetual Seed plot in Heaven The like for Trees Plants Stones c. If therefore any thing growing nourisheth in it an Astral Spirit we account the Incensive matter of the Generative and Seminary vertue much more such and indeed more Perfect in Man himself Those Philosophers who know not any such thing in Man can pronounce nothing certain as touching the Ingenuity of Man his Inclinations Antipathy Sympathy of the Magnetique vertue and operation and such other things as are hitherto appertaining Whence it is they so Foolishly and Filthily heap up Reasons of Philosophizing which are no better then Volatile Air. We must not forget that there is a twofold Spirit in Man One infused from the Heavens and Stars at the time of Generation the other Inspired by GOD This was the breathing-hole of Life in Adam and that indeed Perfect but afterwards Lost. The First Man was made of the Slime of the Earth that is of the Greater World of the Sydereal Creatures and Elements whence he received a certain Astral Soul resembling the Soul of the World The Object whereof is The Universal World and the things contained therein that is Worldly Wisdom generally comprehending all manner of Arts and Sciences within it self some such thing was Anciently called in Man the Proper Genius or Demon of every one He is not wholly Ignorant of the Natural Law that is of the Divine Will commanding and approving the Good but Abominating and Condemning the Evil done unto us because the World was the First Image of God and Man himself the next Example of any thing Possessing the Reason of the Word And although Man have Free-will yet so it is in him that what an one soever the Predestination of the Mundane Soul made him such an one also every Man would and desireth to Die by a natural instinct Thus we more plainly conceive how Man is subject to the Stars Hence likewise we will not deny but that very many Diseases and consequently the term of Life proceed especially in a flourishing Age from the Stars touching which we have elsewhere produced manifest Reasons and a manifest Experience in Examples Hereunto belongs the whole Genethliaque Part of Astrology Theophrastus Paracelsus hath most Plentifully and Learnedly explained the Foundations of this very Matter in his Volume of Wise Philosophy There was another Breathing Hole Placed by God in Adam beyond this Rational Spirit and operating Soul deducing its Original and Branches from the Stars which was the Breathing Hole of Life in which regard he was said to be the Image of GOD. The Beauty of this Image was lost by the Fall of our First Parents a very small spark thereof surviving in us But may be reduced to its pristine Condition by a Regeneration in Christ. This Spark Christ being Mediator shall grow into a Flame of Celestial Wisdom It is the proper spirit of those that Believe in Christ Joh. 7. Rejecting Despising Deriding all those Worldly things not as that they are the Works of GOD for they testifie of GOD what he is but in that they are Corruptible unstable and draw a Man from the presence of GOD and from Eternal Joy in him This Wisdom is that sorrow with the Flesh and its Concupiscences at last overcoming Christ being Conquerour Of this is that vulgar saying Sapiens Dominabitur Astris A wise Man shall Rule the Stars By this very Rule we are led from the Love of Corruptible things and brought into the Love of Eternal By this we take the Cross of Christ upon our Shoulders and Follow him that is we shall hereby Purge out the Old Leaven crucifying our Flesh with Evil Affections and Concupiscences studying to learn abundantly the Fruits of a Christian Spirit without Hypocrisy as Charity Faith Peace Joy Liberality Meekness Temperance Gal. 5. In a word This Celestical Spirit is no other thing then Faith triumphing through Charity without which none shall Prevail before GOD although as it is in 1 Cor. 13. He should speak with the Tongues of Angels and had all Faith so that he could Remove Mountains out of their Places although he had all Sciences and knew all Mysteries though he should give his Body to be Burnt and were full of Prophesie GOD is CHARITY we were Created and Redeemed of Charity in Charity and by Charity Charity Preserves in us the Command of GOD. Charity is the Bond of Perfection Col. 3. Charity is Long suffering and Bountiful she Envieth not she maketh no Tumults she is not puft up she doth nothing whereof she is ashamed she seeketh not her own she Provoketh not she thinketh no Evil she rejoyceth not at Iniquity but the Truth she beareth all things she believeth all
sect 1. Prop. 10. who by the help of a Geometrical Quadrant there described sets down the manner of observing the true time of the Aequinoxes whereby they may discover not only how far the Calculations made by the Tables differ from but also which Tables come nearest Observation and by this means make choice of the best whereon to ground their Judgments Astrological But forasmuch as all or the most of our Annual Prognosticks are commonly extant before the Vernal Aequinox on and about which day those Observations ought to be made it cannot be expected that we should here proceed upon those grounds the Birth of what now we present you with anticipating its fortune in the Press not less than Four Lunar Revolutions Wherefore all we can do here to do fairly will be to make choice of the best Astronomical Tables in which Number 1 rank the Philolaick as solving the Phaenomena nearest exactness when handled by a Skilful Artist and reduced not upon the bare credit of every prostituted Catalogue of the difference of Meridians but with regard had to Ecliptical Observations determining so near as may be the true Longitude otherwise great Errours may ensue especially in the time of Solar Ingresses Eclipses and other Lunations and yet the Tables Excusable These things well consider'd I cannot see with what shew of Equity we should be derided or Astrology exploded in case we arrive not at such preciseness in our Annual Judgments as is looked for from us by those which know not the handling of a Science whose subject is so remote whose paths be so variously winding and intricate Or why should Astrology be contemned or slighted for want of Perfection more than all other Arts or Sciences since really there are none without some defect or other nor any one that can truly say it is free from every scrupulous exception For omitting Physick and the rest which cannot justly boast of nigh so much Perfection what Geometrician can stand up and truly tell me he hath found out the exact Quadrature of a Circle or the Duplication of a Cube What Algebraist can resolve the so long sought for Equation of three discontinued Numbers in Algebriaque proportion And should therefore those noble Sciences be rejected as vain and foolish and the Professors be no better accounted of than Impostors when nevertheless we cannot but confess the most Excellent and daily use made of Geometry both at Sea and Land very well knowing that the Geometrician can Square a Circle though not precisely yet so near exactness as leaves the issue of his indeavours without any sensible Errour In like manner because the Astronomer determines not precisely the true places of the Planets howbeit very near the same and the Eclipses of the Luminaries to admiration the Astrologer sometimes strays a little in the Species and times of the Events thereon depending shall we therefore altogether excusing Astronomy lay the whole blame and weight of our Indignation on Astrology whose Effata suppose the Planets true places which are Scientiarum apices the Perfection of Sciences that God in his Wisdom would not have known ab initio but reserveth only to some peculiar Men and Ages I confess it is but too true that like as in all other Sciences so in this as there are and ever have been some Hereticks and Miscreants who rail and exclaim against Astrology for no other Reason but because they apprehend it not so there are a sort of loose and ignorant pretenders Spurii non veri filii Artis who expose to sail their lying Oracles do exceedingly blemish and disparage the Science administring thereby great advantage for the Malitious to inveigh and rail against it both from the Press and Pulpit and to bespatter the more able and honest Profession thereof with the Titles of Figure-Flingers Cheats Impostors and I care not what other abusive Epithets But should we which my Soul abhors set light of the Deity because Caligula and Lucian would not grant any or suspect the Regiment of the World because Sardanapalus Epicurus Lucretius and Nero denyed Gods providence or esteem of human things more than Sacred because the Machiavelists teach that Polity might consist without Religion accounting it nothing but an empty name and the Bond or Give of Polity Or should we condemn the whole Catholick Church because of the many Ravening Wolves and subtle Foxes crept into and now so miserably dispoiling her Or decry all the Clergy because some Time-buggering Changelings have dishonour'd the Function seduced their Auditories and prefer'd their Worldly interests and carnal Ends of Pride Vain-glory Strife Covetousness and desire of Preheminence above their Brethren to the Truth and Peace of the Gospel Should we I say for the incredulity of some condemn what for doing so might dâ—mn us Or for the impiety and hypocrisie of a few cast dirt in the Face of a whole Covent of Learned and Religious Men Let the Enemies of Uraniah themselves be Judges if we might not be justly taken for Fools or Knaves or Knaves and Fools in Folio And let all rational men say whether they be less or any other that have causelesly and publickly so derided and railed at us Of the Epochae or Aerae commonly used by Chronologers and Historians with a brief Explanation thereof EPochae is derived from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to stop or stay as if it were an Inhibition or Retention whereby that which continually flitteth is restrained and fixed that so from thence the Remains may be measured For whereas the Coelestial bodies are Circumagitated by Motions and that time is the Measure of Motion they must necessarily require some beginning and determinate time from whence to be numbered as well in Praecedentia as in Subsequentia As therefore in the consideration of Coelestial Motions there is a certain place of Heaven described by a Line from which those Motions are Counted so likewise in Time a known and famous beginning whence the Years Months and Days both before and after the same are reckon'd This Epochae is vulgarly called the Radix whence that which remaineth is supputated as from a foundation and Term à quo It is also named the Aera which word was Originally but ignorantly taken from the Spaniards writings afterwards much used by Astrologers and at length translated to other writers For at the first Aera was not one word but several which being falsly and confusedly joyned the Spaniards used but as one and so at length it was also received by the Latins For whereas the sole delation of the Empire on Augustus Caesar became of happy consequence to the Spaniards they therefore in Honour of him so provided that the great and noble Actions of their Princes and People should be reckon'd from Augustus Caesar. For Example in this manner Acta sunt haec Toleti Calendis Martii A. E. R. A. Caes CCI. But in process of time the points being omitted by the Negligence or Ignorance of
For it admitteth some Comets to be generated below the Moon by the breathings of the Terrestrial Globe either inflamed or illuminated Yet that some are above the Moon and of a Coelestial Matter For my own part in regard of the incertainty of all other Opinions I willingly incline to that which attributes the Generation and Government of Comets to God or the Intelligences Or to such as reckon them among the Arcana of the World and the most hidden Miracles of Nature In which Number are Messabala Hagecius Rhodius Regiomontanus Tycho and many others For the Dotages of Bodin and some others who suppose Comets were the Souls of Illustrious Men triumphing in Heaven Or of those that thought them to be Fires conveyed to and fro by Spirits I shall not trouble the Reader with such Phantasms Having now declared to you the Name Genus and Species of Comets their Number time of Appearance and Continuance the Apparent and true Magnitude of their Head and Tail their Situation Inclination Motion Way Quantity Swiftness Distance Shape Colour Smell Diaphaniety Matter Place and Efficient Cause It now remains that I give you 17. Their Final Cause IT has been a received Opinion in all Ages that Comets are certain Funebrious Appearances secret Fires and Torches of Death rather than of Life and were ever look'd upon as the threatning Eyes of Divine Vengeance and the Tongue of an Ireful Deity portending the Death of Princes Plague of the People Famine and Earthquakes with horrid and terrible Tempests Aristotle lib. 1. Meteor Cap. 7. acknowledges Cometas significare Tempestatem ventorum intemperantiam atque imbrium That Comets signifie Tempests Intemperance of Winds and Showers Cicero lib. 2. de nat Deor. That Comets or as he calls them Sidera concinnata curl'd or crisped Stars Bella Octaviano Magnarum fuerunt calamitatum praenunciae were the Fore-runners or Messengers of the great Calamities that ensued by means of the Octavian War The great Naturalist Pliny tells us no less in these words Cometes terrificum magna ex parte Sydus ac non leviter piatum ut Civili motu Octavio Consule iterumque Pompeii ac Caesaris bello in nostro vero aevo circa venificium quo Claudius Caesar Imperium reliquit Domitio Neroni ac deinde Principatu ejus assiduum prope ac saevum A Comet is a terrible Star for the most part and not easily purged away by Sacrifice as in the Civil War whilst Octavius was Consul And again in the War betwixt Pompey and Caesar but in our Age saith he it was in a manner assiduous and cruel about the Feat of Poysoning whereby Claudius Caesar left the Empire to Domitius Nero and no less afterwards by his Sovereignty So likewise Suetonius writing on Claudius cap. 26. Praesagia mortis ejus praecipua fuerunt exortus Stellae Crinitae quam Cometem vocant The chief Presages of his Death were the arisings of the Hairy Star they call a Comet Nor are the Poets silent in this particular For thus Virgil Prince of Latine Poets enumerating the Prodigies that preceded the Civil War after Caesar's Death Non alià s Caelo ceciderunt plura sereno Fulgura nec diri toties arsere Cometae Not from clear Skies ever more Lightning came Nor such Dire Comets oft'ner seen to flame And Lucan Ignota obscurae viderunt sidera noctes Ardentemque Polum flammis Coeloque volantes Obliquas per inane faces crinemque timendi Sideris Terris mutantem Regna Cometen Unheard-of Stars by Night possess'd the Skies Heaven seems to flame and through the Welkin fire Obliquely flies States changing Comets dire Display to us their Blood-portending Hair Neither were the Holy Fathers of other Opinion For S. Damascen lib. 2. Orthodox fid tells us Aggignuntur autem frequenter Cometae signa quaedam interitus Regum qui quidem non sunt ex iis Astris quae à rerum initio facta sunt sed jussu divino certis temporibus conflantur ac rursus dissolvuntur There are Comets saith he frequently generated that be signs of the Death of Kings which indeed be not of those Stars that were at first created but which are gathered by the will of God at certain times and afterwards dissolved And Tertullian ad scap cap. 3. after a long Discourse thereof thus concludes Omnia haec signa sunt imminentis irae Dei They are all Signs saith he of the imminent wrath of God But because I would not be over-tedious take the Testimony of S. Augustine for all lib. de urbis excid Tom. 9. where speaking of a great Comet that impended over Constantinople about the Year 396. according to a Revelation first made thereof to a Souldier and by him to a Bishop who thereupon exhorted the People to Repentance and to receive the Sacraments he hath these very words Volens siquidem Deus terrere civitatem terrendo emendare terrendo convertere terrendo mundare terrendo mutare servo suo fideli viro ut dicitur militari c. God being pleased to terrifie the City and by terrifying convert it by terrifying cleanse it by terrifying change it he revealed as 't is reported to a Souldier his faithful Servant c. And a little after Noctis initio tenebrante jam mundo visa est ignea nubes ab Oriente primo parva deinde paulatim ut accedebat super Civitatem a crescebat donec toti urbi ingens terribiliter immineret Videbatur horrenda flamma pendere nec odor Sulphurus deerat Omnes ad Ecclesiam confugiebant non capiebat multitudinem locus Baptismum Extorquebat quisque à quo poterat Non solum in Ecclesia sed etiam per Domos per vicos plateas salus Sacramenti exigebatur ut fugaretur ira non praesâ—ns utique sed futura In the beginning of the Night whilst darkness cover'd the Earth there appeared a fiery Cloud in the East at first but a little one afterward by degrees as it approach'd the City it so increased till being mighty big it hover'd terribly over all the Ciâ—y There was seen a horrible flame which descended from it neither was there a Sulphurous smell wanting All the People fled to the Church the place contained not the Multitude Every one wrested Baptism from whom he could the health of the Sacrament was extorted not only in the Church but also throughout the Houses Lanes and Streets to avoid as well the present as future wrath of God Thus far S. Augustine Of Meteorologers Let us hear Fromundus lib. 1. Meteor cap. 3. who after a long Discourse thereon concludes with Fienus Cometem non esse Physicam causam calamitatum sed signum potius ad placitum Dei utentis Cometa licet effectu naturali ad terrendos emendandos alicubi mortales quo modo usus est ad foedus cum genere nostro significandum licet aliquibus fausti quidam Cometae fuerint aut visi sint non in hunc tamen finem sed ad tristiora
Correct the Figures of their Experiments in respect of the Errors of the old Astronomy 6. To Argue and Determine by Physical and Astrological Reasons concerning the System of the World now so much controverted betwixt the Copernicans and Tychonists For as much as in this thing although both Mensurable and Visible Geometry and the Sight are both defective Neither can the quickest sighted Man living conclude any thing thence for certain with what Telescope soever Because the same Phaenomena are deduced from both the Systems For albeit the thing it self be sensible yet does it elude and surpass the sense of Man the truth whereof so much concerns Astrology that Tycho and Kepler thought fit rather to destroy her than that their own new Systems should not be established Afterwards out of the confused sayings of Ancient Astrologers and the Observations of past and present things with the proper and Corrected Schemes of Heaven by accurate Speculation and dividing rightly to attain unto the first Causes of Effects which are the first Principles of this Science few in number both in this and other Sciences yet so valid that from thence they being firmly established the whole Science of Astrology and her innumerable Conclusions may easily be drawn to a Method Whence I dare boldly affirm that Astrology which is partly a Physical partly a Mathematical Science may be more certainly and evidently demonstrated yea and in a more Excellent Method than either Natural Philosophy or Physick have hitherto been by any Man whatsoever Yet seeing many times for the restoring of Astronomy and once in the Kalendar many Men Learned in these Arts have met together at the Charge of Kings Emperours and of his Holyness the Pope no Man I suppose will imagine that one Man's Life or Labour can suffice for the above-mentioned work it being so very great so difficult and sublime but that every one of the Articles require several Persons proper thereunto and to be encouraged with fair and liberal Allowances All whose Labours he who being endowed with Understanding and Wisdom is made Praefect or Ruler of the Sixth Article must receive and Govern that thence he may know how to discharge his Duty But 't is much to be fear'd this Malignant and to Scholars most Ingrateful Age the so long wish'd for and present Opportunity being slighted will either defraud it self and Posterity of so great a Benefit or else retard the same for some more Myriads of Heavenly Revolutions or at least-wise scorn to see it now compleat and perfect When verily this Science is more Divine than all other Natural Sciences howbeit through the want of Demonstration and Abuse it hath hitherto undergone the Contempt and Hatred of Ignorant Men. But let no Man think I enforce or attempt any thing against the most Holy Roman Church For I embrace not only the Ninth Rule of the Index of Books prohibited by the Council of Trent but also the Bull of Sixtus Quintus against such as profess the vain and false Science of the Stars and Constellations which I extreamly abhor and endeavour with all my might utterly to extirpate Moreover I deny not but that the very true Science of the Stars which what sober Man will deny if with a Mind elevated above the dregs of the Earth and the Clouds of the Air he fix his Eye upon those truly sublime but yet Naturally known Powers of the Coelestial Bodies and their manner of Operation may no less Lawfully be forbidden by the Church in respect of the Abuse thereof than the Reading of the Holy Scriptures according to that of St. Matthew Cap. 18. If thy Hand or Foot offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee It is good for thee c. However from those Excellent Principles of Astrology newly discovered it may be Lawful at least to assure you that I can so strongly assert the truth thereof it shall abundantly appear to all Men that as it is a Holy and Godly thing to inveigh against all Diabolical Practisers Vain Ignorant and Superstitious Astrologers and to deter Men from all vain and sinful Curiosity so to rage and rave against the Substance of this true Science whether in Pamphlets or Pulpits is in an Ignorant Man unjust and rash in a knowing Man very Malicious and that indeed it were far better for Men even in order to their Salvation that the Truth and true Use of this Science might be known than the Falsity Ignorance and Abuse thereof should any longer continue and GOD be defrauded of that Glory which is by right due to him for his Creating the Heavens Neither let it trouble any Man that I pronounce Sixtus ab Heminga whom the Enemies of Judiciary Astrology so much Glory in to be a very Ignorant Fellow When I can easily make it appear by Experiments and solid Reason too that both Cardan and Ptolemy himself being too much addicted to Universal Causes not well weighing particular did lead Posterity into no finall Errors But if the Blind lead the Blind what Wonder is it if they both fall into the Ditch In the mean time I must Humbly intreat those Rare and Renowned Masters of this Science if they have gotten or observed any thing in it that is Excellent they would vouchsafe ingeniously to impart it to me Thus far Morinus and enough I suppose to satisfie any Reasonable Man that Astrology is demonstrable and not only Lawful and True but Divinely Excellent and necessary for a Christian And that none but the Ignorant and Malicious will condemn or oppose the same Cardan Seg. 1. Aphor. 25. Difficile est Judicare per ea quae scripta sunt longè difficilius artem ipsam tradere Difficillimum autem artem ipsam invenire The Cabal of the Twelve Houses Astrological from Morinus I Shall not dispute how much Astronomers differ among themselves concerning the Number Site Motions and Nature of the Heavens Neither here undertake to compose such a strife nor to censure any Mans judgment therein forasmuch as at least in this they do many of them agree That there is one supream Heaven and first Moveable which by its own motion from East to West accomplisheth its Revolution about the Earth in the space of 24. hours and causeth such a force of stupend Motion in the bodies subordinate that it manifestly carrieth with it from East to West whatsoever is betwixt it and the middle Region of the Air. 'T is true Kepler the Lynceus of the last Age denying with Copernicus such a first Moveable makes the Starry Heaven to be supream and immoveable And maintaineth that the Earth called a Planet by Pythagoras and placed between the Sphaeres of Mars and Venus performs by its own Motion from West to East an enâ—ire rotation about its Axis in the space of 24. hours the Sun being placed in the Center of the World Which supposed so as indeed it is by the most Learned of this Age yet in this doth the Starry Heaven perform
did govern Riches The third Brethren The fourth Parents and so of the the rest as in the subsequent Figure the Houses are Ordered and Named And from him until this present time hath this division of heaven and appellation of Houses continued uncorrupted Howbeit Ptolomy and his Followers do dissent from this Ancient Tradition seeming to pervert the Division in many places As when concerning Children they principally judge not from the 5. House but the 11. which is opposite thereunto When concerning the Mother not from the 4. but the 10. opposite unto it So when of Servants and Animals not from the 6. but the 12. the House opposing it which apparent Error shall hereafter be Corrected The Order and Names of the Houses Astrological 1. Life 2. Riches 3. Brethren 4. Parents 5. Children 6. Servants 7. Marriage 8. Death 9. Religion 10. Magistracy 11. Friends 12. Enemies Now amongst all other Foundations of Astrology this of dividing the Heavens into 12 Houses is the first and chiefest in that thereupon principally depends the whole Art of Predictions And the Causes Reasons and first Beginnings of this Division furthest distant from our Understanding and far more hardly to be found out by reason than any other in which regard very few if any at all have undertaken the defence thereof by any true or probable Reasons Ptolomy himself to say the truth being in this particular very defective For Lucius Bellantius who took upâ—n him the defence of Astrology against Picus in his 10. Book written against c. 5. of Picus's 10. Book after he had enumerated sundry of his own and tâ—â— Ancients trifles not worthy the name of Reasons is at length forced to oppose Picus with Experience onely and to conclude him from Objects very ridiculous and unbeseeming an Artist of his Learning and Gravity in these words Quaerere igitur quam ob causam haec vâ—l illa domus hujus virtutis sit est quaerere quare Sol sit Lucidus cur Ignis calidus Aqua frigida quae tamen ex principiis intrinsecis pendent nobis ignotioribus aut saltem minimè notioribus which but a little before he had called Profunda Naturae secreta And indeed all others who have endeavoured to give the Reasons of these Houses have produced nothing orderly nothing of Truth but meer figments onely So that if any-where they brought a reason which seemed but to defend one House the very same really destroyed all the rest And therefore Alexander ab Angelis lib. 4. cap. 19. after his Muster of all the Arguments brought by Julius Firmicus concerning these Houses he justly refells them in these woâ—ds Ridiculus sit quicunque ridiculas has rationes nostra refutatione egere existimaret By which it plainly appears how easie and free it was for the Enemies of Astrology to hiss and laugh at these Houses and importunately and impudently to demand Why Heaven might not be divided into more than 12. Houses Wherefore the First House is called the House of Life and placed in the East Why the order and numeral succession of the Houses is from East to West And why the Second House is â—alled the House of Riches or Gain the twelfth of Enemies Imprisonment and Misery And so why the other Houses are called by their Names and disposed in that order Seeing as they pretend as well their Order as Names observe no Order at all but are rather a meer Chymera of Confusion a plain hotch-potch of fiction and foolery as Picus lib. 10. and Alexander ab Angelis l. 4. c. 27. do variously but most wretchedly torment themselves in proving But know that the Division of Heaven into 12 houses as before in the Figure ought not in any wise to be accounted feigned or as wanting a Natural Foundation But rather for a happy conception of the most wise and piercing intellect provided any humane understanding can of it self apprehend it and it be not of that universal knowledge God infused into Adam at the Creation as that which standing upon a real Foundation declares the universal state of Man in Heaven wonderfully shadowed like as in his first Physical Cause For this Division was by the first Author thereof Cabalistically conveyed to Posterity who indeed have in no sorr changed the same but yet its Mysteries the spirit of the Cabal they have not understood nothing at all being left us by any one concerning them First then for more Illustration sake I say That the former first and simple division of heaven into four Cardinal parts is not feigned but natural and upheld by a natural foundation as before hath been demonstrated And that if every one of those parts hath two other parts in heaven of the same Nature viz. those with whom it makes an Aequilateral Triangle in the Aequator the principal Circle of the Worlds first Motion or which it beholds by a partile Trine in the Aequator For the Eternal Trinity is of infinite Love and the fountain and substance of infinite and most perfect Love wherein the thing Loving which is the First the thing Loved which is the Second and Love proceeding from both which is the Third are one not in Genere or in Specie but in numero and therefore the most simple and most Perfect Whose Perfection is such and so universal that it derives it self into every Trine And therefore may every Trine be called Perfect not in any particular or special perfection but in that first and most universal perfection of the First Trine which consisteth in Love and whereof all Trines do diversly participate according to the Capacity of their Nature Seeing therefore the Fixed Stars and Planets do by reason of their various Motions oftentimes behold one another with different Aspects in the Coelestial Circles viz. a Sextile Square Trine and Opposition The first and wise Astrologers as well for reasons taken à priori from the infinite and most universal perfection of the first Trine as à posteriori from most evident Effects do generally affirm that of all Aspects the Trine is most perfect and that therein the perfection of the first Trine viz. Love is so strong and lively it is called by them an Aspect of perfect Friendship Now forasmuch as this could not be without a similitude of natures or at least a generical Identity They rightly concluded the parts of the Aequator which beheld one another by a partile Trine to be at least of the same generical nature and to make up a Triplicâ—â—â— of â—he same nature Wheâ—â—â—ore seeing that each of the afore-mentioned Four Cardinal parts of Heaven doth challenge to it self a pâ—culiar Triplicity of its own nature by these four Triplicities Heaven is divided into 12 parts called Houses Neither was it divisible into more or fewer parts by the Created Quaternary multiplyed into the Divine Ternary And therefore this Division is accounted the most absolute and truly perfect as containing two Sextiles two Squares two Trines and also the Opposition
which will bring a stain upon his Honour by the means of something relating to his Wife 12. The Tuberculum of Saturn hath upon it the same Mark that we found before in the fourth Example Which threatens the Gout and some other grievous Diseases of the Nature of Saturn And the same is discern'd by the Residence of Saturn in the House of Death afflicting the Moon and Mars by a Platique Quartile 13. The Vital somewhere touched and cut by other Lines presageth Diseases about the 14 20 24 30 48 c. Year of his Age The Horoscope proceeds from Libra into Scorpio about the 20 Year of his Age and there remains in the Terms of Mars for the space of Nine Years Saturn Infortunate in Nativities is wont to Vomit his Poyson most vehemently after the first Revolution that is after the 29 and 30 Years in which time he moveth round the Zodiack What the Cross above the Restricta meaneth we have often told you The other Incisures especially those that seem to shadow the Saturnia are but slender and obscure as yet Example XVIII One Born at Erphordia in the Year 1589. the 8 th of May at 1 h. 45 min. Afternoon 1. Venus Mercury and Jupiter Rule the Geniture and therefore you see their Regions in the Hand decently enough adorned 2. Hence therefore we Prognosticate a happy Wit and other things that flow from Jupiter Venus and Mercury 3. The Triangle drawn with the best Conformity helps the Ingenuity and all the Endowments both of Body and Mind 4. The Region also of the Moon shews her Dominion the same being marked with no despicable Incisures it occasioneth Prosperous Journeys addeth splendour both to the Body and Manners of the Native and gains the Favour of Women which very thing the Moon in Cancer and in the 10 th House of the Heavens most plainly demonstrates 5. The Lines of Jupiter are somewhat troubled and therefore his Condition is but indifferent Yet gives he Honours not contemptible although with some Difficulties some Impediments 6. The Conjunction of Venus and Mercury in the House of Venus and in a Partile Trine of Jupiter is accounted very Fortunate For thereby his Mind is excellently inclined unto all such Arts as are dedicated to Venus and Mercury I see he will prove a most Eloquent Man The two Parallel Lines which are drawn in the Form of a Scale or Ladder from the Region of Mercury to that of Venus do clearly manifest this Conjunction and the very same judgment We have almost the same Scale or Ladder in the 15 th Example which gave that Native the Benefit of a Voluble Tongue and a quick Pronunciation 7. Saturn hath Ominous Signatures upon his Tuberculum intimating Wounds and other grievous Accidents And the Line which runneth underneath the same from the Thoral to the Concave of the Hand threatens a fall from an High Place or Drowning The same is Denounced by the Sun in the Geniture who is Afflicted of Saturn by his Conjunction with him near to the Hyades Mars Lord of the Eight House being in his Detriment 8. The Vital is thrice touched First by a Line running from the Cephalica But because it breaks not the Vital we suppose the Disease thereby signified will not be so grievous as otherwise The Moon comes by Direction to the Quartile of Mars about the 18 th Year of his Age. Besides the Progress of the Horoscope to the Body of Mars about the 47 th Year will agree to the other Incisures And lastly the Progression of the Moon to the Square of Saturn about the 54 th Year in all which Years the Native must take heed of a violent Death 9. The Mensa excellently Rased confirms the goodness of Wit and Temperament and the continuance of a plentiful Fortune c. But here it is to be Noted by every one desirous of this Knowledge that in the precedent Examples the Incisures and small Lines are not all of them Delineated partly for that they were exceedingly slender and partly because they could not be described so accurately as requisite Besides we must observe that even of those Lines which we have posited some ought to be more obscure and slender Others more clear and conspicuous and therefore good Caution must be had when we would apply them to other Examples The Skill of the Engraver can never follow the form of the Lines so precisely as they present themselves in the Hand Moreover we have often omitted some Accommodations in the Geniture lest their significations as considered in themselves might Nauseat the Readers Example XIX Now that I may perform the present Task by a more Commendable Example I shall annex the whole Judgment of the Geniture to the Practick of Chiromancy as I delivered the same almost two Years ago to a certain Saxon a Friend of mine He was Born in the Year of Christ 1561. Jan. 17. Hor. 13. Min. 35. Sec. 40. Afternoon in the Latitude 54 degr 45 Min. HERE are Five Planets excellently well Plac'd in their own Prerogatives Saturn and Mercury Received from Houses and Locally in their own Triplicity So Jupiter and Mars assume a just Power by their Reception of Houses Venus also is in her Exaltation and in the Angle of the Earth Lastly the Moon is in her Triplicity But she having not as yet obtained her due Light from the Sun is here very Silent Mercury and Saturn are notably united by a Trine The Part of Fortune Rises with the Scorpions Heart Venus and Jupiter are the Prime Rulers of the Geniture Saturn and Mercury participating c. 1. A Long-Life is conjectured from the Horoscope and the Luminaries being not impedite although the Moon be opposite by the Quartile of Mars Yet the Progress of the Horoscope is first to the Opposition of Saturn whereof anon 2. His Temperature excells by an Equal Mixture of Humours because he receiveth his Ferment chiefly from the Perfusion of Jupiter and Venus Saturn and Mercury besprinkling a Melancholy juice 3. Hence the Force of Discerning and Representing vulgarly cally the Phantasy breatheth nothing but what is Moderate and Agreeable to Reason For Jupiter maketh such as are Born under him Honest Just Wise and addicted to Quiet and Peaceable Counsels doing always that which is Right and Honest both in Judging and Advising Such also as are very desirous of Praise and Renown Yet in gaining the same recede not from their Natural Modesty and Temper neither from good Arts whereby Honour and true Glory are wont to be obtained But because Saturn and Mercury are both excellently well placed in respect of their Reception and Partile Trine they also do largely bestow their vertues They make the Native exceeding diligent in his Arts and Affairs So that in administring them he useth singular Sedulity and Care they cause him to search after secret things and make it his study for to Penetrate hidden Mysteries to find out the Causes of Natural things to understand the Civil
Ascention of Venus 336 21 Direction sought for 30 59 19. Venus to the Body of Jupiter   Jupiter in Aries 19 30 Latitude 1 26 Right Ascention 18 32 Direction required 42 11 20. Venus to a Proper Sextile   Sextile of Venus in Taurus 4 30 Right Ascention 32 24 Direction required 56 13 The Directions of the Mid-heaven whose Right Ascention is 154 13. 21. The Mid-heaven to a Sextile of Mars   Sextile of Mars in Libra 30 10 Right Ascention 182 54 Direction required 28 31 22. The Mid-heaven to the Trine Dexter of the Sun   Trine of the Sun in Libra 00 00 Right Ascention 187 20 Direction required 33 07 23. The Mid-heaven to the Trine of Saturn and Mercury   Trine of Saturn in Libra 13 40 Latitude 1 10 N. Right Ascention 193 00 Direction required 38 48 24. Mid-heaven to the Virgins spike   Virgins spike in Libra 17 40 Latitude 2 00 S. Right Ascention 195 32 Direction required 41 19 25. Mid-heaven to the Opposition of Jupiter   Opposition of Jupiter in Libra 19 30 Latitude 1 26 N. Right Ascention 198 32 Direction required 44 19 26. Mid-heaven to the Trine Dexter of Venus   Trine of Venus in Scorpio 4 30 Latitude 0 26 N. Right Ascention 212 13 Direction required 58 10 27. Mid-heaven to the Southern Lance of Libra   Lance of Libra in Scorpio 09 00 Latitude 00 40 N. Right Ascention 216 50 Direction required 62 37 The Directions of the Part of Fortune 28. The Part of Fortune to the Sextile of Venus   Sextile of Venus in Capricorn 04 30 Latitude 00 28 S. Declination 23 51 S. Right Ascention 274 55 Distance from the Fourth House 59 18 Circle of Position 40 20 Ascentional Difference 22 02 Oblique Ascention 296 57 Direction required 28 06 29. The Part of Fortune to the Antiscia of Mars   Antiscia of Mars in Capricorn 26 50 Declination 20 47 S. Right Ascention 298 55 Distance from the Fourth House 35 18 Circle of Position 29 00 Oblique Ascention 310 26 Direction required 48 45 30. The Part of Fortune to the Body of the Sun giveth Years 60.30  31. To the Trine of Saturn   Trine of Saturn 13 40 S. Latitude 1 10 N. Declination 15 36 S. Right Ascention 315 48 Distance from the Fourth House 18 25 Circle of Position 18 12 Ascentional Difference 5 15 Oblique Ascention 321 3 Direction required 64 22 32. The Part of Fortune to the Sextile Dexter of Jupiter giveth Years 71.12   Judgments upon the Precedent Directions IN the 22 Current Year of your Age The Direction of the Sun to the Quartile of Mars had surely excited some Commotion of Humours or Misfortune in Journeys But that Venus Corporally Assisting the Degree of Direction easily averted every Adverse thing In the 24 th Year the Sun 's coming to the Body of Venus fore-told some Dignity or Commendation of your Name amongst Church-Men and other Great Personages You attained then if I be not mistaken to Posses the Good you wot of In the 29 th Year the Part of Fortune coming to the Sextile Dexter of Venus and the mid-Mid-heaven to the Sextile of Mars brought an Increase of Goods and a happy and speedy success of your Affairs In the 30 Year Current the Horoscope came to the Body of Mars and the Sun to the Square of Saturn which caused that Alteration of Humours whence the Quartan Fever proceeded which invaded you the following Year but turned to a Tertian From this manifest Accident truly agreeing with the Significators thereof the present Figure of Heaven was Corrected And therefore no scruple is left of the following Directions because they are Diligently and Faithfully enough Calculated and made manifest in their Significations Venus to the Sextile Sinister of the Sun in the 31 th Year will spread your Name far and near especially in Foreign Parts And soon after you shall Commence Doctor in V. I. and obtain some other much Honoured Priviledges In the Year of Christ 1592. May 16. Old Style The Profection of the Mid-heaven comes exactly to the Sextile Sinister and Venus to the Trine Dexter of Mercury In the 34 th Year the Mid-heaven coming to the Trine of the Sun will augment your Fame in Foreign Countreys But because the Sun is not very strong the Effects of this Direction will be the obscurer and as if they were Private Of the same Nature is the 23 d. Direction falling out in the 39 th Year of your Age for this will amplifie the Celebrity of your Name and Learning in the Courts of Princes and Noble-Men and in other Places In the 38 th Year of your Age the Horoscope comes to the Scorpions Heart which usually brings some Evil to the Eyes otherwise it afflicts with a Wound or excites some short but vehement Fever or Ague Mars comes by Transite to the Square of the Horoscope about the 27 and 30 of August according to the Old Calendar in the Year 1598. and soon after to the Horoscope it self to wit Octob. 13. Again Quadrangularly from Aquary January the 8. 1599. The Direction of the Horoscope to the Opposition of Saturn falls out also in 39 th Year of your Age almost Complete 1600. and threatneth you with a dangerous Disease viz. a total Dejection of the Powers of the Body Poyson a perillous Plague the Pestilence sudden Catharrs c. The Profection or Revolution of the Sun comes to the Opposition of Mars in the year 1600. about the 20 of November The Direction of the Horoscope to the Quartile Sinister of Mars about the 21 of September after the Old Calendar In Transite you shall observe the 1 7 and 8 of January the Feasts of Epiphany As also the 22 and 24 of September the 24 25 27 and 30 of November the 2 4 and 6 of December For on those days Mars afflicts the Horoscope by his Transite QUESTION Whether you shall escape this Disease I Answer Indeed that year shall be grievous and dangerous enough But because the present Direction is Celebrated in Benevolent Terms and that Jupiter follows with his Triangular Beams I positively conclude that this Year shall not be Destructive unto you Ptolomy and other Astrologers have a Rule approved of by Experience which is this Benevolent Stars beholding the Degree of a dangerous Direction by the Mediety of their Orbs do Refraene the Malignity thereof and make the Cure of the Disease easie Therefore the Trine of Jupiter herein Benignly Irradiating the Directional degrees of the Horoscope sufficeth But let not Humane Prudence be wanting the which if it do not totally avert an Eminent Evil yet so much it declines it that it proves neither so grievous nor yet so hurtful as otherwise He that is knowing may divert many Effects of the Stars if he know but their Natures Ptolom Centiloq Aphorism 5. Let such Medicines be applyed before-hand
as may both Purge the Body from all Filthy Humours and likewise comfort the Principal Members strengthen the Vital Spirit and Native Heat which are of another Quality The Scorpion as also the Serpent deduced from Heaven I speak with Virgil preserves him safe that carries it about him from Fevers Poyson and Pestilence These are Secrets In the same Year of your Age the Mid-heaven coming to the Trine Sinister of Saturn presages Goods to ensue by means of the Dead Ancient Possessions the Gift of some Aged Man The 42 d. and 43 d. Year of your Age will be Honourable and Prosperous Because the Mid-heaven comes to the Virgins Spike and Venus her self to the Body of Jupiter By this means they bring some Notable-good in the Increase of Dignities and Wealth and that by the occasion of a certain Great Personage You shall observe the 14 th day of July 1602. and then the 11. and 16 of August Also the 3 d. of September In the following Year 1603. the 22. and 23. of January the 7 and 8 of June Here the Profection of the Sun succeeds the Trine Sinister of Jupiter There the Mid-heaven shall come to Venus her self In the 45 th Year of your Age the Mid-heaven coming to the Opposition of Jupiter will intercept or subvert the Friendship of some Great Lord At which time take heed how you Manage your Affairs with Noble-Men c. In the same Year upon the Sun 's receding to the Trine of Mars you shall fall into the Friendship of some Martially disposed Person not without some Advantage Use his Benevolence and Friendliness prosperously In the 48 th Year of your Age Anno 1608. The Horoscope coming to the Trine dexter of Jupiter gives you a most Thriving Constitution of the Body and makes you Conversant with Great Men whereby Great Good is to be expected Of the same Nature is the subsequent Direction to wit the Sun to a Proper Sextile in the Terms of Venus falling out in the 49 th Year of your Age in the Year of Christ 1609. In this Year the Part of Fortune coming to the Antiscia of Mars will add unto your Expences occasioned by the means of Kindred and Journeys Beware also of some Thieveries of your Servants or Messengers In the 45 th Year of your Age Anno 1614. The Sun coming to the Sextile Sinister of Mercury and the Dexter of Saturn shall enlarge your Authority and Esteem with or by the Learned For seeing you are unweariedly carried by a certain Natural Violence both to the Scienâ—es of Mighty things and also to the knowledge of Hidden Secrets I easily fore-see What a one how great a one you shall suddenly be Go on Couragiously that you may Act things Answerable to your Ingenuity that you may advance and further your Fortune The 57 and 59 Years of your Age will be very Honourable and the most Acceptable of any You shall therein find a Signal Increase of your Possessions Renown Dignities and Authority For then Venus will come to her Proper Sextile The Mid-heaven to the Trine Dexter of Venus And the Sun to the Body of Jupiter The Profection of the mid-Mid-heaven to the Sextile of Venus falls out in the Year of Christ 1617. the 14 and 15 of January Old Style But the Profection of the Sun to the Trine of Mercury and the Body of Saturn will happen about the Verâ—al Equinox There are also Fortunate Profections in the Year 1618. about the Winter Solstice Also Jan. 21. c. Saturn is in the second Degree of Gemini Adverse the mid-Mid-heaven whereby he shall in some sort endeavour to protract an Event by the means of some Mans Death In the 60 th Year of your Age Anno 1620. The Horoscope coming to the 26 Degree of Sagittary the Contiguous Terms of Saturn and Mars shall occasion a Feverish Disease which will easily be removed by the help of a Physician Or if the yearly Medicines and Evacuations were not as is requisite forborn contrary to Custom it could hardly be that any Disease should trouble you The Profection of the Horoscope and the Sun are removed from the Society of the Malevolent Planets The Transite of Mars in Taurus by the Point opposed unto the Horoscope shall happen the 15 of April then in Leo by the Point in Square thereunto the 22 23 and 24 of August which are more to be observed In the 61 Year of your Age Anno 1621. The Progress of the Part of Fortune to the Body of the Sun shall multiply your Treasure by the Rewards of Kings and some other Great Personages The like for your Honours In the 63 Year the mid-Mid-heaven coming to the Southern Lance of Libra favours you with no mean Dignities In the 64 Year the Horoscope arriving at the end of Sagittary threatens you with a Disease attended especially with Lassitudes of the Body Filthiness of Defluxions and with Pains in the Feet above all other Signs are Interficient The which I have often-times found to be true But because that here Venus most Powerfully beholds this Place by an approaching Sextile Aspect I boldly Affirm Humane Providence assisting You shall not Dye this Year In the 65 Year of your Age Anno 1625. The Part of Fortune coming to the Body of Mercury and the Trine of Saturn confers upon you a Large Inheritance or fair Possessions by the means of some Deceased For Saturn being so Fortunate it is impossible this Direction should be Fruitless So in the Year 1627. The Sun coming to the Trine of the mid-Mid-heaven will again occasion all manner of Good to befall you In the 70 Year of your Age Anno 1630. The Sun coming to the Sextile Sinister of Venus The Horoscope also to the Sextile Dexter of Venus point out â— most Honourable time in Dignities Possessions and Renown in all manner of Benefits The same almost is discern'd by the Progression of the Part of Fortune to the Sextile Dexter of Jupiter falling out in the 72 Year of your Life for that also Presages Kingly Rewards from Foreign Countreys But enough and more than enough concerning this your most Fortunate Geniture Farewell In the Year 1593. A BRIEF DISCOURSE OF The Soul of the WORLD AND The Vniversal Spirit thereof THE World is a System of Celestial and Terrestrial Bodies constant in Order Number and Measure but Living Animate Intellectual The former Part of the Definition is clear from the Holy Scriptures The latter is Proved of Plato and that by manifest Reasons Where we say A Living System we intend a certain Natural Life diffused through the Bodies of the World extended and movably Acting together with the Body of the World Where we call it An Animate System we mean the substance of the Soul of the World whose Essence indeed is both Indivisible and Immutable like the Intellect yet it may in some sort be termed Divisible and Movable because it is the Proper Fountain of some Powers that are declining to Divisible
and Movable Vertue also and Action is partly Individual and Immovable so far forth as it agrees with Divine things stedfastly worketh And partly Divisible in some Respects both because it is manifold and also for that it declineth to a manifold and Divisible Body And Movable because it worketh Temporally Where we term it Intellectual we mean the Angelical Intellects which are properly Perfect and Indivisible according to Place in their Government of the Spheres And Immutable in respect of time the Natural Life and Form Corporeal being Opposite thereunto Divisible and Mutable That even these Angelical Intellects be in the Body of the World Necessity requires it because the Body of the World is through Life made fit for the Intellect Therefore look how it is in regard of Life and the like it is in respect of the Intellect And as it hath not only a Natural lying hid in the Matter of the World but an Animal also that is A Soul existing in it self So hath it not only an Intellectual Quality infused in the Soul but also an Intellectual substance therein remaining For certain Qualities are very where reduced to certain Substances As a Vital Quality to a Vital Substance so also an Intellectual Quality to an Intellectual Substance But as touching these things we shall explain our self more at large The whole Body of the World is a certain Body composed of all the Four Elements the Members or Parts whereof are the Bodies of all Living Creatures For the small Body of every Animal is a Part of the Worlds Body Neither is it composed of the whole Element of Fire Air Water or Earth but of some parts of these Elements By how much therefore the Whole is more Perfect than a Part thereof by so much is the Body of the World more Perfect than the Body of any one Living Creature Hence were it absurd to think that an Imperfect Body should have a Soul But that it neither hath a Soul nor can live Perfect None will be so mad as to say the Part Liveth and not the Whole Therefore the whole Body of the World Liveth whilst the Bodies of the Animals therein Live which are the Parts thereof And now seeing there must needs be One Soul of the whole World we will in the next place enquire in what part thereof this Soul may Reside whence she distributes her Spirit through all things and preserves the same so distributed She fixeth not her Seat and Pavilions in Bodies subject to variety of Change and manifold Corruption as are the Elements and Elementary Bodies Wherefore seeing that in Heaven there is no Corruption of Bodies there certainly is her Place of Residence And although those Elements also may be in Heaven but most Purely or Spiritually Yet is it manifest that the Element of Fire hath therein Dominion Even as here in this Inferiour Part of the World where the Soveraignty of the Elements remains in the Power of Fire And this we are sensible of in our own Bodies But much more if we do but consider how the Fire by no means Puâ—rifieth nor is any way Corrupted notwithstanding it often Corrupteth other Bodies where it gets Preheminency Moreover Nature affords it Earth Water and Air as a certain Subject Matter whereon to Exercise its Power The Air it self as also the Earth with the Water surrounding it whence we are Nourish'd and draw our Breath is indeed so Affected of the Fire about it that sometimes Heat doth therein predominate otherwhiles it is so Extenuated that for want of Heat it leaves its own Quality and is forsaken of Cold. In like manner we see such Impressions conveyed from the Fire above us upon the Earth and Water that sometimes the Nature and Quality thereof is capable of some Excess otherwhiles of Defect the Celestial Fire it self remaining Entire Wherefore seeing the Soul of the World hath its Residence in Heaven of Necessity it must live in a Fiery Substance For Heaven is a Fiery Essence but withall most Temperate Pure Lucid and Incorruptible Nor shall they trouble us who deny the Fiery Heaven in regard the Motion of the Heavens is Circular the Fires Motion Perpendicular For because our Fire is Peregrine and Impure therefore it tends directly upwards and by a kind of Veneration Covets the Place of the Proper and Natural Fire yet is it not to be supposed such a Fiery Hot Heaven as that 't is Burning or Heating By how much less Fire is mingled with strange Matter by so much the less it Burneth The which is seen in the Flaming of the Purer sort of Oyl but especially of Oyl Artificiously Extracted from Gold The which true Alchymists do Witness and as these Mortal Eyes of mine have sometimes tryed Therefore seeing there is not any Matter in Heaven estranged from the Celestial no Adustion no Heat is made there We see no Adustion in Comets running through the Celestial Spheres but only some Illustration for that doubtless the Matter thereof much participateth of the Nature of the Celestial Bodies But TYCHO-BRAHE A Dane A Noble-Man An Astronomer and a most incomparable Philosopher of this Age shall anon more plainly unfold to us this matter far different from the Madded Nursery of Peripateticks and that not without the Infallible Curiosity both of Observations and Demonstrations Now because some Matter Opposed is Heated and Burnt by the Rays of the Sun contracted by a Glass that is a sudden generation of Heat and Fire increasing by the Flagration of the Collected Rays in the Glass and applyed to fit Matter which are of another Disputation Some will have the Matter of Heaven to be Aërial But for that Light is a Property of Fire enlightning even the Air it self in my Judgment we do better in supposing it to consist of a Fiery Matter Besides Heaven is next to the Divine Seat and God himself Yet not so as that God is not every where God is called The Father of Light with whom there is no Change by whom the Light may be Extinguished or Diminished Neither an over-shadowing of Change whereby sometimes he either is turn'd into Night or suffereth an Eclipse GOD is Light in which there is no Darkness that is Form wherein there is nothing Inform Beauty in which there is nothing of Deformity As therefore GOD is Light Invisible Infinite the Truth it self the cause of every truth and of all things So the Light of Heaven is the splendour or rather the shadow of Heaven Visible Finite the cause of visible things For the whole Universe receiveth Light and Life from Heaven Moses Aaron Nadab Abihu and 70 of the Elders of Israel saw the God of Israel and under his Feet as it were a work of Saphire stone and as the very Heaven when it is clear c. Exod. 24.10 Whence we shall not speak absurdly if we say that GOD shineth upon us by his Light from Heaven and the Sun as a Candle shineth through Glass and Windows made
Conjunction is finished and the Opposition regarded only These things understood it is manifest that in either Rule what is said of two Planets and three holds also in four and five and six As if Saturn Jupiter Mars and the Moon shall be joyned ad unguem or within some degrees you must multiply their Times and Vertues as well in respect of the Magnitude of the Effects as the Magnitude of Time Observing the first Rule in the Times the Second in their Vertues 1. Hence it is concluded that the most powerful Conjunction and the most durable is that of the Head of Aries of the Eighth Sphere with the Head of Aries of the Ninth Sphere because it is but once in Thirty six Thousand Years And in this Conjunction it is manifest that all the Signs of the Eighth Sphere do agree to those of the Ninth and that all the Stars of the Eighth Sphere contribute their Powers So likewise all the Planets because their Absides are moved by the Motion of the Eighth Sphere and for that the Ecliptique-lines are joyned to one another unto which the Planets have a Respect both in regard of the Sun's Motion and the Motion of Latitude also 2. The Second is the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the Sign of Aries that is the Circuit from Aries to Aries which is but once in Seven hundred ninety five Years regard being had to the change of the Trigon 3. The change of the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter from one Trigon to another which happens in One hundred ninety nine Years and proceeds according to the Succession of Signs viz. from the first Trigon of Aries into the second Trigon of Taurus thence into the Trigon of Gemini and then into that of Cancer after which it returns to the first Trigon 4. The Return of Saturn to the beginning of Aries in the space of Thirty Years 5. The Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter once in every Twenty Years 6. The Return of Jupiter to the beginning of Aries perfected at the end of Twelve Years 7. The Conjunction of Mars and Jupiter in Twenty seven Months 8. The Conjunction of the Sun and Mars in Twenty six Months 9. The Conjunction of Mars and Saturn in Twenty five Months 10. The Circuit of Mars in Twenty three Months 11. The Conjunction of the Sun and Jupiter every Fourteen Months 12. The Conjunction of the Sun and Saturn every Thirteen Months 13. The Circuit of the Sun in Twelve Months And what is said of the Sun as to his own Circuit and his Conjunction with the Superiour Planets must be understood also of Venus and Mercury In like manner what shall be said touching the Conjunction of the Moon with the Sun must be understood also of the Conjunction of the Moon with Venus and Mercury 14. The Conjunction of Venus with the Sun in Ten Months or Two hundred ninety two Days 15. The Conjunction of Mercury with the Sun in two Months or in Fifty and eight Days 16. The Conjunction of the Moon with the Sun in twenty nine Days and ten Hours a Lunar Month. 17. The Revolution of the Moon in twenty seven Days and eight Hours 18. The Return of any Planet or Fixed Star or Place of Conjunction to the Ascendant or Circle of the Mid-heaven which hath as much force as the Ingress of the same Star into the first Point of Aries And this is demonstrable by the third Rule which is this Every Star that hath much Power per se as is the Rarity of the Event for this was but even now demonstrated and this Rarity in gradu is always a Three hundred and sixtieth part Therefore if the Star be the same and Rarity the same it is as much to have that Star in the degree of the Ascendant which happens every day and is called the Diurne Circuit as that the same Star should enter the first Point of Aries Now I will shew that Rarity is the same For like as every day that Degree continues but only four Minutes of time in the Ascendant So Saturn remains the space of a Month ferè in the first degree of Aries And thus notwithstanding the Ingress of Saturn into Aries can be but once in Thirty Years and Saturn in the Ascendant but once every day yet because he remains in the Ascendant but for a Moment viz. Four Minutes of an Hour which are the three hundred and sixtieth part of a Day and the whole Circuit and in the first degree of Aries the space of a Month which is also the three hundred and sixtieth part of Thirty Years Circuit It is evident that it is as Rare to have Saturn in the degree of the Ascâ—ndant as in the fâ—rst degree of Aries The same may be demonstrated concerning the Moon and the Great Conjunctions of the Hâ—ad of Aries of the Eighth Sphâ—â—e with the Head of Aâ—iâ—s of the Ninth For although it happen but once in Thirty six thousand Years yet because the Head of Aries of the Eighth Sphere continues in the first degree of Aries in the Ninth and every Fixed Star of the Eighth in one degree of the Ninth Sphere the space of a Hundred Years 't is plain that it is as Rare to have the Head of Aries in the Ascendant whether of the Eighth or Ninth Sphere as that any one is Born at the time of that Conjunction viz. Of the Head of the Eighth Sphere with the Head of the Ninth in the same Degree And so of the rest wherein a regard must be had of the Circuit because one Term remaineth Fixed The like I prove of Those in which the Terms are both moveable and as is manifest for Example in the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter which although it falls out but once in Twenty Years yet remain joyned for the space of the 360 th part of the Circuit that is to say for more than Twenty Days the like of all others And the Reason is the same concerning the Circuit and Corporal Conjunction in respect of one of those Stars in the Cuspe of the Ascendant and Mid-heaven Whence it follows That even all Conjunctions whether of the Planets amongst themselves or of the Fixed Stars in respect of the same distance suppose of one Degree or ten Minutes or in the very same Minute are of the same Vertue according to their Rarity yea and according to their Power or Strength in respect of Rarity but yet not in respect of the Stars that be in Conjunction For that as but now was said the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter can do more than the Conjunction of Mars and Jupiter and much more the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter than of Venus and Mercury in the same distance in regard of their Bodies And so likewise the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the same degree be it in what place soever of a Nativity may do more than if Saturn or Jupiter only were in the degree of the Ascendant or
mid-Mid-heaven not of Rarity For as to this they are of equal Power as was before demonstrated But for that Reason that the Planets are joyn'd they do conduplicate their Power by the second Rule And hence another thing follows viz. That some Conjunction of Venus and Mercury shall be far more Powerful than the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter or of the Sun and Moon Because the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter or of the Sun and Moon may be in the same degree only and the Conjunction of Venus and Mercury Corporeal I call that a Corporeal Conjunction when the Planets are not more distant one from another than the Aggregate of their Semi-diameters as Venus and Mercury not farther than Eight Minutes in Longitude and so Venus from the Moon not above Twenty three Minutes And if such a Conjunction be made also in respect of Latitude it will be far more effectual and valid Nevertheless the Latitude doth not so much as the difference in Longitude because the distance of Latitude impedeth not but that both the Stars may be moved in the same Circle passing by the Poles of the Zodiack And the greatest distance that can be of two Planets in Latitude is betwixt Mars and Venus viz. When Mars is in the utmost extremity of his Southern Latitude and Venus in the like of her Northern Latitude for then they are distant fourteen degrees and a half A Second way whereby the Conjunction of Venus and Mercury may be greater than the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter I omit then what they might be with some Fixed Star or in the beginning of Aries and with Saturn and Jupiter in the end of Virgo for that were to multiply the Conjunction and make it Triple as for Example this Venus and Mercury may be in the Degree of the Ascendant and Saturn and Jupiter in the end of the second House And this by the third Rule A Third manner is That in One Nativity wherein Venus and Mercury are conjoyn'd they may be Lords of the Ascendant In another wherein Saturn and Jupiter are joyned neither of them may have any Power at all in the Ascendant as when the tenth Degree of Virgo or Taurus Ascendeth or but very little as when the tenth of Leo Ascendeth where only Jupiter hath but the Dignity of a Trigon and especially if the Nativity be by Day A Fourth Mode is if whilst Venus is joyn'd to Mercury a Comet should appear in the Heavens or that the Sun and Moon be in Conjunction the rather if there be an Eclipse for then also because it may not behold the Place this Conjunction of Venus and Mercury shall be more Powerful than the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter wherewith none of these great Causes happeneth And Note That there are six great Causes in Heaven The First is the Conjunction of the Ecliptiques of the Eighth and Ninth Spheres and of the Heads of Aries thereof for this excelleth all the rest The Second a Comet which confounds both Sea and Land and all things else The Third an Eclipse which for the most part troubles and disturbs one certain and determinate kind of Creatures The Fourth is the Conjunction of the Luminaries whereby all moist things are governed Therefore the Seas Crabs Fishes Diseases Fâ—ll'd or Lopped Wood and the like The Fifth is the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in what place soever it chanceth whereby Laws Empires and Regions are Governed The Sixth and Last the Conjunction of the Luminaries with the Fixed Stars whereof the Solar Conjunctions govern the Winds the Lunar the Seas 19. The Nineteenth Conjunction is that of Venus and Mercury which may be called Irregular for that it hath no certain Circuit Yet is there one assigned the same being Collected and Divided from many Conjunctions and this is called the Mean Circuit of Five Months and three Days or thereabouts 20. The Twentieth is the Transits of the Absides out of one Sign into another which is in the space of about Three thousand Years some say Four Thousand others Twelve hundred and another sort Sixteen hundred But it is not as yet determined in what time precisely the Apogaeon absolves one Sign nor consequently one Degree as Petavius hath Observed and therefore I forbear any Judgments thereon A Brief Account of the Causes of Earthquakes THere are Four Causes of Earthquakes as admitted and owned by Philosophers and Naturalists viz. Efficient Material Formal Final The Efficient Cause of all Earthquakes is the Heat of the Sun and therewithal the Subterranean Fires assisted by the Astringent Qualities of the three Superiour Planets The Material Cause is the Spirit or Vapour confin'd within the Bowels of the Earth striving to break out The Formal Cause the concussion of the Earth and the Agitation of the Vapours and Exhalations therein inclosed The Final Cause is a Sign of an Angry God justly provoked by the Scarlet Crimes or a Sinfâ—l People according to that of King David Commota est contremuit Terra fundamenta Montinuâ— conturbata sunt commota sunt quoniam iratus est eis i. e. The Earth shook and trembled the Foundations also of the Hills moved and were shaken Because He was wroth 2. Of their Species ARistotle Lib. 2. cap. 8. de Meteor maketh only two Species of them viz. Tremor and Palsus a Trembling and Beating or Thrusting Others have added a Third which they call Hyatus a Gaping Rending or Cleaving of the Earth Many more there are whereof you may Read in Pliny Seneca Possidonius Fromundus and others I willingly omit them 3. Of their Antecedentia THE Antecedentia or Signs preceding Earthquakes are Calmness and Tranquillity of the Air Dimness of the Sun a more than ordinary quietude and Solitariness of Birds Nevertheless a Raging of the Seas Putrefaction and Troubledness of the Waters of Pits and Wells of any Depth Great Noise and hideous sounds under Ground resembling groans and which is more the very Thunder 4. Of their Consequentia AND now the Consequentia or Effects of Earthquakes the which I only aim at are 1. Ruine of Buildings and the Destruction of many People as you may see in Lanquet and Eusebius their Chronologies Tacitus Lib. 2. Fromund Lib. 4. Meteor 2. The Conversion of Plain Fields into Mountains and the raising of Islands in the Sea as Thia Therasia Delos Rhodes and others 3. The Levelling of Mountains sinking of Islands and other Grounds as Helice and Buris So likewise of the Earth which once was where now is only that deep Pit in the County of Durham commonly called Hell-Kettles in the 24 of Henry 2 d. 4. The driving away or cutting the Neck of some Isthmus from the Continent For thus saith Seneca was Sicily divided from Calabria Spain from Africk and if Verstegan say true Britain from France 5. The Translation of Mountains Buildings Trees c. from one place to another As that did a whole Town in Lumbardy in the Reign of Henry the First And that other