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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37977	Cometomantia, A discourse of comets shewing their original, substance, place, time, magnitude, motion, number, colour, figure, kinds, names, and more especially, their prognosticks, significations and presages ... : where also is inserted an essay of judiciary astrology, giving satisfaction to this grand question, whether any certain judgments and predictions concerning future events, can be made from the observation of the heavenly bodies : both occasioned by the appearance of the late comets in England and other places.	Edwards, John, 1637-1716.	1684 (1684)	Wing E199; ESTC R1452	91,449	318

shone in the close of this great Monarch's Reign Upon the rising of which new Light in the Heavens he asked what it foretold Imagining what indeed happened and is often foresignified by such Apparitions that his Death was near at hand Eginardus with whom he held conference at that time a great Philosopher and his Secretary who writ this Prince's Life answered him more like a Divine than a Philosopher in those words of Scripture which I just now descanted upon Be not dismayed at the Signs of Heaven To which the Emperour replied that he was not dismayed at such kind of Signs but feared and reverenced the Powerfull Cause and Divine Framer of them who being incensed with Anger against a People or Prince is wont by these to admonish them of his Wrath and to call them to Repentance that they may avoid it And this is the sum of all that I have said concerning the Presages of Comets Sixthly and Lastly It is objected that if Comets be significative and portentous then there is as much Reason to believe that the other Heavenly Bodies as the Planets and the fixed Luminaries and their several Motions and Aspects are so too and by this means we open a door to all the superstitious Observations and groundless Prognostications of Iudiciary Astrology whereby some men pretend to divine the greatest Events that shall happen and to foretell the Fate of Kingdoms and Common-wealths Having delivered my Sentiments freely and impartially concerning those great and glaring Lights and their Presages which I undertook chiefly to treat of it remaineth now that in Answer to this Objection I do with the same freedom present you with my thoughts concerning the Iudiciary part of that Noble Science of Astrology and that I enquire whether there can be any real Presaging from the ordinary Bodies of Heaven as the Sun Moon and Stars and what insight into futurities any man of Reading Study and Observation may gain by being acquainted with their Motions I know very well that it is the humour of Writers to oppose and flatly deny all that their Adversaries say and to run counter with every Proposition they lay down and for no other Reason oftentimes than because they are theirs And the main and onely design of these Persons being this to be victours it is not to be wondred at that they behave themselves after this rate But I having no other design than that Truth onely may have the Victory will not tread in their steps And indeed it is fond and absurd Custome and such as is unbecoming Rational Minds to hold all or nothing of an Opinion about which the Dispute is raised I am sure if this had not been wilfully kept up there had been an end e'er this of most of the Controversies that trouble the World I will endeavour therefore to silence and compose this Quarrel which I am now entring upon by going another way to work namely by fairly granting something that I may more impregnably hold the rest How zealous are some in discarding the whole Host of Heaven from influencing in the least on things here below even the meanest Occurrences of Man's Life They think they are bound to run down all the orders of Heavenly Bodies at once The Sun say they which is the greatest Luminary hath no way to act but by its Light and Heat and its business is onely with the Earth Minerals Plants and mere Animals The Moon and the rest of the Planets are heavy dull things they cannot doe more than the Earth that being as good a Planet as any of them and the Earth influenceth as much on them as they upon it The fixed Stars are too far off besides that the Situation of them is ever the same And thus they are all uncapable of doing any feats in this lower World wherein we live But I must declare for my part that I look upon this as too high and ranting I am willing to grant that the Heavenly Bodies Act on Things and Persons on Earth and that they are likewise Signs and yet this is no prejudice to our fore-established Doctrine To prove this let us look into the first Creation and Institution of the Heavenly Bodies and there it is most likely we shall find the true Ends and Vses of them And these are no less than five according to the Authentick and Canonical Account which is given of them in Gen. 1. 14. c. I will not set them down in the order they are in there yet I will be exact in the enumerating of them The First End of them is to give Light upon the Earth v. 15. that Men may see how to dispatch their Affairs with Ease and Chearfulness An ineffable Blessing certainly and such as the wisest man takes particular notice of when he saith Truly the Light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the Eyes to behold the Sun Eccl. 11. 7. Of this the Learned Jew speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What were these glittering Lights set up for unless it were for the service of the Eyes to see by them A Second Use of these Luminaries is to be for Seasons v. 14. Those Commentatours that interpret it of the Season of Weather shew that they attend not to the genuine sense of the Original Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the true meaning is That those Heavenly Luminaries were appointed for distinction of Times and Seasons whether they be for Natural Civil or Religious Affairs Thus among the Jews the Feasts of the New-moons and Sabbaths and other sacred Solemnities depended on the Returns and Courses of these Bodies And still the orderly Service of God is kept up by observing the First Day of the Week and other Periods of Time either expressed by the first Founder of the Christian Religion or laudably constituted by the Church Understand here also other Seasons and Opportunities viz. of several Professions and Employments in the Life of Man Husbandmen learn hence to plow sow plant lop Trees c. according to the right Season of which you may reade in Virgil's Georgicks and Hesiod's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as the Luminaries of Heaven are usefull in Husbandry so are they no less in Navigation to direct Mariners to guide their Vessels with safety and Success 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What but the knowledge of the Periodical motions and revolutions of the Stars opened and shewed the way to Seamen in so many vast and spacious Seas And not only the Husbandman and Mariner but the Masters of Medicks gratefully acknowledge those Luminaries to be for Seasons Hippocrates and Galen assert the usefulness nay the necessity of Astrology in Physick They acquaint us that Diseases are rendred critical by such and such Returns of Planets and according to this they give directions at what Seasons to administer Medicines Marcilius Ficinus that Noble Platonick Philosopher and Physician wrote a Piece de Medicina Astrologiae jungenda Fernelius

and the fatal end Of some great Warriors who are wont to call And by bold Actions court their sudden Fall I conclude this Rank of Authours with that plain Determination of some Ancient Sage now scarce known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There never yet a Comet shone But evil followed thereupon But perhaps it will be said that Poets are a fancyfull sort of People and for that Reason are not much to be heeded They talk of Men and Women turn'd into Stars and indeed they have a gift of Extolling persons to Heaven when they please They will make a Head of Hair a Constellation as they did Berenice's and what will they not then doe with the Shagged Locks of a Comet We know what they have done in that Case they have represented them as they ought fierce and terrible and though they cloath their matter in verse yet they are as serious as any prose If it be said that they speak according to the sense of the Vulgar whom it is their work to please and therefore are the less to be attended to I answer for them and my self together that though I do not find my self inclined to be led by Popular Humour and Caprice yet I see no reason to reject and explode an Opinion because it is Common and hath had the General Suffrage of Mankind to vouch it This should rather prompt us to embrace it with the greater Seriousness and induce us to believe that what hath thus gained the Universal Vogue of the World is certainly founded on some clear Deductions of Reason which are Common to the whole Race of Men. But I will pass from the Poets to Others who are thought to be of Profounder Judgments Expect now no Fancies and Raptures but solid and judicious Determinations To begin with the great Oratour and Philosopher he backeth the Prince of Poets acquainting us that in the Civil War between Octavius Augustus and Mark Anthony it was observed that Comets were the Harbingers of the Miseries that then befell them Stellae quas Graeci Cometas nostri Cincinnatas vocant nuper bello Octaviano magnarum fuerunt Calamitatum praenunciae Cicero l. 2. de Nat. Deor. And in the same place he leaveth this serious Memoire for Posterity to consider of That this is a Truth which hath been confirmed by various Examples many of which he instances in from All Antiquity Next let us hear the two Excellent Natural Philosophers who writ purposely of Comets if I may once again bring them in to testifie in this Cause after I have done it so often A Comet saith Pliny l. 2. c. 25. is Terrificum magna ex parte sidus ac non Leviter piatum A Star so he calleth it which in a huge manner terrifies and astonishes the World and never goes off without great Mischief And he sheweth the Truth and Experience of this in the foregoing Age and in his own Take Seneca's Thoughts in those few but plain words Nat. Qu. l. 7. c. 17. Cruenti quidam Minaces qui Omen post se futuri sanguinis serunt Some Comets he would have said All but that his Master Nero was not to be offended as you shall perceive afterwards are very cruel and threaten us with the worst of Mischiefs they bring with them and leave behind them the seeds of Bloud and Slaughter Next let us look into a few Historians and see whether they were of the same Mind The Comet which was seen in Nero's time is thus mentioned by one that writes his Life Stella Crinita quae summis Potestatibus exitium portendere vulgò putatur But this being an Account onely of the vulgar Opinion let us hear him speak his ownsense which he doth in another place thus Praesagia mortis ejus praecipua fuerunt exortus Crinitae stellae quam Cometen vocant The chief and most Considerable Presage of the Emperour Claudius his Death was a Comet which was observed to rise in the Heavens The Ecclesiastical Historian gives us this Note upon Gainas that bloudy Arian his Beseiging Constantinople 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So great was the danger which hung over the City that it was presignified and portented by a huge Comet that reached from Heaven to Earth the like to which no man ever saw before What saith another in his Relation of a Comet which appeared before the Death of Iohannes Tzimiscas the Emperour of the East 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It foreshewed the Death of the Emperour and those immediate Calamities which were to befall the Roman Dominions by reason of their Civil Wars And of a wonderfull large Comet that was seen in the Reign of Constantine Sirnamed Monomachus he speaketh thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It Portended Calamities that were to befall the World in a short time after Shall I set down here the memorable Words of Anna Comnena that Learned Lady the Daughter of Alexius the Greek Emperour whose Life she writ and call'd it Alexias She speaking of a great Comet that was taken notice of before the breaking in of the Galls upon them thus delivereth her sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This happened saith she by the usual Administration of Providence in such cases for it was not fit that so great and strange an Alteration of things as was brought to pass by that coming of theirs should be without some previous Denunciation and Admonishment from Heaven Alexiad l. 12. And this Noble Female Historian tells us that all the Enquiry then of Spectatours was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What Evils doth this New Light in the Heavens come to warn us of What strange Tidings doth this Messenger from above arrive with Let me adjoin the remarkable words of Machiavel that great Master of History and Policy who thus speaks of Comets Vt ut se res habeat Experientiâ certè compertum habemus talia signa sequi solere magnos aliquos Motus However it cometh to pass so it is that we have it vouched by Experience that some great commotions are the consequents of such Signs as these Disp. l. 1. c. 56. Now I will produce professed Mathematicians and Astronomers who have maintained the Presage of Comets And not to name Claudius Ptolemaeus the Prince of Astrologers who flourished about 135 Years after Christ and settled this Doctrine in the 98 99 and 100 Aphorisms of his Centiloquium I will onely make use of such as are Enemies to the Judiciary part of Astrology and some of whom have professedly writ against it Such a one was the admirable Tycho Brahe who yet denieth not the Presage of Comets It being irrational saith he to think that God and Nature shew these unusual Lights to no purpose and that they are of no use to the World and accordingly he sets down his Conjectures and Prognostications of the New Appearances then in the Heavens Onely he condemns those who are peremptory and imagine their Conjectures to be infallible and in the close of the first Tome

some time or other but not be drowned because forsooth Fishes swim Cardinal Signs possessing the Angles of a Nativity make the Person most eminent and famous in his Generation saith the same Artist the greatest Actions of the World depending on the Cardinal Points of the Heavens viz. Aries Cancer Libra Capricorn Thus Tullius Cicero Gustavus Adolphus late King of Sweden Archbishop Laud and Oliver Cromwell are they not well suited by him had the Cardinal Points upon the Angles of their Nativities Peter Gassendus poor Man because he writ against Judiciary Astrology and checked and confuted the Art of Genitures hath all things naught in his Nativity His ill habit of Body and worser if this Censor is to be credited of Mind is plainly to be seen in the Heavens Never was wretch so bespattered by Man of Art What work would this man make with the Nativity of the worthy Dr. Henry More if he could get a sight of it He would reade his Life and all his Writings in it at the first view He would make the Lord of his Ascendent plainly shew him to be a Retired Melancholick Collegian all his days a Philosopher and particularly of the Platonick Sect and which is as ugly a thing as can be in any Man's Geniture a professed Adversary of the Church of Rome and all its Corruptions Thus but more grievously he should smart for writing against dear Vrania for daring to insert his Confutation of Judiciary Astrology into the Mystery of Godliness and for Printing it lately by it self But look you now because Vincent Wing published a piece against Gassendus wherein this excellent Person 's Objections against Astrology are pretended to be answered and was himself a Well-willer and Brother Philomathemat his Nativity hath all things good and laudable in it But then again he tells us that William Lilly his Enemy though Fellow Astrologer had the Moon in Pisces a Wet and Drinking Sign which made him a piece of a Good Fellow But I am weary of such light and ludicrous Stuff and have more serious and weighty matter to set before the Reader Onely from this it appeareth that Astrological Observations and Genethliacal Judgments are oftentimes the products of a capricious and fancifull and as you see here of a spightfull and malitious Brain And for this Reason as well as some Others particularly because these Men have undertaken to calculate the Nativity of Buildings as well as of Humane Bodies of hard Stones no less than of soft Flesh the most Learned and Judicious Astrologers have not asserted the Doctrine of Genitures although in other things they have defended Astrological Judgments Thus I have searched into those feigned Hypothese and fallacious Principles on which a great part of Judiciary Astrology is founded And though I do not think the Whole Art is rendred altogether vain and useless by them yet I assure my self that there can be no true Predictions from any thing that is false in any Art and for that Reason the Common Astrologers ought not to be confident of their Undertakings and those that consult them may justly suspect their performances Fourthly These Pretenders to Astrology go beyond the wisest Patriarchs and Founders of their Art they exceed the limits of their Science and the Sentence is passed against them by their own Judges I will name onely two of them but they are the chiefest and of the greatest Renown The first is Ptolemy the Prince of Astrology whose first and leading Aphorism is this That generals onely can be foretold by this Art and that those alone who are Divinely inspired are able to predict particular Events An Astrologer may tell the Propension and Inclination of a Man from his Natural Temperament and this from the Stars but he cannot from that general Inclination tell what determinate Effects will ensue He ought to content himself with a general Judgment and not to be definitive in special Cases in particular and individual Accidents This is the Decision of the great Father of Astrologers What then becomes of their Horary Questions which descend even to the most particular and Personal Affairs What Resolution is to be expected of the Queries about the Marriage of such an individual Couple the particular Events of this Seaman's Voyage that Counsellor's Cause this Merchant's Adventure that Soldier 's Engagement the time of the Death of any of these and rather than they will stand out the retrieving of any Neighbour's Silver Spoon lost or stollen Again it is confessed by the same Master and Dictatour of Astrology that the Influence of the Stars is not Necessary and Unavoidable but may be evaded by Mens Industry and Care 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A wise man saith he is able to avert the Effects of the Stars when he knoweth the Nature of them and he adjoineth Socrates as an Example of this who when an Astrologer had told him his Natural Inclinations confessed them true but these saith he are all conquered by Prudence and vertuous Endeavours my Soul hath got the Mastery of my Body Philosophy and Moral Discipline have corrected my Natural Propensions A wise Man hath Dominion over the Stars he subdueth those Motions which come to him from thence and they are Fools onely who are led by them The second great Judge and Rabbi of this Art is that noted Florentine Iunctinus an Authour that Judiciary Astrologers deal very much in and therefore I will alledge four or five set Determinations of his wherein the vanity and I may say Nullity of the common and Irrational way of Astrologizing are discovered and condemned And what he saith is the more observable because I take it out of that Treatise which is intituled The Defence of Astrologers Those Astrologers saith he there who will needs know and predict all kinds of particulars are Fools And in the same place An Astrologer can tell nothing certainly as to such things as concern Man's Will This is often repeated by him Excellently again in the same Treatise The Significations of the Stars are not like the Commands and Edicts of Praetors i. e. necessary and indispensable but are in Subjection to the Command and Will of God And what the Sense of all sober Astrologers is we may learn from those words of his viz. Astrologers do not hold that the Heavens are wholly and altogether the Cause of our Fortunes or Misfortunes but that they act onely according to the Subject Matter which accordingly as it is disposed doth more or less receive the Celestial Influence It might be added that Iunctinus ingenuously confesseth That the Wonders and Miracles of the Old and new Testament being works brought to pass by God himself and not depending on second Causes cannot be foretold by Astrology This is the sense of the two great Dictatours of Judiciary Astrology and all the sober of that Study acquiesce in it Thus though the Hebrew Rabbies several of whom were notable Students and Proficients in Astrology as Aben