this to be the Spirit of their father or Kinsman would instantly go home and confirm those Lands on their Monastery Thus poor Souls they were often deluded by such counterfeit Voices of some subtle Frier or as knavish a Companion of their Fraternity Therefore if there be any in these Days especially old Men and Women that believe the Souls or Spirits of the Dead walk let them but reade the Scriptures and they shall finde it to be most false for that affirms that the Souls of the Good instantly go to Heaven and of the Bad to Hell therefore their Spirits cannot wander Again the Soul that is in Heaven mindes no earthly matter and it was never known that any Soul ever returned out of Hell for the Poets themselves say Nullus reditnrus ab Orco But these images and Tricks of the Friers do but resemble the statues of Negromancers made with great toil and labour For Frier Bacon was many years before he could make his Head speak And the image of Albertus Magnus was to be wondered at which he made in the full and perfect shape of a Man who with the wheels and other Engines that he had cunningly and artificially wrought in it made it speak and pronounce words as distinctly as if they did proceed from a Man indued with Sense and Reason This Statue when Thomas Aquinas was sent into his Chamber where it lay hid heard it speak very articulately which when he heard then looking for it and finding it and viewing it very seriously at last struck it with a Club and brake it all to pieces Which when Albertus heard and saw he cried out and said Thomas thou hast destroyed the Work of thirty years labour and pains Now can any man judge that either Bacon or Albertus made these under any Constellation or that it spake by the influence of any Star if they do they are wretchedly deceived for it was either by a material Engine or the Devil that spake within them brought into them by their Art Therefore we may perswade our selves that all these images made by the Art either of a Frier or Negromancer are unlawfull to be made of them or used of any other But if we must allow any statue or image they must be those of Pasquil and Morphirius on whose breasts were no Lie-Bills as the Popes called them Phil. Camp Medita Cent. but True-Bills of their Villanies statues were of stone and the Verses carved on their breasts were bitter and Satyrical sharply reviling the Sorcery Sodomitry Simony Incest Murther Witchcraft Poysoning and Sacriledge of the Popes and Cardinals whereupon the Gentlemen of Rome wittily said that it was not lawfull for men to speak there vices the stones did proclaim them But Pope Adrian would have taken an order and have them flung into Tyber if Suessanus the Legate of Charles the Emperour who favoured them had not prevented him who said to his Holiness that if they were flung into Tyber the Crocodiles and Rats and other monstrous Serpents would catch them and sing them To which Answer some report the holy Father stood as mute as one of his Cardinals Mules but some report that he began to be angry at Suessanus Answer and in a rage suddenly said that he would have them burnt to whom the Legate wittily replied again saying If you burn these images their Ashes will not be blown through the City but into other Countries so that the people will take occasion to celebrate and reverence those Ashes for the writing sake and so it will come to pass that they being dispersed through the world the sins of Rome will generally be known to all Nations At this second Answer his Holiness was more perplexed then before and seeing he could do no good either by Drowning or Burning he bid them stand in the Devils Name But I have made too long a Digression therefore I will return again to our Negromancers and now I have spoken of their images I will breifly and plainly lay open the viperous Generation of Negromancy which are Idolatry Divination and vain observation with all the hellish brood that proceeds from them The damnable Offspring of Negromancy I Dolatry is a divine worship attributed to idols which idols are statues or images which the Gentiles worshipped with divine honour believing there was some Divinity in them by reason of their Answers and wonderfull Effects the Devil wrought in them Such were the images of Hermes Tresmegistus otherwise called Mercury in which they did believe that by a kinde of Art the Souls of Devils and Angels were included under a certain Constellation which Divinity and Natural Philosophy doth reprehend for they hold that a Spirit cannot possibly be vegitable or can substantially inform artificial Bodies For the Soul as Aristotle saith De Anima is an Act of a natural Body not artificial for a man cannot by any matter as Herbs Wood Stone Words or Constellation expell a good or bad Spirit or being call'd that it can come presently and dwell in an idol because corporal things cannot by any natural order have any operation in incorporal things There have been some of the Gentiles that have not onely attributed divine honour to statues and images but believed them to be Gods for some virtue or magnitude of their Acts these statues represented as to Jupiter Hercules Venus and the rest and other Monsters of this kinde Also they did not onely honour corporal but incorporal things as intelligences Angels and the souls of heavenly bodies which they call Aeria Animalia and they did not separate the Souls of men from divine honour which is most devilish This kinde of idolatry at these daies is used among our Antagomsis the Papists for they pray to Iron Wood Gold Silver and wooden images that have neither sight feeling sense life or operation in them have as small influence in them after they are made either by the Carver or Gold-smiths hand as they had when they first were in a massie lump either in the Tree or Mine The second Daughter of Superstition is Divination by which our Astrologers miserably labour to know of future things Lib. 8. Eâ—ym either good or bad These are they I sidorus saith report themselves to be full of Divination who by craft and device foretell of things to come by the effects which proceed upon necessity from Causes unless they are especially hindred of God certainly proceeding from the cause of Nature as the Eclipse of the Sun and the Moon and the Effects which proceed from these Causes may be foretold of by as probable conjecture as well as a Mariner may foretell of a Storm that will arise by a dark Cloud that is either before or behinde him Have not many old women told by the unhappy conditions of a Boy that he would be hang'd and hath it not fallen out right Have not many grave Matrons foretold that young wanton Lasses would prowe Wag tails and hath
his third Book of the soul Now no bodily thing can make an impression upon an incorporeal thing Whence it follows that IT IS IMPOSSIBLE THAT THE HEAVENLY BODIES CAN DIRECTLY MAKE AN IMPRESS VPON THE VNDERSTANDING AND THE WILL. For this were to make the understanding not to differ from sense From whence it follows that the heavenly bodies cannot be a cause per se of the actings of free will yet may they disposingly incline to this so farr as they impress upon mans body and by consequence upon the sensitive powers which are acts of the corporal organs which incline to humane acts Yet because THE SENSITIVE POWERS ARE OBEDIENT TO REASON as appears by the Philosopher in his 3. book of the soul and in his 1. book of Manners NO NECESSITY HEREBY IS IMPOSED UPON THE SPONTANEOUS WILL BUT A MAN CAN ACT CONTRARY TO THE INCLINATION OF THE CELESTIAL BODIES BY THE POWER OF HIS REASON Therefore IF ANY MAN shall make use of the CONSIDERATION OF THE STARRS to foreknow CASUAL or CONTINGENT EVENTS or also to know with certainty the FUTURE WORKS OF MEN this proceedeth from a false and vain opinion and so the OPERATION OF THE DEVIL INTERMINGLES IT SELF from whence the divination is SUPERSTITIOUS AND UNLAWFULL Thus farr Aquinas on whom commenting we have learned and profound Cajetan to boot Et ex his patet saith Cajetan quomodo intelligendum est c. that is By these it is apparent how we must understand that celestial bodies are not over-ruling our elections or free chusings and voluntary acts and how the consultation of Astrologers about the Nativities of men c. are condemned For if these things be applied for a certainty of knowledge of contingencies or which is the same thing if we must use such a figure of the Nativity c. as a law they are diabolical and condemned And this Austin intends in his fourth book of his Confessions But if they be onely to attain a conjecture of natural inclinations they are not evil With all know that albeit some truth may be had out of those things yet THE WAY OR MANNER OF THE CONJECTURE IS SO WEAK THAT IT IS SCARCELY A CONJECTURE And this because of humane ignorance of the greatest of Causes both Celestial and next Causes For the whole of that we know in these kinde of the things doth not deserve to be called A Part how small soever of those things we are ignorant of concerning the same as in relation to us and still daily are so ignorant untill the whole compleat course of heavenly bodies be once gone over Because the Starrs are unknown to us how they are one towards another and their motion is not compleated untill six and thirty thousand years be over I say that daily there is a new situation of the starry Heaven which situation yet hath never been considered unto which the Planets and Starrs being referred who can tell what causality they are clothed with or how they cause change or destroy I mention not the Calculation of Motions because perhaps it is impossible to have Instruments exactly to know the rising and setting of Starrs as I hear it from the Astrologers themselves As for W. R. alleadging Moses and Daniel he deserves rather a Ferula then an answer because the Doctour hath fully answered that those Saints were not judiciary Astrologers so that William could not here give us any solid reply William Ramsey's proof in this Section that Judiciary Astrology is not condemned by the Word of God is onely his passing his Word for it which is worth nothing for how unable he is to keep his Word will appear after His alleadging that God shews Blazing Starrs onely to Astrologers is a gross untruth confuted by thousands of the vulgar yet alive in England who saw the Blazing Starr many nights that appeared afore the Swedish Warrs in Germany For what hinders but Shepheards Sailers Watchmen c. illiterates should perceive that which is obvious to the common eyes of mankinde and distinguish a Comet from a Starr by his nearness motion and his feather or long tail And just as William proves here Judicial Astrology not to be condemned by the Word of God just so and no wiselier doth he prove it not impugned by Councils namely by bare facing it down with a bold forehead whiles that Councils to the contrary are in his sight that of necessity the Art must be allowed by Councils yet in the same place professeth his contempt of Councils if they be not of his minde Is this Williams proof of the lawfulness of Astrology by Councils To one of those Councils alleadged by the Doctour for he alleadged two in his Demonology and might have done more Will. can say nothing To the other he hoped he could W. Ram. is shamefully out in his LATIN See before in this Section at * but hath miserably disgraced himself in not construing a plain piece of Latin right For the words of the Council as Will. Ram. reports them Si quis animas corpora humana fatal bus stellis credit adstringi sicut Pagani Priscillianus dixerunt Anathema sit are according to true Grammar thus to be rendered If any one doth beleive the Souls and Bodies of Men to be bound to or necessitated by fatal Starrs as the Pagans and the Priscillâ—anists do let him be accursed So that if you compare Will. Ram. interpretation with this which is close according to the Latin you shall finde that he did not onely leave out something because it might prejudice him but which is the thing I mainly insist upon he doth interpret the Latin most falsely in the main thing which condemns any with Anathema that shall believe that the Starrs have a necessitating power over mens Bodies and Souls which in plain English is to believe the Astrologers to say true who in their practise so teach and by that undertake to predict humane events by their Judicial Astrology For the Philosophers Stone he hath little cause to call it Blessed seeing the attempts about it have undone Will. Ramseys father Testis M. Rowl Minister who lies in Prison by it Though the late King bore with his father defeating him of his expectation and of scores of pounds yet other men will not cannot bear such wrongs Nor hath Will. Ram. so blessed himself with his father skill and the Philosophers Stone as to enrich themselves and deliver him To his large alleadging the honour and antiquity of Astrology a brief answer will serve viz. 1. That till Will. Ramsey or his associates do produce some true Christians whiles such to have been practisers of Judicial Astrology all his instances amount but to the Proverb Ask my Fellows whether I be a Thief or to a self contradiction For the Astrologers W. R. W.L. c. when they see their advantage inveigh against godly and learned Ministers with the name of Priests and H.H. Vox coelorum in the behalf of Astrology saith
truch and reason on their side Will. Ramsey being JVDGE For that 's the Genuine result of his speech And by consequence if all the Learned men in the world beside Astrologers should condemn Astrology Will. would slight them as he doth in his Book because he judgeth them not to speak according to truth and reason To W. R. his first Section of his second Chapter a word will serve viz. onely to intreat Will. that so calls on others for consideration that he himself would consider that Tostatus or Doctour Willet doth not educe those words at A out of the text Levit. 19. But are his liberty of expatiating upon unlawfull Arts in generall and therein to declare his judgement concerning unlawfull predictions Tostatus and Doctour Willet had more wit then to take a text of Familiar Spirits to confute Astrology Though some Astrologers are not free from Familiarity with such And B. C. proves an implicite complyance Thus much onely hath given such a blow to Will. Ramseys first Section that the whole Fabrick of it falls to the ground in the eyes of them that will understand To his second Section and first to that Will. saith and so labours to prove that Stars are Causes the Doctour denies it not though that man of vast learning Mars Ficinus a famous Platonick Philosopher in his works hath a Tract against it 2. To Williams catching at the word CONJECTV RING of and concerning things which are naturall causes as of alteration of weather c. experience daily and evidently doth tell all men that have eyes to read Almanacks and to see the weather that how naturall and necessary soever the causes may be the Astrologers predictions of it are but conjecturing and daily prove false Yet neither Doctour Willet nor Doctour Homes do move the question touching the thing which commonly is called Naturall Aftrology And therefore as they do not justifie Judiciall so they do not condemn naturall touching weather c. and therefore Will. is at the Labour-in-vain uttering nothing against the Doctour for me to take cognizance of till he mentions S. Austins referring us as Will. saith to the study of Astrology in his Annotations on Job chapter 38. v. 31. But how untruly W. R. reports Saint Austine let S. Austines words testifie which are Intellexisti nexus Pleiades c. Num Astrologia perscrutenda est ad cognoscendum proprietates istorum Syderum ut hunc locum intelligere possimus Miror et si hoc congruit sermoni nostro c. Where S. Austine asks the question whether we need search Astrology to understand that place And wonders if that should agree to his speech elsewhere And in the conclusion interprets the place of morall not naturall things Omnium saith S. Austine it a syderum nomine omnes in ecclesia tales intelligend sunt qui conversationem habent in coelis c. But the Doctour is not against the thing of naturall Astrology but 't is judiciall Astrology and the calling of predicting of naturall effects by naturall causes by the name of Astrology that the Doctour is against and therefore Will. Ramsey in his discourse of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea of thunder rain snow c. is again at the Labour-in-vain or at a combat with his own shadow and so goes on to the end of the second Section For Will. Ramsey miserably mistakes to say Doctour VVillet denyed the Stars to be signs or causes as to naturall effects which the Doctour expresly granted a little afore and as meanly doth VVill. Viz. Ex varierate causae c. and Ex unitate causae c. go off of Doctour VVillets Two mighty reasons against signs of humane events and speaks not one pertinent word to them Let the Reader compare and judge in the thing Quem penes arbitrium est et vis et norma loquendi To VVill. R. third Section being a great body with little soul in it as was Doctour Ames his Character of Bellarmines works Moles absque nervis I need not add much to the substance of what D. Homes hath sayed For let me but tell VVill. Ramsey that he hath not fairly repeated Doctour Homes touching Keckerman and he must needs be non-plus't in his quibble It was the fault of the Devil he quoted not the whole period of the Scripture he alleadged And certainly the Astrologer is not blamelesse in his curt quoting the Doctour whose words you may see afore are That Keckerman a most learned Philosopher and a Christian although he favours some things which men now a dayes call Astrolology did not in all his two great volumes in folio of the Arts and Sciences set forth any Astrology BVT IN HIS VVORKS HATH THESE PASSAGES AGAINST IT c. Now this last clause here in capitall letters are left out by VVilliam Ramsey to the immediate ruine of all he saith till he come to MANENT TAMEN a fresh matter Yea if that Capitall clause had not been in it had been good Logick and reason to say what the Doctour concludes That Keckerman handling of purpose of the main body of Arts and Sciences and among them all the reall Mathematicks and leaving out Astrology doth shew that Keckerman was rather against then for Astrology Or that Keckerman did think there was no such lawfull Science Even as if Moses of purpose had set himself to handle all Pneumatology i.e. a System of Spirits and Souls and handling of the Souls of Animals and of the Souls or Spirits of men and of the Holy spirit had quite left out the doctrine of Angels it would well have inferred there were no Angels But the whole Bible is not a System but a graduall discovery of truths according to the growth of the Church with explications and repetitions And though Moses included the creation of the Angels in the creation of the Heavens as Will. Cousin Philosopher acutely well observes in his Enchiridion Physicae restitutae but expresseth them not that as Divines observe the sons of men might not dream the concurrence of Angels in the Creation till Gen. 18. and afterwards much that was enough to clear it Moses owned the being and Doctrine of Angels But Keckerman from first to last doth not approve of the thing and doctrine of Judiciall Astrology Now for VVil. answer to Keckerman's MANENT TAMEN c. i.e. The Stars abide c. unto Cometis in genere which you have here inserted out of the Doctours Demologie word for word let the understanding Reader judge 1. Whether VVill. Ramsey hath confuted it 2. Whether the Doctour by the rule of reason or Art was bound to argue out Keckermans assertions seeing he alledgeth him onely as a particular example of one learned man among others that was against Astrology 3. Whether VVill. doth not evidently contradict himself in saying That the words of Keckerman are as much as comes to nothing and yet presently labours but in vain to confute them For Keckerman doth not say That
farther from us For another Constellation in superiour parts doth vary hinder and diminish the operation of Heaven in inferiour parts the disposition of the matter But suppose the influences of Constellations may be understood yet they are not sufficiently made manifest as may appear to him that reades the many doubts that arise about Astrology concerning the Motion of the Stars the Firmament and the Planets Some grant that there is a Heaven above the Firmament some late Writers make use of and practise another Heaven the Chaldeans and Egyptians one Motion that is to say Stellarum fixarum motus triâ— plex diurnal to the Stars Ptolomy adds a second which is from the East to the West Thebit a third which is from the North to the South but they all vary about the time And wonder not if they vary about the fixt Star seeing they differ about the Motion of the Sun and the Moon for the precise knowledge of the Solar Year and it is needless to report how much they differ about the declination of the Sun Therefore why should any man believe them when their Writings and Opinions differ so far from one another for it is certain that if Astrologers be deceived but in one Degree in taking an hour they err likewise in the Division of the Houses for the Degree will change the Sign then is it necessary that their experiments are deceitfull The Chaldeans the most ancientest Astrologers differ from the opinion of the Egyptians for the Egyptians divide the Zodiack into twelve Signes but the Chaldeans into eleven Images Again some of them disagree in their Degrees some of them will have this Planet placed in this House another in the third fourth fifth or fixth Thus is there such a deadly enmity between these heavenly Doctours that like so many Masters of the noble Science of Defence they strive to break the head of each others Reputation and stand at defiance with each other For when Ptolomy hath his Jacobs Staff in his hand he thought himself as skilfull at it as Turner was at his Rapier and Dagger and was assured that Hermes Tresmegistus durst not stand up against him When Alchibicius had got hold of his Astrolabe he was as safe as Robin the Devil with his Sword and Target and durst prognosticate that neither Albumazar nor Aboazar durst challenge him When Abraham Haly or Thebit were peeping through their Prospective Glasses they did believe that neither Avenozra nor Algazel durst look them in the face Nay do but look into the humours of our Modern Calculatours and you shall finde them rail one against another as bitterly as Nash against Harvy and why is all this but because they condemn each other for lying when Heaven and Earth God and Man know that he that lyeth the seldomest doth lie very often Some of them will prognosticate that on such a day very infallibly there shall be Rain when it is a thousand pound to a Farthing token but all the People dwelling in that Meridian his Almanack was calculated for but will finde them Lyars Yet howsoever they do often miss in their Prediction when they foretell of the disposition of the weather of war of sickness of the change of Times and of Laws yet I cannot deny altogether but that futures may be seen by the Contemplation of Heaven For there is none can doubt but that God Arist lib. Metere rum de Generatione the great Architect of this visible and invisible World infused a manifold virtue and operation in the Heavens but that many of these Qualities are secret and occult the kingly Prophet David telleth us saying God numbreth the multitude of Stars Corpora inferiora subjiciuntur superiorum influentiis and imposeth severall Names unto them Therefore it is manifest that things are named according to their properties which none but he that made them can perfectly and distinctly understand Yet many Philosophers by their Speculation knew and observed the general influence of Heaven by their Motion Heat and Light which made Aristotle affirm that this Elementary World is contiguous to Heaven and that the Sun under the oblique Circle or the Zodiack causeth Generations Which is not absurd to affirm for certainly the thick and gross Bodies are governed by the thin and that the influences of the Stars do rule the differences of Bodies as in the Suns rising or setting we see the times of the year do vary and by the increase and decrease of the Moon some Creatures are augmented and diminished as Shell-fish at the wonderfull flux and reflux of the Sea But to be of the Astrologers opinion that the Stars have a power over the Will of Man I never will believe for the Mind cannot be subject to the Position of any Star nor is it at all times true that the differences of Bodies are caused by the influence of Heaven Sexus diversitas for two Twins of divers Sexes may be conceived in the same instant a Man and a Woman And though many hold that there may be a general influence into Bodies yet not into the faculties of the Soul or Minde for a corporal substance cannot cause an operation in a spiritual essence But the Reason that many Astrologers and Prognosticatours err in their opinion although there be an influence in the Stars concerning the fertility of the year of pestilence of war of thunder hail rain fair or foul weather is because they do not keep themselves within the compass of Astrology but thirsty after vain-glory go beyond their limits thinking to presage that by the Stars which possibly they cannot do Again most Astrologers informer Ages held divers opinions concerning the Principles of Astrology and they though but Pupils in this Art presume to come in with their opinions because they would be thought Masters of their Art and although oftentimes they hit upon the disposition of the weather and future things by the observation of the Heavens yet at all times concerning the disposition of the Corn especially they cannot chuse but err because the four parts of the year are so different in quality so that it is impossible but that the excess of the heat in one part of the year and the excess of cold in the other doth distemper the Soil Concerning the Predictions of Diseases they may the easiest tell for by the corruption of the Air Physick teacheth us many Infections may putrifie the Brain This onely shall suffice for Astrologers Now I will come to the Art it self whereby they can calculate Deaths and Nativities tell Fortunes either good or bad which they fetch as far as from the twelve Houses they have built in Heaven The signification of the twelve Houses of Heaven THese twelve Houses are the Tenements most commonly such Astrologers as you your self do let out to simple people whereby they purchase to themselves much Money and to their Tenants much sorrow And to tell truth these twelve Signes placed
of their fortunes which cannot be found in any two Twinns that ever yet were born But if the Horoscope be changed ere both be born then for this diversitie I will require a difference of Fathers which Twinns cannot possibly have Frustrate therefore is that notable fiction of the Potters wheel which Nigidius they say answered one that plunged him in this controversie whereupon he was called the Potter Turning a Potters wheel twise or thrise about as fast as he could he took ink and in the turning made two marks as it seemed in one place of the wheels edge and then staying the wheel the marks were found far asunder one from another upon the edge of the wheel Even so saith he in the swift course of heaven though one child be born after another in as short a time as I gave these two marks yet in the heavens will be passed a great space And that quoth he is the cause of the diversity of conditions and fortunes betwixt two Twins here is a figment now farr more brittle then the pots that were made by the wheel For if there be thus much power in heaven and yet cannot be comprehnnded by the constellations that one of the Twins may be an heir and inherit and not the other how dare those Astrologians give such presages unto others that are not Twins when as they are included in those secret points in Nativities which none can comprehend But if they say they do prognosticate this to others because they know it belongeth unto the known and discerned spaces that passe in Nativities and that those moments that may come between the births of two Twins do but concern slight things and such as the Astrologian useth not to be troubled with For no man will ask the calculatour when he shonld sit walk or dine how can this be said when we shew such diversity in the manners states actions and fortunes of two Twins To that at I touching Pharez and Zara the reply is easy and home that what space soever was between their births and which soever was born first yet being they did in part interchangeably put forth themselves at the womb which was the exposing of themselves to the influence of the heavens according to the Astrologers doctrin putting so much weight upon mens births as likewise Jacobs continued successive birth after Esau Jacobs hand holding Esau's heel so that the first is not wholly born till the other be born in part is argument enough to prove that the Aspect of Constellations upon the birth of such Twinnes is exceeding uncertain and so the Astrologicall prediction as groundless Which Austin doth notably argue out which may serve for a full answer to W. Ram. his frabble about Jacob and Esau thus Aug. de Civi at Der lib. 4. In the ancient memory of our forefathers to speak of them of note were two Twinnes born so near together that the second held the first by the heel yet in their lives manners and actions was such disparitie that that very difference made them enemies one to another I mean not this that the one sat when the other stood nor that the one slept when the other waked these belong to those first marks and moments which they cannot comprehend who erect those figures of nativity for the Astrologers to judge upon One of them bound himsef to serve for wages the other served not at all the one was loved by his mother so was not the other the one lost his honour and inheritance a matter of great moment among them the other obtained it And how great a difference was there in their marriages wives children and goods Exceeding much Thus Austin whom we have reason to believe farr before false tongu'd W. Ram. at L. M. N. O. P. R. or his Forged Philo as the learned call him whom W.R. there quotes or his Ptolomy quoted at S At T Wil. Ram. consuteth himself For if as a Candie being lesse then a Bowl cannot shine light round about that Bowl so the Planets that are less then the Earth cannot shine round it how then can they pour down any influence at the same minute on the whole round of the Earth in which many thousands of infants are born whose nativities all Astrologers will cast and from them all undertake to predict And for his intimation that the dexter and sinister that is the oblique and indirect Aspects of Starrs have as much power and influence as those that are direct and perpendicular it is contrary to plain sence For the sun doth not so enlighten or heat with its oblique aspect as when it is perpe ndicular over us And the Moon comes to her loss of light and to be of less operation by the oblique aspect of the sun on it and of it on the Sunne in comparison of the Moon at full ut which time as Wil. confest afore the powerof the Moon is greater on things below But because there hath been such oft mention of Astralogical influences The dangerousness of Astrogicall doctrins and influences let us enquire of the Astrologers themselves what these influences are For by their vote they seem to be no less then a part of Magic and Incarnation or the appertenance thereof Agrippa in his book of Occult Philosophy tels us that Omnia inferiora esse Ideata a superioribus Ideis c. that is H. Cor. Agri. Oc. Phil. I. 1. c. 11. That all inferiour bodies are Ideated or exemplified with inferiour Idea's by the superiour idea's An Idea is a form above bodies souls minds and to be but one simple part immutable indivisible incorporeal and incorporeal and eternal And that the nature of all Idea's is the same They say that Idea's are first in God himself by way of cause and that they are distinguished among themselves by some relative considerations onely lest whatsoever is in the world should be one thing without any variety and that they agree in essence lest God should be a compound essence In the second place they place them in the very Intelligible it self that is in the Soul of the world differing the one from the other by absolute formes So that all the Idea's in God indeed are but one forme but in the soul of the wold they are many They are placed in the minds of all other things whether they be joyned to the body or separated from the body by a cetain participation and now by degrees are distinguished more and more They are placed in nature as certain small seeds of formes infused by the Idea's And lastly they place them in matter as shadowes Hereunto may be added that in the soul of the world there be as many Scienciall Formes of things as Idca's in the mind of God by which Formes she did in the Heavens above the Starrs frame to her self shapes also and stamped upon all these some properties Therefore on these starres shaps and properties all virtues of inferiour species as also
Nature know what influences shall be predominant in their Effects Fifthly they have more time to alter the Complexions of young People from the Cradle to Manhood carried and walking abroad I say to alter their Complexion by radiation and influence then to stamp an unchangeable impression upon them in the secret Chamber of their Birth as we see many natural Men and Women not differenced by grace much altered from Melancholly to chearfulness c. So that if some Stars in one Position in an instant at Birth have a power to imprint other Stars and perhaps more prevalent have likewise a power to blot out that in many years and to instill a new one Sixthly there are many Causes below between us and the Stars to alter the influence of the Stars or interrupt their native operation as the various Complexion of the Air diversity of Windes the different postures and situations of men as sometimes under a direct sometimes under an oblique radiation c. Seventhly Astrologers depend on Clocks and Dials to know the posture of the Heavens at the hour of their prognosticating which Dials and Clocks often are false which may make a wide difference in a minute in which as we heard some motions of the Heavens run sixty Miles Eighthly the Astrologer cannot be able to allow exactly for the exaltation in the Apoge and descension in the Perige of the Planets with their swifter motion in the one then in the other so as â—o determine justly how much power of prevalence they may be in their influences at such changes Ninthly man can never certainly conclude of a particular Event from a Cause that is most universal most remote and â—o but a partial Cause of the thing predicted But the Stars are no other but such a kinde of cause of mens Complexions and Actions and theresore are no sure Grounds of Prediction concerning the future affairs of men The Parents Complexion divine Dispensations occasions and opportunities among men and a mans own obedience or disobedience to God have far more influence into man to dispose him to be or do this or that then all the myriads of Stars Tenthly Astrology contending for such a power of Stars over the Soul of man which is the Principle of all Actions infers as if the Soul of Man were ex traduce generated by the Parents First contrary to many Scriptures Psal 102.18 The people that shall be Created shall praise the Lord. Eccles 12.7 The spirit returns to God that gave it whiles the Body returns to Earth Hebr. 12.9 VVe have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits Secondly contrary to the Rules of Art Reason and Experience Coelum non agit in animam c. The Heavens cannot act directly upon the Soul nor can a mans Body complexionate alter or master his natural spirit So that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intelligere and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 velle the Acts of Reason and Will do not depend on Sense For in sleep we have strong Actings of Reason and when awake in the time of deepest rational meditations the Senses are useless and their Acts suspended as if we did neither see nor hear 2. Will. Ram. his juggling in his Figures It is well worth our observation to see VVill. Ramsey juggling in these his Schemes or Figures compared with his Epistle to the Reader and some Passages in his Book In that Epistle he hath these particulars 1. That Astrology doth not meddle with Contingences 2. Mans will is not subject to the influence of Stars 3. Neither doth Astrology meddle with the providence of God In his first Chapter Section he defines Astrology to be that which teacheth to prognosticate by the Stars of Natural Effects c. But here by his Figures in this Section he undertakes to tell of Events purely humane and altogether depending on God's providence in the acting of Man's will viz. whether the Gentleman should receive his Money from his Vncle the Gentlewoman receive hers from the Parliament the other woman know where her Husband was and when she should see him again Now let all the World judge whether Astrologers do not juggle with us professing one thing but practising another in the way of their pretended Art 3. Proofs of the concurrence of wicked Magick or Inchantment and of mans confidence or desire and consequently of the Devils assistance with and in Judicial Astrological predictions H.C. Agrippa an Astrologer in his second Book of Occult Philosophy cap. 60. hath these words Non ab aliâ causâ quà m à coelesti terrem orbis virtutes provemunt Hinc Magus c. that is The virtues of the terrene Orb. proceed from no other cause then celestial Hence the Magician that will work by them useth a cunning Invocation of the Superiours with mysterious words and a certain kinde of witty Expression drawing the one to the other c. Hence saith Aristotle in the sixth Book of his Mistical Philosophy that when any one by binding or bewitching doth call upon the Sun or other Stars praying them to be helpfull to the thing desired the Sun and other Stars do not hear his words but are moved after a certain manner by a certain Conjunction and mutual series whereby the parts of the World are mutually subordinate the one to the other c. And though the said Agrippa did in some shew retract some of his devilish Inchamments or Superstitions yet in that Retraction he retracteth not this but there affirmeth it viz. Magna cum Astrologia sic conjuncta atque cognita est c. that is That Magick and Astrology are so conjoyned and of near kin that he that professeth Magick without Astrology doth nothing but wholly errs from the way The Book named the Centiloquy asserteth that No Astrologer is able by meer Art without the help of a familiar Spirit to foretell any particular Event Ficinus proveth that Judicial Astrological predictions are managed not by Art but by instinct Jamblicus boldly affirmeth Lib. de Myst Est impossibile judicare certos c. that is It is impossible to judge of certain Events when as we cannot comprehend the concurrence of all Causes unless we attain it by inspiration c. and disputing against Porphyry saith that The Lord of the Figure is a Devil Philostratus writing the life of Apollonius lib. 3. c. 13. the most famous Magician and Astrologer saith that Arcanas libationes per quas Astrologicam facultatem c. that is Jarchas the chief of the Indian Wizards called Brachmanae did privately communicate to Apollonius the secret sacrificings by which they did finde out the Astrological faculty and skill of divining Touching elevation of minde either in confidence or desire hear Cornelius Agrippa in his second Book of Occult Philosophy and his 22. Chapter Nihil materiales c. that is Material Numbers and Figures can do
nothing in the Mysteries of hid things but representatively by formal Numbers and Figures as they are governed and informed by Intelligences and divine Numerations which unite the extremes of the matter and spirit to the will of the Elevated Soul receiving through great affection by the celestial power of the Operatour a Power from God applied through the Soul of the Universe and observation of celestial Constellations to a matter fit for a Form the mediums being disposed by the skill and industry of Magicians And in the same Book Chapter 54. the same Agrippa hath these words Now that there is in Man's Soul a sufficient power and virtue to direct such kindes of Lots of Divination it is hence manifest because there is in our Soul a divine virtue and similitude and apprehension and power of all things and all things have a natural obedience to it and of necessity have a motion and efficacy to that which the Soul desires with a strong desire and all the virtues and operations of the natural and artificial things obey it when it is carried forth into the Excess of Desire and then all Lots of what kinde soever are assisting to the appetite of such a minde and acquire to themselves wonderfull virtues of passages as from that so from the Celestial Opportunity in that hour in which the excess of such a like Appetite doth most of all exceed in it And this is that ground and foundation of all Astrological Questions wherefore the minde being elevated into the excess of any desire taketh of it self an hour and opportunity most convenient and efficacious on which the figure of Heaven being made the Astrologer may then judge in it and plainly know concerning that which any one desires and is inquisitive to know Thus you see how the Mathematicians themselves cast great Blots and Blurrs upon Judicial Astrology and that in relation to the particulars afore mentioned viz. of the concurrence of Magick of the desires and confidence of Clients and Actours and of the Devil himself And therefore well may all ingenious men for ever be ashamed to speak in the behalf of Judicial Astrology 4. Hear what Master Perkins saith concerning the unlawfulness of Astrology in his Book intituled his Resolution to the Countryman A Resolution to the Countrey-man proving it unlawfull for him to buy or use our yearly Prognostications by W.P. Not convenient to have Prognostications Reasons 1. Concerning the buyer 1. Immoderate care joyned with distrust in God 2. Contempt of the providence of God in not reverently regarding it 2. Concerning the maker 1. His unability in Prognosticating proved 1. By the true end of the heavens 2. By want of good experience 3. By ignorance of particular causes 2. His manifold untruths 3. His impieties and profane speeches and actions not seeming a Christian 4. His tricks of deceit GOod Reader I have thought it convenient for some speciall causes in this short Treatise to disclose a part of my mind unto thee concerning the making of Prognostications and if it might be to perswade thee not to spend thy money in buying any of them I have long studied this Art and was never quiet untill I had seen all the secrets of the same but at the length it pleased God to lay before me the profanenesse of it nay I dare boldly say Idolatry although it be covered with fair and golden shews Wherefore that which I will speak with grief the same I would desire thee to mark with some attention My reason shall partly concern thee partly the Prognosticatour himself 1. First on thy behalf I reason thus 1. As a man doth see the blessings of God upon him so he must also labour with a carefull diligence to maintain the store of this life But because the affection of man is caryed headlong unto a greedy covetousnesse this defire of overmuch carping and careing must be bridled with two strong bitts First all our care must extend it self no further then the present day Secondly in careing we must not trust unto our selves but six all our confidence in the mercy and providence of God who blesseth all and without whose goodnesse nothing can come to passe do what we will 1. As touching the first we have the direction of our Saviour Christ who teacheth us to pray on this wise Matth. 6.11 Give us this day our daily bread whereby we are given to understand that we are onely to seek for the present time resting with this perswasion that he which hath blessed us this day will also to morrow and the next day shew his like goodnesse unto us Again in the same place our Saviour Christ speaketh on this wise Matth. chap. 6. v. 34. Care not then for the morrow for the morrow shall care for it self the day hath enough with his own grief By this welearn that God will provide for every day all things necessary though we do not encrease the present grief with caring and casting in our heads how we shall live in the time to come Now tell me what is the cause that thou yearly dost buy a Prognostication and one of those which tell the strangest things Is it because thou hast a delight to reade the style of Prognostications Or because thou wouldest learn to Prognosticate Or because the pictures and Characters which they make delight thy mind it were folly to be perswaded of this seeing the very cause it self is manifest Thy whole desire is to fill thy coffers and to heap up wealth thou art afraid lest thou shalt become poor therefore thou greedily buyest thee Prognostications and continually searchest all the corners of them to see the state of the year to come even thus in mind reasoning with thy self I can never be quiet nor take my sleep untill such time as I have known the state of the year ensuing that I may frame my businesse accordingly This next year there will be much rain it will rot corn upon the ground it will be spoiled I will keep my corn untill the next year following I find that corn will be dear about half a year hence I will not sell my corn now but keep it that I may have plenty of money for it and sufficient beside to maintain my house the sea and land is calm and quiet this year the next year many shipwracks and troubles in many countreys will fall now I will fraught my ships that then I may be quiet These imaginations are lively arguments of thy diffidence and despair in the goodnesse and loving kindnesse of God If thou fear God love God put thy whole trust in God thou art content to refer thy whole preservation unto the hands of God now these proling and ranging conceits of the time to come argue that either thou never thinkest on God or at the least perswadest thy self that either he will not or cannot help thee Wherefore seeing the having of Prognostications cometh of so wicked causes as is the greedy desire of
in non-quoting or in quoting Non-ens But to clear mine integrity to the Reader it is in Aquinas 2 a. 2 ae Qu. 95. where Aquinas putting the Question whether the divination that is made by the Starrs be unlawfull 1. He saith SED CONTRAEST quod Augustinus c. That is That of Austin is against the lawfulness of Divination by Starrs Illos Planetarios quos Mathematicos vocant consulere non desidebam quod tamen Christiana vera pietas expellit damnat In 4. Confess I did not saith Austin desist consulting with the PLANETARIES whom they call MATHEMATICIANS c. which thing nevertheless Christian and true piety expelleth Conclusio Contingentium casualium per certitudinem divinatio superstitiosa illicica est and condemneth 2. Aquinas his CONCLUSION is To divine by the disposition of heavenly bodies as by a certainty touching contingent and casual things is superstitious and unlawfull c. 3. In his RESPONDEO Respondeo dicendum quòd sicut dictum est divinationi quae ex opinione fals vana procedit ingerit properatio daemonis ut hominum animos implicet vanitati aut falfitati Vanâ autem aut falsâ opinione utitur si quis ex consideratione stellarum futura velit praecognoicere quae per cas praecognosci non possunt Pst ergo considerandum quid per coelestium corporum inspectionem de futuris possunt pracognosci Et de his quidem quae ex necessitate eveniunt manisellum est quòd per confider tionem si ellarum possunt praecognosci sicut Astrologi praenanciant Eclipses futuras Non possent dispositiones motus corporum coelestium reduci in unam causam communem quae sit corporali Possunt autem reduci in unam causam communem quae est providentia divina Sed aliâ ratione disponuntur â— divina providentia moâ—us situs coelestium corporum aliâ ratione eventus contingentium futurorum quia illa disponuntur sâ—cumâ—ùm rationem necessitatis ut semper coâ—em modo proveniant hâ—â—c autem secundùm rationem contingentiae ut variabiliter contingant Unde non potest esse quòd ex inspectione syderum accipiatur praecognitio futurorum nisi sinut ex causis praecognoscuntur effectur Duplices autem effectus subtrahuntur causalitati coelestium corporum 1. quidem omnes effectus per accidens contingentes sive in rebus humanis sive in rebus naturalibus Quia ut probatur 6. Metaphens per accidens non habet causam praecipuè natualem cujusmodi est viâ—tus coelestium corporum Quia quod per accidens fit neque est ens propriè neque unum sieut quòd lapide cadente fiat Terraemotus Haec enim hujusmodi non sunt simpliciter unum sed simpliciter multa Operatio autem naturae semper terminatur ad aliquid unum sicut procedit ab uno principio quod est forma rei naturalis 2. Autem subtrahuntur causalitati coelestium corporum actus liberi arbitrii quod est facultas voluntatis rationis Intellectus enim sive ratio non est corpus nee actus corporis organici per consequens nec voluntas quae est in ratione 〈◊〉 patet per Philosophum in 3. de anim Nullum autem corpus potest imprimere in iem incorpoream Unde impossibile est quòd corpora coelestia diâ—ectè imprimant in intellectum voluntatem Hoc enim esset ponere intellectum non differre à sensu Unde corpora coelestia non possunt esse per se causa operationum liberi arbitrii possunt tamen ad hoc dispositivè inclinare in quamum imprimunt in corpus humanum per consequens in vires sensitivas quae sunt actus corporalium organorum quae inclinant ad humanos actus Quia tamen vires sensitivae obediunt rationi ut pater per Philosophum 3. de Anim. 1. Ethic. nulla necessipas ex hoc libero arbitrio imponitur sed contra inclinationem coelestium corporum homo potest per rationem operati Si quis ergo CONSIDERATIONE ASTRONUM UTATUR AD PRAECOGNOSCENDOS FUTUROS CASURALES VEL FORTUITOS EVENTUS AUT ETIAM AD COGNOSCENDUM PER CERTITUDIMEM FUTURA Oâ—ERA HOMINUM procedit hoc ex falsa vana opinione ET SIC OPERATIO DAE MONIS SE IMMISCET Unde erit divinatio SUPERSTITIOSA illicita upon that Conclusion he enlargeth much against Judicial Astrology the summ whereof to give it you in his own words is this DICENDVM quod c. i. e. We must say saith Aquinas as hath been said afore Art 1.2 the operation of the Devil doth pour in it self into that divination which proceeds from a false and vain opinion to the end that he may inwrap the mindes of men in vanity or falsehood And if any man will fore-know future things by the consideration of the Starrs which by them cannot be fore known he is the man that follows a vain and false opinion Therefore we must consider what of future things may be fore-known by inspection into the Starrs And indeed as concerning those things which come to pass by necessity it is manifest that they may be fore-known by consideration of the Stars as Astrologers do foretell Eclipses The dispositions and motions of the heavenly Bodies cannot be reduced unto one common cause which is natural but may be reduced unto one common cause which is divine providence But the motions and situations of the heavenly bodies are by divine providence disposed one way and the events of future contingencies another because the former are disposed according to the manner of necessity that they always come to pass and after the same manner But the later after the way of contingency that they happen variously From whence it cannot be that the foreknowledge of future things can be taken by inspection into the Starrs otherwise then as effects are fore-known by their causes Now there are two sorts of effects that are exempted from the efficacy of the celestial bodies 1. All effects that happen by accident whether in humane or natural things because as 't is proved in the sixth of Metaphysicks an entity by accident hath no cause especially natural such as is the vertue of heavenly bodies Because that which is by accident is neither an entity properly nor an oneness as for example whiles a stone is falling there is an Earthquake c. For these and the like things are not simply one but absolutely many Now the operation of Nature is always terminated unto some one thing even as it doth flow from one principle which is the natural form of the thing 2. The acts of free will which is a faculty of the will and reason are exempted from the efficacy of the heavenly bodies For the intellect or reason is neither a body nor the act of a corporeal organ and by consequence neither is the will which is within the reason as appears by the Philosopher in