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
things she hopeth and sustaineth all things Charity Buildeth up knowledge puffeth up Charity is greater then Prophesies Sciences Tongues Prophesies shall be abolished Tongues shall be Silent Sciences Perish Charity remaineth for ever He that remaineth in Charity remaineth in GOD and GOD in him Now we must know there is a Two-fold Man One Astral External or Carnal which is called Animal nor perceiveth he the things which are of the Vivifying Spirit The other Spiritual or Internal busied in Renewing the Corrupted Image of God Rom. 7. In like manner there shall be a Two-fold Wisdom One Worldly or Astral the Wisdom of Arts Sciences Dignities Possessions and of Curruptible things wherein the Gentiles are alone Busied Mat. 6. The other Celestial consisting in the knowledge of GOD in the consideration of his Ineffable Mercy in the desire of Eternal Happiness This Wisdom acknowledges no other Governour than the Holy Spirit Operating by the Word of GOD That the Heavens and Celestial Influences Both which may be joyned in a Man that pleaseth GOD. But in whom the Celestial Wisdom Reigneth that other is only a Hand-maid she seeks for nothing at all but the Glory of GOD and the welfare of her Neighbour which indeed is as much as is granted in this Life to the Elect or those whom the Father hath given unto Christ. Now where the Astral Reigneth suppose that alone There are Dogs and Swine unto whom we are forbidden to cast Pearls or that which is Holy Lastly where the Celestial and Astral do Conjunctly Rule that is when we endeavour to serve Two Masters There is true Hyprocrisie very displeasing unto GOD. No Man can serve Two Masters Such were the Pharisees in the time of Christ whose Righteousness if ours exceed not we shall not enter into the Kingdom of God Christ himself hath spoken it It was but requisite that we a little touched upon those things lest Ignorant Detractors who are either far out of the way or abhor this True manner of Philosophizing should take occasion to mingle Holy things with Profane or Profane with Holy whilst perhaps they might take upon them to Disprove these Realities Furthermore as hitherto we have Treated of the Soul and Spirit of the Universe and of the Sydereal Governour in Man So now we may possibly be informed concerning Four Senses in the Universe accommodating themselves to the Four-fold Vertue or Power of the Soul of the World There are Four Elements which contribute Matter to the Body of the World And there are also Four Powers in the Soul of the World The first is the Intellect of it self Immovable the Mover or Governour of the Sphere Instituted by the Author of all things Governing the Spheres The second is the Soul of the Sphere A Mover indeed that is Movable yet so of it self The third a certain Intelligence excellently placed in this Soul by GOD and the superiour Intellect The fourth is Nature that is to say A Seminary and Vital vertue every way infus'd into the Matter by the Soul The Intellect and Soul are indeed Substances But the Intelligence and Nature are Qualities Those of the Soul these of the Matter The Four Images of these are the Four Elements For Fire resembles the Intellect Earth the Water Air the Intelligence And lastly Water the Soul And as there are three things proper to Fire three things also opposite to Earth and that the Mediums agree with Mediums by a certain Proportion so there are three things proper to the Intellect and their Opposites are proper to Nature The Mediums also to the Mediums For the Intellect is Individual Uniform Eternal Nature Dividual Multiform Temporal The Soul amongst these Mediums looks indeed through the Intelligence more participating of the Intellect it self than of Nature But through the Animal Power the rather agrees with Nature than the Intellect Wherefore it is called partly Individual partly Dividual Partly also Uniform and partly Multiform Again partly Eternal and partly Temporal From Substance Vertue Action Fire Subtile Acute Movable Air Subtile Obtuse Movable Water Gross Obtuse Movable Earth Gross Obtuse Immovable The Intellect Individual Uniform Eternal The Soul by the Intelligence Individual Uniform Eternal The Soul by the Animal Power Dividual Multiform Temporal By Nature Dividual Multiform Temporal Hence also are the Four Lives Delivered and Believed of Plato The Life of Saturn admiring in the Intellect Heaven the Father thereof that is God the Father of Heaven The Jovial in the â—ntelligence declining to Action yet Movable The Venereal in the Animal Vertue yet Affecting Matter And the Dionysiacal as if Drunk in Nature that is of a Drench'd or Drown'd Matter And by a like Reason there are Four Senses in the Universe The First in the Soul of the World Commune I say and one Sense That is a certain Imaginary Vertue so accompanying its Intelligence and touching the Particular Forms of things as the Intelligence doth the Universal Touching I say Intrinsecally and therefore it wants no Instruments neither proceeds or suffers it any where without The second is in the Souls of the Spheres and Stars Commune indeed and Impatible also but proceeding without The third in Particular Souls distributed through all the Instruments beyond Common strength and spreading it self without but ending in the Judgment The Fourth and last Sense is according to the Pythagoreans allowed to Plants yea a certain Image of Sense and that indeed Stupid having no Judgment of Quality but Posited only in the Passion of some Pleasure or Grief The First Sense represents the Intellect The Second the Intelligence The Third the Animal Vertue and the Fourth the Natural Wherein we must remember that the Matter of the World doth not otherwise enter the Soul than by Nature nor otherwise the Intelligence than by the Soul nor otherwise the Intellect than by the Intelligence Even as it receiveth Water by the Earth by the Water Air and by the Air Fire But at length to come to our Matter we must know that the Lines of the Hands are not otherwise produced giving GOD in the first place His Due than from the Imagination of the Greater World thus or so Affected in the Generation of Man yet performing its Authority and Office by the Stars It is hardly perceptible to our Humane Wit how such an Operation should be made in our Hands by Lines shadowing out the Fate of every Man This Imagination of the Soul of the World is otherwise called Predestination Science Fate And she it is that performs her Power in the Conception and Birth by the Influence of that Star which then predominateth in the Heavens and thence poureth out that Peculiar Genius upon every Man If many Stars be to do the Work the proper and accustomed Signatures are by them distributed and Engraven Fortunate or Infortunate according to the Affection of the Planets and other Stars in their respective Signs and Quarters of Heaven Those Conjunctions and other Aspects of the Planets which but
Third House a Competent place in Reception and Aspect of Sâ—turn himself Notwithstanding the Tubâ—rculum of Mâ—rcury scarce shews so much as one Incisure 5. A Cross in the Moons Place fore-tells of Fertility and Happiness in Bearing of Children And to this Venus is fitted in the Geniture notwithstanding she hath Mars in Conjunction with her Yet seeing he disposeth of the 6 th House it is to be feared lest at some time he occasion Danger in the Birth of a Boy 6. The Place of Jupiter is also otherwise understood than in the preceding Example The Region of the Sun likewise favoureth in some measure An Honourable Life is seldom obtained by the more Generous sort of Women unless by Marriage 7. The Line arising in the very Middle of the Hand and thence Ascending to the Root of the Thoral beneath the Region of Mercury by Dissecting the Epatica points out an Unfaithful Friend which in her Declining Age should occasion Loss and Detriment in her House-hold Goods and Things 8. The Epatica Cut in the End thereof bodes a deficiency of Wit in her Old Age The Cross there is the Fore runner of some Good The Reception of Mercury and Saturn from Houses in the Geniture and they Disposiâ—ions of the 3 4 and 8. Houses a sign of Inheritancâ— 9. The breadth of the Mensa is very Feat and the Site of the Thoral comely and decent which argue her Goodness of Nature Readiness of Wit 10. The Line of Saturn running in an Oblique Tract from the Restricta to the Tuberculum of Saturn doth usually mark out such as be Laborious something Covetous and Hard. But that the Lines of the Hands are not compleatly perfect at the Hour of the Nativity this Examâ—â—â— abundantly manifests Moreover seeing by this 〈◊〉 is certain That the Positure of the Planets in the Figure are of great Authority It necessarily follows that the Lines especially the Less Principal do truly receive their clearer Conformity from the first Moment of the Birth in which the Infant begins to move its hands and make as it were to lay hold of or catch at things As touching the Principal Lines there is no doubt but that they are clearly enough Engraven at the very Instant of the Nativity But that in process of time there is an Access of some Incisures and Characters Reason it self will teach him that shall make more diligent Inspection into the Hands of little Infants For at first we find an obscure and subtile Draught of the Lines Afterwards the thin and tender skin being worn away by the continual Motion and Bathing thereof all the Lines grow fairer and brighter every day more than other For then the Vertue of the Stars and the Sydereal Spirit wherewith every one is Inspired begin to perfect the Lines more compleatly the Element of Water intervening Whatsoever is Generated in this World is Generated of Water and the Spirit And whosoever is not Regenerate of the Water and Spirit shall not enter into the Kingdom of GOD as our Saviour speaks Water hath a respect unto the Heart of Man but the Spirit hath regard of the Divine Efficacy Mâ—reover the Stars do first of all convey their Influence through the Air which is nearest the Nature of Fire like as is the Nature of the Stars themselves whereby the Water it self that is next to the Air in Situation receives the Coelestial Vertue and Communicates it to the Earth from which Communication the Fecundity thereof proceedeth And this is evident in the Spring-time whilst things are Sprouting from the Bosom of the Earth For if showers be then wanting they grow but slowly And the Increment they have is either by the Vaporous Cold of Night the Image of Humidity or else the Nightly Dew or both together the heat of the Sun assisting in the day-time Which being continued for some days afterwards when a shower comes you shall quickly perceive them increased in a Moment Because that now the Sydereal Spirit enlivening them renders it self more Excellent than they by its plentiful besprinkling of Moisture The like is to be understood oâ—â—he slender Skin upon the Hands You see also in the Plants themselves how Rude their Leaves be when first they peep out of the Earth in respect of the Lineaments and Pictures of their Branches they are otherwise called Signatures which by little and little shew themselves more plain and openly to our view The like we must judge of the Lines or Incisures of the Hands which hold the like Analogy and Proportion in the Manifestation of their Signatures Whereby it appears How Great the Works of GOD are He hath put these Signs in the Hâ—nd of all Men that every one also might hereby acknowledge his Works past finding out as Job saith Chap. 37. v. 7. Nâ—vertheless there are some both Divines and Philosophers who account it a Hainous thing of us that we wrâ—st this saying of Job's to Chiromancy But that we may briâ—fly satiâ—fie such we will examine the meaning thereof more fully The Tâ—xt there runs thus V. 5. God will Thunder Marvellously with his Voyce who doth Great and Inscrutable things V. 6. Who commandet◠〈◊〉 â—now to fall upon the Earth so likewise the Winâ—â—r sâ—owers and the Rain of his Strâ—â—gth V. 7. Who hath placed Signs in the Hand of every Man that all Men may know his Work V. 8. The Beast entereth into his Covert and remaineth in his Den. IN the beginning of the Chapter you have as it were certain Praeludiums to a following Proposition laid down in the 5 th Verse For thus he saith Jehovah Thundreth or speaketh loud in his Works That they may be Great and Inscrutable The Examples of the Proposition follow in the 6 7 8 9 10 c. He maketh saith he the Snow to descend like Wool as the â—salmist addeth The Reasons of the Generation of Snow are indeed speciously delivered amongst the Peripateticks yet if you reduce them to a Level they will by no means stand but terminate in Dotage Another Example of the Proposition you have in the 7 th Verse GOD Signeth all Men in their hands That every one might know his Work That is Those Lines were not made there by Chance The Hebrew Vâ—â—sion vâ—rbatim He shall Sign all Men in the Hâ—nd that every man may know his Work The 70 Interprâ—ters He marketh all mâ—n in the Hand that â—very Man may know his Infirmity St. Hieromâ— He hath placed Signs in the Hand of all Men that every one may know his Works The Chaldee Translation He maketh Signs in the Hand of all the Sons of Mâ—n that all the Sons of Men might know tâ—eir Work These we wholly apply to the Lines of the Hands because that every Man beholds them daily but seldome knows what they signifie unto him You have in each an Universal Particle and therefore no Man is Excluded Which very thing Refutes the Translation of some who Read That every one might know his Work-men But
more or less be endamaged and hurt by the Effects thereof This inclined for the most part to the North-East Nations of the World And what they are may be discerned by the Globe or Map unto which I refer the Reader But the places principally designed to endure its Effects are the Countries Subject to Gemini and Taurus through which it moved and those are according to Origanus Sardinia part of Lombardy Flanders Brabant the Dukedom of Wittemberge Hyrcania Armenia Mariana Cirenaica Marmarica and the lower Egypt Russia Alba the Greater Polonia the North of Swedland all Ireland Lorrain Campania Switzerland Rhetia Franconia Parthia Persia and the Cyclades Islands which lye between Europe and Asia Cyprus and the Coasts of the Lesser Asia more particularly the Cities of London Corduba Viterbium Cesena Turinum Vercellas Rhegium Lovain Bruges Moguntia Hasford Bamberge and Noriberge Moreover Bononia Senas Mantua Tarentum Parma Lucerna Nants Wirizburge Carolostadium Lipsia Posania Guesna and Novogardia in Muscovia 3. So likewise the Regions unto which this Comet was Vertical For as Origanus pag. 525. Cometae illis regionibus imprimis nocent quibus sunt verticales aut in quarum sunt signis Comets saith he do especially hurt those Regions unto which they are Vertical or in whose Signs they happen And our Learned Country-man Dr. d ee tells us Aphor. 54. Quo magis ad perpendicularitatem c. By how much more the Radious Axis of any Star or Comet comes nearer being perpendicular to any Elementary Superficies by so much more powerfully that Star or Comet pours out its Vertues upon the place of its Incidence For the specifical Vertues of the Stars and Comets being conveyed to us by their Light the fewer the Beams are that fall upon the Horizon the less shall be their Vertue and that fewer Beams fall upon the place of the Horizon in their Oblique Position than when they approach nearer to or are in their Perpendicularity is evident to every one but meanly Versed in Geometry and the Opticks Now what the Regions and Countries be unto which this Comet became Perpendicular the following Aphorism will determine Stella verticales sunt illae quae tantam habent declinationem ab Aequinoctiali quanta est elevatio Poli illius Regionis Stars that be Vertical are those which have as much Declination from the Equinoctial as is the Elevation of the Pole or Latitude of the place And therefore all the Regions Kingdoms Common-wealths Countreys and Towns that have from 00. degrees to 16. degrees 46 minutes of South Latitude and from 00. degr to 49° 9′ of North Latitude are herein principally concern'd I 'le only instance some few eminent places on this side the Equator the rest you may see in the Globe Alexandria in Egypt Ancona in Italy Athens Avenio in France Babylon Bactra Barcino in Catholon Basilia in Helvetia Berna in Helvetia Bethlehem Bononia in Italy Bourdeaux in France Brundusium Buda in Hungary Burgos in Spain Chartres Compostella Constantinople Constance Conimbria in Portugal Corduba Corinthus Dalmatia in Egypt Damascus Ephesus Ferraria Fessa Florence Gades in Spain Genoua in Italy Goa in India Halicarnassus Hamburgh Hydruntum Hierusalem Ingolstade Leyden Lyons Lisbon Lucca S. Malo Mecha Mexico Morocco Madrid Millan Messina Marbon Nants Naples Paris Padua Pampelona in Navar. Pelusium in Egypt Poictiers Ratisbon Rochel Rome Salamanca in Spain Sena in Hetruria Syracuse Smyrna Thessalonica Tholose Tubinga Turino Tarraco in Cathalo Tirolis Tours in Spain Valence in Spain Valladolid in Spain Venice Vienna in Austria Ulms. Ulissippo in Portugal Urbinum in Italy Here it may be objected whether England shall not suffer by the Effects of this Comet as well as other places To which I answer That although I find it not Vertical to any part of England yet I must needs confess it wanted but a little of being so in the Southern parts thereof and cannot therefore be exempted from sharing with other places in the Miseries and Calamities threatned them especially London in whose Ascendant the Comet first appeared Howbeit England in general shall not suffer by it so extreamly as some Provinces and Cities of Italy France Spain Portugal and other Countreys under whose Ascendant it moved or to whom it was Vertical It was a Retrograde Comet in Gemini and Taurus Anno 1553. That immediately preceded a great Earthquake and horrible Winds in the Countreys bordering upon the Rhine A Schism in England a Famine in Germany an Inundation of Waters in Polonia and no fewer than 960 Houses in one Town in Brabant all of them burnt and consumed by Fire The Death of Clement the Seventh and the Duke of Millan And why not this another Earthquake and Famine in Germany or France A fine new Schism in England or another such Deluge in Polonia Why not the like Mischiefs by Fire about Cracovia or Casimyria Why may not another such Duke or Prince a King or an Emperour give up the Ghost A Pope or a Cardinal be Poysoned or Stab'd But Solinumine afflati praedicant particularia I must not exceed the Limits of a general Judgment neither the bounds alotted me by the Printer yet to satisfie the unbelieving part of the World that Comets have really ever been the Prodromi or fore-runners of the Death of one or more such Personages for those are the proper Subjects of Comets I shall here give them the following Catalogue wherein to recede no further are The Years of the Comets after Christ. The Princes c. that Dyed in the same or the following Year 13. Agrippa 14. Augustus Empâ—rour 54. Claudius Emperour 70. Vitellius Emperour 80. Vespasian Emperour 213. Severus Emperour 340. Constantine Emperour 363. Julian the Apostate 392. Valentinian Emperour 454. Theodosius Emperour 571. Albonius King of Lumbardy 603. Maurice Emperour 814. Charles the Great Emperour 837. Pepin King of France 839. Ludovicus Pius Emperour 882. Ludovicus Bavar Emperour 983. Otho II. Emperour 1009. Pope John XVIII 1066. S. Edw. King of England 1106. Henry IV. Emperour 1169. Malcolm King of Scots 1214. William King of Scots 1264. Pope Urban IV. 1301. Andrew King of Hungary 1314. Philip the Fair. 1341. Andronicus Emperour 1375. Charles the IV. 1402. Tamberlain and Galeat Vic. 1450. Amurath the Turk Emperour 1456. Ladislaus King of Poland 1457. Alphonsus King of Naples 1477. Charles Burgundy 1505. King Philip. 1506. Alexander King of Poland 1512. Pope Julius II. And Bajazet the Turk Emperour 1521. Leo the X. 1533. Clement VII Alphons Duke of Ferraria And Duke of Millan 1558. Charles V. Emperour Queen of Poland and Hungary And Mary Queen of England 1559. Paul IV. Henry King of France King of Portugal King of Denmark Duke of Venice Duke of Ferraria and fifteen Cardinals with divers other Princes 1577. Sebastian King of Portugal 1585. Osman Turk Emperour And Stephen King of Poland 1590. Urban VII And Charles Arch-Duke 1607. Charles Duke of Lorrain 1618. Matthias Emperour And Ann Queen of England 3. I come now to the third
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
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