the abolishing of Astrologicall blasphemie with an incouragement of them that haue to deale in the reformation of that vngodly abuse CHAP. XXII An Appendix to the 8. Chap. prouing that their predictions cannot be true as not being comprehensible by reason of these inferiour causes which being many much alter the working of the superiour causes which also is confirmed by abundance of testimonies of the best Astrologers CHAP. XXIII The vanitie of Criticall dayes howsoeuer deduced whether from Galens new moneth Hippocrates numbers or Conciliators teiragonicall aspects A TREATISE AGAINST IVDICIAL ASTROLOGIE CHAP. I. A iust complaint against the long toleration of Astrologicall superstition of their titles how they be called and of their profession what it promiseth ALthough I looke for no great effect or reformatiō of that which I intend to say against Astrologers yet I hope I may freely vse that ancient and accustomed libertie of all ages to talke and say my mind against them For doe what I can that of Tacitus will be still true pronouncing them to be a profession alwaies condemned and misliked yet still retained and vsed Notwithstanding to speake for our selues for the present time it may seeme strange that in so long professiō of the Gospel so grosse heathenish a superstition shuld go so currant I may well call it heathenish me think since the Church in all ages with Emperours Doctors Fathers Councels haue euer condemned it Witchcraft because it toucheth our hogges cattell sometime findeth now then some hard entertainment as it well deserueth But this damnable superstition which dishonoreth God polluteth heauen deceiueth and seduceth men goeth without touch or check the Astrologer scaping while the Witch is punished may not that well be said Dat veniam coruis vexat censura columbas Might not this egernesse and vehemency which we haue vsed among our selues about caps and copes haue bene much better bestowed vpon this so prophane an abuse While we straine a gnat we swallow a camel while we build our owne conceits toyes in the ayre we leaue the house of God vnbuilt What should be thought that so many honorable and graue assemblies of parliament and so many reuerend conuocations in so long time should not once goe about the redresse of an abuse so grosse and palpable that euen the offenders themselues are readiest to condemn themselues In so much that some of them of late haue set out certaine reformed Almanacks wherein they haue not medled at all with winde weather dismall dayes purges and such like but only with changes of the Moone Eclipses Festiuall daies both mouable vnmouable and such like When themselues are ashamed of themselues what reason haue others to forbeare them No doubt as the great impostors of the world so oft as they meet they are ready to laugh one of another These mē are called by the names of astrologers prognosticators almanack-makers figure-flingers wise men wisards and such like And in Latine Chaldaei Astrologi Mathematici Magi Planetarij Genethliaci Babylonij Diuini Fatidici In greeke also they are termed known by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in derision of some they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of S. Hierome they are sometime called Augures and by a decree of Pope Gregory the yonger Astrologers are anathematized vnder the name of Aruspex And S. August in a book de natura daemonū sheweth that they which obserue daies houres in their busines are signified by the name Aruspex So in the olde time they were not called by the name of Astronomers Mathematiques or Astrologers but for their iudging by the planets they were called Planetarij for casting natiuities Genethliaci and of the countrie that sent them out abroad by swarmes they were termed Chaldaei The quid nominis of this art is as here is said for the farther definitiō or quid rei see Sextus ab Heminga who bringeth three diuers definitions of three diuers authors for the diuision of it Whereas commonly it is diuided into foure parts he diuideth it into two partes only of purpose reiecting the other two as derided by the astrologers themselues For the subiect of Astrology he deuideth it into two parts actiue passiue making heauen the actiue part and earth the passiue Where also he relateth a proper conceit of Cardan that heauen is like the earth the stars like moūtaines and stones vpon the earth The actiue subiect of heauen he also deuideth into foure parts pag. 10. To discourse seuerally of those points wold but spend time therefore I thought best only to point to them These men being altogether ignorant of all good learning not only in the stars which they professe beare vs in hand that all our actions and enterprises depend vpon certaine constellations and aspects of stars and reuolutions extending this their skill to natiuities questions elections intentions thoughts and the foretelling of things to come intermedling and busying themselues euen in the secrets of Gods prouidence In which they do not onely most lewdly and impiously make many to giue ouer al care of their life and actions as being forced by the stars which they cānot resist but also most blasphemously impeach the diuine prouidence For if all our actions depend of the stars then may God haue an euerlasting playing day and let the world wag CHAP. II. Diuinitie proofes against Astrologie first authorities and then reasons and that Christianitie and Astrologie cannot stand together Because therfore the chiefe impietie of these mē is against God himself we wil first assault them with reasons out of diuinitie Hieremie cap. 10. The Iewes are willed to giue no credite to star-gazers nor to feare them a whit Learn not the waies of the Gētiles neither feare the signes of heauen as they doe because the lawes and ordinances of the people are vain With Hierem. agreeth Esay cap. 47. where he derideth Southsayers trusting in their predictions obseruations Let thy Soothsayers stand and saue thee which gazing vpon the starres and counting the moneths take vpō them to foretel thee what is to come In the same chapter he saith there shal ill come vpon thee but whence thou shalt not know that is such as no constellation shal forewarn calamitie shal rush vpon thee which thou canst not auoide to wit by elections of houres or other superstitious tricks of Astrologie And cap. xliiij of the same prophet God saith I am the Lord that do frustrate and disappoint the signes of wisards making the Southsayers made foiling their wisemen and making their skill foolish Of them the Prophet Micha saith Chap. 3. vers 7. that they shall blush at their lies and hide their faces for shame With these three Prophets agreeth Salo. Eccl. cap. 8. No man knoweth that which is past neither can any tel him that which is to come Deuteron xviij ver x. it is said that whosoeuer vseth this trade is an
that heauen vseth only these meanes in working to wit light and motion Euen Ptolemy also in certaine books de Fato prouidētia yet extant hath abundantly confuted these follies shewing them not to be the causes of these effects but sometime perhaps to signifie being but vniuersall and confused signes whence procedeth a very deceitful and vncertaine coniecture Wherefore Porphyrie writing his life saith that after long study of Astronomy hee perceiued there was no trust to be giuen to the doomes of Astrologers which is also proued plentifully by Auicen in the last booke of his metaphysickes Aulus Gellius hath recorded a long and large discourse of the great philosopher Phauorinus against Chaldeans the chiefe brokers and brochers of this art Picus also sheweth how Diogenes Laert. Seneca Plutarch Seuerianus and diuerse others both auncient and moderne reiected these toyes and in his last booke cap. 6. he relateth that saying of Porphyrie that then oracles did faile and fitten whē they would answere by Astrologie which Porphyrie also as testifieth Philip Morney cap. 13. de verit relig saith that Apollo when he could not answere out of the starres was wont to desire men to depart and aske him no questions for if they did he threatened to tell them nothing but lies This was faire warning and plaine dealing and I thinke the truest oracle that he euer vttered Alexander Aphrod the chiefe interpreter of Aristotle among the Greekes writ a booke de Fato to Seuerus the Emperour Antonius his sonne in which confuting Fatum he saith nothing of Astrology which the very name of Fatum would haue forced him to if he had not vtterly contemned it In this iumpe with him the rest of the interpreters who if at any time they name Astronomy they shew that they meane only that which considereth the course of the heauens Ammonius the interpreter of Porphyrie in the beginning of his worke hath sufficiently vttered his minde Auerroes chiefe expositor among the Arabians euery where baiteth and hunteth Astrology affirming it to be no art and the figures imagined in heauen to be but a meer fable and a tale of a tubbe without which notwithstanding Astrology can hardly stand It were infinite to recite the late Philosophers that haue banded against this vanitie That of Plautus Horentinus is worth the marking he when he had liued 85 yeares cast his owne natiuitie examining it with as much art and diligence as he could notwithstanding he could finde no signe of long life in it As for those that haue written in defence or approbation of this art either new or old there is such paucity that you may wel say of them that apparent rari nautes in gurgite vasto they appeare here one and there one like drowned rats otherwise they would neuer flye for succour to those counterfeits to wit a booke of Arist intituled of great coniunctions and secrets to Alexander which was neuer his With the like folly they attributed to Plato certaine bookes bearing the name of institution bookes stuffed with toies and trifles Likewise they alleage a booke of Ouid de vetula vpon which frier Bacon relieth much They father also vpon Albertus magnus and Tho. Aquinas a booke de Necromanticis imaginibus a bable not worth the name of Thomas farre from his iudgement in many other places Thus we see what poore shift they make to saue themselues much like a man in drowning who catcheth roūd about at euery thing to help himselfe But they wil say that they haue of euery side good Philosophers if we could hitte on them As for example Ptolemy Haly Firmicus Albunasar and others For Ptolemy as he was a rare man in mathematiques so for this matter of astrology one said very wel of him that he was optimus malorum that is of bad the best but for his philosophy and vnderstanding of Aristotle diuerse learned men haue taken exception for his diuisiō of contemplatiue philosophy in his beginning of his Almagest into Theological Mathematical Naturall because all things as he there saith consist of matter forme and motion which are separable by thought only and not in deed farther yelding the cause why the Moone is moist he ascribeth it to the vapours which it draweth frō the earth thē how much more moist should the Sun be which is knowne to draw infinitely more thē he saith that Saturne is cold because of his distance from the Sunne and Mars hot by reason of his vicinity To which may be said that of Mars hath his heat from the Sun why is not the Sun as hot or hotter then Mars These things are ridiculous in philosophy not worthy confutation Of Albumasar I haue said before so much as may bewray his weaknes For Firmicus as I haue said in an other place he is but a talker He writeth that Mercurie in a night natiuitie may possesse medium coeli or the tenth house whereas it is plaine that Mercurie can neuer be there then For euer on the night time the Sun is more then fortie degrees from any part of mid-heauen and Mercurie is alwayes within thirtie degrees or thereabout of the Sun for which cause he was wont to be called Pileatus as wearing an hat to saue him from the heat of the Sun which was so nere him I haue in another place spoken of his wise opinion how the starres and heauen haue nothing to doe in Emperours natiuitie Guido Bonatus feareth that the foure mathematikes can not stand if strology faile But ful wisely as if he knew not the difference of Astrology and Astronomy Bardesanes also a man very well learned in these points hath a very good edge this way as appeareth by Eusebius lib. 6. Euang. praepar cap. 8. because the place there is very notable I wil here set it downe It is as followeth Among the Seres the law forbiddeth murder adultery idolatrie so that in those countries is neither whore theefe nor murderer neither doth the firie starre of Mars in the middest of heauen there force any mans will to manslaughter neither could Venus in coniunction with Mars cause any to mistresse another mans wife Although it cannot be chosen but that euerie day once Mars moueth to the middest of heauen neither can it be denied but in so great a country men are borne euerie houre Among the Indians and Bactrians there be manie thousands of those whom wee call Brachmanni who what for tradition by fathers what for lawes neither worship images nor eate any liue thing neither euer drinke either wine or ale but refraining from all euill tend only vpon the seruice of God In the meane time all other Indians their countrie-men wallow in murder drunkennesse and Idolatrie There are also found some or rather there is an whole nation in the Indies dwelling in the same climate which hunting and sacrificing men deuoure them neither do anie starres bee they neuer so good keepe them from bloud and villanie neither anie stars so bad
opinion vpon Ptolemy but falsely for with him is no ninth sphere much lesse any tenth as you may perceiue both by the second booke of the Almagest the first book of Apotelesmata For since Ptolemy vseth both the mouable signes called the images or the figures of the eightsphear and the immouable signes referring to them the places of the planets is sufficient proofe that he dreamed of nothing without the eight spheare For those foure famous points to wit of the two tropicks two equinoctial he calleth the immouable signes which are fixed and fastned in the eight spheare not in the ninth for these be his words in the second booke of the Almagest I will a buse the names of the signes applying them to the partes of the Zodiak as if they began at the tropick and equinoctiall pointes so the twelfth part from the vernall equinoctiall toward the sommer tropick I will call Aries the second twelfth part or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will call Taurus and so forth according to the order of the twelue signes deliuered by vs. And in the first booke of his Apotelesmata he determineth the partes of the Zodiake to which he referreth the planets by the Solstitiall and Equinoctiall points but be there or be there not any ninth spheare all the Astrologie of our age must needes downe For if these celestiall influences proceede from all parts of heauens it will follow that they can prognosticate nothing which make no account of the whole Orbe as if the bare places where no starres are had no force or power But if these celestiall influences to change things here proceede only from such starres as are indued with euident light and beams then must they of force grant that no force descendeth from the ninth Sphere hither which either hath no light at all or such as cannot be perceiued Wherefore either the whole Sphere is to be obserued which they do not or that ninth Sphere if there be any such is to be contemned of which mind is Guido Bonatus affirming that whatsoeuer is aboue the eight Sphere belongeth not to the Astrologer Farther we are to note how they iarre not onely in motions reuolutions of the Planets but euen of the Sun it selfe how diuersely and contrarie they write Before Hipparchus time they held that the Sunnes reuolution which is a yeare conteined only 350. dayes and a quarter of a day Hipparchus thought the addition aboue euen dayes was lesse then a quarter Ptolemey thinketh that lesse to bee the 300. part of a day Albateguinus saith it wanted of a quarter the 106. part of a day Thebit saith that the yeare containeth 365. dayes 6. houres 10. minutes 12. degr Philolaus said that the naturall yeare consisted of 364. dayes and a halfe Others in a matter of such vncertaintie though they came neere enough if they made the yere of 365 dayes which opinion Saint Augustine seemed not much to mislike who in his Commentary super Genesim to the 365. daies addeth the whole quarter day When we see these great men thus varie and dissent wee need maruell lesse at the Arcadians making yeeres of three moneths long and at the Acarnanians who vsed yeares of sixe moneths and Greekes hauing yeares of 354. dayes As they dissent much in the quantitie of the yeare so is there as il agreement in the beginning of it But that this point cannot be determined of Ptolemie proueth in the second booke of his Apotelesmata for this reason because in a circle no man can find a beginning simply Wherfore in the Zodiak are imagined foure beginnings by coniecture the two Solstitial and the two Equinoctiall pointes The Egyptians began their yeare at the vernall Equinoctial the Romans at the winter Tropicke others at the first of Libra Plutarch in his Problems liketh Numa for beginning it at the winter Tropicke If any to determine this controuersie shall say that we are to heed the creation of the world he shal rather increase then diminish the controuersie For among the Hebrewes where this were to be learned is no certaintie to be found some of them holding that the creation was in the Srping others in Autumne of which opinion are many for concerning the celebrating of the Passeouer in the first moneth that they say was spoken in respect of the solemnities Farther it is written in Exodus that the feast of Tabernacles was in the end of the yeare which feast we know was kept in the end of the yeare More might be brought to this purpose which for breuities sake at this time I purposely omit seeing that Saint Hierome both otherwhere vpon Ezechiel calleth October the first moneth and Ianuarie the fourth I will not heere inlarge how they varie about the distances of Mercurie from the Sunne of the difference of Signes and those which they call images or Figures of which in truth there can no reckening bee made since they are nothing in nature but the deuises of men which might haue made them otherwise if they would these which are now vsed being deuised or related by Aratus who as testifieth Cicero writ of Astrologie and had none himselfe CHAP. XIX Foure causes why Astrologers seeme often to say true and that for their true saying they are neuer a whit the more to be trusted COnsidering the falsenesse of their predictions though there hath been enough said why they should not be trusted yet nowe briefly I will shewe that though all their predictions shuld fall out true yet we were not one whit more to belieue or vse them but to follow the counsel of Saint August lib. 2. de doct Christ cap. 22. who willeth vs to abandon these men not because they say false but saith he though things come to passe as they say yet beleeue them not for though the shape of dead Samuel told the truth to Saul yet the sacrilege of such representations are not a whit the lesse to be detested And though the wise woman in the Acts of the Apostles gaue a true testimonie to the Apostles yet Paul did not spare that spirit but rather cleansed it by the rebuke and casting out of that diuell Therefore all these Artes smelling of vaine or rather hurtfull superstition by reason of a certaine pestilent confederacy betweene men and diuels as false and fraudulent compacts are to be reiected and abandoned of Christians Why they should not be trusted though they say all true may appeare if we consider the causes why they say sometimes true which may be reduced to foure The first cause is referred to a certaine pact league between the Astrologer and the diuell or to a certaine secret instinct and motion whereby men at vnawares are oft incited to guesse according to that of Saint Augustine lib. 5. de Ciuitate Dei cap. 27. It is not without cause beleeued saith he that when Astrologers maruellously make manie true answeres it commeth to passe by the suggestion of euill spirits whose chiefe
the prognosticatours but also such as sought to them cap. de maleficis mathematicis For it is the dutie of a Christian to depend wholy vpon God neither to doubt but that he so ordereth all that nothing can happen but to his good and benefit Wherefore not gaping after things to come he must haue this care chiefly that he order things present to the glory and after the will of God Let it therefore be enough for Christians that God hath declared these vanities to be abhominable to him Deuter. 18.10 And that he doth so nippingly insult as it were ouer stargazers by name Esay 47.12 Let it suffice vs so to haue obserued the motion of them that we may know the distinction of times and seasons and how to do those things for which God hath made them to be obserued by giuing full proofe of their vse such as we see in husbandry nauigation and such like For other eueÌ„ts let vs not trouble our selues since al things shall fall out for the best if we feare God neither let vs doubt but whatsoeuer is good for vs God will certainly reueale it in good time as he was euer wont to doe to his people When man was placed in Paradice he was set there to dresse the garden not to be gasing still vp to the starres like a wisard when he was put out he was designed to till the ground to digge grub weede sweat and swinke not to busie himselfe about aspects coniunctions oppositions constellations influences firy and watrie triplicities and such like Heauen is Gods booke which we must leaue to him and content our selues with our earthly abce according to that Psal 113. Coelum coeli domino terram autem dedit filijs hominum To what end hath God placed vs so far from the starres if with Astrolabes staues and quadrants wee can do all things as if we were neerer You know what Horace said fitly of the seuering of countries Nequicquam deus abscidit Prudens oceano dissociabili Terras si tamen impiae Non tangenda rates transiliunt vada The like follie to this I heard once vttered by a disciphring rogue who because he had been in Italy and abroad thought he might say what he list He for his art of disciphering went so far that by it he said might be found what were those visions reuelations and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle heard in the third heauen If those words were within the compasse of a Cipher why are they said to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another beast I heard once in a publike Lecture magnifying his skill in Logike say that he could proue predestination out of Arma virumque cano Farther out was he then the poore Duns who in a Lecture explicating those words held himselfe a great deale closer to his Text in this sort Arma virumque cano est propositio de copulâ—to extremo arma virumque non est subiectum sed praedicatum istud pronomen Ego est subiectum illius verbi Cano est propositio sic Ego cano arma virum With this he began to admire himselfe and protested to his Auditors that Virgil was neuer so read before With this superstition of climactery yeares we may match another as grosse of the leap yeares which becaâ—se they follow the number of 4. comming euery 4. yeare are holden by some to be no lesse dismall and dangeâ—ous then the climacteries If this be graunted why then doe we not make euery fouth yeare a climactery as well as euery 7. and 9. yeare and so make 4. a climactery number But let vs heare how they proue the leape yeare to be so fatall and dangerous The very nature of things say they and the habite of bodies are quite changed in the leape yeare which they proue by the experience of Bathes that yeare which they say are verie vnwholsome do much harme by the testimonie of shepheards and heardsmen who report that their flockes and cattell those yeares either conceiue not at all or if they do yet go not out their time or if they go out yet they bring forth certaine weake and crased ware Fruterers also complaine that their tâ—ees are barren in those yeaâ—es or at least yeeld naughtie fruit Some further adde that the kernels of some trees which are set that yeare will turne of theÌ„selues so that the sharp end will stand where the flat end should be And some that wold seeme wise maintaine that those yeares are periculous for women with child Whereupon often times in many places you shal see those superstitious cretures shriue theÌ„selues gad a pilgrimage ply their beads prattle their Paternosters weare garlands which they cal our Ladies garlands or coronets Againe they say that the leape yeare is Saturnine which they proue thus The Saturnine yeare is euery fourth yeare but the leape yeare is euerie fourth yere therefore the leape yeare is Saturnine That the motion of Saturne is guided by foure they would proue thus These inferiour things are moued by the superiour for say they the humours of our bodies are moued by that starre to whicich they haue resemblance for example Flegme is moued euerie day as following the Moone which it resembleth so they say that bloud in motion followeth the Sun choler Mars euery third day Melancholy Saturne euery fourth day Seing therefore the leape yeare is Saturnine and therefore bad it must needes do much harme to all things The opinion of the vnluckinesse of Saturne seemeth to haue beene verie ancient as may appeare by Virgil in many places who whensoeuer he will signifie Iupiter or Iuno offended and reuengefull is wont to call them Saturnios and not else as Aeneid lib. 4. Nec Saturnius haec oculis pater aspicit aequis And of Iuno in the same booke Talibus aggreditur Venerem Saturnia dictis And in another place Irim de coelo misit Saturnia Iuno And veterisque memor Saturnia belli Tantos iratum voluit sub pectore fluctus And Saturnique altera proles But when the same Poet will signifie her fauour and grace he will call her magna or bona as in that Adsit laetitiae Bacchus dator bona Iuno Others say that Saturn in progressioÌ„ hurteth not at all but only when hee is retrograde And that for that cause he giueth the sithe for his cognizance which so long as you thrust it forward hurteth nothing but if you draw it backward will cut verie sore whatsoeuer doth withstand it This kind of proofe is but poeticall and pretie and therfore let euerie one esteeme of it as far and no farther then he listeth For it will be hard to yeeld anie good or substantiall reason for a thing of this nature And if my coniecture might be heard against this opinion I should rather thinke that Virgil bestowed that epithet of Saturnius vpoÌ„ Iupiter by imitation of Homer who is wont to tearme him sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometime