was good yet neverthelesse there were among the People that worshipped them and this is the reason they are reproved by God Now that hee had no intention at all to set up Idolatry by this Act appeares clearly in this that the Kings his Successors who all were of the same Beliefe are not any where reproved for this crime untill the Reigne of wicked Achab who was seduced by his wife Jezabell the most Imperious woman that ever was Thus we read in the History of Kings that Jehu did that which was right in the sight of the Lord Yet neverthelesse Non reliquit vitulos aureos qui erant in Bethel 4. Reg. 10.30 in Dan. And I would faine know if this King should have worshipped these Calves how he could have done that which was right in the sight of God who never punished his people so severely as when they had given themselves up to worship Idols And how Asa in like manner King of Samaria could have walked in the wayes of David if he had beene tainted with this horrible Crime Et fecit Asa rectum ante conspectum Domini sicut David pater ejus and yet notwithstanding Excelsa non abstulit He took not away the High places that is to say Vitulos the Calves As if the Author of the holy Scriptureshad purposed to prevent the Objection which is usually made concerning the erecting of these Calves to an evill End for these words seeme to have been set downe so expresly meerly for the confutation of those men that are wedded to their owne wills and for the clearing of the truth of that which I have here delivered Cor Asa perfectum fuit cum Domino etsi Excelsa non abstulerit Which is an Infallible Argument that they acknowledged in these Calves or Cherubins the same which they of Jerusalem did in those of the Arke namely the presence of the Invisible God sitting there as on his Throne notwithstanding that many out of simplicity worshipped the bare figure of this Work of Mens hands And this is that which God so often complaines of As if this were the Literall meaning of this Passage to wit that the Kings of Israel had indeed done that which was right in the sight of God and had lived according to his Lawes yet that they might have done better if they had taken away these Cherubins which were the cause of the destruction of many who made other use of them then that for which they were intended I remember to have read somewhere to this purpose of a Bishop of Marseille who seeing that many of his people behaved themselves toward the Images that are usually placed in Churches with so great respect as that one day he observed some of their actions that came within the compasse of Idolatry he caused them all to be broken to pieces leaving only a very few in some certain places of his Diocess So true it is that we often abuse those things which were instituted only to good ends I shall only adde one word more for the defending of the Innocence of the Samaritans which is that when Salmonazar had ransacked their Country he sent into it Colonies out of Persia who falling to commit Idolatry as they had used to doe in their own Country God sent Lions among them to destroy them For remedy of which calamity 4 Reg. 17 they could finde out no better expedient then to send for one of the Jewish Priests whom they had lead away captives for to instruct these Idolaters in the Worship of the true God which being done they were freed from that calamity which is a certaine Argument saith Abiudan that all the Samaritans were not Idolaters This observation of Abiudan Moncaeus takes no notice of yet He hath also an Observation which Abiudan passes by out of the hate I conceave that he bare to the True Messias and because that the Testimony made against himselfe namely that when our Saviour Christ uttered the Story or Parable of the Travailer that fell among Theeves the Samaritan is there said to have had more pity on him then the Priest of Jerusalem I shall adde here that the same God being become Man did not at all deny himselfe to be a Samaritan when he was called so by way of reproach which doubtlesse he would have done if he had knowne this people to be wholy Idolatrous 9. But now in the progresse of this Discourse the Curious Critick who uses to leave nothing unsifted may happily propose this Question to me If the Cherubins of the Arke were made in the forme of Calves what should move almost all Writers to maintaine that they were in shape like young Boyes I confesse I could willingly have put off the answering this Question which neither Abiudan nor Moncaeus have taken any notice of or else have purposely passed it by to some other time But seeing that I write to the Learned it concernes me willingly to omit nothing that makes for my subject that so I be not ranked in the number of those men that when they write of any argument doe voluntarily slip over the choycest things in it I say then in two words and without making any long discourse on it since that I handle this very Question in another place that all the Authors both Greek and Latine and the greatest part of the Jewish too as Aben-Ezra Scelomoh and the Talmudists who have attributed the forme of young Boyes to these Cherubins have done it upon such weake grounds that we need but onely to rehearse them to shew their insufficiency There is nothing say many of these last named Authors cited by Kimchi which more confirmes the opinion of the Cherubins being made in the figure of Young Men or Lads then the Etymology of their name For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cherub is compounded of the servile Letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caph which signifies sicut and of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabeia which signifies in Chaldee a Young Boy or Youth and in the plurall number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cherabaia that is to say sicut Adolescentes or Pueri Very good but Moses spoke not Chaldee but Hebrew and therefore if this controversie must be decided by the Etymology of the name why cannot I say with much more reason out of the Hebrew Etymology of the word that these two Cherubins were made in the form of Saddles seeing that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cherub is said to be derived by transposing the letters into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cherab which signifies equitare Cap. 15. v. 9. Cap. 22. v. 35. is in Hebrew a Saddle as you may see in Leviticus and in the first book of the Kings Or else we may say that these Cherubins were made in the form of Raine seeing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cherabib a word that cometh very near Cherubin signifies sicut pluvia Let us now examine the Reasons
them with But they were so far from being relieved as that they had heavier Taxes layd upon them through the evill Counsell of the King which is the readiest cause of the subversion of Kingdomes and the best-grounded Monarchies in the World At length his People revolt from him and that with so great heigth of malice and with so vnanimous a consent as that of Twelve Tribes there continued onely two Judah and Benjamin in their obedience to their lawfull King The rest elected Jeroboam for their King who made choice of Samaria for the place of his abode where by vsing such meanes as might have become the most knowing Politicians of the Ancient Law he kept this People so pliant and obedient to his Commands that they never afterwards acknowledged the Scepter from whence they had revolted Now one of the principall meanes that he made vse of was that having considered with himselfe that there was nothing more likely to draw back the hearts of this people towards Rehoboam againe than their conversation which they were to have with the Two Tribes which continued at Jerusalem for they were necessarily to appeare three times in the year before the Lord in Jerusalem he resolved with himselfe to establish the same object of Adoration in Samaria that was at Jerusalem Now in the Temple there was the Arke and the Cherubins which Moses had made according to the Patterne which God had shewed him in the Mount Jeroboam therefore makes the same in Samaria it not being necessary to make an Arke also for you must note the Arke was made onely to hold the broken Tables of the Law as you may see in Deuteronomy But what Cap. 10. V. 5. you will say were the Cherubins made by Moses fashioned like Calves then Yes most certainly since that those which Jeroboam made were but in imitation of them And had they been of any other figure he had then imitated that figure and had not so much as dreamt of making Calves seeing his purpose onely was to retaine his people in their obedience by the same forme of worship that they used at Jerusalem Otherwise how imprudent should he have been in going about to introduce a strange Religion which they had never before knowne This would have been a meanes rather to have ruined himselfe and his designes and to cause his new gotten Subjects to returne to their old Allegiance 7. Now that the Cherubins which Moses made to the Arke were in the figure of Calves that which Aaron made in the Wildernesse at the intreaty of the children of Israel proves sufficiently for doubtlesse this High Priest did nothing but what he conceived Moses himselfe would have done had he been alive For he tooke upon him to doe what he did upon a presumption that Moses was taken away by God seeing he had not come downe from the Mount in the space of full forty dayes whereas at other times he had never tarried there above a day He made therefore a Cherubin indeed but it was after the patterne that was shewed to Moses as also to himself Exod. 25. Exod. 24.10 and the seventy Elders Inspice fac secundùm exemplar quod tibi-in monte monstratum est Now in this Patterne they saw the glory of God in like manner as it was afterwards seene by Ezekiel and St. John where God appeared sitting betwixt foure Cherubins whereof the first was in figure like a Man the second like a Lion the third like a Calfe and the fourth like an Eagle And upon these visible Cherubins as upon a Throne were the Children of Israel to find placed the Majesty of the Invisible God in their passage through the Wildernesse according as he had promised them by the mouth of his servant Moses Ecce Ego mittam Angelum meum qui praecedat te And then afterwards explaining how himselfe would rest upon this Angell called by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elohim Dij a name common to the Angels too he addes Et erit nomen meum in illo facies mea praecedet te requiem dabo tibi These Promises therefore having been so often made to the People by Moses now that they beleeved him to have been either devoured by some wilde beast in some corner of the Mountaine or else as the wiser sort amongst them thought that he was taken away by God they required at the hands of his Successor Aaron the fulfilling of these very Promises Surge said they unto him fac nobis Deum Elohim or Deos Elohim qui praecedant nos Moysienim huic viro qui eduxit nos de terrâ Aegypti ignoramus quid acciderit as if they should have said We know not what is become of Moses that should have made us this Angell that was to march before us doe Thou thy selfe therefore make it that so we may enter into the Land of Promise Aaron therefore made them one of these Cherubins on which they had seene God sitting Now why he made this Cherubin in the shape of a Calf rather then in any other of the three Figures Abiudan a Jew speaking of this particular a Manuscript Copy of whose Workes Mr. Otho hath brought out of the East sayes nothing at all But Moncaeus who hath likewise written of this Subject gives the reason out of Dionysius the Areopagite In Vit. our Cap. 5. namely that Aaron made choice of the Cherubin that was figured like a Calfe because that being in the appearance more absurd then any of the rest the Children of Israel would not be so apt to worship it This Calfe therefore or Cherubin was made by Aaron not as if he had first cast the gold in a rude Masse and then afterwards shaped it working it in the same manner as Statuaries doe in rude Stones as Moncaeus is of opinion Nor yet that this Calfe came out by chance without any purposed designe of Aaron in making it in shape like a Calfe as most of the Ancients have been bold to affirme But having first made a Mould Et projeci illud aurum in fornacem egressusque est hic Vitulus he cast the gold into it and there came forth this Calfe If the People afterwards provoked God to wrath thereby it was not for making the Calfe but for worshipping it For as Martiall sayes Qui fingit sacros auro vel marmore vultus Non facit ille Deos qui rogat ille facit Neither doe we any where read that Aaron was at all reproved of God for having made it 8. So that the conclusion which we may draw from hence is that the Cherubins which were on the Arke were really made in the shape of Calves and that according to this Doctrine Jeroboam in imitating them could not in any wise be counted an Idolater but onely a Schismatick or Separatist from the worship that was performed in Jernsalem notwithstanding that the same befell him that had happened to Aaron before him namely that though His Purpose
from the use of which they did alsoreape much benefit But that it was either by way of Enchantments or Witch-craft there is no man will ever be able to prove These are his very words translated So that it now remaines that wee set downe how or in what manner the Vertue of these Images could be Naturall which I shall endeavour to doe after I have first shewed how our Moderne Philosophers have erred in this Particular CHAP. IV. That for want of understanding Aristotle aright men have condemned the Power of Figures and concluded very many things both against this Philosopher and against all sound Philosophy THE CONTENTS 1. ERrors in Learning caused by the Ignorance of the Languages 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Specimen and not Species 3. The reading of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 provel to be false 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ill translated and hence the Question of Universals not understood 5. The improper translating of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6. The Errors committed in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The correcting of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rejected against Cicero 7. It is falsly concluded out of Aristotle that Fire is moist agaiust du Villon 8. That Aristotle is abused by Interpreters by reason of their not understanding the force of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. The false Interpretation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given by Stapulensis 10. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly understood condemneth those that deny the power of Figures The proofe of This at large 1. THe Ignorance of the Languages hath been the Occasion of so many Errors not only in Learning but even in Religion too that it is not without cause that Learned men complaine hereof For what can be imagined more ridiculous then for a man not knowing the force of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rachaiah which signifies no more but the Aire or the Extent of any thing to fancy a Christalline Heaven From this passage Divisit aquas quae subter Firmamention ab ijs quae super Firmamen â—um sunt aquae omnes quae super Caelos suut it hath been concluded either that there were waters above the Heavens or else that there were certaine Christalline Heavens What Grosser Conceit can there be then for want of understanding the Equivocall meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Keren which signifies both a Horne and Light or Brightnesse to paint Moses with Hornes which hath beene the cause of great astonishment among many Christians and of Laughter to the Jewes and Arabians But my purpose here is not to shew what Abuses are crept into our Religion meerly for want of the knowledge of the Hebrew or the Holy Tongue as we usually call it I have discoursed at large elsewhere upon this Particular and those that desire more full satisfaction herein may have recourse to my Book intitled Advis aux Doctes touchant la necessitè des langues Orientales I shall only at present shew some of those severall Errors with which our Books are full only for want of understanding the Text of Aristotle aright 2. And of these I have heretofore observed above a Thousand but because I would avoid Tediousnesse I shall bring in only some few and that only to make it appeare that Figures are condemned without cause and that many Conclusions are deduced which Sound Argumentation could not beare In Isag Porph. Thus to begin our Enumeration all Interpreters have rendred the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Species whereas it ought to be rendered Specimen For it cannot be denied but that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the Species or Sampler and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Copy or Extract unlesse we should give Plato the lye who alwayes takes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this sense as if we should interpret it in our Language The Copy of the Great Patterne or Sampler 3. Next it is a manner of speaking very frequent with Plato that when he speaks of the Idea of a Man or of a Horse he saies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which almost all Interpreters have corrected though very falsly and read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For the Idea of a Man is properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the contrary every particular man may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Latine every Particular man may be called Ipse homo but when we would expresse the Idea we cannot doe it but in these Termes Ipsi Homo ipsi Equus ipsi Coelum c. If I wrote to all sorts of men indifferently I should explaine my selfe more fully in this particular but seeing I write not but to the Learned only I may presume of their understanding me sufficiently in two words 4. Another Error that is committed in t the Interpreting of Aristotle is in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sense whereof is usually expressed thus Utrùm Universalia cadant in rerum naturam Namely Whether there be any Universals in the World or not whereas they should rather say Utrùm realiter subsistant or else Utrùm sint realia that is to say whether they have an existence reall and of themselves or not There being no small difference betwixt these two Propositions Utrum universalia existant and Vtrum subsistant per se which was the Opinion of Plato And upon the same subject there is likewise another Error committed in these words Vtrum Vniversalia in nudis tantum conceptionibus posita sint â— Vtrumsint secundum intentionaliter sive per solam cogitationèmentis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is rendered whether Universals have their being onely in Little thoughts Whereas in sound Philosophy and according to the Text it should have been proposed in these words whether Universals exist only by the Reflection of the understanding Which is said to be a Fine Small Thought and so the question is An sint realiter aut per Intellectum And we are to note that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very properly rendred Small Thoughts or Conceptions because the second Thoughts are Lesser and Finer then the First 5. Interpreters have likewise rendered the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Avulsa et distracta as if we were not to seek after the Propriety of language in all things and discoursing of a Philosophicall point were not to handle it in Philosophicall Termes Who can then imagine otherwise but that this Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be rendered in Latine Abstracta and that so much the more happily too in that it is a Terme so frequent both among Philosophers and Divines Adde to the Former this other Error also that the Common sort of Philosophers say that Accidens dicitur in Quale whereas Porphyrius affirmes that it is not onely spoken in
some Gourds Peares Apples and other Fruits That sort of Pease which the Latines call Arietini resembles the head of a Ramme as another sort of them which are for the same reason called Columbini doth a Pigeons having each of them this Quality agreeable to their Figure that they are both equally hot So Beans likewise beare on one side the Form and Figure of a Mans Privy Parts and on the other of a Woman's And perhaps it might be for this only cause that Pythagoras gave that Precept to his Schollars which hath yet been rightly understood by no man A Fabis abstineto Neither is the Seed which is the Part of Plants that is brought last to Perfection â—s being of the Greatest Importance altogether deprived of the Beauty of these Figures For that of the hearb Echion or wild Buglosse resembleth the Head of a Serpent with it's Mouth and Eyes and for this cause also it is observed to be very Soveraigne against the biting of Serpents according to Dioscorides That of Rue is made in the fashion of a Crosse and this peradventure is the reason Leonard Fuchs Hist Plant. Cap. 103. that it is of so great Vertue in the cute of those that are Possessed and that the Roman Church useth it in their Exocrismes You may also observe some kind of Resemblance of the Privy parts both of Men and Women in a Graine of Wheat and in the stones of Grapes and my Opinion is that out of this Observation may be raised a Philosophicall Interpretation far above that which is usually given of this Proverbiall saying Sine Cere Baccho friget Venus If after you have considered all the parts severally you but take the Whole Entire Plant altogether you will yet meet with some such rare Figures as would seem Incredible did not such Excellent Historians confirme us in the beliefe of the Relation Of this sort is the Boramet which growes in Scythia having a perfect Resemblance of a Lamb having a Head Eyes Eares Teeth and the rest of the parts of the body proportionable This Plant crops and feeds upon all the grasse that growes round about it and when there is no more left it dies with famine You may see the story of it in * Hist Mosc De Variet C. 22. Exercit. 181. Sur les Tabl. de Phil. Hist Plant. l. â—8 c. 85. In his Eden fol. 78.2 weeke Perhaps this is that Zoophyte or Plant. Animal which is called in Hebrew Ieduah Sigismundus Cardan Scaliger Vigenerius Guil. Rovillius Duret and in one of the most Excellent of the French Poets who speaks of it in these verses Tels que les Boramets qui chez les Scythes naissent D'une graine menueÌ„ de Plantes se paissent Bien que du corps des yeux de la bouche du nez Ils semblent des Moutons qui sont n' agueres nez Englished thus by Jos Silvester Such as those Boramets in Scythia bred Of slender seeds and with green fodder fed Although their Bodies Noses Mouthes and Eyes Of new-yean'd Lambs have full the form and guise Now in all the parts of Plants the Figures are either Internall or Externall only or both Internall and Externall also The Internall are such as the Fruit of Palestine which beares the Figure of Ashes within and likewise all the sorts of Figures that are found in sawing of Marble The Externall are all such as are Painted and Coloured on the Outside of the Fruit but 〈…〉 only not at all Within in like manner as the Apple called in France the Fambure is which is all speckled with red spots like drops of bloud but only on the Outside or Rind Those that are both Internally and Externally Figured are such as the Maple Wood and many sorts of Stones The Internall Figures are likewise discovered either by Any Manner of Cutting Indifferently or else by one certain Particular Way only That which appeares after Any Manner of Cutting indifferently is as in that kind of Apple In Forn which as Nider reports hath beene seen at Granada which being cut any manner of way did still neverthelesse represent the Figure of a Crucifixe That which requires One only Particular way of Cutting is as in the Root of Fearne which being cut One way only represents an Eagle perfectly I have often observed that an Orenge likewise so cut not a-crosse but long-waies represents with its kernels and little skins an Orenge Tree laden with Orenges It is also observed that the Kernels of an Apple represent the Tree These Figures doe yet consist either in the Colour or in the Division of the Parts in the Colour as in the flowre of the Hearb Eye-bright which representeth those of an Eye in the Division of the Parts as namely in those we have already spoken of Thus have we seen the Division of Figures it remaines now that we prove that they have some Power to operate and that it is not in Vaine that they are perfectly represented both in Plants and Stones Proceed we therefore in the same Order we have observed in our Division beginning with the First 6. I say then that the Naturall Figures which are found in Stones have Naturally a Power to Operate if they be Applied and this I shall prove by two Reasons The First is because they are called Effectrices and the Second is because we see it by Experience For we daily see that some of these Figured Stones do Operate upon the Same Things that they represent as for Example that Stone which we call Heliotropium which is all speckled as it were with Drops of Bloud if applied to the part that bleeds it stops the Bloud Others there are that worke upon the Wound that is made by the Image they beare So Pliny affirmes that there is a kind of Marble called Ophites by reason of its resembling the Figure of Serpents whose name it beares which if applied to the wound caused by the biting of those Venemous Creatures it healeth it See his own words Genus Marmoris ab Ophite dictum Lib. 36. cap. 7. quòd imaginem horum Serpentum reprasentet molle candidum nigransque durum dicuntur ambo Serpentum ictus sedare And here we may make This Division of the Figures that are found in Stones and say that they are of two sorts The one are found in some certaine stones and are alwaies the same and these are Naturally endued with very admirable Vertues The other are such as are not tyed to any certaine sort of Stones but are indifferently found in all and are not indeed of so great Vertue De Subtil l. 7. as the Former And this is the division that Cardan makes of them Verum sayes he mire quispiam dubitet vnde figure hae in Gemmis lapidibus proveniant neque enim credendum est omnem figuran casu contingere cùm lapides multi ex eodem genere easdem retineant figuras Itaque meo judicio
certain Conclusion and Foundation That the Stars and their Influences in these Figures have no Power at all over our Wills And therefore do I account as Ridiculous Damnable and Scandalous those Operations which Albinus Villanovensis saies may be effected by means of these Images In Magia Astr Ad fugandos latrones Ut Mulieres transeuntes super imaginem rideant cantent Ad sistendum equum in cursu Vid. infrà cap. 7. Ad recipiendam substantiam ablatam Ad expugnandos hostes c. L * ΜΘΡΙΑ L * ΜΘΡΙΑ L * ΜΘΡΙΑ And now it is no hard matter to conceive how the Power of Talismans comes at this day to be so undervalued for those that have written of this Subject have mixed so many both Confused and Dangerous things together in their writings that people making no distinction at all betwixt the Good and the Bad do equally abhor all whatsoever beares but the very name of Figure or Talisman But we shall in the prosecution of this Discourse sever the good Corn from the Darnell and shall shew that in the Making of these Figures all words are indifferent and that they serve but to amuse the simpler sort of people As when Albinus Villanovensis saies that for to cure the Tertian and Quartan Ague the pain of the Nerves Ventricle and Privy parts you must grave the Image of a Scorpion upon a piece of Gold or Silver when the Sun is in his proper House and the Moone in Capricorne and while you are graving it you must say these words Exurge Domine gloria mea Exurge Psalterium Cithara exurgam diluculò and then rehearse this Psalme Miserere mei Deus miserere mei quia in te confidit anima mea From hence it is that so many Superstitions have sprung and that people at length begun to undertake the curing of Diseased persons meerly by the bare Reciting of Certain Words without any regard had either to the Stars or any thing else Let us now come to the First Quaere which we are to prove for the Establishing of the Power of Figures namely Whether the Starres have any Influence upon and doe cause any Motion in things here below 19. Primo Meteor Aristotle endeavouring to prove the Affirmative brings a most Excellent Argument and worthy of so great a Philosopher which is this That saith He from whom Motion took its beginning the same hath no doubt given to all other things the Power of Self-motion now without all Dispute the Motion of the Heavens was the First in Nature therefore whatsoever Moves Moves by the Motion of the Heavens Insomuch that if the Motion of these should cease both Growth and Motion would also cease in all things here below In Sphoer Sacr. c. 3. Junctin brings here an Example of a Man's heart which as it is the beginning of Life and Motion so doth it communicate Life and Motion to all the rest of the Members So that if it once be wounded not onely the Motion ceaseth in all the parts of he body but even Life also You may see this Position confirmed by Hippocrates who backs it with so many reasons Lib. de Aëre Aquis and so strongly asserts the truth of these Celestiall Influences as that he confidently affirmes that by the rising and setting of the Starres a man may foretell Tempests raine Stormes and other changes of weather through the neglect of which Observations Physitians are very often deceived in their Cures and Diseases Cùm temporum mutationes saith he Astrorum ortus occasus observaverit medicus quemadmodum singula horum eveniant praenoscit utique de anno qualis hic sit futurus c. And then afterwards shewing what time and what Seasons are dangerous for Sick People by reason of the diverse motions of the Starres he presently addes Periculosissima sunt ambo Solstitia maximè verò aestivum periculosum etiam Aequinoctium utrumque magis verò Autumnale Oportet autem Astrorum ortus considerare praecipuè Canis deinde Arcturi Plejadum occasum Morbi enim in his maximè diebus judicantur aliique perimunt alij verò desinunt aut in aliam speciem aliumque statum transmutantur It would be but lost time if I should stand longer upon the Proof of this so clear a Truth which all men ought to confesse to be so were there no other Argument for it but this that it hath been constantly observed ever since the first beginning of Astronomy in the World that the Rising and Setting of the Fixed Starres have been the cause of very great changes here on Earth and he must either be a very Ridiculous senselesse man or else a very Ignorant that should go about to deny that the Hyades and the Plejades are not Watry Cloudy Constellations that is to say do cause Rainy Cloudy Darks weather as Leo and the Dog-starre bring Heat and Drowth and Orion a Wet and tempestuous season and so of the rest And after all Vid. Gul. Rovill hist Plant. do we not observe that there are some certain Flowers that turn about as the Sun does and others that appear above the Water at his Rising and when He sets sinke downe againe and hide themselves as it were bewayling his absence Neither are the Influences of the Stars shed upon Hearbs alone but even upon Stones also Some wherof do so exactly observe the motion of those particular Starres whose Influences they bear as that they change their Aspects with them An Example of this Truth you have in the Stone called Lunaria which is indued with such wonderfull qualities as that it changeth its Appearance in like manner as the Moon doth whose name it beareth In a word do not the Humours in our bodies increase with this Planet and decrease when It decreaseth If any man yet desire to have more of these Instances backed with Convincing Reasons he may have recourse to the Astronomicall Praedictions of Ptolomy and he shall there finde that the truth of these Influences is too clear to be called in question 20. The other Point concerning the Resemblance of the Heavenly Constellations to Sublunary things is something more Difficult to prove though not lesse True Neverthelesse this objection is brought against it If the Constellations of the Ramme the Bull the Twins c. do resemble these Living Creatures it is either Really or else by Imagination If Really they are then either in the Eighth Sphear or else in some other but they are not in the Eighth For in the Constellations of the Ramme the Bull c. there is no signe at all of these Beasts being figured or represented by the Stars neither are they in the Christaline Heaven nor yet in any of the Sphears of the Planets for we should then see them as we do the other Starres nor yet in a Ninth Heaven as some have thought If they are only by Imagination then are their Effects also Imaginary and have no
re figurata praeparationem quae caelestem actionem sine difficultate varijs modis accipiat And afterwards explaining how it comes to passe that among the diverse kinds of Figures that are under the Heavens some are more Naturally Apt to receive the Influences then Others are he brings in the Instance of Looking-glasses amongst which those that are hollow receive the beames of the Sunne in so full a measure as that they burne and others receive them scarcely at all So the diversity of Hils and Vallies is the Cause of a greater either Heat or Coldnesse We may also here adde an Instance in pieces of Ice which the Sun cannot so easily melt and dissolve if they be Plaine and smooth but very easily if they be Uneven and Rough. Which hath given occasion to some to say that Painted Figures are nothing so Proper to the Subject we treat of as Graven and Carved are which is most True As for Gold although the Figure change not the Species of it yet notwithstanding it renders it more Apt and Proper for such an Action as Water Cold and Hot though it be still the same Species yet the one will boyle our Meat when the other will not Which makes Galeottus to conclude in these termes Requiritur ergo in unius ejusdem speciei rebus certum culturae temperamentum ut variet ur effectus 12. It hath also been Objected against Franciscus Ruëus who undertooke the Defence of This Kind of Sculpture after Galeottus that if it be indued with such Wonderful Vertues Man's workmanship should then have more Power then God's seeing that the Graved Figure of a Lion should be able to cure the Paine of the Reines which a Living Lion could not doe To this he answers and that very Pertinently that That which Man does is as wel the Work of God as that which God himselfe does seeing that We are but His Instruments and that all our Actions according to the Apostle are in Him and depend on Him Besides we sometimes see that That which hath been composed by man proves to be of Greater Vertue then that which God hath simply Created as for Example Treacle is of more Soveraigne Vertue against Poyson then any Simple that the Naturalists have yet found out 13. I thought that I had now answered All the Objections that had been made against these Figures but I have lately met with Another which is a more Confident one then any of all the rest and it is Naâ—daeus his in his Apology which we have heretofore cited where defending the honour of Virgil who is branded with the name of a Necromancer because that he sometimes applied himselfe to the making of these Talismanicall Images he boldly affirms that all the stories which are reported of this Poët are False and Ridiculous He denies then Consequently those Images which He made as the Brazen Fly which he set up upon one of the gates of the City Naples which for the space of Eight yeares kept all manner of Flies from comming into the City He denies also that other Talisman of a Horseleech graved on a Plate of Gold which he cast into a Well for to drive away the vast multitudes of Horsleeches that annoyed the same City In a word he stands not to dispute whether the Operations of these Images are Natural or not but hee plainly denies in Termes that there was ever any such thing in the world as if he could not by any meanes have defended Virgil's Innocence without easting himselfe upon this Extreame and giving the Lye to all the Authors that have reported these stories That which he sayes in the Progresse of his Discourse by way of confirmation of his Assertion is after the same Rate For by reason of the great number of Places from whence these beasts are reported by Historians to have been driven away one may saith he very well doubt whether because they are said to have been driven from so many they were ever driven from any or no. As if because of the great number of Battails that Hannibal is reported by Historians to have fought with the Romans we might not by the same Reason doubt whether hee fought any with them or no. He saies moreover that Scaliger had good reason to make himself merry with one of these Fly-drivers who having made a Talismanicall Plate for This Very Purpose he had no sooner set it up upon one of his Windowes but a Fly comes presently and shites upon it for Handsell But he must not thinke that these Reasons of his are able to derogate any thing from the Power which we have acknowledged these Figures to have For that we may give him his Answer if such a Physician is not able to Cure a Sicke man or if such an Arithmetician be not able to bring to an end some Operation which he hath begun shall we therefore conclude that Physicke and Arithmetick are False and Ridiculous An Able man can do that which an Ignorant man cannot and if he also sometimes faile it must be imputed to some default either on his part or on the Matter and not in the Science which is Infallible In which notwithstanding there are so Many Things to be observed that I cannot wonder much if many men find not the Effect answer their Expectation Another reason which renders the Endeavours of men herein often Fruitlesse is the little Certainty that we have of Celestiall Affaires as being so farre removed from us And this is that which Roger Bacon saith Lib. cit Quia difficile est in his certitudinem Coelestium percipere ideò in his multus est error apud multos et pauci sunt qui sciant aliquid utiliter et veraciter ordinare And this is the Only Reason why so many great Personages have passed by both this Science that of Erecting Horoscopes and also the so much Famed Philosophers Stone being taken up with Imployments of more Importance and which required not either so much Time or Paines Not but that they acknowledged the Truth bth of the one and of the Other and Especially of Talismans as may appear out of severall Epistles of Joseph Scaliger to the S rs de la Vau Vazet and Bagarris So that I am of opinion that if his Father Julius Scaliger did make himselfe merry to see that a Mathematician should not be able with a Figure made to drive away Flies to keep a Fly-from comming and abusing it it was rather to laugh at the Ignorance of the Artist then at the Art he professed seeing he hath acknowledged the Power of it in diverse places As concerning the Author called Gervais who attributes to Virgil these Talismanicall Images as namely a Brazen Fly a Golden Horseleech and some others the high Imployments which he was taken into by the Emperour Otho to whom he was Chancellour and the booke which he presented him with the Title whereof was Ocia Imperialia ought in my Opinion to render
who hath the Government of Wars and Murthers the Seventh THOV SHALT NOT COMMIT ADVLTERY to Venus who rules over Concupiscentiall Motions and so of all the rest to which he hath fitted such strange Chimemera's as deserve to be ranked with those Extravagant wild Fancies which Gemma Frisius hath inserted into his Ars Cyclognomica and those other that Cichus Aesculanus hath forged upon the Sphere of Jo. de Sacrobosco The fore-named Authors say moreover that it is from this Astrology of the Zephiros that the Cabalists report the Patriarks and Prophets to have derived all their Divine Knowledge Simili ratione saith the same Riccius Cablistae quoque Patriarchas Prophetasque quemlibet cuilibat harum Sephiros imperio atque afflatu subjiciunt prout quivis illorum certum Divinitutis gradum susceperit 5. Chomer addes In Galgal Hamizra Chim that these very Planetary Zephiros have been the Cause by their Revolutions of the Changing of Kingdomes and Religions which is consonant to what Cardinall de Alliaco hath cited out of Gulielmus Parisiensis who saies De sid et leg De leg sect that some Astrologers affirm that the Diversity of Religions hath been caused by the Aspects of the Planets as that of the Jewes by the Influences of Saturne by reason whereof this Nation hath alwaies been Miserable and is at this time and ever shall be so because that the Planet on which their Religion is founded is a Malevolent and an Unfortunate one rendring them also Covetous and Perverse and great Lovers of Saturday which is the Day dedicated to Saturne That of the Turkes is governed by the Planet Venus and this is the reason that this Peple celebrate Friday and are likewise extreamly addicted to Luxury and that in so high a measure as that they believe the chiefest happinesse in the Life to come consists in this Brutality The Christian Religion say they in like manner hath received its Foundation from the Sun for which cause they have Sunday in great Veneration being the day which is governed by this Planet and that by Vertue of Its Beames the Chief Visible Head of the Christians hath his Seat in a Solary City that is Rome which City had its First Stone laid when the Sign Leo was the Ascendent which is the Proper House of the Sun and was afterwards built in the form of a Lion This is also very Observable or rather very Extravagant which Cardinall de Alliaco reports out of these Astrologers who saies that they affirm that according to these Principles it is that Cardinals go in Red which is a Solary Colour and suitable to this Planet which was the Founder of their Religion All other say They as Arrians Armenians Lutherans and the rest are caused by the Conjunction of Diverse severall Planets which hath caused this Mixture 6. Bechai who is in like manner fallen upon such Fooleries as these and who hath examined our Religion with too much Tartnesse goes yet farther then all this and saies that Jesus Christ whom notwithstanding he will not acknowledge to be the Messias in Order to this Foundation was raised again upon the Day which as wee have said is assigned to the Sun and that having been a Man Perfectly Solary he was consequently very Beautifull and of a Faire Lovely Countenance and of a very Quick and Daring Spirit as may appear saith He by that Act of his in driving the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple and by his disputing with the Doctors of the Law at the Twelfth year of his Age. How happy had this Rabbin been if he could but have raised to himself from these Marvellous things the Foundation of his own Salvation But leaving him to his own Darknesse we observe since we are insensibly fallen upon this Discourse which yet we make Mention of with all possible Humility that in the Nativity of our Saviour Christ Commenâ— in Ptol. lib. 2. he no whit agreeth with that which Cardan hath erected For he saith after that he hath told us that there were Five very Observable things in his most Adorable Nativity which show what manner of Man he was that Saturne having part in his Geniture rendered him Sad and Pensive whence Josephus also took occasion to say of him Visus est saepius flere ridere nunquam And for the same reason also he semeed to be Older then in Truth he was For The Sorrowfull Spirit drieth up the Bones and for This Cause it was saith He that the Jewes took him to have been forty yeares old at least when they said unto him Nondum quinquaginta annos babes Et Abrahamum vidisti He proceeds and saies that this Planet meeting with Venus was the cause of his having certaine red Specks in his Face following the afore-named Josephus who saies that he was Lentiginosus in Facie which moved Cardan to say Quod si a Deo omnia fuissent profecta quorsum erat Lentiginosum creari But let us now leave this Point which we have touched upon only by the By and proceed to the other sorts of Astrology which are falsly attributed to the Hebrewes and to their Neighbours 7. That which Scaliger hath produced though it seemeth to have better Grounds In Spher Barb. Manil. fol. 487. seq nov Ed. then those other Kinds which we have before spoken of yet neverthelesse was it never practised nor acknowledged by the Egyptians and therefore much lesse by the Jews However the Curiosit of it makes me willing to give the Reader a Tast of it and it is as followeth The Planet Mars being in the first Degree of Aries they represented a Man holding a Sickle in his Right hand and in is Left a Bow In the second Degree a Man having the head of a Dog and holding a Cudgel in one hand and having the other stretched forth In the Third another Man lifting up one hand to Heaven and in the other seeming to point at all that is in the whole Universe In the Fourth another Man again with curled Hair having a Hawke upon his Right Hand and in his Left a Flaile In the Fifth two Men one eleving wood with a Hatchet and the other bearing a Scepter in his hand The rest of the Degrees have their severall Figurs also which I shall passe by that I may come to the second Signe which is Taurus into the First Degree whereof when Mercury entered they pictured a Man holding a Cudgel in his hand with which he drives an Oxe to the Shambles In the Second Degree a Woman holding in her hand a Horses taile In the Third an Old Woman covered with a Vaile or else a Woman in Breeches In the Fourth another Woman holding a Whip And that I may trouble my selfe no further in reckoning up all these Figures the Reader may see them if he please in the foresaid Booke where Scaliger saies that he hath taken them out of the Writings of the Arabians and that these kinds of Pictures
aperiam duo Themata homines praecipua instituit alterum Geniturae alterum Actionum So that these Athla are not the Theme or Figure of the Nativity or of such things as are borne with us but rather whatsoever wee Acquire afterwards And here Scaliger takes occasion to let the world know that Himselfe is the onely Man that hath rescued his Athlon out of the very Jaws of Oblivion which he saies is a word used only by Manilius and which though it be very Ancient yet neither the Jewes Greeks nor Arabians had any knowledge of He confesseth them that it is very Ancient Now would I very faine aske this Question of Him Whether this Word if it be so Ancient be either Greeke Hebrew or Arabicke I suppose hee would be very wary how he answered this Question lest he should be forced to contradict himselfe Let us see then if we can discover the true Originall of this Word and briefly set downe whence this Athlon whose Etymology hath been for so long time unknown is derived We have formerly shewed that the Ancient Hebrewes digested all the Observations which they made at the Nativity of a Child into Twelve Places either on some Instrument or else in a plaine Figure only We have also said that these Twelve Places according to Abarbanel R. Jacob Kapol were called by one Generall name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Machataloth that is to say Ligaturae not according to the Usual Acception of the Lature Word Ligatura which signifies a little Scrol tyed about the Neck or Arme for the cure of some Disease or other R. Nathan much abuseth himselfe in taking the word in this Sense and saying that they used to tie the Geniture or Figure of the Nativity about the Neck of the Child which Abarbanel proves to bee very False But they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Machataloth from the Verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chatal which signifies to Bind because that they were taken and considered all together as United and not severally and apart For if any one of them were omitted there could no perfect Judgement be given of the Fortune of the Child Now from this Chatal or Machataloth is Athlon corrupted which Manilius describing the Astrology of the Ancients hath so often made use of and none but Hee And thus you see whence this word which Scaliger so much rejoyceth over and will needs perswade us 't was utterly Unknown to the Hebrewes is derived As for the Greekes though perhaps they might have it yet the Vaine-glory wherewith they were puffed up made them forbeare the use of it and put them upon inventing of new Termes for all that they ever had received from the Ancients by this means depriving Us of the knowledge of Antiquity the hidden Mysteries whereof we shall more fully discover in our Cribrum Cabalisticum and shall there also more fully prosecute this Choyce Point of Learning touching the Astrology of the Ancients Let us now descend to the Reading of the Stars PART IIII. Of the Reading of the Stars and what ever else is seene in the Aire CHAP. XII Whether it be Possible to reade any thing in the Clouds and in all other Meteors THE CONTENTS 1. HOw many wayes this Reading by the Meteors may be performed 2. Battailes and fearefull Prodigies seene in the Aire 3. The Reasons they give who are of Opinion that these Prodigies are Supernaturall 4. Reasons given to the Contrary Angels and Saints how they have sometimes been seene to appeare in the Clouds 5. A new and Quaint Opinion touching the diverse kinds of Figures that appeare in the Clouds and a Conjecture upon the Secret mentioned by Trithemius of conveying Newes agreat Distance off 6. The Authors Resolution concerning strange Sights in the Aire 7. The Raining of Blood in the figure of a Crosse not Naturall against Cardan 8. The Manna in the Wildernesse marked with the Hebrew letter Vau according to some of the Rabbins and what Consequence we may hence deduce against Them 9. Haile in Languedoc figured like Arms Snow like Stars in shape spoken of by Kepler 10. The Rainbow the Hieroglyphicke of Sorrow 11. Diverse Opinions concerning the Generation of Comets and whether they Natuturally presage some Evill to come or not 12. Rules to know what Pillers Swords Bucklers Trumpets and fiery Arrowes seene in the Aire foretell Hebrew Letters sometimes seene in the Aire 13. What Letters have been devised in Imitation of the figures made by Cranes in their Flight Presages of Accidents to come taken from Birds I Make no Question but that those who account Averroēs an Atheist Cardan a Libertine and Pomponatius an Ungodly person and who being charmed with the Doctrines of some Over-scrupulous men will not be beaten out of the Common Road will looke very strangely upon this Proposition which I have here made touching this so Unheard-of Kind of Reading But leaving them to their own Astonishment and taking little notice of what they can say since They are not the men to whom we write let us come in the last place to discover the Secrets of this kind of Reading 1. First Reading presupposeth some Visible Signe whether it be in Letters Characters Markes Ciphers Staves Torches Darts Javelins Knots Streakes Colours Holes Points Living Creatures or any other Sensible thing Now all these Figures or Signes may be represented in the Clouds and the Reading of them may be performed three manner of wayes Either by Letters or Knowne Characters or by Hieroglyphickes or lastly by Signes or Markes which doe represent Perfectly and not Obscurely that which we read For these Signes are different from Hieroglyphickes in this that Hieroglyphickes doe represent things Obscurely as for Example expressing a Battail by a Sword but the other contrary wise Clearly and Plainly as namely one Battail by another Now all these Letters Markes and Hieroglyphicks are represented not only in the Clouds but sometimes also in all the other Meteors as Comets Lightning Raine Haile Snow Manna and White Frosts as we shall see hereafter We begin with the Clouds 2. The most Intelligible Signes Marks or Characters that are figured in the Clouds are Armed Men Onsets Armes and Battels which appearing in order for many daies together do give notice to Men of some semblable Event to follow Now whether these Prodigies proceed from some Naturall Cause or else are produced by the power of Almighty God for to admonish us of our sins we shall examine hereafter but this is most certaine that we never faile of seeing the Event to answer the Sign and that to the great Astonishment of all those men who would reduce all things to the Principles of Philosophy About twenty foure yeares before the Birth of our Saviour Christ there were two Armies seen to encounter each other in the Aire and that with so great violence as that men might heare if at least the story be true the Running of their Horses Vid. T. Liv. l 2. Decad.
1. Plutarcb in Vit. Caes Dion Suet. Appian l. 44. Alex. ab Alex. l. 3. c. 15. Eueas Sylv. Deser Europ c. 15. Fincil in nov-Evang Lycost Beaistcau Tesserant Belleforest in their Histories of Prodigies the Voices of the Men and the Clashing of their Armour Not long after was the truth of this Vision made manifest to the world For Marius and Sylla by their Factions making as it were a Shambles of the Feilds were the cause of so much Bloodshed as that the Romans never received a greater Blow then This. In like manner when the Gothes Hunnes and Lombards invaded Italy the Europeans Palestine and the Turks Constantinople there were seen in the Aire Armes all bloody Men raging like Mad and Dogs so feirce and cruell as that the very Description is full of Horror But that we may not borrow Examples abroad it is reported that in the yeare 1561. the like Prodigies were seen in our owne Country of France and even in the City of Paris also which not long after suffered under an infinite number of Calamities Of late yeares also while the King continued his Seige before Montauban there appeared at Caen at the beginning of the Night very many Dreadfull Sights in the Aire A City seemed to be beseiged Ordnance planted Souldiers drawne forth and the Clouds moving forward and backward appeared like to two pitched Battels that stood ready to charge each other and that which caused the greatest Terrour in the Beholders was that these Figures seemed to be all bloody and as it were Inflamed and the Face of the whole Heavens also was most dreadfull to behold Now these Hieroglyphicks and Letters that are seene in the Clouds are more Frequent then others though not so certaine And because people doe not much take care to observe them I doubt not but if I should here set down what I my selfe have sometimes seen in the Clouds I should be laughed at notwithstanding the Consideration of These Things ought not to be rejected by those that are Curious as we shall shew hereafter For besides those wonderfull Effects which Philosophers have observed doe happen daily in the Clouds it is also an Admirable thing to see Qu' elles se forment En cent diverse portraicts dont les events les transforment En Centaurs Serpens Hommes Oyse aux Poissons Et d'vne forme en autre errent en cent fasons In English thus How into severall Formes themselves they throw Which Winds change into Shapes of Things below Biras Fishes Serpents Centaures Men and thus Shift in a Round of Figures various 3. Let us now proceed to the Consideration of these Prodigies and discover whether there be any Secret meaning in them or not Those men that are of opinion that these strange Sights in the Clouds are not Accidentall and have no Signification in them endeavour to prove their Assertion by these three Reasons The First is because their Generation is wholy above the Power of Nature seeing that no man can assigne any Natural Cause for it The Second is because that their Duration is much different from that which Philosophy alloweth them For if we consider the Figure of a Cloud we shall finde that it cannot preserve it selfe in the same Form and bigness the space of one hour only but is presently scattered and changed into some other shape very much different from the former But as for these Prodigious Figures which we speake of they have been sometimes seen to last for the space of forty dayes as the Author of the History of the Maccabees testifieth who reporteth this wonderfull strange Story 2. Maccab c. 5. here following Eodem tempore Antiochus secundam profectionem paravit in Aegyptum Contigit autem per universam Jerosolymam civitatem videri diebus quadraginta per aēra Equites discurrentes auratas stolas habentes hastis quasi cohortes armatos et cursus equorum per ordines digestos et congressiones fieri cominùs et scutorum motus et Galeatorum multitudinem gladijs districtis et telorum jactus et aureorum armorum splendorem omnisque generis loricarum A like Prodigy happened to the same City a little before the utter Destruction of it by Titus son to the Emperour Vespasian who was the Instrument of punishing the Inhabitants thereof for committing the most Horrid Crime that ever the Sunne beheld For there were seen at that time for above a whole daies space Armies of men running up and downe in the Clouds Joseph de Bel. Jud. l. 7. c. 12. and Chariots likewise the very sight whereof astonished the Beholders The Third Reason to prove that these Figures are not Accidentall nor produced by the Power of Nature only is because that the Praiers of Godly men have oftentimes been the cause that there have appeared in the Clouds the Figures of Angels and of Saints whose Assistance hath been implored in some Calamitous Times as S. Celestine was seen at Aquileia and S. Petronia at Bologne 4. But those who are of a Contrary Opinion bring Arguments against the former and maintaine that there is nothing seen in the Clouds but what may be Naturall For as concerning the manner how these strange Sights are generated it is every whit as much knowne to us as that of Comets which are often ingendred in various and severall shapes as Pointed Round Long Large and in the Figure of Haire according as the Matter is Disposed In like manner may the Body of a Cloud be formed by the Wind which carrieth it to and fro into ten thousand severall shapes which appear strange to our sight though in themselves they are cleane otherwise And thus the First of the afore-said Reasons is overthrowne The Second seemes to have much more Force but in Truth hath none at all For though the History of the Maccabees say that these Fearful Sights of Armies appeared in the Clouds for forty daies together yet it doth not say that they were Really such but only that they Appeared to the Beholders to be such Now their Sight might be deceived by a strong Imagination caused from having seen it once as it often happens in the like case If it be Objected that though one Single man might have been deceived yet that Many could not possibly and that therefore the same thing having been seen by All it must necessarily be Reall and not Imaginary To this I answer that Many may be deceived as well as One single person seeing that the Imagination of Many is altogether as strong as that of a single person and besides that if the Cloud wherein these Figures appeare be Thick and Moist the Raies of our Eyes being prepossessed by our Imagination may easily think they see that which we fancy to our selves This Answer is set downe more fully by Pomponatius De Incant who treating of so difficult and bold a Subject as this might have cleared himselfe of the Objections made against it by using another
Reason which we shall produce hereafter which is both easie and better knowne without casting himself upon the Maximes of a Philosopher that scarce any body understands As for the Long Continuance of these Prodigious Sights in the Aire it may be answered in a word that it was Naturall seeing that the Histories doe intimate they were not seene continually and without Intermission and by Consequence it might so fall out that at some time or other the next day the Winds might possibly dispose the Clouds after the same manner as on the day before The Third Reason which is that the Figures of Angels have been often seen in the Clouds is not of sufficient Force to prove that these Effects are Supernaturall For oftentimes the Clouds if they be Thicke and Smooth doe receive the Raies and Species of things here below which is the Cause that we see them by Reflection as in a Looking-glasse By reason whereof Cardan reports that one day there was the Appearance of an Angel seen in the Clouds at Millane which caused great Astonishment in the People till such time as Pelicanus a Philosopher made it plainly appeare to them that this Angel was nothing else but the Reflection of an Image of Stone that was on the top of the Church of S. Godart which was represented in the Thicke Clouds as in a Looking-glasse And thus might Pomponatius have given a reason of the Apparitions in the Aire afore-mentioned namely of S. Celestine at the City of Aquileia and of S. Petronia at Bologne without engaging himselfe in so long and tedious a Disputation 5. From this Emission of the Raies and Species some have conceived that all those Figures that are seen in the Aire are nothing else but the Images of things here below And therefore they say that those Armies which have been often seen in the Aire were the Raies of some Armies that were in some part of the Earth or other And so that Navy of Ships that was seene floating in the Clouds by the Romans when they were preparing to goe against the Genois and against Perses the last King of the Macedonians who was vanquished by Aemilius was likewise nothing else but the Image of their owne Navy which appeared upon the smooth surface of a Cloud And according to this Doctrine peradventure the Armies of Forreign Kings may be knowne and Newes may be conveyed at a vast distance there being nothing to hinder it For as for those Objections which are made against the Reading that Cornelius Agrippa speaks of which he said might be done by the help of the Moon which should receive the Species of the Characters as a Looking-glasse doth they can have no place here for as much as the Clouds are not very farre removed from us and the Raies of Characters or any other things presented before them cannot be spent before they can reach so farre as they must needs do with the Moon by reason of its too great Distance And thus perhaps is that Secret of Trithemius discouered where he undertakes to send Newes abroad and make it knowne a great distance off in an Instant by the help of certaine Spirits whose names he there sets downe which are in my Opinion nothing else but the Winds some whereof are more proper for the disposing of of the Clouds then others are We may possibly discourse some other time more fully of these Secrets of his which have beene hitherto accounted either utterly False or else Diabolicall 6. It remaines now that we satisfie this Doubt here proposed Namely whether these Figures that are seen in the Aire and in the Clouds be the Images and Representations of things here below and consequently purely Naturall and are of no signification Or whether they are produced and formed by the Providence of God who ceaseth not continually to forewarn us by some Visible Signe or other of what Evils soever are to befall us as we have formerly said Chap. 3. To which I shall give this Answer which I conceive to be most True Namely that without all doubt Many of these Figures are Naturall and are produced either Accidentally in the Clouds or else by the Emission of the Image and Species of things here below as we have already said But that there are also some which we must referre to the wonderfull workes of God Of this Later kind are Those spoken of by the Author of the History of the Maccabees 2 Mach. cap. 10. where Judas fighting in Heavens Quarrell had an Apparition sent him of five Horsemen appearing in the Aire which pursued his Enemies with so great violence as that above twenty thousand of them fell upon the place Sed cum vehemens pugna esset apparuerunt adversarijs de caelo viri quinque in Equis fraenis aureis decori ducatum Judae is praestantes ex quibus duo Machabaeum medium habentes armis suis circumseptum incolumem conservabant in adversarios autem tela et fulmina jaciebant ex quo et caecitate confusi et repleti perturbatione cadebant If it be here objected that these five Horsmen might possibly have been the Image and Species of some of the Armie I answer that it appeares by the Circumstances that this could not be so it being most evidently true that these Horsemen did not only seeme to fight but did Really fight and charge the Enemie And if the Lightning here mentioned had been Naturall and had beene discharged from the Clouds Both Armies should then have felt it alike But seeing in that confusion and mixture of both Armies together the Darts fell from Heaven upon One of them only and not upon the other we must necessarily conclude that this was the Hand of God Besides that this Prodigy happened also in a cleare bright day when the Aire was darkned with no Cloud So that as I am of Opinion with Cardan and Pomponatius that oftentimes we may see in a Cloud as in a Looking-glasse the Species of the Statue of an Angel or of a Saint placed either on the top of a Church or elsewhere or else that our Sight may be deceived and betrayed by our Imagination so do I likewise believe that these Visions may sometimes also be Divine as was that Image of a Crosse shining most gloriously in the Aire which was seene by Constantine the Great who afterwards found the Event to follow according to the words that he saw written on it In hoc signo vinces An. 316. Hist Tripart l. 1. c. 5. The Histories of the Lives of the Saints are full of the like Visions which cannot be attributed to the Power of Nature alone 7. After the Consideration of the Clouds wee shall in the next place come to that of Raine wherein we can make use of no other way of Reading besides the Second which is by Hieroglyphickes And of this kind is the Raining of Blood or of Water of a Bloody Colour such as was that which fell in
and of Sad Omen I shall adde my Conjecture here that possibly they might point out these Two Names Cecrops and Codrus which are the names of those Two Kings under whom this Powerfull Monarchy had its Rise and Fall The Romane Consulate could not maintain Its Power beyond the Term of 500. years because that these Bounds were determinately prefixed to it in this Celestiall Booke by Eight Verticall Stars which composed this Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raasch which bare this Sense Number Cacumen 501. The Monarchy of Julius Coesar which was built upon the Ruine of the Consulate as This also was upon the Ejection of the Kings was very neer of the same Continuance and the End of it was in like manner prefixed by Six Sars which made up these Three Letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scavar which signifies To Break the Number whereof is 502. But that we may produce something concerning Things Yet to Come R. Chomer assures us that it is now a good while since that this Celestiall Writing hath pointed out the Declining of Two great Empires of the East The First is that of the Turkes over which there are observed seven Verticall Stars which being read from the West to the East for it would be a great Blessing to see the Ruine of this Empire make up this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caah which signifieth to be Battered Feeble Languishing and Drawing to an End But now Aleph which in humbers signifieth 1. standeth also for 1000. as the rest of the letters also doe as may be observed out of Hebrew Grammars seeing it may be doubted at what time this Empire shall be reduced to this Extremity the same Letters doe clearly resolve this Doubt For the Middle Letter which is Aleph being made up of Brighter and more Sparkling Stars then the Others are sheweth saith Chomer that Its Number is the Greater so that in This place it standeth for 1000. and the First letter signifieth 20. and the Last 5. So that when this Kingdome shall have accomplished the number of 1025. years it shall then be overthrowne and brought to Ruine Now if we reckon from the year of our Lord 630. which was the year according to our Vulgar Compution wherein the Foundation of this Empire was laid we shall find that it is to last till the year of our Lord 1655. for the compleating of the aforesaid number 1025. so that reckoning from this present yeare 1650. this Kingdome is to last but Five years longer The Other Eastern Kingdome whose Declining is pointed out by the Stars according to K. Chomer is that of China but this Rabbin delivers himself in such an Obscure manner in discoursing of this last piece of Celestiall Writing as that till I understand it better I shall forbeare to set it downe Hee produceth also diverse Others which doe define the Particular Durations of most of the Kingdomes of Europe all which I may happily communicate to the World hereafter when I have first seene how these Curiosities are received 12. Now that I may freely deliver my owne Judgment concerning this Celestiall Writing I must take Liberty to propose some few Objections which I have found may be brought against it The First is that if so be by this Writing all the Great Mutations in the World may be known it is possible then that the End of the World may in like manner be found out by It as being the Greatest and most Important of all the rest so that Men may by a naturall Meanes attain to the knowledge of This Great Secret which is Contrary to the Holy Scriptures The Second is that Astrologers have been able to foretel many of these Mutations which have afterwards come to passe accordingly and yet have never had any knowledge of This strange Kind of Writing It is therefore Uselesse and Imaginary The Third is that the Position of the Stars is not so Essentiall to the Letter which it is brought to make up but that the same Star may as well make for Example a Resch as a Daleth and so of all the rest and Consequently Severall Men forming several Characters of the same Starres may draw from them Contrary senses the one to the other But to all these Objections I answer briefly thus To the First I say that it is not Necessary that this Celestiall Writing should foreshew the end of the World because that God may have reserved this Secret to Himselfe Or else Math. 24.29 Mar. 13.24 Luc. 21.25 that It will Really foretel This hereafter when those Other Signes set downe by the Evangelists shall shew it also it being all one to say that the Starres shall fore-shew it by some certaine Writing as to say that the Sun and the Moone shall foretell it by their being Darkned To the Second I answer that the Foure Grand Causes Card. 1. Aph. which according to the Opinion of Astrologers produce the greatest Mutations the First whereof is the Changing of the Apogaeum and Perigaeum of the Planets the Second the Changing of the Excentricity of the Sun of Venus of Mercury of Saturne of Jupiter and of Mars the Third the diverse Figure of the Obliquity of the Zodiacke and the Fourth the Conjunction cheifly the Great one of the Superiour Planets I say that all these Foure Causes may for the most part be comprized within this Celestiall Writing that is to say that it hath happened very often that at what time this Celestiall Writing did point out some great Change there was at the same time also a Conjunction of the Superiour Planets or else some one of the Three other forenamed Causes So that They not understanding any thing of this Celestiall Writing imputed those changes which they observed to come to passe to those Foure Reasons only But that it may clearly appeare unto us that These have not been the True Causes of all these Changes we need but have recourse to the Chronologies and Particular Annals of each severall Kingdome and compare them with the Astrologicall Observations and wee shall finde that the greatest part of all the Grand Mutations have happened without any Conjunction of the Greater Planets or any of the other Causes before specified So that we must necessarily flye to some other more Certain Means by which we may be able to foreknow by the Aspects and Motions of the Stars all these Events Now this Means can be no Other as it seemeth but this Celestiall Writing To the Third Objection which seemeth to have the most Weight in it it may be answered that it is true indeed that a Man may make a Resch of the same Star that another man perhaps will make a Daleth of but in This as in many other things wee are to follow the Tradition of the Ancients and to rest satisfied with what They have delivered unto us Otherwise there will not be any Certainty at all in any One of the rest of the Sciences especially in Astrology which requireth that those Stars which compose for Example the Constellation of Aries or the Ramme should be described rather in the Figure of this Beast then in that of an Oxe or a Horse and so in all the rest So that who ever should represent the Figure of a Bull among the Stars that belong to the Ramme and the Figure of a Ramme among those of the Bull he would destroy the very Principles of Astrology notwithstanding that the Stars of Taurus would as well bear the Figure of a Ramme as of a Bull. In like manner he that should make a Resch of such a Star as he should have made a Daleth of notwithstanding that the Star would beare it yet would he overthrow the Principles of this Celestiall Writing If it be now demanded who it is that is to judge of the vast number of New Letters that are made daily by the Diverse Aspects of the Planets I answer that it appertaineth to those Men who are Piously and Religiously versed in this Heavenly Writing and not to all kind of Persons indifferently But I shall as yet suspend my own Judgment as wel in This as in all the rest of these Curiosities which I have here delivered till such time as I shall have found either Weaker or Stronger Reasons THE END The First Table of the Celestial Constellations expressed by Hebrew Characters THe Characters of these two Tables are something different from those which Bonavent ure Hepburn a Scot hath out in Wood and from those 〈◊〉 other also which Duret hath set down in his History of Languages For I have made choice to follow those delivered by R. Chomer a man more skilâ—â—â— in this Particular then either of the former as being one of the most Learned amongst the Jewes of our times And yet I confesse some of the â—haracters are not right through the Gravers fault yet the difference is so little as that it cannot be of any great consequence or importance The two â—ables are divided by the Equator and the Stars are ranged here in the same order that they are in the Globe only those Stars which are under the Aspects of any of the Planets cannot be supposed to make up the same Letters now which you here find represented and which they made before because that these Planets which by reason of their Wanderings cannot be here set down do daily by their various Motions create New and Different 〈…〉 THE CELESTIAL HEBREW ALPHABET 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IERSEY Aetatis suae 10. From thy afflicted Vaile that Cypresse Bower still Watere'd fresh by thy Celestiall shower Come forth come forth Bright Captive Declare With a Full Orb the Innocent and Faire