20. ☿ 21. ♃ ♑ 7. ☉ ♌ 17. ☽ December is a Tropical Month as March is an Equinoctial accordingly we have ☉ ☿ ♃ Tropical ♀ in the Equivalent about ♠21. If 3 △ s of of the ☽ conduce any thing let others Enquire Howbeit ♄ ♂ are but 6 degrees distant from an Opposition § 66. But hath not the Learned Author of the Treatise de motu Mar. Ventorum opened our Eyes in the Doctrine of Currents and solved them all without recourse had to Aspects or Influences the Sun excepted Resp To do that Author right I must acknowledge it is a Great Piece shewing the Diligence the Sagacity the Judgement of an excellent Pen. A Work that will make him great to all Posterity who shall have any thing to do with Philosophy or Commerce He who shall find the so much desired Longitude shall not oblige the World more than he hath done And what Returns his Countrymen have made him I know not I do envy them the use that They make of his Work the manifold Advantages in Navigation that thereby accrue to those who will learn what he hath pleased to Dictate not only to them but to the World Though I do believe therefore that the Ocean under the Torrid Zone in its Diurnal Motion moves from East to West round the World with some Inclination Northward or Southward according to the Suns Declination Though I do believe a 3d. Motion contrary to those viz. from North to East to make restitution at the same time for the Stream which hath forsaken his Shore by his Western Progress and thank Him for it I do believe further that this Back sliding Motion is that which gives Life and Being to though he scorn to take notice of it what is vulgarly called the Current But I cannot hear him when he excludes the ☽ or as in his Epistle the Starry Influences The Motion of the Sea would be such as it is Situation of Land consider'd whether there were ☽ Starry Influences or no saith he For how rash is that Hypothesis to make the Sun alone sufficient without the Starry Assistance When the Sun in incircled with so many Stars when the Stars are so many Suns more or at least Reflexions of that Solitary Agent If Reflexions from below the Earth it self contribute to Tempests c. Why not Reflexions from above The Sun may carry the Credit of it as we have said in a Conquest the General is cryed up but if you enquire more minutely into the Affair Many a Brave Officer doth his part And this hath in part appeared not only in Tempests and somewhat else but also in the Motions of Tides Some what hath bin spoken of a Moon of a Mercury c. § 67. 'T is the Sun assisted with the Stars which makes the Sea to move 'T is by their Influence that he spreads the most of its Motive Power on the Equinox and 40 degrees on either side of it And if we speak of Vegetation and Animal Life 40 degrees yet further even to the Frozen Zone What 's a little Glimmering To save Nature's Credit there must be some more abstruse Virtue then what is obvious to the First Sensation more abstruse and of more Moment Shall I say that Nature hath made Wine only to warm the Tongue yea 't is made to little purpose unless it chears the Heart also The very Piss-bed a Star though it be in its kind is made to little Purpose if it only resembles our Heavenly Body Beside This therefore 't is known to have a greater Virtue as the Endive and Succory to be refrigerant But the Number the Vastness the Mystical Order of the Stars I am amazed at a World of Wonder arising thence Why on the Equinoctial Why on each side of it Why on the Tropick Why on the Arctick and Arctarctique Circles Why near the Poles 'T is acknowledged that the Sun can do much posited on the Equinox Cap. 28. Doth the Sun arrive thither alone The Author knows that ♀ and ☿ cannot be far from him Besides that are there no Stars there He acknowledges it to hold rather in the Autumnal Equinox He may please to observe that there are more of the Fixed in the Autumnal Equinox then in the Vernal There is the Asterism in ♌ of one side and ♠on the other When in the other Hemisphere ♓ and ♈ are more naked Signs The Motion of the Winds and Motion of the Sea are Consequent one to the other Let it be so so the Motion of the Heavens be antecedent in Nature and Co-incident in time Which on the Sea's part he seems to grant Cap. 21. Notwithstanding elsewhere He ascribes the Turbulencies of the Air to the turning of the Ocean which Nature then labours with In like manner the Navigators Ascribe those Turbulencies to the shifting of the Monsoons those Winds which with the Waters turn an oblique Course toward the Sun neither of which do I understand Collision of Seas or Winds instigated by different or Contrary Causes I grant may make some Bustle as in the Tornado is evident where the Winds blow from all parts of the Compass But here is no Collision here no contrariety the Sun is not contrary to its self A Conversion there is and a Change of the Stream But a Gradual Change may be performed in Tranquility for all that I know i. e. if the Sun in the Tropic Cause the greatest Inclination of the Stream the nearer he comes to the Equinox the more should he incline to an Indifferency to be determined to one part according to the Solar recess from it § 68. To the Stars therefore in the Plural Those Motions of Seas and Winds will be imputed which he will find himself obliged to believe if we shall produce Reasons from the Asterism of Heaven and shew the very Causes the true primary Causes of all those brave Enquiries which he by his Principle resolves Why Hurricanes are perceived yearly almost near the Coasts of America Why again in that Sea which flows between the Northern part of China and Japan c. I could add why the time of the year is Stormy in any part of the Ocean Why it rains so constantly and excessively as to find the great Nilus and its overflowing Why Magellanus was becalmed 70 days together The Reasons and Causes of which being seen will be the very Light speak the Truth of our Assertion and the Ineffable Glory of the Creator § 69. Currents then may be distinguished into Substance and Circumstance as they are Streams distinct and severed from the General Waters or as they run with such a degree of Swiftness as is more than Ordinary with Noise or without Noise deceiving the Mariner sometimes 20 Leagues in 24 Hours or keeping him back with a Stream insuperable when if they cannot stem the Tide though under a stiff Gale the former is to be imputed to the Heavens in its ordinary Constitution or to speak with the
the world yea and extant in the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Matth. IV. whether it signifie Epileptick persons as is certain say Physicians from the Symptoms Matth. XV. or the Raving Melancholy distracted Persons as the Syriac expounds it see the Learned Martinius in Lexic such as we meet S. Matth. VIII and S. Marc. V. they are both sad Instances of the Lunar Dominion on Humour in general and the Humours of our Temperature Of the Epilepsie 't is confess'd of the Other also 't is as true by the testimony of the Syriack And though some of the Antients S. Hier. and Origen are jealous of this Notion ascribing all to Diabolical Ferity and Cunning lest we should raise an Evil Report and bring Infamy on God's good Creature if we should grant the Moon contributed any thing of disposition to the Distemper yet we answer in a conciliatory way with the Generality of the Learned avoiding Both Extremes thus To refer all to the Natural Cause is one Extreme to impute All to the Infernal Fiend is the Other There is more danger of Injury done to Religion in the denial of these Natural Evidences than of Infamy to God's Creature in admitting them It would be wrong to the Creature to say the contrary seeing This also Lunar Warmth is God's Creation Therefore the Arabick Translator owns the Philosophy and construes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be Those who are tormented and vexed in principiis Pleniluniorum whether he means Either or Both of the Distempers abovesaid is to be learned from the Arabian Physicians See Gul. Ader the pious Critick on the Diseases mentioned in the Gospels § 16. The Experience concerning the Shelfish and their fatness at the Interlunium is evaded by saying that the Tide recruits them the Fresh water that comes along with it But doth not the Moon conduce to the freshning i. e. rarifying and quickning of that Stream Doth it not immit a new or call up the native spirit from its recesses to the very surface of the Element The Lunar warmth hat a double Office not only quickning the Aliment but as the Philosopher saith comforting the Cold bloodless Feeder his words are these The Shel-fish thrive most at the Full Moon not because they feed more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quite contrary to the Answer given but because the Nights are warmer by reason of the Moon de part Animal IV. 5. For bloodless Creatures saith he are easily chill'd and rejoice therefore in warmth Now warmth we know nourisheth as well as Victuals as we see in Sleep not excluding the Food but distributing it Certainly the Lunar History gives Instances of its Power over those Bodies whose Nutrition is not so facile as Theirs seems to be who have a whole Sea to guzle in § 17. But at Cambaja it seems at Bengala Java Islands and elsewhere neither do the Tides appear at the New or Full but at the Quarters when the Shel-fish also make their Markets Answ Some Difficulties there are and who can expect otherwise that studies the Universe rais'd against the Moon 's Soveraignty which yet are found to vanish the nature of the place be it Sea or Shore once consider'd For whatsoever difference here is found no doubt is on the part of the Recipient according to that good Maxim Quicquid recipitur c. and that solves all doubts in this case even the various Fluxes of Euripus it self For let the Ocean flow in some places four hours and ebb eight as with us in others seven and ebb five as long as it flows once in 12 hours and twice a day we are secure Do these Spring-Tides observe the Quarters of the Moon invariably do they keep their times for the whole Periods twice a day with other Ports does the Succession keep to its Measure I mean happen 48 Minutes later every day The Moon is the cause even of those Quarterly Floods yea the Change and Full may be the Cause with Us while the Quadrate may be assigned for the Cause there the Quadrate being less powerful than the Conjunction but not utterly infirm or of no force as will be seen hereafter Who knows then but that the Quadrate the less in an Intemperate Zone may be equivalent to the greater in a Temperate we having defin'd that 't is not Heat in every degree but only a Kind and a Temper'd Warmth that is effectual The Conjunction and Opposition may be excessive in the Torrid Zone and so unfit to raise the Humid Spirits on which account we are taught that the smallest Tides are perceived under the Equator Be the Mystery what it will many Definitions are absolutely True confin'd to their Clime which universally cannot hold The Sun riseth and setteth in 24 hours in Greenland not so the South-wind blows from the Pole not in these Countreys the Absence of the Sun causeth Winter with us but Those under the Line have no Winter but when the Sun is nearest them § 18. I must not conceal that I have seen an Ingenious Manuscript concerning this Subject determin'd by the Hypothesis of a third motion of the Earth with great happiness solving many New Phaenomena but yet I who have not proceeded so far in Mathematicks as to espouse Any Thing of that Principle content my self with these vulgar Presumptions and think I have some reason so to do when I shall have ask'd these few Questions not determinable I fear by such Hypothesis 1. Why even in calm and dry weather the Tides from the Change to the Quartile from the Quartile to the Full yea the Two Tides of the same day keep not their proportional Increase or Abatement 2. Why the Spring-Tide about the Full of the Moon most commonly is less than That about the Change 3. Why the Moon 's Perigee swels the Tide more than the Apogee in as much as what Dr. Childrey my late worthy Friend hath observed All prodigious Floods have happen'd remarkable at that time 4. Why the Moon commonly loses nothing at her appulse to the Equinox at what time of the Month soever it happens 5. Why it gains in her Applications to either Tropick if in her utmost Latitudes Northern or Southern 6. Why the Moon on the day of the Last Quadrate decreasing makes as high a Water sometimes higher than at the First in the Increase 7. Why the Lunar Aspects even with the Rest of the Planets do advance the Tides yea and her Applications also to some of the Notable Stars amongst the Fixed § 19. It may not be amiss here to glance upon Sacred Authority where there is manifest Testimony of the Lunar Energy Per Diem Sol non percutiet te neque Luna per Noctem Psalm XXI That 's the First The other is in Deut. XXXIII where Joseph's Blessing is not compleat without the pretious things of Heaven the Dew c. yea not without the pretious Fruits brought forth by the Sun and the pretious Things put forth by the Moon Whatsoever
this Nice Question § 58. But why the Southerly and Westerly If any ask he may be answered from the Premises that the Lunation helps to warm the Air and by Consequence to the warmer Winds The West and South are such § 59. The indetermination or Change of the Wind in the same Day is notable in my Judgement the Solution is easie for the Change I find makes from the cooler quarter to the warmer 'T is to be ascribed to the Approach of the ☽ toward the Solar Body which at distance suffers a North or East Wind to blow But in the nearer application befriends the Air with a Token of her Favour The ☽ swift in Motion by reason of which she was thought to have no great Influence herein appears to be serviceable to the Change of the Wind which often alters according to the ☽ 's application or recess from the Sun c. So Fate will have it that what is objected to her prejudice tends to her Lustre in Demonstration of her Influence § 60. Kepler therefore and others Eichstad c. make too little of this ♂ ☉ ☽ not vouchsafing to mention it except when the ☽ is found engaged with others preâ—gaged among themselves while they impute great Effects to some of his own Pseudo-Aspects As great an affront to the ☉ and ☽ as can be offer'd Whether that great Mathematician disdained to own any part of his Skill to the less mysterious traditionary way or rather whether he unhappily refused right measures which offered themselves § 61. But could this great Man think if but from his own Diarys ♂ ☉ ☽ is insignificant when in the solitary Year 1617. it rained 7 times on the very day of the Aspect not to meddle with Wind as many times Anno 1621. and 1622. VI. times Anno 1623. to press it no further § 62. Only upon the account of Thunder to which Meteor as rarely as it happens with us we say that even with us this Aspect inclines with a remote yet real Propension and in Germany more On which account we ask again does Thunder appear but a day before the change May 4. Anno 1617. S. N. And shall that Change have no influence thereon At that time there was Thunder and excess of Rain with a ♂ ☉ ♄ But he acknowledges that alone could not answer to so great a Product No nor which he is forced to produce his Quincunx of ♃ and ♀ And yet Ne sic quidem Causarum satis apparet as he honestly confesseth All this while suffering the ♂ to stand by blushing by it self because unsaluted when as he might have observed that not a year scapes him in his whole Decade which brings not that Constitution at the Change Once perhaps Anno 1626. twice Anno 1621. 1628. thrice Anno 1622. 1627. four times Anno 1623. 1625. and more then once Anno 1629. If Meteorum Diurnum may go for Lightning what do I speak of IX or X. years when in the Norimberg Diary from 1623. to 1646. a notable Peice lent me by the Learned Dr. Bernard there appears but two years of Twenty Four wherein there is no noise of Thunder heards at some aestival New ☽ or other In the rest 't is ordinary to hear it thrice at one Aspect Now let any man tell me there is no inclination to Thunder in the New ☽ And if it must be granted for Germany it must be granted though but a Pin or two lower in England also But if to Thunder what inclination hath it to Rain I pray Let the Adversary answer § 63. The Pretence of the ☽ 's swift Course and Transit is not so well Eichstad Ephem For first the Transit is not so sudden it challengeth 3 or 4 Hours in spite of Fate The Face of Heaven is alterable in less time for though it is true many times Clouds by the slow approach of Causes conspiring do leisurely gather into a density while Rain in the Country Phrase is brewing yet I have seen Heaven oft overcast of a suddain and descend in a Showre yea Fair Weather and anon Thunder Charged and Discharged and all in a quarter of an Hour § 64. What shall we say to those Conjunctions which bring their Effect within the time of their Corporal Contact within 3 or 4 Hours such as January 19. Anno 1671. Jan. 19. Anno 1672. Febr. 25. Anno. 1674. Febr. 21. Anno. 77. March 30. Anno 1671. April 28. ejusdem Anni April 7. Anno 1673. April 21. Anno 1677. May 2. c. All these with a little computation will be found to fall within the terms of the said partil Aspect as manifest as the great Dash on Sept. 10. from hor 8. to 10. P. which proclaims the Change at the Hour 10. at Night Or the excess of Wet February 21. Anno. 1671. hor. 7. mane proclaims the Change at 10. Morning To say nothing of the smart Showers July 4. 11. hor. Vesp hint a Lunation following the next Feria at hor 2 Matutine Yea nor of these Trajections which have been observed to shoot at this very time of which we have Examples in the Table Sept. 27 Anno 1676. November 14. Anno 1677. so that 't is not the brief Transit which indeed hath a due Extent makes the ☽ ineffectual but the flinching of the rest when they are ready for Correspondence the Spunge is full and then a Light and transient pressure expresseth moisture otherwise the Spunge is dry and stubborn and will not yield what is expected § 65. 'T is confessed by the experience of Eichstad that the Aspect happening in the Angles i. e. the Oriental Occidental or Meridional is wont to bring Rain But the Course of the ☽ is the same in those Angles as elsewhere and seeing Aspects Platique are also Operative what Conjunction is there that doth not visit those Angles at distance more or less The Fault therefore lies in the Principles of those who discern not or overlook the other Causes which are of the secret Committee as I may call it where this Aspect seems to preside § 66. Posterity will make up this Induction if there be need from all Europe if not from all parts of the World And whereas many ingenious Men say our Island hath no Correspondence with the Continent which renders the attempts of Prognostic Ridiculous because impossible 'T is but an Excuse the New ☽ hath the same Influence here and there and all over the World Observatis Observandis in the prime product be sure and in its Consequents acording to the Capacity of the Region and the Time of the Year Since Fog Snow Rain Lightning are all united in one Original and though they be opposite do you mark me may be predicted for the same day in the several parts of the World by them who live upon the Spot and know the disposition of several Places § 67. What difficulty appears in the Prognostic at home arises not because we are an Island but
common apprehension but in our case 't is more than so her Expressions seem founded on a Primaeval Tradition which from Adam to Noah from Noah to the Jewish Nation as his VII precepts also did may resolve ultimately into Divine Revelation the voice of Him who best knows the Universe because he made it Known was it of old that the Globe of the Earth a great Truth is Round and that it hangs on nothing fixed on its own Centre Nor doth the Scripture speak here Secundum captum vulgi And what saith the Leading Book of the World that is the History it saith that at the beginning of Gods own System the Earth as the Waters hung in vacuo for Darkness Privation and nothing else did encompass it till He was pleas'd to say Light which being created for distinction of the Day and Night made it move from the Opposite Hemisphere where it was first created to the upper Hemisphere of the Eastern Countrys so that Even and Morn made out the day the Light was not first created and then the Earth to move towards it but contrarily He made the Earth first and the Light to wheel about so the Earth was the Centre of that Orb of Light If the Sun had bin made the first day all things had went Mathematically the Gentre first then the Gircumference Or if this New Planet the Earth had been made the fourth day and bin placed in the Expansion with its fellows who would not have reckoned the Earth among the Planets But the Expansium in whose utmost Lofts the Planets are placed 't is manifest begins at the Earth the Terraquaeous Globe thence dividing and parting those inferiour Waters from the Superiour setting them at their due distance the Terms of which distance are of one side the Earth and those Waters on the other side the Firmament Now if this Expansion be uniform and alike in all Hemispheres I see not but that the Earth must hand in the Middle of the Firmament § 4. But whether this Explanation hold or no I affirm 't is the Interest of the Creation that the Planetary Motions should be as direct so Retrograde Direct for the ordinary Uniform dispensation of the year and its Seasons equally distributing to all their due Signature and Temper But Seasons we know do sometimes seem short and at other times are prolonged Winter holds longer one Year than another and Heat renews it self at the Latter end of Summer in August suppose or September What is the matter One Reason is Planets by Retrocessions play their Lessons over again they walk such an Arch of Heaven a second and a third time which in a direct course they measure but once Then the Station of a Planet is a great occurrence and causes Extremity of Weather you cannot dip into a Diary but so you will find it the Effect is apparent The Cause must be real Nay saith the Hypothesis not real in its self but real to us it may be as the Suns Eclipse Or to come nearer his rising or setting For do we not see say they that when we part from shore the Bankside and all the Buildings seem to recede from us yea when in a clear Night we ferry over the River do not the ☽ and Stars fly apace from us even so upon the Motion Annual of the Earth the Planets seem to recede when as indeed they continue a regular undisturbed Course But this doth not yet clear off the Objection for the Shore and the Buildings and the ☽ and the Stars though they seemingly fly amain yet withal among themselves they are found to keep their Station and due distance one from another In the Planetary retrocession 't is otherwise for they alter their Places in their Orbs and under the Constellations to which they are subject When I put off from Pauls-Wharfe the Houses recede and fly from me but at no hand change their Station among themselves their Ground or Distance The Houses on the Wharfe run not for hast behind Pauls Steeple or come one Inch the nearer then they were Nor do the ☽ and Stars however hasting away for any motion of mine alter their respective distance among themselves whatsoever they do in order to me So the Planet ♄ when in his direct course he passed the Hyades as in the Month of Octob. An. 1677. By his Retrograde pace He got engaged in the midst of them again Jan. 1678. Yea in August 1676. he was past the Pleiades also in the Month following In September October November he returned and passed them a third time and 't was curious to observe how he inched along in the Retreat of his where his least motion in other places not so sensible was here more distinct and conspicuous being adjusted by such little Measures viz. the Petit distances of the Stellulae of the Pleiades This being a noble Instance may suffice § 5. To this 't is answered that the Parallax of the Planet and the difference of Prospect makes this seeming alteration the Planets hanging much lower than the Firmament so that the Earth approching toward the Planet casteth the Sight of its Inhabitannt to one point forward and when it hath passed the same it casteth to a contrary point Yea but you see therefore I Instance in ♄ who they say hath little or no Parallax so exalted is he and so near the Firmament Next if there be any such Parallax in ♄ then there would be found such difference of Motion even among the Pixed since They also be in different Orbs or Heights on which account some shifting of place would even there be discerned They answer that there may be made some such observation in time perhaps Kepl. Epit. Astron So a 1000 years hence we shall perhaps see somewhat or nothing for a 1000 years backward there hath been no such thing Others deny any proportion between the Earth nay between the Orb of the Earth a swinging Circle and the Fixed No proportion How comes it to pass then in measuring the Universe Miles 60. or 70. answer to a degree A degree and that in the Firmament when the Stars hide themselves Northwards or ward if we walk from either side How comes it to pass that the Day increases unless a Degree in the Earth's Annual Motion answer to somewhat considerable in the Firmament § 6. It is affirmed that the Planets while seeming Retrograde do keep on their direct course let experiment be made by some Observator within the Tropicks it must be where the Planets to such and such portions of the Terraquaeous Globe do sometime become Vertical at what time all Parallax ceases whether any of the Superiours rtreating to any notable Fixed Star be not to be found there where Tycho states him rather than where the Hypothesis pretends whether it be not found near the Fixed Star or Constellation as really when it receded thither as when it first met it in its direct motion This Astrologers are sure of that
ad diem St. Barthol A Comet obscure and pale Stadius p. 66. Bunting Chron. a ☌ ☉ ♀ gr 2. Anno 1578. May 16. Lyc. ☌ ☉ ♀ gr 11. Lubienec Anno. 1582. May 15. Howes 695. ☌ ☉ ♀ gr 10. Anno 1597. July A Comet continuing from the 16th day to the 9th of August Ricciol ☌ ☉ ♀ in princip ♌ a ☌ ♃ ♂ No nor Earthquakes for they also occur Anno 1552. Sept. 16. at Basil Lyc. ☌ ☉ ♀ princ ♎ Anno 1554 April 30. at Lovain Gemma 11. 23. ☌ ☉ ♀ gr 4. Anno 1556. Jan XVIII 19 20. at Sanxi in China Purchas Vol. 3. 198. Anno 1575. Febr. 26. York Worcester Gloucester Bristol Hereford c. Howes p. 679. a ☌ ☉ ♀ Anno 1585. Aug. 4. An Earthquake Howes p. 709. ☌ ☉ ♀ gr 4. with an ☠♄ ♂ Anno 1586. Perceived at Sea Hakl p. 810. part 2. Vol. 2. Anno 1613. Jan. 13. in Zant Coryat apud Purchas Anno 1642. April 25. in Norico Terrae fremitus a noise heard in some Earthquake ☌ ☉ ♀ in ♉ 15. Kepler Anno 1626. April circ 28. In Calabria about what time with Kepler fell the Ignes Caelitus cadentes ☌ ☉ ♀ Partil Anno 1628. Jan. 9. a Fame of an Earthquake Kepler ☌ ☉ ♀ gr 9. Anno 2629. Princ. Augusti In the Alps among the Grisons Rhoetos surpassing that which happened Anno 1618. ☌ ☉ ♀ gr 9. yea ☌ ☉ ☿ gr 10. ☌ ☉ ☿ gr 11. Kyriander Now that happened in August 15. on a ☌ ☉ ☿ Anno 1634. April 17. Kyr ☌ ☉ ♀ ☽ in ♉ Anno 1637. July 1. at Tours Storms and at Norimberg an Earthquake Kyriander Anno 1642 Mart. 27. Turin in Piemont p. 469. Kyr ☌ ☉ ♀ gr 7. ☌ ♄ ♃ gr 12. Anno 1643. Sept. 2. in Turin again Kyr ☌ ☉ ♀ gr 7. ☠♄ ♂ Anno 1668. Sept. 3. an Earthquake in the Canibes and Fear of Hurricane following ☌ ☉ ♀ gr 4. Gazet Numb 304. § 30. Now let no man Nauseate the Names of our Witnesses here in this knowing Age as petty Trades in Prodigies Objects of the Vulgar understanding because though it may be shortness of Understanding to Multiply 't is scarce so to acknowledge such a thing Our Speculation doth sometimes border upon such a thing as Prodigy but 't is clear our Primary intention comes to the orderly Course of Nature wherein if God please to shew himself in a clearer Glass of his Power it will be not Piacular we hope to offer at the Cause deputed by the Creator for such Effect For to remove the Nature of Prodigies from every Natural Production under correction I fear is a mistake since though we must not with the Vulgar reckon every Effect prodigious wherein God shews his Power yet every such Exhibition of his Power and Fury joyned I believe comes near For 't is hard to say that an Inundation which washes away thousands or an Earthquake which buries as many signifies no harm If it doth signifie Harm c. I gather from thence a Deity displeas'd So 't is a Prodigie otherwise the Universal Floud had nothing Prodigious no Lesson read to us thereby For Wise Men I can tell you give opinion that even there some use was made of Natural Causes as also in other Destruction of Cities by Fire § 31. I say then if we put the Chasms and Globi Ignei together there may be some cause of wonder why Ptolemy is silent especially when there are a great volly of Instances of Lightning and Thunder almost within hearing In like manner for his Silence in Earthquakes But ☿ being more frequent in his Congresses fell more frequently under Observation and so got the Name and it may be they were unwilling to believe that ♀ could Frown since we have seen her entituled to a soft sweet Influence § 32. But the Table speaks impartially And Comets themselves it seems are beholden to ♀ And who will dispute it when the great Astronomers who undertake to consider their Course Tendency Duration after all begin to suspect some Relation they have to those Celestial Bodies In one place Tycho suspects the New Star 1572. had its Original with the New ☽ Nov. 5 To what purpose unless the ☌ of ☉ ☽ help to light the Taper When elsewhere Anno 1577. he carefully observes that the Comet there spread out its Train not so much within the Opposition of the Sun as of our Planet ♀ When ♀ was even in her Elongation a sign and a half distant We do not exclude the Sun in our Celestial Production but Tycho observed right and we thank him for it The Comet here transmitted the Rays of ♀ Yea but ♀ as he scruples it hath not such a Potent Ray. Resp ♀ exalted and assisted may own so much for within a few degrees there lies another Planet who is called ♂ If Tycho had said that ♀ and the Planet ♂ in ☌ had transmitted their united Rayes he had hit it for as sure as Truth the Comet owes its Original to ♂ and ♀ drawing on from 12 gr distance by Inches to a Partile Conjunction The Comet began Novem. 10. the Partil ☌ of these two Planets happens Dec. 2. so was the Comet all that while in good heart and by proportion must continue so till it come to 12 gr distance on the Dexter side that is till Christmass Thence I reckon it declines and much more by what time ♀ came to be a whole Sign distant i. e. out of the Bounds of Conjunction precisely the Comet vanished Jan. 26. Which very point is remarkable though I wot well that such an appearance which begins by one Conjunction or Opposition may be fed by a succession agreeable to this Mark what Tycho hath observed and 't is memorable even in Ricciolus his judgement who is no Friend to our Principle that the Star in Cassiopeia Anno 1572. was saluted by All the Planets before it was extinguished Let any Man be Judge if this be unreasonable now viz. if so be all the Planets in their Turns and Positions have to do with the Generation of New Stars Ricciol p. 769. 7. And I think I noted before that Tycho observed the same of a Comets Train opposite to 〈◊〉 But of this more elsewhere Howbeit Kepler calls to be heard Lib. de Stel. Nov. pag. 6. Et memorabile est eundem fuisse situm Solis ad Venerem anno 1572. sub exortum illius Sideris qui jam anno 1604. recurrit § 33. We cannot finish this discourse till we have pointed at the Waters that have flowed in with ☌ ☉ ♀ remembring always that our Aspect is responsible for the days preceding the Date of the Flood least any should think that Nature raised them in an Instant from any Subterraneous Fountains An. 1501. where the Ebb overflow'd memorated by Lyc. ☌ ☉ ♀ Anno 1573. the great Inundation in Holland c. cum inaudita Clade Gemma 11. 167. and again Sept. 1. gr 11.
some other Cause which we shall evidence in ♃ suppose or by indisposition of the Clime Thus All that Tract of Land or Sea under the Torrid Zone where 't is known Rain cometh but at one or two Months of the year I reckon is generally Indisposed whose reasons are not here to be displayed And thus ♂ comes to be so fam'd abroad for Drought c. as Syrius of old which in our remoter Clime is not so terrible § 17. For ♂ his Heat in Summer Seasons and elsewhere we have beside his Tokens of blue Smoky Mist Lightning Trajections c. an express of above an 100 days and what more might have bin justly noted Yet I must not nor doth our own Diary seem to give leave that I should crow after the Antients and say that ♂ is hotter than ☉ least I should pull the World about my Ears but I say 't is in vulgar way of speaking a more violent Star than the Sun it it self This will be proved not only in this but also in the ensuing Chapters § 18. This raises expectation which we will endeavour to satisfie when we have answered one Objection First that 't is absurd to make a Reflexion a Minor Planet more Potent than the Major 2ly That 't is uncertain whether our Planet hath any such heat or no for if so we should not sure find Hard Sharp Frosty Cold Seasons whensoever our violent Planet is conjoyned to the Sun § 19. To the First 'T is absurd if we consider the Reflexion by its self singly and disjunct from the Direct But if we suppose the Direct Radiation as in Nature it doth then Two is more than one the Direct and the Reflex is greater than the Direct alone So in vulgar speaking as we say sometimes the Son is Finer than the Father whereas all the Finery he wears comes out of the Fathers Purse ♂ is a more violent Star because his Aspects with the ♀ ☿ are more violent than those of the ☉ with the same How comes that to pass unless ♂ may be violent Thus a Conjunction of ♂ and ♀ latently includes ☉ A ☌ ☉ ♀ doth not include ♂ wherefore if Three be more than two a ☌ ♂ ♀ is greater than a ☌ ☉ ♀ This in strict Philosophy may not be said seeing the Minor hath its Energy from the Major but for Doctrines sake we suppose ♂ to be as it were sui juris independent of the Sun § 20. To the 2d we say Let 's see them let 's see the Frosts they are not more than what are found under ☌ ☉ ☿ or ☌ ☉ ♀ and yet they were Spit-Fires Thunderers and Flashers had their Heats and Droughts and Violences too § 21. We see One or Two in our own Diary let 's see the Rest First To run back no further than King Henry the Eighths time Anno 1536. We are told that Ice on the Thames hindred the Kings passage at Greenwich Dec. 24 while ♂ is within gr 2. or 3. of his Syzygie Anno 1598. Dec. 1. ad diem 11. Thames nigh froze at London Bridge the Frost began for all as I see with a ☌ ☉ ♂ in ♠Dec. 1. Anno 1630. From Dec. 21. Three Weeks Frost presently after the Partile ☌ of ♂ and ☉ Kyr Anno 1662. The Thames caked with Ice in 4 Nights die 31. and was scarce passable and this within two days of the Partile ☌ as is seen in the Tables Anno 1665. The end of February and part of March Frosty Weather commensurate to the ☌ ☉ ♂ in ♓ 24. This Frost is memorable from the Dire Pestilence ensuing so that we need not marvail at some stricture of Frost occurring in our Sept. Anno 1658. In Novemb. 1660. In May 1667. In Oct. 1675. in our Tables for the Case is plain ♂ burns sometimes with a Cold Iron § 22. 'T is so but doth this take from the Martial Influence any more than you see it doth prejudice the Solar to admit Frosts sharp and tedious Astrologers do usually speak of Debilities All Planets in Winter Signs are but in a low condition as to Northern site so remote from the Winter Tropick the Setting Sun is weak and cool as a Glow-Worm and Planets in the Winter Tropic are setting even at Noon as it were by their near approach to the Horizon Apply this to ♂ and the rest as in the Winter at Muscovy Anno 1681 when the Polish Souldiers suffered by the Cold Calvis All the Planets were in deep Winter Quarters Howbeit even thus in his Weak Estate our Planet bears some Testimony to himself by Snows amongst the Frost or by Remission of the Cold which may be worth an Observers notice when the Pladding Countryman overlooks such Vicissitudes of Nature if short and temporary For so I hope none can object to us the cruel Winter noted by Gemma Anno 1568. Secuta est saith he Hyems asperrima but he speaks of no great Frost until the middle of March which concerns not a ☌ celebrated ten Weeks before And what was the Asperity Winds and Rains Churches strook with Lightning and Floods Jan. 3. before our ☌ was expired No nor that of September 1590. which was saith Stow a very cold Month with Snow and Sleet but the same Month brought Wind Rain Lightning and Thunder to speak for the ☌ § 23. Add that these cold Examples are very rare and that the ☌ ☉ ♂ commonly brings milder Winter Air so as whensoever Frost appears you may observe that ♂ is at a distance from the Sun about a Sign or two or three c. wherein if Communication be interrupted which keeps it out the Cold breaks in not but that the distant Aspects have their Force the Sextile Quadrate c. but they are not so Potent nay nor so durable as ☌ or ☠§ 24. In this case then the Opposition more than the Conjunction proclaims the Planetary Heat in as much as an opposal of ♂ and the ☉ very seldom fails of its warm thawing Breath Put the ☉ in the Winter Tropique and let ♂ face him in the Summer though the Planet so posited shall be hid under the Earth you shall see what Fire he will save you on a Winters day whereas if ♂ be about the Quincunx of Sol a Sign distant from the Oppositional Line he is in a chill posture and so found in those Frosty days or Seasons which happen at that determinate time some abatement being reckoned for the Northern side of our Clime § 25. The Planet may be violent in his hour for all this and is it not upon that account that the Divine Goodness hath retarded his Motion that ♂ his Configurations with the Sun and other Planets the ☽ excepted being less frequent the World should be less distracted Suppose therefore we should allow which indeed we cannot that Great Britain our dear Country c. felt not the Smart of this Aspect if other Countries do the Divine Superintendency hath its end
was fashioned like Spur-rowls c. I commend Cartesius's Diligence but I applaud not his Design Assuredly not all Phoenomena in Nature can be solved excluding Miracle or not if you will bear it without Planets and Angelical Substances And yet I heartily allow that our Philosophy whatever it aims at shoots short Ponds or Fountains turned into the appearance of Bloud may be accounted for by the Theory of Damps when the Earth being disturbed from the Heavens is apt to fall into a quaking Fit a disposition to or a Consequent of the Earthquake This perhaps may tinge the Water 'T is poorly done of Scepticks to deny whatsoever they cannot give account of yea or of others who set themselves against received Truths and are forced to refuse Authentick Authority He is hard beset who because he does not believe any Portent in Comets or other Aethereal Phasmes will question Josephus's History of the taking of Jerusalem Where He Instanceth in Monstrous Births also seen before the War and therefore in all probability portended it the Heifer which brought forth the Lamb before the Altar might signifie that God was bringing some strange thing upon the Nation I own I cannot give any account of Such In These Births there is more than a Planet § 23. More than a Planet that is a Signal Exertion of God's absolute Power contrary to the very Grain of Nature or which is all one to me his own Decree by which Nature is established More of which kind occur in Writings if Men have need of Arguments to believe a Deity But we descend to a Lower Sphere Births that are beside not against the course of Nature where the Species is safe yet remarked with some exorbitancy or Defect either to the pity or the affrightment of the Beholder The Causes of these are assigned to be the Plastick Virtue be sure the Imagination of the Mother to which he should add Terrors Affrightments the Constitution of the Country the difference of Dyet and which I did not suspect would be confessed the Sidereal Influences Schottus Lib. 5. Cap. 28. We cannot accuse Schottus of unkindness to the rest of the Stars though he proves it only from the Moon Some good men may think I have grasped too much already and that I need not wade into this deep I can say for this particular I was not fond of it nor was I invited thereto by any Astrologer not by Ptolemies Chapter de Monstris I 'll assure you for in this place the Conception is to be regarded and not the Nativity or its proper Scheme as Cardan also notes But like the Merchant that trades abroad I was offer'd a Penny worth the years presented themselves to me and bid me take them upon Suspicion what Suspicion I had will appear presently I am not going to say that every strange Birth none excepted was conceived under ♄ ♃ but I say the Contingency is so frequent that it may be it deserves to be noted by those who understand better Take notice that we refer to the Conception and then we begin with a young man in Arles with six Fingers on each Hand 15 years old was he when Valericola saw him in the year 1561. whence he must be Born A o 1546. and conceived in A o 1545. one of the years specified above pag. 492. I will not run back as far as the year 1446. much less to the year 1274. where we meet with Births of deformed Hands and Feet but keep my self in my Bounds so then A o 1537. not far from Wurts by the River Molda Natus est Infans sine Pedibus Lyc. The like again at Widensbach a Mile off Schleusing ending in a Pyramidal Figure A o 1552. ib. Again A o 1556. a Birth of same Figure Aldroâ—and A o 1556. at Basil a Man-Child born without Ears Lyc. A o 1593. at Konningsberg with a Hare's Ear Schenckius A o 1503. An Infant without Nostrils Eyes or Ears Lyc. A o 1554. at Stetin with an Arm coming out of his Ear Lyc. A o 1514. May 10. A Child born without a Nose or Nostrils Gem. The same year at Bononia a Girl with four Eyes baptized and lived four Days Amatus Lusitanus A o 1554. A Headless Infant with Eyes in the Breast Finkel apud Lyc. A o 1615. Puellus Satis grandis fine Capite only a Mouth and Teeth in the place of the Neck Another A o 1624 in Italy whose Eyes and Nose and Mouth were in the afore said place Aldrovand A o 1544. at Milain Nata est Puella Biceps Cardan Lib. XIV de Var. A o 1514. In March the like Rhodigix A o 1536 at Zurich an Infant born with two Heads Three Arms and as many Feer Lyc. A o 1553. in Misnia the like Lyc. A o 1515. in Bavaria she begg'd up and down 26 years after Pareus A o 1552. in 〈◊〉 A o 1536. a double Birth join'd together though but one Heart between them Gem. The like A o 1555. Alâ—â—â— A o 1593. Another at 〈◊〉 And have we not an Instance in this very Chapter of the like Miscarriage for so I may call a Monstrous Birth Verily if I had not met with such a Spectacle among the Prints at the very Threshold of our Inquiry in the year 1503. that year being charged with a second unfortunate Birth If I had not met with two other sad Prints at the year of the ☠1514. as at the ☌ If I find something of this Nature in Man or Beast the next ☌ A o 1523. and a strange one beside A o 1525. In cujus corpusculo aliud preterea Corpus praependebat ad Genuasque who lived and was shewed up and down in Fairs 30 years after If the next ☠A o 1533. shews you a Monstrous Animal at least Lepusculum cum octo pedibus quorum quatuor in dorso eminebant Beside that A o 1534. I meet at the same Birth two short-liv'd Twins joyned together in the same fleshly Co-alition as I met with 30 years before in the ☌ if yet again I find another kind of Birth A o 1537. if between the year 1543. 1544 we meet with 3 or 4 such monstrous Productions to proceed no further Is it not enough to make my poor Head teem with monstrous Thoughts that these Events belong to ♄ ♃ Especially where Imagination comes in then you see I am haunted with these Apparitions and invited to follow them Now my Suspicions were these since ♄ ♃ in the hour of their Engagement a long hour produces such wondrous and monstrous things in the Universe why may not their disturbance be universal and reach our Humane Bodies put them into Disorder by God's Permission or Commission or both Whether we leave to Divines to determine Consent between the Heavenly and Humane Bodies is manifest Consent between Aethereal and Animal Spirits is manifest such a Wind blows the Body is affected as Tradition and Experience hath taught even the Vulgar the Ancient