that Learned French Physician his Judgment and Practice in this case are well known I question not but the carefull observing and due attending of the Times of the Heavenly Aspects and Influences are very usefull in Physick though now that course be laid aside generally by Practitioners A Third End of these Lights in the Heavens is to be for Days and Years v. 14. that is by the constant Motion of these Bodies Time is measured and numbred by these Time is divided and distinguished into greater and lesser portions as Years Months Weeks Days Hours c. By these we keep an account of our Actions we call to mind reckon compute forecast we understand the duration of Beings the certain Intervalls and distances of things the Ages and Generations of the World which is of singular Use in Man's Life Their Fourth Use is to divide the Day from the Night v. 14. or as it is said afterwards v. 18. to divide the Light from the Darkness and to rule over the Day and over the Night These Heavenly Bodies by their Setting and Rising cause Light and Darkness and consequently are the Authours of the successive Returns of Day and Night to us This is set them as an immoveable and never failing constitution and therefore is styled the Covenant of the Day and Night Ier. 33. 20. and the Ordinance of Heaven Ier. 31. 35 36. And under This Vse of the Heavenly Bodies is comprehended their Warming and Chearing Virtue especially of the Sun which brings to us Day and This together and of which the great Observer of God's Works thus speaketh There is nothing bid from the heat thereof and also their fructifying generative and prolifick Faculty whereby they may justly be said to Rule and bear sway in the World The Fifth and Last Use of these glorious Lights in the firmament of Heaven and which is the use of them wherein we are most concerned at present is to signifie something to the World Let them be for Signs v. 14. And in the place before commented upon they are called the Signs of Heaven Which an Astronomical Poet expresseth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here then may Business is to shew how they are said to be for Signs or What it is that they signifie to the World Accordingly I assert that they signifie three forts of Occurrences viz. Natural Civil and Divine First They give notice to us of Natural things as Rain or Drought Storms or Calms Heat or Cold Winter or Summer with the other Seasons of the Year the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea Plenty or Scarcity of the Fruits of the Earth in short the Change of Weather and Alteration of the temper of the Elements These are signified by the Sun 's Rising or Setting with such and such Stars or Constellations by the Access or Recess of the Planets to and form the Sun and among themselves This it seems is a thing which was thought worthy to be mentioned by a Divine Pen-man for he biddeth the Rebellious Jews seek him that maketh the Seven Stars and Orion i. e. God who by the Appearing of these and other Constellations at certain times gives notice of the different Seasons of the Year And this was a way of speaking which well became Amos the Herdsman who had been used to keep his Cattel and watch in the Fields all Night and there had leisure and opportunity to observe how the several Seasons were ushered in by these Lamps of Heaven But hear what another inspired Searcher into the Heavenly Bodies saith of the great Creatour viz. that He maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the Chambers of the South That is he maketh the Year the Parts of which are signified and known by the rising of these Constellations for Arcturus or the Bear 's Tail a Star of the first Magnitude in the Northern Hemisphere is said to arise in Autumn Orion a Southern Constellation made up of many splendent Stars arises in Winter It is called Nimbosus Orion by Virgil and is accordingly deemed by Astrologers to be the Cause of great Storms and Tempests It s name in Hebrew is Kesil whence perhaps the Month Kisleu among the Jews which answers to November had its denomination this Constellation rising in that Month. And by the bye let me shove in this Criticism when we reade that the same word Kesil signifies a Fool as in Solomon's Proverbs and other places we need not wonder that a Constellation which causes Change of Weather gives name to a foolish light and unconstant Person The Pleiades or Seven Stars arise in the Spring And Iob makes mention of the Chambers of the South which perhaps are the Stars which arise in the Summer and so the four several Quarters of the Year are set down Aratus and Hyginus and other Ancients discourse of this kind of Prognosticks Of these Philo the Jew speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stars were made not onely to enlighten the Earth but to be signs of future Accidents i. e. as he there explaineth himself of different Seasons of Weather Which is his meaning in another Treatise where he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Signs of all these things that you see upon Earth are set up and erected in the Heavens And I am mistaken if the Learned Father speaketh not of these Prognosticks when he telleth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Observation of the Luminaries of Heaven is usefull and even necessary for Man's Life unless People will beyond measure and with an unlawfull curiosity search into the Signs which those Bodies afford us Secondly These Heavenly Bodies were created not onely to signifie Natural things but Humane and Civil Occurrences and these either Private or Publick the Concerns of Families or Kingdoms All sorts of Actions and Events whether good or evil or indifferent may at one time or other be partly discerned from the Observation of the Natural and usual Motions of the Host of Heaven For though I cannot make out the dependence and affinity between them and these as of Effects and Causes and though the Knowledge which is gained thence is usually uncertain yet I cannot assert with the boldness which I see others do that there are no Natural Effects following from such Positions and Situations of the Stars but I have reason to believe on the contrary that their various Motions and Aspects are in some measure Significant Let us consider then that the Seven Planets are always in one or other of the Twelve Signs or which is the same thing they are directly under some part of the Zodiack which is divided into 12 parts in all or to speak plainer yet the Wandring Stars move under some particular fixed ones and the mutual Habitude which those have to one another as they are placed under these or as Artists speak as they move through these Signs causeth several Aspects And these Aspects are either Right or Collateral
Power and too exorbitant a Regency is ascribed to those Bodies This is done when such an Agency and Virtue is given to them by us as is prejudicial and derogatory 1. To God's universal Power and Government 2. To the Agency of Man's Will And 3. To the Concurrence of other Causes In these Three the Judicious Reader will find the whole Abuse of Astrology as to this latter extreme of it summ'd up For they who immeasurably and proudly brag of this Science defend the Stars to be as it were Divine Agents or that they are instead of God and they go so far as to destroy the native or acquired Freedom of Man's Faculties and they exclude all other Causes but the Stars from having a share in mens Actions On the Contrary if we would avoid the excess and Extravagancy of Astrology if we would correct so wild a Folly we must let God Man's Will and Ioynt Causes have their due place First I say Astrology is shame fully abused when Men attribute such a Power to the Heavenly Bodies as to deny God's Government and Superintendency or which is all one when they deprive God of his Sovereign Power and Dominion to give it to the Stars Some of the High-flown of this Faculty have been guilty of excluding the Divine Providence and Concourse whilst they have defended the Influence or rather Efficiency of the Celestial Powers This is a kin to that Pagan Persuasion That these Bodies have a certain Divinity in them and that they fatally and necessarily act upon us Hence the Chaldeans and others offered Sacrifice to the Stars and expected all good or evil from them which is making them Gods The Epicureans held that every one had his proper Star as a peculiar Daemon or Numen And not onely the Gentiles but Iews polluted themselves with the Worship of the Host of Heaven Manasses being their chief Perverter herein 2 Chron. 33. 3. But if some who pretend to Astrological Studies are not directly guilty of this as I cannot prove they are yet they act almost as profanely whilst they extravagantly and impiously extoll the Power of those Bodies above even so far as to deny God to be the principal Moderatour and Disposer of all Affairs and whilst they assert that extraordinary and preternatural Events and such as depend wholly on God's mere Pleasure and have no Relation at all to natural and common Causes are the Effects of the Motions and Aspects of the Stars and might have been foretold and prognosticated by them A most Intolerable Arrogance and Blasphemy For though I have above granted and am always ready to grant what is Reason and good Sense that God may and doth make use even of natural Instruments in the production of supernatural Effects yet this is a thing that is exceeding rare and then also it is impossible that these Arbitrary Effects should be foretold by any Knowledge that Men have of the Stars But there are some supernatural Effects and Productions which depend not in the least on second Causes but are wrought by God himself without the assistence of Instruments or any Means nay even in defiance of all Secondary Causes as most of the Miracles of the Old and New Testament and these could never be prognosticated by the Stars And therefore the Insolency and Impiety of those is to be abhorred who have told the World in Print that the Judgment of God in the Deluge of old and all the Appearances of Angels afterwards and the Prophesies and Wondrous Dispensations to the Jewish People were from the particular Influence and Operation of the Stars at those Times and that all Christ's Actions Life and Death and consequently our Redemption depended on the Figure of the Heavens at his Nativity in short that Christianity itself was beholding to the Constellations that the Gospel was indebted to the Aspects of the Stars and that all things of Religion are from the Position of the Heavens If the Reader pleaseth to cast his Eye on the Margent he will see that this cursed Doctrine was patronized not onely by professed Atheists but by great Divines and Church-men but let not that offend him for they were such as belonged to that Church which is said by some to be the Nurse of Atheism and Profaneness witness the swarms of Atheists in Italy and the adjacent Countries But sober Reason as well as Religion will inform us that the things before named are above the power of Nature and therefore out of the reach of Astrology This Art hath nothing to doe with supernatural Events with the Divine Oeconomy and God's immediate Will and Pleasure And though in respect of things of another Nature I grant the Heavenly Bodies to have an Influence yet this must be remembred that they cannot Act without the Almighty's Order He telleth the number of the Stars and calleth them all by their Names i. e. He hath the full Command and Disposal of them It is no Dream but a Reality that the Sun Moon and Stars come and bow down and make Obeysance to Him Which indeed is after the rate of the sober Philosophy of the Stoicks viz. That the First Cause is not tied to the Stars These are subject to the Prime and Omnipotent Being who can suspend their Influences whensoever He pleaseth This I suppose is the meaning of what the Hebrew Doctors tell us God said to Abraham in Chaldaea when he studied Judiciary Astrology there Abraham egredere de Astrologia tua nullum enim est sidus Israeli Trouble not thy self about the Stars for there is not one of them can be unlucky to Israel And on this consideration it might be made evident that no man can be Positive in foretelling future Events by the Stars Secondly Astrology is abused and perverted by those who attribute such a Power and Sovereignty to the Heavenly Bodies as whereby they destroy the liberty of mans Will and introduce a kind of fatal Necessity whereupon they ground the certainty of their Prognostications For these men fondly hold that we are all fatally tied to the Stars whereas Man being a free Agent it is folly to imagine that his Will can be constrained This faculty remaineth Arbitrary and Unconsined and therefore no Artist can Divine what the Acts and Exertments of it shall be It is true that Reason and Wisedom have the Dominion but in few Men. The Generality are led by their sensitive and brutish part which is immediately Subject to the Influence of the Heavens But it is not impossible nay it is easie by the aid of Divine Grace and by a resolute Resisting to avoid their Operation upon us Prayers and Endeavours frustrate the Stars for their Influence is not inevitable so as to force any Man's Will and hereupon it is undeniably consequent that voluntary Actions cannot be Infallibly foretold I have shewed already that Supernatural Actions cannot be predicted by the Stars Now I believe it will as palpably appear that Free
have said to solve all that the Head of the Comet had Brains and knew when it was to Face about There is Another who refers the business to a secret Antipathy between the Rays of the Sun and those of a Comet insomuch that these latter are as it were afraid of the former and consequently flie away from them But the Jesuite grows more sober afterwards and finding after all his exquisitive Searches that the Doctrine of Comets was obscure and unaccountable at last he ascribes the Make and whole Regimen of them to God or some Intelligences and in the close of his Learned Tractate of Comets he ends thus In re adeò incerta liceat tandem nobis ex hoc Labyrintho si non exire at certè evolare It is impossible saith he in such a perplexed Maze as this to find my way out fairly and orderly and therefore I hasten to get out how I can You hear in what humble and despairing Language they utter themselves And it is certain that the Persons who speak after this manner had great Insight into Philosophy and were the chief Favourites and Confidents of Nature It had been an easie thing for them to have pitched upon an Hypothesis and gone through with it against all Opposers and they had Credit and Authority enough to back what they had a mind to avow This was not the course they took but they suspended their Judgments and nothing but mighty Dissatisfaction and Amazement appear in their Writings and instead of being positive and decretory they confessed themselves Silenced and Puzzled These great Dictators in Philosophy would not be found in this odd posture if the matter of their disquisition were not some thing Extraordinary and Wonderfull nay if every thing in these Bodies were not Rare and Astonishing which is a demonstration that they were set up in the Heavens on purpose to call our Eyes to them that they were designedly placed there to create Wonder and to be taken notice of and that they are the Amazing Finger of God to the World But though the wisest and subtilest Heads were backward in giving an Account of the Natural Philosophy of Comets yet as you shall be convinced afterwards they are plain and peremptory in delivering their Opinions concerning the Effects Ends and Events of them the consideration of which is my next and indeed my Main Business Having then dispatch'd our Enquiry into the Matter Figure and other Properties of Comets I am to shew you in the Second Place that they carry in them the true Nature of Causes and Signs or as others are pleased to word it of Operative and Indicative Signs Some have stifly denied both these but I doubt not but I shall make it evident to any Considerative Man that they lie under a great Mistake I assert then that Comets signifie both Naturally and Arbitrarily that is in Themselves and likewise by Divine Institution Whether you consider them Physically or Theologically they are certain Indications and Signs of future Evils To prove them to be Causes or Operative Signs I will treat of them first Physically and here I will offer to you these two things 1. That they have a Connexion with the Nature of the things produced 2. That they are plain Representations and Resemblances of the things signified as Signs ought to be First I say They have some Agreement and Connexion with the Nature of those things of which they are said to be Omens And it is necessary that this be cleared unless we will step directly into Magick and Divination The things which lead us to the knowledge of future Events must have a Natural Connexion with the things they are said to point at or else they may justly be reckoned to be vain and Fantastick as Tully excellently proves the vanity of the Gentile Divination from this that those means which they used as the Bowels of Animals the Chattering of Birds and the like had no cognation and alliance with the fortuitous things the knowledge and foresight of which they pretended was acquired by them He shews that there is not any Consent or Sympathy between these things and thence concludes they are Cheats and Impostors And so here it may be justly asked Are future Evils produced by Comets as by their proper Causes What certain Connexion is there between those Calamities and these Apparitions so as that we should be able to gather from these that such effects will assuredly follow We are certain that the Philosophers of old thought there was some Affinity between them and that Comets were both Signs and Causes It is vouched by them once and again that great and vehement Winds and excessive Drougth are the Physical Effects of these Appearances 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they appear often they portend Winds and Drougth And immemediately after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they be frequently seen the years are remarkably Dry and Tempestuous Our Philosopher in his Natural Questions is of this persuasion and observeth that after Comets and he gives particular Instances great and continued Tempests accompanied with Earthquakes followed as the Natural Effects of them And not onely the Ancient but Modern Sages aver the same Thus the Learned Kepler lib. de Cometis and Cardan lib. de rerum varietate l. 1. c. 1. prove the Natural Effects of Comets and the latter of these is not confuted by his acute Opposer Scalig. Exercit 79. c. According to these it is no uneasie thing to make it evident how by the extraordinary and hurtfull Heat which is produced by a Comet both when it is in Sight and after its Extinction several other Evils are caused in a Natural way From the Air and Earth being infected how easie a consequence is there of Barrenness and unfruitfull Seasons If it once be admitted that Comets distemper and inflame the Air and exhaust the Succus of the Earth it will necessarily follow that a barren Soil and the corrupting and blasting of the fruits must be the Products of them And from these will naturally ensue Dearth Scarcity and Famine And as the inevitable Effect of both we must expect Sickness Diseases Mortality and more especially the sudden Death of many Great Ones because these are sooner and more easily hurt than others for their delicate Feeding and Luxurious course of Life and sometimes their great Cares and Watchings which weaken and infeeble their Bodies render them more obnoxious than the vulgar sort of People Hence it is that Comets may deservedly be said to presage the Death of mighty Monarchs and Princes to be Funeral Torches to light Kings to their Tombs And because by their noxious and infectious Irradiations Mens Bloud is apt to be heightned into Fevers and Calentures and all malignant Distempers and even into the most contagious Diseases the Consequence of a Raging Pestilence from a Comet is very easie and natural if not almost necessary Thus it is plain that the greatest and
most dreaded Calamities have a Dependence on these Prodigies and are the Real and Physical Effects of them And whereas it is Objected That the Effects of Comets as they are presented to us by those that treat of them are contrary to one another this is soon answered for that there should be Contrary Effects from the same Cause is no unusual thing in Philosophy wherefore great Inundations likewise no less than Drought may be the Product of these Causes for that intemperate Weather which the Flames of Comets beget causeth an extraordinary heap of Vapours and Exhalations to be drawn up which form themselves Naturally into Clouds and those Clouds in a short time must needs fall down in excessive Showres and immoderate Rains And it might be shewed also that great calms as well as Storms and Tempests Cold and Frost no less than extreme Heat may be the Effects i. e. secondary Effects of the same Cause Moreover It is no hard Enterprize to shew how Comets are the Causes of Civil and Political as well as Natural Events For from what hath been said before viz. that they portend the Death of Princes it follows that they probably Bode great Changes and Vicissitudes in Kingdoms in reference to Religion and other Matters for History abundantly informs us that these are oftentimes the Consequences of a new Prince's succeeding in the Throne Besides from the inflamed Spirits of Men caused by a distempered Air Wars and Tumults Broils and Seditions naturally proceed So that Comets have been the Causes and Forerunners not onely of great Storms and Concussions in the Air but of Turbulent and Tempestuous Seasons in the State of Confusion Massacres Slaughter Bloudshed and Mischiefs of all Dimensions both at home and from foreign Quarters These have been thought by men of sober Philosophy to have been the significations and Presages of Comets I will sum up all their Dire Effects in these plain Verses which I lately met with Dira Cometarum proles pestisque famésque Seditio regum foedera vincla neces Excidium patriae ventorum praelia morbi Insoliti caedes funera nulla fides Dissidium nubis tremulae telluris hiatus Fulgetra cum tonitru fulmineaeque faces Aestates siccae aut nimio mox imbre madentes Externo infuso milite vastus ager Dira locustarum volucrúmque examina regum Translata hostili sceptra videnda loco Abdacti ex patria populi civilia bella Diluvia pecorum non abolenda lues When once a direfull Comet spreads its Train Contagious Deaths and pining Famine reign Monarchs make Leagues to render Empire sure Sedition now keeps Gaols and Deaths in ure Countreys are Sack'd impetuous Storms arise And Bodies feel unheard-of Maladies Slaughter grows bold Faith seeing this expires The heated Clouds disclose their inbred Fires And now by Sympathy in Thunder groan Th' Earth Quakes and Trembles at the dismall Tone Heaven mourns in scorching droughts and then again Despairing weeps in lavish showres of Rain A foreign Foe in glittering Arms appears And dries up the poor Remnant of our Tears The Airy Region then displays its Host Of scarce-known Fowls which hover o'er the Coast. See next how Sceptres here and there are hurl'd And Regal Globes are tost about the World Some are led Captive to a Foreign Strand Whilst Wars at home afflict their Native Land Great Deluges come next and ' cause the Fate Is Vniversal from a Comet 's Date Not onely Men but Beasts must in it share Hence Rot and Murrain are the Cattels fare Such Effects as these may be expected from those Causes and I do not see why they may not be called Physical Events since they proceed from those as from Natural Causes and Agents Nor doth the eminently knowing Kepler dissent from this though when he speaks of the Comets that appeared in the Years 1607 and 1618. he holds they are the Causes of Disorders and Calamities here below by a certain kind of Sympathy which the Sublunary Elements have with the Heavenly Bodies for notwithstanding his expressing himself after that manner he means no other than what Aristotle Ptolemy Cardan and others did viz. That there is a Natural Connexion between Comets and those Evils which are seen to ensue them though it must be granted that these Portentous Sights are not Necessary Causes i. e. Those Dismall Effects do not certainly and infallibly follow them one is not necessarily and always the Product of the other of which more hereafter But that which I say and I think I have proved is this that they are commonly chained together like Natural Causes and Effects and that the Natural Power of those Causes is able to produce and generally doth actually produce such Effects and this is enough to prove them to be True Causes Secondly They are as Signs ought to be Plain Representations of the things signified We may learn from the very Make of Comets what they are designed for Their Figure is representative of that which is meant by them Sometimes they display themselves in the shape of Besoms as if they taught us by that homely Embleme what we ought to doe viz. to remove our Defilements and Pollutions not to say as if they were sent to tell a Nation that they shall be swept away and destroyed for their Sins How often without any help of Fancy doth this prodigious Light appear in the likeness and proportions of a Rod to acquaint us that it was designed to correct and discipline a froward People and that we ought to submit to it's Pedagogy When we see it at another time representing it self like a Torch or Flambeau how can we think otherwise than that it is sent to give more Light to the dark World or if it despise that to shew that it deserveth to be burnt up I know that all this will pass with some for mere moral Reflexions or divine Fancies It will be said that some devout Fools will make things to be like any thing they please But then I desire to know whether the old Pagan Philosophers were a sort of Religious Fools whether Seneca and Pliny whom I have often brought on the Stage especially the latter of them whose Writings let us understand he was one of Those Fools who say in their Heart there is no God whether These and all the profound Astronomers who have writ of the Figures of Comets and did it not to exercise their Fancies but to display their Judgments whether These I say were Religious and Fancifull Fools Untill this be Answered I proceed Who knows not that these strange Flames appear most commonly in the shape of Military Weapons and Instruments of War and Bloud You may see one appear like a Dart or Arrow another like a Lance or Spear a third bowed like a Warlike Horn or Trumpet as it were to sound an Allarm from Heavens a fourth in the figure of a Sword a known Weapon of Bloud and Slaughter The Head of This
Last represents the Hilt and the Train the Blade of the Sword which sometimes is streight and sometimes like a Falchion Several of this sort have been seen in the World It is very probable that That at the beginning of things I mean that Flaming Sword which turned every ways at the entrance of Paradise belonged to this Species Indeed this could not have been better expressed than by the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Version of the Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 especially with the addition of the Adjective 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anceps bipennis two edged representing a Sword which cutteth both ways i. e. Both the sides of that Comet 's Tail were alike and of equal make And whereas the Text saith that Cherubims were placed at the entrance of Paradise it lets us understand that Angles were particularly Administring in shewing this extraordinary Prodigy and perhaps for this Reason among others these Ministring Spirits are called a Flaming Fire Psal. 104. 4. This Comet as it is the Nature of them produced Barrenness the Earth according to the Curse brought forth Thorns and Thistles This likewise presaged all the other sad and deplorable Effects of our first Parents Expulsion out of Paradise Such a Sword-Comet appeared in the Year of our Lord 70 or 71 being the first Year of the Emperour Vespasian It hung over Ierusalem a whole Year before it was Taken and Sack'd by Titus as one who was an Eye-witness of it assures us But lest that should be thought to be God's peculiar and singular Ensign and not to be parallel'd or to be made use of in the present Case as some will not permit us to alledge this Instance of Ierusalem's Comet I will produce some others and the most remarkable I have read of are these which follow A terrible Xiphias or Sword-Comet appeared when the Civil War between Octavius and Mark Antony began which was 42 years before Christ's Birth Another of the like Figure shewed it self A. D. 383. or as others 392. in the Reign of Theodosius This appeared 40 days and was a little before Valentinian was slain and Eugenius invaded the Western Empire Such another Flaming Sword was seen over the City of Constantinople about the Year of our Lord 400. This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Historian calls it was so great that it reached from the Horizon to the Zenith Nicephor Eccl. Hist. l. 13. c. 5. and of this likewise speak other Historians This happened when the so much dreaded Gainas the Barbarous and Tyrannical Commander of the Gothes brought the Gothish Army into Thrace and miserably wasted the greatest part of Greece and was about to encompass Constantinople and take it An Ensiformis but of lesser size appeared 30 days in the Year 632 or 633. before Persia was taken by the Saracens These were no Fantastick shapes such as the feigned Images and Iconisms of the Constellations of the Dog and Bear c. but they were Real and Substantial and no man need nourish any lavish Fancy to make out these Shapes and Resemblances from which we may certainly infer that they are truly Significant and Presaging I must confess that Gaffarel in his Book of Curiosities and Cornelius Gemma de Nat. Charact. divin are too Fantastical in their interpreting the Figures of Comets and too punctual in determining the effects from such Likenesses and Shapes But as I am no Slave of these Cosmocriticks so I must needs profess that it is irrational and impious to disregard the Finger of God in the peculiar shape of some Comets because some idle Writers have indulged their Fancy and Humour and have shewed themselves conceited in the account they give of the Figures of Comets Thus far I have considered these Heavenly Bodies Naturally and as they are in themselves Now it remains that I treat of them Theologically as they are by Divine Appointment and Institution rendred Significative It is the Pleasure of the great Moderatour of all things and that is sufficient that these should be set up as Signs And This is acknowledged even by those who will not be brought to confess the former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Heavenly Bodies are not constituted Causes but Signs of Wars saith a Religious Man Future occurrences are discovered by these Heavenly Lamps Non Naturali Causarum nexu ordine sed Dei Natu Auxilio saith another Nego Cometam saith Fromondus Meteor l. 3. c. 3. calamitatum Physicam causam non nego tamen Signum ex Institutione divina esse quam omnium temporum Historia affirmat But I will make it plain that Both these are very consistent and that the consideration of Comets in both these respects is Rational and Accountable We may treat of them not onely as Natural Philosophers but as pious Men and Christians I know God sometimes speaketh to the World by Supernatural Signs without making use of Second Causes and even against the course and order of Nature These are Divine Signs onely but now I am speaking of such as are Natural Signs and Causes i. e. produced in a Natural way wholly or partly and are Physical Causes of such and such Effects and yet are Divine Signs likewise For it may be worth your observing that the Same things may be Natural Causes and Effects and yet Divine Tokens The Rainbow signifies the Covenant between God and Man and therefore is styled the Token of the Covenant 9. Gen. 13. but withall it is a Meteor that hath a Natural Production and the Cause of it is made out by Philosophy Fire and Brimstone from Heaven burnt up the lewd Sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah and yet when I reade in Gen. 14. 10. and in profane Writers that these Cities were near to many Pits of Slime and fat and pitchy Clay I can well conceive also how that dreadfull Conflagration was carried on even by Natural Causes how the Fire broke out of the Earth to meet that which rained from Heaven and consequently how the Destruction of those places may partly be attributed to the Nature of the Soil and the Combustible Matter it afforded The Tower of Babel was without doubt demolished by the Signal Hand of the Almighty yet it may be true which Iosephus relates and after him Eusebius that that great Pile was thrown down by a Tempest and extraordinary force of Wind. With which agrees the Sybil's Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Elias his time the Drought which happened in Syria and Iudaea was a Calamity which is wont to be produced by Natural Causes and from it Naturally followed a Famine but both these were peculiar Signs of the Divine Anger and by these God shewed his Wrath against the Sins of the People The Thunder and Lightning which were procured by Samuel were in Harvest Time 1 Sam. 12. 16. which is supposed to be a warm Season and therefore according to the Natural course of things
a fit time for that sort of Meteors yet we know that they were designed to be marks of God's displeasure and Anger And the Holy Scripture informs us how at other times God hath created Awe and Terrour by them The Jews received their Law in Thunder and Lightning and on other occasions were affrighted into a remembrance of their Duty by the same means The voice of Thunder rouzes some stupid Souls into the serious belief of a Divine Power Coelo Tonantem credimus Iovem Nothing in Nature leaves such impressions of Fear as loud and repeated Thunderclaps Some Emperours who were in a manner Atheists and notwithstanding that which is strange made Themselves Gods yet used to Tremble at this horrible Allarm from Heaven and to confess a greater Power than themselves which is as much as to disown their Self-Divinity This made Caligula get under his Bed And Tiberius another of Iupiter's Brothers and Fellow-Gods was glad of his Chaplet of Laurel to secure him from Lightnings These few Instances above named are sufficient to convince us that the same things are not onely Natural Causes or Effects but that they signifie by God's Appointment And This may be applied to Comets which as they are produced themselves in a Natural way viz. from a Collection of matter in the Heavens though after some uncertain and unaccountable spaces of Time so they produce Effects in the same Natural course and yet God uses them as Tokens of his Wrath and appoints them to be Divine Signs and to Bode extraordinary things to come Which was the sense of one of the Writers of the Byzantine History 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Comets saith he which are seen in the Air are produced in a Natural way yet withall they proclaim the Deaths of Kings or other Illustrious Personages And for this he quotes St. Basil the great From which it is evident that the same Things may have certain and manifest Causes in Nature and are likewise appointed by the Authour of Nature to presignifie future Events so that it is possible not onely to attain to a Physical Knowledge of them but a kind of Divination But my main business at present is to make good this Latter and to prove that Comets are Signs of future Calamities ex Instituto Divino that it is God's Will and Pleasure they should signifie such things In order to this I will onely premise that God gives Notice before-hand by evident Tokens what he intends to doe afterwards supposing there be no Prevention by amendment of Mens Lives This is the meaning of the whole sixth Chapter of the Book of the Revelation which is an Account of the Opening of the Seals and sets before us the Forerunners of the Iudgments which were to follow And though it is presented in the way of a Vision yet if Mens Eyes were Open it would be seen to be the usual Method of the Most High in the World Accordingly I aver that Comets are Warnings and Harbingers of God's Wrath and Displeasure against the Wickedness of Mankind and also of the Effects of that Displeasure which are some ensuing calamities They are undeniable Arguments that there is some great Disorder in the World and that things are exceedingly amiss They are signal Testimonies that Sin and Vice are predominant for these are the onely things that provoke God to Anger Now those prodigious Appearances in the Heavens are fitted to this Purpose viz. of allarming us and giving Notice of ensuing Evils because they are both unusual and affrighting First As they are Rare and Unusual they are serviceable to this purpose For it happeneth it seems by the Make or rather the perverse Disposition of Humane Nature that what is common and frequent and according to the ordinary course of things is slighted by us and thence it is necessary that we should sometimes be surprized and extraordinarily moved by Objects that are rare and uncommon Sol spectatorem nisi cum deficit non habet Si quid turbatum est aut praeter consuetudinem emicuit spectamus interrogamus ostendimus Adeò Naturale est magis Nova quà m Magna mirari It is an Ecclipse that makes the Sun to be gazed at If we espie any thing that is strange and out of Order we presently stare at it we start many Queries about it we point at it and shew it to others So natural a thing is it become to admire what is Rare rather than what is Great But the Appearances we are speaking of are both Rare and Great and therefore doubly deserve to be taken notice of and to be made the Subject of our deepest Admiration Worthily did our Philosopher begin his Book of Comets with those excellent words Nemo usque eò tardus hebes demissus in terram est ut ad Divina non erigatur ac totâ mente consurgat utique ubi Novum aliquod è coelo Miraculum fulsit He must be a Sot indeed and sunk into the very Earth who doth not lift up his Soul to God and what is Divine and Heavenly as soon as he beholds such a miraculous Apparition as a Comet Again These great Bodies are Affrighting and that on a double account First The Rarity of them which I before spoke of makes them so For to what purpose are these unusual Spectacles shewn by God to the World To what end are these strange Shapes set before us There are innumerable Lights of Heaven of an entire round Figure which we constantly behold but what mean these which appear but seldom with fiery Scrolls or flaming Labells issuing from them It is downright sottishness to think that these are set up for vain shews and useless sights It is unworthy of Providence to defend this But it is highly reasonable to think that they are appointed by God to affright and terrifie the World to denounce future Judgments and to forewarn Men of the Wrath to come and to let them expect the emptying of the Vials of God's Anger upon them Secondly Their Posture and Figure as hath been partly suggested already render them Terrible They have such a Frame and Shape given them by God as is apt to stir up Fear and Dread You have read in what Images they appear And though I know it may be said that there are other Shapes besides those I mentioned which are not danting and affrighting yet as those Bodies themselves are Irregular and Monstrous and of a Figure different from all the Luminaries of Heaven they are on that score Terrible And you may remember that all the Phaenomena belonging to Comets of which I have given a particular Narrative breed an unspeakable amazement and Consternation Wherefore are these strange Lights hung up so high in the great and spatious Theatre of Heaven but that all Eyes should behold them and tremble at them In short the Eternal Being looks angrily upon the World in the Blaze of a Comet If it be asked Why God gives Warning
the Suffrage of this Learned Church-man is the more to be valued because the Design and Aim of his whole Book is to invalidate the Presages of all other Heavenly Bodies so that it was the mere conviction of Reason and Truth that made him Except these and declare that they are really portentous Thus you hear what Poets Oratours Philosophers Historians and Politicians Mathematicians and Divines have said of this matter I have one Testimony more to add and it is of a Person who was all these I had almost said more than these For though he was no Divine by Function and Profession yet how vastly accomplished he was in the Study of Theology and the Scripture his Works have proclaimed to the World And it is as well known how excellent a Poet Oratour Historian Statesman c. and how great a Master of Reason and all usefull Learning he was This man who was Himself a Prodigy thus gives us his Thoughts in few but decisive words concerning these wonderfull Ostenta we have been treating of Solent magnas rerum Conversiones praecedere Cometae Gladii Ardentes aliáque Signa ejusmodi Comets and Fiery Swords and such like Signs are wont to be the Fore-runners of great Changes in the world I have done now with my Testimonies and truly I am heartily glad of it for I affect not to muster up the Writers and to see Authours stand in Rank and File I know that good Sense will defend itself without a Bead-roll of Learned Names But it was Necessary on this occasion to heap up Quotations because those of the contrary Opinion are pleased to brag of their Authours But I hope it will now appear that all the World is not of their side and that the assertion which I maintain is not onely the sense of the Many but of the grave and wise the sober and judicious and those whose Sedate Judgments over-rule their Imaginations Men of all Studies agree in this Humanity and Divinity concenter here heathens and Christians the Popish and the Reformed and some of every Persuasion are heard to declare that Comets are supernatural Signs and were appointed to terrifie and admonish this Inferiour World and to be Precursors of approaching Miseries But that which I most mind is that we have on our side the ablest Judges and best Advocates of this Cause for such I reckon the truly Pious and Vertuous to be I have observed both in Mens studied Writings and ordinary speakings that those who favour this Point are generally found to be Persons of a greater Inclination to Piety and Goodness than others are They seem to have minds more Divinely enlightned and more inwardly touched with the sense of Religion and the Providence of God in managing the World And who are they that defend the contrary Commonly I do not say always they are Men of greater Wit than Conscience they know how to blanch a bad Cause they delight to shew their Skill in maintaining an Argument and weathering a Paradox They are likewise great Flatterers and Parasites and love to humour the Age. They nourish the sottishness of People and give Narcoticks and Opiates to those that are of themselves drowsie and stupid And if this be done by those who are of that holy Functioon which engages them to give warning to their flock of imminent Dangers to discharge the Office of Watchmen and not to sow Pillows under a soft and Effeminate Generation of Men the Crime is yet more Black and Intolerable They carry on the Plot of Atheists and Epicures to root out the Notion of a God to extirpate Providence to debauch Mens Lives and Manners and to blot out the sense of another World I am now to enter upon the Fourth and Last General Part of my Discourse which is to Answer the Objections which are levelled against the foresaid Doctrine For so it is that there are a sort of People who in defiance of the Nature of things the clear Discoveries of Reason the Direction of Providence the Divine Testimony of Scripture and a Cloud of Humane Witnesses are resolved to maintain their Post and in order to that they discharge with great fury several severe Cavils against the opposite side and think thereby to fright others from coming over to Us and imbracing our Assertion First It is Objected that our Doctrine proceeds from Pride and a haughty Spirit These Men say they have an over-fond conceipt of themselves as if God took especial care of them in every thing that happeneth Can't a Star appear but it must be for their sakes What is the Reason they are so concerned It proceeds from no other bottom than this viz. The unsufferable Vanity which some abound with who think themselves such Persons to whom Prodigies forsooth must be sent I answer 1. That this is a gross mistake that Comets or the like Prodigies appear for the sake of one sort of Persons onely or that any Intelligent man ever said so 2. Whereas it is said that it proceeds from the Pride and vain Conceit of Men that Comets are thought to signifie I retort with undeniable Truth that it is the effect of Pride and Arrogance to reckon them as needless and Trivial and to despise the manifest Work of God Nay 3. This is an Argument of gross Profaneness as well as Pride This is clear from the present Cavil that the Patrons of that Cause carry on as I said the Plot and Design of Atheistical Spirits who would exclude God from the Government and Care of the World Whereas it is certain that all ranks of Beings but especially rational Creatures are under the Eye and Conduct of Heaven The Stoicks said well that as Man was made for God so all things were made for Man The whole Mass of the Creation is serviceable to this Darling and Delight of the Almighty Man is as it were the Centre of the World in respect of final Causes saith an understanding Person The Celestial Bodies as well as those of a lower Order administer to his best Advantages When the Man after God's own Heart had considered the Heavens the Work of God's Fingers the Moon and the Stars which he had ordained he cried out as himself tells us What is Man that thou art mindfull of him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him As if there were no greater Argument and Demonstration of the Divine Care and Providence over Mankind than what is to be observed in the Heavenly Bodies And if it be said that those words speak of the Natural and Regular Appearances in the Heavens as the Sun and Moon and ordinary Stars I reply that the Argument is the stronger on our side for if the usual and ordinary Luminaries are a proof of God's Mindfulness of the Inhabitants of this Inferiour World then much more the strange and extraordinary ones are such And this is sufficient ground to consider the Heavens as that Holy man did to regard and take notice
Morality one would imagine should not teach him to be a Parasite saith that the Comet which shone in the beginning of Nero's joyfull and happy Reign Neronis Principatu laetissimo Cometis detraxit Infamiam took away from that sort of Prodigies the Infamy which they lay under It seems then they had before an ill name they were thought till that time to be unlucky and ominous Yes and they were thought so then and ever after onely Nero it seems was to be flattered and Seneca was to let him know that that strange Spectacle in the Heavens assured great Happiness to the whole World by reason of his Reign But will not any one who hath read the passages of that Emperour's Life abhor such rank flattery and with greater Reason conclude that that Comet and others that appeared in his Time as no less than four appeared one whereof lasted six months presaged the monstrous and unheard of Villanies committed by him when he ruled That as he came into the World with his Feet forward which made his Birth ominous so the unusual Blazes in the Heavens rendred his whole Life portentous Who will not say that they fore told the World of his cruel inhumane and barbarous Exploits void of all Compassion and Remorse viz. his setting Rome on fire that he might better conceive the Flames of Troy and sing to his Harp the Destruction of that City his killing his own Mother his putting his own Wife to Death his dispatching with a kick of his foot his Mistress or rather his Wife afterwards Poppaea his slaying his Aunt his killing his Tutour and Master Seneca the very man who here flattereth him and his Comet his bloudy Rage against all his Kindred and Friends as Suetonius saith of him Nullum adeò necessitudinis genus est quod non scelere perculerit his Madness against the Christians on whom he maliciously laid the firing of Rome his implacable Hatred of Christianity it self which he shewed in being the first that ever made an Edict against it It was rightly therefore said of an Historian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To all his other Villanies he added this That he fought against Heaven and was the first Persecutor of the Word of God And as notorious Instances of this cursed and Hellish Rage Those two great Apostles and Pillars of the Church St. Paul and St. Peter fell by his Hands Pliny had Reason then to call this Emperour humani generis hostem one that had bid defiance to all Ranks of Mankind and to style one of the Comets that was seen in his Reign Sidus Saevum a furious and outragious Star l. 2. c. 25. Nay we are told that upon the sight of a Comet he found himself enflamed afresh to Bloudshed and he used to put some Noblemen to Death to expiate and purge away the Hurt which these Prodigies procure as an Astrologer taught him saith Suetonius And the same is averred by another credible Historian Sidus Cometes sanguine illustri semper Neroni expiatum And who will not likewise think that the unusual and strange Appearance in the Heavens in his days signified his unheard-of and prodigious Lust his Filthyness and Lasciviousness of so monstrous a nature described partly by the Authour who writes his Life and it may be reflected on by St. Paul in Rom. 1. 26 27 Who is not enclined to believe that the strange Ostenta in those days seen at Rome pointed at this execrable Emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who practised all kind of Lasciviousness and Wickedness to the full Lastly may it not be thought that they portended his violent and Tragical End the just Guerdon of his bloudy Life Thus maugre the flattering humour of a few vain Men these Sights were Boding and Prophetick the Forerunners and Signs both of moral and penal Evils And the same may be pronounced of all the Bearded Flames that ever shone in the World nay even of the Star which appeared at Christ's Nativity for though the Officious Sages who came from the East rejoyced at its Appearance yet without Controversie when it appeared more openly and universally as it is probable it did afterwards as I may have occasion to shew at another time and on another Subject it threatned Woe and Misery to the Unbelieving World and likewise presignified the bloudy Persecutions which the Devil and his Instruments would be Authours of against the Followers of our Saviour A Third Objection is formed thus Many Comets have been seen by us but they have been followed with no mischief throughout all Europe Besides many Eminent and Illustrious Men have dyed Kingdoms and Principalities and Noble Families have been destroyed without any Notice given by a Comet Here are two grievous Impeachments together of the Doctrine of Comets As to the former viz. That it hath been observed that no Hurt hath followed Comets I Answer 1. That notwithstanding what this daring Objector suggests you have heard what others and those of great Credit and Fame have said and writ The Renowned Kepler hath set down the fatal Events of many Comets Ricciolus and Hevelius after him give us a Catalogue of all the Comets that appeared before and since Christ's Birth with the remarkable occurrences that ensued upon them in the World And now judge whether Scaliger who was a man that would say any thing for his Cause outweigheth this Tripple Testimony of Persons of so good Account besides that Others might be made use of here to attest the ill effects of Comets in the several Ages of the World 2. Whereas some tell us that no evils have been the Consequences of the Comets which they have seen I have this to say to them that it is none of my fault that they do not live to see those Consequences They profess they behold no hurtfull Effects of Comets and thence rashly infer there are none But I retort upon them with that which is satisfactory to me and may be so to them that the Hurt and Evil are deferred but may come at last This may happen thus because of the Nature of Things themselves Comets do not always operate presently by reason of some Indispositions and Alterations in the Elements and the Dependence they often have on several Causes For this Reason it may be we feel at this very hour part of the Effects of those Comets which visited us in 1664 and 1665. And it may be we shall not experience the full Influence of the two last which appeared till some years hence Say not then because you see not the Effects of these strange Shews that they are vain Sights and because they are not followed forthwith with notable Alterations that therefore there are no Evils that issue from them Moreover It is against the Nature of these Prodigies that they should have a speedy effect for as hath been said they are sent to warn Men of the Judgments which their repeated Crimes deserve and
effectuum qui in terris fiunt causas quae in coelo sunt cognoscant aliquando etiam antequam fiunt ipsos effectus in suis causis praevideat This is the use of true Astrology to understand from it the Causes which are in the Heavens of many Effects that are on Earth and sometimes to foresee those Effects in their Causes before they come to pass Thirdly The heavenly Bodies are Signs as of Natural and Political Affairs so of things Divine and above Nature's Order And as the two former are signified by the Ordinary Motions of these Bodies so the last are discovered by the extraordinary and unusual aspect of them When those great Luminaries are disturbed and out of Order then and onely then they as well as those extraordinary Bodies in Heaven which this discourse hath designedly treated of are certain Indications of the exerting of some Divine Power and the bringing to pass some strange things in the World For this I take to be an unquestionable Maxim that those Accidents which exceed the ordinary course of Nature and are above the usual Laws and Power of it are the particular Finger of God and are for extraordinary ends and purposes From whence I gather that the constant Courses of the Celestial Luminaries portend not evil and hurt to Mankind but they are the unnatural Motions Alterations and Appearances of them which render them prodigious As when the Sun hath been extraordinarily deficient as at that darkness which was one of the Plagues of Egypt when the Sun and Moon have stood still as when Ioshuah was taking vengeance on his Enemies when the Stars fought against the Host of Sisera when the Sun went back in King Hezekiah's days Not onely Poets but Historians take notice of and transmit to posterity the remarkable Obscuring of the Sun which was observed almost that whole year in which Iulius Caesar was unfortunately killed Solis quoque tristis Imago Lurida sollicitis praebebat lumina terris From Heaven a shadow onely then was hurl'd Of the Sun's Light to scare the won dring World And another Poet thus Caput obscurâ nitidum ferrugine texit Impiáque aeternam timuerunt secula noctem A rusty scum eclips'd Sol's glorious Light And th'impious Age dreaded an endless Night And we are told by a grave Historian too that this presaged and accompanied that horrid Murther The Eclipse at Christ's Passion was a miraculous darkning of the Sun's Body for against the course of Nature it was obscured in Full-moon Great Signs from Heaven as it was prophesied by our Saviour were the forerunners of Ierusalem's Destruction Luk. 21. 11. There was an Example of an extraordinary Defect in the Sun about an hundred years after saith a Learned Father Seventeen days darkness was the attendant of Constantine's Death who had his Eyes put out by his Mother Irene if some Historians may be believed We have it from the Testimony of him who is Infallible and Truth it self That there stall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars before his last coming Luk. 21. 25. The Sun shall be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from Heaven and the powers of the Heaven shall be shaken Mat. 24. 29. We see then what it is that makes the ordinary Heavenly Bodies Prodigious and Presaging viz. Their being disordered and going against their natural course When they are thus they are of the nature of those extraordinary and preternatural Lights which I have before discoursed of whose very Appearance is Ominous By this we may know what notions to frame of the Aspects of the Stars the particular Phases of the Moon and the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon before spoken of It is certain that these although they may signifie in General and cause several Events yet contain not any thing in them i. e. in their own Nature which is Boding and Unfortunate Nor are they designed as Comets are to be Signs of some remarkable Evils and Calamities For I build on this ground that extraordinary Events are not foresignified by ordinary and natural Accidents but such are the Aspects of the Planets and particularly the Conjunction of Saturn and Iupiter this year so much talked of by the common Prognosticatours These are made and come to pass by the usual and Fixed Motion of the Planets They fall of themselves into these Figures These are the Natural Shiftings of the Stars And as a demonstration of it these like the rising and setting of the Sun and the entry of it into the Equinoctial and Solstitial Points and the Phaenomena of that nature are certainly discerned and may be foretold many hundred years before hand And therefore they are not in themselves portentous they are no tokens of God's Wrath there is nothing signified of the Divine Displeasure by them But this cannot be said of Comets because they are Preternatural Appearances and being such cannot possibly be foreknown by Art I never read that any Astrologer put out Ephemerides of them Nor can the Shiftings of the Moon be said to be Presaging and in themselves Ominous and that for the foresaid Reason For though I deny not her Influence on the Bodies and Minds of Men and as to her producing of Changes in the World yet it is plain that she was not set up in the Firmament to portend approaching Distresses by her various Figures and Faces which she sheweth for all these are Natural and of course She is constant and unvariable in her Changes they may be all known and told long before Besides any man of common sense will grant me this that what is usual and frequent cannot be prodigious I might here say something of Eclipses and it is this I declare against the Doctrine of those well-willers to the Mathematicks who generally reckon these as ominous From what hath been said it may be gathered that they are not to be judged as such for they are not contrary to the usual course of Nature and what is not so cannot carry any ill Omen with it If an Eclipse particularly that of the Sun be portentous in it self then every Night which is no other than the Interposition of the Earth between the Sun and us is of that Nature also and consequently we have an unlucky time of it all our Lives It was the Ignorance of the Cause of Eclipses which first gave occasion to People to think they presignified some Evil and hereupon the foolish Pagans were mightily disturbed at this Sight and as for the Moon they imagined she was in Labour and accordingly came with great Noise and Officiousness no other than the Midwifery of Pans and Kettles to relieve the teeming Lady But we know that the Sun and Moon come naturally to this Situation and Posture and the time of their Eclipses may certainly be foreknown for they depend on the determined and unerring Motions of the Heavenly Bodies they must happen at