by a wise man to the bringing forth of such or such effects as are wonderful to those that know not their Causes And this is that which hath layn under terms of Ignominy to this day Ignorance producing Admiration and Admiration Suspicion and then an undeserved Censure past upon the work or action terming it to be Diabolical and so attributing the secret workings which the divine Wisdom hath placed in the secret bosom of Nature to a Diabolical Power and Property when it is nothing else but a mutual application of Natural Vertues Agent and Suffering reciprocally And those that were conversant in this excellent Science in former times were otherwise thought of then now they are For as Pencer truly observeth that the Magi were the chief Ministers of the Persian Religion as the Levites were amongst Gods people and they were given to the studies of true Philosophy neither could any be Kings of the Persians who had not been first exercised in the mysteries and knowledg of the Magi. And this lawful Magick which I do here speak of was commended by Origen that learned man who doth most ingenuously declare That it doth appertain to the practick part of Natural Philosophy teaching to work admirable things by the mutual application of Natural Vertues And Jerom in his Commentaries upon Daniel useth these words But common custom saith he taketh Magicians for Witches who are otherwise reputed in their own Nation for they are the Philosophers of the Chaldeans yea Kings and Princes of that Nation do all that they do according to the knowledg of that Art whence at the Nativity of the Lord our Saviour they first of all understood his Birth and coming unto Bethlehem did worship the Childe the Star from above shewing him unto them So it is clear that there is a great deal of difference between the Doctrine of a Magician truly and the abuse of the word But if you will beleeve the Author of that Pamphlet he will tell you that he is a Magician in these our days who having entered a combination with the Prince of Darkness useth his help in any matter but the Art of Magick is of the wisdom of Nature But as for other Arts which have assumed the Title of Magick they were invented by the subtilty and falshood of the Devil and in this there is none other Doctrine then the use of certain Ceremonies by an evil and wicked faith in the other none evil but the investigation of those admirable Vertues and occult Properties which that infinite Wisdom hath bestowed and given to his Creatures and how fitly to apply those things that are to work to those things that are to suffer And those men that were studious in this Art were called the Magi which Peter Martyr saith the Ancients understood to be good and wise men And as Ficinus saith O thou fearful one why doubtest thou to use the name of Magus a name gracious in the Gospel which doth not signifie a Witch or a Conjurer but a wise man and a Priest And what hath brought so much slander upon this excellent knowledg but base and idle Ignorance which indeed is the mother of Admiration But give me leave to go yet further This Art doth not onely enable us in the true knowledg of those secret Vertues which are wrapped up in the bosom of Nature but it may in some measure bring us to the true knowledg of the Divinity of Christ and to use Mirandula's words For by understanding saith he the utmost activity of Natural Agents we are assisted to know the Divinity of Christ for otherwise the terms and limits of Natural Power and Vertue not rightly understood we must needs doubt whether those very works which Christ did may not be done by natural means and therefore I say not heretically nor superstitiously but most truly and catholiquely that by such Magick we are furthered in knowing the Divinity of Christ And seeing the Jews and other the Enemies of Christian Religion do impudently and impiously object that those Miracles which Christ wrought were not above Nature but by the exquisite knowledg thereof performed and as that learned Doctor Staughton saith in a small Treatise of his that the Jews have a blasphemous Fable that our Saviour found out the right pronunciation of the Name of God the Tetragrammaton and that wrought all his Miracles But Mirandula a man for his years fuller of the knowledg of Nature then any of these latter times might with Reason avow that the utmost limits of Natures works being known that the works which Christ did which no man could do do manifestly declare of themselves that they were wrought by a Hand which held Nature herein but as a pensil and by a Power infinitely Supreme and Divine But on the contrary there may be many wonderful effects brought to pass by the Magical operation of Natural Vertues such as may produce no small admiration in those that understand not the secret workings and products of those vertues for it is undoubtedly true that all Secondary Causes do necessarily work and necessarily produce their proper effects by vertue of that Connexion that they have with the first Cause and correspondency that they have to those divine Patterns and eternal Idea's whence every thing hath its determinate place in the Architype whence it lives and draws it original and the vertue of all things as of Stones Herbs Metals living Creatures and all which are from God are placed who although he works by the Intelligences and Heavens upon these inferior things yet sometimes those Media's being let alone or their Ministry suspended the first Cause doth then work of it self which works are then called Miracles For whereas by the command and order of the first Cause the secondary Causes which Plato and others calls servants do necessarily work and necessarily produce their proper effects yet sometimes according to the pleasure of the first Cause their Ministry is either suspended or finished that they wholly cease from that necessary command and order and these are the greatest Miracles of God So the Sun at the request of Josuah stood still for the space of a whole day So at the desire of Ezekias it went back ten hours So the fire in the Chaldean furnace did not consume the three Children So when that our Saviour Christ did suffer at a full Moon the Sun was eclipsed But if the Ministry of these secondary Causes be not suspended or finished then they shew forth their proper powers and vertues in their several effects according to that order in the which the Wisdom of the first Cause ordained them What the Secondary Causes are NOw if it be demanded what these Secondary Causes are I answer They are all those Ministring Powers which God the first Cause hath set up under himself for the regulating and governing of these inferior things for there is not any thing to be found which is not governed and ruled by these Ministring
Powers under the first Cause For God the chief Cause and Original of all Vertues affords the Seal of the Idea's to the Intelligences his Ministers who like faithful Executors do seal every thing committed to them with the Ideal Vertue by the Heavens and Stars as it were Instruments in the mean time disposing the matter to receive those forms which reside in the divine Majesty as Plato saith to be carryed down by the Stars and the Giver of Forms distributeth them by the Ministry of Intelligences which he hath appointed over his works Governors and Keepers unto whom this ability is entrusted in things committed to them That every vertue of Stones Herbs Minerals and all the rest might be from the Intelligences governing therefore the form and vertue proceeds first from the Idea's and after from the Intelligences governing and ruling and next from the Aspects of the Stars disposing and further from the disposed Compliances of the Elements answering to the Influences of the Heavens by which the Elements themselves are disposed They have then such operations in these inferior things by the express forms but in the Heavens by the vertues disposing in the Intelligences by means mediating in the Architype by the Idea's and exemplary forms All which is necessary to meet in the effects of every thing in the execution of the vertue Then it must needs be that there is wonderful operation in every Herb and Stone but greater in the Stars beyond which every thing gets much to it self by the Intelligence governing but chiefly from the highest cause to which all things being mutually finished do correspond consonant by its harmonial consent as it were with Hymns praising together the highest workman By the true knowledg of what hath been spoken many and great things may be done by the coupling and joyning of the Powers and Vertues of the Superiors with their Patients the Inferiors agreeing and corresponding therewith This is truly Magick and a thing much to be honored and esteemed This is the most high and worthiest Science in the World lawful in all the parts of it free from all evil encumbrances and diabolical practices voyd of Superstition a great means to attain the highest knowledg of that infinite Wisdom and Power who hath created all things in order and form and who ruleth in and over all things by his Ministring Powers whom he hath set over all things in their several orders for the distribution of his Power and Vertue as the first Original of all Power and Vertue to all things according to the fore-decree of the first Cause with a respect had to the matter receiving and this Power and Vertue hath a stedfast cause not by chance or accident but effectual and potent and not failing doing nothing in vain nor fruitless by it those Powers existing in the nature of all things are moved the which Powers are the operations of the Idea's under the chief Cause which do not err but by the impurity and inequality of the matter for celestial Influences may be hindered by the confusion and unfitness of the matter receiving whence the Platonicks had that Proverb That Celestial Vertues were infused according to the desert of the matter Wherefore in those things in the which these Celestial Powers and Virtues are less drowned and incumbered in the matter receiving have more powerful operations and produce more admirable effects when those things are fitly collected prepared and duly applyed to their Patient the which application stirs up that secret and hid virtue of the Agent and produceth the like quality in the thing annexed As for instance Salt the secret virtue of which lieth hid in it self until that there is annexed to it a reciprocal matter which moves and stirs up that virtue so that it is infused into the matter joyned to it the which matter according to the quality of its receivingness is also able to infuse the like property into other things joyned to it So also the Load-stone doth infuse its secret virtue into Iron approaching near to it and doth so fasten the virtue to the Iron that it is able also to draw Iron to it self answerable to that power of Attraction that it hath received from the Load-stone and this arises from that reciprocal property which is in the matter affected the which is wrought upon and moved by the secret virtue of the Agent applyed This also we find to be produced upon the Inferiors by the virtue and influence of the Superiors for the Celestial Powers do work the like in Terrestials for we see that the Moon doth attract the vast body of the waters so that they answer in their ebbings and flowings those diversity of Points that she cuts in the Heavens in her Diurnal Motion So likewise the Heliotropium that sober Herb who corresponds with the motion of the Sun by a secret virtue which doth declare that there is something of the Sun and Moons virtue infused by the which they are wrought to such obedience Doth not the Marigold and many other flowers open their blossoms at the Suns rising as if they did rejoyce at his approach and fold themselves in as if they mourned for his departure All which is from that secret Agreement and Correspondency of their virtues For my own part I am perswaded that all things that are under the Luner Globe in this inferior world subject to generation and corruption they are also in the Celestial world but in a certain celestial manner so also in the Intellectual world but of a far more perfect and better stamp and lastly most perfect in the Architype And in this order every thing below doth answer to its Superior and by it to the highest according to its proper kind and doth receive virtue from them from the Heavens indeed that Celestial Force which some call the Middle Nature or the spirit of the world and from the Intellectual world that spiritual living Vapour being every transcendent virtue qualifying and lastly from the Architype by these means between according to its degree the original force of all Perfection Hence every thing may be fitly reduced from these Inferiors to the Stars from them to the Intelligences of the same and from thence to the Architype out of the order of which all Magick and secret Philosophy doth flow for dayly some natural thing is drawn by Art and dayly some divine thing is drawn by Nature which when some of the learned Egyptians did behold they called Nature it self a Magician that is to say the Magical Force it self in the Attraction of the like by the like and of things agreeing by things that agree and the Greeks called such Attractions by the mutual Agreement of Superior with Inferior between themselves Sympathy As for instance We know that in the Elâ—ments Water agrees with Earth in Coldness Water with Ayr in Moistness Ayr with Fire in Heat Fire with the Heavens in the Materia So Mettals agree with Plants in their
Unsensibleness Plants with Animals in Growing Animals with Man in Sence Man with Angels in Understanding Angels with God in Immortality So also Stones and Mettals agree with Plants Plants with Animals Animals with the Heavens the Heavens with the Intelligences and those with the Divine Properties and Artributes and with God himself So the Divinity answers to the Mind the Mind to the Vnderstanding the Vnderstanding to the Intentions the Intentions to the Representation the Representation to the Receiving it the Receiving to the Senses and at last the Senses to the thing it self For such is the binding together and continuity of Nature that that every Superior virtue doth disperse its beams through every Inferior thing by a long and continued rank flows even to the utmost And the Inferiors do even reach to the Highest by their several Superiors for so the Inferiors are annexed to the Superiors by each other that the Influence from the Head the first Cause as it were a certain Chain stretched out proceedeth even to the very Lowest wherefore if one be touched it trembles or shakes wholy on the sudden and such a touching sounds even to the other end and one Inferior being moved the Superior is also moved unto which that doth answer and correspond As the string in any Instrument being touched causes all the rest to tremble So it is manifest that all Inferior things are under the Superiors and after a manner as saith Proclus are within each other to wit the Highest in the Lowest and the Lowest in the Highest so earthly things are in Heaven but as in a celestial cause and manner and the Celestial are in Earth but after an earthly manner to wit according to the effect So we say that here are some things Solar and some things Lunar in which the Sun and Moon doth cause somewhat of their virtue whence such like things do receive very many operations and properties agreeable to the operations and properties of the Stars and Signs under which they are So it is manifestly known to all Naturalists and Physicians that sober things have relation to the Head and Heart because of Leo the House of the Sun and Aries his Exaltation and those of Mars have relation to the Head and Privy parts because of Aries and Scorpio the two Houses of Mars and so of the rest So you see that all Inferior virtues do correspond with their Celestial the Celestial with their Intellectual and the Intellectual with the Ideal and Architypical or first Cause So the Elements are to be found in all things but differently for in these Inferior but muddy and thick but in the Celestial more pure and bright in the Super-celestial living and blessed every ways The Elements are therefore the Ideas of things to be produced in the Intelligences as Powers destributed in the Heavens as Virtues in these Inferior things as thicker Forms So the Light a very formal Quality and a simple Act and Image of an Intelligence or Spirit first is diffused into all things by the divine Mind but in God himself the Father who is the Father of Lights it is the first and true Light and afterward in the Son the enlightening and abounding Brightness of the Father in the Spirit a burning Fulger exceeding even the understanding of the Seraphins as Dionysius saith being diffused in the Angels it becomes a shining understanding and a Joy shed forth above the bounds of Reason yet received by divers degrees according to the Nature of the Intelligence receiving afterward it descends into the celestial things where it is made a plenty of life and an effectual Propogation and also a visible Brightness and in the Fire a certain natural force imprinted by the Celestials Lastly in Man it is made a bright discourse of Reason and the knowledg of divine things and wholy rational And this also is manifest by the disposition of the body as the Peripateticks will have it or which I conceive is more true according to the pleasure of the Cause giving which distributes to every one according to his Will from thence it passeth the fancy and as yet it is above the senses and being only made imagineable at length it attains to the senses and especially to that of the eyes in that it is made a visible clearness and is stretched forth in each of these prospicious bodies in which it becomes a colour and a shining fireness in dark things it becomes a helpful ingendering virtue and pierceth even unto the center where the beams being collected into a narrow space it becomes a dark heat tormenting and boyling So all feel the force of Light according to their capacity which joyning all things to it self by a quickening heat and going through all things that have Being brings forth their qualities and virtues through every thing So you see that all Inferior things are in the Superior but more clear and perfect then here below so all Superior virtues are to be found in the Inferiors more or less answerable to the capacity of the Receiver but more gross and muddy and not so powerful and operative as in their Superiors For we see by experience that all Medicines are composed of several ingrediencies because of the imperfection of the virtue of one material in its operation and therefore they strengthen that imperfect property by addition of others of the like kind that so they might produce those proper effects proposed by the Arts. Ingenuous Reader I hope by this that Magick is no such Art as the most of men ignorantly take it to be nor as the Author of that Pamplet is pleased to esteem of it for had it been so certainly it would have been reproved in Solomon the wisest of men who without doubt was excellently acquainted with this Mystery for his knowledg in Nature was such and so perfect that he knew and understood the virtues and properties of all Trees Plants Beasts Fowls and Fishes with their Times and Seasons he also declared their virtues and uses in the curing of Diseases as Suidas reports whose words are to this effect That Solomon wrote of the Remedy of all Diseases and graved the same upon the sides of the Porch of the Temple which Ezekias pulled down as the same Author saith Nay Josephus goeth farther and saith that wrote Books of Invocations and Inchantments to cure Diseases and to expel evil Spirits he also speaketh of one Eliazarus who by the Root in Solomas Ring dispossessed divers persons of evil Spirits in the presence of Vespasian and many others So also Moses the Law-giver and Prince of the Hebrews endued with Magick in Egypt is read in Josephus to have made Rings of Love and Forgetfulness This I am really perswaded that Moses was very knowing in all the secrets of Nature or as one saith a man that was the most excellently learned in all Divine and Humane Knowledg and for ought as I do know was as able to have brought forth the Products of
all things to pass in Nature in this inferior world except those immediate Acts in which all these Mediums are suspended and the first Cause works of himself and these Works are called by us Miracles because there is nothing of Nature found to co-operate in the work or in that the Creator of all things doth not work in and by these means mediating But when these Mediums have received those patterns of working then they shew forth the Intentions and Decrees of the first Cause either by the ordinary Motion Aspects and Position of the Celestial Bodies which is the common course of the first Cause in Nature or else in a more extraordinary way as by unusual Apperitions as of Comets or Blazing Star three Suns Men and Horses in armour in a hostile manner fighting Balls of Fire Swords Spears and other weapons of war forms of monstrous Men and Beasts and many other ways too tedious to be here denominated all which are the Works of the Intelligential Angels which are the fore-runners of some strange Accidents or Change to befall the World in general or some Kingdom State Cities Families or Persons who had their first beginnings under such or such a determinate Horoscope and Celestial Constellation who with their beginnings receive a wonderful virtue of working or suffering yea in such a manner that it becomes obediâ—nt to that power ruling it in the Heavens as our bodies are obedient to our Souls so that when the Celestial Bodies are moved to any Change or Variation then are those things which are subject to that or that Celestial Body or Constellation moved and changed answerable Now this intensive work or change which is determined in the first Cause is made manifest in the Heavens some space of time more or less before it is brought to pass upon these Inferiors here below so that those that are learned in the Liberary of Heaven sees before-hand what is like to come to pass upon such or such a Kingdom State Family or persons Now for him that is versed in the knowledg of their Effects to declare what the intention of the first Cause is in reference to any of these particular ones should be â—ccounted and termed a Conjurer Witch and the like what do they but as much as in them is to stigmatise the secondary Causes who are servants to the first Cause to wit God who hath made and framed them by his unspeakable Wisdom in such a series and order of correspondency that they answer to all things more or less here below as they agree with the Intelligences and Idea's of all things above so that they do necessarily work and so necessarily produce their proper effects upon those things that they govern in this inferior world either to love and concord or to strife and enmity which we call good and evil and the cause why they operate not so strongly and effectually is because of the unequality of the matter for in such things in which the superior hath not that Rule and Domination as in others in those they work more slowly and imperfect which is not because of the inability of their influence and virtue but because of the unsuitability of the Subject for they rule in some things more in others less yet they produce their effects in all suitable to the correspondency of the matter with them so that there is nothing in the inferior world which is not more or less agreeing with these Celestial Influences and Heavenly Virtues But now I shall descend to Particulars as to declare the particular Effects of the superior Influences upon particular ones But first That they have relation to the World in general take but that one Instance of Petrus de Aliaco concerning the Universal Flood who quoting Albumazer who did by Calculation of the Motions of the two superior Planets to wit Saturn and Jupiter did find that they did come to Conjunction in Cancer a watery Sign and in the fourth House of Heaven the which Sign was as the same Author doth affirm the Horoscope of the Heavens first motion viz. when the Creation was finished and all Celestial bodies had received their power of motion in the which they were to continue for the product of those determinate effects upon the world according to the intention of the first Cause In this particular Instance a curious eye may see much by the which Conjunction as some learned Authors doth aver that that just man Noah had the fore-knowledg of the general Deluge For as the said Aliaco confirmeth that although Noah did well know the Flood by divine Revelation yet this Conjunction being notorious he could not be ignorant of the second Causes from the first Cause for that was not only a Sign but a working Cause by its power received from the first Cause which is God himself and also that by the windows of Heaven Moses meant this watery Conjunction The Authors words are these It pleased God saith he to ordain by the course of the Heavens such a Constellation by the which all men might see therein their own destruction coming and so forsake those wicked ways wherein they walked and call upon God for mercy And of the same Judgment was the learned Parisiensis who understood that by the windows of Heaven were meant the great Conjunction of those two superior Planets or these watery Constellations Cancer Pisces Pleiades Hyades and Orion and of the Planets Venus and the Moon which are the forcible Causes of the greatest Inundations His own words are these I perceive not what the Prophet of the Hebrews meaneth by these words the windows of Heaven unless he meaneth thereby those Celestial Powers by whose influence are engendered the Rain and Inundations of Waters such as are the water Signs of Cancer c. The which Conjunction happened according to the opinion of Albumazur 279 years 248 days and 9 hours before that it did shew its effects upon the inferior world And thus it pleased God that in the Course of his unsearchable Wisdom that this Conjunction should be at such a time by which means there was vigour and faculty added for the operation of every virtue by which violent Eruptions of Springs and Fountains was caused from the abundance of the treasure of their waters taking retention from the Clouds and condensing ayr into water a change familiar in these Elements by the Ministry of his Angels the which is the ordinary way of the first Cause for the producing of his determinations upon the inferior world I mean by such secondary Causes as was the Conjunction of these two superior Planets viz. Saturn and Jupiter the effects of which resulted into that Universal Deluge or general overflowing of the whole Earth with the Element of Water But this shall suffice for the due proof of the first particular to wit That the Celestial Bodies have an Influence upon the World for the producing of strange effects as they are Instruments under the first
by the most good and holiest men For C ham the son of Noah who as Cassianus reporteth was knowing not only in this Art but in all the seven Libral Sciences who having a fore-knowledg of the Universal Flood that he might preserve his attainments to after Ages engraved them in 14 Pillars seven of Brick to resist the injury of fire and seven of Brass to oppose the force of water all which others conceive were known to that just and holy man Noah and left by him to his sons So also Abraham that righteous man as Josephus reports was very much learned in these Arts more then any other in that Age if he did not abundantly exceed them all differing from the wisdom of after Times in this that he knew and acknowledged the true Cause and Giver of life and virtue to Nature and all natural things whereas others forgetting this adored the Instruments or second Causes and did attribute proper strength to the things themselves from which the effects were sensible which belongs to that Wisdom which being one and remaining in it self can do all things and reneweth all And Eupolemon doth affirm That Abraham the holiest and wisest of men did first teach the Chaldeans then the Phenitians and lastly the Egyptian Priests Astrology and Divine Knowledg and that he did as Philo saith diligently contemplate the Heavens which the Scripture seemeth to hint out in the promise of God to him concerning the multiplicity of his Seed So also that good man Jacob understood that the Sun in the dream of Joseph had signification of himself and that the Moon was meant his wife and the eleven Stars his sons Also Job that just man was versed in the knowledg of the stars where he denominateth the names of Arturus Orion and Pleiades and also the divisions of the Heavens and Earth in those words and the Climates of the South so that when God pleaded his own Power and Greatness he useth the same Stars or Constellations to convince Job with and also doth declare their Influence upon the Elementary Properties for saith he Canst thou restrain the sweet Influence of the Pleiades or unloose the bands of Orion Canst thou guide Arturus and his sons What the product of their Influence there meant let all Commenters declare and all such as have received a prejudice against this lawful Art contemplate in their minds So likewise Moses a man of God was versed excellently in all the learning of the Egyptians who were a people that were most rare in the knowledg of these Arts more then any other Nations whatsoever So Daniel and the three Children it is said That the King found them ten times better then all the Magicians and Astrologers that were in his Realm which had they not been knowing in both those Sciences they would not have been compared with them for always a wise man maketh comparisons in things of a like nature and how unreasonable and unjust would the Decree have been that Daniel and his fellows should have been slain with the rest of the Wise men of Babel had not they been Professors of the same Sciences For the Scripture saith That the Decree went forth that the Wise men should be slain and they sought after Daniel and his fellows to slay them with the rest And Solomon the wisest of men was excellently acquainted with the natural virtues of things also in their operations and effects with their several Times and Seasons for to every action and thing there is a time appointed by the infinite Wisdom and Fore-knowledg of the first Cause the which time and season in reference to means and event is either good or evil not that there is any evil in Time it self but in respect of those many effects that are by certain means to be produced for all things and actions are manifested in their due times and seasons so that all things follow in their kind each other by a certain eternal continuity and in this regard Time comes to be termed good or evil For this is clear that all creatures have their seasons of beginning of life motion strength c. but not all at one and the same time So in the Heavens all things and actions which are to be brought to pass here below are not conceived in the minds of the Celestial Souls at one and the same time but answerable to those times and seasons in the which they are to be manifested here in this inferior world and therefore for any to expect to have a demonstration from the Heavens of future events before their season shall and must acknowledg that he looked for it in an evil time And thus have I given thee Ingenuous Reader an Impartial Account of the Lawfulness of both these Arts which is the present apprehension that I have of them according to that small measure of knowledg that I have attained to in my private study which is but as it were of yesterday and the first of this nature that I ever attempted to commit to writing which indeed was drawn from me by the importunity of some private friends who are well-wishers to these excellent Arts though but secretly for their own private Exercise and Recreation for my own part did I but apprehend upon a real Experiment that there were in the true and substantial Grounds of this Art any evil and Diabolical Incumbrance I would be the first that should according to my weak abilities manifest it to the world for I am one that as to any Art am not so taken with a blind affection that to conclude it to be absolute and lawful for my affection sake but can and will refrain the Study of any Art or Science of the which my Reason and Experiment is convinced to be unlawful and not convenient for a Christians Exercise I profess I had not appeared in Print had not that small Pamphlet been so long without an Answer and though it doth not contain any solid Argument against either of these Arts yet such is the fond prejudice that many in England hath taken against them that they are ready to conclude that it is indeed so as that Book reports and also that I might draw forth some more able then my self to vindicate these Arts and it is very probable that which I have done toward that end may find censures from many Some may call me a Star-gazer I tell thee whatsoever thou art I can see thy folly and ignorance in the least star and thy great Creators Glory in the smallest beam Others may say That of a Christian I am become a Disciple to Plato I profess I cannot see one seat in his School for thy ignorance whose common Precepts were more divine then thy best Profession and such as thou who termest thy self a Christian not capable to receive And for my self I desire truly to be Philosopher in the right knowledg of the Cause of Causes to be a Platonick in a true apprehension of the Angelical and Intelectual World to be a Star-gazer so that I may really contemplate the Heavens and Celestial Bodies to be a Stoick to attain a great measure of Patience to be a Hermet as to the incombrances of the world and yet to be a Christian in the true reception of the benefit of my Saviours Passion which is the way for me to my Perfection And therefore to all you Students in Magick and Astrology see that you walk humbly with your God be not proud of your attainments for you have received them have a good Conscience in your walkings toward men so shall you be more able to operate truly in these Arts labour to reduce your spirits into the form likeness of those Celestial Powers and then you may receive divine Power and Virtue from them and study to know thy Creator in all those abundance of Creatures that thou seest scattered up and down in the world in which more or less of his Glory and Brightness doth reside and then how happy wilt thou be Let not Covetousness oversway thy Judgment and then both these Arts will be Honorable in spight of all Opposers This is all that I have to write as to this present Treatise and so subscribe my self to be Thine H. W. From my private Chamber in London the nineth of Novemb. 1650. FINIS
but more especially that strange Apperition of three Suns in Decemb. 1648. which were seen visibly to divers in London and near adjacent which were the Messengers of a final Period to that House in respect of the Regal Power which were the Works of the Intelligencial Angels who were willing to communicate the Decree of the great Creator which was to be effected in a small space of time here below though conceived long before in the bosom of the first Cause as all things of the like nature are And shall God be so willing to suffer nothing to come to pass or be effected in this lower world but doth give unto us first Celestial Declarations of his Intentions and Determinations and shall we call such as are conversant in the contemplation of those Wonders and Mysteries Witches Conjurers and the like O ingratitude not to be parallel'd Which of you all who are so sottish as to abuse the Students in this lawful Art that would reject the counsel of the meanest man who adviseth you of an apparant danger which is ready for to seize upon you and declares the prevention by certain means If you reject it worse then mad men Will you reject and slight the Prognosticks of able Artists Look to it in time lest you be branded for your folly in future Ages For had his late Majesty and some great men really considered the Prophecies of some English Artists it had been otherwise with then it was I will give you the Paradoxial Prophecy of that able Artist Mr Lilly in Merlin pag. 110. Wo to a great Family of Europe that was is now but shall be no more it 's not old it 's not ancient like an untimely birth it 's cut off and shall never again flourish either in Branch or Root c. Lord God shall the number of fifty cut off more then five or shall less then ninety be alotted for four Shall the Virgin be barren and the Lyon have no issue Shall less then 36 end in two Shall the second end in a Cipher Shall seven come to be one and then none This is a Mystery to many yet true in its effects part of which is exactly fulfilled the rest makes haste and in its time must conclude the Prophecy I were able to produce other Presidents of the like nature but this shall serve to clear the Celestial Influences upon Families Now I shall speak briefly to the last particular viz. That the Heavenly Bodies have a respect in their Influence to particular ones to the Manifestation of those several Occurrences which are to befall them in this inferior world For every single man and woman when they begin to have Being under a determinate Asscendant and Heavenly Constellation they receive with that Being a wonderful virtue of working and suffering more then what it receives from its proper kind by the Influence of the Heavens from the obedience of the matter of the thing generable which contains in it self properties of the Elemental Virtues with a subtil ayral spirit which makes the siminal matter fruitful the which is apt to receive any impression from the Celestial Virtues and the Higher Powers disposing the Elemental Properties and doth instamp its virtue and form upon the generable matter suitable to its correspondency to the Celestial Souls from the which ground the matter thus formed and disposed it comes to be moed to obedience unto those Higher Powers so that according to the motions of the Superiors and their Influences divers effects inclinations and behaviors are wrought not only from the matter diversly disposed as the most think but from the diverse Influence of the Superiors and their different forms and the degrees of these are diversly distributed of God the first Cause of all who remains the same distributes to every one as he sees good to which the secondary Causes do co-operate Angelical and Celestial in their disposing of the corporal matter and other things committed to them So that from hence Astrologians say That some men are Solar and some men Mercurial and so of the rest because that they have received in their beginnings virtue and operation from those Bodies in the correspondency of their seminal matter with those Stars both in their bodies and inclinations which shew themselves more conspicuously and powerful when the internal faculty hath attained its proper power and strength which it received at its first Being So that inclinations and behaviors of all men do appear in their workings or sufferings more or less suitable to that virtue which they have received from the Superiors and correspond with them so far forth as they rule those properties for in some men the virtue of the Celestial Souls are less drowned and less incumbered with contrariety and in such that virtue is more conspicuous and perfect then in others which made the Platonicks to say That Celestial Virtues were infused according to the desert of the matter which we see verified in Christ who by reason of the purity and perfection of the corporal matter it was capable to receive the fulness of the Divinity in whom it dwelt as the Scripture saith bodily the excellency of whose Person was manifested to the Magi at his Birth by that new Star which led them to his presence to worship him which was a Celestial Demonstration of his Divine Descent Not unlike to that was the Star in the time of Augustus Cesar in the which Sybillia Tiburtina shewed to the said Augustus the Image of a beautiful Virgin holding a Boy in her bosom and saying This Child is more noble and greater then thou worship him And according to the verification of some learned Authors the Horoscope of our Saviours Nativity was in the first Decade of Virgo in the which before his Manifestation in the flesh was a Conjunction of Saturn Jupiter and Mercury which did fore-shew his Birth And according to the opinion of Albumazer that in the same Decade of Virgo ascendeth a beautiful Virgin of a comely Body pleasant Countenance modest Attire long Hair holding two Plums in her hand sitting upon a golden Throne and nourishing a Boy And of the same opinion was Abraham whose words are these There ascendeth in the first face of Virgo a very fair Virgin having long Hair holding two ears of Corn in her hand and she sitteth upon a seat and nourishing a little Boy by giving him suck and enciting him to eat All which were nothing else but Angelical Manifestations of that purity and perfection of Nature which was to be brought forth into the world in the Humanity of Christ the which I think no ingenuous man will deny But now I will proceed Now because of this inherent correspondent Property which the matter of the Body hath received from the superior Powers and Virtues in its beginning of Being it comes to be moved to those several actions of passion either of love or enmity by the movings of the Superiors to the like for
Cause and also they are as to us Manifestations before-had of their Events But now I shall proceed to the second particular viz. That the Heavenly Bodies have an Influence upon Kingdoms and States and that to the manifestation of their particular fates or changes the which we have found by Experience of late years in this Island verified to the purpose and not only this but that of Ireland all or most of them made out before by M. Lilly and others and by none other way or means but by the Art of Astrology by the which they have to the purpose declared the Events and Effects of the Heavenly Bodies in their Influence and in what particulars they would manifest themselves But for the better clearing of this particular I shall give you one or two ancient Presidents long ago brought to pass As for instance That Star which suddenly appeared in the time of Hipparchus which signified the transferring of the Greekish Empire into the hands of the Romans which was not effected till 63 years after which begun about 42 years before Christ Did not the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the year 1425. which were in Scorpio a treacherous and false Sign find us in England engaged in a War with France Spain at the same time in division about a Successor in the Royal Power and under the effects of the same Conjunction Henry the sixth was crowned at Paris Also under the Conjunction of the two Superiors in the year 1603. in the Sign of Sagitarius did not James King of Scotland come to be King of England And as Mr Lilly saith in that unparalled Piece viz. Englands Prophetical Merlin speaking of this Conjunction useth these words Could a more memorable thing be in this world then for a Scottish King to become Monarch of the English and that without blows considering the former Antipathy betwixt both Nations Was not this in effect a new Monarchy yea and a great one to be King of England Scotland and Ireland And hath not Ireland suffered to the purpose under the effects of these two Lunar Eclipses which was total which happened the last year in the Constellations of Taurus and Scorpio the one being Conjunction with that kingly Star of the first Magnitude called Aldeberion or the Bulls eye of the nature of Mars the other in the Constellation of Scorpio a most viporous Sign with fixed stars of the nature of Mars and Saturn whose effects did and doth still shew themselves powerfully upon that deplorable Island to the great destruction of her Natives all which might have been fore-seen by those that are conversant in contemplating of the Heavens and yet by no combination with the Powers that rule in the dark World And was not that Comet which appeared in the year 1618. a fore-runner of many Changes and Mutations almost all Europe over And I believe that Scotland hath no cause to boast of the Effects of the Conjunction of the two malevolent Planets viz. Saturn and Mars in July last They who are desirous to view things of this nature if their own prejudice doth not detain them they may read those two Books of Mr Lilly's viz. Englands Prophetical Merlin and The Worlds Catastrophe the first published in 1644. the other in 1647. the which will produce variety of Presidents of this nature the which are things of that excellency and worth that to an ingenuous man never the like were extent in Europe I could be more large in this particular but this I hope will satisfie the wise for others I matter not whose stupidity all the Presidents in the world is not able to convince But now I shall descend to the third particular viz. That the Heavenly Bodies have an Influence upon particular Cities and do shew forth some strange Change or Mutation in their Governments Laws Customs Liberties Loss and Profit which are all made out before conspicuously by the superior Bodies according to the determination of the first Cause by whose goodness all Cities flourish and by whose will they again decline in their glory and pomp and then fall into slavery and destruction so it is no wonder if Monarchies Kingdoms and Cities do change their manner of Government and as it were a thing forsaken of its presidential Angel flying to another nature of other power and so always Kingdoms and Cities when they have attained to the height of their glory they then decline and become worse and worse both in their Government and Customs and by that means the conditions of men become contrary so that a spirit of hatred and sedition is generated which produces ruine and destruction or a transferring of the Government thereof unto strangers as was that most magnificent and glorious City of Constantinople from under the Government of Christians now become the Seat Royal of the Paganish Mahomitan which was effected under the Influence of the Conjunction of the two Superiors in Cancer in the year 1444. whose Ascendant is Cancer the Sign of the Conjunction whose Christian Beauty then declined into a Paganish Deformity And did not the same Conjunction produce a vast loss to the Venicians by an Inundation of the Sea to the value of a Million of money whose Ascendant is that watery Sign of Cancer And I believe that London hath no cause to boast of its benefit that it hath received from the effects of the last Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the year 1642. which was in Pisces which beholds the Ascendant of London with a hateful Square and was not Mercury the Lord thereof under the Sun beams and aspected by the Moon with a Square Arguments of no good to redound to it Neither will the slow motion of malicious Saturn through the Constellation of the Twins with the Conjunction of angry Mars which was in July last produce any cause of boasting to the Inhabitants of London either in their Civil Power or Commerce the which some space of time may and will make manifest though not to the conviction of their selfish Opinions yet will prove fatal I fear to their Trade and Commerce the which the declination of their Estates will testifie And I wish O London that thou mayst not feel the effects thereof also in thy Government whose Glory exceeds almost all the Cities in Europe May not the time be and that shortly that thy pomp and beauty in thy Societies may be eclipsed I wish it may not yet I profess I fear it But no more of that Have we not had a clear demonstration of the fading glory of the Royal Power in this Kingdom of late which was hinted nay clearly manifested before-hand in the last Conjunction of the Superiors in Pisces which beheld the Ascendant of our English Monarchy with a hateful opposition and what the product thereof hath been and is like to be let the impartial judg and not only that Conjunction of the Superiors but all those eminent Configurations of late years have manifested the same