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 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
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
in them it is first conceived and so carried down by their Influence upon those Bodies that have a secret virtue of correspondency and a reciprocal property of embracing those Influences from whence I conceive that that part of Astrology hath its Ground which we call Horary Questions for it is found by large experience that when any person is moved really in his mind to any particular Act and is carried out to propose a question to an Artist that then the Heavens and those superior Bodies do contain a true and real description of the Act and its event answerable to that operation or moving of the inferior mind of the person for whatsoever is acted in and by man is at first conceived in the Heavens and so far a good experient Artist is not deceived but when there is no such moving in the Superiors then there is no perfect moving or operation upon or in the mind of a person but imperfect and such as it is doth sometimes produce a slight desire or will in the person to know something but what he knows not and in this respect the Heavens give no demonstration of the event which in many young Artists hath been the cause I fear of those many false Judgments which arise from a want of a true knowledg and understanding of the minds of the Superiors which Ignorance hath caused them to speak their own thoughts for the sence of the Heavens as if they had all the superior Bodies with their several Intelligences in the bridle of their Pocket gain but they ought to know that those Divine Powers are not ordained to serve men to such base ends whose fond presumption is as great as Phaetons folly who to declare himself of the linage of Heaven produced his own overthrow and others ruines If you be the true sons of Art undertake no such impossibilities as to rule the Heavenly Powers with the reins of your own fancies I speak this to those young Students who are I am afraid not well acquainted with the natural Motion of the Orbs much less with those excellent Powers that are Rulers of them under the first Cause And not only of them alone but of the Terrestial world in their due order for a certain limit of time appointed by the Wisdom of that chiâ—f Good who made all things in form and order and doth by his Power given forth to those his Celestial Ministers govern it in the like form and order to the shewing forth of his Majesty Glory Power and infinite Wisdom and every Age from the beginning is found by observation to have had some kind of respect in their actions to the nature of the Angel or Spirit then Ruling suitable to the capacity of those then governed and if I mistake not we in this present Age are under the Rule of Raphael which is the cause according to the determination of the first Cause of those abundant Sects Opinions Heresies Fancies of the brain Disputes Contentions Subtilty Falshood Vnstability cunning and witty Policy and the like of all which the former Ages knew not the like This is a great Mystery to most and a thing not perfect to any I mean the true knowledg of this Angelical Rule the which our Reasons are not able to ascend up unto but hath been found out by observation of some in former Ages and the experience of some of late learned in the most occult Powers of Nature And a Mystery not inferior to this is that secret virtue and admirable signification that is manifestly known by long experience to be in those twelve Divisions of the Heavens called the twelve Mansions or Houses of Heaven and have relation to all things appertaining to the life quality and condition of every one in what relation soever he may or can be the which secret virtue in the Heavens is hid from the eyes of our Reason though the virtue power and signification of them are dayly found by experience which is no strange thing that our Reason should not fathom the depth thereof to find the Cause and Ground For we see the manifestation of the virtue of the Loadstone in a visible attraction of Iron to it self but know not the secret Cause thereof And such virtues the Philosophers called hidden Qualities because the Causes of them are hid so that mans understanding cannot find them out no ways but long observation and experience hath found out many things of the like Nature which Search and Reason could not attain As for instance We see that in the stomack the meat that we eat is digested by heat which we truly know so it is transâ—ormed by a secret virtue which we know not but not by heat for then why not at the fire as well as in the stomack but that of a certain it is transform-into a due nourishment of the Body by what virtue we are not able to find So also it is reported that the Eastridg concocts cold and most hard Iron and digests it into a due nourishment of its body whose stomack as it is reported is not hurt with hot Iron So the Echenes stops the ship and the Salamander abides the fire without hurt and the Amber draws all things to it except Basil these are the works of hidden Virtues which we admire and are amazed at as unknown to us in respect of their Causes but our experience doth find the visible working and the effects of those secret and occult properties I hope gentle Reader by this that this excellent Art of Astrology is no such thing as the world thinks it to be nor as that ridiculous Pamphlet terms it thou seest it clear from the jealousie of a Diabolical Agent in it there is no workings by a combination with the power of the dark world but to be wholy celestial and divine And although some men have abused it to base ends by the instigation of the Devil and hath bewitched some fancies and and led them to Idolatry as a Doctrine of Religion and corrupted the word Astrology by giving a divine Power to the Stars which they have not that is an independing Power of themselves and so have been esteemed as gods and not as Instruments set up by the first Cause all which I contemn but the abuse of the thing takes not away the Art considering that the Heavenly Bodies have and do exercise their virtues upon the Inferiors For it is vulgarly known to those who have but the smallest knowledg of the Celestial Bodies That the Sun and Star of Mars doth dry the Moon doth moisten and govern the Tydes of the Sea that Jupiter and Mercury doth produce winds and Saturn dark and obscure weather and that the stars do differ in magnitude and to all the stars God hath given their proper names which had they hot influences and virtues different they need not And as it is Lawful in all the parts of it as I have spoken before So also it is most Ancient and was practised
Nature in as admirable a way as did the Magicians of Egypt before Pharaoh for I conceive that he was as knowing in the secret and occult workings of Nature as they And whereas it is a received Opinion of many That those Frogs which the Magicians of Egypt did produce were but false Semblences my opinion is otherwise for I am really convinced that Moses that man sent and impowered of God for so eminent a work could not be deceived with such false Appearances But I shall adhere to the Judgment of that learned Parisienses who saith That in such works the sudden generation of Frogs Lice and Worms and some other creatures in all which Nature alone worketh but by means strengthening the seeds of Naturâ— and quickning them in such wise that they so hasten the work of genâ—ration that it seemeth not to be the work of nature to the ignorant which usually worketh more slowly but they think it to be done by the power of Devils but they who are learned in 〈…〉 marvel not at such workings but glorifie the Creator Many the like things may and have been done by no unjust way or means but wholy by the more secret and occult workings of Nature which to those that apprehend not the way of operation have had a surmise of a Diabolical Agent but their ignorance hath misled them as it doth many at this day And I were able to deliver the Precepts of some learned men for Instances but it may suffice that I have cleared the substantial Grounds of Magick and have vindicated that excellent Art from those gross Calumnies and Aspersions that have been laid upon it either by men wholy ignorant in it or such who have received a prejudice against it to both I say that they may as well asperse the Magical Policy of Jacob in causing the strongest Cattel of Laban to bring forth spotted young ones by his laying of spotted Rods in the watering-troughs and gutters where the female Cattel coming to drink at what time they had coupled with the male that they then seeing the Rods might conceive spotted young ones the which sight wrought secretly upon and powerfully affected the conceiving and forming faculty of the Cattel and so did enstamp the like colours upon the thing conceived for that part of the seed which maketh it fruitful to wit the spirits which wander all over the body these containing the Idea or form of the particular parts to be formed being ayr and moist are ready to receive any impression which is conveyed in at the eye and doth frame the thing answerable in some sort to the thing received As I have read of a Negor woman that conceived a beautiful white child by the help of her Imagination it being fixed upon a beautiful picture in the Act of Generation which is wrought by nothing else but that reciprocal quality and tender property of those ayral and moist spirits which are in every seed in conception My request therefore is that all ingenuous men would seriously study and contemplate the creature and those excellencies that God the first Cause and Original of all things hath put into Nature which doth very much speak out the infinite Wisdom Power Goodness Love and Kindness of him who doth all in all by these ministring Powers that he in his Wisdom hath set up over all these inferior things for the shewing forth of these received virtues which doth flow down from the first and chief Good into all creatures more or less answerable to the good pleasure of the first Cause or Giver and according to the fitness of the Receiver for there is not any thing to be found which hath not something of this good infused into it which Virgil had a sight of when he uttered these words There is saith he a Fire force and a Celestial Originial to these seeds as far as the Noxious Bodies do not hinder And this is all that I shall speak concerning the Art of Magick more I could have said but this shall suffice as an Answer to that Book in reference to that secret Mystery which I hope will satisfie the Ingenuous Reader I shall now speak briefly to the other Art viz. that of Astrology which the Author of that Pamplet is pleased to stigmatise with the like ignominious Terms as he hath done that most profound Art of Magick before spoken of and I hope to any ingenuous and impartial man cleared and vindicated by the foregoing Discourse It remaineth now for me to clear this of Astrology which I shall so far as I have received the knowledg thereof from the first Cause who is the Giver of every good knowledg Astrology Defined AS for Astrology I conceive it to be an Art by the which the influence and virtual operations of the superior Bodies with their effects and significations are brought to light and knowledg I say it is an Art by the which we come to know what the signification and effects of the several Motions Aspects and Positions of the Heavenly Bodies do hint out unto us in reference to the World in general and to Kingdoms States Cities Families and the particular fate if I may so call it of every man and woman with their several relations conditions dependance and ends whatsoever and that by the Heavens and Celestial Bodies Now that the Celestial Bodies have an influence upon these Inferior Bodies here below is already cleared in the foregoing Discourse the which I think no ingenuous man will deny but that they have a relation to the Manifestation of the particular fare of every particular Kingdom State Cities Families and Persons is the thing to be cleared which I shall do according to that knowledg that I have which is not so perfect as I could desire or as I covet after But that they have an Influence and Power over Kingdoms and States in reference to their particular fates and changes with the Manifestation thereof it is most clear and that from those many and several Experiments that we have seen of late years in those strange and unexpected Catastrophe's of this Island and they all or most made out conspicuously before they did come to pass by that worthy Gentleman Mr Lilly one whom I much honour for his love to his Country-men in restoring of this Art which was almost lost not only here but almost all Europe over whose learned Works I must freely acknowledg were the first grounds and cause of my present attainments and others who was and are conversant in the study of this excellent Art witness those several Books of theirs now extent which contains nothing else but Prognosticks or Prophecies of future events that were to be brought to pass in their fit seasons by means of the Superiors who are nothing else but ministring Powers appointed to disperse or carry down those determinations of the first Cause committed unto them by the Intelligences ruling and this is that orderly way by which the chief Good brings
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