directs of Letters various formes When their spread Wings are by the Violent stormes Of strong South-winds assailed by and by In a confused globe all mingled flie The Letter 's lost in their disranked wings For besides that in Battell they never observe any other Order or manner of Marshalling themselves 3. de Animal c. 13. Chiliad alib 2. de nat Deor. De solert Animal et in vit Thesei Ornitholog a man may observe also in their Flight that when either the Wind ceaseth or another begins to blow they presently break their Ranks and cast themselves into another Figure These Truths are largely discoursed of by Aelian Tzetzes Cicero and Plutarch and Particularly by Aldrovandus who reports from diverse of the Ancients that from this Diversity of Figure in the Flying of these Birds Palamedes in the time of the Trojan War took occasion to invent diverse Letters of the Alphabet which he added to those other that the Phoenicians had before In Xenijs Whence Martial Saies Turbabis Versus litera tota volabit Unam perdideris si Palamedis avem And certainly we often see that Cranes in flying do strangely imitate these Greek Letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 8. var. cap. 2 Cassiodorus goes further yet and assures us that not only some Letters but generally All of them were invented by Mercury in Imitation of the severall Figures he observed in the Flying of these Birds His words are so Considerable as that I think fit to insert them here Ut aliquid certum exquisitum dicere videamur has Literas primum ut frequentior tradit Opinio Mercurius repertor Artium multarum volatu Strymoniarium avium collegisse memoratur Nam hodiè Grues qui classem consociant Alphabeti formas Natura imbuente describunt quas in ordinem decorum redigens vocalibus consonantibusque convenienter admissis viam sensualem reperit per quam altè petens ad penetralia Prudentiae Mens possit alta pervenire They say that Wild-Geese also observe the same Method that Cranes do Now the Letters which all these severall Birds make in their Flying shew us only the Diversity of the winds or else the manner of their ordering themselves in Battell and no more But their Fighting Singing and manner of Feeding and going to Rest are of more Signification then so for these are often Signes of things to come Thus we usually see a Sick person is near his End when a Raven is observed to come croaking and to light upon or fly neer the Chamber where he lies the like whereof is observed also of Scritch-Owles and Horn-Owles Birds which by reason of their delighting in Darkness only and Shady places are accounted Unfortunate and Ominous The Fighting and Gathering together of all other sorts of Birds especially Birds of Prey and which feed upon Flesh doth likewise often foreshew some sad Accident approaching Thus Dion reports that when the Armies of the Triumvirate marched forth against the Complices of Pompey Lib. 50. to take a just Revenge of Coesar's bloud there were seen hovering over the Troops of Brutus and Cassius only great numbers of Ravens and Vultures which by their Many and Fearfull Cries did foreshew the Ruine of These Two Murtherers Neither need we travell so far for Examples of this Nature for we have a like Story to this delivered by Aeneas Sylvius who comming to be Pope was afterwards called by the name of In Europ Pius II. and it is this In that Part of Gallia saith he which is furnamed Belgica not far from the City of Leige a Falcon as she was sitting upon her Eggs in her Nest a company of Ravens perceiving her set upon her and not content with beating her devoured her Egges also and that with such Strange and Unusuall Out-cries as that the Boors and Shepherds thereabout who had observed this Strange Piece of Tyranny acted upon the Faulcon were very much amazed at it But at length the Faulcon though with much adoe being gotten from them the Shepherds thought the Quarrell to be now certainly over and that they should heare no more of these Out-cries But which much increased their Wonder on the Morrow they saw gathered together in the very same place so infinite a number of Faulcons and Ravens as that they could not have believed before that there were so many in the whole world all which were now gathered together to decide this Difference betwixt the Faulcon and the Ravens the Place and Combat being as it were agreed on on both sides The Faulcons pitched their Battell toward the South side of the Place and the Ravens toward the North and both the One and the Other observed their Ranks and Order as exactly and beheld each other with as fierce Countenances as if they had been Armies of Men. At length after they had been observed to keep this Order for some little time some of them being as it were in the Main Body of the Army and others in the Wings the Fight began with such Fury as that in an Instant the place all about was covered with Feathers and Bloud and with dead bodies of both Parties But in Conclusion the Faulcons wonne the Day and it seemed but Reasonable that They who fought in so just a Cause should bear away the Victory Now that this Battell fought betwixt these Birds did presage some Battell to be fought by Men in the same place Edovardus Scleikel endeavoureth to prove by the Event who writing the History of the year 1391. tells us that not long after this happened two Bishops pretending Right each of them to the Bishoprick of Leige were so incensed against each other as that filling all the parts round about with Souldiers they made a Sad and Bloudy Decision of the Controversie For Benedict XII and Gregory XIII whose Factions had likewise made a Division in the Church about the Popedome maintaining each of them the Bishop of his own Election drave on the businesse to so great a Height as that it was to be determined only by the Sword The Liegeois favoured the one Party and John Duke of Burgundy the other But in the end the Duke being stronger then his Enemies gave them Battell in the very same place where these Birds had fought before and wonne the Day with the losse of three Thousand of the Liegeois The like also happened An. 1484. when Lewis D. of Orleans fought against Charles VIII And that I may not trouble my self any further in collecting Instances of this kind you may have recourse to the fore-named Scleikel and Belle-forest who will furnish you with good store of the like Presages Hist Prod. it not being my Purpose to give you a Catalogue of them but only to examine their Cause We say then that Birds may Naturally foreshew sad Accidents approaching if we except all such as depend upon the Will of Man as to give Battell or Not to give Battell for in this
certain Conclusion and Foundation That the Stars and their Influences in these Figures have no Power at all over our Wills And therefore do I account as Ridiculous Damnable and Scandalous those Operations which Albinus Villanovensis saies may be effected by means of these Images In Magia Astr Ad fugandos latrones Ut Mulieres transeuntes super imaginem rideant cantent Ad sistendum equum in cursu Vid. infrà cap. 7. Ad recipiendam substantiam ablatam Ad expugnandos hostes c. L * ΜΘΡΙΑ L * ΜΘΡΙΑ L * ΜΘΡΙΑ And now it is no hard matter to conceive how the Power of Talismans comes at this day to be so undervalued for those that have written of this Subject have mixed so many both Confused and Dangerous things together in their writings that people making no distinction at all betwixt the Good and the Bad do equally abhor all whatsoever beares but the very name of Figure or Talisman But we shall in the prosecution of this Discourse sever the good Corn from the Darnell and shall shew that in the Making of these Figures all words are indifferent and that they serve but to amuse the simpler sort of people As when Albinus Villanovensis saies that for to cure the Tertian and Quartan Ague the pain of the Nerves Ventricle and Privy parts you must grave the Image of a Scorpion upon a piece of Gold or Silver when the Sun is in his proper House and the Moone in Capricorne and while you are graving it you must say these words Exurge Domine gloria mea Exurge Psalterium Cithara exurgam diluculò and then rehearse this Psalme Miserere mei Deus miserere mei quia in te confidit anima mea From hence it is that so many Superstitions have sprung and that people at length begun to undertake the curing of Diseased persons meerly by the bare Reciting of Certain Words without any regard had either to the Stars or any thing else Let us now come to the First Quaere which we are to prove for the Establishing of the Power of Figures namely Whether the Starres have any Influence upon and doe cause any Motion in things here below 19. Primo Meteor Aristotle endeavouring to prove the Affirmative brings a most Excellent Argument and worthy of so great a Philosopher which is this That saith He from whom Motion took its beginning the same hath no doubt given to all other things the Power of Self-motion now without all Dispute the Motion of the Heavens was the First in Nature therefore whatsoever Moves Moves by the Motion of the Heavens Insomuch that if the Motion of these should cease both Growth and Motion would also cease in all things here below In Sphoer Sacr. c. 3. Junctin brings here an Example of a Man's heart which as it is the beginning of Life and Motion so doth it communicate Life and Motion to all the rest of the Members So that if it once be wounded not onely the Motion ceaseth in all the parts of he body but even Life also You may see this Position confirmed by Hippocrates who backs it with so many reasons Lib. de Aëre Aquis and so strongly asserts the truth of these Celestiall Influences as that he confidently affirmes that by the rising and setting of the Starres a man may foretell Tempests raine Stormes and other changes of weather through the neglect of which Observations Physitians are very often deceived in their Cures and Diseases Cùm temporum mutationes saith he Astrorum ortus occasus observaverit medicus quemadmodum singula horum eveniant praenoscit utique de anno qualis hic sit futurus c. And then afterwards shewing what time and what Seasons are dangerous for Sick People by reason of the diverse motions of the Starres he presently addes Periculosissima sunt ambo Solstitia maximè verò aestivum periculosum etiam Aequinoctium utrumque magis verò Autumnale Oportet autem Astrorum ortus considerare praecipuè Canis deinde Arcturi Plejadum occasum Morbi enim in his maximè diebus judicantur aliique perimunt alij verò desinunt aut in aliam speciem aliumque statum transmutantur It would be but lost time if I should stand longer upon the Proof of this so clear a Truth which all men ought to confesse to be so were there no other Argument for it but this that it hath been constantly observed ever since the first beginning of Astronomy in the World that the Rising and Setting of the Fixed Starres have been the cause of very great changes here on Earth and he must either be a very Ridiculous senselesse man or else a very Ignorant that should go about to deny that the Hyades and the Plejades are not Watry Cloudy Constellations that is to say do cause Rainy Cloudy Darks weather as Leo and the Dog-starre bring Heat and Drowth and Orion a Wet and tempestuous season and so of the rest And after all Vid. Gul. Rovill hist Plant. do we not observe that there are some certain Flowers that turn about as the Sun does and others that appear above the Water at his Rising and when He sets sinke downe againe and hide themselves as it were bewayling his absence Neither are the Influences of the Stars shed upon Hearbs alone but even upon Stones also Some wherof do so exactly observe the motion of those particular Starres whose Influences they bear as that they change their Aspects with them An Example of this Truth you have in the Stone called Lunaria which is indued with such wonderfull qualities as that it changeth its Appearance in like manner as the Moon doth whose name it beareth In a word do not the Humours in our bodies increase with this Planet and decrease when It decreaseth If any man yet desire to have more of these Instances backed with Convincing Reasons he may have recourse to the Astronomicall Praedictions of Ptolomy and he shall there finde that the truth of these Influences is too clear to be called in question 20. The other Point concerning the Resemblance of the Heavenly Constellations to Sublunary things is something more Difficult to prove though not lesse True Neverthelesse this objection is brought against it If the Constellations of the Ramme the Bull the Twins c. do resemble these Living Creatures it is either Really or else by Imagination If Really they are then either in the Eighth Sphear or else in some other but they are not in the Eighth For in the Constellations of the Ramme the Bull c. there is no signe at all of these Beasts being figured or represented by the Stars neither are they in the Christaline Heaven nor yet in any of the Sphears of the Planets for we should then see them as we do the other Starres nor yet in a Ninth Heaven as some have thought If they are only by Imagination then are their Effects also Imaginary and have no
who hath the Government of Wars and Murthers the Seventh THOV SHALT NOT COMMIT ADVLTERY to Venus who rules over Concupiscentiall Motions and so of all the rest to which he hath fitted such strange Chimemera's as deserve to be ranked with those Extravagant wild Fancies which Gemma Frisius hath inserted into his Ars Cyclognomica and those other that Cichus Aesculanus hath forged upon the Sphere of Jo. de Sacrobosco The fore-named Authors say moreover that it is from this Astrology of the Zephiros that the Cabalists report the Patriarks and Prophets to have derived all their Divine Knowledge Simili ratione saith the same Riccius Cablistae quoque Patriarchas Prophetasque quemlibet cuilibat harum Sephiros imperio atque afflatu subjiciunt prout quivis illorum certum Divinitutis gradum susceperit 5. Chomer addes In Galgal Hamizra Chim that these very Planetary Zephiros have been the Cause by their Revolutions of the Changing of Kingdomes and Religions which is consonant to what Cardinall de Alliaco hath cited out of Gulielmus Parisiensis who saies De sid et leg De leg sect that some Astrologers affirm that the Diversity of Religions hath been caused by the Aspects of the Planets as that of the Jewes by the Influences of Saturne by reason whereof this Nation hath alwaies been Miserable and is at this time and ever shall be so because that the Planet on which their Religion is founded is a Malevolent and an Unfortunate one rendring them also Covetous and Perverse and great Lovers of Saturday which is the Day dedicated to Saturne That of the Turkes is governed by the Planet Venus and this is the reason that this Peple celebrate Friday and are likewise extreamly addicted to Luxury and that in so high a measure as that they believe the chiefest happinesse in the Life to come consists in this Brutality The Christian Religion say they in like manner hath received its Foundation from the Sun for which cause they have Sunday in great Veneration being the day which is governed by this Planet and that by Vertue of Its Beames the Chief Visible Head of the Christians hath his Seat in a Solary City that is Rome which City had its First Stone laid when the Sign Leo was the Ascendent which is the Proper House of the Sun and was afterwards built in the form of a Lion This is also very Observable or rather very Extravagant which Cardinall de Alliaco reports out of these Astrologers who saies that they affirm that according to these Principles it is that Cardinals go in Red which is a Solary Colour and suitable to this Planet which was the Founder of their Religion All other say They as Arrians Armenians Lutherans and the rest are caused by the Conjunction of Diverse severall Planets which hath caused this Mixture 6. Bechai who is in like manner fallen upon such Fooleries as these and who hath examined our Religion with too much Tartnesse goes yet farther then all this and saies that Jesus Christ whom notwithstanding he will not acknowledge to be the Messias in Order to this Foundation was raised again upon the Day which as wee have said is assigned to the Sun and that having been a Man Perfectly Solary he was consequently very Beautifull and of a Faire Lovely Countenance and of a very Quick and Daring Spirit as may appear saith He by that Act of his in driving the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple and by his disputing with the Doctors of the Law at the Twelfth year of his Age. How happy had this Rabbin been if he could but have raised to himself from these Marvellous things the Foundation of his own Salvation But leaving him to his own Darknesse we observe since we are insensibly fallen upon this Discourse which yet we make Mention of with all possible Humility that in the Nativity of our Saviour Christ Commenâ— in Ptol. lib. 2. he no whit agreeth with that which Cardan hath erected For he saith after that he hath told us that there were Five very Observable things in his most Adorable Nativity which show what manner of Man he was that Saturne having part in his Geniture rendered him Sad and Pensive whence Josephus also took occasion to say of him Visus est saepius flere ridere nunquam And for the same reason also he semeed to be Older then in Truth he was For The Sorrowfull Spirit drieth up the Bones and for This Cause it was saith He that the Jewes took him to have been forty yeares old at least when they said unto him Nondum quinquaginta annos babes Et Abrahamum vidisti He proceeds and saies that this Planet meeting with Venus was the cause of his having certaine red Specks in his Face following the afore-named Josephus who saies that he was Lentiginosus in Facie which moved Cardan to say Quod si a Deo omnia fuissent profecta quorsum erat Lentiginosum creari But let us now leave this Point which we have touched upon only by the By and proceed to the other sorts of Astrology which are falsly attributed to the Hebrewes and to their Neighbours 7. That which Scaliger hath produced though it seemeth to have better Grounds In Spher Barb. Manil. fol. 487. seq nov Ed. then those other Kinds which we have before spoken of yet neverthelesse was it never practised nor acknowledged by the Egyptians and therefore much lesse by the Jews However the Curiosit of it makes me willing to give the Reader a Tast of it and it is as followeth The Planet Mars being in the first Degree of Aries they represented a Man holding a Sickle in his Right hand and in is Left a Bow In the second Degree a Man having the head of a Dog and holding a Cudgel in one hand and having the other stretched forth In the Third another Man lifting up one hand to Heaven and in the other seeming to point at all that is in the whole Universe In the Fourth another Man again with curled Hair having a Hawke upon his Right Hand and in his Left a Flaile In the Fifth two Men one eleving wood with a Hatchet and the other bearing a Scepter in his hand The rest of the Degrees have their severall Figurs also which I shall passe by that I may come to the second Signe which is Taurus into the First Degree whereof when Mercury entered they pictured a Man holding a Cudgel in his hand with which he drives an Oxe to the Shambles In the Second Degree a Woman holding in her hand a Horses taile In the Third an Old Woman covered with a Vaile or else a Woman in Breeches In the Fourth another Woman holding a Whip And that I may trouble my selfe no further in reckoning up all these Figures the Reader may see them if he please in the foresaid Booke where Scaliger saies that he hath taken them out of the Writings of the Arabians and that these kinds of Pictures
1. Plutarcb in Vit. Caes Dion Suet. Appian l. 44. Alex. ab Alex. l. 3. c. 15. Eueas Sylv. Deser Europ c. 15. Fincil in nov-Evang Lycost Beaistcau Tesserant Belleforest in their Histories of Prodigies the Voices of the Men and the Clashing of their Armour Not long after was the truth of this Vision made manifest to the world For Marius and Sylla by their Factions making as it were a Shambles of the Feilds were the cause of so much Bloodshed as that the Romans never received a greater Blow then This. In like manner when the Gothes Hunnes and Lombards invaded Italy the Europeans Palestine and the Turks Constantinople there were seen in the Aire Armes all bloody Men raging like Mad and Dogs so feirce and cruell as that the very Description is full of Horror But that we may not borrow Examples abroad it is reported that in the yeare 1561. the like Prodigies were seen in our owne Country of France and even in the City of Paris also which not long after suffered under an infinite number of Calamities Of late yeares also while the King continued his Seige before Montauban there appeared at Caen at the beginning of the Night very many Dreadfull Sights in the Aire A City seemed to be beseiged Ordnance planted Souldiers drawne forth and the Clouds moving forward and backward appeared like to two pitched Battels that stood ready to charge each other and that which caused the greatest Terrour in the Beholders was that these Figures seemed to be all bloody and as it were Inflamed and the Face of the whole Heavens also was most dreadfull to behold Now these Hieroglyphicks and Letters that are seene in the Clouds are more Frequent then others though not so certaine And because people doe not much take care to observe them I doubt not but if I should here set down what I my selfe have sometimes seen in the Clouds I should be laughed at notwithstanding the Consideration of These Things ought not to be rejected by those that are Curious as we shall shew hereafter For besides those wonderfull Effects which Philosophers have observed doe happen daily in the Clouds it is also an Admirable thing to see Qu' elles se forment En cent diverse portraicts dont les events les transforment En Centaurs Serpens Hommes Oyse aux Poissons Et d'vne forme en autre errent en cent fasons In English thus How into severall Formes themselves they throw Which Winds change into Shapes of Things below Biras Fishes Serpents Centaures Men and thus Shift in a Round of Figures various 3. Let us now proceed to the Consideration of these Prodigies and discover whether there be any Secret meaning in them or not Those men that are of opinion that these strange Sights in the Clouds are not Accidentall and have no Signification in them endeavour to prove their Assertion by these three Reasons The First is because their Generation is wholy above the Power of Nature seeing that no man can assigne any Natural Cause for it The Second is because that their Duration is much different from that which Philosophy alloweth them For if we consider the Figure of a Cloud we shall finde that it cannot preserve it selfe in the same Form and bigness the space of one hour only but is presently scattered and changed into some other shape very much different from the former But as for these Prodigious Figures which we speake of they have been sometimes seen to last for the space of forty dayes as the Author of the History of the Maccabees testifieth who reporteth this wonderfull strange Story 2. Maccab c. 5. here following Eodem tempore Antiochus secundam profectionem paravit in Aegyptum Contigit autem per universam Jerosolymam civitatem videri diebus quadraginta per aēra Equites discurrentes auratas stolas habentes hastis quasi cohortes armatos et cursus equorum per ordines digestos et congressiones fieri cominùs et scutorum motus et Galeatorum multitudinem gladijs districtis et telorum jactus et aureorum armorum splendorem omnisque generis loricarum A like Prodigy happened to the same City a little before the utter Destruction of it by Titus son to the Emperour Vespasian who was the Instrument of punishing the Inhabitants thereof for committing the most Horrid Crime that ever the Sunne beheld For there were seen at that time for above a whole daies space Armies of men running up and downe in the Clouds Joseph de Bel. Jud. l. 7. c. 12. and Chariots likewise the very sight whereof astonished the Beholders The Third Reason to prove that these Figures are not Accidentall nor produced by the Power of Nature only is because that the Praiers of Godly men have oftentimes been the cause that there have appeared in the Clouds the Figures of Angels and of Saints whose Assistance hath been implored in some Calamitous Times as S. Celestine was seen at Aquileia and S. Petronia at Bologne 4. But those who are of a Contrary Opinion bring Arguments against the former and maintaine that there is nothing seen in the Clouds but what may be Naturall For as concerning the manner how these strange Sights are generated it is every whit as much knowne to us as that of Comets which are often ingendred in various and severall shapes as Pointed Round Long Large and in the Figure of Haire according as the Matter is Disposed In like manner may the Body of a Cloud be formed by the Wind which carrieth it to and fro into ten thousand severall shapes which appear strange to our sight though in themselves they are cleane otherwise And thus the First of the afore-said Reasons is overthrowne The Second seemes to have much more Force but in Truth hath none at all For though the History of the Maccabees say that these Fearful Sights of Armies appeared in the Clouds for forty daies together yet it doth not say that they were Really such but only that they Appeared to the Beholders to be such Now their Sight might be deceived by a strong Imagination caused from having seen it once as it often happens in the like case If it be Objected that though one Single man might have been deceived yet that Many could not possibly and that therefore the same thing having been seen by All it must necessarily be Reall and not Imaginary To this I answer that Many may be deceived as well as One single person seeing that the Imagination of Many is altogether as strong as that of a single person and besides that if the Cloud wherein these Figures appeare be Thick and Moist the Raies of our Eyes being prepossessed by our Imagination may easily think they see that which we fancy to our selves This Answer is set downe more fully by Pomponatius De Incant who treating of so difficult and bold a Subject as this might have cleared himselfe of the Objections made against it by using another
know well that this Latine word is not alwayes a Note of Similitude Facti sumus Sicut Consolati was the song of the People returning out of Captivity as Men that are Comforted shall we conclude hence that they were not Really so No But this word Sicut AS is Redundant in this place and might as well have been away So likewise in this passage Transivimus Sicut per Ignem and in many more the like Therefore Complicabuntur Coeli Quia LIBER sunt But if it be still Objected that for as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caph signifies sometimes sicut in the Originall there is no more reason why it should be rendered Quia then Sicut and Consequently it will still hold true that the Heavens are not a Booke but are onely as a Booke To this it may be answered that the Holy Scripture doth else-where fully decide this Controversie seeing that speaking of the Heavens it makes mention of Lines and Letters which are words that are most properly and Essentially spoken of a Booke and maketh no use of the word Sicut As at all which is an Infallible Argument that these words in the passage before cited Complicabuntur SICUT Liber Caeli are not expressions of Similitude Now that the Scripture speaking of the Heavens nameth expresly the word LETTER will appeare out of the very First Verse of the Bible where the Hebrew Text runnes thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bereshith bara Elohim ET haschamaim that is to say In the Beginning God created the LETTER or CHARACTER of the Heavens For this is the meaning of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ET or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aot which signifieth a LETTER And as for the word LINE wee finde it much more plainely set downe in the 19. Psalme Vers 4. In Omnem terram exivit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kavam LINEA corum I shall not here enter into any tedious Dispute Whether it be to be read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kolam Sonus eorum rather then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kavam Linea eorum and so consequently whether the Passage cited by St. Paul out of the Interpretation of the Seventy be corrupted or else the Hebrew Text. In my Advis sur les langues Orientales I shew with Titelmanns Bredembachius Malvenda Mercerus Genebrard that the Places are not at all Corrupted neither in the one nor in the other but that the Septuagint and St. Paul had regard to the Sense of the Words rather then to the Letter saying Sonus eorum to make it suite more aptly with the following Words Et in fines Orbis terrae verba eorum because that the Sound the Voyce and the Words doe very handsomely accord and suite together We may adde also that they made use of a Sublime and Allegoricall sense of these words applying them to the Preaching of the Apostles And thus St. Paul and the Septuagint being fully reconciled to the Hebrew Text we may the more boldly sticke to the Letter and read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kavam Linea eorum understanding it spoken of the Starres which are ranged in the Heavens after the manner of Letters in a Booke or upon a Sheet of Parchment For which reason also God is said in the Holy Scriptures to have stretched out the Heavens as a Skinne calling this Extension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rachia from whence perhaps the Greekes might take their word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Skinne or Hide it being most proper to a Skin to be Extended or Stretched forth Now upon this Extension as upon a Skinne hath God disposed and ranged the Starres in the manner of Characters whereby as by a Sacred Book the wonderfull Workes of God are set forth to all those that know how to read them Coeli enarrant gloriam Dei saith the Psalmist And here peradventure some may say that the Wonderfull Workes of God are set forth by the Heavens in their Prodigious Extent Harmony Brightnesse Order and admirable Motion and not by way of any Writing But R. Moses a very learned Jew assureth us that the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saphar to Declare or Set forth is never attributed to Things Inanimate so that from hence He concludes that the Heavens are not without some Soule which is no other then that of those Blessed Intelligences who have the Conduct of the Starres and dispose them into such Letters as God hath ordained declaring unto us Men by meanes of This Writing what Events we are to expect And for this cause this same Writing is called by all the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chetab hamelachim that is to say The Writing of the Angels And that this passage Coeli enarrant gloriam Dei is clearly meant of this Celestiall Writing appeares by the words immediately following In omnem terram exivit Linea eorum I know very well that according to St. Paul and the Septuagint a man may understand by the Heavens the Apostles or as some others will have it the Prophets But if pursuing the Allegory a man should take occasion to deny the Literall Sense this would be no small Crime in in the Judgement of the Fathers Scripturae Verba saies the Whole Schoole propriè accipienda sunt quando nihil inde Absurdi fequitur So that if we sticke to the Letter of the Text not onely this Passage alleaged but many others also which I omit that I may come to the Maine Matter in hand doe very much confirme this Writing 3. Now as the Prophets have done before so have all the Learned among the Ancients also after their Example called the Heavens SACRED BOOKES as among the Jewes R. Simeon Ben-Jochay in the Zohar on the Section Temourah which is the 25. Chapter of Exodus Cifr 305. where he speakes very largely of this Celestiall Writing Lib. Moreh Seps Kab Beres Theâ—il Maguid Misnah In Misn Milchamot Adonai Galg Hass in Beres though very Obscurely R. Abraham also in his Jetsira or Booke of the Creation delivers many Mysteries of it and after them R. Moses Aegyptius Moses Ben-Nachman Abraham the Sonne of Dior his Contemporary Aben-Esra David Chimchi Jom Tof Ben-Abraham Joseph the Sonne of Meir Levi Ben-Gerson Chomer Abarbanel and many others which I shall here omit that I may come to the Greekes and Latines who will peradventure be better received The Learned Origen interpreting after his manner that is to say Subtilly and Quaintly this Passage in Genesis Et erunt in Signa Praep. Evang. lib. 6.9 affirmes as he is reported by Eusebius that the Starres were placed in this Order in the Heavens for no other end but to shew by their diverse Aspects Conjunctions and Figures what ever is to happen while the World indures as well in Generall as in Particular yet not so as if they were the Cause of all these things never any such thing came into the Thought much lesse into the Writings of this Learned man For
as the Prophecies that are written in Bookes are not the Cause of those Events which they foretell shall happen but onely the Signe in like manner saith he may the Heavens very justly be called a Booke wherein God hath written all that is hath been and hereafter shall be And for confirmation of this he citeth a passage out of a Booke the Title whereof is Narratio Joseph a Book in his time highly esteemed by all men wherein the Patriarch Jacob giving his Blessing to all his Children tels them that he had read in the Tables of Heaven all that ever was to befall Them and their Posterity Legi saith He in tabulis Caeli quaecunque contingent Vobis et filijs vestris Whence the same Origen concludes as well in his Tract on this Question Vtrùm stellae aliquid agant as in his Booke De Fato Cap. 6. that some Mysteries may assuredly be read in the Heavens by reason that the Starres are disposed and ordered there in the forme of Characters The Conclusion of this Learned Father is so much the stronger in that where the Vulgar Translation reades Sintin Signa the Originall Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vehaio◠leototh that is to say word for word Et sint in Literas Lib. 9. de Fato cap. 35. This Doctrine is of so great Importance as that Julius Sirenus hath undertaken the Defence of it and maintaines that it is a most True and Safe Opinion and such as hath been Entertained by most Religious Men. Neque in illis corporibus Coelestibus saith St. Augustine hic latere posse cogitationes credendum est Lib. 2. contra Manich. c. 2. quemadmodum in his corporibus latent sed sicut nonnulli motus animorum apparent in vultu et maximè in oculis sic in illa perspicuitate ac simplicitate coelestium corporum omnes omninò motus animi latere non arbitror In Gen. l. 2. de Astron c. 4. I am not Ignorant that Pererius endeavours to finde out another Sense in these words of St. Augustine but it is an easie matter to say what one pleaseth in interpreting the words of a man that is Dead Now this Coelestiall Reading may the more easily be beleived to have been the Reall Meaning of This Learned Father seeing that many others of the Fathers have strongly confirmed it as St. Ambrose and Prosper who call the Heavens Ep. 8. ad Demetr De vera Rel. 3. in Ps 41. De Mirab De Fid. Orthod lib. 3. c. 1. by the Epithets of PAGES and WONDER FULL INSTRUCTIONS Albertus Magnus stiles them an UNIVERSAL BOOK And John Damascene goes yet farther and saies that they are CLEARE MIRROURS intimating that we may see distinctly There even as farre as to the most Secret and Weightiest Motions of our Soul which gave occasion to St. Augustine to utter those words which we have before cited All the Platonists in a manner were likewise of the same Perswasion and this is the reason that Porphyrie assures us that when he had resolved to have killed himselfe Plotinus having read his Intention in the Starres hindered him from doing it Orpheus also had knowledge of these Secrets as appeares by these Verses of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certus tuus Ordo Immutabilibus mandatis currit in Astris 4. As for our Modern Writers it would even amaze a man to consider that among such infinite numbers of Books wherewith our Libraries are stuffed there is hardly Five or Six to be found that have taken any Notice at all of this Curious Piece of Antiquity concerning this Celestiall Writing I know very well that Ignorance will be presently ready with this Answer that the Vanitie of the Subject is the reason of this Their Silence But why then have such an infinite number of other Fooleries been taken into Consideration and thought a fit Subject for their Learned Pens which are a thousand times more Ridiculous in Appearance then This is whereas on the Contrary there is no Astrologer to whom this Science is not Necessary nor any Searcher into the Choiser Pieces of Theologicall Antiquity to whom in like manner it may not be usefull if at least it be True I am therefore apt to believe that the true reason is the Neglect rather of the Orientall Languages whereon these Curiosities do so necessarily depend as that without the knowledge of them they cannot possibly be explained or understood insomuch that we had no notice at all of these Mysteries till such time as they were brought into Europe by those men that addicted themselves to the study of the Eastern Languages Capnio was the First that De Art Cab. in an Age when Barbarisme reigned adventured to make some of these Choise Discoveries Picus Mirandula likewise who was the Phoenix of the Age he lived in took some pains in searching into these Secrets and also proposed the Question in hand in these terms Utrùm in Coelo sint descripta significata omnia cuilibet scienti legere Quest 74 Cornelius Agrippa also hath delivered His opinion herein Pierius Valerianus in his Hieroglyphicks Occult. Philos Lib. 44. fol. 366. c. hath these words Illa Extensio in modum pellis tanquam literis inscriptae luminaribus stellis dicitur Rakia c. Blaise de Vigenere in his Book Des Chifres makes a long Discourse on this Particular Banelli an Italian hath said more to this purpose then all the others upon those Words of S. Luke Gandete quòd nomina vestra scripta sint in Coelis Kunrath according to his usuall manner of Fooling makes a Riddle of it In Amphith In quo sunt pueri quotquot in Orbe Viri It seems that these kind of Authors write to no other end but that they may not be understood by this means seeming to make war against Nature which hath given us a Tongue and the use of Speech that we might be able to expresse our Conceptions whereas these men on the contrary Endeavour to be Obscure and Dark Robert Elud in his Apology for the Brethren of the Rosy Crosse hath gone on very far with this Celestiall Writing the Characters whereof he affirmes to be made in the same manner that Others are In Coelo saith He inserti impressi hujusmodi Characteres Apeloget Ed. Lug. Bar. An. 1617. qui non aliter ex stellarum ordinibus conflantur quam lineae Geometricae Literae Vulgares ex punctis Superficies ex lineis corpus ex superficiebus at length concluding that who so is able to read these Characters shall know not only what ever is to come but also all the Secrets of Philosophy Fol. 62. Quibus hujusmodi linguae Scripturae Arcanae Characterumque abditorum cognitio à Deo concessa est his etiam datum erit veras rerum naturas mutationes alerationes proprietates siderum omnesque alias operationes executiones oculis quaasi
brought by the Latines and see whether or no they are of any more weight then these of the Hebrew writers Cajetan upon Exodus thinks himselfe to have found out the powerfullest Argument In 25. Exod. that hath yet been brought by any for to prove that their Figure was like that of two Young Men because that in the Bible where the Vulgar Translation renders it respiciantque se mutuò Exod. 25. v. 30. the originall sounds thus in the Hebrew facies eorum vir adfratrem suum Whence he thinks he hath hit the nail on the head and concludes that for certain these cherubins were of humane shape But those that are skilfull in the Hebrew will readily find this conclusion to be very infirm and of no force or otherwise we may as well conclude that the starres the curtains of the Tabernacle and a thousand other things in the old Testament were likewise of Humane shape since that Isatah speaking of the stars where the vulgar Translation hath Neque unum reliquumfuit the Hebrew Text sayes vir non est substractus and in Exodus where speaking of the curtains of the Tabernacle the Vulgar sayes quinque cortinae sibi iungantur mutuo it is in Hebrew quinque cortinae crunt conjunctae mulierem ad sororem suam So Ezechiel speaking of the wings of the Beasts where the Translation hath vocem alarum animalium percutientium alteram ad alteram the Hebrew is Mulierum ad sororemsuam In Genesis where mention is made of the parts of the Sacrifice where the Translation is Et utrasque partes contrase altrinsecus posuit in Hebrew it is dedit virum partem ejus è regione proximi sui And lastly in Isaiah In Lexicis where it is Translated Alter alterum non quaesivit Many other examples of this kind are collected up In Lexicis by Kimchi Munster Forsterus and Pagnin I shall omit whatsoever the rest of interpreters have delivered concerning these Cherubins because that you may see in Cajetan that their reasons are as weak as his own whatsoever Pradus and Villalpandus affirm to the contrary who labour much to bring in another sense but are confuted by Oleaster In the mean time I cannot but wonder very much at these men that have taken so much pains to hunt after empty sounds to no purpose not considering that they might as well at first have positively affirmed that these Cherubins had a Humane shape because that one of the four seen by Moses Aaron the seventy Elders Ezechiel and Saint John was in figure like a Man This Conjecture might have passed for tolerable had not the truth been by us now brought to light We may therefore by this means clear our hands of these doubts as also of that other concerning the forme of the Cherubin that was placed at the entrance of Paradise to keep out Adam and his posterity For it may be answered in one word that it was that of these foure Cherubins which had the shape of a Lion this forme being the most proper for such a purpose seeing there is nothing in the world more terrible then a Roaring Lion And thus are all those difficulties cleared Quest 40. de Paradiso In 3 Genes In Expos Symb. which have long since been brought in by Theodoret Bar-Cepha Procopius Gazaeus Jacobus Chius and Theodorus Bishop of Heraclea who after a long and tedious dispute conclude though not very rationally that this Guard was not a Cherubin but some other thing of Power like a Cherubin just as we dresse up some frightfull Scar-crowes and place them in Gardens and Hemp-plots to fright away the Birds And their reason is because that Cherubins being Spirits very highly exalted and of the second Order of the First Hierarchy they are never sent on the Earth but are alayes attending before the Throne of God notwithstanding the Master of the Sentences Scotus Gabriel Durand In 2. Sent. dist 10. ibid. Tom. 1. disp 1. and Gregorius de Valentia affirm the contrary Now what the reason should be of the Cherubins seen by Moses Ezekiel and the rest appearing in shapes so different and as it may seem so repugnant to the nature of a Blessed Spirit I must refer you for satisfaction to S. Dionysius S. Gregory and the rest of the Fathers since it is sufficient for me to have here proved that the Golden Calfe made in the Wildernesse and those other which Jeroboam made were fashioned according to this Divine Vision so that the Ancients are by this means cleared of the Crimes which they are injuriously charged withall 10. If I had not already exceeded the just length of a Chapter I should here answer to an Imputation which is yet greater then all the rest charged upon the Jewes namely that they of old burned their Children to the Idol Moloc I shall reserve the full handling of this point till some other time In Cap. 6. Mis Thor. tract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall only say this by the way that R. Joseph Caro observes that throughout the whole Scripture where there is mention made of this Idol and of the Sacrifice that was done unto it it never uses any word that signifies to Burne Kill or Put to death but to Passe and to Offer And indeed they did no more but caused their Children to passe over the Fire which was a kind of Adoration and Service shewed toward this Element Lib. de Philosoph Barb. in Chald. and Introduced by wicked Cham. Ignem saith Heurnius in Ur Chaldaeorum Urbe Abrahami patria adorandum ponit gravi poenâ in pertinaces promulgatâ where there is no mention made of any Command to Burne nor to Kill And for the clearing of this Truth Comment in Reg. in Psal In Pentateuch In More Neb. Lib. 3. C. 30. I shall refer the Curious Reader because I must not any longer dwell on this point to Kimchi Salomo Jarchi Abarbanel and to Moses Aegyptius who knew more of the Customes of the Ancients then any other Author that ever wrote Yet I deny not but that the Persian Colonies of Sepharvaim who came and dwelt in Samaria 4. Reg. 17. did Sacrifice their Children to their Gods Adramelech and Anamelech but that the Hebrewes did the same to Moloch will never be made appeare whatsoever Mr. Selden say to the contrary And who can believe that Salomon murdered little Children or cast them into the Fire because the Scripture sayes of him Colebat Salomon Astharten Deam Sidoniorum Moloch Idolum Ammonitarum He must not be Master of Common Sense that can have any such thought about him So true is that which we have already delivered that they only passed over the Fire And this Unhappy Custome hath so spread it selfe ever since throughout the whole World that even in America the Brasilians doe the same as Johannes Lerius reports of them Navlg in Brasil and among Christians also Mothets
doe yearely cause their Children to passe over the Fire of St. John to this day Which Custome ought to be abolished seeing it hath been anciently condemned by a Councell held at Constantinople Syn. 6. in Trull can 64. In cap. 16.4 lib. Reg. Videantur Olaus Mag. in Histor Gothica Leo African in Descript Afric D. Ie. Chrysostom qui in Homil. de Nativitat S. Ioannis Solennes ejus honori 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excitatas ait ipsumque diem Lampada appellâ—ium and Theodoret proves clearely that this Custome of these Fires is still a rellick of the Ancient Abominations CHAP. II. That many things are esteemed Ridiculous and Dangerous in the Bookes of the Jewes which yet are without any blame maintained by Christian Writers THE CONTENTS 1. THat we ought not to rest on the bare Letter of the Scriptures 2. Authors that have treated of Ridiculous Subjects without being reproved 3. The Bookes of the Jewes lesse dangerous then those of the Heathens which yet are allowed by the Christian Fathers 4. The Feast that God is to make for the Elect with the Flesh of a Whale how to be understood 5. Ten things created on the Even before the Sabbath and what they were 6. The Opinions of the Ancient and Moderne Writers touching the end of the World what Fathers of the Church have been of the Jewes opinion in this Particular 7. Divers opinions concerning the number of yeares from the Creation to our Saviour Christ and what we ought to conclude as touching the End of the World 8. The Ancient Rabbins are falsly accused of speaking ill of our Saviour Jesus Christ 9. The third Objection in the Precedent Chapter and an Enumeration of some Errors of great Importance in our owne Books BUt be it so may some say that the Jewes are free from the guilt of these Crimes and their books not polluted with these Abominations yet it cannot be denied but that they have vented in them many fooleries more ridiculous ones The 2d Objection then a man can imagine and even some that are very dangerous too and that therefore they are unworthy our reading and the Curiosities found in them not to be valued at all This is the second Objection which was proposed in the precedent Chapter The Auswer If I were here to deal only with those that are free from Passion it would be easie for me to satisfie them in two words but since that I may chance to have to do with opinionative self-conceited men it will concern me to convince them by the force of Reasons backed with examples I say then that suppose there are many fooleries and absurd things found in the books of the Iewes but why then do we admit of the books of the Poets where you have nothing else For what can be conceived more ridiculous then that men should be transformed into Rocks Rivers Plants and Trees or what more remote from common sense then that Stones should discourse Flowers reason and trees make their moan and sigh out their afflictions why were the Fables of Aesope ever received which attribute the use of Reason to all things even the most insensible that nature hath produced And to say the utmost in one word Why then do we admit of the Bible which also make Trees as the Vine and the Bramble to speak The Trees went forth on a time to anoint a King over them Iudic. 9.8 and they said unto the Olive-tree Reigne thou over us But the Olive-tree said unto them should I leave my fatnesse wherewith by me they honour God and man and go to be promoted over the trees And this Tree refusing them they then make their addresses to the Fig-tree and afterwards to the Vine and at last they are constrained to come to the Bramble What a strange Metamorphosis is here If it be answered that these are Figures Similitudes and Parables which Ioathan made use of to expresse to the people the Tyranny of Abimelech and that in like manner the Ancient Poets proposed their Fables under which was alwayes couched some Philosophicall secret either Morall or Divine Why shall not the same Liberty be allowed to the Iewes also Will they have them to be lesse Rationall then the rest of Mankind or more Brutish then very Beasts Was there ever the like Peevishnesse seen 2. If the Jewes had busied themselves in describing the War betwixt Frogs and Mice as Homer hath done or in writing the Commendation of a Tyrant as Polycrates hath done the praise of Injustice as Phavorinus of Nero as Cardan of an Asse as Apuleius and Agrippa of a Fly and of a Parasiticall life as Lucian The same hath le S. du Belay done in divers of his Poems or of Folly as Erasmus we then should have them hooted at for Fooles or Mad-men Or had they made Epitaphs or Funerall Orations upon the death of a Cat an Ape a Dog a Didapper an Asse a Magpye a Flea as some of our Italian Fantasticoes have done we should no doubt heare them charged then with the finest wittiest Idolatrous Foolery that ever men were guilty of And yet the Authors of these Trifles heare no one word of it If they should yet but have taken upon them to set down the Rules of Divination as many of our Latine Christians have done or to teach the manner of Interpreting Dreames as one hath done in Gochlenius Barth Gochl Introd ad Physiog who tels you that as soone as you are awaked you must open a Psalter and the first Letter that is found in the beginning of the Page shall shew what shall happen As for example if it be A it signifies the Party shall be of a Free Nature if B he shall be powerfull in War C and D signifies Sadnesse and Death E and F that he shall have if he be married a Noble Of-spring G denotes some sad accident to befall him H foreshewes the Love of Women I a good and happy Life K Folly and Mirth and so forward of all the rest the very remembrance whereof makes me laugh If the Jewes I say should have busied themselves with such Sottish Impertinencies as these would any of the Christians so much as have touched their Bookes I shall passe by a thousand Fooleries wherewith our owne Bookes are stuffed and a thousand Fopperies which some people give credit to as that of Names and Numbers which is copiously handled by Raimundus Veronensis in his book intituled Opera del l' Antiqua honorata scienzae di Nomandia wherein a man shall see by the Letters of his name whether he shall live a long time or not whether of the two shall survive the Husband or the Wife What Preferments one shall rise to What Death a man shall dye and a world of such like Propositions which are not onely ridiculous but dangerous also And now let any man if he can find fault with the Jewish Rabbins whose writings are free from any