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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41979	Memento's to the vvorld, or, An historical collection of divers wonderful comets and prodigious signs in heaven, that have been seen, some long before the birth of Christ, and many since that time in divers countries, with their wonderful and dreadful effects together, with ample discourses, and profitable observations, upon that admirable star which appeared at the birth of Christ, to the eastern magi : as also upon that comet which appeared in the constellation of Cassiopea, after the horrid massacre of the French-Protestants, Anno 1572, and several other comets, with their effects to this present time / by W.G., minister of the gospel ; likewise, Stella nova, or, The new star, or, An account of the natural signification of the comet, or blazing-star, that hath so long been visible in England, and other countreys, and is yet hanging over our heads, by William Knight ...	Greene, William.; Knight, William, fl. 1680-1699. Stella nova.	1681 (1681)	Wing G1813; ESTC R13426	22,692	36

to be made to the end therewith to have deceived his Enemy In the dayes of Sigebert Chitperic and Gunthran Kings of France certain Comets and prodigious signs were seen in the Heavens A fire falling from Heaven consumed the City of Orleans whereof and the Territory about it Gunthran was King and the City of Bourdeaux together with the fruits of the Earth There followed atmost throughout all France a malignant Cough and bloody Flux which destroyed multitudes of men and Women by which means that evil Woman Austigildis Wife of King Gunthran perished The said King Gunthran died within a year following After the death of Theodoricus who had made himself Lord of all Italy there appeared many signs in Heaven In the North the Heaven seemed fiery and certain shining Spears were seen and the Moon was much obscured And a Comet appeared at Tholouse Terrible signs were seen by Night in Italy in the year of our Lord 570. For fiery swords appeared in the Heavens and blood distilled from the Clouds which signified the effusion of much blood which hapned afterwards and many great storms continuing many dayes The River Tiber was increased with so great a force of waters that many people that lived in low places were drowned Two Animals appeared in the form of a Man and Woman from the Morning till Nine of the Clock with long hair hanging down to the Loynes The Water covered their other parts And they write That a Mountain in France with a great Noise was cleft asunder In the time of the Emperour Justinian the first as Procopius writeth for the greatest part of one whole year the Sun gave so little Light that it was but equal to or little more then the Light of the Moon the Sky being clear and without Clouds or any other thing to shadow the same And so without any apparent occasion it was obscured all that time which as it was afterward conjectured was the Prognostick of the Famine and want of grain which generally ensued throughout all the World and of the Wars and effusion of Blood which followed in Italy and of the taking burning and destruction of Rome by Totila In the time of the Emperour Heraclius who took upon him the Government of the Empire in the year of our Lord 611. at Constantinople Fire fell from Heaven and there appeared a great Bow in the Heavens so that Men thought that the end of the World was at hand by reason of the great Thundrings and Lightnings There followed a most grievous Pestilence which consumed many in the Summer Months And many Prodigies and dreadful things appeared at this time in Greece which seemed to portend the future Calamities under Mahomet And in one and the same year a very bright Comet was seen at Constantinople and a Child was born with four Feet And in the Isle Delon two very great Monsters were seen having altogether humane shape And many other things here and there like unto this did appear In the Reign of the Emperour Constantine IV. an hairy Comet appeared three Months which was the forerunner of great Slaughters And there happened so many and so great Tempests and alterations in the air as it seemed that the four Elements had conspired against Mankind for the Winds were so furious and violent as that they overthrew many buildings and rent up many Trees by the roots and the rain likewise was so great and tempestuous as it destroyed all their Tillage as well for Bread-Corn as all other kinds of Herbs and Seeds And therewith fell an infinite number of Thunderbolts and Fires from Heave which slew a great number of Men and Cattel especially on this side of the Alps. And after a great Eclipse of the Sun and Moon the City of Papia was almost utterly destroyed by a raging Pestilence so that the People which survived fled to the Mountains and grass grew in the City About the time of King Luitprand King of the Lombards two Comets appeared in the Month of January and the Sun was darkned and lost his light for fifteen dayes whereof one went before the Sun the other followed it in the Evening About the Death of Pope Leo tho third who crowned and declared Charles the Great King of France to be Emperour a Comet appeared and the Sun lost his light for Fifteen dayes This Pope died Anno 816. In the second year of Lotharius Son of the Emperour Ludovicus Pius and Grandson to Charles the great there appeared a Comet Hail of great bigness fell in France which slew many men and much Cattel There was also seen in those Hail-stones Corn of a wonderful Length and of an hard substance An Earthquake also shook Italy and in certain places divers Mountains were overwhelmed and divers Cities perished Lotharius warred against his brethren Lewes and Charles and a great Battel being fought the Flower of the French Nobility was slain and in number more men died than in any other Battel had hapned in France ever since the Battel which was fought between Ecius and Attila King of the Hunnes in the Fields of Catalonia About this time an innumerable Company of Locusts having six Wings and two Teeth harder than stones covered the Earth in France like Snow At length being cast into the Sea and upon Land by the Shore there followed great putrefaction which infecting the Air caused a general destruction of men In the beginning of the Reign of the Emperour Lewes the Second for three dayes it rained Blood at the City of Brescia in Lombardy so fresh and so perfect as if it had been of a Bull or of some other Beast lately killed In the time of Edward the Son of Edgar King of England appeared a Comet after which followed a great Dearth and Mortality to men and murrain upon Beasts and there arose a great contention between the Priests and Monks In the days of Pope Leo VII the Sun seemed to reign blood as Masseus writeth and after it followed a great Pestilence among men In the first year of Pope Martin III. a great Blazing Star appeared in Italy after which followed an extream Famine And again the Sun appeared very dreadful Martin died Anno 947. A little before the death of the Emperour Otho the Second many Prodigies appeared in Italy for a Stone of wonderful bigness fell from Heaven in the midst of a great storm and tempest And the sign of the Cross appeared on the Garments of many and some of them were of a bloody colour which many did interpret to portend great Slaughters and the Calamity of the Church In Italy a Comet of wonderful bigness appeared presaging the Famine which followed In the time of Pope John XVI appeared a Comet after which followed both Famine and Pestilence with terrible Earthquakes which shook both Benevent and Capua John died Anno 985. In the third year of the Emperour Henry the Second a Comet appeared dreadful to behold dispersing his Flames hither and thither And in the seventh

MEMENTO's TO THE VVORLD OR An Historical Collection of divers Wonderful Comets and Prodigious Signs in Heaven that have been seen some long before the Birth of Christ and many since that time in divers Countries with their wonderful and dreadful Effects Together with ample Discourses and profitable Observations upon that admirable Star which appeared at the Birth of Christ to the Eastern MAGI As also upon that Comet which appeared in the Constellation of Cassiopea after the horrid Massacre of the French-Protestants Anno 1572. And several other Comets with their Effects to this present time By W. G. Minister of the Gospel LIKEWISE STELLA NOVA OR The New STAR Or An Account of the Natural Signification of the COMET or Blazing-Star That hath so long been Visible in ENGLAND and other Countreys and is yet hanging over our Heads By William Knight Student in Astrology Men in vain did never gaze When a Comet in the Heavens blaze Printed by T. Haly for T. Passinger at the Three Bibles on London-Bridge 1680. To the Right Honourable Sir PATIENCE WARD Lord-Mayor of the City of London My Lord IDedicate unto you this Historical Collection or Catalogue of Comets and other prodigious Appearances and Signs in Heaven These are the Torches and Voices of God speaking and Preaching out of Heaven for not only his Majesty is in a lively manner set forth unto us in the Generation Magnitude Figure and Motion of these Bodies but also something is propounded to be further learned by them for whatsoever doth not come to pass after the usual manner although it hath Natural causes yet it altogether portendeth something or other and is put for a Sign of certain Events Therefore let us neither despise nor deride these fore-Messengers of the Lord neither let us imitate Vespasian the Emperour of whom Suetonius relates in his Life That when a Comet had been shewed unto him he answered jestingly that That Hairy Comet or Prodigy did belong to the King of the Parthians who nourished long Hair As if he had said It appeareth not to me because I am not Hairy But he was suddenly punished for his Insolence for he dyed shortly after admonishing us by his Example That it is better sporting with any thing than with the Works of God It is a great contempt of an Artificer if he set before us an admirable piece of Work and we will not behold nor regard it the contempt of the Creature redoundeth unto the Creator Let us therefore imitate the Emperour Ludovious Pius Son of Charles the Great for when he had beheld a great Comet and Egmundus the Astrologer being unwilling to make him sad alleadged those words of Jeremiah Be not dismayed at the Signs of Heaven for the Heathen are dismayed at them Jerem. 10. 2. He devoutly Answered Let us fear the maker of this Comet not the Comet it self and let us praise his clemency who seeing we are sinners reproveth our sluggishness by these signs It is Gods clemency before he punisheth us to send some Messengers to fore warn us Herodotus saith When God is about to punish a City or Nation he is wont first of all to signifie it by Signs and wonders And a certain famous Astronomer thus writeth As God is affected towards us the Stars in his stead do shine as the Face and Eyes of God that in them as in a Glass we may be able to see what shall come to pass Moreover these Signs are Looking-Glasses of Gods wrath who speaketh to us not onely by Mans Tongue by Prophets Apostles and Ministers but sometimes also by the Elements themselves composed into divers forms and Images for the terrour of Men That the Name of God is neer that is the Wisdom Power Goodness of God his wondrous Works do declare to all judicious beholders better it were for us not to see the works of God than not to have a sight of God in them Now that all Gods Works may lead us unto God himself is the Prayer of Your Lordships most Affectionate Servant VV. G. Memento's to the world IN the year of the world 3854 upon Demetrius his death there appeared a Comet no less in shew than the Sun At first the Orb was fiery and ruddy and casting a clear light whereby the night was enlightened Afterwards it began to lessen in bigness and it's brightness vanished and at last quite disappeared This was a little before the Achauk war In the same year that Mithridates was born there appeared a great Comet The very same doth Seneca speak of In the time of Attlus his reign there appeared a Comet at first but small but afterwards it elevated and spread it self and came as far as the Equinoctial Circle so that its extent equalized that Region of the heaven which we call the milky way There also appeared another Comet in the first year of the Reign of Mithridates which shined so bright night and day for LXX days together that the whole heaven seemed to be all on fire For both the Tayl of it covered the fourth part of the Heaven or 45 degrees of the upper Hemisphere and outvyed the Sun in brightness and also it 's rising took up the space of four hours This hapned in the year of the world 3881. In the year from the building of the City of Rome 480 blood was seen to issue from the earth and milk to slow from heaven in the likeness of rain A great Pestilence followed in the City and the number of those that perished was more than those that remained alive Three Suns appeared the next day after the death of Julius Caesar which by little and little were brought back into one solar body In the year of the world 3960 on the 14 Kalends of May Octavianus having heard of Caesar's death came to Naples and as he was coming to Rome a vast company of his friends met him and when he entred the City the Globe of the Sun seemed upon his head equally bent and rounded like a bow as it were putting a Crown upon the head of him that hereafter was to be so great a man And Julius Obsequens de prodigiis saith when he entred the City with a great multitude about him the Sun being included in the round of a pure and unclouded sky comp●ssed about with the utmost part of the Circle as the Rainbow is wont to be bent in the Clouds namely a Circle of diverse Colours as is wont to be in the Rainbow did at that time compass about the Sun as it is in Seneca In the year of the world 3960 on the VI Kalends of October Octovianus to gain the peoples favour made those plays that were instituted for the finishing of Venus's Temple at his own charges as pertaining to him by reason he came from that stock and which some during Caesar's life-time had undertook that they should solemnize but yet neglected them Which whilst he was setting forth Seneca sheweth That a

appeared in the Heavens in the Year 1263 rising from the East above three Months with great brightness and did send forth his rays to the midst of Heaven setting towards the West When he first appeared Pope Vrban IV began to be Sick but in the same Night that Vrban Dyed he began to disappear Soon after the Corronation of Edward I. King of England there hapned such an Earth-quake with Lightning and Thunder and therewithal the appearing of a Burning-Drake and a Blazing-Star or Comet that the people were filled with great fear and astonishment In the time of Wenceslaus the Third King of Bohemia there Appeared in the Heaven a large Comet which did presage the great Destruction which followed in which Year upon Saint Andrew's Day there hapned a great Earth-quake which lasting divers Days by Intervals overthrew many Buildings In the Year 1314 Three Moons Appeared together in the Heaven and a Comet was seen in the North which lasted Three Months It vanishing in the same Year in the Month of November Phillip King of France dyed a Boar breaking the Legs of his Horse as he was Hunting he fell from his Horse of which fall he dyed shortly after In the Ninth Year of King Edward the Second before Christmas a blazing-Star or Comet Appeared in the North part of the Firmament for the space of a Month together After it followed a woful Famine for Victuals was so scant and dear and other Grain raised to so high a price that the poor people were constrained through Famine to eat the Flesh of Horses Dogs and other wild Beasts and many starved having nothing to feed upon throughout the Land After this Dearth and scarcity of Victuals ensued a great Mortality of people so that what with the War with the Scots and with the Famine and Pestilence the people of England were wonderfully wasted and consumed In the Year 1337 in the Tenth Year of the Reign of King Edward III. a Comet or Blazing-Star Appeared with long and terrible Streams passing from it which continued thirty Days Soon after the French burnt South-hampton which they almost wholly consumed to Ashes and did many other mischiefs with their Ships on the Coasts of England In the Year 1351 in the North there Appeared a Comet in the Month of December which being extinct violent Winds followed and a Coelestial Beam was seen to glide along the Heavens the former part of it burning And they write that before the Death of Pope Innocent VI. there was so great a refection of the Sun as the like had not been before seen In the Month of March in the Year of our Lord 1402 and third Year of Henry IV. King of England there Appeared a Blazing-Star first between the Eastern part of the Firmament and the North flashing forth Fire and flames round about and lastly shooting forth Fiery streams towards the North foreshewing as was thought the great effusion of Blood which followed about the parts of Wales and Northumberland In the Year 1438 there was a great Eclipse of the Sun and divers Wars and Dissentions followed A Comet also Appeared and there followed a slaughter of Men in Liege In the Three and Thirtieth Year of the Reign of Henry VI. King of England during the Civil Wars between the Houses of Lancaster and York a Comet Appeared in the Month of June the Beams whereof extended it self into the South of which King Henry and his Son felt the sad effects In the Year 1456 a Comet was seen in the East in the month of June in the Fifteenth degree of Cancer a very great Earthquake followed on the 5th Day of December at Eleven a Clock at Night And another on the Thirtieth Day of the same Month such as in the memory of Man there had not any where been seen the like for vehemency especially in Apulia Naples Beneventum and many other Cities and Towns round about many Temples and Pallaces and other Houses were overwhelmed with the Destruction of many Men and Cattel The like hapned at Cajeta Capua Aversa and the rest of the Cities of old Campania In the Year 1457. another followed which they called a black Comet in the Month of June in the 20 degree of Pisces which was seen for the space of a month and did variously affect the minds of Men. A great Comet Appeared throughout the month of January in the beginning of the Year 1472 in a Fiery colour with long and black hairs bending towards the West whose body was about the entrance of Libra afterwards it bended it self onely in the North that it might be judged that it went out without the Zodiack and it continued Fourscore days But this Comet being scarce dissolved another Appeared of a fiery hair which seemed to be seated in the Sign of Aries and its Tayl stretched out it self towards the East A grievous Drought followed and a Pestilence and most cruel and bloody Wars in many places There were Two Comets seen before the Battel of Crescy in France where though the English got a great Victory over the French by the Sword so it seemeth as our Chronicles do relate that the Sword of the Destroying Angel slew a multitude of the English at home Phillip the first King of Spain and Father to the Emperour Charles V. being at Tudele of Duero there Appeared a strange Comet in the Firmament foreshewing as they said afterward the Approaching Death of King Phillip which happened soon after in the City of Burgos to the general grief of all his Subjects the Comet still Appearing whereunto he did Attribute his Death saying often in his pains and agonies Ha Cometa ha Cometa He dyed in the Year of our Lord 1506 haveing Reigned one Year and Ten Months His Body was laid many Years after by his Son Charles in the Royal Chappel of Granado having remained in divers places In Queen Maries Reign in the Year of our Lord 1556 a Blazing-Star was seen at all times of the Night on the Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth and Tenth of March a little before the Burning of Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The Horrid Massacre of the Protestants in France being Acted August 24 c. 1572 a Grave Writer relates That about a quarter of a Year after Viz. November 17. there Appeared a Star in the Constellation of Cassiopea Mirae magnitudinis perspicua luce praefulgida of Wonderful bigness and very resplendent with a perspicuous light He saith That many Men passed their Judgments upon it Eruditorumque hac dere jactati versus Beza hath divers Verses upon it I take it the last was this Tuvero Herodes Sangui notente cave And thou bloody Herod beware Pointing I suppose to the French King Charles the IX and others Authors of and Actors in that Barbarous and Bloody Tragedy He addeth Illa totos novem menses in coeto Emicait That Star shined clearly for the space of nine whole Months in the Heaven The King himself Dyed May 30. 1574. about one

of God happily discover'd And now again God hath shewed us other Signs in Heaven by the appearance of two New Prodigies one appeared in the South-East in the Morning the other in the Evening What else I pray doth God by these Signs seek to shew than his Wrath to an Impenitent World He is the God that maketh Signs and Wonders in Heaven and in Earth Dan. 6. 28. Therefore whosoever feareth God let him say with David Come and see the Works of the Lord how Terrible he is in his Doings towards the Children of Men. Now seeing these Signs in the Heavens are of God let us take heed that we do not despise God in his Works Among the Romans when the General caused a Purple Coat to be hung out over his Pavilion and the Trumpet to sound what Souldier in the Camp durst to Neglect it and not take notice of it as a Sign of Battel How much more when the Lord of Hosts holds forth his Flagg and displayeth his Ensignes signifying what he is about to do and if not making it known what it is in particular yet shewing that he hath some special Work in hand how carefully should we observe these things and prepare for the worst that may happen But the blindness of Carnal Reason darkens the minds of many worldly-wise persons that they cannot see far off as the Apostle speaks in another case Carnal Reason is of too low a stature in this case our thoughts must climb the Sycamore-Tree like Zacheus or we must get up into our Watch-Tower like the Prophet Habakkuk we must take our standing higher and look above the whole Creation and seriously think of the Creatour God himself the first mover and Principal Worker in all these things Moreover Men and Women are so generally in love with the World and do so earnestly desire mind seek and affect earthly things either their Pleasures Profits or Earthly hopes c. that they have no leisure to mind the special works of God which are Signs of the times and give Warning of things at hand Therefore saith Solomon Eccl. 9. 12. Man knoweth not his time As the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the Snare so are the Sons of Men snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them As the Bird wholly minding the Bait is taken in the Snare which it minded not So the Sons of Men wholly minding the profits or pleasures or other things of this World heed not the Signs of the times and so are snared in an evil time The love of Sin also possessing the Hearts of Men keeps many from discerning the Works of God It is Wonderful to consider how the people of Israel were besotted this way so as not to see the visible and apparent signs of the times as they had before their Eyes The Thunderings and Lightenings upon Mount Sinai the sound of the Trumpet exceeding loud the Voice of God striking an awful Terrour into their Hearts the Cloudy Pillar every Day the Pillar of Fire every Night was continually as a shining light before their Faces the Glory of the Lord often Appearing Bread sent them down all the Six Days of the Week from Heaven the Rock becomming as a Fountain of Water to them in the Wilderness which Water followed them in their several stations Were not these Signs to them of an extraordinary time wherein God was more than in an ordinary manner present with them and would be sanctified in them si●h he had brought them so neer unto himself And yet as if it had been but an ordinary time and as if they had had no more to do with the onely true God than other people nor any more special relation to him as if he had done no more for them than for the Aegyptians they gave themselves over to divers sins as to foul Idolatry it seemeth in the sight of Mount Sinai to lusting after Quails and Delicates to commit Fornication with the Daughters of Idolaters and then also to joyn with them in spiritual Whoredom and Service of their Idols Some of them to Ambition contending with Aaron for the Priesthood whom God had called and consecrated to that Office so strangely had the love of Sin bewitched and blinded their minds that without regarding the Signs of the times they ran into the Snare and oftentimes brought many stroaks upon themselves Great also is the security of Men and Women This is a general Disease to which the World is subject and as the old World was in a dead Sleep of Wretched security until the Flood-Gates of Heaven with the noise of an unresistable Judgment Awakened them when they Awoke to see themselves perish neither Noah's Preaching nor the knocking about the Ark before could Awaken them so there are many who lye slumbering and sleeping in deep security and no loud crys from the Word do Awaken them to make them open their Eyes to see the signs of the times that they might either avoid the evil which the time is about to bring forth or embrace the Good which the opportunity of the time offereth to them Gods Judgements are there most heavy where his greatest mercies are most Abused Jerusalem had had such mercies as no City under Heaven since the beginning of the World in some respect and these she most grievously Abused and was most unthankful to the Giver and therefore the Lord brought on her such misery as no City ever felt No City had sinned like Jerusalem none had such mercies against which they could sin no City suffered like to her when once the Lords Abused patience turned into Anger and heavy displeasure This should Awaken England which is the Field which God hath Sowed in his Love but through our unthankfulness seemeth to have buried or lost a multitude of mercies No Nation under Heaven at this present hath so many mercies to reckon for as we If the Lord should deal in Justice with us what people since the beginning of the World hath deserved greater punishments If every Parish every Family every Person would look into themselves and see what mercies what means they have had or might have had for Soul or Body what Catalogues might they make and what wrath might they think they had deserved Let us all look home and know that nothing shall plead more strongly against impenitent and unthankful persons at the last day than mercies themselves The Great God of Heaven and Earth doth not onely speak to Men with the Tongues of Prophets Apostles and Teachers but sometimes also by the Elements Composed or wrought into divers Forms and Shapes if we will believe what is Credibly reported the Heavens have been of late Chequered with Strange and Prodigious Sights but what is most Remarkable is That a Comet or Blazing-Star for many Weeks have been Visible to all or most parts of Europe and other places as the Gazettes testifie and there 's so many people in