Wherupon he Instituted and made for Man his first Sabbath of Rest And on the Seaventh Day God ended his Work which he had made that is as he began in the very first Instant so he continued to work untill and in the very last Instant of the Six Days and therefore he rested not before but proceeding continualy to work in all the Six Days as it is said at first that the Spirit of God Moved on the face of the Deep he ended or Hebraicaly had ended on the very first Instant of the Seaventh Day or Sabbath of Rest wheras it could not be rightly said that he ended or had ended before for in the very last Instant of the Six Days he still continued to work so exact and proper is Divine Language and though men cannot discern between Instants of Time or Points of Extension which therefore are so Indiscernible that the Fluxes and Augments of Created Nature may appear Intire and Continuous to us yet known unto God are all his Works even Instants and Points as well as Numbers and accordingly he doth declare them in his Word as exactly and properly as Human Understanding can apprehend Again though it be said that He rested on the Seaventh Day from all his Work which he had made yet it is not said that he rested in it but this Work of Creation was Corrupted very soon after it was finished Wherefore as there remaineth a Rest to the People of God by the Redemption of the World through Iesus Christ so that is called also the Rest of God himself and shall be the Everlasting Sabbath and Consummation of all his Works both of Creation and Redemption wherin he will rest for ever Thus I have delineated the true System of the World which God himself who made it hath declared and reveled unto us in this Divine History of the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth that is the Superaether and utmost Circumference therof and within that Concave Sphere the Aether and within that the Air and within them all the Orb of the Terraqueous Globe and inmost Center therof which certeinly is the most Symmetrical and Uniform Chorography of the whole Body of Matter and of these several Members therof most exactly according to the greater or Less Density of their Matter and more or less Activity of their Spirits And therin I have also described the Scale of Nature and all the Classes therof Subordinate and Subservient one unto another that is Matter to Elementary Spirits and Elements to Vegetatives and Vegetatives to Sensitives and Sensitives to Intellective Man and Man to Iesus Christ the Head of all things and other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid by God himself Monendus est misellus Philosophus ut desinat esse Conditor Mundi and I confidently suppose that if Plato and Aristotle had enjoied the benefit of this Divine Light they had farr more improved Philosophy by building upon this Foundation then Christian Philosophers have done by building upon theirs and that we may enjoy the benefit of their great Learning and yet diâ—engage our selves wholy from their Errors we must reduce all their Opinions and Human Inventions to this most Infallible Rule which if we rightly consider it will not only rectifie their Errors but also instead therof present such Divine Truths as they did never conceiv or apprehend as may particularly appear by a short Recapitulation of what we have formerly discoursed Thus first we have proved a Begining and consequently a Creation of the World which no Heathen Philosophy so understood as it is declared by God in his Word but either imagined an Eternal Creation without a Begining in any certein Time removing it perpetualy backward by supposition of many Deluges Conflagrations and general Devastations and Indefinite Revolutions or though they may sometimes seem to acknowledg an Improper Creation from some precedent Principles of Matter Atoms Mens Anima Mundi Ideae and the like yet they do not express any Proper Creation from Absolute Nonentity to which Heathen Philosophy never did subscribe nor do I know any Word in any other Human Language but only Hebraical which doth import such a Proper Creation Though if any conceiv otherwise and can collect any such Acknowledgment from their doubtful and confused and sometimes contrary Sentences I shall not hinder him from subjoining their Human Testimony to Divine Authority But certeinly Moses doth most plainly and clearly affirm a Creation of the World in a certein Begining and so proceeds to declare the first Age of the World as particularly and expresly as if himself had been Contemporary and lived in the same Time and Places and the Affairs therof which all Heathen Historiographers esteemed Fabulous and termed Ogygia more exactly and truly then they do relate the Transactions of later Ages And thus wheras other Nations dated their Writings so many years ab Urbe Condita or in such an Olympiad or the like the Jews both antient and modern date them ab Orbe condito Nor is the whole Age of the World so very large or vast but that every man may according to Divine Chronology easily comprehend it And indeed there are not probably above 150 Generations between us and Adam who was the Common Ancestor of all Mankind for the Scripture doth exactly enumerate them all from the first Adam to the Second that is to Iesus Christ 76 Generations Inclusively as Enoch is so reckoned from Adam and the Brazen Lavacre so to be measured as I have shewed for so Luke declares his Seculum as Matthew doth his proper Linage and if we allow fower Generations to every Century since the Nativity of our Savior yet the Total will not exceed that Number Nor is the whole World and System therof so Indefinite but that the Mind of Man may comprehend it and by the Light of the Divine Word look through it as a transparent Globe for so it is said He hath set the World in their Heart and his Word plainly sheweth us how all Generable and Corruptible things were first educed out of a Chaos of Potentialitys wherin all their Primitive and Simple Essences were then latent and brought forth most orderly and successively in Six Days by God who Created them before by a Proper Creation from Absolute Nothing in a Supernatural maner by Improper Creation which was their Original Generation then Instituted by God himself and by his Divine Benediction so continuing Successively And this is a short plain and evident account therof wheras others instead of such Proper and Improper Creation have imagined a Potentia Materiae or Power in the Matter of producing out of itself other Active Substances farr more excellent then itself which yet were not before Realy in it or that the Matter is transpeciated and converted into them though an Angel who is the chief Being in the Scale of Nature cannot so produce out of himself any other then his own proper Qualitys and
THE Divine History OF THE GENESIS OF THE WORLD Explicated Illustrated Juven Sat. 14. Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moses LONDON Printed by E. C. A. C. for Henry Eversden and are to be sold at his Shop under the Crown in West-Smithfield next Duck-Lane 1670. Premonition to the Reader HE who included Homer's Ilias in a Nutshell made a very good Kernell for it if the Brevity in Writing was not compensated with as great Obscurity and difficulty in Reading Wheras in this Divine History we have the Genesis and System of the whole World in one Leaf yea one Page delineated as in a Mapp not without sufficient Clearnes as I shall shew in my Explications And as God hath left farther Inquiry into Particulars to Human Ingeny and Industry I accordingly expatiate in my Illustrations still keeping as close to the Text as I may for longius a Verbo longius a Vero. Wherin though I cannot be as Brief as I would yet I have studied as much Clearnes as I could without Diagramm or Sculpture and purposely repeat some more difficult Conceptions that others may better understand them which yet I do not expect they should presently embrace becaus I know that I could not so suddenly satisfy myself concerning them and whosoever would so satisfy himself must throughly read and as throughly consyder the whole Series The Manuscript hath suffered many Expunctions and Interlineations which rendred it not so Legible and my absence from the Press permitted some faâ—lts to escape in Printing However I expose it such as it is among my own Countrimen from whom I willingly expect many Learned Observations and Critical Reflections which shall help me to perfect and prepare it for another Language The exquisite Poets in the time of Augustus as I find in Ovid used first to recite privately one to another and I remember Mr. Selden told me that he and Heinsius used to communicate Notes toward some of their Works Schola Salerni Collegium Conimbricense and others wrote in Common which certeinly is a very great advantage where many collect the Materials and one is the Composer and Architect of the Work and then all review and rectify it But I who live alone in the Country farr from Athens must proceed otherwise and as Inferior Animals first exclâ—de an Embryonical Ovum which may be afterward hatched into a more perfect Foetus In the mean time becaus Errata are not observed untill they be printed nor usualy rectified untill the Book be read and then it is too late I have heer prenoted such as are more material that the Reader may rectify them before-hand by under-lining them or by under-pointing or pricking Besides which there are many other Literal faults especialy in Capital Letters intended only for more Emphatical Words Tautographys al 's Interpunctions and the likâ— which hâ— mâ—y easily correct Oâ—ulo currente and be pleased to pardon both my own and the common Infirmitys of Printing aliter non fiâ— Amâ—ce liber PAge 2. Line 33. be Read be the. p. 4. l. 3. changing â— chanting l. 28. Affection r. Affectation p. 5. l. â—2 Mercurius r. Mercurys p. 34. l. 11. Praejudicate r. Predicate p. 49. l. 17. Triangle r. Triangle or Delta p. 53. l. 23. all r. also p. 62. l. 15. of r. aâ— l. 36. Parallogramm r. Parallelogramm p. 64. l. 35. â—ever r. never be p. 71. l. 3. all Maâ—erial r. Elementary p. 76. l. 8 mâ—re r. more or p. 82. l. 10. one r. own p. 86. l. 39. at dele p. 87. l. 18. clear r. clear-it p. 88. l. 38. mid r. mid be p. 96. l. 30. Notion r. Motion p. 99. l. 24. Bâ—dy r. Body be p. 103. l. 2. such r. such as p. 106. l. 8. Exâ—â— r. Exuct l. 13. as r. as to p. 123. l. 6. wâ—atsoeveâ— r. whatsoever which p. 132. l. 36. Meditately r. Mediately p. 143. l. 25. Spirits r. Species p. 148. l. 7. as we have dele l. 14. Maturely r. Mutualy p. 149. l. 28. Introduction r. Introsuction p. 153. l. 26. were r. were made p. 167. l. 32. it r. it being p. 17â— l. 29. Night then by Day r. Day then by Night p. 174. l. 19. Barr. r. Burr l. 24. at r. as p. 177. l. 21. of r. by p. 191. l. 34. somwhat r. so not p. 192. l. 13.37 somwhat r. so not p. 201. l. 10. Seeâ— r. even p. 202. l. 32. aâ— r. aâ— p. 215. l. 5. which r. which is p. 238. l. 22. Various r. Variations p. 239. l. 10. from r. upon l. 35. thither r hither p. 245. l. 16. therefore r. therefore called p. 248. l. 20. amitt r. emitt p. 250. l. 11 17 26. Vapid r. Vappid p. 257. l. 10. and. r. and as p. 313. l. 18. or therabout dele p. 315. l. 27. nâ—t r. not only p. 322. l. 15. but dele p. 324. l. 28. as dele p. 340. l. 14. not r. not so p. 337. l. 10. Starrs r. Starrs more l. 27. more Raâ—e r. common p. 339. l. 35. Angels r. Angels or God p. 344. l. 13. whereby r. thereby p. 346. l. 37. leap r. sâ—irr p. 351. l. 16. Act. r. Aâ—t p. 357. l. 32. when r. whence p. 372. l. 33. wheras dele TO THE WORLD THe Title bespeaks the Dedication of this discours of the World to the World which if it were Animal as Plato fansied would most freely acknowledg and subscribe to the Divine History of its own Creation But I write to the Animate and Intelligent World of Mankind both present and future and more specially to the Christian World which is now almost the whole World of Learning but most particularly to the British World whose Language I therefore speak Now though Men in these latter Ages of the World seem to forget the Original Creation therof so many Thousand Years past certainly Adam the first Man who was immediately Created by God was very Conscious of his own Creation nor could he by his Fall lose this Natural Knowledg more than of being a Man and most probably he delivered this great Tradition to his Posterity who also reteined it while they could reckon themselves in succession as Enoch the Seventh and Noah the Tenth from Adam But afterward in or about the Fourteenth Generation when Nimrod the Mighty Hunter and his Impious faction began to build the Tower of Babel whereupon ensued the Confusion of Languages this Knowledg also began to be Confounded and thenceforth remained with the Primitive Language only in the family of Heber the Father of the Hebrews in whose days the Earth was divided when his eldest Son Peleg was born and in his Sacred Seed after him And from the Hebrews living in Chaldaea the Chaldaeans first derived their Philosophy and so after them the Egyptians and Phoenicians and from them the Graecians mingling it with their several Superstitions and Idolatries And as Iosephus observeth Nimrod first taught his Babylonians to contemn Gods Power and Providence which he could not do
other Parts of Time as are Actualy Past are only so many Ones as they are and not more nor fewer which though never so many must necessarily be all Numerable by Addition of so many Ones as they are and not more nor fewer And consequently all Time Actualy Past which may be Numbred by them is Numerable and Finite and therefore had a Begining becaus the Number therof is Ordinal or Successive wherof there must be a First Thus if we should compute the whole Age of the World according to the particular Ages or Secula of Men or Brutes or if you pleas according to the Revolutions of Platonical years yet there must necessarily have been a First Second and Third Seculum or Revolution or so many as we will suppose to have been Actualy Past and Precedent and not more nor fewer nor other then Successive All which summed up together will be found as Finite as a single Unit and must have a First and Last aswel as One and One Ordinaly and Successively Nor indeed can we Rationaly Imagin any Time whatsoever Actualy Past and Precedent not to be Actualy Finite And if it cannot be otherwise in Imagination much less in Reality VIII Yet the World might Possibly have Existed before it did Exist or Actualy was and as long before as you pleas to Imagin and so it may still be continued Perpetualy in Possibility which yet will be alway Possible and can never be Actual for no such Precedent or Subsequent Perpetuity ever was or shall be nor can reasonably be Imagined to be Actual Neither is it properly a Possible Perpetuity but rather a Perpetual Possibiliâ—y of such a supposed Precedency or Subsequent Futurity which can never be Actual otherwise it should not be Perpetualy Possible for as Possible while it is Possible cannot be Actual otherwise it should not be Possible but Actual so Perpetualy Possible can never be Actual becaus then it should ceas to be Perpetualy Possible As it is said of Corporeal Quantity that it is alway Divisible into alway Divisibles ever Possibly but never Actualy becaus if it should once be Actualy Divided into all its Divisibles then it should ceas to be alway Divisible which is a most true and evident Ratiocination supposing such a Perpetual Divisibility therof wherof I shall heerafter discours But no Possibility whatsoever either Precedent or Subsequent doth militate against this present Discours concerning the Actual Existence of the World IX This Perpetual Possibility in Futurity is the Duration of Immortal Spirits which though it may not seem to be the same with Time in a restrained sens as Time may be distinguished from Duration yet is the same with it in a general sens And so the Soul of Man both in this Mortal Life and also in his Immortal Life heerafter shall continue to be under the same Duration though his Time may be restrained to this Mortal Life which hath an End and is computed according to the Chronology of the Hours Days and Years therof and so we commonly distinguish between Temporal and Eternal or Everlasting Thus Plato makes all Time to be the Measure of Duration according to the Motion of the Heavenly Bodys which divide it into such Parts or Sections therof and therupon I suppose grounded his Opinion of the Circular Revolutions of Time like the Circular Motions of the Heavens But as Duration was Coetaneous with the first Chaos for there was an Evening before any Morning or Illumination of the Aether and three several Days before the Sun and Stars so the same Duration shall continue when they shall be dissolved and when Time in that sens shall be no more And yet in all the Perpetual Possibility of this Duration so farr as it shall ever heerafter become Actual it shall likewise be Actualy Finite as I have already proved Wheras Proper Eternity is neither in any Precedent nor Subsequent Possibility but always Actual and alway Present or one Perpetual Instant which is Divine Infinite and Incomprehensible and of another nature Infinitely and Incomprehensibly Different from any Finite Duration Actual or Possible whatsoever which it doth Comprehend but not in any maner Confound or Chaâ—ge the Temporary nature therof as I shall shew in the next Section X. Wherfore I Conclude upon the whole precedent matter That every Quantity that hath Existed or doth Actualy Exist is Actualy Finite And so is every Quantitative thing measured thereby And that no Imagination nor Possibility it Self can make it to be otherwise Because all Quantity and Quantitative things have Parts and all Parts are Finite and therefore whatsoever hath Parts is Finite and whatsoever is Finite is Terminated or bounded with Extremitys or First or Begining and Last or End Respectively according to the Parts otherwise it should not be Finite And particularly that time and Duration which is Successive and all Temporary and Durable things had a Realy Precedent and fixed First or Begining Now that the force of this most Cogent Argument may not be lost or spent in so large a Dilatation I will briefly Summ it up in these few and short Propositions which I shall present to any Man of Reason most strictly to examin and consider whether he can deny any one of them or the Consequence of them all without forfeiture of his Rationality I. That every Day is One Day and of no more nor greater Number nor Duration II. That Yesterday was One Day Actualy Past and Precedent to this Day and so all the Days Actualy Past and Precedent one unto another III. That the whole Number and Duration of all the One Days Actualy Past and Precedent is as Finite or bounded with first or Begining and Last or End as of any One Day IV. Therefore there was a First or Begining of the whole Duration of all the One Days Actualy Past and Precedent aswel as of the particular Duration of any One Day Wherefore I Conclude according to that right and true Sentence Vim inferunt Humano Intellectui qui Mundum affirmant Infinitum ex Finitis Partibus Constantem SECTION II. God c. EXPLICATION The Infinite Creator of Heaven and Earth ILLUSTRATION 1. That God is Infinite 2. Of Infinite 3. That Absolute Nothing is Not finite 4. Of Proper and Improper Infinite 5 Of Proper and Improper Not finite I. WE have proved that Heaven and Earth and Consequently the whole World had a Begining of Being from Absolute Not being or was Created becaus it is Finite Wherefore the Creator of all Finites must necessarily be Infinite for if he were Finite he must also be Created by another and so Infinitely But there can be no such Process Infinite becaus it is Successive from one to another and therefore must be finite as I have already proved II. But becaus our Understanding also is Finite and not Infinite therefore the proper Object thereof must be Finite and not Infinite and all the knowledg we can have of Infinite is only
of the World declared and described either more truly or in a more short Epitome Now wheras the Antecedent Darknes did continue for some Time on the face of the Deep wherin the Spirit of God Moved upon it it may be Curiously Inquired how long that Space of Time was wherin the Antecedent Darknes was and continued before the first Light was Created but as Divine Wisedom doth not regard Human Curiosity nor attend to satisfy it so I esteem it Impertinent though I may discours it Humanitus However I must conceiv as I have said that the Spirit of God did not only Move or Incubate on the first Chaos to Prepare and Predispose it before and untill the Light was Created but Conformably untill all the other Original Creatures in all the Six Days were Produced and the whole Creation and Cours of Nature finished for they were all Supernatural and the Immediate Works of God And concerning the particular Space of Time between the General and Proper Creation or Begining and the first Improper Creation of Light I conceiv it probably to have been Twelv Hours and somwhat more and that there was neither any Diurnal nor any Nocturnal Light during that Time For so the Computation of all the Six Days is by Evening and Morning aswell as of the First and the Evening and Morning made the First Proper Day Natural which most probably was Equinoctial and was afterward Divided into Day and Night Artificial and the Evening is alway sett before the Morning as it was before it in Time but the Day before the Night as it is before it in Nature becaus the Day Artificial was first so made by Dividing the Light from the Darknes that is into a Diurnal and Nocturnal Light and so God saith I form the Light and Create Darknes as he did in the First Day Originaly wheras Pure Darknes is not Creable but the Night which is called Dark Comparatively Wherefore as this Improper Creation in the Six Days was Original Generation wherunto all Successive is Conformable so I suppose that as the whole Day according to the Diurnal Cours of the Aether then first putt into Motion and so still continuing is fower and twenty Hours and somwhat more so the two Halvs therof or first Evening and Morning must be supposed to have been also of the same Duration and each of them Equal as well as the Second and Third before the Sun and Moon were Created Nor can I conceiv how there could be any such Day and Night Artificial in the First Day as since becaus they were then first so Created after the first Evening was ended but could not Possibly be before they were so Created And when Light was Created it was Morning in all the Aether in respect of the Precedent Evening and so there was never since any such Evening and Morning as made the first Day Natural becaus there is no such Pure Darknes but only Comparative Darknes whereby Night was made after the Evening was ended by the first Creation of Light which was the first Morning and God in that Morning did afterward Divide the Light into a Diurnal and Nocturnal Proportion therof whereby he made Day and Night Artificial And thus though Time was Created in the Begining from whence also the most Proper Natural Day did Commence yet the Artificial was Created in that First Natural Day and the Day Natural according to the Cours of the Sun in the Fourth Day and the two Parts of that Day which we commonly but more Improperly call Day Natural that is Night and Day are not always Equal with the Parts of all other Days wheras the two Parts of the Proper Day Natural that is the Evening and Morning being Computed from the Begining are always Equal and each of them Twelv Hours and somwhat more And becaus the Parts of the Solar or Improper Day Natural except Equinoctial are Unequal therefore the Whole may be sooner as in Summer or later as in Winter but the Proper Natural Day is never sooner or later becaus it is the Succession of Fower and Twenty Hours Daily from the first Fower and Twenty Hours and Begining of the first Day Natural and so all the Six Days both before and after the Sun and Moon were made to Rule the Day and Night and also the Seaventh or Sabbath are Computed accordingly Wherefore becaus this Day is most Even Exact and Invariable according to Time God also appointed it and not the Improper Day Natural to be the Measure of Time in Sacris and so it is said from Even to Even shall ye celeâ—rate your Sabbath and not from Night to Night and though the later Iews did not so observ it yet Ab Initio non fuit sic But both the Day and Time of the Christian Sabbath which is appointed for us Gentiles in all Parts of the Earth is and must be Altered by the Resurrection of Christ which if it should begin as the former at Evening as some would have it then it should begin before the Resurrection for unless that were also some Time after the Begining of the Evening Christ should not have laid in the Grave three Days Synechdochicaly as most certainly he did and though it be expressly declared when the Creation was finished and God first Rested that is at the end of the Sixth Evening and Morning or Proper Day Natural yet it is not so expressed or ascerteined when Christ Rose again but only that he Rose very early in the Morning of the Third Day that is the Solar or Improperly Natural Now as there was not only a Proper Natural Day but also a Division therin of the Light from the Comparative Darknes and so Day and Night Artificial made thereby in the First Day Originaly and Successively in the Second and Third Day before the Sun or Moon were made to Rule them more particularly as I shall shew heerafter so certeinly there must have been some Circumrotation of the Aether and of the Light Inherent therin in the Precedent Days for if the Light were Equaly in all the Aether then there should have been Equaly all Day in all the Aeâ—her and there could not be such Day in one Hemisphere and Night in the other without a Circumrotation of the Aether and of the Light wheras there was such a Division of the Light as made Day and Night Artificial therin and this Day and Night were then Originaly made and were such as they have ever since been Sâ—ccessively by the Diurnal Cours of the Aether except only the more Special Variations therof by the Proper Courses of the Sun and Moon which were maâ—e thereby and are Annual and Menstruous but not Diurnal which must necessarily be by the Circumgyration of the whole Aether and of the Light therof in one Hemisphere as the Sun now is so carried about by the Aether Diurnaly Certeinly the Earth Water or Air or any of them could not so Move in this First Day becaus
Virtue in itself be so supposed to Move in the most Rare and Fluid Aether as that it should not Sink therin by supposing also such a rapid Motion therof Annualy as must be admitted according to the Zodiak and Circle which it is said to describe and which according to the Phaenomena one way or other must be the same with that wherin the Sun doth Realy Move whereby that Motion will be found to be as I said almost fifty Miles in a Minute and then unless we can also suppose that the Earth would sink and fall so fast through the Aether in the very first Degree of the Velocity of the Motion of Descent which must be swifter then the aforesaid Motion it will not so fall or sink which to estimate more exactly I leav to the Curious But wheras Judicial Astrologers pretend to foretell by the Starrs and especialy by Comets the Fates and Fortunes of Men yea their very Imaginations Affections and Inclinations and which is yet more Divine Counsels and Intentions it is certeinly most Unchristian and Intolerable for Originaly God made the Starrs to be for Signes and for Seasons and for Days and for Years which is therefore so Emphaticaly repeated not as Ostents or Portents wherof there could be no use in that State of Perfection but for Signification and Indication as well as Causation of Seasons Days and Years which were certein constant and orderly when there were yet no Meteors in Earth or Air and much less any Changes Confusions and Disorders in the Superior Natures nor did they then portend that greatest Change and most Dire Event that ever was or shall be in the World which was the fall of Angels and Men otherwise themselvs might easily have forseen it wherefore certeinly they were not first Created to signify any such Contingencys but only Natural Futuritys and now wheras they affirm that the Starrs do by their Influences govern the Bodily Humors and by them the Minds and Spirits of Men let them shew us the Experiment of that which they make to be the Foundation of their Art and as it is said of Thales foretell what will be dear next year wheras their Prognostications of any such Contingent things in their yearly Almanaks are generaly as fals as true though I grant as our Savior saith that such who are weatherwise may probably foretell what shall so ensue the next Day or some such short time after In the Evening ye say it will be fair weather for the Sky is red and in the Morning it will be foul weather to day for the Sky is red and lowring Thus also they represent Eclipses as very Prodigious things which yet they know are most Natural otherwise they could not so foretell them and if Man had still continued in Paradise they must naturaly have been yea it were the greater Monster and Prodigy if they should not so constantly happen And though Comets which are Extraordinary may produce Extraordinary Effects as other Meteors Thunders Earthquakes and the like and are sure Signes of what is past thaâ— is the Fall of Man which hath been the Caus and Occasion therof and so are to be regarded and may be also Extraordinary Ostents of Gods future Judgments yet it is also as true that we cannot read this Hand-writing on the Wall of Heaven without a Supernatural Revelation or Indigitation as the Magi were directed by Angels of whom it is also said they were warned in a Dream otherwise by all their Art they could never have found out the very Town yea the very Hous in the Town yea the very Place in the Hous where the Child lay and over which the Starr is said to have stood so neither could the most Curious or Cabalistical Judgment of any Man have foretold the Retrocession of Hezekiah's Sicknes by the Retrogradation of the Sun ten Degrees on the Dial of Ahaz and the Signes in Heaven and Earth at our Saviors Death probably were as Miraculous as the Starr at his Birth and that Darknes no common Eclips of any Luminary but an Obtenebration of the Aether itself over all that Land as the Earthquake was also therin and all the Signification therof was plainly declared by his present Suffering which made the Centurion cry out Truly this was the Son of God! Wherefore though I honor Natural Astronomy and only wish that it were rectified according to this Dâ—vine Rule of Scripture as I would also gladly be corrected by it in any mistakes of the Natural Phaenomena or any Expressions therof so with the Scripture and all Christianity I must conclude against all such Judicial Astrology as an Heathenish Artifice wherof we are expressly forewarned that we should not be dismaied at the Signes of Heaven for the Heathen are dismaied at them and Let now the Astrologers the Starrgazers the Monthly Prognosticators stand up and shew how they can maintein the Veracity of their Art against the Divine Verity And now I shall return again to such Materialists who though they cannot affirm that becaus a whole Body is Moved up or down this way or that way therefore it ceaseth to be the same yet can suppose that if the parts in the Body be Moved in such a maner as neither they nor we can discern them there being a new Corporeal Texture Schematism and Mechanism therof it shall therfore acquire a new Individual Spirit and Spiritual Qualitys by such Local Motion as it doth by Physical Generation and Corruption which may be best Experimented in the vast Body of Aether wherin there are also so many Orbs continualy Moving so many several ways and yet they do not therefore ceas to be the same Aether and the same Orbs that they were before and so will any other Compositum be the same though the Parts in it Move this way or that way or any way whatsoever unless there be a new Generation to alter it otherwise only the Figure and Situation of the Parts in the Whole will be altered but not the Physical Nature of the Whole or Parts and so though their Hypothesis be of less Corpuscles and not of such great Bodys which as they propound the others becaus they are Indiscernible so I propound these becaus they are more discernible for the reason will be the same in these Elementary Natures though the Parts be never so minute as every part of Water is Water though it be never so small and though it be Moved any way whatsoever and so suppose the Parts of any one Orb to Move in the Orb as all the Orbs do in the Aether they will no more alter the Orb then the Orbs do the Aether and if Matter and Motion cannot thus make or alter Elementary Natures which are Inferior much less any others that are Superior and I suppose that the Superaether is altogether Immovable both in the Whole and in all the Parts therof Wherefore since this and all the other Heavens are so Stupendous that as some suppose