many Thousands of Years He saith all things shall be again in statu quo prius as they were at the Worlds beginning in a state of perfection The World waxeth worse and worse and the last being but Dregs are the worst of Times yea not only the Earth but Heaven also grows faint and feeble through old Age. Insomuch that the Sun as Ptolomy saith Runs much ne arer the Earth many Thousand Miles now than at the Creation If so then by the same Rule the Planets must do the same and then neither of them have kept their first perfection from whence some Salvo's to arising Doubts may be deducted if this Hypothesis should be taken for Granted But whatever may be said to Ptolomys Assertion I shall endeavor to illustrate that of Noble Tycho Brahe saying that all the 6. Great Conjunctions which only have happened since the Foundation of the World Exclusive to this 16. Century have been Auspicious to the World and Vsherd in some signal Mercies to Man-kind So this 7th in our Century will certainly exceed them all c. as the 6. Days Creation had each of them their Tob Good but the 7th Days Rest was attended with Tob Meod very good So theâ—â— former Revolutions all brought Tob good to the Church but this 7th suppos'd to be the last will undoubtedly bring Tob Meod very good things with it The Bridegroom at the Marriage feast reserves his Best Wine for the Last Time John 2.9.10 Take a short Land-skip of all the former 6. The first under Enoch 800. Years of the World his Name signifies Catechised as Gen. 14.14 Chanikan Catechised or Trained up in Religion as well as Warfare He was taught of God to walk with God Gen. 5.24 Hebr. 11.5 Ecclesiasticus 44.16 and 49.14 A great Type of Christ in his Ascension living 365 Years before his Translation after a God pleasing Life and just so long did Christ live in the Purity of the Primitive Church to Julian the Apostate in the Year 365 after Christ He was as all the Patriarks were the Chief Bishop of his Time by whose Labours the Church of God was preserved in that prophane Age He prophecyed of the Destruction of Sinners before Noah did of the Deluge foretelling the Day of Judgment and the Coming of our Lord. Syr. Maran-Atha hence the Jews make him the Author of the great Excommunication Jude v. 14.15 As Enoch is call'd the 7th from Adam the Church had some Sabbath or 7th Time of Refreshing by him a Rest and Respit from that Vniversal Destruction which came upon the World afterwards Thus Elijah Enochs Brother candidate of Immortality is Stiled the 7th from Adam also not in Respect of Degrees or Gradual Descent as was Enoch the 7th Patriarch not the 7th Person but by way of Computation and in Respect of so many Generations as some Reckon between them Elijah is computed the 7th Prophet from Adam and the first sent to the Gentiles a great Reviver of the Church as his Brother Enoch was and a Restorer of the Law Now here be two 7ths from Adam both Translated into Heaven which may intimate that after the 6000. Year of the World comes the 7th from Adam or 7th Millennium with its strange Translation likewise However this Translation of Enoch is call'd Annus Sabbaticus Calvisius Opus Chronolog Page 3. Enoch predicts as a late Reverend writer saith Judicium matutinum the Morning part of the Judgment Day explain'd Dan. 7.7.8.9 as if then to be seen behold he cometh which was not to be till the 7000. Year begin and the Vespertinum or Evening part is after it explained in Revel 20.7 The Second Climacterical Conjunction by doubling the Number 8 here and all along was in the 1600. Year of the World under Noah in which Century the Universal Deluge destroy'd the wicked World which was then drowned in wickedness before it was drown'd in water Yet the Church had then her Annum Sabbaticum a compleat Year of Rest in Noahs Ark for from November when Noah had laid up all his Stores of the Earthly Fruits and entred the Ark with his Beasts Fowls and Family he remained there till the Beginning of November following As Enoch had been a Cooler to the Church when the wicked world was Hot in wickedness by his contrary Profession prophecying and Practice for which God took him up into Heaven as thinking no place good enough for him upon Earth and whose Translation gave to the Church the first Specimen or Proof that God had prepared another Life after this for his Saints wherein they should live with him in Glory for ever So Noah as his Name signifies was a Comforter to the Church saving her from the Deluge which Reduced the World to its first Chaos or Confusion Gen. 1.2 when the Waters above the Firmament and the Waters under met again together and brings the Earth once more into her first posture to be covered with Water 'T was a peculiar priviledge that Noah brought the Church night God in this great Floud of Waters Psal 32.6 Enoch was a Prophet foretelling Christs coming and Noah was a Preacher of Christs Righteousness had greater Blessings than Adam having the Promise I will no more destroy c. Gen. 8.21.22 the Bow in the Cloud and a new String to his Bow the Everlasting Covenant the pattern of all Covenants with Israel oft mention'd by the Prophets and the Floud made such a Baptism to the Earth also as help'd to wash away its Curse which Cursed Earth shall become so Renewed so Blessed of the Lord yea so much Christs Darling that He Resolves to make it the Centre of his Glory as some suppose at the 7th Millennium or last Revolution of the Superior Planets Revel 5.9.10 where the Saints or Angels Rejoice that they shall come out of Heaven to Reign upon Earth thus God tells Moses in the Mount that the Land shall enjoy her Sabbath of Rest not only a Temporal Levit. 26.34.46 and 2. Chron. 36.21 and Levit. 25.2.6 But an Eternal one Hebr. 4.9 which the Lord of the Sabbath Math. 12.8 Mark 2.27.28 Rom. 9.29 Jam. 5.4 hath made for man The whole Earth shall be filled with his Glory Numb 14.21 He will Cover or Atone it Deut. 32.43 God not Adam named the Earth Erets which signifies of Ratsah to Delight as If He meant to take his pleasure upon it when the Heavens that Canopy and Curtain now hiding his Glory shall pass away as a Scroll of parchment before the Fire God will come to keep his Sabbath of Rest on Earth and here accept his People then the Land of Canaan more accursed than all Lands while possessed by the accurs d Nations shall be most blessed the Glory of all Lands The place of Gods Residence and Delightful Rest Ezek. 26 6.40 and 34.26.30 Hos 2 20 23. c. The Third great Revolution still adding another 800 falls out in the 2400. y. of the World under Moses when
Keplers Tables Reputed the best in the World which he relates to run thus Though the period of each Climacterical Conjunction be computed to be compleated in the Compass of Seven Hundred Ninety four Years two Hundred and fourteen Days yet saith he for these Fractions or broken Numbers Kepler reckoneth by a round Number so that the Grand Revolution must be reckoned by the Round Number of Eight Hundred Years And he sets down Keplers Tables thus The first great Conjunction Exclusive from the beginning of time was in the 800. Year of the World which was three Thousand two Hundred Years before Christ The second was in the Year of the World 1600 which must be two Thousand four Hundred before Christ The third did fall out in Antio Mundi 2400. which was one Thousand fix Hundred before Christ The fourth falls in the 3200. year of thé World which must be before Christ Eight Hundred Years The fifth was when Christ came in the Flesh to work the Worlds Redemption which was in the four Thousand Year of the World The sixt falls out in 800. years after Christ which was the four Thousand Eight Hundred year of the World And the seventh still multiplying by 8. from the first to this last must fall out in the sixteenth Century 1600 Years after Christ at what time the World is five Thousand six Hundred Years old Alsted adds further in Page 1215. that the Antients did measure Time by these Revolutions as by infallible Rules as thus from the Creation 1 to Arts Cities and Robberies is 800. Years 2 to the Vniversal Deluge and the first Monarchy 1600. Years 3 to Abraham and his Seed going out of Aegypt 2400. 4 to the Destruction of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah 3200. 5 to Christ and the Rise of the New Testament Church 4000. Years 6 to the pressures of Christs Church 4800. 7 to the Church's Deliverance from those pressures by Antichrist c. 5600. So that all these three most Eminent Authors did Vnanimously expect this seventh great Conjunction or compleat Revolution of the Planets which happeneth in this our sixteenth Century that great and vniversal Changes would be the products thereof seeing the Planets in this 7th Revolution shall have run through their Circles and then return to their first Beginnings again which cannot but portend mighty things This being supposed to be the last sundry Astronomers questions whether there ever will be any other after this sevâ—nth The 6th Remark is the pious Meditation of the Antients that the Septenary or Seventh Number is a plenary perfect and mystical Number which in Scripture hath a peculiar signification 't is compounded of 3. and 4. the Ternary or Three is the Number of God our Creator who is one in Three and Three in one the Quaternary or Four is the Number of Man the Creature who is made up of the four Elements as are also all Sublunary things call'd Elementary compound Bodies hence it is that all things have a wonderful Harmony of Coâ—aerency and Rest in the Septenary Number hereupon Philosophy calls it Numerus primus Virgineus Sacer Quietarius 1 The first Number because it made up the first Week 2 The Virgin Number because great is its force and efficacy as a Virgin is in the Flower and Strength of Age so every Seventh Year is computed Climacterical and Seven Nines or 63. is accounted the great one as 7. Years in Law is the Term of a Mans life and 3 Sevens are aequivalent to 3 Lives 3 'T is call'd a Sacred Number because it flows from the Ternary which is the Number of God and the Quaternary the Number of the World as is abovesaid this Note savors not so much of Superstition as it Respects the Nature of Harmony hence the Pocts Phrase Perfection of Prosperity by terque quaterque Beati a 3 fold and a 4 fold Happiness 4 'T is the Resting number because the seventh Day and the Seventh Year in sacred Writ were Sabbatical Every week is call'd Septimana consisting of 7. Days and every Seventh Year produceth some material Alteration Beside the Seventh Number is call'd the Limit and Measure of all Inforior numbers and any great number proposed whose Measure is Seven and may be divided by 7. exactly can by no other Means be more certainly found out than by Division with 7. But above all the Holy Scriptures number all by Sevens accounting the 7th Hour Day Month and Year to be all Sabbatical and the Seven Seventh Year to be a Jubilee a Restitution of all c. And this Harmony between Hours Days Months and Years seems to be intimated Revel 9.15 Thus also the Law required 7. washings or sprinklings of blood or water and the 7. Lamps in the Inner Court or Holy Place representing the 7. Planets in the Visible Heavens as the greatest Lamp stood in the middle of the other six having 3. on either side so the Sun is seated in the midst as Prince of the Planets having 3. above Him and 3. below Him all attending him as above All the walks of this glorious Sun are shadows of something within the Vail The Eve or Evening was as Eve was to Adam the Wife of the Morning the Jews and other Nations reckon the Beginning of Time as of the Sabbath at Evening and to them that are about the Aequator and to all at either Aequinox the first 6. Hours brings the Sun to the Mid-night Nadir or Mid-Heaven of the Antipodes and six more to the Morning Horizon six more to the Zenith or noon of the upper Hemisphere six more to its setting again when the Sun hath taken all these Turns of Sixes 6. times over then comes the 7th or Sabbath Day whereon the Cakes of the Shew-bread were changed 1. Sam. 21.6 Every 7th Hour as well as every 7th Day made a Pauze or Rest the Sabbath of the Evening Ps 104.23 of the Midnight or the Morning and of the Noon or Mid-day All Vsherd in by six Hours as the Sabbath is by six days and that 7th is the first Number wherein Heaven and Earth met together God and Man in the first Sabbath worship Numero Deus Impare Gaudet 7. is an odd Number and the 7th Day was not only a Resting but a Refreshing day to God Exod. 31.17 would to God it were so to us above all the other 6. Days And I know not why this 7th Grand Revolution of those Planets may not bring in a blessed Sabbatism or some Extraordinary Rest and Refreshment seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Time of Refreshing or as the Gr. signifies of Cooling the Heat is promised Act. 3.19 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Time of the Restitution of all things v. 21. wherein all Ruines by Sin shall be Repaired by our Saviour and Blessed Jesus shall take off the Curse and Corruption under which the Creature groaneth Rom. 8.19.20.21.22 This great Scripture Truth Divine Plato Hammerd at in his Great Revolution when after
others conceit a World in the Moon the Thinner part to be the Sea and the Thicker which is easy to discern not all alike lightsom to be the Earth However no Planet hath such Changeable Aspects yet Astronomers Affirm she hath as much light in her Wane as in her Full only her bright side is turned toward Heaven Hence Dr. Hackwel hath an Excellent Note that therefore God seem'd to set Her lowest in the Heavens and neerest to the Earth of all the 7. Planets to put us daily in mind of the Constancy in Heavenly and Inconstancy of Earthly things Her self in some sort partaking of both though in a Different manner of the one in her Substance and of the other in her Visage to say nothing of the Ecclipses which are the wonders of the World and which Metamorphose even the very Haters of Astrology to become stark-staring Star-Gazers to say but little of the two Planets next above the Moon yet under the Sun to wit Venus and Mercury both which do attend alway upon the Sun as Courtiers do upon the King never going far from Him Venus never more than 48 degrees and Mercury but 30 which is the Reason why it is so seldom seen and why both have no other Aspect to the Sun but Conjunction whereas the other Planets have oppositions c. The Morning Star commonly call'd venus fot its Beauty and Bravery is the constant Companion of the Sun and next in bigness as to Appearance to the two Great Lights casting a shadow as the Moon 't is seen long upon the Day and is not darken'd by the Moon in the Night Sed ipsius Contactu fit lucidior Aureo colore in Candorem deffuso The neer Approach of the Moon Changes only its golden Complexion into a more splendid brightness These two in a word Venus and Mercury are call'd Homodromi that is Fellow-Runners because They Run almost in the same course together and fulfills their periods not far asunder never much Remote from the Pallacâ— Royal or Presence-Chamber of the Sun their King which is also the Reason why these two never have Ortum Occasum Cosmicum they do not Râ—se and set with the Sun in that part or point of Heaven c. which is opposite Both keep nigh the Sun sometimes going before it and sometimes following After But omitting the Inferior my main concern at present is the Superior Planets under which the Sun is seated as the Center of all the Stars and the Eye of the World God hath placed it in the midst of the Orbs that it might the more commodiously give light It self being the fountain thereof to both the Superiour and Inferiour Stars and that neither by its propinquity If in the Moons Orb it should scorch the Earth nor by its too much Distance in the 7th or Saturns Sphere Sublunary things should be starved through want of warmth from it The Sun is seated in the midst of Heaven 3 Planets above 3 below him as a King in the midst of his Kingdom that He may Diffuse his Influence on every hand and Keep all sides down in an equal poize and posture as Plutarch saith by his middle presence The Planet commonly call'd for Distinction-sake Saturn is the Highest above the Sun and next below the Starry Heaven or Sphere of the fixed Stars appearing of a dusky colour as a Star of the Second magnitude cold dry and Melancholick and having the Highest and Widest Circumference cannot compleat his Circuit under the space of Thirty years Therefore 't is said to be of a slow Motion in his peculiar Cycle to say nothing of his Epicycle or Eccentrick Motion That call'd Jupiter is the next to Saturn exceeding splendid so that 't is oft mistaken by the Unskilful for the Morning Star or for the great Dog Star appearing as a Star of the first Magnitude that may Ecclipse Saturn when their latitude which seldom Happens be Equal at their Conjunction This Planet Accomplisheth his Zodaical period in the space of twelve years Having a narrower Sphere than Saturn yet a five times bigger body so that no Planet but the Sun is greater than it being 95. times Cardanus saith a 100 times bigger than the whole Earth The third Planet is call'd Mars less than Jupiter Higher Colour'd than Saturn of a Red Fiery Cholerick Complexion who still in a narrower Circle Finisheth his Revolution in two years Time The Wisdom of our and Their Creator may be much wonder'd at here in two Respects to mention no more now of the many Besides that i Saturn which cooleth much and Mars which Heateth much should have Jupiter placed-betwixt them that it might temper and qualify those two Extreams with its more moderate Temperate and Benign Beams 2 that there should be such a Concreated Harmony betwixt the Sun and those 3. Superior Planets as is aforesaid That Supreme law which their maker laid and left upon those 3. was that they should observe a constant Congruity in all their Eccentrick Motions with the Sun whom they seem saith Alsted to Reverence as their King This Divine Command They have kept to the shame of us who frequently transgress that Law laid on us in Disowning Dishonoring and Disobeying Christ our King for almost 6000 years for as oft as they are in Conjunction so oft do they betake themselves to the top of their Epicycles as to their Chappel or closet in Reverence as it were of so Royal a Guests presence they Depart into the utmost borders of their own Dominions they give place to their Approaching King stands off at a due Distance and there Receives as it were commands and Influences from him And then when After the Conjunction the Sun whose Motion is swifter withdraws from thence these Planets do Descend from the Top or Tower of their Epicycle and like officious Courtiers Attend upon their Prince going his Progress and so they follow the Sun their Lord so far as till he is gone off through the third part of the Zodiack till by his quicker speed He hath out-run them the space of four of the Twelve signs Then at length as if they had fully Discharged their Duty and Homage they make a stand call'd at that time Stationary for some Days casting as it were their long looks after him and at that distance they throw him a Farewel When this is done They begin their Retrograde Motion Running back into the bottom of their Epicycle and letting themselves down into the lowest part thereof as oft as the Sun is gone from them into the opposite part of the Heavens to them and therefore as Alsted excellently observeth they seem to bewail the absence of their King and as it were Humbly Request his Return After this when they Discern the Sun drawing off from his opposition to them and Returning towards them again then they Ascending from the bottom the place of their bewailing still contrary to the order of the Signs Hasten out to meet their King
and as with some Salutations they Entertain the Sun while He is yet distant from them the space of a Trigon 3 or 4 Signs by becoming Stationary or making another stand again this done and the Sun Approaching still nearer and nearer They then Run before him as his joyful Heralds and Harbingers in a right and Direct course according to the order of the Signs and as with great Gladness glide up to the Top of their Tower again that they might as it were resign up the nearest and most Commodious and Honorable place to the Sun their King This in short is the constant Harmonious Motion of these 3 Superior Planets and the Sun The Epiphonema cannot be less than an Heart Refreshing Admiration a Soul-Ravishing Adoration of the most mighty and only Wise Jehovah who Created and hath ordered these Astonishing Stars c. The works of the Lord are great sought out by all those that have pleasure therein Ps 111.2 If all the works of God be great those on the Earth and in the Sea then much more those in the Heavens no less than great works can fall from the hand of so Great a God they are all Magnalia so should all be magnifyed not neglected or slighted It should be a pleasure to us as it hath been no little to me to search and find out such wonderfull works Though they be Great yet are they to be seriously sought into and found out by those that Delight therein and the deeper they dive into them not for vain Curiosity but from solid Sanctity the sweeter they find them God hath shewn singular Skill in all Esp in these his works and He will have Men to admire him their Maker They all a centro ad Coelum are Tip'd and Guilt with a Glory upon them this the Brutish Man understands not Ps 92.5.6 Neither his ordinary nor extraordinary Handy-work whereas a woe is Denounc'd upon those that Regard them not Isa 5.12.15 Ps 28 4.5 They shall have like for like c. God will Reward them according to the work of their hands because they Regard not the work of Gods Hands The 5th Remark to omit the Conjunctions of the Inferior Planets because the frequency thereof darkens the Significancy beside their Inferiority the Superior only are here to be handled and the other but Obiter as occasion offereth and Mars also though it carrys a correspondency with Saturn and Jupiter in the Quality of their Motions both as to Longitude and as to Laittude these three differ only in the Quantity thereof Mars fulfills his Cycle far sooner than the other so its Motion hath not so many Remarks upon it Saturn and Jupiter have many Aspects both towards the other Planets and one towards another as Sextil Trine Square Opposition and Conjunction waving all the other four I shall insist upon the Last named Their Conjunction must needs of all their other Aspects be most Remarkable seeing then and therein only those two mightyest Planets as it were twist together their most powerful Beams this they do when they come near each as do the Sun and the great Dog-star from the 20th of July to the 27th of August all which are call'd dog-Dog-days from the Hot season produced by the twisted Rays both of Sol and Sirius Indeed in true Propriety of Speech a Close Conjunction cannot be call'd an Aspect for when they have no distance wherein to look one upon another but are in the same Degree and Minute of a Sign together Thus may it sometime come to pass that Jupiter may totally Ecclips Saturn as being both in a lower Orb coming 'twixt us and it and of a larger Body seeing Saturn is but as a Star of the 2d Magnitude whereas Jupiter as one of the first Mr. Wing in his Astron Britannica pag. 1280. writeth that in the Year 1661. May the 3d. at 11. in the Night he saw Saturn totally Ecclips'd by the Moon which is a far lesser Body than it though it seem greater through its nearness to us and the others great Distance from us That these two Superior Planets as also Mars should be sometimes Direct going strait forward sometimes Retrograde stepping backward in their Motions and sometimes Stationary standing as we say-stock-still while all the other Stars call'd fixed never do so must needs be very marvellous yet their strange Conjunctions one with another is far more a greater marvel their Conjunction is Threefold 1. Minima 2. Media 3. Maxima or as Artists phrase them 1. Specialis 2. Trigonalis 3. Climacterica These 3. several sorts of Conjunctions in the two Superior Planets are caused thus 1. Saturn is of slowest Motion as he is the highest Planet and hath the largest Circle to run seldom above 3. or 4. Minutes in a day his mean Motion is as some say 2. Minutes and 11. Seconds his swiftest Motion is but 6. Minutes And if his Diurnal Motion be so slow his Annual must be accordingly which according to Keplers Tables improved by Maginus is computed not above 12. Degrees in 12. Months The slowness of Saturns Motion is further illustrated by his several Postures Retrograde Direct and Stationary He stands still neither moving backward nor forward for 3 or 4. some say five Days before he move backward or contrary to the Order and Succession of the 12. Signs and as many days before he go direct forward that is from one Degree of the sign to two and so on to the rest in which direct Posture the Sun and Moon are always found marching â—ndways and never are Stationary as the other Five Planets be or Retrograde but by a Miracle as they both stood still in Joshuahs time and the Sun went back 10 Degrees in that of Ahaz Beside Saturns Retrogradation continueth customarily as some compute it an 140. Dayes all which considered must constitute his Motion Annually to be very slow 2. Jupiter hath a smarter Motion finishing his Revolution in about 12. Years whereas Saturn doth require about 30. Years wherein to finish his Cycle Yet Jupiters Motion compar'd with that of all the other Planets is very slow also whose swiftest Diurnal Motion is but about 14. Minutes as Saturns at the most is but 7. and Mars but 31. beside his being as well as Saturn Stationary five Days before he be Retrograde four Days before he go Direct and his Retrogradation lasteth 120. Days So that he likewise is of a slow Motion Hence it comes to pass that these 2. Planets do seldom make Application each to other in their distinct Spherical Motions they seldom meet together in Conjunction and they may meet together sometimes with their Beams when they do not exactly with their Bodies The first sort of those three Conjunctions the 2. Superior Planets make is call'd the Least Meanest or Special which falls out only once in about 20. Years reckoning in the round Number all along and not troubling either my self or the Reader with the Fractions or broken
Humanum est errare the best Astronomer may say with the Man in Terence Homo sum Humanum à me nil alienum puto Men as Men yea the best of Men may mistake The very Masters and chief Luminaries in the Astronomical orb such as Mercator Maginus Morinus of France Lord of Knudstrobe Andrew Argol of Padua learned Hecker and Kepler himself are all found faulty and in some things committing Errours especially in the places of the slowest paced Planets as are Saturn and Jupiter None agree in all points nor is it one man or one Age that can set these Differences to the Rights as Mr. Gadbury ingenuously acknowledgeth in his Epistle to the Reader both before his 10 y. and his 20. y. Ephemerides 2 observe serve in particular neither do astronomers Agree among themselves in Assigning the Time of this 7th Clymacterical Conjunction in our 16th Century but have differing sentiments about it Alsted that aliquis in omnibus Vniversally learned in all Vniversity Learning says that it happened in the Year 1603. December 24. 'tis 14. in another place at Noon in Sagittary Encuclopaed pag. 1105.1106 and 1215.1216 and 1285.1286 in the first of which places he calls it the 8th Conjunction since the Creation Reckoning the first Inclusive at the Beginning of the World as if it shadow'd out not only the Christian Sabbath which is on the 8th Day or first Day after the 7th on the 8th Day was Circumcision celebrated and the Psalms on Sheminiths or Eights but also that Sab. of Sab baths the Millennium Sab. to be V sher'd in thereby Yet in his second place quoted He calls it but the 7th Conjunction pag. 1216. where the first at the Creation is exclusive and not Reckon'd in the Number to Represent it more purely Sabbatical in the 7th Number In his Third place He adds that this 7th Revolution portends not only great and Universal Commotions in Church and State but also some glorious Reformations which be saith cannot be accomplished without great Concussions in Kingdoms and Countrys But Engl. prophetick Merlin contradicts this not only in its Computation as to time affirming it to be on Decemb. 7th at the 7th hour 45. minutes pag. 22. but also in its Denomination as to name for saith He pag. 57. that Conjunction may properly be called Magna and was no other but it had been Absurd to have call'd it Maxima it was Great but not the greatest or Climacterical because it was not in Aries which is the first of the Zodiack a Cardinal sign c. but in Sagittary This is most certain it must be one of those 3 sorts Greatest Middle or Meanest either that sort of Conjunctions which returns not above once in 800. Years or that of 200. Years or that of every 20. Year and this last is the more probable seeing we find that after the Conjunction in 1603. there was another after that 20. y in 1623 another after that â—0 y. in 1642 3. Another after that 20. y. in 1663. and now another after that 20. in this present year 1682. However The Author aforementioned doth well to call that in 1603. a great Conjunction because it was attended with very great and most memorable matter that James King of Scotland should become the Mighty Monarch of England and of Ireland too and that without either Blood or Blows what was this but a setting up in effect even by a Miracle a New Monarchy especially considering that old Antipathy betwixt Scots and English That prudent Prince brought peace not only to England but also to Europe yet in some sense those other Succeeding Conjunctions in the Interval of 20. y. before named may be called great as well as that in 1603. in Respect of either some great Good or some great Evil attending them For as that in 1603. was attended with the Death of good Queen Elizabeth So was that in 1623 with the Death of King James and that in 1642 3. with civil uncivil Wars and that in 1663. had both the dreadful Plague and Fire following it And God knows what great Matters may also attend this present Conjunction in 1682. whereof more afterward As to that common Notion that climacterical Conjunctions which be but 7 in all as above must be in Aries because it is the first of the Signs of the Zodiack Chief and Cardinal and under it the World some say was created and therefore must be the chief Epoche of the mightiest Matters and Mutations in the World Against this I must enter these Exceptions 1 who told them that the World was created under Aries surely Moses with all his Learning of the Aegypâ—ians did not tell them so nor Abraham nor Job who both are reckoned up as skilful in Astronomy 't is therefore gratis Dictum and a being wise above what is written 2 I find in the best Tables of Calculation I can consult with that the first Conjunction Recorded therein was in the 3d year of the World and that in Sagittary The 2d was 23d y. from the Creation in Leo. The very Sign of our present Conjunction and the 3d in the 43. y. to be in Aries Then the 4th in 63. y. in Sagittary and the 5th in 82. in Leo just as it is now in our 82 reckoning by 20 s or thereabouts betwixt that and this all along from the Beginning of the World to this year 3 In the Tables of Kepler the best in the World improved by Maginus the Sign Leo bids fairer for the place of climacterical Conjunctions than Aries seeing the first in the Tables exclusive was in Leo A. M. 23. and the first Revolution of 800 y. which is the periodical Motion of Saturn and Jupiter after that falls in 817 y. of the World in Leo again as the Tables tell us If we reckon this as well we may for the first climacterical Revolution then we find there again the second to fall in 1611. in Leo too As the first down from the Beginning to Enochs Time so the second reaches to Noahs Days and to that vniversal Deluge The third to Moses in the y. 2406. and Israels Deliverance from Aegypt which was again in Leo. The fourth to the y. 3200. as some say to the Medes Monarchy or as others to Solomon and the Kings of Israel Then also was the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Leo also The fift to y. 4034. the Time of Christs Resurrection and in the 34. of Christ these 2. Planets met again in Leo as Representing that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah had then conquered Death the Grave and Hell who soon after Ascended into Heaven The sixth to 829. y. after Christ the Time of Charles the Great whose Offspring possess'd the Imperial Throne for an 112. years Pareus Medul Hist Eccles pag. 260. and that Time also had a Conjunction in Leo of the 2 superior Planets The seventh and possibly the last brings us down to the 16th Century wherein we find no Conjunction of
but some probable Conjectures partly Astrolog and partly Theolog 1 give me leave to say with Nuntius propheticus Page 35 my Nature hath hitherto abhorr'd predicting Events by the Stars yet seeing the Congress or Conjunction of the 2 Superior Planets have an I had of Evils mostly attending them to fall some where so must portend great Matters yet it is beyond the Knowledge of Man to make any positive Prediction from them upon whom it will fall or precisely when that Great Sabbath or Time of Rest shall come upon the Earth He reckons many Reverend men some that lived while the Bloud of Christ was yet warm who taught freely and fully of this Golden Age or great Sabbath to come with the Applause of all and contradiction of none c. Which future Felicity of Gods Servants upon Earth may well be portended by this 7th Sabbatical and Climacterical Conjunction 2 concerning the precise point of Time when this Day of Refreshing Acts 3 19. and of the Restitution of all things v. 21 shall be no mortal Man can determine indeed so many Men so many Minds One Author assigns this Year Another that a third differs in his Account from both And in truth such is the Vncertainty of Chronology that it is impracticable if not impossible to fix any Certainty hereâ—n The Computation of Time from the Creation to Christ is made in that Variety that Alsted reckons up about 24 several Accounts and Conjectures thereof in his Encuclopaedia Page 2993. Now if there were so much Vncertainty in that Chronology before Christ wherein the Records of the Old Testament run all along as a Thread for Guidance in that Labyrinth how much more since Christ which hath not a Scripture-Chronicle to direct us beyond the first Hundred years And in the very first Century there must be much Obscurity for the Pagans who were so Cruel as to Kill the Authors would not be so Kind as to Keep their Books See my Discovery of Antichrists Rise Reign and Ruine pag. 147 148 149. c. 3 Notwistanding the Variety of Minds in stating this great Matter as to Time yet all do agree vnanimously and there is a Concurrence of Sentiments on all Hands that this thrice happy and golden Age is now at hand the Nearer we may well suppose it because the 7th Conjunction must be attended as all the former 6 have been with Great Revolutions The great Champion of this Sabbatical Doctrine Alsted doth confidently enough determine the year of Christ 1694 which is now about 12 y. hence for the first Year of that Triumphant State or Happy Jubilee And I cannot but wonder to find Trithemius Spineus Cardan and Tycho Brahe all speaking of a new erected Kingdom about the Year 1700. which is about 5 or 6 years beyond Alsteds Account In quo omnia Nutu Vnius Regentur c And betwixt this great Conjunction renew'd again Jan. 30 and May 2d of the next year and in that 17 Century I find not any other of these 2 Superior Planets nor will be till their 20 y. Return from this Meeting only as great an Ecclipse of the Sun I find March 29 in the y. 1693 about Alsteds year aforementioned as was that in the y. 1652. which than gave the Denomination of Black Munday accompanyed with most Black Effects 4 As to those that have put so much stress upon the y. 1666 a year fatal to London not to Rome thà t mystical Babylon Time it self the best Interpreter of dark Mysteries hath confuted That was before this Great Conjunction though not before a Great Comet in the y. 64 vnless we reckon from Christs not Birth but Ascension for then was made Christs Visible Conquest which will be a fit Salvo for the aforesaid as adding 34 y. more to 1666 betwixt Christs Ascension and Descension to Restore all things which is not yet elaps'd but falls upon the 17. Century 5 there be others who judge the Time vncertain and certainly their Judgment in my Judgment is most certain However this is a sovereign Cordial against all our interveing Cordoliums that our Redemption draweth nigh Luke 21 28. therefore are we bid to look up and to lift up our Eyes on high upon those Heavenly Wonders the Conjunctions and the Comets Isa 40 26. And lift up your Heads c. as before or exhilarate corda cheer up your Hearts as that Luke 21 28. is interpreted or stretch forth your Necks as ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.19 signifies which is either a Metaphor from Birds that thrust forth a long Neck out of a Cage or else from Men that earnestly look and long for some special Friend a coming as Siseras Mother did looking out at a Window and crying why is his Charet so long in coming Judg. 5 28. when ye see those things come to pass saith Christ that is when ye behold these Signs Prodigies Ecclipses c. Then know your full and final Deliverance is not far off see Rom. 8 19 to 22. 6 Whereas this Intimation cutts the Worlds continuance in status quo short of 6000 years 't is true it seemeth to do so The Hebrew Cabbalists do indeed observe that in the first Verse of the Holv Bible there are six Alephs who from thence conclude that the World shall last six Thousand Years reckoning each Aleph as it stands in Gen. 1.1 for a Thousand Suitable to this in point of Time is that other Rabbinical Notion that as Solomons Temple was finished in the 3000 y. of the World so the spiritual Temple shall be consummated in three Thousand more According to this Tenure likewise doth the known Prophecy of Elias not the Tisbite but a later Learned Rabbi run in his Reckoning that as there weree 2000 y. plùs minùs before the Law and 2000 y. more or less under the Law So there are to be 2000 y. also vnder the Gospel Agreable also to these 3 former Computations is the Notion of comparing the six Thousand years of the Worlds Redemption whereof the first four Thousand belong'd to the prophetical Office of Christ and the last two Thousand to his Sacerdotal or Priestly unto the six first Days of the Worlds Creation Because both the Old and New Testament do testify that a Thousand Years with God are as one Day Psal 90 4. and 2. Pet. 3 8. As likewise because God promiseth to shew Mercy to a 1000 Generations that is as some interpret it for 7000 y. For as after the 6 Days came the Sabbath so after the six Thousand comes the 7th or Sabbatical Millennium And after the prophetical and priestly Offices be accomplished in the four and two Thousand as aforesaid then begins his Regal Office wherein he takes to himself his great power and Reigns Revel 11 15 17. for which He hath been in long Expectation Hebr. 10 13. with 1 13. and Ps 110 1. and 1. Cor. 15 24.25 this is his Kingly Office 7 These aforesaid Divisions of Times are
Indeed Fair and plausible but as they are not Divine and Scriptural wanting a Warrant from the Spirits Inspiration so there is 1 a plus and a minus a more and a less Attending them and if the two former periods why not the latter 2 Christ hath said that this latter period shall be shortened for the Elects sake Matth. 24 22. which words may have a special Relation to the world in general as well as to Jerusalem in particular 3 There is a German Doctor who tells us we have lost more in the Chronology of Time than Two Hundred years 4 Consider that Tycho Brahe calls the Former Epoches of great Revolutions Vneven ones and why may not this last be so 5 Remember how the Antients make 960 y. betwixt one Climacterical Conjunction and another this will Advance c. 6 so will a Reckoning from Christs Ascension and not from his Birth 7 This Planetary Revolution being the 7th we may expect the sooner a Restitution of all things All Sabbatick Circulations are Reputed as Rings of Gold and the 7th is the Diamond and Sparkling Jewel of Daily Monthly and Annual Revolutions I shall therefore Conclude with this precious double 7th both in the paragraph and in the Subdivision and with that old Hebrew prayer Bimerah Bejamenu let this 7th Millennium or Blessed Jubilee come quickly and in our Day Before we be lodged in the silent Grave even so Come Lord Jesus come quickly So prayeth C. N. FINIS POST-SCRIPT 'T is true when this Sabbatick Jubilee shall begin no mortal man can determin the Hour Day Mouth or Year Tacente Scripturà Taceamus nos where the Scripture hath not a Mouth to speak we should not have a Tongue to ask no man nor Angel knows when the Son of man will come to Restore all things Matth 24 36. Acts 3 21. The Truth is Certain that it shall be but the Time is Vncertain when it will be for the Scripture is silent upon a 2 fold account 1 to suppress our Curiosity eorum quae scire nec datur nec fas est Docta est Ignorantia saith Austin An Itch of knowing secrets is a sort of madness saith Calvin Arcana Dei sunt Arca Dei a prying into Gods Secrets which belong not to us Deut. 29 29. may have the same measure with presumptuous prying into Gods Ark. 1. Sam. 6 19. and Peter gives the same charge against Curiosity as against Theft or Murder 1. Pet. 4 15. Tu fuge ceu pestem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be too pragmatical and inquisitive after matters unrevealed falls under a severe Reproof Acts 1 6 7 11. Judg. 13 18. God hath set us our Bounds as Exod 19 12. His Revealed will we must be wise to Sobriety not above what 's written The 2d Account is to oblige our Vigilancy Ideò later vnus Dies ut observentur omnes saith Austin Christ would not tell his Disciples the day or time of his Return though he told them all that was expedient John 14 2 16 7. yet pronounces them 3 times Happy that are always upon their watch Luke 12 37 38 43. so Mark 13.37 Nevertheless we may safely say this Day of Redemption Draweth nigh and must now be at the very Door as may further be Demonstrated as it is with the Microcosm or little World Man so 't is with the Microcosm or great World As Mans first Age is Infancy reckon'd from his Birth till he be 7 y. old His 2d Age is Childhood from 7 to 14. His third is Adolescency or his stripling Age from 14 to 21. His fourth is his Youth from 21 to 35. His fift is his middle Age or Fulness of Strength which lasts from 35 to about 50. these 2 last are uneven Numbers lasting longer in the Course of Nature than the former 3 wherein Natural Vigor is shooting up in growth as a plant till it come to its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full Strength then comes the sixt his old Age wherein he declines daily and droops towards the Earth from whence he came therefore is it call'd the evil Age Eccles 12 1. senium malum are convertible Terms because it is attended with manifold Maladys and Miserys then he saith with Isaac Behold now I am old and I know not the Day of my Death Gen. 27 2. and with Jacob behold I dye and the Time draweth nigh that I must dye Gen. 47 29. and 48 21. and with Paul I protest that I dye daily 1 Cor. 15 31. Even so it is with the great World whose Infancy was to Enoch the first Climacterical Conjunction it 's Childhood to Noah at the second it 's Adolescency to Moses at the third it 's Youth to Solomon c. at the fourth it 's middle Age to Christ at the fift it 's old Age brings in Charls the Great at the sixt This is further illustrated thus Paul the Apostle adjusteth this Metaphor not only comparing God to a great Householder who disposeth of Times to his Family the World as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies in which Dispensation there is a Time of Tutorage Pupillage and Pedagogy which comprehends all those Times before Christ whose coming in the Flesh He calls the Fulness of Time twice over Gal. 4.1 2 3 4. and Eph. 1 10. that is the full grown Age of the World and of the Church in the World to be freed from Wardship c. And the same Apostle calls the Times afterwards the Ends of the World 1. Cor. 10 11. which can signify no other than its old Age. the very Lees and Dregs of Time So the same Apostle calls them the last and therefore the worst Days 2. Tim. 3 3. and the Lord is at Hand Phil. 4 5. the Author to the Hebrews calls them also the last Days Hebr. 1 2. and the End of the World Hebr. 9 26. and the Apostle James saith the Coming of the Lord draws nigh and the Judge is standing at the Door I am 5 7 8 9. and the Apostle Peter saith the End of all things is at Hand 1. Pet. 4.7 and 2. Pet. 3.3 and John the Apostle saith expresly it is the last Time and we know it is the last Time 1 John 2.18 and He further addeth yet a little while and Christ will come quickly Revel 1.7 and 3 11. and 22 7 12 20. So that all the Apostles seem to expect then the End of the World and Paul points to his own Body when he said this Corruptible shall put on Incorruption c. 1 Cor. 15 53. and expected by the coming of Christ to be Changed rather than to Dye 1 Thess 4 17. yet after other things were Revealed to him 2 Thess 2 2 3. c. And so to John likewise in his Seal and Book-prophesy Wherein he discovers 1. The Fata Imperii 2. the Fata Ecclesiae as a Seal represents the State and a Book the Church All to be Accomplished before the End or they might