Stars rise together yet do not set together yet none vary an Hairs-breadth from their appointed Lines of Circumference Neither 2 do they vary the time appointed them but do precisely observe it even to a Minute hereupon the Psalmist celebrates Gods Praise For the outgoings of the Morning and Evening Psal 65.8 for the exact Vicissitude of Day and Night and the admirable Equipage the Host of Heaven marcheth in according to the Ordinances of Heaven from the Lord of Hosts Jer. 31. 35. The Sun Moon and Stars know and observe precisely their time both of going down and of rising up Psal 104.19.20 which all the Powers of Hell and Potontates on Earth can neither Hinder nor Hastem Job 38.12 Psal 74.16.17 Yea so exact and regular is their Mation that Men who knows not where themselves shall be or what shall befall them to Morrow Prov. 27.1 can write Ephemerides what Eclipses will be for many Years to come in what point of Heaven and what Hour of Day or Night such and such Positions Conjunctions Oppositions c. will happen yea not only when the Sun will rise and set all the Round Year but also that the Tail-Star of the Great Bear will early and late point directly to Arcturus that Arcturus shall rise exactly when the Sun sets upon the 10th of March and that the great Star of the Lyon and of the Great-Dog though they rise together yet the Dog Star will set some Hours before Cor Leonis because their Sphere is oblique as to us this latter being neerer to the Tropick of Cancer as the former is to that of Capricorn these and many more Instances not mentioned may demonstrate how they all exactly observe their time and way without wandring Yea and 2dly All this the Stars do Without weariness also In an Host of men on Earth some Soldiers will be found both wandring and weary But in this Host of Heaven so called As none are found wandring in sano sensu So nor can we find one Star that may be reputed weary The Prophet compares God to a Chief Commander calling forth his Companies the Host of Heaven all in his Muster-Roll and laying his Commands upon them though some Soldiers may fail in their March either through Fear or Feebleness as that Aegyptian did 1. Sam. 30.11.12.13 but not so much as one Star ever failed Isa 40.26 though their March be many Millions of Miles round the Circumference and that without Rest and Respit Night or Day Yea and now for almost 6000 Years But one Instance for brevity to wit that afore mentioned 'T is a Matter of of great Admiration that Canis Major and Cor Leonis among the fixed Stars should Run a Race Round about the Globe of the Earth which the Hebrews say is distant from Heaven a 500. Years Journey rise together at their first Creation in one point of time yet though they have been Running their restless Course for neer 6000 Years now neither of them hath fainted or failed in the way so as at any time to outrun each other but still both of those Great Stars observe a precise point of time for their Rising together now as they did at their first setting forth yea and of setting together to those under the Aequinoctial though not so to us through the obliquity of their Circle and Circumference in our Horrizon The same may be said of the other Stars The 4th Remark is that the Great God hath created not only Innumerable and Vnnameable Stars that are fixed in the 8th Sphere call'd the Starry Heaven but also seven Planets or wandring Stars as the word Planet fignifies so called not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simply but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secundum quid or Comparatively If those Planets be Simply and by themselves considered they have made their several Revolutions in their own distinct Orbs at the most fixed and most unchangeable certain Periods from the Beginning of the World to this present day but to speak comparatively in Respect of the fixed Stars all these Planets are placed under them have a differing Motion from them and hold an unequal distance to them yea and one to another in Respect of their seeming Vagabond and Eccentrick Motion they have various Longitudes Latitudes Conjunctions Oppositions Sextile Square and Trine Aspâ—cts Sometimes they move more swiftly sometimes more slowly as they are higher or lower in their Epicycles sometimes Retrograde Direct or Stationary never keeping the same distance among themselves or to any of the fixed Stars nor holding one and the same Situation in the Firmament as the fixed do Notwithstanding all this no Stars wander less than they do but have a most certain constant stated and regular Motion Duely performing the precise points and periods of their compass in their appointed Times As the Sun knows his going down Psal 104.19 So do all the other six Planets comprehended in one Verâ—e Post Sim Sum Sequitur proxima Luna subest Wherein S is Saturn J Jupiter M Mars The next S is Sol the Sun V Venus and M Mercury with Luna the Moon All these 7 are call'd wandring Stars for the Reasons above named and this Denomination hath a Divine warrant from the Apostle Jude v. 13. where wandring Stars are mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sense only of the common Judgment of Sense which beholds them carryed about in a differing Course to the whole Circuit of Heaven beside Two of those 7. Planets are these 2. Great Luminaries or Lights of the World the Sun and Moon both which be a whole Bundle of Wonders The Sun is the Prince of Planets yet as his Hebrew Name Shemesh Signifies is a Servant to Gods Servants He cometh out of his Chamber as a Bridegroom with marvellous Splendor Pomp and Bravery when he first sheweth himself above our Horizon and Rejoyceth as a Champion to Run his Race Psal 19.4.5 This he Runs with such a wonderful Swiftness as exceedeth the Eagles Flight more than the Eagle exceeds the slow Motion of the Snail Bellarmine saith the Sun runneth seven Thousand Miles in the Eight part of an Hour Bell. de Ascens Mentis in Deum grad 7. and with such Incomparable Sweetness Eccless 11.7 that Eudoxus the Philosopher profess'd his Willingness to be burnt up presently by the Sun so he might be but admitted to come so near it as to learn the admirable Nature of it and Chrysostom cannot but wonder at the Suns darting down its Rayes towards the Earth whereas all Fire shooteth and hasteth up toward Heaven I might mention many more Marvels in the Sun were it not Besides my present Design Design As likewise in the other Great Light the Moon cal'd Hebr. Jareach of Rauach to Refresh or Refrigerate because she cools the Earth with her Influences and Moses mentioneth that as the Sun by warmth so the Moon by Moysture make the Earth fruitful Deut. 33.14 as some will needs place Hell in the Hollow of the Sun so
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
A Strange and Wonderful TRINITY OR A TRIPLICITY Of Stupendious PRODIGIES Consisting of a Wonderful ECLIPSE As well as of a Wonderful COMET And of a Wonderful CONJUNCTION Now in its second return seeing all these three Prodigious Wonders do joyntly portend Wonderful Events all meeting together in a strange Harmonious Triangle And all are the three Royal Heralds successively sent from the King of Heaven to sound succeeding Alarms for awakening a Slumbering VVorld Beware the third Time Si ter pulsanti nemo Respondet Abibit They that Regard not the Works of the Lord nor the Operation of his Hands shall be destroyed Psal 28.45 Lift up your Eyes on high and behold these things Isaiah 40.26 London Printed for Langley Curtiss 1683. A Strange and Wonderful TRINITY Or A Triplicity of Stupendious Prodigies consisting of a Wonderful Eclipse as well as of a wonderful Comet and of a wonderful Conjunction now in its second return c. AS the first Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in October the last was ushered into the World by a frightful Blazing Comet so their second Conjunction is attended with the two formidable Eclipses of the two great Luminaries of the Heavens The first of the Sun going before it upon the 17th of this present January and the second of the Moon coming after it upon the first of February following Insomuch that this middle Conjunction seeing these two superior Planets will again have their third and last Conjunction upon the second of May next is made the more Illustrious by a double Deliquium or ECLIPSE of both the Sun and Moon within a few days of it before and after it happening betwixt the twentieth and thirtieth of this January All which have this strange concurrency to render this present Conjunction the more conspicuous and to be of greater Observation and Authority to its Spectators I have early and late taken my strictest Prospect of the Progress and Regress that these two great Planets have made since their last October Conjunction and I have observed they have been running Retrograde untill at length they came into an equal distance each from other and from the Lions Heart in a direct line so that then these three great Stars in this posture and situation did represent the exact Form of Orions Girdle which the vulgar call the Ladys Yard-wand bright Jupiter being the middle Nail Cor Leonis and sullen Saturn were the two end-Nails of that Coelestial Yard-staff Then Jupiter marcheth off from his middle Station to a farther distance from that fixed Star the Lions Heart and the two wandering Stars Saturn and Jupiter make a nearer approach each to other all December last and all this January hitherto I have beheld every clear Evening these two Planets arising in a perpendicular posture but in the Morning towards their setting they have a traverse Aspect running near the same line in the Heavens where famous Arcturus runneth and every Night they come nearer and nearer each other until they shall within a few days compleat their second Conjunction which will happen near the same time that the two great Luminaries the Sun and the Moon shall have their compleat Conjunction also so that the Body of the Moon interposeth it self betwixt our Sight and the Sun and cover its Light and Lustre from us full nine Digits yea and the Moon shall be Eclipsed by the Interposition of the shadow of the Earth soon after it and that which makes all this still more Marvelous is these three admirable Conjunctions of the two superior Planets of the two great Luminaries and of the Moon with the Earths shadow shall be all almost in Direct Opposition one to another All these prodigious Providences thus admirably concurring at one Juncture of time do sound a loud ALARM to us to ponder both the Premises and the Consequences in our Minds until they have a kindly Influence upon our Affections To omit the Planets Conjunction upon which I am after so Copious the Theme I here Handle is the Eclipses which puts the World upon a Gaze The Prophet Joel in the old Testament and our Lord Christ in the new foretold of strange and stupendious Eclipses should be fore-runners of the Lords coming Joel 2.31 Mat. 24.29 c. Yea both the Gospels and the Epistles in the Holy Scripture do foreshew that there will be prodigious events and appearances both in the Heavens on the Earth and in the Sea Luke 21.25 and that the whole frame of the universe shall shake and tremble c. as Houses when ready to Fall give some great Cracks to fore signify it 2 Pet. 3.10 c. That Eclipse of the Sun at Christs Death Math. 27.45 was certainly supernatural For 1. It was at Full Moon upon the fourteenth day of the Moons Age at the Pass-over whereas natural and ordinary Eclipses of the Sun are always at New Moon in Conjunction with it and not in Opposition to it 2. That Darkness by a Total Eclipse continued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over all the Earth from the sixth hour to the ninth which could not be natural for the Body of the Sun being bigger than the Body of the Moon doth soon wade from under its shadow and never continueth totally darkned for one hour much less for three 3. That Eclipse was universal which no natural can be being always particular to those Provinces which have the nighest propinquity to the Cone of that shadow whereas this was not in Judaea onely as Origen mistakes but Tiberius 't is said was sensible of it at Rome and Dionysius Writes to Policarp That they had this Darkness in Aegypt and he was so astonish'd at this Complication of many Miracles in one That he cryed out Naturae patitur Deus aut natura periclum either Nature now determineth or the God of Nature now suffereth This dreadfdl Eclipse happened under the fift Climacterical Conjunction of the two same Superior Planets since the Creation wherein the Sun hid his Head as it were in a black Mantle as ashamed to behold those shameless Indignities done to the Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 by the Sons of Men. The next formidable Eclipse we read of in History is under the sixt Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter 800 years after this upon the approaching Death of that famous Emperor Charles the Great who dyed on the fift of the Kalends of February 814. Whereof Eginardus writing that Emperours Life saith thus Signa multa praecesserunt mortem gloriosi Sancti Imper. Caroli nam Eclipsis solis Lunae ultra solitum fuit Apparuit per septem Dies macula Nigri Coloris in sole Many strange Prodigies did preceed this Great Charles's Death as Eclipses extraordinary both of the Sun and of the Moon and a great back Spot was beheld in the Sun for seven days which could not be Mercury as some said because of his swift Motion nor could it be a Meteor as others affirm'd because that is too high a place for
these Exhalations according to the known Rules of Phylosophy It must therefore be Digitus Dei the Finger of God pointing at that great Providence which removed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or impediment which had thitherto hindred the further and fuller Revelation of the Man of Sin All Artists have held Eclipses to be the most precious Treasure of Astrology and Chronology giving the certain and indubitable Characters of Time as also that they have an irresistible Influence upon Countries Cities and Inhabitants that lay under the Line of them Thus mighty remarks have been upon them in all Ages both before and after Christ As 1. Plutarch Varro and Dionysius observe that there was an Eclipse of the sun at Romulus's Birth who was the first founder of Rome in the year of the World 3180. and Cicero says There was another Eclipse of the Sun at Romnius's Death in the year of the World 3235. and may not we hope that these Eclipses now may Prognosticate that God will Reckon with Rome and Eclipse her Glory that the Vials of Gods Wrath shall be shortly poured down upon her for her so long filling the Church with Heresy all States with Blood evil Men with Plots Treachery and Treasons but good Men with a due sense of the many Holy Cheats of that ill Infalible Chair I omit those Eclipses that Fore-ran Xerxes over-running Greece in the year 3469. mentioned by Herodotus that which portended the Peloponnesian Warr recited by Xenophon and Thucydides That of Great Alexander routing Darius c. and that of the Fall of Julius Caesar and many other portentous ones 2. All along since Christ great remarks have attended them as besides that afore-mention'd in the 8th Century before great Charles his Fall in the 11th Century so great an Eclipse of the Sun hapned at Noon that the very Stars were seen in the Heavens and then did the Sun of the glorious Gospel set at Noon upon the poor Waldenses who were universally Massacred by the cruel Croisadoes of the Roman Beast Yet God reserv'd an Holy Remnant for Royal Vse but those that fall out near Climacterical Conjunctions as is afore hinted are most formidable as was that in 1652. which wanted not its direful Consequences and Confusions 3. The Inhabitants of China who think themselves to have two Eyes but other people of the World to have but one are much affrighted with Eclipses Looking upon the Sun and Moon as Man and Wife and that they are angry with them under these Deliquiums c. 4 However 't is the Threatning of an angry God that the Sun shaell be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Bloud Joel 2.31 Mat. 24 35. A Solar Eclipse especially towards its Declension as this is about three a Clock in the Afternoon portends Declensions to fall somewhere and more especially being attended with a Lunar Deliquium so soon after c. But most especially when it ushers in two Conjunctions of the two superior Planets the one in this Month of January and the other in May following both in Leo this year 83 a year which Mr. Gadbury thought in his Praediction on 78 would produce strange effects c. I heartily Pray that this Declension may fall upon Rome and all its proud Helpers and that this bright Sun of Righteousness may not set at Noon upon our Heads as Amos 8.9 and our Land be not Darkned in a clear Day Pray earnestly Nobiscum Christe Maneto Extingui lucem non patiare Tuam Are we not upon the very Tropicks and turning points of Time c. The effects of the Retrograde Motion of these two Planets were direful in the 8th Century and they have been no less already in this 16th God grant better c. An Astrological and Theological Discourse upon this Great Conjunction and upon the Heaâ—ens the Planets and fixed Stars So far as is necessary to Unfold its Mystery AS this great if not greatest Climactericael Conjunction is Vsherd into the World by a great Blazing Comet so is this Discourse upon the Former by my Half-sheet upon the Latter which falling into the Hands of a very Learned and Honourable Gentleman not only found most pleasing Acceptance notwithstanding the Notorious Omissions in it by its negligent Printer who left out two lines in two places of the First page and another most material One in the Second to wit the Third under Moses the Fourth under Solomon the Fifth under Christ so he curtaild my Copy if not made it Non-sense But also it brought forth a Request from Him to me for an Inlargement upon this great Conjunction Touching the Comet which was the Usher to this Conjunction I observed It quite left its Northern Latitude where it first Appear'd and is passed to the Southern posting away from Vrsa Major by Arcturus to a little beyond the Aequinoctial line where it hath overtaken the Beams of the Sun and wherein it hath hid it self from our Sight for the present But may If its matter be not all spent before be seen again in the Morning when it hath out run the Sun so come neerer to its Signal Lord and Master the Superior Planets conjoyned to which as an Harbingger and Herald it hath sent out General Summons to look up and admire Leaving therefore the Servant the Comet who hath now Left us having done its Errand and we have Lost it by its Disappearance let us attend upon its Master the Conjunction which it attended upon and hath sounded its Trumpet both North and South to Rouze up Spectators of this so wonderful position of the Planets the like whereof hath not been for Twenty or Two Hundred or Eight Hundred Years past as the Sequel doth demonstrate in following Remarks the 1st Remark is Heaven according to Scripture notion omitting the distinct orbs found out by Philosophy is 3 fold Coelum expansum stellatum gloriosum 1 the Firmament wherein the Fowls do flye which is the Aorial Heaven and hence 't is said the Fowls of Heaven Math. 6.26 2 the Aetherial or Syderial Heaven wherein the Sun Moon and Stars are seated and do shine forth hence are they call'd the Stars of Heaven Gen. 22.17 Deut. 1.10 c. 3 the Empireal or glorious Heaven the uppermost of all the Seat of the Blessed into which the Apostle had his Rapture 2. Cor. 12.2 where glorifiâ—d Saints and glorious Angels dwell with the great God hence 't is said the Angels of Heaven Math. 24.36 't is hard to open so much as a Window or Casement for letting men see the Incomprehensible light of that glorious Lodging which is the Palace Royal of the Almighâ—y Jâ—hovah the Chief City and Court of the great King of Kings Omitting this and the first The Second is the Subject of our present Discourse The starry Heaven is but the Floor and Pâ—vement of the glorious Palace though it be a Roof and Canopy over us 't is as it were the spanglâ—d Curtain of the Bride-grooms Chamber
Saturn and Jupiter in Leo till we come to 1682. therefore may we more probably conjecture that this 7th Conjunction present in Leo hath some secret Mystery of Sabbatism in it and promiseth something in its signature of more singular Moment to this World than any of its Antecedents 4 Astronomers do grant that when the 2 superior Planets do pass out of the watery Trigon and have their Meeting in the Fiery be it in Leo Sagittary or Aries in which soever their Conjunction is 't is a great Conjunction and portends great Mutations not only because these 2 Interchanged Triplicitys are contrary as Fire and Water but also their Abode in one Trigon is about 200 y. And if usually 7. y. the Term of Mans Life in Law bring Changes what may 20. y. their least Conjunction and about 3 Mens Lives do much more may 200. Y. the Time of their Mean but most of all the 800. Y. which is their Climacterical Meeting New Empires c. may well arise in that Time 5 Spineus Physitian to the Duke of Padna who wrote Catastrophe Mundi 1625. y. and Engl. shed by Squire Ashmole saith pag. 24. that of all the 3 Signs in the fiery Trigon Aries is the weakest then must it follow that Leo is stronger And at this Time especially considering 6 This present Conjunction in Leo comes Notably corroborated in 3. Respects 1 it is attended with 2 frightful Comets the first esp the like whereof hath not been this 800. y. as seal'd up in its significancy with a double Signet or Seal Royal. Alsted c. affirm that such Con junctions so seal'd are most significant 2 their Conjunction is near Cor Leonis a Royal and Couragions creature whose Heart is the Seat of his Courage which must add to its significancy seeing those 2 greatest Planets go into this Regal sign and so near the Heart of it entring there as it were into a deep Consult and there confronting the Sun 3 That Mars should meet first Jupiter upon the 7th of this last September and Saturn upon the 12th to strengthen them both with his conjoined Rays as both pass'd along in Tendency towards this their Great Conjunction all these Meetings are in the same Sign of Leo though now Mars be going off from candâ Leonis as dropping down from off the Lions Tail into the Sign Virgo wishing them as it were an Happy Meeting which no doubt will be so according to Rules of Art for Jupiter having the higher Elevation and being above Saturn as yet must correct Saturns Malignity Halys comment on Ptolomy 63. Aphorism beside both Jupiter and Saturn are oriental and so is Mars which is a Situation judg'd the least obnoxious Saturn say Artists makes Plots but Jupiter above him spoils them both the Two and Mars are occidental to the Sun and therefore saith Almansor propos 30. They must give good at the latter End though the way to that End may be rough and rugged enough esp to the Northern Regions they being all so nigh to the Tropick of Cancer their Diurnal Ark or March in our Horizon pouring down their Influences for about 15 Hours and both Saturn and Mars being what Star soever they are joined with so mischievous to Mankind What their 2d Conjunction on January 30 in the Y. 83 and their 3d Conjunction again upon May the 2d in the same next Year 83. all Three in Leo though in 2 distinct Years immediatly succeeding each other and all 3 in the Compass of 8 Months which is far short of the distance of 20. years for this great Conjunction consists of all these 3 Meetings that a 3 fold Cord may not easily be broken Whereas as is abovesaid their least Conjunction hath the Interspace of 20 years may conduce hereunto time will best declare for Truth is the Daughter of Time Considering also that the Sun will lose its light so soon after this first Conjunction October the 9 82 so little before their second in January 30. in 83 for in the same Year and Month upon the 17th Day of January in the Y. 83. that great Luminary will be Ecclipsed and 9 Digits darkened in Aquarius about 3 a clock in the Afternoon much more might be added here but sat verbum sapienti c. I have duly and daily observ'd the Motion of these 2 great Planets every clear Morning since they came nigh each other and do wonder that they should be so swift in their Motion Saturn running 2 Millions 376 Thousand 261 Miles in an Hour and 3964 Miles in one Minute and Jupiter running 898 Thousand 700 Miles in one Hour and 14 Thousand 9 Hundred 78 Miles in one Minute yet are so slow in their Meeting For I find Saturn requires 12 Days in his Diurnal motion to go this one single Degree in Leo and Jupiter requires 7 days for the same before they can come through the 18th Degree of Leo to conjoin in the 19th distant only 2 Minutes whereof there be 60 in every Degree on the 9th of 8 ber 82 then on the 10th Day Saturn marches off 6 Minutes and Jupiter 8 from their so near Application It must be considered also that the proper Motion of these 2 Planets as of all the other 5. is from West to East upon the Pole of the Zodiack though the primum mobile or upper Heaven hurry them upon the Northern Southern Poles from East to West as plainly appeareth in the Motion of the Moon one of the Planets which at her Change in setting West every Night falls backward and backward towards the East till at her Full she Riseth in the East in about 15. Days 2ly Theological that it may 1 appear This Discourse is not Chaldaization or the folly of the Chaldees so much condemned in Scripture for Astronomy and Astrology must not be confounded as too generally they are That the Stars have a 3 fold Excellency light Motion and Influence is granted by all that are Judiciously Learned All the Controversy is about the last Concerning their Influence there be 3 Opinions 1 in excess 2 in Defect and the 3 in the middle between both The 2 former extremes are offensive but the 3d is inoffensive 1 Those in the Excess were the Chaldeans Arabians Egyptians Stoicks and many Jews yea and Gentiles too both Heathen and Christian who Account the Heavens to be a Book wherein the Fates of All are written and who make their Schemes and Horoscopes from thence as Creditable as the Gospel 2 Those in the Defect are such as Censure all sorts of Astronomical prognosticks for Tables and Fooleries To say Heavenly bodies do produce no effects by their powerful Influence is to Deny both Scripture and Experience They both offend in Contrary Extremes in saying that the Stars either do all things or that they do nothing therefore 3 The middle way betwixt these two Extremes must be most Approved In Medio tutissimus Ibis Ecclipses may certainly and changes of Times
may probably be prognosticated Job was Undoubtedly a great Astronomer yet a good man and Holy in his Astronomy knowing Arcturus Orion the Pleiades and the Chambers of the South Job 9.9 Yea and the Dragon whose nodes have all the Ecclipses and Seated betwixt the 2 Bears not far from the North-pole Job 26 13. and God himself Discourseth with Job as with one Conversant in that study Job 38 31 32 33. Where the Lord Asserts an Influence in the Stars and that Irresistible as to Man Job cannot bind it up or loose it out and let it go the power of Binding and loosing pertaineth to the all powerful God who is the sole Guide and Governor of them and who hath placed a Dominion in them over all Elementary bodies which is expresly mentioned in these words canst thou set the Dominion of them on the Earth Job 38 33. God hath put a Power into the Stars to Rule the 4 Seasons of the year c. This is call'd The Powers of Heaven 3 Times Recorded by Christ himself Matth. 24 29. Mark 13 25. and Luke 21 26. and surely those powers cannot be Insignificant Deus Natura nil faciunt frustra God and Nature make nothing in Vain They have then a Power Dominion or Influence which no mortal men though never so many or mighty can either hinder or hasten Thus Amos also that Heardsman and Summer fruit gatherer neither a Prophet nor the Son of a Prophet Amos 7.14 yet was a most notable Astronomer discoursing notably upon the Stars Chimah and Chesil 2 years before the Noted Earthquake Amos 1 1. and 5 8. as likewise upon the Spheres those 3 Stories of Heaven one above another before the Famine of the Word Amos 9 6. and 8.11 yea and Hosea brings in God Reckoning the Heavens to be next in power the next Vessel of Mercy to Himself Hos 2 21. where the Prophet sets down a Concatenation of Causes concerning Divine providence which the Wizzards of this World either denye or deride Lastly Moses when He blesseth Israel as their Civil Father as Jacob their natural Father had done before Him Gen. 49. Declares therein How the precious things of the Heavens do bring forth the precious Things of the Earth Deut. 33 13 14 15. So that Stars are not set and seated in the Heavens ornatus gratiâ merely for Ornaments sake as Baldwin in Cases of Conscience p. 780. excellently Demonstrates They are not only for Garnishing the Under-Ceiling and stately Vault above our Heads as Job says Job 26 13. but Moses Intimates that they are the Treasurys of God having Treasure laid up in them the Stars are Gods Store-houses out of which He scatters his precious things from his Heaven upon the Earth saving The Lord shall open to thee his good Treasure Deut. 28 12. Every Star saith one is as a purse of Gold out of which God casts down Riches that Good Men gather up by Honest means but the Evil scramble for by fraud or by Force that the Stars be Signs all do grant and in some sense Causes That they be Signs is grounded upon Gen. 1 14. Let them be for Signs yet some do narrow that word saying they are only Signs of Night and Day if so then the Sun and Moon had been enough to signify both these so all the Rest of the Thousands and of the Millions be altogether superfluous Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora what need many where two will do 't is against Common sense as well as express Scripture to deny that those Celestial Bodies are not Signs of Times and Seasons also as of Summer and Winter Gen. 8 22. of Weather c. yea Learned and solid Pareus on Gen 1 14. Excellently Argues that the Stars could not be call'd Signs unless They did signify something and that something He saith is to warn mortals of many Matters such as be 1 Natural 2 Civil 3 Spiritual and He Approves of that â—â—â—…k Verse of Aratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stars signify to men what matters are forged or framed for them As 1 Natural Signs they be of Heat Cold Dryness and Moisture c. 2 Civil the Sailor must Hoise up his Sails as the Word pleiades signifies when those 7 Sisters bring in the Spring with their sweet Influences So for setting sowing c. 3 Spiritual their Aspects and Passions saith he are Signs of spiritual Events as both Scripture and Experience teach such as Ecclipses Comets c. For though these things have their Causes in Nature yet do oft portend horrible Changes of publick Affairs Seditions Wars Droughts Inundations c. for so much as He saith they either do naturally excite those sore Judgments Through divine Pleasure or do certainly assist the Causes thereof therefore they do foreshew and are Signs of Gods Displeasure whereby Men are alarum'd to Repentance Though the Rainbow have a Natural cause as the Reflection of the Sun-beams in an opposit watery Cloud yet is it nevertheless a Sign of Divine Clemency Gen. 9.8 for preserving the World How much more must those preternatural Passions of the Planets be Signs of either Gods Anger or Favor Parcus on Gen. pag. 54. Col. 12. All this He saith though in pag. 55. He shews himself no Friend to Judiciary Astrology which Dr. Willet likewise declares to be repugnant to Reason as well as Scripture and its practice in telling Fortunes and finding things lost c. to be Vain and Impious in his 20th Question Gen. 1.14 My opinion is Astrology in the General is lawful provided it keep within its due Bounds and pry not too far into Gods Secrets Deut. 29.29 'T is only the all knowing God who can foretel future Events Isa 41.21.22.27 1. Eccles 8.7 and 10.14 c. Man knows not what shall be no nor the Devil notwithstanding the Subtlety and Sagacity of his Angelical nature together with his long Experience to help Man therefore all his Oracles He deliver'd in ambiguous Terms that he might save his Credit when deceiv'd All Apollo's Oracles were made by Astrology saith Ensebius De praeparat Evang. lib. 6. cap. 1. with lib. 5. cap 10. And they were not only directed by the Aspect of Stars but also ministred by Familiar spirits Yet the starry Heaven is a sacred Alphabet wherein the Wisdom Power Justice and Mercy of God are Lined out to us these all be written legibly yea Palpably as the word Act 17.27 signifies in the Brows of the Firmament hence Clemens Alex Calls it the first Bible God made for Mans instruction 't is one of the 3 leaves of the Book of Nature which every mortal should read and consider Thus David did He read it because it declared the Glory of God Ps 19.1 yea every line of that leaf he knew how far reached the length of those lines what David calls a line Paul calls a Voice Rom. 10.18 quoted from Ps 19.4 Reading Divinity-Lectures to all the Inhabitants of