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
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
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
the glorious and glittering Rouâ—h cast the Vnder ceiling or at least the Vtmost Court of the Coelestial Palace The Great Creator hath shew'd much Skill and laid out great Workman-ship upon Heaven a most curious accurate and elaborate Work therefore is it call'd the Work of Gods Fingers Isal 8 3. a Metaphor from Embroiderers and workers of Tapestry choice Needle work or Watch work they must have nimble Fingers that work such fine Works with Expedition and Exactness and therefore is the Maker of Heaven call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an exact Artist as the word signifies Hebr. 11.10 and not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Work man or Labourer whose courser Work requires more the Strength of his whole Hand than the Skill and Activity of his Fingers The Great God Erected this most Immense Coelestial Vault without any Ladders Scaffolds Tools or Engines and when He had so done He Garnish'd it with Stars as a Palace is adorned with stately Pictures Job 26.13 If the Outside and Vnderceiling of Heaven be so glorious how much more is the Inside unconceivably so Isa 64.4 1. Cor. 2.9 Psal 31.19 John the Divine in an extasie of the Spirit maketh search through all the Bowels of the Earth and Sea to find out all the precious Treasures hid in Both as Gold Pearls and precious Stones of all Sorts and all this is done only to be a Dim shadow of Heavens excellency Revel 21.11 to 21. Yea to resemble the Glory of the new Jerusalem in the last times as to her Walls Windows Gates and the Pavement of her Streets upon which no dirty Dog shall ever trample Isa 54.11.12 Revel 21.27 and 22.15 When Moses and the Elders got but a glimps of Gods Glory they saw under the Feet of the God of Israel as it were the paved Work of a Saphir-Stone Exod. 24.10 God dwells in inaccessible Light 1. Tim. 6.16 Moses could only see the Back-parts of that Glory Exod. 33.23 Yea such is that surpassing Splendor that the very Angels cover their Faces with both their Wings as with a double Scarff just as men clap their Hands upon their Eyes when the Lightning flashes in their Faces Isa 6.2 The 2d Remark is the Stars in the starry Heaven are Numberless and many of them Nameless Psal 147.4 God can both Name and Number them which is an Exclusive Expression intimating God only but no Man can do it Augustin tells of Aratus and Eudoxus who vainly vaunted that they could both Name and Number them De civit Dei lib. 16. But a better Man than either of them Abraham one who was as the Rabbins say a great Astronomer could never count the Number of them as God saith to him If thou be able c. Gen. 15.5 Implying it an Impossibility to do it Yea Adam himself in his State of Innocency could give Names to all the Beasts of the Field and to all the Fowls of the Aire Gen. 2.16 But not a word do we read of his giving Names to the Stars of Heaven God saith expresly the Host of Heaven cannot be Numbred Jer. 33. â—2 Hereupon Man is forced to call a whole House of Stars all by one Name such a Constellation containing each a Bundle of Stars The 3d Remark is as the Stars are to be admired for their being above Name and Number so likewise no less admirable is both their Station and Motion The Great God hath set a Tabernacle in the Heavens for all those Nameless and Numberless Stars as well as for the Sun Psal 19.4.5 Each individual Star hath its distinct and particular Station as every great Cart-nail hath its proper place round about the Ring or Rimm of the Cart-wheel where it remains unmoveable every Star hath kept its Station ever since the Creation to this Day not one particular Star hath left its peculiar Place for almost 6000 Years Though some Angels left their first Habitation Jude v. 6. Yet never did any one Star forsake its own Tabernacle wherein its Creator at first placed it Indeed Metaphorical Lucifer did fall from Heaven Isa 14.12 But the Literal and Real one to witt that call'd Venus the Morning and Evening-star never yet did so The Stars are call'd the Host of Heaven Jer. 33.22 They are Gods Army that have their Stands and Stations they all Stand in Battalia by the Appointment of their Maker and Master Jehovah is their Chief Lord General who hath set them in Rank and File by an Ordinance of Heaven Jer. 31.35 c. No Star ever yet brake its Rank from the Foundation of the World Yet this Coelestial Host or Army hath not only its Stand and Station but also its March and Motion yea which is the more marvellous they both Keep their Station and hold their Motion at one and the same point of Time Their Station is certain and peculiar though their Motion be constant and perpetual This may be exemplyfied by a familiar Instance every Cart-nail in the Tire of the Wheel keeps its place where it is fixed while the Wheel runneth its Round and makes a progress 'T is not the Nail but the Wheel that makes the Circular Motion no more is it the Star that moves but the Orb or Sphere wherein it is fixed which carrys about the Star as the Wheel the Nail in its continual Circulation Thus likewise 't is further demonstrated by a well-disciplin'd Army every Soldier not only keeps to his own Colours but also marches orderly in his place whether a left Hand or a right Hand Man to his Rendezvouz he duly observing his Generals Order both for his Station where and his Motion whether at one and the same Time And no doubt but Gods Host of Heaven is a well disciplin'd Army every Star in Heaven is under a Law and Ordinance made by the God of Heaven God asks Job knowest thou the Ord nances of Heaven Job 38 33. Canst thou tell how to order the whole Host of Heaven as Master and Governor over them or canst thou guide or direct the Motion of that single Constellation Arcturus and his Sons ver 32. which ever whirleth Round about the Northern pole but never goes down the Horizon 't is the work of God alone to order every Star in its Course Yea to make the matter still more admired this motion of the Stars is made either without wandring or weariness 1st without wandring All the fixed Stars do constantly keep their way and their time as well as Place and Station in both their Nocturnal and Diurnal Motion 1 they do hold their way wherein their Maker hath confined them with so much exactness that they have no Epicycles as the Planets have nor any Eccentrick Motions but fulfil their Circles and Revolutions without the least Deviation Hence it is observed that those Inhabitants directly under the aequinoctial have a prospect of all and every Star equally for 12. Hours above the Horizon for there the Sphere is Direct but where it is oblique some
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
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-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
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