therof If thou wilt not heare folow this which I say see what will ensue Thou seest that the greatest matters which these Diuinours and Prognosticaters foretell fall out flat otherwise then they say to to their perpetual shame Truely I am perswaded that it is the iudgement of God vpon them although they cannot see it who maketh them when they thinke they are moste wise to be most fooles For so the Lorde vsed the wise men and Astrologers of Chaldea as he speaketh by his Prophet Esay I am the Lord that made al things that spred out the heauens alone stretch out the earth by my self I destroy the tokens of soothsaiers make thē that coniecture fooles and turn their wise men backward make their knowledge foolishnes Doest thou then O carelesse and miserable man thinke to escape the same or greater punishment being a cause of this fault for if none desired to know what is to come none would busie themselues in that vanity Wherefore read the worde of God in the 18. of Deut. When thou shalt come sayth the spirite of God into the land which the Lorde thy God geueth thee thou shalt not learne to doe after the abhominations of those nations In the wordes following Moses numbreth 9. abhominations As 1 To make his child go throgh the fire 2 To vse witchcraft 3 To regard tims this is thy falt 4 To mark the flying of foules 5 To be a sorcerer 6 To be a charmer 7 To counsell with spirites 8 To be a soothsayer 9 To aske counsell at the dead Al these horrible abhominations being rehearsed marke what followeth For al that do such things are an abhomination vnto the Lord because of their abhominations the Lorde thy God doth cast thē out before thee now seing most of these abhominations especially the 3. is vsed of vs why should we not fear y e like iudgments vpon vs vnlesse we will repent and that with speede 1 The reasons which concerne the Prognosticatour and maye auayle to the perswading of thee not to buy any more of their vnprofitable bookes as these which follow first their vnhability in Prognosticating secondly their manifest vntruthes thirdly their impieties fourthly their tricks of deceit What can they not foretel that which is to come can they not make coniectures of that whiche is like to ensue No surely And I will vse argumentes to confirme it vnto thee The first reason of the vse and end of the Heauens THe true vse of the heauens consisteth in many pointes 1. To declare the glory of God The Heauens saith Dauid declare the glori of god the firmament sheweth the worke of his hands It is an Alphabet written in great letters in which is described the maiestie of God and that by these foure speciall poyntes First the maiestie of the worke it selfe 2. the infinite multitude of Starres 3. by the wonderfull varietie of Starres 4. by the greatnesse of the Starres Secondly it maketh sinners and wicked menne inexcusable before the iudgement seate of God For the inuisible things of him saith Paule that is his eternall power and Godhead are seen by the creation of the world being considered in his workes to the intent that they should be without excuse Thirdly they serue to the appointing of times as day night moneth yeare which are both measured and described by the course of the sonne and moone and other Starres And so the feast of the Israelites and the computation of the yeare in our Church dependeth thereupon and without them there would be great confusion both in the common wealth and Church Fourthly they serue to be signes that is to foretell things to come And they are signes either of extraordinary thinges or thinges which be ordinary Whē they are signes of extraordinary thinges then there is and appeareth in them some extraordinary work of God as appeareth in these examples which follow At the suffering of Christ not onely the vayle of the temple rent and the dead rose foorth of their graues but also the sunne was wholly eclipsed the Moone being in y e full At whiche sight Dyonisius Areopagita a good Astronomer spake these words either the frame of this world is destroied or the God of nature suffereth The Prophet Ezechiel being commaunded of God to prophecie the destruction of Egypt he first putteth downe extraordinary signes And when I wil put thee out I wil couer the heauen and make the starres therof darke I will couer the sun with a cloud and the Moone shall not giue her light All the lights of heauen wil I make darke for thee and bring darkenesse vpon the land saith the Lord. Before the second cōming of our sauiour Christ there shall be signes in the sunne and moone and in the starres Lastly the extraordinary going backe of the sunne signified the lengthning of the life of king Ezekias Secondly the starres or signes of generall things which happen ordinarily euery yeare in nature among vs. As of 1 approching and dedeclining of 1. The spring 2. Sommer 3. Haruest 4. VVinter 2 Ordinary weather in these quarters 3 Ebbing and flowing of the sea 4 Seasons of 5 Plowing 6 Sowing 7 Setting 8 Planting 9 Cutting 10 Felling 11 Reaping I say generall because the perticuler estate and affayres of menne can in no wise before signified by the stars I saye ordinary because the thinges which fall out seldome and are besides the common course of nature as plentie of all things famyne plague war euersions of kingdomes c. Doe not depende vppon the Starres For the confirming of this I haue three reasons first in the 1. of Genesis God saith that he made the lights to be signes and yet the same God in the 47. of Esay sayth he will destroy the signes of them which diuine flatly forbidding vs to vse Starres as meanes to iudge of any thing to come sauing onelie of those of which they are expresely made signes of God in the creation al which are put downe before Secondly this is manifest by the order of the creation the third day God created vpon the earth hearbs trees the earth brought forth fruites and was fertile the fourth day God commaunded lights to be made in the firmament of heauen to seperate the dai and the night and to be for signes for seasons and dayes and monethes and then it was so and then God sawe it was good Out of which I gather that it cannot be a signe causing famyne or plenty and fertilnes because fertilitie went before the creation of the host of heauen Also of wars and plagues and the particular estates of men they can bee no signes because man was not yet created and yet euen then they were signes Some will saie they were no signes of those matters in the creation but nowe they may be and are No for the woorkes which God created he now preserueth
speaketh on this wise Care not theÌ„ for the morow for the morow shall care for it selfe the day hath inough with his owne griefe By this we learne that God will prouide for euery day all things necessary though we do not encrease the present grief with caryng and casting in our heades how we shall liue in the tyme to come Nowe tell me what is the cause that thou yearely doest buye a Prognostication one of those whiche tell the straungest thynges Is it because thou hast a delite to read the style of Prognostications Or because thou wouldest learne to Prognosticate Or because the pictures and Characters whiche they make delite thy mynde it were follie to be persuaded of this seyng the very cause it selfe is manifest Thy whole desire is to fil thy coffers to heape vp wealth thou art afrayde least thou shalt become poore therfore thou greedely buyest thee Prognostications and coÌ„tinually searchest all the corners of them to see the state of the yeare to come eueÌ„ thus in mynde reasoning with thy self I can neuer be quiet nor take my sleepe vntill such time as I haue knowne the state of the yeare ensuing that I may frame my busines accordingly This next yeare there will be much rayne it will rotte corne vpon the grouÌ„d it wil be spoyled I will keepe my corne vntill the next yeare following I finde that corne wil be deare about halfe a yeare hence I wil not sell my corne now but keep it that I may haue plenty of money for it and sufficient beside to maintaine my house the sea and land is calme quiet this yeare the next yeare many shipwrackes troubles in many countreys will fall now I will fraught my ships that then I may be quiet These imaginations are liuely argumentes of thy diffidence despayre in the goodnesse louing kindnes of God If thou feare God loue God put thy whole trust in God y u art content to referre thy whole preseruation vnto the handes of God now these proling and raingeing conceites of the tyme to come argue that either thou neuer thinckest on God or at the least perswadest thy selfe that either he will not or cannot helpe thee And if thou in thy couetous mind pray vnto God thou caÌ„st not pray according to the institution of Christ without hypocrisie giue vs our dayly bread this day UUherefore seyng the hauing of Prognostications commeth of so wicked causes as is the greedy desire of prosperitie wealth and argueth some kinde of diffidence in God when thou readest these my wordes examine thine own hart if thou finde my sayings true as certainely thou shalt neuer hereafter desire to know the state of the yeare before hand except it be for the seasons of the yeare which I am perswaded y u mayst know in some part without any skill euen by thine owne experience The second Reason neglect of Gods prouidence 2 COncerning the conteÌ„pt of Gods prouidence thus much I say The Prognosticatour if hee be asked whether he confesse the prouidence of God he will with all his hart confesse it but by his deedes he doth deny it for all the thinges whatsoeuer which can happen in a whole yeare he attributeth them to the starres so he publisheth his Predictions alwayes mentionyng starres neuer or very sleÌ„derly making any significatioÌ„ of the power iustice mercy and euerlastyng wisedome of God And surely euen for the very paring of thy nailes for the cuttyng of thy hayre for the puttyng on of thy shoes for taking a iourney two or three miles froÌ„ thine house for obtayning at Gods handes thy request for makyng thy bargaine with thy neighbour for all thine actions bee they neuer so small these wise men if thou wilt aske their aduise will giue thee counsell from the stars Now wheÌ„ these their irreligious predictions shalbe had in thy bosome and red of thee dayly thou being a man vnlearned worldly giuen neuer hearyng any mention of the speciall prouidence hand of God in euery thyng but long discourses of the vertues of Planets signes doest neuer thincke vpon the wonderfull and most infinite power of God working after a speciall maner in euery matter but art drawne straightwayes into an admiratioÌ„ of the Astrologer and a great feare of the constellations of heauen An experience of this I found in thee about two yeares ago A learned man yet in this case far deceiued wrote an Astrologicall discourse of the coÌ„iunctioÌ„ betwene Iupiter Saturne wherein he shewed of great alteratioÌ„ in euery thing to fall At this thou wast sore agast thy mind was incoÌ„bred with â—ettling thy goodes to set theÌ„ in order against that day thy soÌ„g for halfe a yeare was nothing els but the coÌ„iunction the coÌ„iunction the day being come what staryng was there and gazing into heauen to see the meetyng of those 2. Planets Now all this while where was Gods prouidence where was that trust and reioysing in him where was that praysing of his name for all thinges whatsoeuer should come to passe where was that meditation of his infinite vnsearcheable wisdome these thinges were neuer thought nor hard of and if they were hard of yet by reason of thine earthly affections they tooke no place in thine hart This thy dealyng is like vnto the follie of that man who hauyng a costly clocke in his bosome neuer extolleth or thinketh on the wit and inuention of the clockemaker but is continually in admiration of the spring or watch of the clocke by whose meanes all the wheeles haue their swifter or flower their backeward or forward motioÌ„s and by which the whole clocke keepeth his course Wherefore me thincketh that in a Christian common wealth those onely bookes should bee published for thine vse which might beate into thine head and make thee euery houre and momeÌ„t to thincke on the prouidence of God which being once settled in thy minde the consideration of the meanes which GOD vseth will follow it of selfe Contrarywise to tell thee the meanes whiche GOD doeth vse to thunder out the aspectes and constellations of Starres and seldome to mention of his prouidence maketh thee to feare and admire and loue the means quite forgetting the worke of God in the meanes This fault was very rife amongest the Israelites who came yearely vnto Astrologers and wise meÌ„ Wherefore that whiche is spoken by Ieremie vnto them is also spoken vnto thee Heere ye the word of the Lord that he speaketh vnto you O house of Israell Thus saith the Lord learne not the way of the heathen and bee not afrayd for the signes of heauen though the hethen be afraid of such In like sort God forbiddeth his people of England to giue credite or feare the coÌ„stellations coniunctions of starres and Planettes which haue no power of themselues but are gouerned by hym their secret motions and influences are not known to man therfore there can be no certain iudgement
immediatelye or wyth meanes If with meanes they cannot determine whether the Heauens or Aungelles or menne or anye other thinges bee the meanes of hys prouidence Thirdly if they were able to knowe what the Heauen woorketh naturallye yet they were neuer the better for GOD beside the power of the heauens hath in all thinges his particular workyng prouidence alteryng and framyng and bendyng aâ— waxe his instruments to his good will Truely by this consideration a Christian man will be brought to leaue of to seeke what euent the workes of God shall haue before they come to passe If a man shall come into a Ioyners shoppe can hee by knowing the vse of all his tooles tell what thinges he hath made in his shoppe No. What is the cause of that he vseth not onely his tooles in his worke but thereunto adioyneth his owne hand by which he handleth and tourneth the toole to his own pleasure and so maketh diuers kinde of workes with the same instrumentes The same may bee sayd of our Prognosticatours whiche I would to God they would somewhat consider The third Reason the want of experience IF our Prognosticators haue any means to foretell thinges to come they haue those meanes either without experieÌ„ce or with experience If they haue them without experience then must thou accompt all which they do to be foolish dreames deceite For all kinde of humaine learning whiche is profitable hath vse in the life of man is taken froÌ„ often obseruations and experience If it be sayd that they haue their directions in Prognosticating from experience and that of all tymes I will conuince them thus True experience of the causes of thinges is an often obseruing of the effectes of the same causes with this grounde that they can proceede from no other thyng The Phisician sayth Rhoubarbe doth purge choler Well how knoweth he this hee hath often tryed this and that in olde men young men children and hath found that in the bodies of all men the cause of purgyng this humor could be ascribed to nothyng els UUherefore hee may peremptorily conclude Rhoubarbe purgeth choler Our Prognosticatours in the heauens can haue no such experience For they can not obserue often the same position of starres in the heauen The order and cause of the fixed starres and Planets whiche we finde in the heauens this day the next day wil be chaunged and neuer the like agayne They will say in deede although the same position of the whole heauen neuer happen yet the same coniunctions of notable starres the same visinges and settynges and the same constellations of the chiefest stars are marked often I say agayn that when these Eclipses and great coniunctions happen the rest of the starres beyng otherwise affected then they were before hauyng new positions may either encrease and diminish their effectes or els hinder them and quite take them away As we see when the Sunne casting his beames into a chamber the light of candels and torches and fires doe make it shine dimme yet these beyng absent it will shine bright Agayne they are not able to saye that constellations whiche they haue marked are causes of those effectes whiche followe as warres diseases disteÌ„pered wether earthquakes famine c. For in those thinges which happeÌ„ together the one is not the cause of the other When Nero played vpon his harpe Rome was on fire yet Neroes playing on the harpe was no cause of the burning of Rome Also these effects may haue others causes in the heauen then those which they marke and they may come immediately froÌ„ God they may come onely from the will of man UUherfore seyng that they cannot assure themselues that those Eclipses coniunctions are the workes of such effectes vpon earth they cannot haue often obseruations of the course of heauen their rules of Predictions are feyned and supposed not built vpon true experience Let a man whiche knoweth not one hearbe take all kindes of hearbes and put them into a great vessell yet so that there be more of some hearbes and lesse of other some let him beate them all together make a compound vertue of all their vertues Can he now tell the nature and operation of euery particular hearbe Can he deuide and seuer by any helpe the vertue of one hearbe froÌ„ another No in deede The same thing may be sayd of the starres of heauen all their lightes and all their influences as they terme it are in the lower bodies more plainly euery earthly body hath in it all the secret powers workyng of euery particular starre so that they make as it were a compounde operation rising of all or of the most of their vertues ioyned together for the Astrologers hold that although the light may be hindred by the thickenes of the body yet the heauenly influence pearceth through all Therefore they are not able to seuer and learne the nature of these starres except they caÌ„ stoppe the influence of what starres they list and bring them into what coÌ„passe they will Yet thus much I will graunt them that they may haue a litle knowledge of the vertue of the Sunne and Moone and some other starres as we see those hearbes in the former coÌ„position whose vertues be the chiefest though not fully yet somewhat doe represent their nature and shew themselues aboue the rest But what is this to the purpose If I confesse the operations of the Sunne Moone If I shall graunt that Saturne is in nature cold dry Iupiter warme moyste Mars hot dry Venus cold and moiste Mercurie in nature mixt the notable fixed starres in the Zodiacke to bee of the nature of Planets and to haue manifest operations as the rising of the â—â—gg to make heate tempestuous seas the rising of Arcturus to make rayne and showers Pleiades to be of the nature of Mars the Moone c. what will all this suffice to make a Prognostication for seyng all starres haue their owne powers peraduenture also the least starres whiche we make no accompt of haue great effectes amongest vs as one grayne of muske in the Apothecaries shoppe maketh a greater smel then all other powders bee they neuer so many nothyng will the knowledge of the operation of some Starres preuaile the rest beyng not knowne and neuer regarded They will say they haue some experience but yet vnperfite I haue showed how they haue no true experience at all and their vnperfite experience maketh them perfite lyers The fourth Reason the ignoraunce of causes A Man whiche will iudge rightly of any matter by the causes must not onely consider the common causes but hee must also with them conferre the particular causes of all thinges which happen amongesâ— vs so he shall iudge a right In heauen the starres be common causes of all thinges amongest vs because they shew their vertue on euery matter one way or other The same things haue their peculiar efficientes and matters and
these reasons whiche follow 1. The signes cannot haue any such dominion ouer mans body I make it manifest thus There is no corporall heauen in deede aboue the firmament yet because the firmament or 8 Sphere hath many motions to giue reasons of those motions the Astronomers haue feyned two heauens aboue the firmament the Christaline heauen and the first moueable or 10. Sphere which they deuide into twelue partes whiche partes they call signes Now I praye you tell me is it possible to conceiue that an imagined part of any imagined heauen voyde of all starres shall either haue in it selfe or giue vnto other Starres power to gouerne the parts of mans body More reasonable was that man who beyng asked what was the cause of the sandes in Sandwiche hauen he aunswered the buildyng vppe of Tenterton Steeple Secondly the gouernement of the signes in the body is not taken from experience in nature but feyned long ago by some drowsie pate and now because it hath a cloake of antiquitie it is allowed More naturall was this kinde of waye that hote signes should gouerne hote partes cold signes cold partes earthy signes earthy partes So Aries should gouerne the hart and the vitall bloud not the head the rest of the signes those partes whiche are of their nature and disposition Thirdly great experience of many men dayly confuteth this rule For many learned Phisitians expert Chirurgians haue by infinite exāples found that if a man be let bloud in the signe or lanched or boxed or seared no harme ensueth nay they haue giuen testimony that the patients haue found euen then great comfort Wherefore let not these thynges trouble thy mynde any more but let them be nombred euen amongest vaine and vnprofitable fables 2. Next after followeth Elections of dayes and houres necessary for all matters as followeth Speciall dayes to Prepare humors Let bloud Purge with Vomite Electuaries Potions Pilles Cut hayre Comforte the vertue Bathe Attractiue Digestiue Retentiue Expulsiue Put children to schoole Trauell Marrye Hunte Hauke Fishe Plante Geld Cattell Laye foundations Here I pray thee marke their naughtie dealinges how they abuse thy ignoraunce to make themselues skilfull and to doe more then they can doe For if the iudgementes of the best Astrologers may be taken certainly most of these elections cannot be prescribed to thee vnlesse they knowe beforehand the figure of thy Natiuitie For all Election which concerne thy person must be moderated to speake as plainly as their toyes will suffer mee by the direction of the roote of thy Natiuitie and by the monthly and diurnall Progressions of thy present Reuolution If anie of these pretende some euill the perticuler Election may bee a meanes to increase and to bring it to passe For example suppose thou being a man toward marriage in the Almanacke thou findest a good daye noted by the Prognosticatour to marry in thou takest thy opportunitie after a while thou art wearie of thy life the first daye of thy marryage was the last daye of thy ioye UUhat is the cause of this All the Planettes which were signifiers of thy marriage in thy natiuitie were then euilly affected and peraduenture also at the first thou wast borne they receaued some disgrace So then thou maiest laye all blame partly vpon thy selfe for beleeuing and partlie vpon the Prognosticator who deceiued thee But to come vnto particulers the elections of daies to purge the bodie with anie kinde of purgation and to comfort the same are most ridiculous Why do they not also prescribe houres of eating meat Why do they not appoint the kinds of meats and drinks which wee must eate vse daily If thou see that God doth dayly blesse the enterprises of those Phisitians which neuer regarde those elections in ministring to their patients neuer esteeme of them let them goe as lyes to the Diuell from whence they came Concerning the electiōs of days to sowe to sett to plant to lop they are also foolish the generall obseruation of the season of the yeare in whiche these things are to be done is sufficient And S. Augustine in his book de ciuitate Dei laugheth at the folly of them whiche choose perticuler daies to do their husbandrie as thogh some certain positiōs of starres had some speciall influence to the thinges which are sowne then His reason is because manie grains of corn beeing cast into the grounde together springing vp together and riping al at one time yet some of them are blasted some are eaten of birds some are trodē down vnder foot some stand and are neuer touched The rest of the elections and especially that of laying foundations is most absurde They saye that if an house a citie a town haue his foundation when the starres be well affected the inhabitauntes shall haue prosperous and quiet liuing if when the starres be euill disposed then trouble disquietnes They haue no experience of this but y t onely which is most false for they knowe not the foundations of cities and towns neither the positions of the stars when they were built Let Rome and Venice be examples because these are most alledged of Astrologers the time in whiche they were built is vncertaine and the Planets are falsly sette in the figure of the foundation of Rome because Mercurye is contrarie to the sunne a thinge flatte impossible Agayne the folly of this is thus manifest that an house or Citie or common wealth may remayne the people being gone as it is in the time of plague and banishment and conquestes of Princes And the inhabitantes also may be safe and remain the building quite ransumed and beaten downe as we may see in Carthage the people and common wealth remai ned the Cittie quite defaced That al elections are vnlawfull Saint Augustine writing vnto Ianuarius prooueth it forth of the 4. to the Galathians by these wordes ye obserue months and times and yeares Therfore saith he let vs not obserue dayes yeres and monethes and times least wee heare this of the Apostles I am afraid least I haue taken labour in vayne with you for he rebuketh them which say I wil not goe because the Moone is thus or thus mooued or I will take my iourney that I may haue good successe because there is such a position of Starres I will not doe my businesse this moneth because suche a Starre gouerneth this moneth or I will doe my businesse this moneth because such a starre ruleth How then shall a man doe not to breake the worde of God Art thou a man that desirest to leade a christian life Then take the example of Paule as a patterne to gouerne all the actions of thy life without ceassing saith he I make mention of you in my praiers beseeching that by some meanes one time or other I might haue prosperous iourney by the will of God to come vnto you So thou if thou hast anye businesse in hand any iourney to take any thing to buy or sell or