they defended with such obstinacy That when they were reproved of him and taught to do otherwise they answered That they would not do according to his Teaching but follow rather the desperate bent of their own Bows as I may say In worshipping the Moon as Queen of Heaven This you may see in the Four and fortieth of Jeremy at the Sixteenth and seventeenth Verses where the words be these As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not say they hearken unto thee But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our mouth to burn incense to the * The Moon as in Job Chap. 31.26 Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink-offerings unto her as we have done we and our Fathers our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem Of which they give this Reason For then say they we had plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evil By which last words plenty of victuals were well and saw no evil it well appeareth That it was fear as much as any thing else which made them thus advance this practise And truly fear is an effect proceeding from the nature of Superstition and so far prevailing That it will there make gods where it doubteth most of danger As the Egyptians did in making Fortune a godess for they kept an annual feast in honor of her diety giving her thanks for the year which was past and earnestly imploring her favor for the year to come It was Plutarchs observation That the Superstitious always think the gods ready to do hurt By means whereof he accounteth them in worse case then Malefactors or Fugitives who if they once recover the Altar are there secured from fear where nevertheless the Superstitious are in greatest thraldom And from hence arose that ancient saying Primos in orbe deos fecit timor Fear first brought gods into the world And hence it also was That the Heathen in institution of their Sacrifices did offer as well to all their gods that they should not hurt them as for any help they expected from them And so in some sort it is even among us though called Christians for we have some that are troubled if the Salt do but fall towards them others that be afraid if a Raven do but crook over them or an Hare but cross the way before them or a Pin but lie with the point towards them for then forsooth they think the gods are angry with them they dare not therefore so much as stoop to take it up forgetting in the mean while what David saith in the 31 Psalm at the sixth or seventh Verse namely this I hate all those saith he who hold of superstitious or lying vanities but my trust hath been in the Lord. O what a misery it is to dote as some men do through the godless fear of foolish fancies But above all we have an example of the poor silly Indians who sacrifice their children unto the Devil at this very day because they be mainly afraid of him And of old as it is storied we have the example of Alexander Magnus who sacrificed to the Sun Moon and Earth that thereby he might divert the evil which as he feared was portended by an Eclipse but a little before And the Jews forementioned did not onely burn incense to the Moon whom they called the Queen of Heaven but did offer up cakes unto her also as in Jere. 7.18 From which kinde of Idolatry Job did thus acquit himself saying If I have beheld the Sun when it shined or the Moon when it walked in brightness or if my heart hath secretly enticed my mouth to kiss my hand unto it or by way of worshipping it then this were iniquity that ought to be punished Job 31.26 A smatch of which is still remaining even among us in some old doting Women who at the first sight of the New Moon do use to say Yonder 's the Moon God save her grace For from whence should that Speech arise but from the reliques of that Heathenish kinde of Idolatry which made gods of the Sun the Moon and the Stars But when Job spake against it he said It was iniquity that ought to be punished as you have already heard And well might Job say so because God Almighty had forbidden it as in Deut. 4.19 Beware lest thou lift up thine eyes to Heaven and when thou seest the Sun and the Moon and the Stars even all the host of Heaven shouldst be driven to worship and serve them which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all Nations under the whole Heaven By all or most of which hitherto mentioned we see that God Almighty would not have his people learn the way of the Heathen either in a servile slavish fear actively considered whereby they worship the Sun Moon and Stars or in a passive fear as in the Text whereby they are made afraid amazed or sore troubled in minde with thought of what may happen from the significations of the signs of Heaven For though they be signs and thereupon may and do signifie else they were no signs yet thus saith the Lord Be not afraid of them for the Heathen are dismayed at them All which in a word tendeth to this namely That the Prophet here teacheth Gods people to have their trust so firmly fixed on him that what disaster soever the Heavens in the course of Nature should at any time threaten unto them they ought not to fear it For as one truly speaketh Astra regunt homines sed Deus astra regit The Stars have a power over men such as it is but God ruleth the Stars Or as another saith Justè age Sapiens dominabitur astris Et manibus summi stant Elementa Dei That is Do godly deeds so shalt thou rule the Stars For then God holds the Elements from Wars Whereto agreeth that of Melancthon a great and famous Divine who speaking of this of Jeremy Be not afraid of the signs of Heaven saith Oh sweet consolation proposed to the Church of God and to all that call upon him For though the Prophet doth not say They signifie nothing nay rather in naming them signs doth declare they sometimes signifie or threaten great and sad things yet he would have the godly comforted and not be dismayed at them Not saith he because they signifie nothing but that the pious may trust that they shall be covered and kept of God even in those dangers For as Christ when he biddeth us not to fear death doth it not because death is not bitter but because he would have us know that even in death he is present to preserve us So here the Lord God in saying Fear not the signs of Heaven doth it not because they are not sometimes of an evil signification and may therefore produce effects of a sad event but because he would have our whole trust and confidence be
practise and not by that which truly and indeed is called Astrology For that which truly and indeed is called so is nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the language of the Stars or the speech of the Heavens whose voice as I shewed you before out of the 19. Psalm at the 3. Verse is heard over all the Earth For there is neither speech nor language but their voice is heard among them The Apostle Paul in Rom. 10.18 doth onely allude hereunto and not litterally understand it of the Preaching of the Gospel as some would have it For as the voice of the Heavens is heard in all Lands so the sound of the Word which was Preached by the Apostles went into all the Earth and their words unto the ends of the World Thus then I see as Dogs bark at them they know not so some among men condemn and hate the things they throughly understand not Moreover another way of the Heathen was to inchant the Signs of Heaven as both their Poets and others report Carmina vel coelo possunt deducere Lunam saith one Charms can bring down the very Moon out of Heaven And so also doth Diodorus Siculus testifie Lib. 2. c. 8. Upon which power the Heathen people did so much rely that as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses in Pharaoh's time so did the Chaldeans withstand Gods Prophets in Esay's time and afterward insomuch that they reposed their safety and the safety also of their Empire in the power of this wicked Inchanting brood of Astrologers who were either such themselves as had through Satans subtilty corrupted the art with damned Diabolocal inventions and not such as medled with no more then pure Astrology or else were mixed as one in counsel and purpose with those who wickedly believed that they could cross God and hinder the operation of the Heavens by their devilish inchantments Now these the Lord God Almighty derided in Esa 47.12 13 14. Verses saying Stand now with thy inchantments and with the multitude of thy Sorceries wherein thou hast labored from thy youth if so be thou shalt be able to profit if so be thou mayest prevail Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels Let now the veiwers of the Heavens the lookers on the Stars who give knowledge concerning the months stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee Behold they shall be as stubble the fire shall burn them they shall not deliver themselves By which words of If so be thou mayest prevail let them stand up and save thee they shall not deliver themselves is clearly shewed that Chaldea relied solely upon the power of these wicked men who opposed God and gave no heed at all to the predictions of his Prophets Of which opinion was Balak the King of Moab when he sent for Balaam desiring that by his inchantments he would curse Gods people saying unto him with great confidence I wote well that he whom thou blessest is blessed and he whom thou cursest is cursed Numb 22.6 But all this would not serve the turn for there is no inchantment against Jacob neither is there any divination against Israel And therefore when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel he went not as at other times to seek for inchantments but set his face toward the Wilderness Numb 24.1 And thus I believe we have the right meaning of that Text even now alleaged out of the Prophecy of the Prophet Esay Or suppose this be not the full meaning but that rather we are to understand it of Gods deriding the Chaldean Astrologers for not foreseeing by the Heavens what his Prophets foretold yet what can be thence concluded but that the highest God doth sometimes when he pleaseth produce that which could not be foretold by the observation of the Stars This I grant is not altogether improbable howbeit I rather think the other to be the truest interpretation as best agreeing to the scope of the Prophecy What shall I say more the Text saith here Be not afraid of the Signs of Heaven and so say I Be neither too fearful of them nor yet to careless to regard them nor the significations intended by them For though they be Signs and do therefore signifie yet let not this trouble you be not overcome with fear be not dismayed at them For if thou belongest to the Israel of God and wilt but search and try the ways repent of sin watch and pray seek to God and redeem the time now the days are evil then know that there is a God who is the God of Israel who will be for thee and will either remove a threatned evil and leave a blessing behinde him or will else dispose of the worst that either may or can be for thy assured good For as David saith in the 121. Psalm He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep The Lord himself is thy keeper the Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand So that the Sun shall not smite thee by day for so the word signifieth nor the Moon by night The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil yea it is even he that shall keep thy soul The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth for evermore All glory therefore be to God both Father Son and holy Spirit As was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Amen FINIS
SIGNA COELI The Signs of Heaven OR A SERMON On a TEXT in the Tenth Chapter of the Prophecy of the Prophet JEREMIAH at the Second Verse Preached on the day before that great Eclipse of the Sun which was on the Nine and twentieth day of March in this Year of our LORD GOD 1652. And Year of the World 5656. By John Swan Minister of Gods Word Pauci intelligunt multi reprehendunt Non ait Jeremias Nihil esse Signa Coeli imò cum nominat Signa portendi aliquid adfirmat Melancth Praefat. in Joh. Schoneri Libros London Printed for John Williams dwelling at the Sign of the Crown in Paul's Church-yard 1652. JEREMIAH 10.2 Thus saith the Lord Learn not the way of the Heathen and be not dismayed at the Signs of Heaven for the Heathen are dismayed at them THat which hath caused me to make choice of this Text at this time is the great noise which I have heard among the common people concerning that Eclipse of the Sun which to morrow in the Forenoon will present it self unto us It is indeed an Eclipse that will be very great and may therefore have some sad effects which will in time shew themselves among us Yet should not this so trouble perplex or cast down the mindes of Christians as if they had no God to stay upon For what is it but the way of the Heathen to be afraid of the Signs of Heaven which way we must not learn For thus saith the Lord Learn not the way of the Heathen and be not dismayed at the Signs of Heaven for the Heathen are dismayed at them I have read the words according as I finde them rendred in our last Translation agreeing therein to the Original and to others who have repeated it in another Tongue Melancthon saith Nolite timere à signis Coeli quae timent Gentes Be not afraid of the Signs of Heaven which the Gentiles or the Heathen fear And Junius or Tremelius thus A Signis Coelorum ne consternemini quia consternantur Gentes ab illis That is Be not astonished or sore troubled in minde at the Signs of Heaven for the Heathen are amazed at them As if he should say The thought of what the Signs may signifie hath taken away their heart hath cast them down astonished them made them afraid amazed and sore troubled in minde But be not so You that have the Lord for your God For thus saith the Lord Learn not the way of the Heathen and be not dismayed at the Signs of Heaven for the Heathen are dismayed at them In which Text I finde a Prohibition wherein the people of God are prohibited from learning the way of the Heathen One particular whereof is this namely That they feared or were dismayed at the Signs of Heaven beside which they had other ways wherein they offended as I shall afterward shew you Some I know by the word fear in this place understand a Religious reverence or fear such as is pertinent to Divine Worship and thereupon they do not read the Text Be not afraid of the Signs of Heaven but Fear not the Signs of Heaven In which reading the sence or meaning is very different For by saying Fear not the Signs of Heaven they conclude that the Prohibition in the simple meaning thereof is no more then worship not it being here the intent of the Prophet to keep back the Jews from worshipping the Heavenly Bodies called in the Text by the name of the Signs of Heaven For that the word fear is often taken so in Scripture cannot be denied As for example in the Nine and twentieth Chapter of Isaiah at the thirteenth Verse we have these words And their fear toward me was taught by the precept of men Which words when our Saviour Christ expounded in Matth. 15.9 he took the word fear for worship saying In vain they worship me teaching for Doctrines mens Traditions So also in another place when the Children of Israel had sinned it is said They feared other gods as is written in the Second Book of the Kings the Seventeenth Chapter at the seventh Verse They feared other gods that is They worshipped other gods And in more particular that it must be taken so here in this place the words following at the Fifth Verse do make more evident for there the Prophet speaking of the Images of the Heathen which they made erected and worshipped saith thus Fear them not for they stand up as the Palm-tree but they speak not c. By all which a man would think that such indeed were the signification of the word fear in this very place and that it were needless to seek any other interpretation thereof But I shall shew the contrary and evidently declare that it is not so For first in justification of that reading which renders the Text Be not afraid of the Signs of Heaven or Be not dismayed at them It is a reading which is exactly suitable to the Hebrew word here used which doth certainly signifie a passive surprisal or possession with fear and not an active as doth that aforesaid in Isai 29.13 And can therefore in it self import nothing that is pertinent to such a fear as simply hath relation to Adoration For though both the Heathen and Jews also were guilty of worshipping the Host of Heaven for which they are elsewhere reproved as I shall shew you by and by yet the word here used imployes no such thing nor is ever so to be taken except as some think the object of fear when it is named be either put for the true God or for some Idol to be worshiped in the stead of God Then Secondly For that also at the Fifth Verse of this Chapter before mentioned where idolatrous fear of worship of Images is forbidden the phrase is not the same for the phrase is altered and is there no passive surprisal or possession with fear of astonishment as in the former word at the second Verse but is there an active fear such as is pertinent to adoration as the word there used hath declared The word therefore not being the same in both places causeth the sence and meaning not to be the same in one place that it is in the other but that the one differeth from the other even as far as doing is from suffering Howbeit I neither can nor will deny but that passive fear drives superstitious men many times to that active fear of adoration For though it be certainly true That God Almighty made the Sun Moon and other Stars yet such is the folly of some among men to make them gods which they do by their vain wicked practises of worshipping of them And so the greatest Lights are by them abused to the greatest darkness and by deifying of them they damnifie themselves by being as blinde and as superstitiously addicted as were the Heathen Gentiles This the Jews even in this Prophets time as also in some times before were guilty of which
placed in him who hath made the Heavens and the Earth with all that therein is The Heathens indeed were afraid because they looked onely upon the secondary causes but you that be Gods children may look upon God the first cause and therefore though they were yet you need not be afraid of the signs of Heaven no though they promise no good For God is above them and can either mitigate the most direful influence that is as he stayed the course of the Sun in the days of Joshua or else can make even that which is the worst of all to work for the good of them that love and fear him as you may see in Rom. 8.28 in which place the Apostle speaks without limitation of any thing saying All things And if all things then even the worst of such things also as may be intended by the signification of these signs He that dwelleth saith David in the secret place of the most high Psal 91.1 shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty Thus he in one Psalm and in another Be merciful unto me O God Psal 57.1 be merciful unto me for my soul trusteth in thee yea in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpast In which words David a man after Gods own heart teacheth us by his own example where to shelter our selves in troublesome times even under the shadow of Gods wings And then come life come death or come what will or can come it shall be no terror to him that makes God his refuge For though in this infirmity of nature mans minde is subject to fear as well as to any other passion and may therefore at the first be troubled when the Signs of Heaven do threaten the Earth with some direful influence yet when he hears the sacred voice of the Eternal say Be not dismayed at them he gives ear thereunto betakes him to God prayes for Faith endeavors for patience and all other Graces which may confirm him And so having put himself under Gods protection he resteth setled and quiet in minde waiting and expecting to see what it is that the Lord will do For though in it self it be a sad thing to see how the Pestilence sometimes rageth and sweeps away the people to see how Famine and the Sword devours to see the firing and subversions of Cities to behold the death of Friends and Kinsfolks the banishment of our selves our Wives and Children yet ought the godly to be so confirmed That through the fear of these things they may not be broken but be firmly setled and willing to walk with God in all his ways as well of judgement as of mercy which again was Davids course in the Three and twentieth Psalm at the fourth Verse For though I walk saith he through the valley of the shadow of death yet will I fear no evil For thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me And in the Six and fortieth Psalm at the first and second Verses God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Therefore will we not fear though the Earth be removed and though the Mountains be carried into the Heart or midst of the Sea Erigenda igitur mens est c. The minde therefore of a godly man ought to be elevated above all this corporal nature though the World should be broken and fall nor is it to be endured that the Word of God nor that our trust toward him should be shaken off By which trust as the mindes of the godly are guarded against present dangers so should they also be strengthned against the hurtful significations of the Stars as saith Melancthon In a word It is certainly true that the time will one day come when the whole World it self shall go to ruine before which time there shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars and Mens Hearts shall fail them for fear as our Saviour hath told us in Luke the One and twentieth Yet for all this saith Christ there when these things shall begin to come to pass then lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh By which phrase of lifting up the head is still declared That the right reading and meaning of the Text is so as at the first I shewed namely Be not afraid cast down fore troubled in minde or as those who hang the head at the Signs of Heaven what sad thing soever seems to be threatned by them for it is God that guides * A Star so called in Job 38.32 Arcturus and his sons and can if he please as well restrain the bad influences of any of the wandring Planets as binde up the sweet influences of the fixed Pleiades or loose the Bands of Orion how else had the Lord convinced Job of weakness and imbecility concerning these very things in Job 38.31 Moreover there is a Text in Job 9.7 where God is said to seal up the Stars in his anger This he doth for a punishment when he keeps back the Rain from watering the Earth as in the days of Ahab when there was no Rain for the space of three years together From whence again I argue That as he can seal them up from doing good for a punishment to offenders so in like maner he can seal or binde them up in his mercy from being hurtful though they may threaten great and sad things to this wicked world in which we live Or thirdly be it granted That as the case may stand between him and the World he will not absolutely hinder or perhaps not at all hinder the full and compleat operation of the Signs of Heaven but let them go on unbound as the Stars in their courses to fight against Sisera that is to use them as his Instruments for punishing an incorrigable sinful people Ephes 1.11 Yet for all that working all things not barely according to his will but according to the counsel of his will there is no doubt but he will dispose of all things as well in a merciful way to those that fear him as in a just way to those who obstinately sin against him and cause even the worst of things to co-operate or work together for the good of his children Rom. 8.28 To whom by these sad Signs of Heaven which beget a fainting fear in others he gives warning of his judgements and thereupon prepareth and stirreth them up to call upon him For as one truly saith Loquitur cum hominibus Deus non modo lingua humanâ per Prophetas Apostolos Pastores sed non-nunquam etiam ipsiis Elementis in formas imagines diversas compositis That is God saith he speaketh with men not onely with the Tongues of men by Prophets Apostles and Teachers but sometimes also by the very Elements composed or wrought into divers forms and shapes And if by the Elements then by the Stars and Lights of Heaven which work not onely upon