the Names Genus Species efficient and final Causes of all Comets c. from p. 140. to p. 184. 11. A Discourse teaching how Astrology may be restored from Morinus from p. 184. to p. 189. 12. The Cabal of the Twelve Houses Astrological from Morinus from p. 189. to p. 208. 13. An Astrological Judgment upon his Majesties March began from Oxford May the Seventh One Thousand Six Hundred Forty Five from p. 208. to p. 222. 14. Bellum Hybernicale Or Irelands War Astrologically Demonstrated from the late Celestial Congress of the two Malevolent Planets Saturn and Mars in Taurus the Ascendant of that Kingdom c. from p. 222. to p. 272. 15. Merlini Anglici Errata from p. 272. to p. 311. 16. Multiplicatio effectus Siderum secreta ex Cardano from p. 312. to p. 321. 17. A brief Account of the Causes of Earth-quakes from p. 322. to p. 324. 18. Sundry excellent Rules shewing by what Laws the Weather is governed and how to discover the various Alterations of the same from p. 325. to p. 331. 19. A Collection of sundry of the Authors most Excellent Poems as Printed in several of his Loyal Works from p. 331. to p. 415. 20. Gesta Britannorum Or a succinct Chronology of the Actions and Exploits Battels Sieges Conflicts and other signal and remarkable Passages which have happened in these Dominions from the Year of Christ 1600. unto the Year 1667. from p. 416. to p. 514. 21. XEIPOMANTIA Or the Art of Divining by the Lines and Signatures engraven in the Hand of Man by the Hand of Nature c. Together with a learned Philosophical Discourse of the Soul of the World and the Vniversal Spirit thereof from p. 514. to the End of the Book A SHORT ACCOUNT Of the FASTS and FESTIVALS As well of the JEWS as CHRISTIANS With the Original and End Of their INSTITUTION IT will not I hope be denyed but that as God by his Extraordinary Presence hath Hallowed and Sanctified certain places so they are his Extraordinary Works that have worthily advanced certain times for which cause they ought to be with all men that Honour God more Holy than other Days The Times so advanced are The Festivals and Fasts of the Jews Christians Of the Jewish Festivals and Fasts Some were Instituted by Divine Authority The appointment of Men. The Jewish Festivals Instituted by God are First The Sabbath or seventh-Seventh-day in every Week so called from the Hebrew Scabath which signifies a day of rest or a time set apart for Holy rest which day God consecrated to his Worship because He thereon rested from his Work of Creation The end whereof was I. Civil and Oeconomical for the ease and refreshment of their Bodies whose strength had been Exhausted by Labour Sex diebus facies Opera tua septimo autem die quiesceÌ„s ut quiescat bos tuus asinus tuns ut respiret filius ancillae tuae peregrinus Exod. 23. 2. Ecclesiastical for the worship of God and meditation upon his Divine works 3. Spiritual 1. As being a Type of that Spiritual Rest whereby we should cease from the works of the World and the Flesh that God might work in us by his word and Spirit And 2. as shadowing unto us that endless rest which all of us hope to enjoy with God in the World to come II. The Neomeniae or Feasts of New-Moons Celebrated the First day of every Month initiating with the New-Moons which was Instituted in memory of the Light Created by God to the end 1. That by this means his People might be alienated from the Superstitions and Idolatry of the Ethnicks who subjected the Months to the Planets Stars and Signs Caelestial and know that God is the only Lord Governour and Moderator of the Stars and Signs themselves and consequently of the Months and Years and Time in general And therefore give unto God the greater thanks who ordained all these things for the use and benefit of mankind 2. To Typifie mans Renovation by the Illumination of the Holy Spirit which is still required of all the faithful Nisi enim homo per Spiritum Dei renatus fuerit regnum Dei videre non poterit III. The Third ordained by God is the Pasch or Passover so called from the Hebrew Pasach or as others read it Phase which signifies to leap or to passover or beyond This was Instituted Anno Mundi 2447. and celebrated from the Fifteenth day of the First Month Abib called afterwards Nisan to the Twenty First day of the same inclusively that is for Seven days together Yet so as that the First and Last thereof viz. the Fifteenth and Twenty First were held more Festivous and sacred than the rest These Seven days were likewise called the Feast of Azymes and the First of them the Pasch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because that thereon the Paschal Lamb was eaten 1. To câ—ll to mind and as it were consecrate to Eternity Gods miraculous deliverance of the Israelites from their Bondage in Egypt 2. For a sure testimony of the perpetual Mercy and Power he would shew to his People 3. To Typifie Christ Jesus and our deliverance perfected by him IV. The next Solemn Feast instituted by God is that of Pentecost so called from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but termed by the Hebrews Schesuothe that is the Feast of weeks because celebrated after the Seventh week from the former Feast of the Passover as may be seen in Exod. 34. Levit. 23. and Deut. 16. But it truly signifies the Fiftieth Solemn and Festival day from the Second of the Azymes in which sense St. Luke takes it Acts 2. where he saith Cum autem compleretur dies Pentecostes and Chap. 20. Speaking of St. Paul festinabit saith he ut si quomodo posset Pentecosten ageret Hierosolymis By this name also are meant all those Fifty days betwixt the Second of Azymes and the Fiftieth Festival day And so the Author of the Vulgar Edition understood it who renders these words of Acts 2. in the Plural Number viz. Cum complerentur dies Pentecostes c. It is also called Festum Primitiarum from the First-Fruits or the Bread Offer'd which was made of the new Fruits Exod. 23. This Feast was Instituted 1. In memory of the Law given by God on Mount Sinai the Fiftieth day after the Israelites departed out of Egypt 2. That by the Ceremonial Oblation of two Loaves made of the New-Fruits to the Lord men might be admonished they received all Fruits and so all things else for preservation of Life from the bountiful hands of God and be also excited to beseech God not only for a blessing thereupon but also to make a sanctified use thereof 3. To Typifie that Pentecost wherein Christ after he had ascended proclaimed the Law not that which was written in Tables of Stone but in the Heart and mind the Law of the New Covenant that happy day on which the First-Fruits of the Holy Spirit
the very Sabbath of all his Labour in the work of our Redemption The Sixth Sunday after Easter is called Exaudi from the Entrance of Psal. 27. Exaudi Domine vocem meam c. After which doth succeed the Solemnity of Pentecost so called because the Fiftieth day from the Resurrection of Christ. It is vulgarly called Whit-Sunday or White-Sunday from the Catechumens who were cloathed in White and admitted to the Sacrament of Baptism on the Eve of this Feast But Verstegan says it was Anciently called Wied-Sunday that is Sacred Sunday for that Wied or Wihed signifies Sacred in the old Saxon. Which Festival as it was of old Celebrated by the Jews the Fiftieth day after the Passover in memory of the Divine Law promulgated on Mount Sinai so is this Fiftieth day after Easter by all good Christians to commemorate the Mission of the Holy Ghost thereon which is the only best interpreter of the Divine Law Next the Feast of the Holy Trinity bearing the Lords day following which was instituted by Gregâ—ry the fourth who held the Episcopal Chair Anno 827. in Honour of the Holy Trinity The Thursday next after is the Festival of the Body of Christ commonly called Corpus-Christi day which Urban the fourth Bishop of Rome instituted about the year of Christ 1264. The Sundays following this of the Holy Trinity are all of them called according to the Numeral order whereby they succeed Trinity Sunday until the First of Advent Lastly the Four Lords days immediately preceding the Nativity of Christ are called the Sundays of Advent ab adventu Domini in carnem and were instituted by the Church to the end that from the First of them until the Nativity of our Saviour our minds might be prepared to a sober life and a pious Meditation of his Birth then approaching Parate viam Domini reclas facite semitâ—s Dei nostri And these are the Christian Solemnities or Holy days rightly called Moveable The Fixed or Stative are they which notwithstanding they fall upon divers dayâ— of the Week yet do they not Change but always fall upon one and the same day of the Month and so have a Fixed and certain 〈◊〉 in the Calâ—ndar Of this sort are The Circumcision of Christ the Epiphany and all other the Feasts of Saints and Marâ—yrs â—xcept the Movable before recited The Circumcision which is the first in the order of thâ— Calendar in Commemoration of the Mystery of his Legal Circumcision when He who was the Truth and Substance did at once fulfil and take away the Type thereof The Epiphany or Apparition or the Feast of Twelfth-day after Christmas so called and celebrated in Memory and Honour of Christs Manifestation or Apparition made to the Gentiles by a Miraculous Comet or Blazing Star by vertue whereof He drew and conducted the three Magi or Sages commonly called the three Kings who upon sight of that Star came out of the East into the Country of Palestine or Jewry to adore him in the Manger where a Twelve-Month after Christs Birth they presented him with Myrrhe Gold and Frankincense in testimony of his Regality Humanity and Divinity whereof Prudentius in the following verses Hic pretiosa Magi sub virginis ubere Christo Dona ferunt Puero Myrrhae Thuris Auri Miratur Genetrix tot casti ventris honores Seque Deum genuisse Hominem Regemque Supremum Which are thus excellently translated by Dr. Edward Spark in his Primitive Devotion The Wise men here Choise Treasures do dispense To Christ and Mary Myrrhe Gold Frankincense While thus astonish'd at this glorious thing A maid at once to bear God Man and King Or from the Holy Ghost's appearing in the Shape of a Dove at his Baptism thirty years after for this sixth day of January was the day of his Baptism and therefore it is also called by Alcas Cyriacus an Arabique Manuscript of Astronomical Tables in the Arch Bishop's Archives in the Oxford Library as the Learned Dr. Hammond tells me The Feast of Epiphany or Benediction of Waters The Vigil whereof was of Old called Vigilia Luminum and the Ancients were then wont to send Lights one to another This day was anciently celebrated by the Romans in Honour of Augustus Caesar for the conquest of Parthia Egypt and Media which were thereupon added to the Roman Empire wherefore the Church willing to change that Solemnity for a better instituted this of the Epiphany in the room of it The testification of his true Incarnation was by the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin when Jesus was presented in the Temple and proclaimed by Simeon and Anna to be the Messiah This Feast was instituted by Justinian the Emperor Anno Christi 542. Saint Matthias who being one of the Seventy Disciples was after the Ascension chosen Apostle by Lot in the room of Judas the Traytor He Preached the Gospel in Macedonia and coming afterwards into Judea was there first stoned by the Jews and thâ—n beheaded after the Roman manner Anno Christâ— 51. The Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin is kept in remembrance of the time when the Angâ—l Gabriâ—l declared our Saviours conception or Inâ—aâ—nation by the Holy Ghosâ— Saint Mark the Evangelist who Penned the Life Acts Miracles Deaâ—h and Resurrection of our Saviour He was the first Bishop of Alexandria where he Preached the Gospel and so all over the bordering Regions from Egypt to Pentapolis At the same Alexandria in the time of Trajan he had a Cable-Rope tyed about his Nâ—ck by which he was drawn from the place call'd Bucolus unto that other call'd Augets where he was burnt to Ashes by the Furious Idolaters against whom he had preached Anno Christi 63. and buried at Bucolus Saint Philip and Saint James both Apostles and Martyrs The first of the City of Bethsaida who preached the Gospel in Phrygia and converted the Eunuch Candaules He is said by some to have sent twelve Disciples into Britain for conversion thereof But at length the Painims laid hold on and Crucified him at Hierapolis about the year of Christ 53. The later viz. Saint James the lesser Son of Alpheus the Author of that excellent Epistle bearing his Name who was for his Wisdom and Piety surnamed the Just. After the Ascension he was Created Bishop of Jerusalem where when he had govern'd that Church for thirty years space he was first stoned and afterward placed on a Pinacle of the Temple from whence he was precipitated and then lying with his Thighs broken and half dead lifting up his Hands to Heaven knocked on the Head with a Fullâ—rs club in the seventh year of Nero. The Feast of Saint John Baptist son of Zachary and Elizabeth and who was of the Tribe of Levi of him that shewed us the Lamb of God the Son of the Father which taketh away the Sins of the World who nevertheless was beheaded by Hâ—rod the Tetrarch at the request of Herodias the Relict of his Brother Philip Anno
ancient Christian Custom of Fasting they called this chief Season of Fasting the Fast of Lent because of Lenct-Monat wherein the most part of the time of this Fasting always fell and hereof it cometh that we now call it Lent or rather the Fast of Lent Sir Richard Baker saith it was first Commanded to be observed in England by Ercombert the 7 th King of Kâ—nt before the year of Christ 800. Of Ashwednesday THis is the Head or Beginning of the Quadragesimal Fast or Holy time of Lent dedicated by Gregory the Great to the Consecration of and Sprinkling with Ashes being therefore called Dies Cinerum or Ashwednesday And yet as Hospinian confesseth there is extant an Homily of Maximus Bishop of Tours in France with this Inscription IN DIE CINERUM which shews the institution thereof before his time For that Maximus Taurinensis lived 170 years before him viz. Anno Christi 440. Quadragesima is so called for that as before hath been noted it is Forty days distant from Easter comprehending the Fast of Lent as kept by the Primitive Christians in Imitation of our Saviours Fast of Forty days and Forty nights in the Desart It iâ— otherwise named Invocavit because that thereon iâ— sung Invocavit me ego exaudiam eum or taken out of Psal. 91.14 This is the First Sunday in Lent The Second Sunday in Lent is called Reminiscere from the entrance of the 6 verse of Psal. 25. Remeniscere miserationum tuarum Domine c. The Third Oculi from the entrance of the 15 verse of the same 25 Psal. Oculi mei semper ad Dominum c. The Fourth Laetare from the entrance of thâ— 10 verse of the 66 Chapter of Isaiah Laetare cuâ— Jerusalem c. it is called also Dominica de Rosa from the Golden Rose which the Roman Bishop carrieth in his Hand before the People in the Temple Likâ—wise Dominica de Panibus for that thereon the Miracle of the five Loaves in the Gospel is explained We in England rightly call it Midlent-Sunday The Fifth Judica from the entrance of Psalm 34. Judica me Deus discerne causam meam c. The Sixth Dominica Magna or the great Lords day because of the great and ineffable good thing which befel the Faithful in the following week viz. Death abolished Slander removed and the Tyranny oâ— the Devil loosed by the Death of Christ. It is also called Palm-Sunday from the Branches of Palms which the Jewish People strewed on the ground when our Saviour enter'd Jerusalem The Wednesday next after this is the Council day of the Scribes and Pharisees The Thursday following the Parasceve or preparation of the Legal-Passover and the Night thereof the Institution of the Supper This is otherwise called Maundy-Thursday from a Ceremony antiently used by the Bishops and Prelatâ—s in Cathedral Churches and Religious Houses of washing their Subjects Feet Which Ceremony is term'd the fulfilling the Mandate and is in imitation of our Saviour Christ who on this day at Night after his last Supper and before his Institution of the Blessed Sacrament washed his Disciples Feet telling them afterwards that they must do the like to one another which is the Mandate whence the day is denominated At the beginning of the aforesaid Ceremony these words of Christ uttered by him anon after his washing their Feet Joh. 13.34 are sung for an Antiphon Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos And lastly Good Friday being the Day of the Passion and Cross of Christ whereon he suffer'd and satisfied for the Sins of the whole World Next to the great Week succeeds the Pasche or Feast of Easter celebrated not in memory of the Angels Transit in Egypt according to the Jewish Custom but of the Resurrection of our Saviour And yet we retain the name Pasce not only because the Lamb which of old was kill'd by the Jews in the Passover was a Type of the Lamb of God Christ Jesus which was slain and sacrificed for the salvation of the World but because at that very time â—e passed from this World to his Father for Paesah or Phase signifies a passage or because that then a passage is made from an Old to a New Life It is called Easter from Eoster a Goddess of the Old Saâ—cons whose Feast they kept in April or as Minshew hath it because at that time our Sun of Righteousness did rise as the Sun in the East And â—his is the foundation Basis of all the Lords days in the year After this doth immediately follow the Quinquagesimal Interval of Fifty days betwixt Easter and Pentecost which was kept by the Primitive Christians as a whole Festival in Honour of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the Glorious Mission of the Holy Ghost with exceeding great Rejoycing and Gladness It containeth Six Lords days or Sundays Whereof The First is called Quasimodogeniti from the entrance of 1 Pet. 2.2 Quasi modo geniti Infantes rationabiles sine dolore lac concupiscite It is otherwise called Dominica in albis in respect of the Angels that appear'd at the Resurrection in White Garments and because such as of Old were Baptized on Easter day did wear and walk in White Garments all the Week after until this day on which they laid them aside Or for that those who had then been Baptized were confirm'd of the Bishop and put on other White Vestments which they wore till the following Sunday The Second Sunday after Easter is called Misericordia from the entrance of the 5 verse of Psal. 32. Misericordiâ Domini plena est terra c. The Third Jubilate from the entrance of Psal. 65. Jubilate Deo omnis terra c. The Fourth Cantate from the entrance of Psal. 98. Cantate Domino Canticum novum c. The Fifth Vocem jucunditatis from the like entrance Vocem jucunditatis annunciate audiatur c. This is also called Rogation Sunday and the Week following Rogation Week Invented or Restored by Mamercus or Mamersus Bishop of Vienna Anno Christi 452. and so called à rogando Deum as being once we cannot say now Extraordinarily consecrated above all other weeks in the year unto Prayâ—rs and Supplications 1. Because Princes about this time undertake their Wars 2. For that the Fruits of the Earth being in their Blossom are in great hazard In both which respects all Christians have good occasion at this Season especially to Pray In this week also it hath been an ancient and good Custom continued till of late days to make perambulations and processions in every Parish and Township for viewing and considering the ancient Bounds and Limits to prevent incroachments and contentions On the Thursday also of this Week which is the Fortieth day from Easter was wont to be celebrated the Feast of Christs Ascension which is the Consummation of all he did and taught whilst on Earth and therefore termed Foelix clausula totius Itinerarii filii Dei
the year as through the Gate into the Hall or from Two-headed Janus looking back upon the end of the past and the beginning of the following year February à Februo that is to sacrifice because then the Romans sacrificed to Pluto who is also called Februus and to other Infernal Gods for the Souls of their Ancestors which Ovid 1. Fast. seems to intimate At Numa nec Janum nec avitas praeterit umbras Mensibus antiquis addidit ille duos And thus were all the Months of the Numan year ordained and so the year it self to consist of unequal days in honour of an unequal number accounted of as sacred by the Pythagoreans excepting onely February which had an equal number of days allowed iâ— lest if all of them had run either by an equal or unequal number they should have made a like consummation And hence arose this disposition of the Months Jan. 29. Febr. 28. Mar. > 31. Apr. 29. May 31. June 29. Quint. 31. Sext. 29. Sept. 29. Oct. 31. Nov. 29. Dec. 29. Wherein although Jan. and Feb. were put before March and so March not made the First but the Third month yet nevertheless Quintilis now not the 5th but the 7th retained still the name Quintilis as did also the other following months in their order But when Numa observed that by this quantity of the year which is Lunar and conformable to the Graecian year the Sun returned not to the same point of Heaven he reduced and accommodated this Lunar year to the Suns Motion by an Intercalation of a New Month consisting of 22 or 23 days which afterwards the Romans called either February-Intercalar or Mercedonian and which once in two years they intercalated by turns lest March should be removed from the beginning of the Spring or that more years should be accounted from the building of Rome than justly the true quantity of the year would allow of But although this kind of Intercalation so restored the Numan year which without it was meerly Lunar to the Suns course that the Equinoxes and Solstices were in a manner fixed to the same months yet when afterward they observed it somewhat exceeding the true and natural Quantity of the year and that the Arch-Priest whose business it was to correct the Intercalation had often-times intermitted it and either out of Malice and Favour whereby any man might be rid of or longer continued in his Magistery or the Renter of the Tribute or Customs or other publick things either gain or lose by the Magnitude of the year several ways depraved it it fell out that Anno V. C. 708. after the Numan year had been in use 670. compleat years the Correction made by Julius Caesar was received For Julius Caesar the first Monarch of the Romans having learned the Mathematicks at Alexandria observed that yet there was almost 10 days and 6 hours wanting in the Numan year to the full compleating of the Solar year and by the advice of Sosigenes the Mathematician whom after his overthrow of Pompey he brought with him out of Egypt to Rome he added those ten days whereof to January Sextilis and Decemb. two days but to Apr. June Sept. and Novemb. each of them one whence Jan. Mar. May. Quint. Sext. Oct. and Dec. had 31 days and the rest Febr. excepted which had but still 28 30 days as you may read in Macr. lib. 1. Saturn cap. 14. Therefore presently in the first year of the Julian Ordination not only Quintilis which was afterward called July in honour of Julius Caesar the Dictator had 31 days assigned it but also the month Sextilis which was likewise called August in honour of Augustus The words of the Senate you may see in Macrob. citato loco And hence came it that the Civil Roman months were numbered as at this day according to the Verses April terdenos Jun. Septemberque November Uno plus reliqui viginti Februus Octo At si Bissextus fuerit superadditur Unus And although the year hath since been Corrected by Gregory the 13th Bishop of Rome yet do the order of the Months and the number of days continue the same in the Corrected that they did in the Old Julian year they differing only in this that in the space of 400 years the Julian Account exceeds the Gregorian by 3 Intercalations or 3 days as before you have heard Moreover these Roman Months are divided into Calends Nones and Ides The Calends be the first day of every Month from which the days are reckoned backwards calling the next day preceding pridiè Calendas Januarii They are called Calendae or Kalends quasi Colendae because in old time they were used to sanctifie the first of every Month in honour of Juno according to that of Ovid Vendicat Ausonias Junonis cura Calendas Or they be called Calendae of Calo to call because the common people were called or convocated on the first day of every Month to hear the number of Nones The Nones be certain days placed in every Month whereof the most hath but 6 and the Month that hath least but 4. They begin at the Ides and end at the Calends and take their name as some say of Non because during that time the Romans sanctified no day to their God as may appear by Ovid Nonarum tutela Deo caret c. Or they might be called Novae by reason of the renovation of their Images every month or Nonae à Nundinis from their Fairs or Markets because the number of Nones limited the duration thereof in every month Lastly the Ides so called ab iduando which in the Tuscan tongue signifies to divide do part every month in two and are a number of 8 days following the Nones according to the order of the Calendar and the Verse Octo tenent Idus menses generaliter omnes Now as the first day of every month is called Calendae so the Nones in the 4 months March May July and October are the six days from the Calends or they fall upon the 7th day of those months but in all the other Months they are the 4 days from the Calends or happen on the 5th day of every month And the 8 Ides do fall upon the 8th day from the Nones All the other days being accounted by an Inverse order from the Nones and Ides of their own and from the Calends of the following Month are noted with the number of days by which they antecede the Nones Ides and Calends All which is manifested by the following old Verses Prima dies mensis cujusque est dicta Calendae Sex Nonas Majus October Julius Mars Quatuor at reliqui dabit Idus quilibet Octo Inde dies reliquos omnes dic esse Calendas Quas retro numerans dices à mense sequente The Syrian or Syro-Chaldaean months as used by Albategnius Alphraganus and at this day by this people agree with the months of the Julian year in number of days and manner of Intercalation but â—â—ve