Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	excellent_a	find_v	great_a	421	4	2.1545	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96163	Astrologie theologized: wherein is set forth, vvhat astrologie, and the light of nature is. What influence the starres naturally have on man, and how the same may be diverted and avoided. As also, that the outward man, how eminent soever in all naturall and politicall sciences, is to bee denied, and die in us. And, that the inward man by the light of grace, through profession and practice of a holy life, is to be acknowledged and live in us: which is the onely means to keep the true Sabbath in inward holinesse, and free from outward pollution. / By Valentine Weigelius.	Weigel, Valentin, 1533-1588.	1649 (1649)	Wing W1255; Thomason E562_14; ESTC R204068	39,144	50

and inserted into the body Greatest and most excellent is the knowledge of the Spirit inspired from the mouth of God into the first man and by the mysteries of multiplication equally communicated to every one of us Wherefore is the knowledge of the humane body great By reason of it's wonderfull composition that is because all the foure Elements are essentially composed in it And moreover I say the essence nature propriety of all the creatures of the whole invisible world which are in the Earth Water Air and Fire are incorporated and scituate in Man But seeing all things generally are conjoyned and included into one skin they are not altogether and at once discovered nor can be revealed but at least come forth and are known inspecie as they are drawn forth and excited Wherefore is the knowledge of the Soul which is in the heart of Man greater Because the whole Firmament with all the essence nature vertue propriety inclination operation and effect of all the Starrs is therein conjoyned and complicated so as there is nothing in the whole power of the Spirit of the Firmament or soul of the world which the soul of man also hath not in himself and in the exaltation of it self can give it of it self Yea the whole Light of Nature is in the soul of the Microcosm which is the wisdome and power and vigour of all things of the whole whorld throughout all the Elements and things procreated of the Elements For she is the Astrologicall Spirit containing in her self all kind of Sciences Magic Cabalistic Astronomic with all their Species Chimistry Medicine Pahisic all Arts Tongues all Workmanships and all Studies existent throughout the whole shop of Nature But because all these things are collected in one and generally comprehended in the soul they do not all lie open or can they be in act to gether although they are in power but are let out and produced one species after an other Wheresoever therefore these kinds of divers Sciences flourish are exercised amongst men there shines the Light of Nature and the soul of the Microcosme is in her exaltation that is the Firmament of the Microcosme is in his ascendents But why is the knowledge of the Spirit of God greatest in us Because he from whom we receive this Spirit is greatest and most eminent above all For in this same Spriit all the divine Wisdome and Power from whence that saving knowledge flowes forth that is Theologie treating of supernaturall celestiall and divine things and is conversant in the Magnalia and mysteries of God placed above Nature and tends even to the inexhausted and unspeakable profundity of the Deity in which profundity the very origianll matter cause end of al the works of God and of things acted in time from the beginning of the Creation even to the end of the consummation of the world eternally and essentially lay hid For all things came forth from him all things were made by him and all things consist in him By how much any thing is most inward by so much it is more noble and excellent This visible world is a body compacted of Fire Air Water and Earth which is without hath in it self the Spirit of Nature which is the soul of the world which is within to which soul this externall body be longeth because it is inhabited possessed and governed by it Hence the soul of the world is more noble then the body This soul of the world hath in it the Spirit of God which comprehendeth and possesseth it For nothing is beyond God or the Spirit of God Hence the Spirit is more noble then the Soul The more noble alwaies exists in the more ignoble and internalls prevail over externells as well in essence as in power So our externall body is indeed great in it's stature and quantity and a wonderfull creature Yet the soul dwelling in the body is far greater and more wonderfull not in corporeall quantity but in Essence Vertue and Power But the Spirit is the greatest of all not in the lump or corporeall quantity but in Essence Vertue and Power and therefore most wonderfull There is nothing greater then that in which are all things And There is nothing lesse then that which is in all smallest things Therefore let us observe this rule well By how much any thing is more inward and more hidden from the externall senses by so much the more it is more worthy noble and potent in it's essence nature and propriety Which we will demonstrate by exanples There is not any house built for it self but for the inhabitant Now the edifice is an externall thing and the inhabitant and internall thing The house is for the guest and not the guest for the house Therefore the inhabitant is far more noble worthy and excelllent in his essence then every edifice although sumptuous For what is the house profitable the guest being absent So garments are made and prepared for the body that it might be and walk in them Garments are externall things the body is internall Therefore the body in its essence is far more noble and worthy then all garments although precious For what need is there of garments if they are wanting which should put them on Therefore garments are for the body and not the body for garments So the Body rayment house and habitation is a certain externall thing to the soul but the soul is internall And the body is for the soul and not the soul for the body Therefore the soul in her essence is a far more noble and worthy Creature then the body although most comely and most excellently proportioned For what availeth the body the soule being wanting it is a carcasse So the Soul made and created for an habitation of the Divine Spirit is externall but the Spirit is internall And the soul is for the Spirit and not the Spirit for the soul Therefore the Spirit of God is found far more noble and excellent and worthy in his originall essence nature vertue power and propriety So God is and abides the most inward chief great potent noble and worthy above all things adn contains all things in himself and he himself is contained of none Moreover By how much any thing is more inward by so much it is more nigh and neer to us but also so much the harder to be found and known Every thing that is most inward is most precious and most noble Because of the too much aversion and abalienation of our soul from divine and heavenly things and by reason of the too much tenacity and adherency of our love to the Creatures of the world And on the contrary By how much any thing is more exterior by so much the more it is remote from us and by so much the more strange For example sake The Spirit of the Lord truly is and inhabiteth in my soul whose seat is in the captula of my heart But seeing every inhabitant

the body invisible as to it's soul is without us From this we are all essentially in and with the first man complicitly made and created and incontinently after the Creation were put and placed into it And seeing it is manifest That every thing that is derived retaines the essence nature and propriety of it's originall That although the Macrocosme is without us yet neverthelesse it may also be found truly within us I say the World is in us and we are in it and yet this is as that is without us and we without that For indeed we have no existence or originall from any thing els but from that which is without us and which was before us Nor are we nor do wee inhabit walk and live in any thing els save in that weherof we are made Neither do we seek and draw forth meat and drink from any other either for the body or the sonl but from that into which we are placed and which is placed in us As to the Spirit we are of God move in God and live in God and are nourished of God Hence God is in us and we are in God God hath put and placed himself in us and we are put and placed in God As to the Soul we are from the Firmament and Starrs we wove and live therein and are nourished thereof Hence the Firmanment with it's astralick vertues and operations is in us and we in it The Firmament is put and placed in us and we are put and placed in the Firmament As to the Body we are of the Elements we move and live in them and are nourished of them Hence the Elements are in us and we in them The Elements by the slime are put and placed in us and we are put and placed in them So God is whole without us and also whole within us by the being of inspiration that is by his spirit communicated to us So the World is whole without Adam and also the whole World is within Adam by the being of extracted slyme So Adam is whole without us and also whole within us by the being of seed And so we bear God within us and God bears us in himself God hath us with himself and is neerer to us then we are to our selves We have God every where with us whether we know it or know it not We bear the World in us and the World bears us in it self Therefore whatsoever we perceive feel touch tast smell hear see imagine think speculate learn understand savour know eat and drink and wheresoever we walk this the very same from whence we have drawn our originall We are alwaies conversant in those things of which we are made For Man is the centre of the whole universe So we learn nothing els but the very same thing that was before us and whereof we are made and which before we begin to learn lies hid in us Yea we learn search and know nothing els then our selves to wit learning searching and knowing that whereof we come and whence we have received our being So we eat and drink nothing els but our selves to wit eating and drinking that whereof we are made So our body hath it's hunger and thirst in it self from within and desires perfection of it self by meat and drink taken fromthe Elements from without See Paracelsus of the Loadstone of Nature in the Macrocosme and Microcosme So the soul hath it's hunger and thirst in it self and desires the perfection of it self by meat and drink from the Starrs which is the wisdom and knowledge of naturall things by Arts Tongues Sciences c. Hence spring the Artificers and Wisemen of this world Moreover as in meat and drink taken from the Elements there is alwaies pure and impure conjoyned which when they come into the stomach to the Fire of digestion are by the internall Vulcan or Arthens of Nature separated from one another after a spagiricall manner an that which is pure is retained and abides in us that is the essence extracted from meat and drink the pure is separated from the impure which passeth into flesh and blood For it penetrates the body like unto leven and is made one with it and causeth it to incrtase that it may become greater and more solid in it's strength and nerves but the impure differing from nutriment is cast forth into the draught and that by the operation of Arthens labouring in the ventricle By like reason the matter is even in all Sciences arising from the Light of Nature where alwaies good and evill are joyned together For in Nature all things are convertible as well to good as to evill Wherefore unlesse Astroiogie be Theologized that is unlesse that which is good be retained and that which is evill rejected Man from thence acquires to himself eternall death And this the probation of Man CHAP. III. Of the three parts of man Spirit Soule and Body from whence every one is taken and how one is in the other THe parts of the Universe of which the whole Man is made are three The World of Eternity the Evial World and the World of Time The parts of Man are three Spirit Soul and Body and these three parts spring and are taken from these three parts of the whole Universe The Spirit of Man comes from the Spirit of God and participates with Eternity and Aevo The Soul in Man is extracted from the soul of the world and participates with Aevo and Time The Body of Man is formed and composed from the body of the world as Elements and participates with Time only The Body extracted from the Elements and constituted into this form is the House the Tabernacle the seat of the Soul and resident chiefly in the heart The Soul of Man extracted from the soul of the world and delivered over to the heart is the habitation of the Divine Spirit and hath the Divine Spirit in it self So one exists inthe other and dwells in the other abides in the other and operates in the other The Spirit in the Soul and by the Soul The Soul in the Body and by the Body The Body in and by externall subjects Every thing which is without is as that which is within but the internall alwaies excels the externall in essence vertue operation For By how much any thing is more inward by so much the more it is more noble potent and capacious Great vertue is in the Body if it be excited Greater in the Soul of the Firmament if it be excited Greatest in the Divine Spirit if it be exhited By excitation all things are laid open which are hidden and placed in Ignorance For both Divine and Naturall Wisdom sleep in us and each light shines in darknesse and without excitation Man wants the having Great and excellent is the knowledgeof the humane body extracted from the Elements and disposed into this form Greater and more excellent is the knowledge of the Soul taken from the Firmament

the wisdome power vertue and glory eternally hidden in God should be opened and multiplied For God once made all things for man but Man for himself CHAP. II. Concerning the subject of Astrologie THe study of Astrologie or Philosophie is conversant about the universall knowledge of all the wonderfull and secret things of God infused and put into naturall things from above in the first creation The exercise therefore of the light of Nature is the most sagacious perscrutation and enucleation of the abstruse internall and invisible vertues lying hid in externall corporall and visible things to wit What should be the first matter of this great world whereof it was made What the Elements should be and those things which are bred of the Elements and consist in them of what kind is their creation essence nature propriety and operation as well within as without What might be in the Stars of Heaven what their operation What in Volatiles what in Fishes Metalls Mineralls Gemms what in every species of Sprigs and Vegetables What in Animalls beasts creeping things and in the whole frame of the world Lastly what is in Man who was made and created of all these to wit What is that masse or slime or dust whereof the body of the first man was formed and whence he received his soule and what it is and whence he hath the Spirit and what he is And so the light of Nature or Astrologie comprehends in it self all the wisdome and knowledge of the whole Universe that is all these are had and learned in the Schoole of the light of Nature and are referred to Astrologie or are rather Astrologie it self to wit The subject of Astrologie therefore is double the Macrocosm and Microcosm the greater World and the lesser World The greater World is this very frame and great house or this huge tabernacle wherein we inhabit and live and it consists of the foure Elements Fire Aire Water and Earth and is twofold visible according to the body invisible according to the soule or spirit The lesser World is Man the off-spring or some of the greater world extracted and composed out of the whole greater World who also in himself is two fold visible and externall as to his body invisible and internall as to his soul And as Man is made of nothing els but the world so also is he placed and put no where els but within the world to wit that he might live dwell and walk therein yet so as that he should take heed of that subtill Serpent and should not eat of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evill least he die that is that he serve not the soule of the world and creatures subject to vanity but as a wise man rule the Starrs and resist the divell tempting him by the concupiscence of the flesh of the eyes and pride of life and suppresse sinfull nature living and walking in wisdom and simplicity of the Divine God head inspired into him not in the subtilty of the Serpent by arrogancy and love of himselfe For it is most certain Of what any thing is born and procreated from thence also it seeks desires and receives it's nourishments convenient to it's essence and nature for the sustentation of it self Now Man was taken from and composed of the Macrocosme and placed in the same Therefore also necessarily he is nourished cherished receives his meat and drink is clothed and sustained according to that Gen. 3. v. 19. Thou art taken from the earth and thou shalt eat thereof in labour all the dayes of thy life and shalt eat the herbes of the field untill thou shalt return unto the earth for from it thou art taken Seeing therefore Man as to his body is composed of the Elements and as to his soul of the Starrs and each part is fed and sustained from that from which it was taken The food or aliment of the body wherby the body grows to a due stature comes to a man from the Elements the Earth the Water Ayre Fire not that Man should take to himself for food the crude bodies of the Elements but the fruit growing from the Elements they are for nutriment But the food of the soul inhabiting in the Microcosmicall body are all kinds of Sciences Arts Faculties and Industries with which she tincts and makes her self perfect Moreover All aliment passeth into the substance of the user and is made the same that he himself is that is whatsoever a man eats and drinks the same thing is essentially transmitted into the substance nature propriety and forme of Man by the digestion of Arthens in the ventricle I say the food passeth and is converted into the nature of the eater and drink into the substance of the drinker and is made one and the same with him And in the first place let these things be understood concerning the body without wonder because man is made of that which he eats and drinks So also whatsoever a man learns studies knowes in things that are placed without himself that knowledge and intelligence passeth into the very essence nature and propriety of a man and is made one with him The Light of Nature is made Man in Man and by a mans diligent searching Man is made Light both in light and by light and by the benefit of that light he finds out all things whatsoever he seeks and desires but one more and another lesse because all do not seek with the like study Every Knowledge Science Art Industry and Faculty passeth into the nature of Man penetrates him occupies him possesseth him tincts him is agglutinated to him united with him and perfected in him and he in it For Whatsoever kind of aliment man useth and whatsoever he endeavours to study inquire know and understand this is not strange or different from his essence and nature The reason is Because whatsoever is without a man the same is also within him for that man is made of all those things which are without him that is of the whole universe of things Therefore whatsoever Man takes from without from the Elements and Stars by meat drink knowledge study and intelligence this is the same that man is and is made the same with Man So man eating bread and drinking water wine c. from the Macrocosme he eats and drinks himself and Learning Arts Tongues Faculties and Sciences of externall things he learns and knows himself And as he tincts his body by meat and drink which passe into the substance of flesh and blood so also his soul is tincted with whatsoever kind of Sciences Arts c. eating and drinking he is united essentially with that which he eats and drinks And learning and knowing he is united essentially with that which he studies learns and knows Wherefore this is a most certain rule Whatsoever is without us is also within us Which in this place we philosophising of the soul and the body do thus declare This whole world visible as to

is whthin and his habitation without it followeth That the Spirit of the Lord is more near to me then I am to my self And so it most evidently appears That the Kingdom of God is not to be sought without us here or there but within us witnesse Christ himself who saith Luke 17. being asked of the Pharises when the Kingdome of God should come The Kingdom of God shall not come with observation neither shall they say loe here or loe there For Behold the Kingdom of God is within you And the Apostle Paul 14. Rom. The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousnesse and peace and joy in the holy Spirit For by these he which doth service to Christ is accepted of God and approved by men The Soul is and dwells in the heart and the heart is in my body therefore the soul is more neer to me then the body My Body is cloathed with garments hence the body is neerer to me then garments and the soul neerer to me then the body and the Spirit neerer then the soul and therefore more noble more worthy and of more moment And because it is true That every internall is more noble and more worthy then his externall in which it is and dwells that even all of us do witnesse hilling or willing knowing or not knowing For behold if we are in danger of life by fire by water by perstilence or wars c. these being imminent upon us then indeed In the first place we leave behind us all our edifices as well sumptuous as vile with our externall goods and with few things if there be any we can carry with us we betake our selves to flight so that the body being clad might be preserved safe and unhurt with the life and soul By which very thing we testifie that the internalls are more desireable then externalls For who would be so foolish that he would neglect lose and destroy his body for the retaining of his edifices and externall goods when the body being lost and destroyed edifices and externall goods are much more lost and destroyed Furthermore danger pressing and necessity and straights urging us and overwhelming us we with John the Disciple of Christ even leave and cast off our garments with which we are covered and whatsoever els is abounding to us of our substance and naked and poor we commit our selves to flight that the body only with the life and soul may be preserved and kept safe and sure Do we not by this very thing point out and shew that internalls are better and more greater then externalls seeing that the body and life are internall but vestments externall And who would be of so perverse a mind that he should imbrace vestments with greater love then the body and life and would in that mind persist in danger that he would retain and keep his garments although he were compelled to loose and to destroy his body and life Moreover in persecutions for the name of Christ or for the truth putting our body and life in danger we even leave those and give them up to our enemies to Tyrants c. with patience like the Lamb of God whom all sheep imitate only that the soul may be kept intire strong safe and uncorrupt in the faith and knowledge of God and truth Do we not signifie by this that internalls prevail over externalls because the soul is internall the body externall and who would be of so foolish a mind that he had rather neglect and loose his soul with Faith in God and knowledge of the truth only that he might keep his externall mortall body and temporall life For faith and the knowledge of the truth being destroyed lost the body with the temporall life is of no moment Finally in extreme torments anguish and infernall dolours of our Conscience for sins committed even with David we leave and execrate the very soul it self and we bring to nought and empty our selves of al the so lace both of God and the creatures and we are left unto our selves crying out with the Son of God my God my God why hast thou forsaken me So that God only and alone might be and reman in us unhurt inviolated just and perfect in all things that he doth with us both sweet and bitter So by adverse things we are alwaies reduced to internalls and make a regression to our selves and unto God which is in us Do we not therefore after this manner testifie the truth of this rule That every internall is more noble and more worthy then his exterior Wherefore seeing there is nothing in us so near intimate as God is it followes that any other thing is not to be so esteemed sought and loved as God alone who hath put and hid in us the most excellent Treasure of his divine Wisdom Light Life truth and vertue taken from his own self and hath commanded to ask him seek and knock in the hidden place of our heart in Spirit and in Truth having given a testimony that the Kingdom of God first of all to be sought is not here or there without us but is to be found most inward in us as a Treasure hid in a Field From all these things it clearly appears to me that God is not at all more remote or nearer to me in this life whilst I am in this world and in this mortall body then he will be to me in life eternall c. But I have and feel my God equally now present and intimate to me even as I shall have him in the other world in a new body For he is in me and I in him whether I am in a mortall body in this world or without this body in that world This alone makes the difference that this thing even hitherto is hidden but then it shall be manifest and open But that I am not so nigh and near to him as he is to me this is not to be imputed to him but to my aversion who do not sabathize in my God who is with me that is who by running up and down with my unquite and vagabond soul through the creatures I am more delighted to be and to be busined in my proper will out of my internall Countrey and I suffer that ever hissing Serpent to creep on to the creatures in the multifarious concupiscence and delectation of the flesh of the eyes and pride of life or self-love neither am I lesse frequent in the various discourse of my thoughts ever and a non day and night ascending out of my heart now desiring this now that speculating willing nilling now this now that where moreover I weary and burden my self with all kind of care and vex my self with various affections All which things are the Astrologicall operation and revolution of the internall Starrs in our soul But if I could Theologize my Astrologie that is if I could desist sometimes from all these things and study to be at rest in my

from without by the constitution of the externall Heaven And that saying A wise man will rule the Starrs a wise man shall rule the Starrs is not to be understood of the externall Starrs in the Heaven or Firmament of the great World but of the internall Starrs bearing sway and running up and down in man himself which will more and more appear by that which followeth But this we promise for the beginning to be noted That the externall Heaven with it's continuall revolution hath a most convenient correspondency with the inward Heaven in the Microcosme and this with that which you may thus understand Whatsoever the sigure of the externall Heaven is in the point of conception of any men which happens in the matrix of the woman by the Ens of seed even now sent forth from Man that Man which is born and grows from that seed receiveth from within such a constitution of his nature and life to be performed on earth Yet that constitution lies so long hid and unknown that is without act in a naked power untill a man born into the world and educated to the use of free-will and reason putting forth it self begins to be moved and incited For then and not before that constitution of his heaven begins by little and little to roll bring forth move and shew forth it self when the Ascendants of that sigure by the imagination and fantasie newly sprung up in the will and reason arise and proceed to the motion of the mind and operation of the body And so the internall Heaven in the Microcosme begins his motion and course that a man from within from the guidance of his own Nature begins to imagine think desire hear speak do the same thing which before was signified from the positure of the externall Heaven while he was conceived Therefore the externall heaven in the Macrocosme as it hath respect to Man is at least a looking glasse and perludium by which the Astrologer may look into search know and describe what and what kind of nature and propriety shall happen and rule in him from the beginning of his nativity to the end of his life as he shall live Astrologically and not Theologically what and what manner his imagination shall be what his affections what his cupidities what his desires what his manners what his study what his kind of life and death with what things he shall be most delighted and on the contrary with what he shall be adverse and all things whatsoever seem to belong to the condition of humane life This I say may from the position or erected sigure of the externall heaven be prognosticated foretold not that those things are so done by necessity or coactive force but only that those things are presignified and as it were preludiated and are indeed a certain picture of humane life as in like sort a certain living man is painted by a painter on the wall from which picture his species and proportion with all his habit is exhibited and declared to be known So also we men living according to the course of nature and not Theologizing our Astrologie are known described and discovered by an Astrologer from the Table sigure face and concordance of the superiour Firmament as by a looking glasse For living naturally we have from the figure of Heaven a naturall description of our life whether it be honest or dishonest whether vertuous or vicious Yet so as the impulsive or efficient cause of living thus or so may not be thought to proceed and be impressed on man from the externall Heaven but from within from our internall Heaven which is in our soul delighted with this or that manner of living For neither God nor the Macrocosme do compell or force man placed in the midst from without to this or that good or evill kind of life by a certain naturall necessity but that very thing which is put into us by God and by the Macrocosme that is it whereby we are led whereby we are constellated moved Rom. 6. Galat. 5. instigated stirred up invited governed and inclined The one is the Spirit of God the breath of God the deity and heavenly light the holy Spirit the mind of God The other is the Spirit of Nature the breath of the World the Light of Nature the affections of the flesh t●rrene Wisdom the animall Man the Syderean Spirit the reason of Man Both leads to their originall and sheweth what are theirs Our Nature instigates moves and leadeth to our naturalls But the Spirit of God which we have in us from God instigates moves urgeth and leads us to supernaturalls that is thither whence he himself is There are I say two Inspirers two Governours two Captains two Lords in us to whom none of us can equally serve The one tends to the straight way to inherit and possesse the Kingdom of Heaven by contempt of the world and deniall of our selves the other neglecting the Kingdom of God to enter into the broad way The one is of God which is the Theologicall Spirit propounding and perswading the Theologicall life to Man the other is from Nature from the World which is the Astrologicall Spirit propounding and perswading the Astrologicall life to Man The Theologicall Spirit being endued with supernaturall Light and Wisdom shews the Kingdom of God and eternall life But the Astrologicall Spirit endowed with naturall Wisdom and Light shews the shop of Nature and the glory of this world therefore those which are acted by the Spirit of God these are the Sons of God that is who live Theologically But they which are acted and led by the Spirit of Nature caring nothing for the Kingdom of God and the eternall Countrey these are the sons of Nature the sons of this world animall men not doing the will of God but the will of the flesh in which with all their glory and magnificence they whosoever they are how great soever they are and wheresoever they are must perish For without the Theologization of Astrologie no mortall man can attain eternall salvation and beatitude We must die once to flesh and bloud and to the whole animall Man and we must live to God which life is altogether contrary to the worldly life Of which more largely in the Epistles of Paul and other Apostles But the Starrs which a wise man is commanded to rule are not those celestiall Starrs extant in the Firmament of the Macrocosme which are set before the Creatour of the Elements that they might illuminate the earth and be for signs and seasons and rule over the day and the night those have their peculiar Regent Lord and Governour to wit the Spirit or soul of the world diffused into the seven Planets and the rest of the Stars of the whole Zodiac by which he exerciseth his rule hath his influx into inferiour things therefore there is no cause that any should through simplicity think the dominion which a wise man hath over the Starrs

belongs to the moderation of the externall Firmament as if a wise man ought to rule the course of the Celestiall Starrs and signs and to reduce the frame of the Macrocosme under his power to direct govern the Sun Moon Planets and Starrs according to his pleasure and to make calme and tempestuous weather according to his will Not so But the Starrs over which we ought to rule if we wil be true wise men are all the cogitations speculations cupidities affections c. ascending by imagination out of our hearts respecting the things and creatures of the world and tending by free will and reason to abuse and pleasure to them we ought not to be too much adicted or overmuch to connive and indulge For in these that deadly and infernall snake or serpent lieth hid seducing man by all sort of concupiscences into an unlawfull love honour and worship of the creatures and thereof makes a Babilonish whore as in the subsequent matter will be demonstrated CHAP. 6. Touching a double Firmament and Starr in every man and that by the benefit of Regeneration in the exercise of the Sabbath a man may be transposed from a worser Nature into a better FRom the abovesaid there appears a most elegant Doctrine to wit although some of us by constitution and concordance of the externall and internall heaven in the point of his conception and nativity should happily have attained the most wicked constellation and nature ready and prone to commit any kind of maliciousnesse so as he should even bear in his face in his countenance in his hands and in his whole body an evident signature or phisiognomie to every most wicked crime all which should shew most certain tokens that he should act not only a most miserable and most wicked kind of life but also should expect on himself the most cruell punishment and destruction Yet neverthelesse we must not altogether despair of such a mans correction and salvation The reason is Because besides the naturall Heaven and Astralic Firmament which is in our soul we have another Heaven another Sydus another Starr another Light another Constellation which is the Spirit of God by whose power being supported we may shake off and drive away all the provocations of the evill ascendents of naturall Starrs as an Asse is wont to shake off and drive away flies and gnats stinging him on his back Therefore although nature is potent and strong in her self in inciting and forcing a man in his proper will and reason by her divers and delectable concupiscences to any kind of crime Yet the Spirit of the Lord in his vertue power and fortitude is far superiour and exceeds nature in as great a measure as the Sun is seen to excell the Moon Let a man then at length learn and do his endeavour that he may know what that most profitable precept of God touching the sanctification of the Sabbath to be exercised Sibi velit every seventh day requires of him in which exercise neverthelesse the worst of things may be corrected and also transformed into the best things For such a medicine lyeth hid in the holy exercise of the Sabbath as whole Nature with her universall vertue is not able to exhibit to a man for which medicines sake this book is written A man therefore inclined naturally to this or that vice by occasion of his generation ought not to connive at himself or to frame any excuse as if he could by right accuse the externall heaven that that is the cause wherefore he cannot live honestly and do that which is good nor by any means can overcome change break correct his sinful nature or convert it into better and so under the pretext of humane imbecillity as it were defend his spontaneous malice avarice lust pride and intemperance c. and to go forward in a vicious life O opinion most worthy of refutation and to be acursed I pray what should the cry of Christ the Prophets and Apostles avail Repent repent be ye converted unto me and I will be converted unto you put off the old Man and put on the new Man and flie evill and cleave to that which is good and lay aside the works of darknesse and walk in the light I say to what end should these things be spoken and commanded if our defence or excuse should have place in the divine Judgement Let such a man the refore so wickedly deceived of himself suffer himself to be instructed and taught by this our most profitable Theologization of Astrologie wherein we have found and tryed not without the greatest joy of the mind that besides the shop and operation of nature there is alwaies present in us something far more great and excellent with the knowledge and vertue whereof we being fraught have power of resisting not only one but all vices as well the greatest as the least whatsoever lie hid and are manifest in us Yea power not only of casting down and drowning one stone but also the whole mountain of the Macrocosme being in us in the Sea of divine Power or extirpating utterly not only one leafe but even the whole tree of the knowledge of good and evill extant in us and of transplanting it into the garden of the celestiall Paradise For so all these things are manifest in Theologicall misteries to those that understand these things Truly it is evident all things are essentially to be transferred unto Man which are divinely written for Man I say we have a power lying hid in us of over ruling whole nature See the Scripture of Regeneration and New-birth of stopping the Serpent and overcoming all his force and of instituting in us a new and that good a better the best nativity of erecting and instituting in us from a new heaven a new kind of life and a far more happy sigure and that by the sole benefit of the Sabbath by which from day to day we may put off the old Man and put on the new Man fall back from vices and passe on to vertues that is to shake off from us all the ascendent Starrs or flames of divers concupiscences and desires to all kind of pleasures of this world ever and anon provoking drawing and seducing us By this means we go forth safe and free from the house of Egipt from the Babilonian Captivity and we escape from the power of the great Creature we overcome sinfull nature we resist the Serpent we chase away the divell And by how much the more frequent we are in this exercise of the Sabbath or in this Theologisation of Astrologie by so much the more we are made strangers to Nature that we are scarce any more known or touched by her neither doth any Astrologer Phisiognomour Signatour Divinatour Artist how industrious soever know any more to erect any certain nativity or to prognosticate any thing to come Because they which are frequent in familiarity with God these are more and more alienated from the