brought by the Latines and see whether or no they are of any more weight then these of the Hebrew writers Cajetan upon Exodus thinks himselfe to have found out the powerfullest Argument In 25. Exod. that hath yet been brought by any for to prove that their Figure was like that of two Young Men because that in the Bible where the Vulgar Translation renders it respiciantque se mutuò Exod. 25. v. 30. the originall sounds thus in the Hebrew facies eorum vir adfratrem suum Whence he thinks he hath hit the nail on the head and concludes that for certain these cherubins were of humane shape But those that are skilfull in the Hebrew will readily find this conclusion to be very infirm and of no force or otherwise we may as well conclude that the starres the curtains of the Tabernacle and a thousand other things in the old Testament were likewise of Humane shape since that Isatah speaking of the stars where the vulgar Translation hath Neque unum reliquumfuit the Hebrew Text sayes vir non est substractus and in Exodus where speaking of the curtains of the Tabernacle the Vulgar sayes quinque cortinae sibi iungantur mutuo it is in Hebrew quinque cortinae crunt conjunctae mulierem ad sororem suam So Ezechiel speaking of the wings of the Beasts where the Translation hath vocem alarum animalium percutientium alteram ad alteram the Hebrew is Mulierum ad sororemsuam In Genesis where mention is made of the parts of the Sacrifice where the Translation is Et utrasque partes contrase altrinsecus posuit in Hebrew it is dedit virum partem ejus è regione proximi sui And lastly in Isaiah In Lexicis where it is Translated Alter alterum non quaesivit Many other examples of this kind are collected up In Lexicis by Kimchi Munster Forsterus and Pagnin I shall omit whatsoever the rest of interpreters have delivered concerning these Cherubins because that you may see in Cajetan that their reasons are as weak as his own whatsoever Pradus and Villalpandus affirm to the contrary who labour much to bring in another sense but are confuted by Oleaster In the mean time I cannot but wonder very much at these men that have taken so much pains to hunt after empty sounds to no purpose not considering that they might as well at first have positively affirmed that these Cherubins had a Humane shape because that one of the four seen by Moses Aaron the seventy Elders Ezechiel and Saint John was in figure like a Man This Conjecture might have passed for tolerable had not the truth been by us now brought to light We may therefore by this means clear our hands of these doubts as also of that other concerning the forme of the Cherubin that was placed at the entrance of Paradise to keep out Adam and his posterity For it may be answered in one word that it was that of these foure Cherubins which had the shape of a Lion this forme being the most proper for such a purpose seeing there is nothing in the world more terrible then a Roaring Lion And thus are all those difficulties cleared Quest 40. de Paradiso In 3 Genes In Expos Symb. which have long since been brought in by Theodoret Bar-Cepha Procopius Gazaeus Jacobus Chius and Theodorus Bishop of Heraclea who after a long and tedious dispute conclude though not very rationally that this Guard was not a Cherubin but some other thing of Power like a Cherubin just as we dresse up some frightfull Scar-crowes and place them in Gardens and Hemp-plots to fright away the Birds And their reason is because that Cherubins being Spirits very highly exalted and of the second Order of the First Hierarchy they are never sent on the Earth but are alayes attending before the Throne of God notwithstanding the Master of the Sentences Scotus Gabriel Durand In 2. Sent. dist 10. ibid. Tom. 1. disp 1. and Gregorius de Valentia affirm the contrary Now what the reason should be of the Cherubins seen by Moses Ezekiel and the rest appearing in shapes so different and as it may seem so repugnant to the nature of a Blessed Spirit I must refer you for satisfaction to S. Dionysius S. Gregory and the rest of the Fathers since it is sufficient for me to have here proved that the Golden Calfe made in the Wildernesse and those other which Jeroboam made were fashioned according to this Divine Vision so that the Ancients are by this means cleared of the Crimes which they are injuriously charged withall 10. If I had not already exceeded the just length of a Chapter I should here answer to an Imputation which is yet greater then all the rest charged upon the Jewes namely that they of old burned their Children to the Idol Moloc I shall reserve the full handling of this point till some other time In Cap. 6. Mis Thor. tract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall only say this by the way that R. Joseph Caro observes that throughout the whole Scripture where there is mention made of this Idol and of the Sacrifice that was done unto it it never uses any word that signifies to Burne Kill or Put to death but to Passe and to Offer And indeed they did no more but caused their Children to passe over the Fire which was a kind of Adoration and Service shewed toward this Element Lib. de Philosoph Barb. in Chald. and Introduced by wicked Cham. Ignem saith Heurnius in Ur Chaldaeorum Urbe Abrahami patria adorandum ponit gravi poenâ in pertinaces promulgatâ where there is no mention made of any Command to Burne nor to Kill And for the clearing of this Truth Comment in Reg. in Psal In Pentateuch In More Neb. Lib. 3. C. 30. I shall refer the Curious Reader because I must not any longer dwell on this point to Kimchi Salomo Jarchi Abarbanel and to Moses Aegyptius who knew more of the Customes of the Ancients then any other Author that ever wrote Yet I deny not but that the Persian Colonies of Sepharvaim who came and dwelt in Samaria 4. Reg. 17. did Sacrifice their Children to their Gods Adramelech and Anamelech but that the Hebrewes did the same to Moloch will never be made appeare whatsoever Mr. Selden say to the contrary And who can believe that Salomon murdered little Children or cast them into the Fire because the Scripture sayes of him Colebat Salomon Astharten Deam Sidoniorum Moloch Idolum Ammonitarum He must not be Master of Common Sense that can have any such thought about him So true is that which we have already delivered that they only passed over the Fire And this Unhappy Custome hath so spread it selfe ever since throughout the whole World that even in America the Brasilians doe the same as Johannes Lerius reports of them Navlg in Brasil and among Christians also Mothets
such kind of Follies as these 3. I shall adde further that almost all the Fathers have been of opinion that we might lawfully read the books of the Heathen Philosophers Lib 2. de Doctr. Christ Cap. 39. 40. Lib. 1. de curat Graec. affect and such reasons are given for it by S. Augustine and Theodoret as will force the frowardest Critick to subscribe Now every body knowes that the greatest part of these books teach the Multiplicity of Gods and some of them Idolatry also But as for those of the Jewes who is he that hath ever accused them of either of these Crimes or that found any other Doctrine taught in them then that of the True God And why then may not men of Learning read these since we permit the other to be read to raw Children that are apt to believe any thing If there be many Fooleries to be found in them as it is objected by those that never read them there is yet much lesse danger in These then in Apostacy neither is there any of them so Absurd but that some Good thing may be drawen from them nor yet so barren but that they afford matter to raise some wholsome Doctrine upon Let us therefore take the Truths and passe by the Dreames let us gather the Roses and let alone the Thornes let us take up the Pearles and cast away the Shels In a word let us doe what Damascene teacheth us Lib. 4. de fide Orthod c. 18. Si autem saith he ab his quifornis sunt decerpere quippiam utile valuerimus non aspernabile est Efficiamur probati Trapezitae legitimum purum aurum acervantes adulterimum autem refutantes sumamus sermones optimos Deos autem ridiculos fabulas alienas canibus nibus projiciamus 4. We will now go another way to work and shew that many of those things in the books of the Rabbins which are accounted ridiculous by those that have them only by heare-say have not yet been accounted so by Learned Christians and such as know the Ancients manner of writing and that consequenly they are not to be rejected We shall therefore make choice of some of the most Mysticall Passages that are to be found in their books and shew how those strange doctrines are to be understood that so by these the Reader may be able to judge of all the rest If there be any thing worthy to be accounted ridiculous and absurd that doubtlesse appears to be the most likely which the Ancient Jewes have delivered of a certain Feast that God is to make the Saints hereafter For they write that when God had created the world seeing the bignesse of a Whale which he had lodged in the sea Others speake of Two to be so prodigiously vast as that he had not made any thing that was sufficient to nourish him he presently killed him and salted him up as we use to do Flesh purposing one day to feast the Elect therewith Contribulasti saith the Psalmist capita draconum in aquis tu confregisti capita draconis Possibly this Text may have given occasion of the Fable of Python slain by Apollo and if so this later story seems much more tollerable then the other For what madnesse is it to imagine that God should afterward salt up this Dragon or this Whale called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leviathan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leviathan signifies also a Dragon and that it should be afterwards kept till the Last Day to make a Feast for those that should then have no more need to eat And what excellent entertainment should God bestow upon his Children when their cheare should only be of the flesh of a Powdered Dragon This were one of the grossest Fooleries that could be were there no other Doctrine couched under this Tradition then what the bare Letter affords and who can possibly imagine the Jewes to be a people so void of sence as simply to believe this without looking after any other meaning of the thing Let us rather hereafter entertain a better opinion of this people and esteem otherwise of those men whose wisdome the Christian Fathers have so deservedly admired I will not say but that the simpler son of people among the Jewes may peradventure have believed in the Literall sense this Mysterious Fable as there are among us that believe the stories of Aesope For there are found some old women so simple and I my self have seen such that hearing tell how the Lion talked with the Fox and hee with his companions that so he might devoure the hennes they really believed that in times past Beasts did speak and discourse of their own affairs taking occasion from what they have heard at Church of the speaking of Baalams Asse But as Aesope is very well known to have couched some mysterious sense under his Fables In like manner did these wise Ancients in those which they devised Scio sayes Paulus Fagius veteres Judaeorum Rabbinos aliud mysterium hac de reprodere voluisse qualia alia apud illos inveniuntur In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impress Isnae ann 1541. fol. 61. And then that he might take off the vail from these Mysteries and bring them into the open light he presently addes Tu per convivium summam illam ac aeternam faelicitatem quae justi in futuro perfruentur intellige Tum nimirum edent devorabunt Leviathan illum hoc est Satanam cum viderint illum cum omnibus ministris suis in aeterna praecipitari Tartara Insomuch that he must be no Man that sees not that this Doctrine is very little different from that of our Saviour Jesus Christ who sayes That in his Kingdome the iust shall eat and drink at his Table understanding by these expressions Everlasting Blisse 5. There is another Tradition found in the books of the Jewes that appears as ridiculous as the former which is Ib. fol. 100. videatur R. Moses Aegypt in More Neb. lib. 1. c. 65. that at the Creation of the world on the Even before the Sabbath there were ten Miracles created The first was That Prodigious Opening of the Earth that swallowed up Corah his Companions The second the Well or Spring that issued out of the Rocke and followed the Children of Israel and which say They God granted unto them for the merits of Miriam Moses his sister as also the Manna that went along with them and the Miraculous Cloud that attended on Aaron and his fellowes after whose death all these Miracles ceased The Third was Balaams Asse The Fourth the Rainbow The Fifth the Manna The Sixt Moses his Rod by which hee wrought so many Miracles The seventh the little Worme called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schmair which Solomon used in the hewing and cutting of the stones for the building of the Temple that it might be done without noise though they were very great and very hard as you may see in the story of this
nothing in the whole businesse of Philosophy that hath more perplexed our new Philosophers then this Subject concerning Images or Figures made under some certaine Constellations The greatest part of them therefore have rejected the Practice of these Operations as Vaine and Superstitious yet some others who are not so overswayed with Passion have both allowed and defended it though they have I confesse suffered for it in their repute insomuch that Galeottus who is acknowledged by Paulus Jovius to have been one of the most Learned and Knowing men of his time only for having undertaken the Defence of this Truth as we shall make it hereaster appeare hath been handled by some like any base Inconsiderable Fellow and Camillus accounted no better then an Atheisticall Wretch And this is the usage they bestow upon all the Ablest Men whereas they ought rather to answer their Arguments pertinently and to shew the Insufficiency of them if they can but see the Mischiefe of it If any of these men chance to be in company where there is any mention made of the most Able Schollers or there be any Question started concerning any of those Choyse Points of Learning for which these men have been Deservedly ranked above the Herd of Vulgar Braines you shall have some giddy-headed fellows that will not stick to say without blushing that they never wrote any thing of any worth at all nor ever understood the matter they handled I my selfe have heard one say that Marsilius Ficinus understood not any thing of Plato's Doctrine nor Averroēs of Aristotles and that the Wits of these Times are much quicker then those of the Ages past And now Reader thou maist judge whether this Vanity of theirs be to be indured or no. But to leave these men to enjoy their owne Ignorance and referring these Considerations to some other time we shall only in this place prove against all those that have condemned them that the making of these Figures we here speak of is Lawfull and the Power they have is Naturall Constant and Certaine In the first place therefore let us consider their Name 2. They are called in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maghen that is to say a Scutcheon or Sheild in Chaldie Aegyptian and Persian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tsilmenaia which signifies a Figure or Image in Arabicke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Talitsman or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tsalimam and in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrew word Maghen though it signific a Scutcheon or any other thing noted with Hebrew Characters the Vertue whereof is like to that of a Scutcheon and although these Characters according to the Opinion of those that are most versed in these Theologicall Mysteries are sOme kind of Imperfect Images yet notwithstanding the word in this place is not properly taken for an Image that is Graven carved or painted because that the Jewes in making any such should have sinned against the Commandement Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any graven Image Maghen therefore signifies Properly any piece of Paper or other the like Matter marked or noted with certaine Characters drawne from the Tetragrammaton or Great Name of Fowre Letters or from any other as we shall shew hereafter This word signifies also though Improperly these very Figures also and Images which we speak of because that these also as well as the Characters of the Tetragrammaton do serve as it were in stead of a Buckler or shield of Defence against Diseases Lightnings and Tempests The Chaldie word Tsilmenaija comes from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tselem which signifies an Image and the Arabick word Talisman may likewise have been derived from the same root Talismam being corrupted from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tsalimam by the Transposition of one letter only Nat. in Flav. Vopisc But the truth of this Conjecture is yet uncertaine The Learned Salmasius gives it another Derivation for the takes an Occasion to fall fowle upon Scaliger who derives it from the Arabick for not considering that Talisman is derived from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anuli But how can the truth of this Derivation be proved and how shall we be assured that Talisman comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the other As for the last name that these Images are called by which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no Difficulty at all in the word so that it remaines now that we remember concerning these Names that when we speake of Figures we do not mean those that are properly signified by the Hebrew word Maghen which are nothing but Scutcheons noted with Characters such as many have seen in Paris at the Prince of Portugals the like whereof you have in Carlo Fabri his Scudo di Christo and in Agrippa Lib. 1. de Occult. Phil. we have elsewhere overthrown the Power of These Kinds of Characters and shewed the vanity of these Fooleries which are the Issue of some Ignorant Cabalists Fantasticall Braine Neither shall I speak at all of those Images of Waxe which Sorcerers are wont to baptize in the name of Beelzebub these are Abominations which we abhor although let me tell you by the way that the greatest part of those things our Demonographers stuffe their writings withall are nothing but meer Fables as ridiculous as the Dreames of the Alcoran Our Discourse shall onely be what Naturall Power Images that are made under certaine Constellations may have banishing from hence all Operations of Demons or Spirits and all superstitious Powers what ever I shall prove therefore this Power of Figures and Images three manner of wayes by the Influence of the Stars by the Power of Resemblance and by Experience I shall begin with the last of these 3. First then it is Certain and we cannot deny it without denying the most Authentick Historiographers that are that there have been seen both in Our dayes and in the daies of our Fathers some of these Talismans or Talismanicall Figures for so we shall now call them that have cured those that have been bitten by Serpents Scorpions Mad Dogs and divers other Mischances that are but too frequent withus The Ancient Arabians as Almansor Messahala Zabel Albohazen Haly Rhodoam Albategnius Homar Zachdir Hahamed and Serapion give us many examples of this kind which gave Haly occasion to conclude that Utilem serpentis imaginem effici posse quando Luna Serpentem Coelestem subit aut faelicitèr aspicit Similiter Scorptonis effigiem efficacem quando Scorpij signum Luna ingreditur c. Neither did he deliver this Doctrine without having had Experence of the Effects for he affirmes that himselfe being in Aegypt had in his hand one of these Images of a Scorpion which did cure those that were stung by this Venomous Beast and it was ingraven upon a Bezahar or as it is
certain Conclusion and Foundation That the Stars and their Influences in these Figures have no Power at all over our Wills And therefore do I account as Ridiculous Damnable and Scandalous those Operations which Albinus Villanovensis saies may be effected by means of these Images In Magia Astr Ad fugandos latrones Ut Mulieres transeuntes super imaginem rideant cantent Ad sistendum equum in cursu Vid. infrà cap. 7. Ad recipiendam substantiam ablatam Ad expugnandos hostes c. L * ΜΘΡΙΑ L * ΜΘΡΙΑ L * ΜΘΡΙΑ And now it is no hard matter to conceive how the Power of Talismans comes at this day to be so undervalued for those that have written of this Subject have mixed so many both Confused and Dangerous things together in their writings that people making no distinction at all betwixt the Good and the Bad do equally abhor all whatsoever beares but the very name of Figure or Talisman But we shall in the prosecution of this Discourse sever the good Corn from the Darnell and shall shew that in the Making of these Figures all words are indifferent and that they serve but to amuse the simpler sort of people As when Albinus Villanovensis saies that for to cure the Tertian and Quartan Ague the pain of the Nerves Ventricle and Privy parts you must grave the Image of a Scorpion upon a piece of Gold or Silver when the Sun is in his proper House and the Moone in Capricorne and while you are graving it you must say these words Exurge Domine gloria mea Exurge Psalterium Cithara exurgam diluculò and then rehearse this Psalme Miserere mei Deus miserere mei quia in te confidit anima mea From hence it is that so many Superstitions have sprung and that people at length begun to undertake the curing of Diseased persons meerly by the bare Reciting of Certain Words without any regard had either to the Stars or any thing else Let us now come to the First Quaere which we are to prove for the Establishing of the Power of Figures namely Whether the Starres have any Influence upon and doe cause any Motion in things here below 19. Primo Meteor Aristotle endeavouring to prove the Affirmative brings a most Excellent Argument and worthy of so great a Philosopher which is this That saith He from whom Motion took its beginning the same hath no doubt given to all other things the Power of Self-motion now without all Dispute the Motion of the Heavens was the First in Nature therefore whatsoever Moves Moves by the Motion of the Heavens Insomuch that if the Motion of these should cease both Growth and Motion would also cease in all things here below In Sphoer Sacr. c. 3. Junctin brings here an Example of a Man's heart which as it is the beginning of Life and Motion so doth it communicate Life and Motion to all the rest of the Members So that if it once be wounded not onely the Motion ceaseth in all the parts of he body but even Life also You may see this Position confirmed by Hippocrates who backs it with so many reasons Lib. de Aëre Aquis and so strongly asserts the truth of these Celestiall Influences as that he confidently affirmes that by the rising and setting of the Starres a man may foretell Tempests raine Stormes and other changes of weather through the neglect of which Observations Physitians are very often deceived in their Cures and Diseases Cùm temporum mutationes saith he Astrorum ortus occasus observaverit medicus quemadmodum singula horum eveniant praenoscit utique de anno qualis hic sit futurus c. And then afterwards shewing what time and what Seasons are dangerous for Sick People by reason of the diverse motions of the Starres he presently addes Periculosissima sunt ambo Solstitia maximè verò aestivum periculosum etiam Aequinoctium utrumque magis verò Autumnale Oportet autem Astrorum ortus considerare praecipuè Canis deinde Arcturi Plejadum occasum Morbi enim in his maximè diebus judicantur aliique perimunt alij verò desinunt aut in aliam speciem aliumque statum transmutantur It would be but lost time if I should stand longer upon the Proof of this so clear a Truth which all men ought to confesse to be so were there no other Argument for it but this that it hath been constantly observed ever since the first beginning of Astronomy in the World that the Rising and Setting of the Fixed Starres have been the cause of very great changes here on Earth and he must either be a very Ridiculous senselesse man or else a very Ignorant that should go about to deny that the Hyades and the Plejades are not Watry Cloudy Constellations that is to say do cause Rainy Cloudy Darks weather as Leo and the Dog-starre bring Heat and Drowth and Orion a Wet and tempestuous season and so of the rest And after all Vid. Gul. Rovill hist Plant. do we not observe that there are some certain Flowers that turn about as the Sun does and others that appear above the Water at his Rising and when He sets sinke downe againe and hide themselves as it were bewayling his absence Neither are the Influences of the Stars shed upon Hearbs alone but even upon Stones also Some wherof do so exactly observe the motion of those particular Starres whose Influences they bear as that they change their Aspects with them An Example of this Truth you have in the Stone called Lunaria which is indued with such wonderfull qualities as that it changeth its Appearance in like manner as the Moon doth whose name it beareth In a word do not the Humours in our bodies increase with this Planet and decrease when It decreaseth If any man yet desire to have more of these Instances backed with Convincing Reasons he may have recourse to the Astronomicall Praedictions of Ptolomy and he shall there finde that the truth of these Influences is too clear to be called in question 20. The other Point concerning the Resemblance of the Heavenly Constellations to Sublunary things is something more Difficult to prove though not lesse True Neverthelesse this objection is brought against it If the Constellations of the Ramme the Bull the Twins c. do resemble these Living Creatures it is either Really or else by Imagination If Really they are then either in the Eighth Sphear or else in some other but they are not in the Eighth For in the Constellations of the Ramme the Bull c. there is no signe at all of these Beasts being figured or represented by the Stars neither are they in the Christaline Heaven nor yet in any of the Sphears of the Planets for we should then see them as we do the other Starres nor yet in a Ninth Heaven as some have thought If they are only by Imagination then are their Effects also Imaginary and have no
were in use among the Egyptians But with all Respect to so great a Scholler be it spoken I must take leave to say that he was never so farre wide of the Truth as Here and if any be so Curious as to desire to be satisfied in this Particular he may be pleased to take notice that Scaliger hath transcribed them word for word out of a Second Book of a Worke entituled Astrolabium Planum where they are all represented by Figures cut in Wood and are the Invention of Petrus Aponensis otherwise called the Conciliator being the very same which he caused to be painted in the Great Hall of the Palace of Padua where they are yet to be seen The Truth of this may be proved by the fore-named Booke of Aponensis whose very words he hath also made use of but contenting himselfe with the bare Names of these Figures he would not trouble himselfe with the Graving of them I shall only adde for the greater Confirmation of what I have said that this Astrolabium Planum where these Figures of Aponensis his Devising are to be seen was printed at Venice by Emery de Spir An. 1494. I should not have here made this Observation but only that I might be the better able hereafter to make knowne the Vertue of the Astrology of the Ancient Hebrewes which was in a manner the same with that of the Aegyptians and the more Learned among the Arabians out of whose Bookes Scaliger vainely saies that he hath bestowed much paines in collecting the said Figures For there hath long since been such a World of Strange things which never had Being foisted upon this Science that people generally now adaies sticke not to say to the great Disadvantage of Antiquity that there is no Truth or Certainty in these kind of Studies I thinke it necessary therefore for the better Informing of those who are thus abused to declare what it was that moved Aponensis to represent these different Postures of Men Women and diverse kinds of Living Creatures This Learned Astrologer having observed that those that are borne under certaine Conjunctions of the Planets with the Signes of the Zodiack were alwayes inclined to one and the same thing as for example the Planet of Mars being the Ascendent in the First Degree of Aries those that are then borne are commonly Laborious and lovers of War he figured a Man as we have said holding in one hand a Sickle which signifies Labour and in the other a Bow the Hieroglyphicke of War In like manner those that are borne when the same Planet is in the Second Degree of the same Signe are Quarresome and Envious as Dogs and this made him represent a Man with a Dog's head holding a Cudgell in his hand The Figure of the third Degree shews that the Child will be a lover of Peace The Fourth that hee will hardly be Rich scattering about what hee shall have gotten which is signified by the Flail and the Hawk When Mercury is found in the First Degree of Taurus the Child will be addicted to Blood and Butchery and therefore he sigured a Man with a Cudgel driving an Oxe to the Slaughter-house If in the Second Degree he will be given to Idlenesse as the Woman that holds a Hors-taile in her hand If in the Third a Woman will desire to marry in her Old Age and endeavour to be thought young according to the Figure of the Old Woman that is covered with a Vaile or else wearing a Paire of Breeches If in the Fourth the Child will be Quarrelsome which is signified by a Woman figured with a Whip in her hand And so of all the rest as you may see in the Author himselfe We may conclude then that these Astrologicall Devises are no more of the Hebrewes and Egyptians inventing then the Brazen Horse is of mine CHAP. XI VVhat in Truth was the Course the Patriarkes and Ancient Hebrewes tooke in their Observations at the Erecting of a Nativity THE CONTENTS 1. THe Celestial Constellations were anciently marked with Hebrew Characters 2. How the Celestiall Signes are figured in the Spheares and Globes of the Arabians That of Virgo hath a Mystery in it 3. A new Observation on the Hebrew Names of the Planets 4. A Table by which the Jewes erected their Nativities The use of it 5. Demonstrative Reasons why the Daies follow not the Order of the Planets A Genethliacall Table of the Ancient Hebrews 6. The Difference betwixt the Ancient's manner of giving Judgement upon a Nativity and that of the Astrologers of our times The Fable of Lucina laid open 7. The Moon why called Lunus and Luna and the Heavens Coelus and Coelum 8. A new and Certaine Reason why the Poets report that Saturne eat up his Children 9. What Qualities the Ancients acknowledged to be in the Celestiall Signes 10. The Authors Judgement upon the Astrologicall Writings of R. Abraham Aben-Are translated into Latine by the Conciliator 11. What Planets were accounted Benigne by the Ancient Hebrews What Ceremony the New-married Man used toward his Bride 12. This Astrology of the Ancients is proved out of the Holy Scriptures Reasons which prove that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God which was the name of one of the sonnes of Jacob is the Planet Jupiter 13. The Aegyptians the First that corrupted this Astrology It is False notwithstanding that they were the Inventers of the Characters of the Planets Fables introduced into Astrology by the Greeks 14. Athlon a word in Nativities used by Manilius rightly interpreted contrary to Scaliger NOw that we have seen what is Falsly attributed to the Astrology of the Ancients it remains that we in the next place shew what we have discovered of the Purity and Truth of it in the Writings of those who have handled this Subject and which are such as have been esteemed the most Free from Trifling by the Learnedst Men of Our Own Nation I shall then make my Collection of these Secrets which the world hath hitherto had little knowledge of partly out of Rabbi Moses to whom Scaliger hath given this Testimony †In lib. Horaiot passim in li. Mis Thorab Mor. Neb. lib. Taamin Astag Haâ—izr Lib. Milbanâ—t haschem tract 4 5 6. contr Aver In Chocmet bacoc In Thor. Jessod laghol In aghmouq In Thecum Primus inter Hebraeos nugari desivit and partly out of R. Aben-Esra whom the same Scaliger calls Magistrum Judaeum Et hominem supra captum Judaeorum Out of R. Eli whom Augustinus Riccius cals Virum utique Scientiarum omnium plenum Out of R. Isaac Hazan whom the Jewes conceive to have been the Author of the Astronomicall Tables of Alphonsus Out of R. Abarbanel R. Isaac IsraeÌ„lita R. Jacob Kapol ben Samuel Aben-Aré R. Chomer and some others of the most Learned and Knowing men of This Nation as their VVritings testifie of them First then the Ancient Hebrewes represented the Stars of Heaven either All Together or severally by the Letters
there but is of use and doth its proper Office After the same manner is it with the Stars which we see in the Heavens for though in some places you see many together in others but a few and that the Order they stand in lookes confusedly and in a manner ridiculous yet neverthelesse is it most Admirable in it selfe and proceeds from some most wonderfull Designe which Those Men perfectly understand who by their Holy Life are elevated above all that is here below Thus it is storied of S. Anthony that he perfectly understood this Heavenly Writing Secondly that although the Stars which are in the Eighth Heaven if at least there be any such thing as an Eighth Heaven be Fixed yet do they not therefore alwayes compose the same Letters at least the greatest part of them but they have their Changes according to the Diverse Aspects of the Planets Thus those Starres that ten yeares since made up for Example a Teth shall now perhaps make a Mem or a Lamed Which is the reason say the Rabbins that This Writing serves not but for the shewing of things to come In the Third place they say that we are most especially to observe what New Starres soever shall appeare because that These doe fore-shew the greatest Mutations God making use of these in making up by meanes of their Aspects and Conjunctions New Letters whereby he either expresseth unto us his Wrath or his Mercy as having determined with himselfe to chastise us if we continue in our sins and to pardon us if we repent of them Thus before almost all the greatest Mutations that have happened in the World have some of these New Stars been observed to appeare and they have been such Stars too as have been really found to be in the very Heavens Such as was That observed by Hipparchus 125. yeares before the time of our Redemption which Star presaged the end of the Grecian Monarchy approaching Another the like appeared also in Claudean's time in the yeare of our Saviour Christ 388. Another in the time of Messahalah Haly and Alhumazar Arabian Astrologers which appeared in the 15. Degree of Scorpio and cast forth as great a Light as the Fourth part of the Moone could doe Another in the time of the Emperour Adrian and another also under the Emperour Otho which appeared betwixt the two Constellations of Cepheus and Cassiopeia Another in the year 1264. not far from Cassiopeia tending towards the North and Another likewise that appeared afterwards on the Chaire of the same Constellation about the beginning of December Anno 1572. and continued for the space of sixe Moneths Another that appeared Anno 1596. in the Constellation of the Whale another of the Third Magnitude observed in the necke of the Swan Anno 1600. and another that was seen two yeares after in Pisces Another that appeared two yeares after That in the Constellation called Serpentarius An. 1604. and was called by the name of the said Constellation There are some others besides De Nov. Astr Com. l. 5. à Cap. 6. ad 23. which Licetus hath collected together out of Homer Varro S. Augustine Pliny Albumazar Pherecides Athenaeus Eustathius Germanicus Cyprianus Leovitius Cardan Paulus Hajazelius Galiaeus Thomas Fienus Cuspinianus Tycho Brahe Gul. Jansonius who was his Scholler Jo Kepler Alphetragius David Chytraeus Fabricius Hieronymus Munosius Wenceslaus Pantaleo Beyerus Pyrgius Michaël Coignetus Cornelius Frangipanus c. some of which Authors have particularly observed the truth of this Doctrine which I have here delivered namely that all These New Starres have beene the Fore-runners of the Greatest Mutations that have happened and that in default of These Comets have appeared which though they are easily distinguished from True Stars and have their place of Being in the Aire onely yet have they served to represent by their diverse Aspects according to the Doctrine of the Rabbines Other Letters and to fore-shew the Disasters that have happened it being very necessary say They to have a speciall regard to these New Lights which are as a new Letter which being added to a Word alters the sense of it As for Example in this Word AKE if one adde an L it will be no longer AKE but LAKE Or if in the middest of this word AKE one insert an R it will alter the word and make it ARKE So that wee see one onely Letter as an L or an R utterly changeth the whole Sense In the same manner is it with the Stars where a New Starre added varieth both the Writing and the Sense 9. In the Fourth place that we may be able perfectly to understand this Celestiall Writing we must exactly observe the Verticall Stars for those which are over a Kingdome saith Abiudan doe ordinarily shew what ever is like to befall it And in this Sense it will not be any hard matter to apprehend the meaning of Cardan when he saies speaking of the Star in the Tail of Ursa Major that it hath fore-shewed the Changes of all the Great Empires understanding this to be the Sense of this Truth delivered by Cardan that according to the Doctrine here laid down this Star though not Alone and by it self yet joyned with others hath shewed these Changes making up by their Conjunction such Entire words as did fore-shew the Fall or Rise of these Empires either clearly and plainly or else perhaps more secretly and Mystically as we shall shew hereafter Now as in all sorts of Writing there is One certain Letter both in Nounes and Verbs which is more Frequent then any other and hath the Preeminence throughout all the severall Conjugations and Declensions in like manner in this Celestiall Writing it hath been observed that in all the Mutations of Empires This Star in the Taile of the aforesaid Constellation hath been more Eminently noted then any other Either because it is more Frequent in the Discourse of Monarchies then any other Or else that it is as the Capitall Letter in the most Significative Words as we see there is in all Proper Names of almost all the Languages in the World as for example in the name of Peter the first Letter is greater then any of the rest that follow And thus may we answer this Question which some may happily make namely Why in this Celestiall Writing there are both Little and Great Stars also If it be further demanded Why in this kind of Writing there are in one and the same word Great and Small Letters or Stars mingled together it may be answered that the Reason is to make us take more Notice of those Letters in the Word which are the Most Significative which is a Course that the Anagrammatists are very well acquainted withall As for Example if in the word Soveraignty I would have VERITY to be especially observed I will write the word Soveraignty in this manner soVERaIgnTY where the Letters of the Word VERITY are greater then any of the rest Or if in the Word Representative I would