by Shepherds others by Husbandmen and Seamen and some by Scholars and all communicated together Sect. 5 These Experiments they have gained from the Heavens as Physicians do theirs concerning Medicine from the fruits of the Earth their way is to gather Herbs and taste them how they are hot or cold in the First Second or Third Degree and to try them what their effects are in Potion or Plaister and hence learn they to understand what each Herb or Flower Metall or Mineral is able to bring forth And after this manner by virtue of a muititude of Experiments and a constant observation from time to time and at all times have they invented and brought up the famous Art of Physic and Chyrurgery After this very same manner has the Astrologer gained all his whole skill of the Heavens Taste them indeed he cannot but he has his Eye and his Ear and his sense of Feeling and his reason of Apprehension and judgment to observe the effects of the Heavens and their influences upon Man and Beast and upon the whole Earth and hence he is able to argue from the Effect to the Cause what the Nature is of Heaven in general and in particular and of many of the Stars what they are able to produce And after this manner by virtue of a multitune of Experiments and a constant observation from time to time and at all times have Learned Men invented and brought to light this famous Art of Vranology commonly called Judiciary Astrology and there is no more of Diabolical Art in this than there is in the study and practice of Physic and Chyrurgery there being not a tittle in this but what is learned after the same manner as are they all being the progeny of Experience and Observation Of the Subject of Uranology the Heavenly Body Natural and its confiderations and be there any difference this is the eldest Sister and the most ingenious Art of them all Sect. 6 The subject of Vranology and that as well of the Speculative as of the Practical part of that Science is the Body Natural of Heaven Heaven is a Body Natural most simple solid spherical clear and moving constantly in a Circle and this by virtue of an innate power always within it self And thus far all the Learned Philosophers generally do assent and agree This Heaven waxeth old as doth a garment as witnesseth the holy Writ Moreover the Effects do shew as much the stature of Man in every Age decreasing and the fruitlesness of the Earth in general continually increasing as if the Heavens above failed to supply Natures off-spring below with their wonted stock of vertue The matter of this Heaven is not the same with that of the four Elements or either of them either simple or mixt but either is of a purer and more excellent mold than any of them or else is a most pure quintessential matter composed beyond all that Art or Earthly Nature was ever possibly able to contrive This Body Natural of Heaven is to be considered either in its own proper matter or in respect of the Codies therein moving Heaven in its own proper matter is to be considered in its Quantity Quality or Action The Quantity of Heaven consisteth in Number and Measure Sect. 7 The Quantity of Number seemeth to divide the great Body of Heaven into several and different Orbs. Some are of opinion Of the Number of the Heavenly Orbs. that there are ten or eleven of these distinct Orbs of the Heavens that is ten of them besides the Emperial Heaven whose immensity no mortal man is able to comprehend Others suppose there are but eight of these Orbs that is seven Orbs of the seven Planets besides that one of the fixed Stars all of them containing every one his inferiour Orb within his own Circle wrapping one about another like the several Coats of an Onyon and the Sun or the Earth inclosed in the Centre of all like the Ball in the midst of the Onion of which some say one and some say the other to be the innermost but Astrology makes little matter which and so whether there be eight or ten of the Heavenly Orbs or more or fewer Astrology makes but little of concern or whether there be but one general Orb wherein the Planets and fixed Stars do ride in their several Circuits loose from the Heavenly Body as Birds flying in the Air or as Fishes swimming in the Sea Astrology does not undertake to decide But howsoever or which way soever we do account either the Sun or Earth to be the Centre of the World or the Orbs to be more or fewer or to be fixed to the Planets and Stars or loose from them both as we cannot say certainly how they are seeing they are so much above our reach of reason and comprehension so we need not greatly care or concern our selves saving for recreation in our meer Speculations Yet sure it is by perfect Demonstration That from the Centre of the World unto the utmost limits of the Starry Heaven there is a vast and immense Body of Heaven consisting of that most simple solid spherical and clear matter so as if it were most excellent refined Crystal we are able to go thorow all all which St. Paul seemeth to account but one Body of Heaven the Air between that and us making the (a) Psal 8 8. Dan. 7.2 13. first Heaven and that vast Body a (b) Gen. 1 17. second beyond which that holy Man being wrapt up was in the Emperial Heaven above all where he saw and heard things unspeakable in the (c) 2 Cor. 12.2 Matth 6.9 chap. 24.36 third Heaven Sect. 8 The Quantity of Measure cuts out this whole Body of Heaven into several spaces of Heighth Depth and Width Of the measure and space of the Heavens as they are commonly divided These spaces of Measure are chiefly bounded by the Equinoctial Line and the two Polar Points The Equinoctial Line is a great Circle which we imagine to compass the whole World of Heaven and Earth in that space extending from the Orb of the Moon unto the Emperial Heaven where the Days and Nights are of equal length all the whole year about The Polar Points are those two Points in the immense Ball of the World which are equidistant from the Equinoctial Line the one in the utmost Northern and the other in the utmost Southern point Now this Equinoctial Line is conceived to be precisely 360 Degrees in its whole circuit or divided into so many equal parts of space and every one of those Degrees is divided into the space of 60 Minutes or 60 several parts of a Degree and every Minute into as many Seconds And as the Equinoctial is so is the Meridian conceived to be the space of 360 Degrees This is another great Circle extending from the one Polar Point unto the other and twice cutting the Equinoctial Line compasseth the whole World from North to South as the
Equinoctial doth from East to West and so returneth unto the same Point where it first began But whereas the Equinoctial Line is a certain space immutable the Meridian Line is not so but is immutable and circleth the World in any or all Degrees of the Equator even as we please to conceive or imagine The 360 Degrees of the Equinoctial Line are called the Longitude of the World because they are in order as the Sun and all the Stars do move along in their Circuits round abount the spacious Heavens in their several Orbs. But the 360 Degrees of the Meridian are called the Latitude of the World because they mete out that distance wherein the Sun and all the Stars in a due and certain breadth one from another do move in their Circuits from East to West The Sun in his Circuit keepeth not the Equinoctial Line but declineth one part of the year unto the Northwards and another part of the year unto the Southwards And all the other Planets observing the same order excepting that whereas the Sun keepeth to a constant and level track these vary sometimes more and sometimes less distant from the Equinoctial Line than is this track of the Suns Hence occasioneth another great Circle to be imagined in the Heavens called the Zodiack This Zodiack being also 360 Degrees in the whole Circuit is conceived to be about 16 Degrees in breadth for that the Planets having sometimes some of them at least 8 Degrees and odd Minutes in North Latitude from the Suns course and sometimes as much in South-Latitude this Zodiack which is as it were the high road-way of the Planets in their Perigrination about the World is esteemed to be of so much breadth as the Planets any of them do swerve in their Latitude to the North or South And the Suns path-way in the midst thereof is called the Ecliptick Line This Zodiack is divided into twelve equal parts called the Twelve Signs and these beginning where the Sun entreth the Equinoctial to the Northwards the first Sign is called Aries and the rest in order are called Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagittarius Capricornus Aquarius and Pisces These Signs are divided all of them into 30 equal parts called Degrees and these Degrees are all of them subdivided into 60 equal parts called Minutes and they again are subdivided every one of them into 60 Seconds and they again into Thirds Now when the Sun entreth into the Sign called Cancer then is he in his greatest North Declination and at that time is distant from the Equinoctial Line 23 Degrees to the North whence occasioneth the Circle called the Tropick of Cancer the Centre of which being the North-Pole it compasseth so much of the Call of the round World as falls under 23 Degrees and above an half from the Equator to the Northwards And where the Sun entreth the Sign called Capricornus he is under his greatest South Declination and thence occasioneth another Circle to be imagined called the Tropick of Capricorn as many Degrees distant from the Equator to the South Forty five Degrees distant from each Tropical Circle are two Circles more usually imagined called the Artick and Antartick Circles which being but little above 20 Degrees distant from each Pole do also compass some little portion of the skirt of the world And inferiour to these are other Circles called Parallels which running from East to West so divide the Heavens into several spaces between the greater Circles Sect. 1 Now meerly to know these things is Speculative Astrology commonly called Astronomy but by these imaginary spaces and the motion of the Sun and Moon thorow them to know as by certain standing rules when it will be Summer and Winter and when it will be Spring and Fall is that which we call Judiciary Astrology Sect. 9 Of ibi Quality of the Heauenly Matter A second thing to be considered is the Quality of the Heavens The Quality of the Heavenly Matter is either such as is palpable and apparent or else such as is secret and not easily perceptible The apparent quality of the Heavenly matter is that it is pure clear resplendent round simple and solid and always in motion and and that of its own innate power and property Sect. 10 But besides these there are certain secret and imperceptible Qualities of this Heavenly matter and these because they are secret cannot so easily be demonstrated that they are indeed such Qualities of the Heavens except onely by the experience of such ingenious persons Matth. 16.2 3. who have curiously searched into these several tracts of Nature Who is able to demonstrate that a red evening is naturally productive to a fair morning or that a red morning is so apt to bring forth the quite conthahy unless you will believe an ingenious Observator who can tell you that he has always found it fo onely barring some few rules of exception and so fain would I know how a man would prove that two Plants growing close together on the same Bank the one of them is wholesome meat and the other is rank poison A man will answer perhaps I have tasted the one and the other and I find it so upon my tongue and reasonable men will believe such an answer from an ingenious man skilled in the nature of Herbs without any further demonstration of any thing by the looks or shapes of the leaves roots or flowers of either Plant. And if so why will you not as aptly believe an ingenious Man skilled in the Herbs of Heaven that will tell you by the like experience of observation that the one of these Plants is an Herb of Saturn a malevolent Planet by whom it is influenced with its poisonous faculty and the other is an Herb of Jupiter a benevolent Planet by whom it is influenced with its nourishing faculty insomuch as though these Plants are both nourished by the same cold earth and warm Sun yet are their operations nursed out of two quite different breasts But you will say perhaps that this is an abstruse observation and therefore not so apt to be believed as that which is made by a plain taste And say I again some men that are naturally born to it as it were are as apt at these obstruse observations as other men are to rellish bread and meat And if any man has not so much reason as to be bound to credit all their observations and experiments yet me thinks such should be obliged in civility at least to suspend harsh censures and not to say as some use to do as if all things they cannot presently apprehend a reason for were therefore meerly Diabolical But to return to our business Sect. 11 These secret qualities of the Heavenly matter Of the true and proper Qualities of the several spaces of the Heavenly matter are either such as are the true and proper qualities of the several parts and spaces of the Heavens or such
of many Wheels within that one and though he stand as it were but one Wheel in the frame of the great World yet within this One seem there to be many thousands of Wheels operating and thousands more within every one of those first thousands and more still within them and every of them almost ad infinitum especially in long-lived people and persons of great undertakings and all these moving within and one under another as they are carried by the Thread twined on the outmost and greatest Wheel do run on in their order until that Thread break or else be wound off and there they make a stop All these things God who made Man at the first perfectly knows and fore-knew from the beginning of the World and by this order of Mans life he perfectly knows and fore-knew exactly all passages of our lives yea even all the thoughts of our hearts both sleeping and waking Joh. 2.24 25. and how one thought drives off and brings in another and continues on in so doing until the last minute of life whereat the breath fails Now every man being as it were a particular Wheel of the great World it must needs follow that all men move in a certain Frame or Wheel above themselves by virtue of which the Master-wheel of every man's life is is set a going And this Wheel also is subordinate unto others and they also are the same unto still higher than they until we come at last unto the Master-wheel of the whole World which is the high and mighty Wheel of Heaven wherein the Sun Moon and Stars are set as so many Notches carrying on the great works of Nature unto the end How mans Will is an independent Wheel within the World 1 Cor. 9 26 27. Hence come the Originals of all Natural Qualities Passions and Accidents of our lives the motion of the Will and Reason onely excepted which as an independent Wheel within the Wheel of Nature has a kind of motion of its own and therefore however it may be inclined or allured by the Works of Nature How the Heavens are the great Wheel of Nature yet cannot be forced by them But now above and beyond this great Wheel of Nature there is yet one Wheel more within which the Heavens themselves are turned And here is it 2 Cor. 12.2 3 4 wherein is hid that great Line of Time whereby the whole World is made to hold on and continue its motion And how God ruleth over all Isa 40.22 23 c. and this Wheel is God himself who draws out the Line of Time and sitting upon the Circles of the Earth he stretches out the Heavens as a Curtain and beholdeth all the Inhabitants of the World as Grashoppers under his feet and hence sees he as it were with one view all the World naked before him both past present and to come Sect. 10 Now as it was the opinion of the Platonists Of the Soul of the World That there is such a Soul and many of the wisest Philosophers in old time That there was as well one General Soul of the Whole World as there is one Soul informing every mans Body so is it still the opinion of many very learned Christians and it seems with a great deal of reason that the World has such a Soul For were there not one and the same general living Virtue comprehending the whole Natural World from the outmost Circumference of the Heavens unto the innermost Centre of the Earth how possibly could the Sympathies and Antipathies of Nature work such compliances and differences at such distances as we see they do and that as far as it is from Heaven unto the Earth and too without any visible or imaginable contaction unless some such Animal Virtue be in the World to carry such an invisible correspondency between Creature and Creature Now where Life is these things are aptly effected Thus the Infant in the womb is nourished by the meat which the Mother eats Now be it so that there is such an Universal Soul yet is it questionable whether this Soul be Intellectual or merely Vegetive That there is an Intellectual Power informing the whole World as the Soul does the Body is not to be doubted for otherwise would the frame of Nature be no more but a huge blind lump But Nature being led by good eyes such an Intellect must there be somewhere And that it is not an Intellectual but a Vegetive Soul onely Jer. 23.23 24. that either gives or lends such Eyes to Nature But then should the Soul of the World carry this Intellect in its own Brain it would follow that this Soul is a God For to be an Intellectual Being filling Heaven and Earth with its presence is an Attribute of Gods And therefore I conclude that there is an Vniversal Soul in the World but it is onely Vegetive and not Intellectual yet in this Soul dwelleth the Spirit of Almighty God Acts 17.28 who filleth Heaven and Earth with his presence and from hence garnisheth the Heavens Job 26 1â— Deut. 4.19 and causeth the precious Virtues of the Sun Moon and Stars to be carried and distributed into all parts of the World Job 38.33 And thus immediately God ruleth in the Heavens and ruleth all the World mediately by the Heavens How Gods Spirit informeth the World in this Vegetive Soul not without means but by means Job 38.26 'T is true indeed that God is as well able to govern and maintain all things without means as he was at first to constitute and create the frame of Nature but such is his pleasure that he does work by means and not immediately in all things It is a common and a true Maxim that God and Nature have made nothing in vain and yet it is as true that Grass grows where nothing lives to eat it Now were the World governed by Gods immediate presence onely then is this Grass growing a work in vain because God's presence brings forth all things at list and with stints and increase as he listeth Rom. 11.36 and therefore his list being at all times and in all places able to cease its operation might have prevented this plenty in a desolate Countrey But Nature running her course in a constant track has no power to cease her work without a miracle and therefore however the Grass may grow in vain yet Natures operation is not in vain which by virtue of one and the same act produceth the Grass in all places and that as well in the populous as desolate Countreys Sect. 11 Next come we to Gods miraculous works Of Gods miraculous works and how they are foreseen by God in the frame of Nature from Eternity Josh 10.12 13. 2 King 20.11 Joh. 11.53 44. Ch. 9.6 7 c. which also from the beginning were known unto him These are such as have been contrary or at least divers to the course of Nature or other Supernatural Such a
how come we I wonder to know that And yet says the Doctor this is a plain and Mechanical Solution But not so plain by his favour unless we know better of what kind of nature that Caelestial matter is he treats of or that he could tell us For do not we know that the Air is a subtil and a curiously made thin Body which aptly and easily with very small or no force upon its next Neighbour makes way for greatest Bodies to peirce and pass thorow it and we have much of reason to beleive that the Caelestial matter is much more subtil then that So as it can make room enough for the passage of the Moon 's Body thorow and thorow it to and fro without any the least disturbance to the Air or Water But on the contrary that there is no such thing in nature appears by this in that whilst the waters are carried hither and thither by the power of the Moon the Winds are many times contrarily disposed For were the Waters driven by a force of the Moon 's Body driveing the Caelestial matter and that the Air and the Air the Waters Then would the Winds also which are lighter then the Waters be driven also by the same violent Air even as the Waters are but this we see is not so and therefore neither can be the other But this argument rather looks much like that of a blunt Countrey Gentleman's who understanding but little of the System of the World conceited the Earth to be fastened unto the North and South Poles by great and massy Cakes of Ice upon which not hanging so steady but that it is tottered to and fro by the motion of the Moon which therefore as it reels towards the East swaggles the whole water of the Sea floting the same way and as it returns back again Westward brings all the whole Sea with a swaggle back again to Landwards upon us Now the truth is let them conceit this way and the other what they can there is no man can propose any certain Mechanical way whereby this rare Feat should be thus wrought It is therefore enough for our matter at this time that the Doctor has granted it to happen certainly by means of the Moon For hence are we able to say by authority from our Adversaries that the Moon 〈◊〉 the flux and reflux of the Seas and till they shall be able to shew demonstratively how it is otherwise it must go for granted that she does it by an influence strange and secret beyond 〈◊〉 what we are able to conceive And 'till then this Planet the Moon must be allowed to have such a Foolery as the Doctor styles it which we call her Astrological Influence Sect. 4 Thirdly Are there some sensible Effects from the Heavens which are certain and constant as is granted and particularly his the Polar Star such a sensible effect upon the Magnetical Needle Why then it must necessarily follow that the Heavens have their Influences and particularly that the Polar Star has its influences upon the Magnetical Needle and that searching and penetrating thorow the very Body of the Earth as by common experience may be and is daily verified No but says the Doctor it is the Magnetisme of the Earth and not of the Polar Star which draws that Needle And he renders his reason for it For some three Miles from Rossebury the Needle will turn round and round for the space of a whole Mile Well it seems then it is between the Earth and the Polar Star one of them then it seems must needs have an influence But suppose we it should be the Earth that carries this Magnetisme Is it the whole Earth that does so or some part of it only If the whole Earth why then turns not the Needle South-wards as well as North-wards And if it be some part of the Earth only where is that part Or is it amongst those Rocks some three Miles from Rossebury But if so why then beyond that Rossebury and those three Miles of it does the Needle turn North-wards and not rather towards Rossebury Is this Magnetisme in the Earth then why if so it s in no one part or place of the Earth it seems but in several it is about Rossebury and beyond Rossebury more North and who knows where the end of it is there But be it so that it be in the Earth and yet no man knows where in the Earth what ground have we that it is in the Earth Or are the Doctor 's Principles as groundless and frivolous nay and contradictious as our's of Astrology It seems there is a strange sympathy between the nature of the Polar Star and the Magnet Stone This Stone if it be nigh to the Needle has it seems a palpable power to attract the Needle towards it self And this it can do as some say who have seen the experiment though there be the thickness of a Table Board between the Stone and the Needle And in this case the Magnet leads away the Needle to the Polar Star But this is the truth of the case about Rossebury It seems there is some Magnet Rocks there abouts which draw the Needle round as it comes near to every of them and being near hand they draw away the Needle from the Polar Star But after a small distance their virtue fails and then the Polar Star draws it again But to conclude is this virtue of Magnetisme in the Earth or any part of it as the Doctor says Why then this power of attracting the Needle would be but weak and at a certain distance only for so the Magnetick Rocks at or near Rossebury work but within their distance and that 's but small and very mean But a Magnetisme there is which draws as far as from the North Pole unto beyond the Tropick of Capricorn and that through the very Body of the Earth and that therefore can be no Magnetisme of the Rocks of Rossebury no nor were all the Earth from Greenland North-ward nothing but a Magnetick Rock yet could it not do such a Feat And therefore good Doctor bethink again such 't is and must be no less then the Polar Star and not the Earth which influences the Needle thus And if so where 's the Foolery now Sect. 5 Lastly It is granted by the Doctor That he doubts not but that were the other Planets any of them in the Moon 's place where their Discus might seem of equal bigness with her's and she away from where she is in their place they might do the like Feats as she does O excellent Conceits and from an Enemy as favourable as one would wish For First That the Moon has a mighty power or virtue or influence or somewhat call it what you please whereby she swells the Eyes and Brains at her Full and carries the Seas up and down here and there as it were at pleasure is granted Secondly That the other Planets such as ♄ ♃ ♂ ♀ and ☿
48 several Configurations Of the first Magnitude are ordinarily computed 15 Stars of the second 45 of the third are 205 of the fourth are numbred 477 of the fifth are 217 and of the sixth but 49. These Configurations are either within the Zodiack or on the North or South side thereof Within the Zodiack are those twelve from whom the twelve Signs have their denominations and are called Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagittarius Capricornus Aquarius and Pisces On the North-side the Zodiack are 21 Constellations which are called Vrsa major Vrsa minor Draco Cepheus Bootes Corona Engonasis Lira Avis Cassiopeia Perseus Heniochus Opheucus Serpens Sagitta Aquila Delphinus Equisectio Pegasus Andromeda and Triangulus The Southern Constellations are 15 and are called Cetus Orion Eridanus Lepus Canis major Canis minor Argos Hydra Crater Corvus Centaurus Lupus Ara Corona and Pisces magnus Besides these are innumerable other Stars disposed of in the several parts of Heaven generally called Sporades or Stars without form Sect. 24 The fixed Stars are doubtless all of them of great use in the operations of Nature Of the nature and use of the fixed Stars of each Magnitude but we mortalls have not parts and means sufficient to distinguish them all according to their peculiar virtues The nearer they are situate unto the Ecliptick Line and the Zodiack so much the apter are they to operate in the common acts of Nature and so much the easier are they allured into the opportunities of our acquaintance Also the bigger these Stars are the apter are they to be understood Of the first Magnitude we have notable experience of that Star in Leo called Cor Leonis in 25 Degrees of the Sign to be of the nature of Mars and Jupiter mixt together to be a Star greatly contributing to Noble qualities and Kingly favours Famous also is the knowledge of Spica Virginis a Star of Virgo by Constellation but in the Sign Libra This is a Star of the nature of Venus and Mars and gives an amiable complexion and contributes much to Ecclesiastical Preferments After these are very well known the Stars called Aldebaron in Gemini and Antares in Sagittary both Stars of Mars provoking unto courage but withall inclining to cruelty Of the second Magnitude are the South Ballance and the Head of Pollux both Stars of a violent nature Of the third Magnitude the Head of Medusa or Algol is famous for its mischievous inclinations and so are the two Asses Stars of the fourth Magnitude Of the fifth Magnitude are the Pleiades Stars of great moment by reason of so many of them together in a cluster Stars of the Sixth Magnitude are very small yet are these also well known to be exceedingly operative and that especially when a company of them are together As in the Breast of the Crab called Prasepe where several little Stars look like no more but a meer white Cloud and yet have we often seen how this Constellation brings about the breaking of ones leg head or arms with a stone or some such like Sect. 25 Of the use of the Fixed Stars in prognostication of the Weather These Fixed Stars also do generally shew themselves exceeding much in the change of the Weather as they happen to rise culminate or set with the Sun or Moon or any of the Planets And notwithstanding that the crowd of them makes somewhat a confused track so as it is almost impossible to trace every particular Star by his peculiar operations in this thing so as to be skilled in all weathers yet past all dispute is it that Ingenuity has gone a great way to that purpose and is not without very great perfection of knowledge therein and very much acquaintance with the true and perfect nature and quality of many if not most of the chief and greatest of those fixed Stars both for matter of weather and otherwise Insomuch as there are among the company of Astrologers such who are as able to say when it shall Thunder or Rain or Snow as to say when it shall be Harvest or Seeds-time Sict 26. Thus much concerning the Fixed Stars Of the Planets and what they are Next as to the Planets or Wandering Stars they are but just seven of them in the whole number These are Lights clear bright and shining as the Fixed Stars but whether they are of the same matter or different and if different whether they are of the more noble or inferiour temper is hard to say we are not so near them as to be able to thrust a Spade into their bodies nor to handle the substance of their matter so as to be able to distinguish whether it be hard or soft or thick or thin nor can we come so near as to be able to discover whether the spots in the Sun or Moon are opake matter or an empty body or what else they are But as the Learned are not denied to exercise their Ingenuities in saying what they think so the indifferent Students cannot reasonably be bound to believe what cannot reasonably and sufficiently be proved Astrology therefore troubles not those concerns or either of them But as a man smitten upon the breast or back with a stone or staff or cushion can aptly discern of what strength the hand is which gave the blow though he cannot tell what coloured doublet he wears or of what sort of stuff his wastecoat is made so are we able so far as we see the effects to judge of these Celestial causes and farther we concern not our selves Sect. 27 Of the Nature of the Planets These Planets are to be considered either in their Nature Qualities Quantities or Actions 1. In their Natures they are very much different The Sun is endued with innate light but all the rest claim under him It is apparent that the Moon borrows her light and so it appears that Venus does though it be not altogether so apparent and probably seems it that Mercury and the Superiors do the same though it be not clearâ— demonstrable 2. Some of them have palpable and sensible Influences besides their secret operations but others have onely their secret Powers Thus the Sun very sensibly operates in heat and life and so does the Moon but not so apparently but Saturn and Jupiter and the rest act imperceptibly 3. Some of them are benevolent in their secret Influences and others malevolent and a third sort act indifferently Thus Jupiter and Venus are wholly benevolent Saturn and Mars are altogether malevolent Sol Luna and Mercury are indifferent that is they are benevolent when well dignified or when joyned with fortunate Planets and malevolent when ill dignified or joyned with evil Planets As to their situation and motion it is apparent that about the Earth the Moon it self makes a Circle once in every 27 days and odd hours and about the Sun Mercury makes his Circle once in every 88 days and Venus about Mercury and the
Sun once in every 225 days But whether the Sun or the Earth be the Centre of the World and by consequence whether the Earth circleth the Sun or the Sun the Earth is not generally agreed yet amongst Astronomers The first opinion of late years hath gained the greatest number of learned Votes and seems to make the most rational Hypothesis of the Heavens But chuse whether way you please Astrology is no way concerned which way the Conquest leads but whether the Sun or the Earth be Centre of the World the Planet Mars circleth all both Sun Mercury and Venus as well as Luna and the Earth and this he does once in almost every two years The Planet Jupiter circleth Mars and all the rest but in regard of the great compass he fetches in order to perform his circuit it is almost eleven years before he can accomplish his rounds Yet the Planet Saturn circleth this Jupiter and all the rest but in regard of a far greater compass his journey does require it is almost 30 years ere he can come about Hence Saturn Jupiter and Mars are called the Superiour Planets and Venus Mercury and Luna the Inferiour and again they the slow Planets and these the swift And yet not but that Saturn may move as nimbly as the Moon onely because of his vast and spacious circuit he runs he seems to us at this great distance from him to be slow and thence is called and esteemed as he seems rather than indeed he is Now by means of these Circuits about the Earth happen the seeming Retrogradations of the Planets Mercury at every turn he gets beyond the Sun from us in his wheeling about him seems to return by retrograde motion until he is quite on this side the Sun and hence he is said to be retrograde four times in every year Venus in her rounds gets beyond the Sun but once in less than a year and therefore is no oftner retrograde Mars and the Sun or the Earth differing not so much in their motion it 's not above once in almost two years time that any thing can be made appear between him and the Earth of any kind of retrogradation Lastly the Sun seeming to circle the Earth once in one year occasions also as if Saturn and Jupiter were also retrograde once by the year Sect. 28 Of the Quality of the Planets 2. The Qualities of the Planets are to be considered either in their Conjunctions or Aspects The Conjunction of a Planet is that whereby it is bodily present and acting upon any Subject or Thing even as when a Hen sitteth hurking over her Eggs or Chickens These Conjunctions happen either when one Planet joyneth with another or of what time any Planet cometh into any concerned part of Heaven as into the Degree ascending or culminating as it was at the point of any mans Birth or Marriage or any other considerable time In this case all the Planets have their secret virtues and power of operation even as a Plaister bodily applied to any part of a mans body hath its power of attraction or corroboration To this purpose the Sun hath his secret Qualities and produceth effects hot and dry for matter of temper and worketh qualities Heroick Noble Magnanimous and Majestick for matter of humour and this does he when he is under ground and out of sight as well as when he is above-ground and in his full shine and lustre Much of the same nature is the Planet Mars hot and dry and worketh humours bold fierce violent and couragious But yet however these two may seem thus nearly of kin there is a vast difference in disposition between them for the Sun is a great and true friend of Natures and therefore however he may be hot and burning by Nature yet is he like the fire in the Bush of Moses which burned and yet consumed not But Mars more like the evil one of an envious eye where-ever he penetrates performeth his operations with a malignant and consuming heat which bites like the worm that never dies and that with a kind of glowing heat that scorches though it never flames He it is who worketh all manner of Fevers and other violent and hot distempers in the vitals and intrals of living bodies and all manner of falls blows and wounds of the body that come by violence by reason of iron wood or stone and these mischiefs he pursues with such imbitter'd venome that occasions the ranckling and festering of wounds and that so as without a curb to his fury bebecomes inevitably fatal and yet all this while not the least sensible heat shall be once felt outwardly These kind of mischiefs are sometimes also wrought by the Sun but then first it is not naturally so but by accident the nature of the Suns operation being corrupted by the cross Rays of some malignant Planet or part of Heaven And 2. when it is so there is not that venom in those distempers occasioned by the body of the Sun as in those of Mars The great work of Mars is to endue a Native with courage and resolution and to fit for War but then withall he naturally breeds quarrels by rash actions and so cuts out work and way for War The Sun endues with more Majesty and being always near unto Mercury contributes much gravity and discretion unto that Majesty The Moons operations for matter of temper are cold and moist and for matter of humour fickle and loving novelties soft and tender and yet studious Much of the same nature with the Moon is the Planet Venus onely with this difference that whereas the Moon is cold and moist Venus is rather cool and moist and whereas the Moon is but indifferently affected to befriend or envy Venus is altogether friendly to her utmost power But in operation of humours Venus stirs up exceedingly unto all manner of delights and pleasures as unto Musick Play Merriment Marriage and all kind of such like matters The Moon being naturally very cold many times breeds flegmatick and rheumatick distempers but Venus is one of Natures good Nurses and prevents diseases Jupiter and Venus are the great Nurses of Nature but the Sun and Moon are as it were the Parents of it who like Man and Wife by secret Coitions in their Conjunction and several Aspects bring forth the whole life and growth of all the World both in Vegetive Sensitive and Intellectual creatures And unto these the other five Planets and all the fixed Stars are but as it were Assistants sometimes helping and other whiles in some sense hindering the life and growth of Nature Saturn and Mars also have their good work in the frame of Nature according to their task and duties but yet by means of the corruptions of Nature they seem as it were Thieves and Robbers or like Worms which destroy Nature and therefore seem very hurtful unless it be by accident that they do any whit avail Now the Moon notwithstanding her quickning faculty yet