passeth through one years effects which I suppose we justly may we shall not have much less than eight years expired before its effects be fully over and I think this will prove the exactest measure of time in the effects of this Comet and thus much of Comets in general and of the Comet in 1680. in particular with their significations But what Mr. Holwel hath written of Comets is nonsensical and the most part of it much varying from the Rules of Astrology especially what he mentioneth of this Comet in his Judgment of the year 1683 which was one great cause of my writing to shew the World the true signification of Comets according to what Authors more experienced than Mr. Holwel and daily experience have shewed CHAP. VIII Treating of and Confuting most of Mr. Holwels Judgments on the State of the years from 1683. unto the year 1700. mentioned in his Catastrophe Mundi MR. Holwel in his Catastrophe Mundi speaking of the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter saith according to natural causes Persons signified by the Sun should be afflicted in Person with Horror and Amazement and shall be in danger of their Lives Honour and Estate and be forced to fly for Safeguard for by bad advice they shall attempt to do that which they shall never attain to by which means they shall bring themselves and Fame to destruction for ever and therefore he adviseth Persons to beware that have ten or eleven Degrees of Leo ascending And in his judgment of the year 1683. he saith that a very great Person of Europe that hath Leo ascending will be afflicted and flung into a great many Troubles with the death of some of his Children Loss of Honour and esteem in the World Sure Mr. Holwel hath forgotten that he himself hath Leo ascending that he judgeth so hard of persons born under it but I could wish that he had named what great Persons of Europe he meaneth that we might have observed the Event but I shall here as I have already shew them that great Persons born under Leo shall not by the effect of this Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Leo receive Detriment or Loss either of Honour or Estate but on the contrary they shall gain both Riches and Honour by the effects of this Conjunction though Mr. Holwel gained the displeasure of the Honourable E. A. Esquire to whom he confidently dedicated his Book although he never knew him which nonsensical Stuff be disliking made the Epistle Dedicatory to be taken out again this was done when Saturn transited Leo Mr. Holwels Ascendant as also Saturn did when the said Book was written Neither do I judge of the death of any Prince in Europe that hath about thirteen degrees of Virgo ascending though it be said in Catastrophe Mundi if there be a Prince in Europe that hath about thirteen degrees of Virgo ascending he should in the year 1684. return to the ground from whence he was taken for I find no such matter by the Rules of Astrology as may signifie the death of any such Prince but I pray for all Christian Princes and particularly for such as have Virgo or Leo ascending on their Horoscope And whereas Mr. Holwel saith in his judgment of the year 1698. that Saturn in opposition to the place of the Conjunction 1682. and Jupiter in square thereto threatens Italy with no less than Confusion and utter Subversion of the triple Crown and although it may not be fully compleated in this year yet saith he this year sets a great say to it and in the following year its full destruction And that then the power of France shall be brought low and many thousands of his Subjects destroyed through the pride of an insulting King and envy of the Roman Clergy But if this Opposition and Square be the cause of all this why had not Rome been destroyed in the year 1639. when Saturn was in opposition to the place of the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Leo which was in the year 1623. I have searched into History and found that there was War at that time between the Swedes and the Germans and between the French and the Italians but not any thing to the Destruction of any Nation or People yet many eminent Persons died about that time some in War and some in Peace and many strange Accidents hapned and I suppose near the like may happen now but little or nothing of what Mr. Holwel writes in all his judgment on his several years will prove true there being no grounds in Astrology for them but what his own fantastical Pate hath imagined to raise himself a Fame in the World by predicting Lyes and to deceive the World by Delusions for I will appeal to all Artists what Rules there are in Astrology whereby to predict as Mr Holwel hath that in the Eastern part of the World a whole Army should be destroyed with fire from Heaven with their Wealth and Treasure or that there should be War and Plagues over the face of the whole Earth and that there should be so many men destroyed that there should not be men enough left to get in Harvest as he predicteth in his judgment of the year 1699. therefore I aver all that he speaks of that year and the next to be absolutely false nonsensical and erroneous in the next year with which he concludeth his Book he saith that Rome is now destroyed and Peters Seat thrown down and the Conversion of the Turks and Jews soon follows and Religion but what Religion he knows not truly preached universally over all the World sure this must not be Astrology but Prophecy and if Prophecy then Mahometal and if Mahometal then lying like Baal's Prophets and so deserving the reward that they received from Elijah ADVERTISEMENT THe Author hereof calculateth Nativities exactly by knowing the Hour of any ones Birth shewing thereby the general Fate of the Native and the greatest Accidents that will happen to any one through the whole course of his Life and the time when they will happen whereby one may withstand much evil and augment the good He also teacheth the whole Art of Astrology and by Astrology resolveth all Lawful Questions This for Mr. John Gadbury at his House in Brick-Court in Westminster SIR HAve you seen Saunder's Apollo Anglicanus for the year 1683 Written as I suppose by Mr. Henry Coley which if you have I question not but that you have seen therein how he unworthily derides both you and me about your Calculation of your ten and twenty-years Ephemerides which I dare presume himself is no way able to compose the like or any that shall have so much truth in it as those have as for the Ephemerides of ten years which you calculated your self he saith it was handsomly Transcribed from Hecker which that I suppose to be a very great Mistake in Mr. Coley and therefore unworthily taxed by him in an Almanack for I have heard you say when you
of these Configurations than Mr. Holwel sheweth in either his Catastrophe Mundi or his Appendix which he hath written to make ignorant People believe that the World should be turned immediately upside down by means of the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Leo 1682. and of the Comet that appeared in 1680. But let Mr. Holwel as well as my Reader know that there have been such Conjunctions and Comets before these which have had Effects bad enough but far different from what Mr. Holwel writes of these and therefore unlike to be true but I will shew you what hath hapned upon such Configurations already past and my Judgement on those lately hapned for the time to come The Scheam of the Nativity of the French King is the same that Morinus his own Physician published in his Astrologia Gallica and since printed in Mr. Gadbury's Defence of Scorpio that of the Grand Seignior is taken out of Mr. Gadbury's Book de Cometis but the Scheams of the Nativity of Mahomet Author of the Turks Faith and that of the German Emperour I had of my very good Friend Mr. John Gadbury's own Hand which he affirms to be the true ones for which I return him my hearty thanks And thus courteous Reader I have shewed thee according to the perfect Rules of Astrology the Fate that Europe will be like to undergo for near this twenty years yet to come both by the Nativities of some of her most Noble Princes the amazing Comet in 1680 and the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Leo 1682 which I do not question but Time will manifest to be true And in the mean time I crave nothing but thy kind acceptance judicial perusing careful observation of the Effects for the future and thy judgement of it according to its merits and this will encourage me to present thee with something of greater Consequence till then farewel John Merrifield From my House at the Hand and Pen at the lower end of Horsly-down near the Dock-head in Southwark London ♀ Feb. 22. 1683 4. ERRATA PAge 4. line 13. for Ascendent read second p. 6. l. 25. for thing r. think p. 9. l. 33. r. Religion excepting that of christ against which the Gates of Hell shall not prevail p. 12. for 60. r. Co-Anticians p. 16. l. 1. dele by p. 20. l. 32. r. St. Stephen p. 25. l. 1. for heart r. hearts p. 26. l. 3. dele Christ p. 27. l. for too r. to p. 11. l. 11. for Joseph r. Josephus for Falicimus r. Ferdinandus CATASTASIS MVNDI OR The true STATE VIGOR and growing Greatness of Christendom under the Influences of the last triple Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Leo the late Comet c. CHAP. I. Treating of the Rise of the Ottoman Family which is accounted to be the Foundation of the Turks Empire IF we take the Original or Beginning of the Turks Empire to be from the Ottoman Family as I suppose we justly may although they had many Risings and Fallings after they left their Native Countrey Anno Dom. 844. and were then called Scythians for Ottoman taking upon him the Government of the Turks he first founded this great Empire in the year of Christ 1289. at which time Saturn was in Pisces and Authors tell us that Turky or the greatest part of it lies under Capricorn and therefore governed by Saturn And according to the Rules of Astrology Saturns greatest years are 465. which added to 1289. will make 1754. therefore this Monarchy seemeth to stand firm and stable no longer then unto the year of Christ 1754. but as it hath hitherto had at some times Risings and at other times Diminishings so it will be like to continue and had not Saturn at his Conjunction with Jupiter been in Aquarius his own House and a fixed Sign a little before the beginning of this Empire it had not continued so long But to take the time of this Conjunction and to work by directions from the New Moon preceding to find the Time of the good or evil Events of this Empire I think it frivolous and vain and an Abuse to Astrology as Mr. Holwel hath done for would not any rational man think it great Folly or Madness in an Artist to calculate a Childs Nativity and take the time thereof four months before it was born or first drew breath in the World but Mr. Holwel hath taken the Nativity of the Turks Empire four years before it began as he himself hath written but neither the Day nor Hour being as I suppose known nor attainable when this Empire was first established by a Law therefore to know when this Empire shall be most Honourable and Successful or most miserable and unsuccessful consider carefully the Nativities of the Emperors and chief Commanders thereof and an able Artist may give a good Astrological Judgment of the Success of that Empire during his Reign for as a King or Emperor is the Head and his People the Members so the Head cannot suffer Affliction but the Members must partake with it and what Increasing Decreasing Ebbing and Flowing have happened in this Empire in times past History relates at large and therefore I shall not here mention it lest my Book swell beyond my Expectation for I intend not to write a large-Folio but a few Sheets to shew the World that there is a more certain way of judging the State of a Nation than Mr. Holwel hath used in his Catastrophe Mundi or in his Appendix thereto The future state of an Empire or Kingdom may also be judged from the Conjunctions of the superior Planets Comets Eclipses and Solar Ingresses all which I shall give a hint at which I hope I may do without offence And first I will here insert the true Nativity of the Grand Seignior the present Emperor of the Turks and it is the same which Mr. Gadbury hath in his Book de Cometis which I alter only three Degrees on the Medium Coeli and dare affirm it to be the truest that is attainable as I shall prove by several Accidents The Nativity that Mr. Holwel hath taken cannot be the true time because the Accidents which have already happened will not admit of Sagittary to ascend in the Nativity of that Illustrious Prince CHAP. II. Treating on the Nativity of Sultan Mahomet the Turks Grand Seignior Sultan Mahomet Ham was born January the 1st 7h 26′ A. M. Lat. 43 deg ☾ ☌ ☉ add V. Cour. SUltan Mahomet Ham the present Emperor of the Turks was born at Constantinople on the first day of January 1641 2 26 minutes past 7 in the Morning That this is a most Illustrious Nativity here are many eminent Testimonies as may be seen by the Position of Jupiter the Sun Moon and part of Fortune in the Ascendent and other Testimonies which I will here omit and proceed to the general fate of the Native this Scheme was taken out of the Book de Cometis written by my very good Friend Mr. John Gadbury
CATASTROPHE GALLIAE OR THE FRENCH KING 's Fatal Downfal Predicted to happen in or about the Years 1691. or 92. TOGETHER With his Nativity Calculated according to the Rules of Astrology As likewise That of the Present EMPEROR of Germany and the GRAND SIGNIOR WITH Probable Conjectures upon the Turks new Eruptions into EVROPE All Humbly Submitted to the Candid and Ingenuous Sons of Art By J. P. Student in Astrology London Printed for Rowland Reynolds next the Middle Exchange in the Strand 1691. To the Honourable and ever Loyal Sir Edward Dering of Sharsted in the County of Kent Knight one of His Majesties Justices of the Peace for the said County SIR AStrology as it is a Noble Science and therefore fit for the Study of the Noblest of Persons hath this Misfortune commonly attends it viz. to sink and suffer for want of Noble Advocates and Protectors Therefore it is Learned Sir that I am thus presumptuous to shelter my mean Endeavours in that worthy Science in opposition to one that hath abused it under your gentle Patronage being assured that both Mine the Adversaries Arguments will be justly weighed and considered by your more curious Judgment under which I am most willing to stand or fall Your exquisite Skill in this Learning is such that thereby like the thrice Excellent Knight Sir Christopher Heydon who defended Astrology so happily in the last Age you are able to judge and distinguish between Mr. Holwel's bold and fallacious dealing under pretence of explaining the meaning of the triple Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Leo wherewith he hath encouraged Mahomet and crucified our Saviour afresh and my humble Pains and Apology for the promotion of Christian Courage and imbasing of Turkish Power in expounding the same Conjunction Be not offended I pray Sir if I am bold to tell the World and your Honoured Self together that you are the only Person of Loyalty that I know of fit to be my Judge in this Matter as having for many years among other Nobler Employments diverted your self also with this abstruse Science even before the happy Restauration of his most Sacred Majesty and all the Royal Party and by your well-grounded Confidence therein you kept many of Them when beyond Sea from desponding with your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and an Assurance of the Return of Monarchy into England again which more than common Presage was to Yours and Astrologies Honour happily verified in the year 1660. and for the Hopes you conceived of that happy Year you affirmed your Loyalty even in the worst of Times thereby hazarding your Self to become a Victim for the Truth you had so happily avowed Nay so obliging a Patron and Maecenas have You been to the Glories of Urania that to your Pains and Search all the Sons of Art owe the Knowledge of that Illustrious Geniture of the Great Carolus Gustavus late King of Sweden which you Sir first transmitted out of Germany into England at that time when the victorious Arms of that King were the Astonishment of almost all Christendom Which hapning into the Hands of my worhy Friend Mr. John Gadbury by making some Remarks upon and printing it as I have heard Him say was one of the principal Causes of His as he was pleased to call it Little but envied Fame in the World so happy have You been to Art and Artists even then unknown to You as if You were born to befriend not only Astrology it self but all its honest Professors too Neither let me forget to mention it That You Honoured Sir in our now later Times of Confusion and Disorder have stood firm to your Principles in adhering and paying Homage to that Monarchy whose Return by this Art you had happily encouraged and are also the only Person of your Name and Family that have shew'd your Loyalty by Addressing when it was little less than Treason against that Monster the Republican and Antimonarchical Interest so to do and you have dared to own and to teach the World this Maxim That Loyalty to the King and a dutiful Regard to His Royal Highness are inseparable Pardon good Sir my Freedom in mentioning these Things for loyal Actions no more than loyal Persons ought never to be forgotten and excuse my humble Boldness in making use of your Noble Name and give me leave to end all with this cordial Vote viz. That Monarchy may have more such Friends and Astrology more such Defenders So prayeth ever Honoured Sir Your humblest Servant and Votary John Merrifield To the Impartial READER Courteous Reader IT having been my Chance amongst the rest of my manifold Studies to light of a small Book entitled An Appendix to Holwel's Catastrophe Mundi on which carelesly casting mine Eye I beheld all Christendom or at least the greatest part of it over-run or speedily to be over-run with Turks which put me into a very great Amazement to behold the Hand of the Lord so sorely stretched out against those Nations which do profess the Name of Christ and do acknowledge him to be the Son of God and Saviour of the World and doubting in my self the Author of the said Book might have any divine Revelation of Prophesie against those Nations as Jonah had against Nineveh and as the other Prophets had before Christ came in the Flesh but considering that Christ came to fulfil the Law I thought whether this Holwel might be a Prophet of Mahomet to encourage the Turks and to dishearten the Christians as all Ahab's Prophets did Micaiah excepted encourage Ahab to go to Ramoth gilead which were in comparison no more than Mahometal Prophets possess'd with lying Spirits which caused Ahab to go to Ramoth-gilead there to be slain as the Turks fell at Vienna But taking a more serious View of it I found it to be predicted Astrologically and then I was resolved to peruse it more carefully whereby to see if such Judgements were determinate by the celestial Influences according to secondary Causes not doubting of a divine Providence of God over Christendom against the tyrannical Turks and Power of Mahomet And also I soon procured Holwel's Catastrophe Mundi it self and with a careful and judicial Eye I thorowly perused them both and found it judged not really from Astrology but rather from Fancy I also found many Mistakes both in the time of the Nativities of those magnanimous Princes there mentioned and in many other places which I shall hereafter make appear and give you the true Nativities with an Astrological Discourse thereon shewing you how that the Turks shall not over-run Christendom neither shall the French King come to be the poorest Prince in the World as Mr. Holwel in his Appendix saith he shall But I shall shew Astrologically what may be the Fate of those Nations both by the true Nativities of their Emperours Kings c. and by the Effects of Conjunctions Comets and other Configurations shewing my Reader a more fafe and rational way of Judgement of the Effects
The Sun Jupiter and the Moon in the Ascendent are sure Testimonies of Honour both from great and eminent Persons as also from the vulgar People it makes him extreamly proud so that he will esteem none so good as himself but will be apt to quarrel with those of his neighbouring Nations but the Moon in this Nativity applies to void of Course shewing most of his Undertakings to be unfortunate in this Nativity Saturn Lord of the Ascendent is in square of Mars Lord of the tenth House the House of Honour so will he himself act something that will be prejudicial to his own Honour Mars Lord of the Tenth is in the Eleventh the House of Friendship and there in Conjunction of Venus shewing the Native will have many Friends that will procure Honour to him by their means which will be Leaders and Generals of his Armies the rather because Mars is Lord of the eleventh House the House of Friendship but Jupiter Lord of the Twelfth is in the Ascendent shewing that he will have secret Enemies about his own House or Palace and that there will be many Seditions and Tumults raised against him by his own Subjects but they will not prevail against him but will be defeated in their Designs The Lord of the Eleventh is in square to the Lord of the Ascendent which will cause the Friends of the Native to prove deceitful to him Saturn Lord of the Ascendent posited in the Second shews the Native to use industry to increase his Substance and to inlarge his Territories but Saturn is an Infortune by Nature and by being posited in the Ascendent will rather destroy the Natives Substance and diminish his Empire the Dragons Tail in the Third makes his Inland Journies not to be very Fortunate therefore not much like to inlarge his Dominions by Land-Armies but Saturn must be spiteful though he be defeated of his Enterprise as the Moon is Combust so hath he been all his Life-time in Combustions and Troubles even from his Minority his Sea-Affairs seem more successful than his Land-Affairs do yet he hath had his Affairs by Sea often defeated by the Venetians which have taken sunk and burned many of his Ships and Galleys The Moon Lady of the seventh House the House of publick Enemies is stronger then Saturn Lord of the Ascendent shewing that he shall not prevail against them neither will his Enemies be apt to quarrel with him seeing the Moon Lady of the Seventh is in Sextile to Saturn Lord of the Ascendent but he disposing of the Moon in the Ascendent and in the Sign of the Ascendent makes him think that he can over-power the whole World and especially Christendom not considering the Moon is in her own Triplicity and in an Angle and therefore not to be prevailed against for though Mr. Holwel in his Appendix page the 25 th saith that the Turk is ordained within a few years to gain a great part of Christendom yet I do aver that according to the Rules of Astrology they shall not gain one foot of Land in Christendom but what they shall pay dear Sawce for let them have a care they lose none of their own for I would have Mr. Holwel as well as my Reader know that the influences of the Stars have not limited so short a continuance for the Christian Religion But the main thing that provoked this Emperor to give such an Alarm against Christendom in general and Vienna in particular are because about this time he had the Sun Moon and Ascendent directed to the Square of Mars and Germany being under Aries drew him with a vast Host that way supposing that Germany had been his own with little or no Resistance and so his Ambition was against Rome Italy France Spain and all Christendom but let not him boast that putteth on his Armour but he that puts it off But had Mr. Holwel rightly understood the Grounds of Astrology he might have rectified his Scheme by Accidents and he might easily have seen that there had been but little hope that the Sultan should gain Honour or enlarge his Territories about this time by the Sword nor need he have judged Vienna to be taken upon such Directions but that is like the rest of his nonsensical stuff I have wrought out the Directions of this Nativity and will acquaint you with some of them to shew thereby the truth of the Scheme and others what Fate the Grand Seignior is yet like to undergo In the year 1648. on the 17 th of August Ibrim Father of this present Emperor of the Turks was strangled in Prison and his Son Mahomet being not full seven years of age was proclaimed Emperor in his Fathers stead but he being in his Minority the Government was wholly left to his Mother who by the Advice of the Councel took on her the Regency he had then the Mid-heaven directed to the Sextile of the Sun and Moon when he was about nine years of age he had his Mid-heaven to the square of Mars then were Domestick Troubles as well as Loss by the Venetian War he was for the most part of his Life healthful of body but he hath often been unfortunate in War although he have had many good Directions of both the Sun Moon and Ascendent but the general fate of his Nativity and the many ill Directions of the Mid-heaven hath made him often unsuccesful in War At seventeen years of Age he took on him the Regency about which time he had his Ascendent Sun and Moon directed to the Anticians of Mars About twenty one years of age he had the Ascendent Sun and Moon to the Sextile of Mars then was great care taken for the carrying on the War both against Transilvania Hungary and Venice About the year 1669. came the Ascendent Sun and Moon to the Sextile of Venus and soon after to the body of Jupiter then was concluded Peace with the Venetians and he prevailed in War against the Polanders and he much delighted himself in Pleasures and Recreations but about the same time he had his Mid-heaven to the Conjunction of Mars and see the effects of it for in the year 1673. the Poles deny paying to the Turk their promised Tribute General Sobieski now King of Poland fell upon the Turks Camp then under the Command of Chusalin and other Bashaws killed about twenty five thousand of their Men with most of their Officers this was very considerable for besides the ordinary Baggage they took two thousand Purses of Money that were brought to pay the Souldiers and twenty five thousand Waggons of Provision and Ammunition and about this time he had the Mid-heaven to the square of Saturn Lord of his own Ascendent But since that time he hath had the Mid-heaven directed to the Conjunction of Venus and to the Sextile of Jupiter also the Sun Moon and Ascendent to the Sextile of Mercury which hath lifted up his heart with Pride but to abate his haughtiness in this year 1683.