Vindication of His Annotations, Text (2 of 5)

Vindication of His Annotations · Text (2 of 5)

p. 39But tho neither Melancholie Saturns malevolent aſpect prevailed any whit to the darkning of the day, and the ayer was as ſerene and cleer as could be deſired in the place of mine abode; yet for want, it ſeems, of Mr. Lilies ſpectacles, none among us were able to diſcern any one Star fixed or free, thoſe two great Luminaries then in conjunction, the Sun and the Moon onelyonly excepted; nor can I hear of any one, tho having made enqiry of many in places remote, and far diſtant one from an other, at that time reſiding, that had ſo piercing an ey as to attain any ſuch ſight. and yet had it ben no ſuch great matter, had any ſuch thing ben, had a Star or two ben ſeen, my ſelf can remember twice to have ſeen a Star neer about noontide; the former time in the Borough of Southwark, about one of the Clock after noon; the latter time in Cheapſide London, about eleven in the forenoon; it being at neither time, either a very cleer or dark day, which many at both times ſtood gazing upon, (beſides ſuch as came out of their ſhops and houſes to behold it) as they paſſed along in the ſtreet.

Yea but our Engliſh Merline tels us in his late New Ephemeris for the yeer 1653, to ſalv his credit in this particular, that thouſands in London did then behold the Planet of Venus and many fixed Stars as cleerly as in the darkeſt night.

He told us awhile ago, that he doubted we might not ſee them for the darknes of the day,Pag. 49. which Saturns melancholie and malevolent look might produce: now he tels us they were ſeen by many as cleerly as in the darkeſt night ▪ the darknes of the day belike would hinder the ſight of that, which the darknes of the night would help to improov. Or doth the man, trow we, mean, and ſo with an Eqivocation (ſuch as the Wizards Oracles much abounded in of old) delude us? that as he who preſenting one for a degree in the Univerſitie, on his word averred him to be, tam doctrinâ, qam moribus idoneum, as wel for lerning as for life and cariage fit to have that degree conferred on him; that is, as he after expounded himſelf, alike fit for either, in plain truth for neither. So our Merlines meaning may be, that thoſe his thouſands ſaw thoſe Stars as cleerly as in the darkeſt night, wherein there is no Star at all to be ſeen. and then we ſhal as eaſily beleiv him herein, as thoſe did the Maſter preſenting concerning the Scholler preſented by him, who know wel p. 40enough what he was. Otherwiſe how thoſe thouſands in London attained to ſuch an eminent degree of perſpicacitie above ſo many other thouſands in and about the Citie, that could deſcry no ſuch matter, the ayer and skie being alike affected unto either partie in thoſe parts, it is not eaſie to apprehend, unles they ſhould all borow and make uſe of Mr. Lilies ſpectacles, which he ſhould be very free of to lend to ſo many. Yet, it may be ſome two or three of our Merlines clients, to cheer the man up, perceiving how he was in his dumps, upon notice taken that his predictions concerning this dreadful Eclips had not in all points accordingly faln out; and ſore vexed, that the Mercuries and ballat-ſingers, whome he greivouſly complains of, had ben ſo bold with him; might come to him and tel him, that they had ſeen ſome ſuch matter, (for, it ſeems, he dares not, does not at leaſt, ſay, that he ſaw them himſelf) whome by the help of ſome multiplieng glas he might raiſe up to that hyperbolical number of thouſands: unles it were rather, (as may not unjuſtly be ſuſpected) by the figure of figmentum or mendacium, a couple of tropes too freqent with thoſe of his trade.

But to let theſe unwonted ſights pas; for the greatnes of the obſcurity, many thouſands, I doubt not, wil avow, and my ſelf among the reſt, that they have full oft known the skie, through the thicknes of clouds overſpreading the places of their aboad, much darker, upon ſome approaching ſtorm eſpecially, then they found it at the higheſt or deepeſt degree (chooſe whether you pleaſe to term it) of this dreadful Eclips.

Yea but, howſoever it was with the Eclips here about London, our Merline enforms us, that by letters from Scotland and Ireland, and ſome of ours on ſhip-board, it appeers, that the darknes was far more dreadful in thoſe parts where they then were, ſo as they could not ſee to write or to barb without candle; and no man ever ſaw the like in thoſe qarters: inſomuch that in ſome places all the poor people caſt themſelvs down on their backs (they might have done better to have lien groveling on their bellies) with their eyes towards heaven, moſt paſſionately praying, that Chriſt would let them ſee the Sun again. They were ſome belike of the progenie of that people, that were wont to howl hideouſly, and make greivous lamentation at the daily ſetting of p. 41the Sun, as miſdoubting that he would never riſe again with them. But, it ſeems, that ſpiteful Planet Saturn, whoſe malevolent aſpect Mr. L. miſdoubted might by clouding the day, hinder the ſight of the Stars with us, did on the other ſide produce that hideous and dreadful darknes with them; and we may hope therefore, that thoſe direful and diſaſtrous effects, which this darkning of our day-light, either doth preſage, or is to produce, wil light upon thoſe of Scotland and Ireland, or at the moſt and worſt, on our ſhipping at Sea, where the darknes was ſo exceeding deep and diſmal; not upon us in theſe parts, where it was nothing ſo dreadful. I might wel adde, that its to wel known to be a common ſlight of our Mercuries (and why not of our Merlines?) to date and divulge letters from forain parts and remote regions, that have indeed ben as wel coined and endited, as printed and publiſhed here at London.

But leaving theſe things, as by-matters to my main intendment at preſent (mentioned onelyonly to retund a litle this mans inſolent vauntings of his tranſcendent skil in the Sideral affairs) to be made out, and made good by him as he ſhal deem himſelf able; I ſhall proceed unto that, which I formerly propounded to deal in a while with him, concerning the nature of theſe Eclipſes the main matter of his Book. And here in the firſt place, I would gladly know, for my better lerning, from him and his Complices what reaſon in Nature they can give us (for in his late Ephemeris he tells us they go in a natural way) of thoſe dreadful effects or events, that to theſe Eclipſes they aſcribe. For to pres that Argument againſt them▪ that any the meaneſt capacity may be able to apprehend. The interception of the light of the Sun from our ſight in theſe Eclipſes, ariſes from the interpoſition of the body of the Moon between us and the Sun: now the like interception of the light of the Sun from our ſight ariſes in the night time from the interpoſition of the body of the Earth between the Sun and us, and ſo makes every nght, not a partial of ſo many digits and minutes more or les, but a total Eclips of the Sun to us and the whole hemiſphere wherein we ar ſituate. I demand then of theſe men, what reaſon they can give, why theſe nightly Eclipſes ſhould not juſtly be deemed as dreadful and as diſmal as thoſe. p. 42why ſhould not the total want of the Sun-light for divers hours together, having no Moon-light at all to ſupply the want of it, either the night next before this Eclips, or the night next after it, portend as dreadful matter, or produce as direful Effects, as the greateſt darknes that to us it ſuſtained, laſting (Mr. L. himſelf ſaith it) not above a quarter of an hower?

But that, which indeed ſurmounts all reaſon, and may not unjuſtly be tearmed the very qinteſſence of folly & vanitie is, that, as this grand Maſter-Wizard from other his fore-runners informs us, thoſe dreadful events and effects enſuing each Eclips, muſt continu in the Lunar, or that of the Moon, for as many moneths, Pag. 20.as the Moon in her obſcuration paſſed howers; in the Solar, Pag. 42, 43.or that of the Sun, for as many yeers as the Sun in his conjunction with the Moon; (tho, the truth is, far enough aſunder either from other) from his firſt meeting with her to his utmoſt leaving of her; and that for the effects thereof, it may be eight or nine moneths ere they begin to take place, and wil be moſt fierce about twenty moneths after their beginning to work;Ibid. but then begin to abate, and can not laſt therefore above three yeers and an half. For what an abſurd thing is it to imagine, that the palpable darknes of ſome preſent night, and of every night that paſſeth over our heds much more, ſhould have ſome diſmal effect on us, not while it is preſent with us, but ſome monethmonth or two, yea or ſome twelv monethmonth after? and as litle reaſon have we to beleiv or conceiv, that the withdrawing of the Sun-light in part this day from us, ſhould many moneths after begin to do miſcheif, and cauſe many miſchances to befal us for a yeer or two after. One would in reaſon rather imagine, that all the diſmalnes of it (if any ſuch matter were in it) ſhould be over, as ſoon as the interruption of thoſe radiant rayes were remooved, and the wonted light reſtored: as is all the dreadfulneſſe of the nightly darknes, unto thoſe that travel or wander in the dark by night, when the day-light once appeers: and the man might juſtly be deemed not unworthy to be taken into Bedlem, who ſhould imagine, that the darknes, which ſurpriſed him the night before in his way, would ſhrewdly endanger him, either ſitting in his houſe, or being abroad without doores the day folowing, or do him p. 43ſome ſhrewd turn, if he were not very warie, about a fortnight or three weeks after. And I would fain hear what colour of reaſon can be given for the one more then for the other.

It wil, it may be, be ſaid, the one comes every day, the other but rarely, ſcarce once in ſome yeers.

This is that indeed that ſome of Ancients have wel obſerved, that Miracula aſſiduitate vileſcunt; ſuch things,Aug. de Trinit. l. 3. c. 5, 6. & in Joan. tr. 8.9. Greg. mer. l. 6. c. 6. & in Evang. hom. 36. as were they duly conſidered, would juſtly be deemed to be as ſtrange and admirable as any miracle whatſoever; yet in regard of the freqencie of them ar litle regarded and lightly paſt over. It was not without juſt cauſe and good ground deemed a ſtrange matter and a miracle, that the Sun at one time for ſome houres ſhould ſtand ſtill, Joſh. 10.12, 13. and again that at another time for ſome degrees it ſhould go back, Eſay 38.8. yet if it be wel weighed and duly conſidered, it is a far greater and much more admirable thing, that the ſame Sun ſhould for ſo many thouſand yeers together keep a conſtant cours and certain tenor of continued and unwaried motion, ſave when by a ſuperior overruling power it was for ſome ſhort ſpace of time a peice of a day onelyonly, once or twice interrupted. Yea it is much more admirable, that within the ſpace of twenty four howers it ſhould every day make up its diurnal circuit, then that for a few howers it ſhould ſometime either go back or ſtand ſtill: the one is in its own nature ſimply conſidered of more difficulty then the other, tho the other ſeem the ſtranger, becauſe it ſo ſeldome came to pas. It was in its own nature, as we ſaid before of the Eclips, a work admirable, that the Sun did riſe and ſet, at his du ſet and wonted time, either the day before, or the day after his ſtay at the one time, his retrograde motion at the others, then that for ſo ſmal an interval he ſtopt and ſtaied his uſual progres in either. But the difference is between the caſe there and here, that there both the ſtay and the regres were contrary to the natural cours by God eſtabliſhed in the creature, and reqired therefore an extraordinary power and work for the effecting of either, the daily circuit being according to the conſtant ſet cours by God in nature eſtabliſhed: whereas in the preſent caſe, the interception of the Sun-light in whole by night, in part more or les by day in the Eclips, as we uſually term the one, and may as wel and as truly term the other, tho not ſo properly either, come both alike according to a conſtant p. 44cours by God in nature eſtabliſhed,Vid. Senec. qaest. nat. l. 7. c. 1. tho the one more freqently the other more rarely, which makes us regard the one more then the other. And yet we read not, tho the work there was at either time extraordinary and ſupernatural, that the Suns either ſtanding ſtill or going back, did produce any remarkable effect, either the yeer enſuing or the next after it. OnelyOnly for the preſent, the one gave Gods people opportunity for purſuit of their adverſaries, the other ſealed to Ezekias the certainty of the performance of Gods promiſe concerning his recovery; that which any other ſign he had made choiſe of, and God had pleaſed to give way to, might as well as that have done. But here nothing comes to pas but by an ordinary cours in nature eſtabliſhed: and it is therefore on all hands confeſt and agreed, that by rules of art built upon natural grounds, it may as certainly be foreknown and foretold at what time or times ſuch and ſuch Eclipſes wil fall out for many yeers enſuing, as it may be known and told at what time the Sun wil riſe and ſet the next day: and why the one then being of the like nature with the other, ſhould have any ſtranger effects then the other, we deſire to hear or ſee ſome ſound reaſon rendred.

Nor let this profound Artiſt think we will be put off here as ignorant animals, Pag. 23.with telling us, that we blame Aſtrologie, becauſe it is beyond our capacitie; whoſe error he therefore pitieth, becauſe grounded rather on malice and ignorance, then on any ſound enqirie. But we ſhal entreat him, tho we come never ſo far ſhort of him for matter of skil in this his profound Art, not to repute us meer bruits or irrational creatures. So much reaſon yet we have, as to reqire a reaſon of him and his Complices, before we engage our beleif to his or their dictates.

And whereas he ſaith, it is out of meer malice and ignorance that men oppoſe him and his felow-wizards herein; we ſhal, I hope, all things being wel weighed, make it to appeer, that it is out of meer ignorance of the tru nature of theſe Eclipſes, that makes people ſo much admire them, and give credit to their predictions of them, and that ſome of thoſe men themſelvs that delude men with vain conceits and frighting fancies about them, have in effect themſelvs acknowledged as much. Some inſtances from ancient Storie wil ſufficiently ſhew that p. 45to be tru which I ſay. About the time that Socrates lived at Athens was Archelaus King of Macedonie; who upon an Eclips of the Sun, that fell out in his reign, cauſed his Courtgates to be ſhut, and his ſons hed to be ſhaven; as in great dangers and diſtreſſes, or greifs and calamities was wont to be done. and whence, ſaith Seneca, who relates it, proceeded all this dread, but from his gros ignorance of the nature of the creatures? Sen. de benef. l. 5. c. 6.for had he had Socrates with him, whome he invited to repair to him, but for ſome conſiderations refuſed ſo to do, he would, ſaith my Autor, have drawn him out of that corner or covert, wherein for fear he had hid himſelf, and bad him be of good cheer, informing him that it was no defection of the Sun, but a paſſage of the Moon, that keeping a lower way, came between it and the earth, and ſo hid the body of the Sun from our ſight; that thoſe two celeſtial bodies would by the ſwifter motion of the one be ſoon ſevered again, and that light of the Sun reſtored to the Earth, which the intervention of the Moon, in manner of a cloud, had ſuſpended for a time. Which laſt clauſe of his, doth well intimate that which is indeed moſt tru; to wit, that as great darknes for ſun-light is oft produced by thick clouds and miſty fogs as by any Eclips, and as much diſmalnes and danger conſeqently in the one as in the other.

But becauſe ſome may moov qeſtion, whether Socrates his skill would have prevailed ſo far with Archelaus, as to reduce him ſo perplexed and amazed to a ſettled poſture of mind again, tho it be apparent that his ignorance had caſt him into that fit of fear, we wil pas on to another inſtance.Plut. in Pericl. Pericles that brave, both valiant and prudent, Commander at Athens, was a diſciple of Anaxagoras, by thoſe of his times ſtyled foreign, the Mind-man; and that, either (ſaith Plutarch) for his ſingular perspicacitie in enqirie into the ſecrets of Nature; or for that he aſſcribed the diſpoſition of the Ʋnivers, neither to fa…e, nor to fortune, as ſome others, but to a pure and ſincere or ſingle Mind, that is, to a Deitie. Now by this his Teachers inſtruction, was Pericles his Scholler, thoroughly furniſhed (you hear Plutarchs report ſtill) with the Science of the ſublime and celeſtial creatures. for being naturally of an excellent piercing wit, he improoved it exceedingly in the ſtudy of natural Philoſophie by the help of his Maſter Anaxagoras; whoſe Phyſical p. 46reaſons, being as of a nimble wit, ſo of a qeint and ready toung alſo, he was wont on every occaſion to be opening unto others, to free them from ſuch ſuperſtitious conceits, as concerning thoſe celeſtial creatures they were uſually poſſeſt with. This Pericles then going out ſometime upon a military expedition, juſt as he was ſetting foot into his Galley, the reſt of the Fleet being alſo ready to ſet forth, there fell out a Solar Eclips; whereat when he perceived the Pilote of his Galley to be aſtoniſhed, and the whole company frighted with the darknes enſuing, he caſt his cloak over the Pilots face and eyes, and then demanded of him, Whether any hard matter had befallen him ſo muffled, or ſuch as might preſage ſome greivous diſaſter, that were like to betide him. Which the Pilot denying▪ And what difference, qoth he, is there between this and that, ſave that there that which intercepts the light and makes it ſo dark, is a body larger then my cloak? Thus the ignorance of the tru natural cauſe of the Eclips caſt the Pilot and his company into that fear; from which the right underſtanding thereof kept Pericles free, and by him alſo freed them. Yet ſuch is the fury and obſtinacy of ſuperſtition backed with error and ignorance, that the rude multitude at Athens, being a popular State, would have had Anaxagoras condemned as an Atheiſt, for diſcovering the tru nature of ſuch occurrents unto them, and were like to have carried it againſt him, had not Pericles oppoſed it, and protected his Teacher.

To this of Pericles we ſhall add from the ſame Autor two other inſtances, in two likewiſe military Commanders, neer about the ſame times, but men of divers diſpoſitions, and accordingly of divers carriages, with no les divers event. The one of them was Nicias,Plut. in Nic. Thucyd. l. 7. who being ſent from Athens with ſome Forces into Sicilie to aſſiſt one party of the Ilanders (for the Iland was divided into factions) againſt the other, at firſt prevailed much and was very ſucceſſeful in his deſigns; but after the acceſſe of ſome Spartan forces, thoſe of the Iland deſerting him, and timely ſupplies failing, he and his were both by Sea and Land ſo beſet, that there ſeemed no way to eſcape but by a clancular flight▪ this when they were now addreſſing themſelvs unto and had fitted all things for it,Thucyd. & Plut. ibid. Plin. l. 2. c. 12. a Lunar Eclips came in the way: Whereupon Nicias a man of himſelf timorous and ſuperſtitious, being miſled by ſuch wizards as p. 47he had then about him, who (contrary to the wonted opinion of others of that profeſſion, that, as Autoclides reports of them, confined the diſmal effects of ſuch occurrents but to two or three dayes at moſt) enlarged the danger and diſaſtrous events of them to a moneths time at leaſt, would not be perſwaded ſo much as to entertain any deliberation concerning ſtay or flight, untill the ful Moon came about again; but in a fond manner ſat ſtill ſo long idling and trifling out the time in ſuperſtitious rites, until the enemy having gotten further hed and ſtrength by new ſupplies, had ſo cloſely environed and overpowred him and his forces, that no way or meanes were now left for eſcape, and prooved the utter deſtruction both of him and them. all which miſcheif and miſery had with no great difficulty (ſaith mine Autor) ben prevented,Plut. Nic. had Anaxagoras his doctrine of the nature of ſuch Eclipſes ben then commonly known, or had Stilbides an inward acqaintance of Nicias, and one wel ſeen in thoſe ſciences, that died not long before that accident, ben then ſurviving, who by enforming him aright of the nature of the matter, might both have freed him from his ſuperſtitious fear, and adviſed him better then his fond Wizards did, to make uſe of the darknes by the Eclips produced for a ſpeedy and more advantagious departure by ſtelth, wherein (ſaith Philochorus) he might by that event have ben furthered.

The other Inſtance is of Dio, who ſetting out from Zant with forces againſt the Tyranne Dionyſius,Plut. in Dion. was nothing at all troubled, either he or his company with a like Lunar Eclipſe that then fell out; but launched out undauntedly, put over into Sicilie, there landed his forces, ſurpriſed Syracuſa, and drave out the Tyranne. and what was it, think ye, that kept Dio and his folowers from that terror and dread that ſurpriſed Nicias and his aſſociates upon the ſelf ſame occaſion? Plutark tels you. It was, ſaith he, Dices familiarity with Plato, who had aright enformed him of the tru cauſe of ſuch occurrents, whoſe fame and note alſo, having received it from Socrates, gained generally more credit to his doctrine in ſuch matters, then Anaxagoras before him could attain; who therefore durſt not open his judgement therein ſave to ſome ſpecial frends, ſuch as Pericles was. yet tru it is withal, that to ſtay p. 48the minds of ſuch among them as might not be wholy free from ſuch frivolous ſuperſtitions, one Miltas, that took upon him to be no mean Wiſard, calling the company together, told them, that that defection of the Moon did portend the deficiency of ſome great illuſtrious perſon, ſuch an one as Dionyſius.

Nor were either Cornelius Scipio created General of all the Roman Forces, or Aemylius Regillus made Commander of their Fleet,Liv. l. 37. diſcouraged or diſheartned at all by a Solar Eclips, that fell out juſt at the time of their ſetting out againſt that great Antiochus the Aſian King, but went on cheerfully, eſteeming it as in truth it was, and had as good ſucceſſe againſt Antiochus,Polyb. l. 5. as had Dio againſt Dionyſius: whereas the Galles entertained by Attalus King of Pergamus againſt Acheus, by a Lunar Eclips, becauſe they deemed it prodigious, were ſo frighted, when they were now on their way, that they would not ſtir a foot further, but would needs return home.

To theſe of Dio and Miltas, we ſhall ſubjoyn another Story, that doth yet more fully lay open the wicked ſlight of theſe Wizards, againſt their own conſcience concealing the truth, and deviſing fables and fictions to delude people withal at their pleaſure, as in that Miltas in part appeered. The very night before Alexander was to joyn battel with Darius, about the firſt watch fel out a Lunar Eclips ▪ this ſtrook a great terror into Alexanders Souldiers. Hereupon he ſends for thoſe of his Egyptian Wizards, whome he deemed moſt skilful in the Sideral ſcience. Curt. l. 4. c. 10.Now they, ſaith Curtius mine Autor, tho they knew wel enough, that the celeſtial orbes and bodies kept conſtantly their ſet courſes, and that the Moon fails of her light, when ſhe is ſurpriſed with the ſhadow of the Earth lightning ful upon her from the Sun being in direct oppoſition unto her; Yet the reaſon hereof ſo wel known unto them, they would not have the common people made acqainted with; that would make them, underſtanding that it came in a natural courſe onelyonly, to have their art in leſſe repute of foretelling future events by it; but as the Perſian Magitians had before told Xerxes marching againſt Greece upon a Solar Eclips, Herodot. l. 7.that the Perſians were under the Moon, the Greeks under the Sun; and the Eclips of the Sun therefore did foreſhew the defection of the Greeks Cities and States to him; ſo theſe Egyptian Wizards tell Alexander, that the Sun was the p. 49Greeks, and the Moon the Perſians Star; and the Moon eclipſed therefore did foreſhew ſome great overthrow and ſlaughter of that Nation; withal telling many Stories of great defeats that had befaln the Perſian forces upon ſuch Eclipſes▪ and this being divulged abroad in the Camp, put a great deal of life and courage again into Alexanders Souldiers, that were before much dampt and even ded on the neſt. And tho Alexander himſelf, as having lerned it from his Maſter Ariſtotle, might underſtand as much concerning the general nature of Eclipſes, as thoſe Egyptian Wizards knew; yet was he as willing to entertain theſe their frivolous fancies ſo wel fitted to his affairs, as the tale of Jupiters companying with his mother Olympias in the ſimilitude of a Serpent;Plut. Alex. Curt. l. 4. c. 7. and the Sorcereſſes flatteries at the Libyan Oracle, whether by an unskilful ſlip or a wilful miſtake, ſtyling him foreign, Joves Son, and refuſing to acknowledge Philip his Father, which tho he knew right wel to be no other then meer fictions, and among the Grecians a people of better apprehenſion, and his own countrymen, that were better acqainted with his breeding, he were more ſparing of venting ought concerning his divine Off-ſpring, and made but a jeſt of it, when he ſhewed his frends and favourits the bloud that came from him in fight, and asked ””Plut. idem apophth. & de fort. Alex. Vid. Laert. Anaxarch.whether it were ſuch as the Gods ſhed; and told them an other time of **foreign. Plut. Sympoſ. l. 8. c. 1.two things that gave in evidence againſt his Deitie; yet with thoſe barbarous Nations whome he deſired to ſubdu, he was willing to have ſuch frivolous fictions and groundles conceits go for current. But as theſe Gypſie Wizards fitted their preſages of this Eclipſe unto Alexanders deſigns and deſires; ſo the Perſian Magitians might as wel with a wet finger, have framed the very ſelf ſame accident to Darius his affairs, as thoſe other to Xerxes his intentions and enterpriſes, and it may be that ſome of them ſo did, by telling him, that the Perſians were under the tutelage of the Sun, whome they adored as their cheif God, by the name of Mithras or Mitras; (for both come to one) and that the Greeks and Macedonians were under the Moon, on the face whereof coming in oppoſition to it the Sun darted the ſhadow of the Earth, that produced that darknes; whereby was portended, that the Perſians ſhould darken the luſter of the Macedonians that came to invade them, by giving them ſome great and p. 50remarkable defeat, and as good ground might Darius and his forces have to beleiv the one, as Alexander and his folowers, or Xerxes before him, to give credit to the other. But thus ye may ſee, that it is peoples ignorance of the natural cauſe and courſe of ſuch occurrents, (which thoſe cunning Gypſies therefore were ſo careful to keep from them) that makes men entertain ſuch fond conceits of theſe Eclipſes, and to give heed to ſuch tales as our Stargazers and Figure-caſters tell them concerning the ſame.

Dio lib. 60.That which Claudius the Romane Emperor, tho a man otherwiſe of no deep reach, yet not unwiſely foreſeeing; having underſtood from ſome Mathematicians, that in the fifth yeer of his reign there would an Eclips of the Sun fall out on the firſt of Auguſt, which was his birthday; leſt the people prone to ſuperſtitious conceits ſhould make ſome miſconſtruction of it, and perſons il-affected take occaſion thereby to raiſe ſome tumults, and cauſe ſome diſturbance in the State, he cauſed the ſame by a publick inſtrument to be foreſhewed, together with a declaration of the natural cauſe of it, and by that means qieted the peoples minds, and prevented ſuch miſcheif as might otherwiſe have enſued. And this peice of policy, if not prompted and put upon by ſome other of better brains then his own, he might wel have lerned from the prudent and provident practiſe of Sulpitius Gallus;Liv. lib. 44. who being Captain of a troop under Paulus Aemylius in the Roman expedition againſt Perſeus King of Macedonie, by the skill he had in Aſtronomie foreknowing, that the Moon would be eclipſed the night before the battel was to be fought, at ſuch an hower, and for ſuch a ſpace of time, acqainted his General firſt with it, and by his appointment the whole army called together for that purpoſe, withal enforming them of the tru cauſe of it, that they might not deem it as a prodigie, no more then the ful, or the wane, or the change of the Moon, or the riſing and ſetting, either of it or the Sun, coming in a conſtant cours of nature, as wel the one as the other, and being ſuch therefore as might no les certainly be both foreknown and foretold. This thus diſcloſed to them before hand, nothing troubled them, when it came, but made them much admire the man (as he juſtly deſerved) for his skil▪ and he is noted p. 51indeed to have ben the firſt man, Plin. l. 2. c. 12.that divulged this myſterie among the Romans; and as Plinie reports of him, afterward wrote a large volume, wherein he gave a juſt account of all the Eclipſes, that ſhould enſu for ſix hundred yeers, particularly and preciſely deſigning in each yeer, the monethmonth, day and hower in which they ſhould fall out; the occurrences of the ſeveral ſucceeding yeers and ages from time to time giving atteſtation thereunto. The Roman Souldiery therefore aright underſtanding the matter, were not moved at all with the ſight of that which they had warning of before, but undauntedly and cheerfully addreſſed themſelvs to encounter with the enemy the day folowing;Liv. ibid. Plut. Aemyl. whereas the Macedonian Souldierie reputing it a prodigie of il-preſage, filled their whole camp with ſcrichings and howlings all the while that the Moon was in her defection, untill ſhe recovered her light again. Perſeus ſure wanted ſome of Alexanders Magitians to tell his Souldiers, that the Macedonians were under the tutelage of the Sun, and the Romans of the Moon, becauſe thoſe of their Gentry did wear the figure of the Moon on their rich ſhoes;Plut. problem. Rom. qaeſt. 76. and the Macedonian forces therefore ſhould have the better of the Romans. But the event would have diſproved them: for Perſeus his forces were the next day totally routed, and the King himſelf captived.

Yea but, ſaith Mr. Lilie, from Peucer, certain it is,Pag. 23. that people in all ages have accounted theſe Eclipſes very unluckie things, and mens minds have ben much therewith terrified; that which by theſe very relations, may ſome ſay, doth alſo evidently appeer.

I anſwer; No mervail. for inuſitata perturbant ▪ M. Sen. contr. l. 4.any ſtrange thing, tho coming in a natural and ordinary way, yet to people ignorant thereof, becauſe unuſual and uncouth, is wont to occaſion much trouble and miſdoubt. theſe Eclipſes more eſpecially, in regard of a twofold Error, wherewith concerning ſuch occurrents the minds of the multitude moſtly were mightily prepoſſeſſed.

Firſt they held, as our Wizards bear ſelie people in hand, that they were prodigious, and portended therefore much evil, as murthers and maſſacres, and ſeditions and inſurrections, and deaths of great Potentates, and the like miſcheifs and miſeries. Whereas it is apparent they ar nothing les, have p. 52nothing prodigious at all in them. For what is a prodigie, but ſome thing that comes to paſſe beſides, beyond, above, or against the cours of nature? as it was a prodigie, that the Sun was ſo darkned at our Savior Chriſts paſſion, the Moon being then not in the change, but at the ful, not in conjunction with the Sun, but in oppoſition to it: ſuch a darkning of the Sun, as ſome deem that to have ben,Calviſ. Chronol. that Herodote reports to have faln out at Xerxes his paſſing over into Europe; ſince that the time, ſay they, wil not admit ſuch an obſcuration by any ordinary Eclips, as that ſeems to have ben; or ſuch as the Egyptian los of day-light was for three dayes together, Exod. 10.22, 23. neither is it likely, that that conſtant for three whole howers darkneſſe or defection of Sun-light, extended any further then than the land of Judea, as that Egyptian three entire dayes deprivation of day-light, reached not unto Goſhen where the Hebrews inhabited: and our laſt Verſion therefore wel renders it, over the whole land, Math. 27.45. For as for that Storie of Deniſe the Areopagites ſeeing it at Athens, the Autor hath ben branded long ſince for a counterfeit; and Euſebius his relation of an Eclips about that time out of one Phlegon that lived in the Emperor Adrians days, is ambiguous. But theſe were indeed prodigies, neither of them according to the ordinary cours of nature. Whereas theſe Eclipſes, as Sulpitius wel reaſoned▪ cannot be prodigious, becauſe they come juſt according to the natural and ordinary cours of thoſe creatures. Yea it might very juſtly be deemed prodigious, ſhould it fall out otherwiſe, that either thoſe two Luminaries ſhould not meet in their ſet times, or that the Sun-light ſhould not at all be intercepted, Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 1. …. 20.when the opacous body of the Moon in its du cours ſhould come between the Sun and us; or that the ſhadow of the Earth ſhould not darken the Moon, when the Sun and it come in direct oppoſition, the main bulk of the Earth being then interpoſed between them.

Again Prodigies cannot without ſpecial Revelation by any grounds of Reaſon or rules of Art be certainly foretold▪ whereas theſe Eclipſes, as ye heard before, even for hundreds of yeers may. It was therefore a gros, tho a common, error, in ignorant people, to deem theſe things prodigies, when as indeed they an nothing leſſe.

p. 53Moreover they were poſſeſſed with a moſt abſurd and ridiculous, or ſtupendious conceit, that the Luminaries themſelvs were in pain, and with greivous pangs much vexed and troubled: and that either from evil spirits that haunted and held them for the time, or by the powrful spels of profeſſed witches, Plin. l. 2. c. 12. L…v. l. 26. Plut. Aemyl. Ovid. fab. l. 7. Macrob. Somn. Scip. l. 1. c. 15.and pretended wizards: and to help and releiv them therefore in their preſent diſturbance and diſtreſſe, they were wont all the time that the Eclips laſted, to keep a whooping and halowing, howting and ſhowting, and blowing of horns, and ringing of bels, tinckling of pans, and beating on baſons, to ſcare away thoſe evil ſprites that did in ſuch manner diſturb and moleſt them. Whence that of the Satyriſt,Juven. Sat. 6. concerning a talkative woman, full of toung and loud language, that ſhe alone without all that adoe was able to ſuccour the Moon in her labouring condition, as if ſhe were in ſuch caſes as a woman, that had hard labor, in travel. And ſo far ar ſuperſtitious conceits prevalent, when they have once taken in this kind, and practiſes accordingly continued and confirmed by cuſtome, that the Romane Souldierie under Paulus Aemylius, tho by Sulpitius aright informed of the nature of the Eclips, as was before related, did not now dread it, as ominous, yet ſaith Plutarch, after the wonted guiſe, they kept a tinckling with ſuch bras as they had in their armor and utenſils, foreign, to fetch the Moon again, as if ſhe had ben in a ſwoon. Yea there wanted not among the number of profeſſed Chriſtians thoſe, of the weaker ſex eſpecially, that were taken and tainted with theſe fooleries. Whereas the truth is, to ſpeak properly, in the one of theſe, to wit, the Solar, there is no Eclips, Sen. ep 92.that is, defection, or deficiency of light at all in the Sun it ſelf; it is as full of light every whit then, as when it ſhines forth brighteſt without let at noon-day; the light is onelyonly reſtrained in part for a ſhort time from our ſight; as the Moon in the change, hath never a whit the leſſe light, tho it appeer not to us, then when ſhe is at the ful; or as a candle encloſed in a dark Lanthorn, hath as much light in it ſelf, and burns as cleer, as it doth, when it is ſhifted into one▪ that is every way▪ transparent: in the other, to wit, the Lunar, which may more truly and properly be termed an Eclips, the light of the Moon indeed, which it receivs from the Sun, is either in part or whole for the time p. 54impaired:Plin. l. 2. c. 9. but the body of the Moon is no more the wors for that want of Light for a while, then is the one half of the Earth for the utter want of it all the night long. for there is the ſame reaſon and cauſe of either. the night is nothing els but the ſhadow of the Earth;Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 1. c. 10. and the Lunar Eclips nothing els but the ſame ſhadow lighting at length upon the body of the Moon. for whether it reach higher to the next Star above, may be ſome doubt;Kepler de Mere. in Sol. Ambr. hom. 82. tho that alſo have ben obſerved coming between the Sun and us to cauſe a ſeeming ſpot in it. And Ambroſe therefore at Milain, when upon the hearing of ſuch an hideous noiſe upon ſuch an occaſion by the women there made, and demanding what the matter was, it was told him, that by their ſhowtings they eaſed the Moon being in labor, and helpt to heal her with their outcries; he returned them this cenſure, that the globe of the Moon was then troubled with sprites and ſpel's, when their brains were diſturbed, and their eyes dazeled either with dotage or with drink. It is not out of ignorance therefore that men renounce and oppoſe theſe frivolous conceits concerning the diſmal events and effects of ſuch Eclipſes. but it is rather out of ignorance and want of du conſideration of the tru cauſes and grounds of them, that men entertain ſuch groundles, frivolous and ſuperſtitious conceits of them, and do hearken to and heed thoſe that delude them with ſuch fictions and fancies: which people therefore have the leſſe regarded, the better they came to be acqainted with the du courſe of the creature, and attained a right underſtanding of the tru ſtate of thoſe celeſtial bodies at ſuch times, as they ſeemed to ſuffer ſuch ſtrange things, as they ſuffred, not in themſelvs, but in their adle brains only.

But I ſhould deſire to have mine ignorance a litle yet further enformed, how it ſhould come to pas, that ſo dreadful and direful a prodigie as they make theſe Eclipſes to be, ſhould portend and preſage much good unto any. For Mr. Lilie tels us concerning the former Lunar Eclips, that becauſe the Moon and Mercury ar in aerie ſignes, Pag. 19.and in a trine aspect, he hopes it will not displeaſe the Presbyterie, (for at them he is ſtill girding, and they ar the onelyonly enemies to the preſent State) if he ſay, that our State ar promiſed to be Victors againſt the Dutch, French, Swede, or Dane or any people of Germany, from whome we may have cauſe to fear any hoſtility or action of war by ſea or land. and therefore p. 55ſaith he, Let no mans heart fail him: Pag. 18.for ſo far as God doth manifeſt himſelf in this natural way of Judicature by his creatures the Stars, we need not to fear the Dutch. and again,Pag. 19. We conſtitute Venus ruler of the place eclipſed (ye ſee what power theſe men have to conſtitute regiments and rulers in heaven: ſuch preſumptuous and blaſphemous mouths God in his du time will ſtop, and that with fire and brimſtone, if by timely repentance it be not prevented▪ but, We conſtitute (ſaith M. L.) Venus ruler, and Venus in Taurus (a fit place for her) applying to a trine of Jupiter; (another wanton deitie like her ſelf: and what of all this?) therefore were not the murther of our Engliſh cryeng unto God for vengeance, the Iriſh might begin to be happy: but thrice happy will all thoſe Engliſh be, who ſhall adventure their eſtates and perſons into Ireland; (Oh, Sir, why do not you then ſo your ſelf, with all ſpeed and without delay, that you may be thrice happie with one of the firſt? if you beleiv at leaſt your own words to be tru) this Eclips promiſing the Engliſh all happineſſe, under ſo prudent and vigilant a Lord Deputie, and ſuch provident Commiſſioners. theſe, it ſeems, he found in the Signes too; tho in which of them he tels us not: but he can tell us what ſhall be done by the ſite of the Stars, in the heavens, when he ſees but what is done with us here upon earth. Again, of the Solar Eclipſe; Pag. 25.The Engliſh Nation have Aries the Aſcendent of England: and therefore as oft as any memorable Eclips doth therein happen, God doth thereby acqaint us (for this holy man, ye may be ſure, and the Magitians his Maſters, as holy, I hope, as himſelf, ar men of Gods privie Counſel) what he entendeth towards us neer upon thoſe times for good or for evil. and this aſſuredly, and grounded upon the experience of twenty generations of men. Oh but, Sir, this is a very ſlippery prediction; and ſuch as leavs us in great ambiguity; ſince that by it as wel much evil, as much good may betide us: as alſo it leaves your ſelf a very wide gap or ſtarting hole, whereat you may eaſily wind your ſelf out as you liſt, as the matter ſhal fal out, either the one way or the other. no Delphik Oracle, or Delian Wizard, or Pythian demoniak, or Dodonean Sorceres, could ever have given a wiſer and warier anſwer, or a more certain and undoubted reſolution; it ſhall either go wel or ill with the Engliſh Nation. Horat. Serm. l. 2. Sat. 5.Juſt like that of the Satyriſts Tireſias, qicqid dicam avt erit, avt non. p. 56whatſoever I ſay, ſhal either be or not be; ſhal proov either tru, or falſe; ſhal either fal out well or ill. and no mervail if ſuch predictions as theſe have the undeniable, yea the unqeſtionable experience of not twen…y alone, but of twenty times twenty generations of men, yea of as many ages as have paſſed ſince Horace his days, or Tireſias his time, or Noahs floud, or from the beginning of the World.

But notwithſtanding all this ambiguity, M. L. can reſolv you, (by what other Art I know not: for the Signs by his own confeſſion, which he confirms alſo afterward, by the dictate of Hermes,Pag. 31. a very authentical counterfait, Autor I ſhould have ſaid, are mutable and convertible either to good or evil) that it ſhal fall out to our State, not for evil, but for good. For better bethinking himſelf,Pag. 51. he tels us; He is confident (he hath conſulted belike with ſome familiars ſince he wrote ſo unadviſedly in that ambiguous dialect) the Sun in this Eclips being in the 19. degree and 15. of Aries, that our preſent Common Wealth of England ſhall have ſuch honor and ſucces in all their agitations and undertakings of as great concernment for the utility, benefit and happineſſe of this Nation, at that ſad accident of the Earl of Eſſex his routing, upon that Eclips then, wherein Saturn was in the 19 degree 45. of Aries, was of ſorrow unto them who then ſate at the ſtern, and unto all the meaner people. It ſeems the Ram, who then with his horns puſhed at us▪ now fights for us. But it may wel be doubted, or rather juſtly deemed, that unles our State-affaires be managed by ſage and prudent Counſels of thoſe that ſhould give direction at home, and by faithful and diſcreet courſes of thoſe that ſhould folow their directions and put them in execution abroad, and both ſeconded and accompanied with Gods bleſſing from above both at home and abroad, it is not all the imaginary Rams horns in the heavens, nor yet the Rams horns, that blew down the wals of Jericho, Judg. 6.4, 20. could the very ſame be now alſo had here upon earth, that wil proov any whit more available to make our proceedings ſuccesful and proſperous, then were the iron horns, that Zedekias made for Achab to puſh the Aramites withal, 1 King. 22.11. I remember when I made abode ſometime in Eſſex, in houſe with a religious Gentlewoman Mrs. Katharine Aylof, whoſe Husband had invited me over from Cambridge, to further p. 57him in his ſtudies of the Hebrew toung, while the Colledge, whereof I was to be felow, was in building, ſome wandring Gypſies came to the houſe, whome the ſervants, as the manner of young people is, were forward and buſie about, to know from them their fortunes. which the pious Gentlewoman underſtanding, both rebuked them for ſo doing, and was very careful to have her children kept out of the ſight of thoſe vagrants, Not, ſaid ſhe, that I regard any whit what they ſay, whome I deem no other then cheaters and counterfaits; but leſt what they, ſeeing them, ſhould ſay of them, might run in my mind, and God ſhould cauſe ſomewhat ſpoken by them, to befal them, thereby to puniſh me in my children, for giving ſo far forth heed unto them. So ſay I, if our State-Governers ſhal give heed to ſuch VVizards as theſe, and upon their ſandie grounds and il-botomed predictions, promiſe great matters to themſelvs, it may be juſt with God, to croſſe and blaſt their deſignes, thereby to chaſtiſe them for hearkning to and preſuming upon the flattering fictions and fables of ſuch as he hath forbidden his people to ſeek to, or to be adviſed by in caſes of this kind.

Yet if it be ſo, as he tels us elswhere,Pag. 26. that the Sun is the ſignificator of Princes, Emperors and men of great Autority, and from the Eclipſes of it therefore we can expect no leſſe then great changes in Kingdomes, Common Wealths and great Families; what reaſon can it be, why the obſcuring of this Stately Planet ſhould ſtoop ſo low, as by Mr. Lilies reports it ſhould, to vent all its malignity againſt the poor pratling Preiſts, affording mean while all honourable iſſu and glorious ſucceſſes to our Common Wealth affaires, Pag. 28.or why his deficiency ſhould proov ſo prejudicial to thoſe that have no reference to him, rather then to thoſe that are ſignified by him. But as King James ſaid ſometime, the Lawes were his, and who ſhould expound his Laws but himſelf? ſo the Text being their own, they deem, it ſeems, they may do with their own what they will, make explications of it, and raiſe obſervations from it, as they liſt, and form applications from either ſo framed, when they have ſo done, at their own pleaſure. The beſt is, their Text and their Gloſſes being both of one ſtamp, we may juſtly credit as p. 58well the one as the other, and have as litle cauſe to regard or fear, as to beleiv either.

Mean while we may obſerv, how as the Pythian Propheteſſe could comply with ſuch Kings, States and Commanders, as repaired by her to the Divel under the Title of Apollo for Oracles, by returning them ſuch anſwers, as ſhe knew would well pleaſe them, and give them content; as to Philodemus a Commander, that her God gave him leave to do what he liked; Diodor. l. 16. c. 92.and her returns to King Philip the Macedonians demands, were ſo palpably and conſtantly ſuch, as might ſeem to conduce much to his deſigns, what ever they were, that it was grown to a common by-word in thoſe times, that Pythia did foreign, or Philippiſe; and Zedekias with the whole troop of Baals Prophets could propheſie to Achab, what he would have them to ſay, 1 King. 22. and thoſe counterfaits, Ananias at Jeruſalem, and Achab the upſtart, with another Zedekias of the ſame ſtamp with the former, and Semajas the dream-teller at Babylon, could ſing ſuch ſongs, as would pleaſe King Zedekias in the one place, and the Jewiſh Captives in the other, and the people, either bond or free, in either, Jer. 28.4. & 29.15, 21, 23, 31. ſo theſe men as apt Schollers of ſuch Maſters, have thoroughly lerned and taken out the ſame leſſon, to comply with State, and people, to tell what they ſuppoſe will be acceptable to either; and from Eclipſes, which they affirm to be of ſo direful a nature and diſmal conſeqence, yet to extract matter of much felicity and ſuccesful deſignation to ſuch States, Peoples and Perſons, as they pleaſe, and whome their deſire and ambition is to pleaſe, and to work themſelvs into grace and favor with.

But to give further aſſurance, that the Effects of this Eclips ſhal be very benign and favorable to the preſent State with us;Pag. 27. howſoever he had told us before, that the Effects of the Eclipſes falling in the midheaven are more vehement, as occupieng a great part of the Sphear; and thoſe moſt wonderful, when they ar in a fiery and regal ſign, as this alſo is; and therefore alſo the more vigorous, becauſe its greateſt obſcurity is very neer the heart and Center of the tenth houſe, of all the Houſes (that theſe cunning p. 59Architects have erected in the Heavens) the moſt valide; from whence alſo he infers for a certainty, that qeſtionles thoſe people that are intended to be made moſt ſenſible of this Eclipſes influence, are Magiſtrates of the higheſt rank and qalitie in every Nation of Europe, and the alterations therefore thence proceeding, ſhall be ſo great; ſo glorious, ſo conſpicuous and apparent, that there is no Nation or people of Europe, Aſia, or Africa, but they ſhall ſtand amazed, and wonder at the eminencie of them. Yet to free us and our State from thoſe fears, that he would affright the whole world with, (ſave that America was forgotten, and ſo ſcaped his Black Book) as if England were no member of Europe, or any part of the world formerly known,Virg. e…log. 1. as ſome anciently eſteemed us, he doth by certain Magical Pictures and Symbolical Images aſcertain us of the truth of that, which from the influence of this Eclips, tho ſo hideous to all other, yet to us very favorable, he had formerly promiſed. For in the next place he tels us,Pag. 37. the Ancients did repreſent the ſhape and form of the effect of an Eclips falling out as this did, under ſuch an enſuing Image. and then further enforms us,Pag. 38. that this Image preſents (repreſents, I ſuppoſe he ment) the Engliſh Common-Wealth, as it wil be for three yeers, or thereabouts (for ſo long and no longer, as you heard from him before, the Effects of the Eclips laſt) in great Majeſtie and Glory.

But let us crave leav of him, to parlie a litle with him about his Pictures. He ſaith, The Ancients ▪ but what Ancients he tels ut not. and I mervail not a litle, in what Antiquitie he ſtumbled upon that Long Robe, that he preſents us with in this his Magical Imagerie. for it is obſerved by that lerned Noble man the Lord Howard, who hath long ſince delt elaborately and accurately in this Argument, that the pretended Antiqitie of ſuch kind of Imagerie does oft bewray its Noveltie, by thoſe garments and garniſhments, wherewith it is ſet out. Nor can I find ſuch a Veſt, as we are here encountred with by Mr. L. in any of the Greek or Latine ancient Monuments, or mention thereof in the writings of any of our Critiks or Antiqaries, that have made diligent ſearch into the wonted garb of either.

And I have, as I conceiv, very juſt cauſe to doubt, whether p. 60ſuch a Garment, as his picture here gives us, were in faſhion among the old Britons in the time of his great grandfather Merlin, whoſe name he ſo much affects, and bears, by himſelf aſſumed, as one either of his natural or adopted ſons (which honor and title, whither way of the two he lay claim to it, none, that I know, need or wil envie him) or in the daies before him of the Incubus, of whome they ſay he was begotten, and endued him, it ſeems, with ſuch prophetical skill, as from the Satyriſt ye heard Tireſias of old had, and M. L. ſucceeds him in, as his rightful heir, and a genuine bird of that kind. But it may wel be, as ſome other would have it, that that Incubus, of which his Anceſter Merlin was bred, was no other then ſuch an one, as our old Poet Chaucer in his Canterburie Tales ſaith in his days were ſo riſe and ready at hand in moſt places, that for looſe creatures, ſuch as belike Merlins mother was, no other Incubus then ſuch then needed. Whether of the two it were, our new Merlin, if he fetch his pedigree from him, in whoſe name, it ſeems, he glories, wil thereby proov himſelf no better then a brat deſcended of a ſpurious iſſu and a baſtardly brood. And howſoever theſe buſineſſes were then carried concerning his Progeniters breeding or birth, Mr. L. wil hardly enduce any man to beleiv, that thoſe Brittiſh Ancients, uſed to go in our Lawyers or Judges gowns, ſuch as this Long Robe comes neereſt to, or did wear Roſes upon their ſhoes. Theſe his Ancients therefore muſt of neceſſity be of a lower date, of a later Edition, ſome old Magitians of ſome younger times. But we know the tru, and truly ancient by-word of Poets and Painters, Horat. art. poet.that they have alwaies had the priviledge and liberty, or leave and licence at leaſt, to pen and paint what themſelvs pleaſed. and herein we may wel unto them adjoyn Witches and VVizards, that take liberty to themſelvs, to tell people what tales and lies they liſt, and what they think wil pleaſe and content them for the preſent▪

But methinks, Mr. L. here much forgat himſelf, and did not remember the old rule, that ſays, Oportet mendacem eſſe memorem. It behooves a lier to have a good memory; that his relations may not jar.Pag. 28. For not long before he told us, that this Eclipſe doth manifeſt great affliction, that ſhal happen unto all p. 61thoſe of the Long Robe. that which there alſo to make the more remarkable, he put, the Long Robe, in a different character from the reſt, and to manifeſt his mind more fully and plainly, that no man might miſtake him, he adds, viz. Lawyers, Civilians, Clergie men, or Divines. Whereas here he preſents us with the picture of a Man in a Long Robe, in the poſture or geſture of one that ſtands pleading at the bar: which he is pleaſed to make an Emblem of the great Majeſtie and Glory, that this Eclipſe for this three yeers day hath entailed upon our State: at the expiration of which term of time it may chance to wait untill ſuch another Eclipſe come again. But how Mr. Lilies fancies came thus to alter, unles it were that he took a nap between the one and the other, and in his ſecond ſleep had a new dream; or that his hed was ſo ful of his imaginary rams horns, (for on the ram aſcendent, or rampant, if you wil, it is ſtil that he runs) that it cauſed his wild notions, arietare, as the Latines ſpeak, that is, to run ful but, as rams, or tups, uſe to do, one againſt another in his brains.

But leaving him to part theſe his repugnant fancies, and to make them agree as he ſhall ſee good, let us pas to his next picture; (for with pictures it is no new thing with him to plie us) of that he tels us,Pag. 38. that Joannes Angelus (a Bavarian Wizard, of as good credit in this kind as himſelf) repreſents the tenth degree of Aries (the Ram, that ſo variouſly affects his thoughts) wherein this Eclipſe fals out to be, by a Souldier riding a Bull, with its horn in his one hand, and his ſpur on its ſide, and a spare horſe led by him with his other hand ▪ for ſo he deciphers it. And tho his VVizard by his Motto added to expres the meaning of his thus riding, ſay, Homo malitioſus erit. This man ſo riding will be a malitious man. which yet to mitigate, Mr. L. in his marginal Gloſſe expounds, Some wil account him ſo. and may he not well be ſo accounted, that by fraud, deceit, war and what not? (ye have Mr. Lilies own words) attains Dominion and Soveraignty? for ſuch an one himſelf acknowledges to be ſpecified. Notwithſtanding all this, M. L. tels us, (and ye may obſerv how he and his Autors agree like Harp and harow, as they ſay; or rather, how they can turn their Tables and their Tales which way they pleaſe) that this picture preſents p. 62the State of England after a few yeers. (how many, think we, can it poſſibly be, when the force and efficacie of this ramming and ramping Eclipſe can not extend it ſelf beyond the term of three yeers?) but in, or after thoſe few, or very few yeers, what ſhal it be? viz. the Souldier tilling the ground, his armes laid aſide: a peaceable time: yet the Souldier ever prepared.

I hope I may be ſo bold here, as to qeſtion Mr. L. his skill a litle in Latine. I will not preſume to tell Mr. L. as a Divine of good note ſometime told a Biſhops Chanceller, twiting him with want of skil in the Law, that he had in his time forgotten more Law then his Worſhip ever had. but this I ſhall ſay, that tho I have loſt much Latine through long diſuſe and ſhort memory, yet I have ſo much of it ſtill leaft, that I may make bold to tell M. L. that he underſtood not his own Autors Latin, when he tranſlated thoſe words, Homo coopertus capite galeâ, cum pennâ ſtrutii, tavrum eqitans, &c. A Souldier have his hed covered with an helmet; riding a Bul, with the Pen or qil of an he-sparow. Should I, think ye, do amiſſe▪ if I ſhould give Mr. L. here his own words, Qi Bavium non odit, let him read, or rake in, this puddle of non-ſenſe? But letting paſſe his diſmembring and diſlocation of his felow-Wizards words; I ſhall onelyonly demand of him in what Dictionarie he ever found Strutius to be Latine for a Cock-ſparow, or an he-ſparow, as he renders it. or where ever he ſaw the pen or qil of a ſparow, he or ſhe, cock or hen, on a Souldiers helmet, or in a Souldiers hat or hed. His Rider, or Thomas, had he conſulted them, could have enformed him, that not ſtrutius indeed, as his Autor the Bavarian, after Iſidore, barbarouſly writes it, but Struthius, or Struthio rather, in Latin was an Eſtridge or an Oſtridge. Perſ. 2.2.for I will not charge Mr. L. as guilty of ſo much lerning, as to mind or underſtand, what paſſer marinus in Plautus meanes. and tho he had adviſed with neither, yet the picture it ſelf might have ſufficiently enformed him, that penna ſtrutii was not by his Autor intended to ſignifie an he Sparowes pen or qil, but an Eſtridges feather ſuch as ſouldiers and Cavaliers uſe to furniſh and garniſh their Creſts with.

p. 63But to let his Latin lerning paſſe, till we come to compile ſome new Gloſſarie, and touch a litle upon his Emblematical skil: I remember, when I was a School-boy, after the affront and defeat given Monſieur Francis Alanſon the French Kings brother at Antwerp, which he attempted to ſurpriſe, that there was a Picture drawn by ſome ſhrewd unhappy head, wherein the Netherlands were repreſented as a Cow, becauſe abounding in milk and butter, which King Philip rid and ſpurd, as the Cavalier doth here the Bul, the Prince of Orange milked, an old woman Qeen Eliſabeth fed with a lock of hay, ſo much as might keep her in life, and the French Monſieur pulling by the tail, ſhe all to beſpattred with her filth. Now whether this Souldier, or Cavalier riding an ox or a bul, with his spur on its ſide, might not rather intimate, that the Cavalier or Trooper, the war continuing, ſhould neceſſarily vex the poor huſbandman, reſembled by the Ox that helps to til the ground, by qartering upon him, and with his horſe treading down his gras and his corn; fit as wel, at leaſt, with the type, as that far fetcht explication and application that this our Wizard makes of it, ſo many miles wide of his Autors acknowledged expoſition, I dare permit to the judgment of any one, that hath not captived his ſenſes to aſſent unto and aſſert whatſoever our Wizard ſhal ſay.

But, that he may not wholy deſert his felow Wizard, and yet put us in hope of much good hereafter, I know not when, towards us, he tels us, that tho according to the right intention of his Autor, this Malitious Man, or Malignant Cavalier, Man or State be it, ſhal acqire Dominion and Soveraignty by fraud and bloud, as before▪ yet,Pag. 39, 40. becauſe the third face of the Ram is Venus hers, which repreſents ſubtiltie, mildneſſe, playes, (a very comfortable prophecie for the poor Players, that they ſhall come to be in reqeſt again) joyfulneſſe, cleerneſſe; therefore the government, albeit ſo gotten as before, ſhal be ordred with ſweetneſſe, by ſubtiltie, mercy, affability, &c. and this, he ſaith, you may obſerv in the Type en…uing. whether one of his own framing, or fitted to his hand by ſome other, he ſays not. but it is of a Gentlewoman, ſitting croſſe-legd, barefoot and barelegd, ſtrumpet-wiſe, fingring a lute, as the manner is, they ſay, in p. 64ſome places, where ſuch are allowed, to invite cuſtomers to them. now he tels us withal, that this picture ſeems to promiſe a ceſſation of all taxes, (as thoſe of the levelling partie promiſed, when they were up in arms) and all things governed by love. You ſee what a luckie preſage it is, when Aries and Venus meet, when a beautiful harlot is lodged in the ſign of the Ram. and from what manner of Deities we muſt expect the peace and proſperity of our preſent Government, by the doctrine of theſe figure-caſters and figure-drawers. Oh but when, trow we, may ſome looſe people ſay, will theſe Halcyon, or Venerean dayes rather appeer? for there is good hope given us by the moral of the type, or the tale, that Stage-Playes and Stews may then come in again: for Venus ſure is as wel preſident and patronneſſe of the one as of the other. Or others better affected; When ſhall all things be ſettled in peace and love with us? Herein he gives us but cold comfort, ſuch as my ſelf eſpecially, that ar going out of the world, and can not look or hope to live long in it. for he tels us, that this new Soveraignty or manner of Government (ſo gotten as ye heard before) ſhal continu in ſomewhat a rigid poſture, but in much Majeſtie and auſteritie, until almoſt 1663. at which time all ſharpnes and bitterneſſe wil be laid aſide, and matters ruled mildly. the Levellers with Mr. Lilies help, whereof more hereafter, will then have freed us from all payments, as wel of Taxes as Tithes, and laid us all alike eaven, as corn cut down, and eqaliſed by the harveſt mans hand.

He had told us, as you heard before, that the efficacie of no Eclipſe could laſt above three yeers. and yet the harſh effects of this Eclips are like to hold out thrice three yeer and upward, ten yeer at leaſt. But to what end do we make waſt of pretious time in ſurvey of this mans fantaſtical imagerie, and diſcovery of his groſſe and palpable contradictions? De Conſenſ. Evang. l. 1. c. 10.As Auguſtine ſaid ſometime, that they deſerved to be deceived, that ſought to learn Chriſt, not by reading of written books, but by gazing on painted wals: ſo ſay I of Mr. Lilies images, they wel deſerve to be deluded, that think to find truth in ſuch figments and fancies as theſe.

One qeſtion yet more I would propound to Mr. L. whether p. 65theſe Eclipſes do foreſhew onelyonly, or effect alſo ſuch things as he is pleaſed to aſcribe to them. For in this point he ſeems ſomewhat various. One while telling us,Pag. 22, 23. that when Aſtrolologers ſpeak of the virtu and influence of the heavenly bodies, they rarely, I ſay, never, (ſaith he) affirm, they act or do ſuch a thing, but freqently that they ſignifie ſuch or ſuch a thing: and Ficinus that excellent lerned Preiſt ſaith, that many things are foretold by means of the heavenly bodies, as ſigns, not as cauſes; whoſe opinion (he ſaith) he eſteems more of then a thouſand of our own Preiſts, who blame Aſtrologie becauſe it is above their capacitie. and in his New come out Ephemeris; We ſay not, Pag. 4, 5.(as ſome ridiculous Divines affirm) the Configurations to be the onelyonly immediate cauſes (here is another manner of qalification then was in the former aſſertion: for an efficient may act or do, tho neither immediatly, nor alone) but we ſay, that they onelyonly in a natural way ſignifie, or are the forerunners of ſuch and ſuch things: as by a diſtempered pulſe, or irregular diet the Phyſitian doth ſafely and infallibly conclude, that the party muſt needs be neer to a ſickneſſe. And yet a litle after, What tumults and ſeditions all over the world did the effects of this Eclipſe ſtir up?Pag. 24. how great qarrels did theſe Eclipſes ſow the ſeeds of? what horrid wars did they produce? and again, The Eclipſes of the Luminaries operate by their influences upon Cities, Provinces and Kingdomes: and,Pag. 26. Pag. 27.Thoſe Eclipſes do moſt terribly manifeſt their effects, which fall to be in the heart of heaven. and, The greateſt Eclipſes produce the greateſt Effects.Pag. 28.

And do we not need ſome Oedipus to arreed and aſſoil us theſe riddles? They do not act or do ought, but ſignifie only, and yet they operate and effect. not unlike ſome old Wives verdict of pepper, that it is hot in the mouth, but cold in the ſtomake, hot in operation, but cold in working. Yea they ſignifie onelyonly in a natural way, as irregular diet doth a diſeaſe at hand and is not that the procuring or producing cauſe of the diſeaſe? whereas theſe he ſaith are ſigns and no cauſes. or as a diſtempered pulſe argues an approaching ſickneſſe: ſo the diſtempers belike of the Stars in the skie, argu ſome diſtempers in mens minds here on earth: and all this they do in a natural way, and yet have no power to act or do ought at all: And whether of the two is now ridiculous, the Divines that relate what he and his complices avow, tho not it may be in thoſe very terms that he reports them, or this p. 66our Wizard, that being aſhamed of, and loath to own his own tenents, becauſe he is unable to defend them, ſhuffels and cuts, as you ſee, and liſps and jabbers, and ſayes and unſays in a moſt ſelie, pitiful, ridiculous, ſtupide and ſelf-contradicting manner.

Pag. 23, 24.But his Peucer, whome he citeth and relieth much upon, yea more (it ſeems) then upon his lerned Preiſt, (for he inſiſts much more upon him) is cleer enough and downright in the point. Out of him I ſhall onelyonly alledge one aſſertion, peremptory enough, prophane and impious more then enough, whereby you may take a taſte of the reſt of his diſcourſe. his words are theſe, de Astrolog. fol. 396. fac. 1. Tam certum eſt, Martis cum Venere congreſſum gignere natura… ſalaces, qam certum eſt ciere Venerem pharmaca foreign aut foreign. It is, ſaith he, as certain that Mars coupling with Venus doth beget laſcivious or leacherous natures, as it is certain, that ſuch medicines as either encreaſe or provoke ſeed, do ſtir up luſt. A moſt unſavourie and unworthy ſpeech to come out of any profeſſed Chriſtian mans mouth. Mars and Venus, what are they? what were they? the one a laſcivious, tho warlike, gallant; the other, a beautiful, but moſt notorious, ſtrumpet. and how crept, or climbed theſe two up into heaven; that they are come to have,De Conſenſ. Evang. l. 1. c. 23. or to be Stars there? Auguſtine ſhal tell you, as many other of the counterfeit Deities did. Hiſtorica Veritas falſorum Deorum ſepulcra oſtendit in terrâ; poetica vanitas ſidera eorum non figit ſed fingit in coelo. Hiſtorical verity, ſaith he, ſhews the ſepulkers of their falſe Gods here on earth; Poetical vanity fixeth not indeed, but faineth their Stars in heaven. The Poets fictions coined them deities; and the Idolatrous Wizards to pleaſe the people that worſhipped them, aſſigned them ſuch Stars wherein they might be worſhipped, as they pleaſed. Now becauſe theſe Stars are by our Star-maſters aſſigned to ſuch worthy wanton Deities, therefore when they two meet, (tho being many thouſand miles aſunder, and had they never come neerer the one to the other, while they lived here on earth, the lame Black-ſmith ſhould not have needed to be jealous of his fair wife in regard of this luſty yonker, nor to beat his brains about contriving and forging of ſnares to intangle and take them together) but yet when they do p. 67now meet and couple, tho at ſuch a diſtance, they breed. tho I do not remember to have read of any iſſu they had, albeit, it ſeems, they met full oft, and lived looſely together, while they abode here upon earth. but in heaven belike they breed. and whome or what do they breed? forſooth they breed thoſe, that were before bred by their parents, but are then born, when they are in ſuch a conjunction, ſo many miles aſunder as was before ſaid; and by that their new breeding of them, make them wanton creatures like themſelvs. And this, ſaith Peucer, they do as certainly as ſome medicines wil make men luſtful. But I demand here, who indued thoſe Stars with this laſcivious qalification, or gave them this luſtful efficacie? For I ſuppoſe no good Chriſtian wil ſay, that wicked paynims, people or poets, by aſſigning of a Star to any idolized creature, can impart any power or efficacie unto it. And I might wel ſay here, with that Noble Lord;Lord H. Howard of pretend. Prophecies. Would not the Heathen ſmile, might they ſodainly revive, to ſee their Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury not onelyonly marſhalled in Heaven, but alſo made Autors of health and ſickneſſe, wealth and poverty, with divers other ſuch like accidents as it pleaſeth God to ſend either for reward or puniſhment. But to ſay, that God at the creation conferred ſuch faculties upon any Stars, that ſome of them ſhould breed men and women laſcivious, as this which they cal Venus, ſome other of them theeviſh, as that which they term Mercurie, becauſe Mercurie was a cunning knave and a ſlie theif, is very impious and blaſphemous, and is not far from making God the Autor of mans ſin, by enduing the Stars with ſuch an efficacious power, as cannot be avoided by them, to work them into a ſinful diſpoſition and ſtrong inclination unto the perpetrating of ſuch wickedneſſe. for, as for ſuch medicines, as he ſpeaks of, that may ſo work upon the body as to provoke luſt, no man need to take, unleſſe he liſt himſelf; nor do men take them to that end, but ſuch as are laſciviouſly minded and luſtfully affected already; whereas here, according to theſe mens grounds, it being not in any mans choice under what Sign he wil be bred or born, he is by that Planet neceſſitated by an unavoidable force unto ſuch a ſinful diſpoſition of ſpirit. And I would gladly demand of Peucer, whether there be any ſuch medicines, or ſimples, that wil make a man p. 68theeviſh, as wel as laſcivious. For according to his principles there muſt be the like reaſon of the reſt, that one Star ſhould make men theeviſh, another women whoriſh, a third joyned with that ſecond make men and women laſcivious and lecherous. and God of purpoſe muſt needs create them ſo to do, ſince that in the creating of them, he endowed them with a faculty thus to work neceſſarily and unavoidably upon the Sonnes and Daughters of Adam, that ſhould be bred & born under them. that which, as it is moſt impious and blaſphemous; ſo no les abſurd and ridiculous is that which in the ſame diſcourſe not far before he affirms,Fol. 384 fac. 1. that there is no doubt (for he is very peremptory in what he aſſerts) but that which is ſaid in Geneſis, they ſhal be for Signs to you, doth principally belong to Eclipſes. that is, according to theſe mens meaning, in a ſenſleſſe and with it ſelf inconſiſtent ſenſe, God made thoſe two great Lights, the Sun and the Moon by their Eclipſes coming by a natural work in an ordinary ſet courſe, to be prodigies or ſigns above and beyond the natural and ordinary courſe of the creature; and created them on purpoſe, even in the time of mans innocency, for this end especially and principally to be preſages of direful events. Nor is that of any other nature,Ibid. fac. 2. which there he ſubjoyns, that we have now a dayes far oftner and more direful Eclipſes, then in ancient times were ſeen. as if the Heavens were in another courſe now, then they held in times paſt: like the tale that the Egyptian Preiſts told Herodote,In Euterp. that within the compaſſe of time, whereof they had records, the Sun had altred his courſe, I remember not how oft, from Weſt to Eaſt, and from Eaſt to Weſt again.

But to leav Peucer, and return to Mr. Lilie again, whether of the two he ſhal pleaſe to pitch upon, I ſhal demand of him, who told him, or whence he knows, that God hath appointed theſe Eclipſes, being ſuch occurrents as come in a conſtant natural courſe, to have ſuch ſignifications, or operations, as he would bear us in hand.

Neither let him think here to ſtop our mouthes with the inſtance of the Rainbow, which yet in his margine he fathers on one Cauſinus a Jeſuit, and in his context he makes way too with an Introduction of non-ſenſe in theſe words;Pag. 22. Shal we then ſay, or be ſo innocent of the heavenly ordinances, as to deny this great Luminarie ſome influence upon humane and mundane affaires, or p. 69to be ſo ſtupid, as to think when this light is obſcured from us, (if he mean, withdrawn from us, is it not ſo every night?) that there is nothing thereby ſignified unto mortal men? Sint in ſigna & tempora. God created the two Lights, or Sun and Moon for ſignes and ſeaſons. And what is that at all to your purpoſe? But let us hear him out, tho we know not wel, nor he himſelf▪ it may be▪ neither, what it is that he would ſay, when he ch…rges us with innocency, a greivous either defect, or default; unleſſe his meaning be that we are no better then ſuch ſelie creatures, as men commonly call Innocents. Ibid.Who doubts (ſaith he, and Mr. Cauſine, it ſeems, with him) that the Rainbow is natural? and yet God hath appointed it the preſage or forerunner of fair weather to be at hand. ſo an Eclipſe, without qeſtion, (for it is theſe mens guiſe to be very peremptory) the world being troubled by the defect of the Luminaries, Sun or Moon, (how more then in every cloudie day, or every dark night?) is ever attended, as by experience we know, with diſeaſes, ſad accidents, as concomitants of it.

Sir, all this bluſtring wind ſhakes no corn at all with us: 'tis our ſtupidity, it may be, that makes us like ſtones.

1. Your Rainbow inſtance nothing availes you.

1. Its natural indeed, but comes not in any conſtant cours, as Eclipſes do, and cannot therefore be certainly foretold, as they may.

2. That God hath appointed it to be a ſign of fair weather at hand; is moſt untru, in plain Engliſh, a gros ly, and a charging of God to have aſſigned it to be a ſign of that which uſually it is not. it is a ſign rather of rain and ſtorms not ſeldom at hand; which being ſometime forewarned of by it, tho I have put ſpurs to my hors, and mended my pace to prevent, I have not ben able to eſcape, but ben wet to the skin, ere I could get ſhelter. It is therfore reckoned up by **Vid. Ara…um in Phaenom. & Theon. Schol. Virgil. Georg. l. 1. Plin. hiſt. nat. l. 2. c. 59. & l. 18. c. 35. Sen. qaeſt. nat. l. 1. c. 6. Plaut. Curcul. 1.2.Autors, who entreat of that ſubject, among ſuch ſigns as uſually give warning of rain and ſhowers approaching, a double one eſpecially. whence alſo the epithets given it of arcus ””Horat. art. poet.pluvius, the rainie, and ““Tibul. l. …. c. 4.imbrifer▪ the ſhowrie, or ſhowr bringing bow. And you wrong your Author the Jeſuit, as you did an other of them before, him but for want of underſtanding his Latin, this to make him ſpeak what you pleaſe. Your Author ſaith ſerenitatis rediturae, p. 70that ſerenitie ſhall returm, but he tels you not when; much les doth he ſay, of fair weather at hand.

3. God made the Rain-bow a ſign and a ſolemn one of the Promiſe or Covenant, that with Noa he made in behalf of the whole world, that he would never drown the whole world again. And yet,Plin. l. 2. c. 59. ſaith Plinie wel, Arcus vocamus extra miraculum freq…s, & extra ostentum. nam ne pluvios qidem aut ſerenos dies, cum fide portendunt. Rainbows as we call them, ar freqent, without miracle, without preſage, for they do not certainly foreſhew ſo much as either ſerene or rainie dayes. But Sr. ſhew the like record, where God aſſigned Eclipſes to foreſhew or effect ſuch ſad matters as you ſay, as we know and can ſhew, that he hath deſigned the Rainbow to aſcertain of no ſecond Deluge, and we will lay our hands on our mouths, as having no ground herein to gainſay you: which unles you can do, your reaſon from the Rainbow is not worth a rotten Raiſin.

Mean while, Sr. do not conceiv us to be ſuch ſelie animals, as to be born down with the bare names, of Hermes, Hali Rodoan▪ Baranzanus, Ptolomie, Plotinus, Proclus, Rigel, Origan, Cardan, &c. the whole rabble of them, that ſay thus and thus. their authority is in theſe matters with us of as much weight as your own, both as light as a feather, or a litle dry thiſtle down. this is all but as we uſe to ſay, Ask my fellow, whether I be a theif. We expect other records to aſſure us of Gods appointments and deſignments in matters of this nature. And here Sr. I ſhal be ſo bold as to mind you again of your former aſſertion, which you had no liſt to take notice of, when you were raking in that puddle (as you are pleaſed to intitle it) of nonſenſe; to wit, where to juſtifie the warrantableneſſe of your practiſe, you affirm, that The good Angels in former ages at firſt by perſonal conference acqainted the ſons of Men with this learning of the Stars, which you profes and practiſe: which Holy men, living many years, in a purer ayer, where they curiouſly obſerved the Planets and their motions, brought this art (to wit, of fortune telling, ſuch as in theſe your rapſodies and rabblements you maintain) to ſome maturitie, without the leaſt hint of ſuperſtition. Theſe are your own words out of your own works which you cannot deny. And now I renew my challenge again. Either make theſe your words good out of ſome Authentick p. 71Record; or let the World hereby know and take notice, that you are a manifeſt Impoſter, a palpable Lier, a fraudulent coiner and broacher of fictions and fables, to procure credit to your cheating practiſes; one that fils peoples heds with frivolous tales, to make them beleiv, that your fortune-telling by the Stars, was at firſt taught men by good Angels, when you are not able to produce any ſound proof for what herein you aſſert, but put it off onelyonly (after your wonted manner of dealing with others, when they deal with your freehold, and touch you to the qick) that the Autor is a Wiſeaker, and his Annotation a puddle of non-ſenſe.

2. In the next place you appeal to Obſervation and Experience. We know, ſay you, by experience, that Eclipſes are ever attended with diſeaſes, ſad accidents, as concomitants of them.

But, 1. What yeer almoſt paſſeth over our heds without ſome one Eclips or other? Or what yeer goeth away without diſeaſes and ſad accidents? and muſt the Eclipſes therefore bring them?

2. If theſe ſad accidents be the concomitants of them, how is it that you tel us elſewhere, that this great Eclipſe threatens no danger to men or cattle that be abroad in it?Pag. 49. yea that it may effect nothing at all til many moneths after?Pag. 43. directly contrary to what out of Peucer you before alſo told us,Pag. 23. that they preſage miſeries to be neer at hand, or to folow preſently after theſe Eclipſes. tho it is tru, that not Peucer, but your ſelf ſo ſpeak; for you put in, as your manner is, more then he ſayes.

3. If ſad accidents ever attend Eclipſes, Pag. 24.how comes it to paſſe that this terrible Eclipſe, the like whereunto hath not ben in this age, Pag. 51.ſhould portend ſo much honor and ſucceſſe to our preſent Common-wealth, in all their undertakings, as ſhal make them moſt glorious; as this our Wizard ye heard before told us, and ſays he is confident of it. and again where he gives us in his Imagerie work of it, ſuch as was before ſhewed, he ſaith,Pag. 37. If he ſhal further expatiate his mind concerning the greatneſſe of this Eclipſe, he beleives he ſhall go very neer to hit the mark aright in what he ſhal there deliver. And yet compare what concerning the preſent State in relation to this Eclipſe, the man ſaith in theſe places, with what in his New Ephemeris for the next yeer,Pag. 9, 10. he ſpeaks at large as confidently the other way, and that with p. 72threatening terms too; If after this oppoſition of Saturn and Jupiter (who, think we, Chriſtned thoſe two Stars thus?) this Autoritie, under which we groan, the bodie of its fabrik ſtanding upon a very tottering foundation, ſhal inforce us to ſome new or illegal Aſſeſment, or by way of raiſing money (the coherence of his context here is beyond my skill) upon any pretence whatſoever, except againſt the ſlovenly Dutch; I am confident, we of the Commonaltie, joyning with the Souldierie, ſhal aſſume ſo much liberty to our ſelves, as to chooſe and elect ſuch Members hereafter, &c. and we ſhal endevor ſo ſtrictly to call unto account each Member of this Parliament, who have fingred out Treaſure, that we ſhall leav many of them as naked as when they came out of their Mothers womb. If any, I ſay, ſhal collate theſe his former and latter predictions together, he will, I ſuppoſe, eaſily gueſſe, tho he be no Wizard, that the man, ſince he writ the former, is (for ſome cauſe, whatſoever it be) fallen out with the State; and genus irritabile vatum;…lac. l. 2. ep. 2. theſe cole-Prophets are a very waspiſh generation, they have as wel ſhrewd ſtings in their tails, to ſtrike thoſe that diſpleaſe them, as honey of gloſſings and flatteries in their mouthes, to ſooth up and ſtroke thoſe, whome they deſire to fawn upon and to pleaſe:Adv. Marc. l. 4. c. 51. for, habent & veſpae favos ſuos; waſps have their honey-combs as wel as bees, ſaith Tertullian. But it may juſtly be ſuſpected, there is a pad in the ſtraw, there is ſome myſterie in it, which ſhalow capacities, ſuch as he ſaith our poor Preiſts are, are not able to underſtand, that this terra filius, this ſon of the earth, dare prate in ſo high a ſtrain, like brag in the by-word, the little parlor puppie, that he and the hounds would pul down the deer. I will not ſtand to diſpute with him, whether the Celeſtial Edicts, or the Oracles that he telleth us he reads in the Book of Heaven, go with ſuch Ifs and Ands, or no. But ſuppoſe ſome poor Presbyterian, or ſome prick-eard Preiſt, as he ſcoffingly ſtyles them, had writ ought in this manner; We the Preſbyterie, or Miniſterie, calling into us the Communalty, and joyning with the Souldierie wil cal you Parliament men to an account, unleſſe you take better courſes then ſome of you have done: would not this man, think ye, have ſet up his briſtles, and ben ready to cry out, that here theſe ſeditious Preiſts and Preſbyterians ſhew themſelvs in their colors, and ſeek to domineer, not over Gentry and Commonalty onelyonly, but over the p. 73Parliament it ſelf? But theſe Wizards it ſeems, are priviledged perſons: it is ſafer for them to lay all level before tnem, then for ſome poor Preſbyter but to peep over the fence. In his Preface to his ſpik and ſpan New Ephemeris, he makes his Entrance with a greivous complaint of a multitude of ſcandalous libels, two dozen of vineger Pamphlets, and two dozen and an half, thirty at leaſt of thumping Preſbyterian Preiſts, that belcht out ſomewhat of non-ſenſe againſt Anglicus and Aſtrologie. (for they write and ſpeak all non-ſenſe, that offer to deal with him & his freehold) and to encite the Parliament to paſſe an Act for the ſuppreſſing of ſuch irregular Libellers, he tels them, he holds it no diſhonor for himſelf to be abuſed in print, having ſeen the worthy Members of Parliament ſerved in the ſame kind. (the baſe cheater, that makes Fortune-telling his trade, would fain go in eqipage with thoſe of the higheſt rank in the preſent State) and that unleſſe they do ſo (that is, unleſſe they ſtop mens mouthes, and ſtay mens pens from further preaching or printing ought againſt him and his trade) if the State ſuffer more in this kind, they may thank themſelvs for it. Surely the Man accounts himſelf a priviledged perſon; he hath belike gotten a patent; not ad imprimendum, but ad traducendum & conviciandum ſolum; he may by virtu of his priviledge, in the baſeſt ſatyrical and ſarcaſtical terms tax and traduce whom he liſt, the main body of Chriſts Miniſterie among us, under the ſtyle of Prick-eard Preiſts, Pulpit-Praters, Black-coats, and the like, and yet no man may preſume to give him a croſſe word, or to return him his own again. and the truth is, his Merlins are not ſo much Aſtrological predictions, as Satyres and Paſqils, to play upon whom he pleaſeth; the Miniſtery eſpecially, which in the moſt of them he makes ever and anon the main burden of his ſong, becauſe his hate and ſpight is moſt againſt them. But may not ſome other indifferent and wel-minded make qeſtion, (tho with ſuch puzzeling qeſtions Mr. L. profeſſeth that he deſires not to be troubled) whether it may not be with as good ground ſaid; M. L. with a ful and foul mouth belcheth out much baſe language at large againſt the main body of Chriſts Miniſterie among us, ſuch as in no Chriſtian State would be indured, and is ſo bold as to preſent his ſcurrilous and ſatyrical rabblements of this nature to the Body of the State; wherein to incite the people p. 74to refuſe to pay Tithes to their Miniſters, to which by the Lawes of the Land unrepealed, they have as good right, as any in the State to any juſt debt or rents whatſoever; withal enforming them, that God himſelf tels them by the late Eclipſe and other aspects, that it is his wil, and he hath ſo dispoſed of it, that they be enclined thereunto: and this ſince that the State hath ſeemed to connive at, if he ſhal proceed in like maner to be as bold and ſaucie with them, and to encite people likewiſe to refuſe to pay any more taxes, and ſhal read them a leſſon out of the ſame Book of God, that he hath in his providence ſo diſpoſed it, and by Mr. L. one of his Prophets, who is wel read in this Book, which few of thoſe that are falſly called Divines, underſtand ought at all in, doth acqaint them with it, that if ſuch taxes be continued, they ſhal joyn with the Souldierie, and make hed againſt thoſe that do impoſe them; if, I ſay, he ſhal ſo deal alſo with them, or rather, for that he hath already ſo delt with them, they may thank themſelvs, that have hitherto ſuffred him in this manner to rant and rail upon thoſe, whom they ought by their power and place to protect againſt ſuch profeſſed enemies and traducers of thoſe, whom God hath taken ſo neer to himſelf.

But here Mr. L. forſooth thinks he can eaſily ſalve all that he hath ſaid in his baſe and ſcurrilous language againſt the Miniſterie. for in his Preface to his late Merlin, he deſires his Reader to be ſo civil (ſo ſottiſh, he ſhould have ſaid) as when he finds his pen ſomewhat ſharp againſt the Preists, to underſtand, that he oweth unto the modeſt and lerned Divine, all love, all reverence; (a debt indeed, that whether he wil or no, he ſhal ever ow, tho he never intend to pay) nor in the leaſt meaſure intends the whole Miniſterie, (tho he yoke Monkerie and Ministerie in expreſſe terms together) but onelyonly ſuch as rant daily againſt Aſtrologie, (that is the noli me tangere, the ſubject that muſt not be delt with) diſturb our Parliament, (ſo they muſt all needs do, that diſcover the myſteries of his conie-catching trade) unjuſtly oppreſſe the Countryman with Tithes, (as Landlords do by reqiring their rent) and moleſt all Pariſhes, where they come, with pride and Lordlineſſe. (Lord Biſhops belike all the poor Presbyters ar now become) A very fair and ſpecious Gloſſe; wherein yet this Merlins brat (for I hope he will not refuſe to own him as his Anceſter, whoſe name he bears) writes after a far more eminent Copie. King James a Prince of more p. 75policy then puiſſance, while he was yet King of Scotland, penned, or owned, at leaſt, a Book entituled foreign; which whoſo ſhal adviſedly read, tho of no very ſharp eyeſight or deep reach, yet may eaſily diſcry a Deſign carried all along in it, to ingratiate himſelf, with the Popiſh ſide, by commending the fidelity of his Mothers ſervants, as to her, ſo to himſelf, with the Prelatical partie, by giving them hope of continuing that government that he ſhould find here eſtabliſhed, with the Common people, by allowing them their May-games and the like ſports: onelyonly he had bitterly expreſſed himſelf in high terms againſt the poor Puritans, whome he leaſt feared, and deemed generally diſaffected by thoſe other three parties. Howbeit, when the time drew neer of Qeen Eliſabeths departure, that his qiet coming in might not meet with any diſturbance from that party, he prefixed a Preface to his Book then reprinted, wherein on his Honor he proteſteth, that by the name of Puritans he meant, not all Preachers in general, or others, that miſliked the Ceremonies as badges of Poperie, and the Epiſcopacie as ſmelling of a Papal Supremacie, but did eqally love the lerned and grave on either ſide; intended onelyonly ſuch brainſick and heddy Preachers, that leaned too much to their own d…eams, contemned all authority, counted all prophane that would not ſwear to all their fantaſies, &c. but whether his carriage toward ſuch of that ſide, who went under that name, when he came to the Crown here, argued ſuch an eqal affection and love to them, I had rather any other ſhould conſider, then my ſelf ſay. And this our Wizard may as well hope to walk abroad ſtark naked, or with a net onelyonly caſt over him, unſeen, as with ſuch a ſory diſguiſe as this is, to caſt ſuch a miſt before mens eyes, to keep them from taking notice, whom he intends and ſtrikes at, his own expreſſions and profeſſions, as hath formerly been manifeſted, making it to appeer as cleerly and conſpicuouſly as the light at Noon day.