The Eye and Wheel of Providence, Chapter 10
CHAP. X. Of the extent of Providence to the Stars; of their order, variety and uſe; how they are for ſigns and for ſeaſons, and for dayes and years; a diſcourſe on the Star that led the Wiſe men to Chriſt.
FRom the Sun and Moon let us proceed to the Stars,Stellae ſunt corpora & luminaria coeleſtia, verbo Dei in Firmamento collocara, ad illuminandam totam machinam ſublunarem. Alſted. Theol. Natural. part. 2. c. 6. which God hath made alſo to rule the night, Pſal. 136.6. wherein Gods Providence will much appear. They are celeſtiall and ſhining bodies, called Stars of light, Pſal. 148.3. they were all made at the firſt immediately by God himſelf, they are placed likewiſe in their ſeverall orbs. Philoſophers ſay, that the Stars are nothing but the thicker part of all the Heavens, made in the Heavens, & of the matter of the Heavens. God likewiſe hath ſet and placed them in the Heavens in a moſt beautifull order: of theſe ſome are fixed, ſome are wandring Stars or Planets; they difer one from another in glory, 1 Cor. 15.41. they are innumerable; God alone knoweth the number of them, and calleth them all by names, Pſal. 147.4. Some of the Stars or Conſtellations have names in Scripture,Ainſworth in Gen. 1. Urſa major or Acturus, are ſeven Stars near the North Pole, called of ſome Charls wain. as Mazzaroth (or Mazzaloth) Arctururs, Orion, Pleiades, Job 38.31, 32. Job 9.9. Amos. 5.8. Ainſworth ſaith, They may well be Engliſhed water-Stars, winter-Stars, thunder-Stars, and the like. The Stars have their courſes, periods and revolutions, taking the tracks and wayes, which were traced out to them from Eaſt to Weſt at their Creation, from that time they have caſt their favourable aſpects, and their influences have fallen upon the earth,Ut Sol maximus eſt omnium ſyderum, ita minimus eſt Mercurius, & poſt eum Luna: Soli propemodum par videtur nobis, quod citima & viciniſſima terrae ſit. Perrer. in Gen. 1. obſerving inviolably and with great reſpect the Orders and Laws of their Creation. As the Sun is the Prince of all the heavenly lights, and the greateſt of the Stars, ſo Mercury is the leaſt, and after him the Moon: though ſhe ſeem to us of equall bigneſs with the Sun, yet is ſhe not ſo, but ſeemeth great unto us, becauſe ſhe is neareſt to the earth. God hath ſtill continued an order among them ever ſince the Creation, and that notwithſtanding all the changes that have happened in the mean while, men may perceive, that all things have been ſo well diſpoſed, that the world hath ſtill been preſerved in his right ſtate; and it is impoſſible, that this orderlineſſe which we ſee among them, ſhould come either of the Stars themſelves, or of any other moving cauſe, than of the hand of that God which governeth all things by his wiſe Providence.
The Stars are for divers uſes: God hath ſet them for ſigns and ſeaſons, and for dayes and years, Gen. 1.14. They are for a two-fold ſign:
1. Natural and ordinary, they ſhew by their riſing and ſetting, and by their Eclipſes, heat and cold, drought and moiſture, ſtormes and tempeſts, fair and pleaſant weather.
2. They are ſometimes ſigns extraordinary to ſhew Gods judgments, and the great alterations that he will bring on the world: Sometime they ſignifie extraordinary bleſſings:Matth. 2.2. Of this nature was that Starre that appeared to the Wiſemen when Chriſt was borne, which they call Chriſts Star.
Queſt. Here it may be demanded, How they came to know it to be Chriſts Star, and pointed out the place of his Nativity, and would at laſt conduct and direct them to him?
Anſw. 1. Some ſay, there was an Apocriphal tradition fathered upon Seth, which fore-told at the Nativity of the Meſſiah, ſuch a Starre ſhould appear, and ſuch preſents be offered unto him.
2. Others ſay, That theſe Magi being of the poſterity of Balaam, of whom we read, Numb. 22. & Chap. 23, & 24. had their light from his prophecy, Numb. 24.17. There ſhall come a Starre out of Jacob, &c. whereupon (ſay they) twelve of them by turns watched continually upon the top of an high Mountain, and prayed, that God would reveal unto them that Star, which (they ſay) he did that very night that Chriſt was born; and upon the ſight thereof, they preſently addreſſed themſelves for their journey to Jeruſalem.
3. Others think, that they had the hint thereof out of Dan. 2. or (at leaſt) from ſome other Prophecies which were in thoſe times tranſlated into Greek, and extant in many places among the Gentiles; and this ſeemeth a probable conceit, becauſe they go to Jeruſalem to be further inſtructed: all do agree, that it was none of the Stars made in the beginning, Gen. 1.16. for theſe have numbers and names, Iſa. 48.26. and doubtleſſe moſt of them were well known to theſe Magi: but it ſeemeth by their relation that this Star was never ſeen before, as is alſo manifeſted by its perpendicular motion, moving from North to South, contrary to the motion of other Stars that move from Eaſt to Weſt: elſe when they went from Jeruſalem, it could not have directly pointed out the houſe at Bethlehem where the holy Child Jeſus and his Mother lay; for Bethlehem ſtandeth thirty miles ſouth from Jeruſalem, as the Learned do obſerve. Auguſtine ſaith, It was a new Star created by God to point out the place of his Sons Birth, Haec ſtella magnifica Coeli lingua. Auguſt.calling this Star the wonderfull tongue of Heaven.
4. Others ſay, It was an Angel, appearing not in the nature, but form, faſhion and figure of a Starre; and therefore called ſo: And why might not an Angel as well appear to theſe Wiſe men of Perſia, as to the ſhepherds of Bethlehem? And why might they not as well be taught from Heaven how to ſet forth and undertake this journey, as they are which way to return home again, when they have diſpatched and finiſhed it? Mat. 2.12.
5. Nay, ſome go further, and ſay, that it was the holy Ghoſt himſelf, who as he appeared in the likeneſſe of a Dove at Chriſt's Baptiſm, Luke 3. ſo ſay they, He appeared in the likeneſſe of a Starre at his Birth. In a word; as the cloudy and fiery pillar went before the Iſraelites, and left them not till it brought them to Canaan the promiſed Land: ſo this Star, Angel, or Meteor (or whatſoever it were) in the likeneſſe of a Star, left not theſe men till it brought them to Chriſt the promiſed Lord.Magnum aliquod in parvo latere. Auguſt. Serm. 7. de Epith. For as Auſtin tels us, This certainly told them, that no mean gueſt lay in that poor houſe at Bethlehem, but one that was no leſſe than a King, and farre greater than any mortal man.
2. As the Stars are for ſigns, ſo likewiſe they are for ſeaſons: they ſerve to give times to every imployment, as to the Phyſician,Though the motion of the ſtars through the Aequator, were much more ſimple, yet they move by an oblique circle, to the end, the benefit of their benign aspects might be communicated tomore parts of the earth. Ex plan. Ver. relig. to the Mariner, to the Husbandman, ſhewing him when to ſet, ſow, plant, &c. to the Mathematician: They ſerve for the bringing about the Spring, the Summer, the Harveſt and Winter, Geneſ. 8.22. Arcturus riſeth in September, and beginneth Autumn; Orion ariſeth in December, and beginneth Winter, and bringeth rain; Pleiades ariſe in the Spring, the Dogſtar and others ariſe in the Summer: And although the Starres have their ſeaſons to mount above us, and likewiſe to go down again out of our ſight; yet doth it not happen at all adventure, but by the Providence of God ſo diſpoſing it; and though he hath given them their influences from Heaven, yet do they not any thing of their own peculiar motion, but God hath ſtill the guiding and overruling of them.
Tantum officium habent ſignificandi res futuras, nòn autèm vim fatandi, ac neceſſitatem inferendi. Zanch. de luminar. Coeli.3. The Starres are for dayes and years; they ſerve for the dividing the day from the night, and the light from the darkneſſe: the Sunne being the fountain of light, meaſureth the dayes by four and twenty hours, and the years by returning from one point to the end of the other: They ſerve likewiſe for political obſervations, as the computation of dayes, weeks, moneths and years, and the celebration of Feſtivals among the Jews; they ſignifie things to come; but predictions from the Stars, and the diſcovering of ſecrets are falſe and uncertain.