Part II.

feveral numbers, by adding to the antecedents, and makes four times feven days, in which the Moon runs through and about all the longitude and lati- tude of the Zodiac, by meafuring and meafuring again : with the like feven days it difpenfes its light, by changing it ; for the firft feven days, unto the middle as it were of the divided world, it increafes ; the fecond feven days it fills its whole orb with light ; the third, by decreafing, is again contracted into a divided orb ; but, after the fourth feven days, it is renewed with the latl diminution of its light ; and by the fame feven days, it difpofes the in- creafe and decreafe of the fea : for in the firft feven of the increafe of the moon, it is by little and little leffened ; in the fecond, by degrees increafed ; but the third is like the firfi, and the fourth does the fame as the fecond. It is alfo applied to Saturn, which afcending from the lower, is the feventh planet, which betokens reft ; to which the feventh day is afcribed, which fignifies the feven thoufandth, wherein, as St. John fays, the dragon (which is the devil) and fatan being bound, men (hall be quiet, and lead a peaceable life. And the leprous perfon that was to be cleanfed, was fprinkled feven times with the blood of a fparrow ; and Elifha the Prophet, as it is written in the fecond book of Kings, faith unto the leprous perfon — “ Go, and wafh t\yfelf feven times in Jordan, and thy fielh (hall be made whole, and thou lhalt be cleanfed.” — Alfo, it is a number of repentance and rerniftion. And Chrift, with feven petitions, finifhed his fpeech of our fatisfaCtion. It is called the number of liberty, becaufe the feventh year the Hebrew fervant did challenge liberty for himfelf. It is alfo moft fuitable to divine praifes } whence the Prophet faith — “ Seven times a day do I praife thee, becaufe of thy righteous judgments.” — It is moreover called the number of revenge, as fays the Scripture — “ And Cain fhall be revenged fevenfold.” — And the Pfalmift fays — “ Render unto our neighbours fevenfold into their bofom their reproach.” — Hence there are feven wickedneffes, as faith Solomon ; and feven wickeder fpirits taken, are read of in the Gofpel. It fignifies, alfo, the time of the prefent circle, be- caufe it is finiihed in the fpaee of feven days. Alfo it is confecrated to the Holy Ghoft, which the Prophet Ifaiah defcribes to be fevenfold, according to his gift, viz. the fpirit of wifdom and underftanding, the fpirit of counfel and flrength, the fpirit of knowledge and holinefs, the fpirit of fear of the Lord,
which
Chap, XXII. TALISMANIC MAGIC. 1.21
which we read in Zachariah to be the /even eyes of God. There are alfo feven angels, fpirits Handing in the prefence of God, as is read in Tobias, and in the Revelation : feven lamps did burn before the throne of God, and feven golden candlefticks, and in the middle thereof was one like unto the Son of Man, and he had in his right hand feven liars. Alfo, there were feven fpirits before the throne of God, and feven angels Hood before the throne, and there were given to them feven trumpets. And he faw a Lamb, having feven horns and feven eyes ; and he faw the book fealed with feven feals ; and when the feventh feal was opened, there was made filence in Heaven.
Now, by all that has been faid, it is apparent that the number feven, amongft the other numbers, may be defervedly faid to be moil full of efficacy. Moreover, the number feven hath great conformity with the number twelve *, for as three and four make feven, fo thrice four makes twelve, which are the numbers of the celefiial planets and figns refulting from the fame root ; and by the number three partak- ing of the Divinity, and by the number four of the nature of inferior things. There is in facred writ a very great obfervance of this number before all others, and many, and very great are the myfleries thereof : many we have decreed to reckon up here, repeating them out of holy writ, by which it will eafily appear that the number feven doth fignify a certain fulnefs of facred myfteries ; for we read, in Genelis, that the feventh was the day of relt of the Lord ; that Enoch, a pious holy man, was the feventh from Adam ; and that there was another feventh man from Adam, a wicked man, by name Lamech, that had two wives ; and that the fin of Cain fliould be aboliffied the feventh genera- tion, as it is written — Cain fhall be puniffied fevenfold ; and that he who (hall flay Cain, fhall be revenged fevenfold ; to which the matter of the hiftory col- !e6ts that there were feven fins of Cain. Alfo, of all clean beafts feven, and feven were brought into the ark, as alfo of fowls ; and after feven days the Lord rained upon the earth 5 and upon the feventh day the fountains of the deep were broken up, and the waters covered the earth. Alfo, Abraham gave to Abimelech feven ewe lambs •, and Jacob ferved feven years for Leah, and