Book I. The Temple ^/Wifdome. 1 3 j

fuch numbers of Bcaftsjand^fomc of them fo dread- full, as that we cannot think of them^ but with horrour .? If they had placed onely men there, and had allotted a Caftor, and a Tollux^ Dominion there; this might have been interpreted an Error of Love; which fuffers us not to be content, in wifhing fmall Honours to thofe we Lov c. This con fid era t ion might alfo have fatisfied thoC:, who complained, that theCeleftial figures were nothing elfe, but the reprefeatations of the fevcral fcapes of Jufiter^ and that the whole face of the Heavens was filled, with the notes of his inceftuous pranks : fo that if any one (hould undertake to excufe thefeAmorous figns, he would be the lefTe blame worthy j in that he did it, only in defence of the moft fwcct, and powerful of all our palTions. The excufe of thofe, who im- pofed upon thefe incorruptible bodies,the figures of bruit bcafts, that arc moft fubje^ to corruption,and even of things inanimate alfo, was moft juft, feeing that, info doing, they had no other defign, but what was Religious. Thus we fee Fifties theie,Cen« cers,and eares ofCorn in a V^irgins hand: And, thofe who are skilled in the fecrets of the Ancienc Theology , know well enough , that it was not without fome Myfticall reafon, that they placed one Crown in the fouth part of Heaven, confifting of thirteen bright Starrs , and another in the nor- thern part, containing eight Starrs in it. But to place Dragons there, and berpencB, and Hydra '«5 reafon can never endure. And yec, fee the ftrang- neffe of the things! For though the Ancients had thus filled the Heavens with bruit Beafts; and that according to this their Do£trine, one would have imagined this Casleftial Paradife to have been, an habitacioa of Monfters, and a dreadfull Wildcrnefe, 1 3 ra;her
154 ^^^ Temple of Witdome. Book I.
rather then the Seat of the Bleflfedj and a place a- bounding with all manner of pleafures 3 yet not- withftanding, neither had the Church even repro- ved it, nor any of the antient Fathers difavowed ir. Now the lub je£t we treat of, is much leffe fcan- dalous 5 and by confequence more tolerable. For what danger can there be in affirming; that the di- verfe figures oft he ftarrs reprefent and make up, the different characters of the Hebrew Alphabet.? And that as thefe Letters have fome fignification when they are fingle5as wel as when they are joy ned with others: in like manner the Starrs^ either alone, or joyned with other Starri5, do note unto us fome mifteries^ Yea rather this Doftrine of ours,is fo farr from being fuchjas men fhould beware of> and hold itfufpefted; as that on the contrary, it teacheth the many wonderfull things of God 5 and proveth that all thefe Starrs have not their Order beftowed on them in vain *, and that their motions and dif- ferently Afpeftsare not utterly ufelcfle, and with- out any delign. Info much, that in my opinion, it would be no lefle then Blafphemy in any man to affirm the contrary; ortofay, that they are only placed there, onely for ornament and to beautifie theheavens, and to give light ; ind for no other caufe at all. But what madnefle is it to confine thefe wonderful lights to one onely opperation*) fee- ing that, beiides that experience teacheth us, that the Moon is the Governefs of all Humours; the Sun the principle of lifejSaturn Zarel ^nd Career^ a M^.^ lignant Starr; J«/>itfr, a Benign; the dgnoilaur us cold and dry ; that of Gemini hotandmoifl;^nVs hot and dry; and fo of the reft : we ^ * ^ do alfo fee daily by that one and the
* ^ * fame fimple here below , ferveth to
diverfe