Book I. Tie Temple ^/Wifdome. 149

the aforenamed Lazara BaneUi ; who accoaimodates the properties of thefe Celeftial Animals, to feveial Kingdomes, over which they rule : as for example, theConftellatien o{ Aries rules ostTYrance^Germany^ Syria^ paleftina. m'mor^ Suevia^ and the Vpper Silefia. ^ as you may read in our firft Book. That of laurm governs PfrJJ^3 the Ifles of the Archipelago^ Cyprus^ the Maritine pares ofAfin Minor^ Polonia major ^ K^fffi^ alba^ Switzerland^ the Countreyof the Khetres^ Yran^ conia^ Ireland^ Lorraine^ and ^art of Swethland, But, to leave this Italian to pleafe himfelf with thefe truths, as our Engl ifh ^ ties ; and likewife Cdiloq. Mor. Albertus de Marchefijs tde Cottignola^ a Francifcan Fryer, who moralizeth This Aflrology after a way of his own 5 weaffirme^that all thefeCeUftial living Creatures fignifienomore then what wehavefaid before; and do therefore by the fame rcafon conclude, acording to the judgment of theRabins, that we muft fearch after thefe mifte- ries and heavenly writing and theirCharafters,made up by the diverfedifpolition of the Stars, and only in the Hebrew^ and confequently,no Signification in any other Language, but in the Holy Language : it 'being moft proper, that that Language, which was the firft in the wliole World, and which was fpokea "by God himfelf, (hould give us notice above, what 'things are hereafter to come to pafs 5 feeing it haih -informed us here below, namely in the holy Scrip- tures, of all things that are pafl. And thisconciu* lion is a moft true one, fay the fame Rabbins, for as much as in a clear, bright night, a man may fee dn the Heavens all the Hebrew Characters perfectly 'figured : which one cannot do of thofe feveral li- ving Creatures, that are placed there^ feeing that the Imagination cannot be any whit fatisfied, wherj» K 5 ' i^i'
J ^o T^he Teaiple of Wifdome. Book !
\
for example, in the Scars that make up the Conftel ^ lacion oiAries^ there are five other to be fee clofe about it, which by reafon that they are
* * not comprifed within the Figure of this Beaft,
* do difturb the Fancy, and hinder it from ma- j^inct up the Figure it defircs. The fame alfo may be ^id of T^wn^ ; for there are Eleven Stars to be feen there, which arc eflentially of this Conftellati- pn 5 and yet are not brought in^ in the Pidure of it.
So likewife in the Conftellation o( Gemini there
* * are Stars belonging to it^ which are diftingui- ^* (bed from thofe Nineteen, that reprefent the
* V igure of this Sign : as Cancer alfo hath four
* * bright Stars, which lie loofe from thqfe nine, ^^which make up the Image of this living Crea-
^* cure. But as for the Hebrew letters, there is
* nothing to hinder us, from finding them
* diftin^fcly delcribed : and if any one do chance
* "^ to find either Arahick^y or Samaritane Letters there ; this isftill but to return? back to the Origi- gial. from whence they were takcu.
Firft then we are to take nocice, that the Stars which make upthefe Letters^ are not difpofed into the order they appear in, at ^11 adventures, nor in any confufed way, as they feem to us to be : but are placed thus, with foine Uefign, and in a divine Or- der; Cod having made all things in full Perfeftion. Thofc that underftand not the t lay GfCheJfe^ feeing the pieces (land here and there, fo confufedly, will leapt to think, no doubt, chat they ftand xii that conkifed mariner by meer hap hazard, feeing that in fome places there are a great many ; and in fome, very few ; andqne fidcof the Chefle-board is full, and the other fide quite bare, and in a third place perhaps ) ou (hall have but tw^, or three ; In a word5,
Book h The Temple of Wifdome. 1 5 %
this difference in the placing of the pieces is To great, as that he will certainly conclude, that the whole bufinefs is clearly without any deligne at all ; notwithftanding that they are all ranked in verycx- ^Ot order ; and that there is not the leaft piece there, but is of ufe, and doth its proper office. After the fame manner is it with the Sears, which we fee in the Heavens ; for, though in fome places you fee many togctherjandin others buta fewjand that the order they ftand in, looks confufedly^and in a man- ner rediculous ; yet neverthelefs is it moftadnijr* able, initfelf, and proceeds from fome moil won" derful defigne ; which thofc men perfectly under- hand, who by this holy Life, arc elevated above all that is here below. Thus it is ftoried of St. Anthony^ • that he perfectly undcrftood thifi Heavenly Writings which we taught before.
Secondly, that although the Stars which areiq the eighth HeavenOf at leaft there be any fuch thing as an eighth Heaven,) be fixed j yec do they not therefore alwayes compofe the fame letters, at leaft, the greateft part of them j but they have their changes, according to the diverfc Afpefts of the Planets, Thus thofe St^rs fhat ten years iiace, made up, for Example, a Tc t^, (hall now perhaps mad the Kabbhis^ that this Writing ferves not, but for the ftiewing of thing to come. And by this writing we told Major KfV^/, Captaiu f i//, ani y\^]ov Maliracl^ when Oliver Cromwell vio\\\dL die, and when the King would come int,® England 5 and all this was foretold four years before it came to pafs, b.^lides we did foretell the particular day, when thefe changes would be. In the third place they fay^ that w? are maft efpe- K 4. cially
15a ^fhe Temple (?/ Wifdome. B o o K I.
dally to obferve what new Scars foeve fhall appears becaiife that thefe do fore-(hew the grcjtcft Mutati- ons : God making ufe of thefe, in making up, by means of their Afpefts, and Conjundions, New Letters; whereby he either expreffeth unto us his wrath, or his mercy : as having determined with himfelf, to chaftife us, if we continue in our fms ; and to pardon us> if we repent of them. Thus, before almoft all the greateft Mutations, that have happened in the world, have fome of thefe new ftars been obfcrved to appear; and they have been fuch Stars too, as have been really found to be in the very Heavens. Such as was that, obferved by Hif' ■^circhusj 125. years before the time of our Redemp- tion ; which Star prefaged the end o( the Grecian JdonarchyB^j^roiich'mg, Another the like appeared alfo in Clatideans time, in the year of our Saviour. Chrtfl ij88. Another in the time o^ Meffahalah^Haly, arid Alhumazar^ Arabian Aftrologers , which appea- red in the i '^,I)egree of Scorpio^ and call forth as great a light, as the Fourth part of the Moon could do. A- nocher, in the time of theEmperour ^iri/z«; and another alfo under theEmperour Ot^c ; which ap- peared betwixt the two Conflellations of Cepheufy -JLiidCafJiepeia, Another in the year 1 5; 64. not far from Cafiopiay tending towards the North : and Another iikewife that appeared afterwards, on the Chaircofthe fameConitellation, about the begin- jVingoi December y Anno 1572. and continued for th;; fpacc of fix moneths. Another, that appeared An- no 159^ in the Conftellation of the// W^: ano- ther, of the third Magnitude, obferved in the Neck of the Swan^ Anno r6oo. and another, that was feen, two years after^ in Vifces Another, that appeared two years after that^ in the Confteilation callecj
Serpen*