Book i- TAe Tccnple ofWiCdomc. 1 57

Accf^ding.to thcfe principles, any man may fore- fee, by the putting together the Stars of the fame Conftellatiofi, the Difafters that France is ihreatned with. However it htf^JmUm aPrieft and a very excel- lent Aftrologer, is boIAto utter thefe words : lUud vero ((aich he/peakingof this Wdufivx\{fi»'d')m Sh^er^ U. de Sacrobof, c,i. Toleto nunc^ Apulias, & Neapo- litanorum regno eft verticale ; tnoxqm GaUiam invadeti quibusfuam queque cladem alUturum ejjey waximopre efl^ vtrmdum. Now how long before hand, thefcCele-t fttal Letters do for€(ht:w the changes that are to hap-» penv no one Author, that I know of, hath preciic- ly determined : they only fay, that before they are Vertical^ they do fbrefhew this change, and whatfo- cveristo happen : God being willing thus to pre- pare us for the Evils which are to befall us. And after that they are prccifely Vertical, if our Repen- tance hath yet found any place in his Mercies ^ He then canfeth fome new ftar to appear, and by its In* tervefting^to (hew (^s we have formerly faid) a quite contrary thing, to what was before (ignificd.
In the fifth place, the fore-named authors affirm, that to be able perfedly to underftand this Celeftiai writingy we muft.know how to diftinguifh exactly, which, iUrs are OrifWtrt/, and which Occidental^ Me- ridiofialy ■and Septentmnal: forafmuch as theie quar- ters of the Heaven are very effencialin tbisReading* For>if atiyonedelire to know, fay they, the good Fortune, and PEcfperit) of a Kingdome, or of any other cbing ; he muft then read thofe Letters which are Vertical co him^ f orwhich want not mtuch of be- ing foj from tl'ie VVeft^ toward the Eaft. And if he would: be informed of cheEvil accidents, and mif- fortunes, that (hall bcfal a place ^ he nniit then be- gin t« i^d^ from, the North, towards the Weft; .: " Now,
IS8 the Temple of Wifdome, Book L
NoWjWhy the good fortunes of iplacC fhould be read^^ from the Weft, towards theEaft, rather then from the Eaft^towards the South: and why thiill fortune rs likewife to be read, from the Norths toward the Weft,! have not found any reafon given by any Au- thor. However, I (hall adventure to give this conjc- fture at it: namely^that feeing that Nature^bcing at liberty, and not hindredby anything, alwaicsten- deth to the beft: and that, as Ariflotle faith, !c would alwayes bring forth Males, as being more perfeft creatures then females are,tf it were not hindred by fome repugnant Caufe: it is moft propcr^that good things, andall perfcdions, (hould be read, from the Weft towards the Eaftjfeeing that this is the free and natural motion of the Stars; the other from the Eaft to the Weft^ being a contrary and forced motion. As for ill fortune, and Difaftcrs , they might according to this principle, have been read fiora the eaft toward the weft, had not the Oracle which cannot lye, uttered this wonderful truth : A Septentrione pandetur malum^ J^r.i. 14. All evill commetb from the North. But, why from the Notth rather than from any othef part of the world? The reafon of this is not fo eaiily given : vet I conceive it would ftand with found Phylofopny, to anfwer; thar by reafon of the darknefTe and gloomineffe of chf Aire of thofe parts;caufed by the great diftancc oftheSuni and alfo by reafonof the evil fpirits, which are the Authors of fo much evil, and which inhabitc darkc places ; a man may very reafonably iay chat all misfortunes come from the North ; as bring a place, which is full of thefe evill fpirits, or Demons 5 as is tertified in The Harmony of the JForld. And from hence, it will bean calie matter to ap- prehend ihe reafon, why the Ancients figured iti
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