astrology Proved to be the old Doctrine of Demons, professed by the worshippers of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, sun and moon. In which is proved That the Planetary and fixed stars are the Powers of the air, which by God's permission are directed by Satan the chief Power thereof, by means whereof nothing can by their Configurations be foreseen but by Satan. Farther, As Satan directs the airy powers to act by in the unbelievers according to his will, so God before the Gospel used the Ministry of the Elect Angels to direct the Starry Powers for the good of his, and so in the state of Antichrist. After the fall of Antichrist, and in the true Church still God immediately Rules the Powers by Jesus Christ; and in the thousand years Satan is to be bound, he shall not act by the Starry Powers to deceive the Nations more, when the daemon Doctrine, by which the world three thousand years hath been deceived, shall cease, with the Doctrine of Antichrist, the Learning professed in Academies of Aristotle, etc By which until the devil is bound he deceives the Nations. Written by an unworthy witness of the truth of God, JOHN Brain. LONDON; Printed by M. S. for John Hancock, and are to be sold at the first shop in Popes-head Alley, next to Cornhill. 1653. Johan. Pic. Mirand. in Astrol. l. 12. cap. 4. speaking of the Zodiac. Hanc divisionem quasi natura non Arbitrio factam, & quot jam partes ipsi finxerant sibi, tot influxuum vires & proprietates diversas esse decreverunt, tum pro numero signorum duodecim loca divisere, sex supra finitorem, sex infra, sunt sex quoque signa sub terra, sex supra semper revolvuntur. Ita magno errore definitum observandum; Inprimis sub quo loco quo signo planeta collocaretur, alias enim ad influendum pro loci signique varietate vires adipisci, &c. Hermes. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Porphyr. Cited by Euseb. volume. 6. Evangelicae praeparationis, Say's, that the gods in the Oracles by the Motion of the stars did foretell things to come; as when Apollo was asked when a woman with child went with a male or female, and told another, that an ill day was at hand to him, which Saturn and Mars had together agreed on. A soldier asked him why in such peril he should stand upon the matter (the Question was about a thought he had) who answered him that Mars being the Lord of his Geniture stirred him up to it. And in another Answer; To day, says he, it is best for me to say nothing of the way of the stars; upon which, says Eusebius, Stellarum motu impeditur. TO THE ASTROLOGERS, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. 1 TIM. 4.1. With those that give heed to the Doctrine of Demons, Greeting and good will in the Gospel of God. FRiends, I write not this for any offence taken from you, or do I write it to give offence to you; but out of unfeigned love to God and the Gospel, with a tender care of the good of your souls, and spirits, and bodies. This only I crave, that as I write without prejudice, so that you also will read the same. I have writ nothing out of bitterness of spirit, if any thing seem harsh to you, know, there is no more intended but an honest handling the word of truth, and plain dealing with the souls of such as it doth concern; which ought to be desired of all, in our converse about the things of God, to be in him that speaks for God. Now so it is that a while astrology, called Christian astrology, was with some delight looked on by myself, but when I considered the Demons in ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ their stars, with the Heroes and Heraes in the Asterisms, with the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the Zodiac, & the Doctrine, God in mercy undeceived me, and therein bound to seek the promoting of the same good to others also. 1. That Jupiter and Mercury are the Demons the Scriptures speak of, appears, Act. 14.11, 12. Where the Lystrians took Paul and Barnabas for their Gods, calling Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Hermes or Mercury. And from the Doctrine of Demons they thought Paul Mercury, from his being chief in delivering the Message. And for Diana {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, which is the moon, the Ephesians, Act. 19.27. she is called a Goddess, she had her Temple, and was esteemed of great Magnificence, so that Asia, and all the world worshipped her, Acts 17.19. Athens was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, ♂ hill, where his Altar was. 2. They had their Priests, of which I take Dionysius called the Areopagit to have been a Priest of Mars, there were the Priests of Jupiter, Acts 14.13. who sacrificed Oxen to them, but to Saturn and Mars were men sacrificed. 3. These Priests were those men called Flammins, and the old Astrologers call Philosophers, who to keep the people in a way of worshipping of them, did teach that for doctrine to men that this day by tradition hath been continued and received for astrology, which is no other than the Doctrine of Demons. 4. This will appear, Act. 16.18. in that the Athenians called Paul's preaching Christ a setting forth strange Demons, he showing Christ a man died and rose again, was in heaven and did minister salvation to men; which proves a custom among them of setting forth their Demons, called by the Apostle the Doctrines of Demons, that is, of men-gods, ♄ ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ ☽ for which they were Magi, wise men, Seers, that did thus set out the Demons doctrine to the people, and as there Prophets or Diviners predict things thereby. 5. These Demons had their stars in which they were supposed after death to be in, and thereby to act on men as when they were alive. Thus the Magi, Matth. 2.2. Where is the King of the Jews, we have seen his star and are come to worship him; the King is distinct from the star, so that there is the daemon or hero his star. The Doctrine of the daemon, and the Asterisms, do so prove one the other, that one being granted, the other cannot be denied; as if the highest of the Planets be Satur's, than Saturn is supposed to be in it, and the doctrine of that star holds forth the daemon Saturn, not the star; and so of Mars, Venus, &c. For the nature of the star is not known but by the nature of the daemon, who is only described in the Doctrine and Emblem. To which Demons after the way of Heathens the hours of the day, the days of the week, and years of the world, and Climates of the Earth, and Cities of the Nations, are said to be ruled and subjected in the daemon doctrine. In opposition to which Lords, for so the Astrologers say of ♄ ♃ ♂ ♀ ☉ ☽ that they are Lords in Genitures of Houses, of eclipses, and have dominion in such Quarters of the world, and over such part of man's life, &c. in directions, 1 Cor. 8.5, 6. There are many are called Lords, but to us is but one Lord Jesus Christ, opposing Christ worshipped to these Demons the Heathens then worshipped, and eat and drank the blood and flesh sacrificed to them, 1 Cor. 10.21. & 8.10. Which was done in the Temple built to ♃ &c. In which was an Idol where he was supposed to be in on earth as in heaven in his star, which meat so sacrificed & sold by their Priests to such as sold meat in the shambles, was an offence to the Saints. It is superstition and condemned of God to name the names of these, how then to name the day from them, and to give the Rule of its hours to them? Why ☽ on the first day must have the first hour at ☉ rising and begin the government of the day when she is in opposition to us, and not seen by us, appears not to me, but to confirm a Heathenish observation of the day to the moon, and the Doctrine of Diana, and the preserving of her Magnificence; for as God had a day of rest to his service, so the Demons had theirs, on which, men, devoted to them, did visit their Temples, and did sacrifice to them on their Altars. Some Astrologers have said the seventh day was observed by the Jews in honour of ♄, and that we sin not keeping it. To bring the people thereunto they did no other but hold out to them, how they were preserved by them, and how their punishments came from them, and good was conveyed by their stars to them, hourly, daily, yearly, as in the Doctrine of astrology is set forth. Which was the tye they had to bind them to their worship and service. Acts 19.27. Asia and all the world worshipped Diana the ☽; sure the Nations that call the second day ☽ day, did worship the ☽ on that day in time of these names. 6. To hold out this distinction of the god Demon and his star as distinct by the Scripture, see Acts 7.43. And ye retooke up the Tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan. Moloch was the daemon, Saturn whose star was Remphan, that is, the highest of the Planets, according to the Arabian Dialect; so that there was the god, the Tabernacle, and the star, as distinct things, the worship was set up, the Tabernacle, the influence ascribed to the star as the means thereof, and the worship given to the daemon. 7. Whereas the Scripture says, I would not ye should have fellowship with Demons, 1 Cor. 10.20. Now where one acknowledging the Demons in their Doctrine, in their days, in their rule, in their Characters, in their names, in the stars as theirs, be not a having communion with them or no; It's good to consider, Levit. 18.3. and to speak and foretell by their rules, Deut. 7.4. 8. In the Conjunctions, Retrogradations, and several aspects of the Planets in the doctrine of Demons, is held out what men (acted, as they say, by them) would produce among themselves, as if old men, melancholy, envious, &c. having the disposition of ♄ stirred up in them according to the emergencies of the times; so men borne under Mars, having a spirit of war and blood in them, are by the influence of Mars stirred up to war and revenge. So those borne under Venus, are as by a spirit of venery lead to dalliance, delights, neatness; and Mercury to the god Demons, a manservant, to the goddesses a female, who as their servant is nimble witted to council the worst and please the best, being of a false and treacherous spirit: so of the Men of the moon, the sun, &c. Now the difference if it be about Dominion with the ☉, about women with Venus, or Priesthood with ♃ and Saturn, be of the one side, and those acted by him, and ♂ on the other side with those acted by him, the Judgement will be what the event thereof is, say they, if ☿ have a hand in the business, unless ♃ by a △ prove a Moderator, if it be but in a square, it's but as it were, say they, a falling out, and not as in an ☍, or an open defiance; to which in agreements they compare the ⚹ and △ the signs, where fixed or movable, helping in the Judgement, in the undertaking whereof, 1. There is not only scientia, the art and rules therein: 2. But there is required in the man a spirit inclined to, and acquainted with, or acted by the Influence of Mercury and ♃ in a prophetic way, which differs from the spirit of divination, the one immediately, the other mediately, by rules predicting things, as in that axiom; a te & a scientia, the knowledge without this spirit is nothing. 3. This spirit is as much to inquire into the state of affairs in the world below, as well as in the configurations of the heavenly bodies above; for it is confessed that grounds of this art do depend upon experiences; these things would require a volume, but my intent is only in a general way how they are opposed, and what opposed, and what God allows of in the stars, says Mirandula; Ptolemeum plus conceptui quam geniturae tribuisse. 1. The seven Planets are God's creatures, called by Jude, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, erring stars, because of the irregularity of their motion, sometimes direct, then stationary, then retrograde, opposing, conjoining one with another, as friends and foes. 2. By these planet's power and operations, the change of seasons, and airs, and weathers, are produced, usually called by the Astrologers, in receptions, oppositions, and other configurations, apertio portarum; but in the word they are indeed said to be the powers of the air, Ephes. 2.2. Signifying that the heat, the cold, the moist, the wet, the dry, the wind, the snow, the hail, and exhalations are produced or wrought by these in the air, as heat in the rising of the great dogstar. 3. By the air these powers work on the earth, and on man composed of the Elements themselves were first made of, as by a tacture the stars applying themselves by the air to the several bodies of men as they agree with, or are contrary to them, to sickness or health. 1. Hence some are said to be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, moon struck. 2. Others are said, &c. 4. The souls being ex traduce, their Influence extends to incite some joy, hate, fear, wrath, as the temper of the body is first wrought on. 5. And because man consists of a spirit immediately given of God, and not made of the matter other Elementary bodies were of, remains unwrought upon by them, as being above them, and not to be corrupted by them. 6. To all these Satan he adds his operation, Ephes. 2.2. who is the Prince or chief of the powers of the air, who works with them, or by them. 7. On the children of disobedience he thereby works according to his will, 2 Tim. 2.26. and therefore as a spirit he is said to work it on the spirit, the body, the soul, he directing their influences according to his several purposes; hence in Scripture, Matth. 12.29. the world is called the house of Satan, the several Orbs or spheres as the upper rooms, the earth, the Sea, &c. the under rooms thereof, in which he governs and rules the men of the world, and being called powers in heavenly places, Ephes. 6.12. Shows that not as by a Law but by power he rules the powers of the air, assisting him thereto, on the Inspection whereof at best doth depend the Judgement of the stars, as it relates to Satan, and wicked men. Not that I deny but the influence of the stars may alter the state of God's Elect in their bodies to health or sickness; but free from that power of Satan's acting them on him, they being redeemed from the world, and power of Satan, unless God permit him for some particular ends. Hence the scars in the bodies of men under the several Constellations are from them as natural without the coactings of Satan, it being common to Elect and Reprobate. 8. In these very operations of Satan, the divine providence no less appears then in the powers of the air, they not having power to act in the least, or over the least, beyond the limits of God's permission; says the ginger, Deus regit astra, yea Demonem cum astris, Christ when he stayed the winds and seas, he showed his power over the powers of the air. 9 It seems to me God sends out the Elect Angels▪ to direct the powers of the air to the good of the Saints, Heb. 1.14. and to keep them that they dash not their feet against a stone in all their ways; as the evil Angels on the Reprobates, by whom God as vessels of wrath fits them for destruction. In Jude 9 the good and evil Angels contend about the body of Moses, God not suffering the bodies of Saints to be demonized, as Saturn, Mars, Venus, Diana, Mercury, thieves, whores, murderers, &c. Spirits only fit to set out wicked men by, and not good men, Rev. 12. 10. I have read with admiration, Heb. 2.5. He hath not subjected the future government to Angels. (Vide Hieronym. in Gal. 4.3.) Necesse esse priusquam quis credat in Christo, illis arbitris, viz. Angelus gubernetur. 1. Implying that the government of the natural state of men in the world is subjected to Angels, as the Astronomers say. 2. In what Saints are natural if subjected to good Angels. 3. That the government to come, that is, in Christ, hath other power, Heb. 6.5. called the power of the world to come, and not that of the air, which is ministered by another Spirit, even that of God, as they are of another house, & another household, even the house and household of God, redeemed from the world, and the power of Satan to God, Act. 26.18. That he is denied to act in them as before, whiles they lived according to the Prince of the power of the air. 11. Satan is called the God of this world, 2 Cor. 4.4. and Mat. 4.8. showing Christ all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, saying, He would give it him if he would worship him. How far God may make use of Satan in the preferment and fall of some by the powers of the air, inciting men thereto, or how far he may permit him to do it on others is not clear, but we may see it in the Contracts of mean men with him to be advanced to the Papacy▪ and other dignities in the world. And indeed in this sense by this Doctrine I suppose Balam is called a Prophet, 2 Pet. 2.16. who went to the high places of Baal, and in Answer to the seven Demons built seven Altars, and offered seven oxen and seven Rams, when the Angel of the Lord, yea the Lord himself opposed him and his Demons with the spirits, so that he cannot divine against him, his eyes in former divinations were shut, but now opened. It's notably said in Jude of the Antichrists Ministry, that they are {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, as if they had as men the influence in their way on the world as all the Planets in Heaven had, acting one whiles as ♄, anon as ♃, then as ♂, anon as the ☉, and then as ☿, Retrograding, opposing and joining one with the other, and engaging the world with them; of which see my expos. on Jude. Now as for the true Ministry, Rev. 1.20. They are said to be held in the right hand of Christ. Again, whereas by ♃ is understood the daemon of Priests and Lawyers, and the Astrologers have predicted their fall, which will be most certainly accomplished; it proves that that Romish Ministry, as the Flammins, who were first understood hereby, are of the house and government of the world, as they were, or the divination were nothing, and under the powers of the world. That which is eminently considerable to prove what I have said to be truth, is this, the time is come in which Satan is binding, that he cannot deceive the Nations any more, Rev. 20.2. In which he is not permitted to direct the Planetary influences as before; for whereas before in the same Conjunctions and eclipses he so ordered the same, that he advanced error, and the Rule of his kingdom by it, yet now he being bound the Influences of the powers of the air are such on the inferior bodies as utterly dissolve the frame of the government of the old world, Monarchy, Peers, Priests, People and servants, so oppose one another, that the Rule is dissolved, for the Ruler thereof being captivated, he cannot deceive the Nations with the Name of Liberty, or show of Religion, or the pretext of succession, nor will any ways of reconciliation serve the turn, a sign of which binding appears in the liberty granted Religion, which Satan in Kings, Priests, People, have always until now opposed, persecuted, &c. which binding continues a thousand years, and being loose by the powers of heaven he deceives the Nations again. Now the Lord Jesus, Matth. 24. with the signs in Heaven, shall be a shaking of its powers, which produceth a change in the powers below, signified in the war between Nation and Nation, which will be done in such a way then as never was, when men's hearts will fail them for fear, looking for those things were to come on the earth, viz. in the dissolution comes on the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, the order and rule thereof, out of which confusion ariseth the redemption of God's people. Note, among these Demons some are fortunous, others Infortunous, others between both. By which means the persons, states, natures and conditions come largely to be treated of in this Doctrine of Demons. And to hold up the honour of the fortunes, say they, they would do good ofttimes did not the Cacodemons' hinder, and oppose, and destroy the good they intended; by which one was beloved, the other feared. 2. God in Scripture gives the ends of the stars creation to be three. 1. For light. 2. For seasons, as summer and winter, autumn and spring, to sow, to plant, to reap. Lactantius summer is from day, winter from the night. 3. For signs of drought and rain, heat and cold, wind and snow. 1. Hence the Scripture speaks of the stars Cisli, which we profane the Scripture by calling them Hyades, from the daemon Doctrine, which are in the asterism of the Bull, and are to be read the unconstant ones, because they rising signified the unconstancy of the weather. 2. By the other {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which was as profanely read Orion which is an Asterism of a hero, and pertains to the daemon Doctrine, is a great profanation of the word, the original understood would set out to us in the stars the signs of the weather they brought with them, which were better Astrology than the other, and as much as need be known. 3. These Asterisms continued in our translated Bible, corrupt the Text, and the understandings of men, and seems to own the Doctrine of the Demons, than which God hates nothing more, Zeph. 1.4. God would cut off the Remnant of Baal, the name of the Chemarims, the Priests, and the worshippers of the host of Heaven, with such as swear by the Lord and Malcham, in which Baal hath his Chemarims, his Priests, his host, his worshippers, and those swear by him, & all distinct, yet relating one to another, and in that sense depend one upon another, among whom some swear by the Lord and Malcham. As among the Corinths, some drink of the Cup of the Lord, and the Cup of Devils; so now may it not be as dangerous to profess the Gospel, and heed the Doctrine of Demons, much more to profess the one, and practise the other. 4. We not calling them by their proper names given them of God, agreeing with their nature {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, but by the names of Demon gods, given them by their worshippers, yea more using the Characters to distinguish them by that did set out the virtue of these Demons to the world, as ♄ represented in a scythe which Saturn carried in the hand of his Emblem; thus ♂ Mars is represented carrying in his hand a whip, and Mercury with ☿, with his staff of Serpents, &c. Now so far is this daemon way owned by us. 1. God is induced to leave and deliver men up to Satan to deceive. 2. Satan is engaged and at liberty in respect of us yielding to the temptation. 3. In respect of the rest of the daemon Doctrine, to lead us where or unto what he please thereof. 5. In the Cabal of astrology, they rest not in the Philosophy of the Flammins or Priests of the Demons, teaching by the stars and the Doctrine of the Asterisms, but proceed to the Chemarims, Zeph. 1.4. That in the government these Demons are assisted by Angels: Every Planet, say they, hath his presiding Angel, and Legions of assistants employed by him, which Angels I take to pertain to the retinue of the god of the world, called Secundarian Intelligences: The good Angels are only sent out to minister to the Elect, and not otherwise. 1. The Angel or Spirit of Saturn is Oriful. These Angels or Spirits are said to perside 354 years 4 months. 2. Zathariel the Spirit or Angel of Jupiter. 3. Samael the Angel of Mars. 4. Michael the Angel of the sun. 5. Gabriel the Angel of the moon. 6. Anael the Spirit of Venus, the stars, and the Spirit at least. 7. Raphael the Spirit of Mercury or Satan acting by Mercury. Now it being so that to each of these Spirits there are so many millions of attendants, as some author's report, as it is said, Heb. 12.22. The Saints coming to God, come to an innumerable company of Angels. It seems in like manner the ginger coming in every figure to the seven Demons, and in them come to an innumerable company of Chemarims, which are above his stars, and Priests, when he need take heed of the great attendants about him. In going from the first general of Astrology the seven Planetary stars, we come to the second, by the daemon Doctrine divided into two general parts. 1. The Zodiac or Circle of Living Creatures, called Signifer, which contains the path of the sun his course, completing the year by his ascending its southern latitude, and descending to its North latitude from the Equinox. 2. The Asterisms contained in the Heavens between the Zodiac and the Poles, North and South. For the Zodiac. 1. By the doctrine of Demons those twelve Asterisms, the Ram ♈, the bull ♉, Gemini ♊, &c. which are all said in Heaven to be alive and acted by the spirits of the gods, placed them there, having their Characters, stars, Influence, &c. as the Heroes, but Inferior to the Demons, who gave them their being there. 2. As the soul of the Rams and lesser sheep is in the Ram above, & all small Cattle, and the souls of Oxen, Horse, Cows, were in the Bull; above of maidens and women in Virgo above, and of men in Gemini, and Sagittary, Aquary. 3. Hence in the Zodiac the twelve signs divided into twelve equal parts, containing thirty degrees, make the four quarters of the year by its triplicity, of which some are bestial, human, double bodied, &c. Of the nature of fire, fiery, of the nature of water, watery, airy, earthly. Some are movable, others fixed, then common, &c. but to come to the doctrine. 1. Aries the Ram by Demon doctrine came thus to Heaven; an Indian wanting water, a Ram rose out of the Sand & brought him where water was; for which the man asked of Jove he might be placed among the stars, which to this day is called Aries aequinoctialis. 2. By the daemon doctrine men borne under the sign of this Ram, are of the nature of a Ram, beastly, rash, lascivious, unconstant, of a hot and dry constitution, it being the Demons Mars house, and he there, it makes him worse. 3. An Eclipse in Aries in the 8 house or 6. brings a rot on the lesser Cattle, Aries afflicted, as if the soul of these below suffered in the soul of the Ram above, but if it fall in Taurus, than it falls on great Cattle, and why, because it happens in Taurus, the Bull carried Europa into Crect, and placed by Jupiter in Heaven, now in its affliction proves the affliction of all the cattle called greater on earth. 4. No man can show any reason why in these divisions of Heaven, the greater or lesser Cattle should suffer in eclipses more than in other, but by the tradition only taken up upon the aforesaid doctrine and fables of seduced men, as all lies do come from the devil. 5. Nor can any reason be given why that Asterism should be placed in that part of Heaven, and not in the place of the asterism of Leo, only it is the Doctrine of Demons, delivered by the Flammins, and Poets fictions, and by tradition conveyed to us. 6. Aries, though not known to be the first on no better ground, rules the head of man and beast, say they, the nature of Aries fits best the head. 7. In a revolution if the house of Aries have a fortune in it, well placed in the 6th, it will go well with the Farmer in his less Cattle, as if when its well with that Ram above, it cannot choose but do well with the rest below. 8. The Astrologers not willing that the Basis of the art should seem to arise from this dunghill, say, that the sign is called the Ram, because that the stars in Heaven make up the form of such a like body in Heaven, which Piccolominus denies. 1. Concerning which none of the Ancients ever did assert, much less go about to prove, but positively conceived it to be that Ram living in heaven placed by the daemon for his good to the man in heaven. 2. Nor is it possible, through the multitude of stars therein, and the distance of the place, and the greatness of the space allotted to the body of the Ram, for any man by all the Instruments of the world to prove the thing. 3. It best agrees with the doctrine that it should be a Ram indeed, by which the good or evil should fall on Creatures of the same kind, and not the form of a Ram shadowed in the situation of stars. Sagittarius by the Doctrine of Demons is a double bodied sign, partly human, partly bestial. The divine Doctrine says thus; one Croton nursed by his Mother with the Muses, was through their prayer placed among the stars, who because he was much addicted to hunting of beasts, had this various form assigned him, with a bow in his hand shooting at the beasts he hunted; he is said to be famous for the honour he got at the Olympics. 1. Hence as it is the house of Jupiter, it's a Regal sign. 2. Because bicorporeal, in eclipses, men suffer, and because he rode on horseback, braying beasts suffer. 3. It being the ascendant in a Nativity, it inclines a man to hunting, and makes him a good horseman, and gives valour. 4. Now why men and beasts must suffer more under this sign then another, is no reason but from this daemon doctrine. 5. In the first 10 degrees men, in the second beasts, because man part was first in the asterism, the beast last. 6. Why the second decanat should pertain to beasts, and not the third, the second and third relating to that part of the asterism, is bestial, cannot be any reason given but tradition from the daemon Doctors. 7. If any plead, experience proves it, which is no more but the proof of the daemon doctrine tradicted, though against reason. And let it be in all meekness considered where the Learning of Poets in our Grammar schools, of Astrology and Philosophy, of Aristotle in the Academies, be not the way to Atheise men by learning, when the cry of the world is, if this learning cease we shall return to Atheism, when the learning and knowledge of the word is looked on as nothing, laid aside as insufficient without this to complete a people; to the contempt of God, his wisdom and word. 8. That Crotons' fable is the ground of Demon doctrine from the Asterism of Sagittary, is clear; for if they destroy the asterism and its double bodied form, the ground of the doctrine ceaseth. 9 Abram was before Croton, and the Olympics, who acknowledged not Belus a daemon, though borne in his reign, he could not Saturn, who was son of Janus, who lived in the time of the reign of the Judges in Israel, and Jupiter his son long after the death of Moses, whose body Satan had a design on to have demonized by the people, so that he could not deliver this doctrine to the people, and indeed to make them authors of this doctrine were great iniquity, and to make their memory cursed, which God made blessed among the Saints. Astrology beginning about Nebuchadnezar's days, as Picus Merandul. lib. 12. cap. 2. 10. What is said of these two Asterisms is in the same kind to be proved by any or from any of the rest by the doctrine declaring the daemon. 11. That the seven Planetary stars should rule as Lords in the 12 divisions of Heaven, called signs, as Lords in their houses, who in their stars are so far below them in the inferior orbs, especially if considered that the powers of heavenly bodies are emitted downward and not upwards, acting on homogeneal things of their nature below, and not on themselves, who are not subject to corruption or change, so that it is more proper these stars in the Zodiac should rule the Planets than the Planets rule them, and that by them they emit their virtue to us. Only this is understood, that the Demons though their stars be the Planets, their houses are above, as their places of abode, out of which as out of their store they distribute to every native as they please. These 12 signs in the Erecting of figures in genitures, Revolutions and horary Questions are cast into 12 houses. 1. All the Demons save the sun and moon have their day-house and their night-house, whence by the Planets they emit their virtue, so that the doctrine-altogether holds out the Demons to do all, and nothing to be done without them, and therefore to say that when they speak of Saturn, they intend nothing but the highest of the Planetary stars, for Saturn as a daemon rules in the two signs of the Zodiac ♑ and ♒, which are not in nor of the supreme Planet. 2. To advance the Demons honour in Genitures, Mars by Aries forms the head, Venus by Taurus forms the neck, Mercury in Gemini forms the shoulders and arms, &c. by which doctrine there was a tye on all to serve and worship them. 3. For the well being of men borne in time of the agreement of the Demons to bless him, out of the first house one bestows his education, out of the second another bestows on him wealth, out of the 6. another gives cattle, out of the 5. another children, out of the 10 honour, out of then 11 friends, &c. so that whereas the native came naked out of the womb, the Demons out of their houses as out of their store furnish him with all things, which ties the man to give all to their worship. 4. If a native borne and marks in the 7th, he stirs up lawsuits against him and envies, Saturn in the 12. imprisons him, Mercury in the second R, and the dragon's tail makes him poor and foolishly wast his patrimony, especially if conjoined with other stars of the nature of ♄ and ♂ or ♉ and ♄, which is enough to make a Heathen adore the Infortunes or the Cacodemons' for fear. In Horary Questions about sickness. The daemon doctrine teacheth thus, if the Lord of the 6th be a fortune, and in a movable sign in △ to the sun or moon in his own terms at the question, it's a sign the man will quickly recover, & e contrario. 1. Note, let the star of ♄ be where it will, yet Saturn if the ascendant be Aquary, is said to be Lord, in which is proved that by Saturn is meant the daemon not the star, the star being in his Orb as in his centre cannot be said to delight in Aquary more than in ☊, and its usual to say by the ♀ lady of ♉ is the first in a scheme; R in the 10th, they said the Lady of the first is in the 10, which is not to be answered by the figure of Metanomia subjecti, but that where the star is, the Lord is also. In opposition to these daemon Lords, the Scriptures say to us, There is but one Lord, if so, Jupiter is none, nor Mars, &c. 2. When they say Venus delights in mirth, feasts, music, dancing, neatness; is any so simple as to think the star is addicted thereto, or are they not according to the doctrine say that Venus was so when alive, and being in the star as a soul in the body, by its influence effects the like in the Natives borne under her dominion, so that were the men delivered this doctrine alive, they would admire to see their meaning so corrupted, and Demons so deluded. They say in the firmament are degrees, light, dark, pitted, deep increasers of fortune, &c. In the course of the sun appears no such matter, it only tends to exalt the Cabal of astrology, the Scripture tells us, the heaven is stretched out like a curtain, or a line, that implies plainness, and in that it is a body not of differing substances, there is no cause of inequality. If they say they are not really deep or pitted or dark, but are supposed, so it proves the doctrine fictious and uncertain in the very grounds, what then must the doctrine thence deduced be? The chief of the Planets fortitudes, his exaltation is the greatest, which gives him four essential dignities. 1. The sun's exaltation is in the 19 of Aries, say they. 2. The reason why that is his exaltation, they say, is, because he was in the Creation placed in that degree of heaven. 1. For which they have no more but a mere conjecture to prove it, which is too weak a ground to carry four dignities in a Judgement, and sets out the uncertainty of its foundations. 2. Why the first day it enters the Equinox should not be the degree of its exaltation, or why it should not be exalted in Libra as soon as in Aries. 3. Or why it should not be in that part of heaven they assign him for his house, viz. Leo, since that in the Creation every herb had his seed, as in summer time, and not as in spring time. 4. Whereas they say in ♈ the sun increaseth the days, therefore his ascension must be there; true, in the North Latitude it doth, but shortens them in the South: They in the South plead that in Libra it lengthens their days, and therefore its ascension by the same reason to them must be in Libra, as to us in Aries. Here by the by, I think good to show how the Demons are made tutelary gods, every City his daemon, & Angel, and star, and sign to rule it from the first laying its foundation, and the Planet then reigned, as ♊ for London, &c. whose Lord is ☿, so that as our Cities are our gods are. As for the terms faces and peregrinations of the Planets, they are merely of the Cabal of astrology. Say they, a Native borne under the first of Aries ♃ directs the first 6 years of his life, the next 8 ♀, the 7 following ☿, and then ♂ the 5 after, and ♄ the last 4. in which to increase the esteem of the Demons they are beholding to them all for bringing up of a child only, the ☉ and ☽ excepted, who are mentioned in the faces only, which makes the ☽ so often peregrine, in which he is as a man therefore to be turned out of door, and not cared for then as the other Demons, when indeed they are more beholding to them then to all the other Demons and stars. Albumazes citys five opinions of the terms, the ground of which is that the Philosophers, Magi or Flammins, by experience found a Planet was of more force than out of a weak ground to give dignities by. Bonatus says, there were two opinions of them, one of the Egyptians, the other of the Chaldees, and that Ptolemy followed neither, but the sayings of some ancients he found in an old book. Quest. Which of these 9 opinions was best, had most experience, which men commit to Ptolomy's Judgement alone, and follow him who left the practice of the Egyptians and Chaldeans, who were the first Inventors of it, vid. Picus Mirand. lib. 6. cap. 17. From these terms arose the ground of the Planetary government of the world 354 years; in which I wonder at 3 things. 1. That the order of their succession in reign is not observed but inverted. 2. That the Planets not having equal terms should reign equal years. 3. That the ☉ and ☽ not having terms should govern the world, as those have them, is a hanging over of the building of astrology. Hear what a Florentine Predicant says of the doctrine; Super planetam veneris venus ipsa erecta appareat, crine subtili, sparso, effigy pulcherrima cultu mulieri miro ornato modo vestibus talibus circumamicta qualibus Nymphae circumamicuuntur. A latere planetae Martis Mars armatus ardenti insideat equo Juxta planetam Jovis sedes eburnea posita sit super quam Jovem deorum maximum (ut falso apud Gentiles) locato qui Jupiter planetam suum pedibus tangat ipsoque pro scabello utatur. And in the like manner he says of the other Planets, which clearly proves the doctrine distinguished between the daemon and his star among the old Astrologers, and the new do the like in their saying when the Planet is in a figure in the house of another Planet, they say the Lord of the 5 is in the 6th or the like, which is more than the Planet indeed, the Lord and the planet also by the new doctrine, though not so clearly confessed by them. As for the difference among Astrologers about the number of the spheres, their motions, the motions of the fixed stars, who say the eccentrics, concentrics, epicicles, retrogradations, trepidations, are fables of the Poets, and not of God, nor nature, and by his own experience he saw it built only on Imaginations, as Agrippa of the vanity of sciences on Astronomy. He observes on Judicial astrology the ground of its uncertainty, in that the planetary influence (as is confessed) doth not constrain but incline, but Satan by these powers of the stars rules in the sons of unbelief, as the Prince of the powers of the air. But who are, and who not believers is the Question, and makes the Judgement void, the good Angels using for good the planetary Influence to Gods, as the evil Angels for evil to his; he says the beginning and the end of the houses is not agreed on. I desire this above all to be looked on, that whereas the conjunctions of the stars to natural men may stir up an inclination to this or that, yet what use Satan will make use of the influence in this man what on that, is above all the art in the world, to which the stars say nothing, and must produce an Impossibility in all men of giving Judgement by the stars, even to natural men, than how far God by a special providence shall order their influence, restraining or overpowering Satan and the stars, as in the case of Pharaoh, is another means to prove the vanity of astrology. And to say that any of the stars as the first planetary star, or the third called mars-star, or that they are misfortunes, is a dishonour to God, who made all good, only by sin that that was good is by a Judgement of God become evil, the evil is in us not the stars, to make one a whore's star, others, a thieves, or murderers, is abomination. Lactantius de Orig. Erroris cap. 17. de daemonibus inventa sunt Astrologia aruspicina oracula necromantia, &c. Idem ibid hi sunt qui fingere Imagines & simulacra docuerunt qui ut hominum mentes a cultu veri Dei avertent & fictos mortuorum regum vultus & ornatus exquisita pulchritudine statui, &c. As Picus Mirandul. lib. 3. cap. 7. makes it an argument against astrology in their falsely asserting ♄ to be cold, Mars hot; sure to me the seeming difference in the colour is not sufficient to prove the variety of their nature only, by an instinct God hath infused into them a power to act on the inferior bodies, without such mixed qualities as in mixed bodies, as of the sun {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} illic ignis, so all the other with the sun are of a pure Elementary nature, who by the creator's will, by its heat cherisheth all things in the earth as in the womb of nature, helping her to bring out and perfect her fruit by the help of the moon. The moon with her influence no less effects its operation on the sea, than the sun on earth, which depends not on the wateriness or moistness of her nature, but the Institution of God, God impowering her as a power of the air; so the winter cold from Saturn, winds and rain by the celim, &c. are not to be applied to their mixed qualities, which cannot according to nature be found in simple bodies. But the ordinance of God who did by a decree appoint summer and winter, to fulfil whose will these by his providence are directed, though in the fulfilling whereof he useth Satan's power and malice as his servant therein. My intent is not to write more of that truly noble Picus Mirand. but refer you to his 12 learned books. Again in that a great part of astrology pertains to Elections of hours and days to begin and do businesses in, its vanity appears. 1. Time is God's; Times and seasons are in the father's hands. 2. To observe times, not only holy, as feasts, &c. but as that one time is better than another to do a business in itself without relating to other adjuncts and concomitants, and in particular cases only, is indeed a thing the Scripture condemns as a superstitious vain and evil thing. 2. God says, a man should do things while it is in the power of his hand, that is opportunity, for who knows what a day may bring forth, Prov. 27.1. The ginger puts a man on deferring many days to do his business, as pretending a knowledge, what days, times and years will bring out, and say it is not in the power of their hand to do it as yet, such and such will oppose and hinder, but at such a time it will be good. 3. Things are appointed to time, in which they are to be so, that time is not a thing to be disposed of by Election; for that a man may think he hath time, indeed he hath none. Time in a special manner being reserved in God's own hand, as a peculiar means to dispense his providence: and therefore James hints at such like presumptions in men, saying to morrow we will go (as if one time were better than another) to such a city as our direction guides us to, and continue there a year, the time of a promising revolution, and get gain. After all which he says, James 4.13, 14. Whereas ye know not what shall be to morrow. What is your life? it is but a vapour, on which depends all the purposes and actions of man, if he fail his very thoughts cease and die with him. Ambrose, Austin, Tertullian, Bazill, Chrysostom, and others, condemned it. According to the Doctrine of Demons in the 9 sphere are 48 Asterisms or bodies placed in heaven by the god's son Heroes and Heraes, and other creatures and instrument, who for some especial good done or found in them, were as by a reward placed there, who have their stars placed in them, by which they act as souls by their bodies on things below. 1. Who are said to participate of the nature of two Demons ofttimes are said to be of the nature of ♂ and ☿, ♂ and ♄, ♀ and ☿ ☿ and ♃. 2. When the Planets are in Conjunction with any of their own nature, they are as men of one mind agreed on the work intended good or evil, and so act the more vigorously, the Demons helped by the Heroes. 1. Merach is in the asterism of Andromeda, in whom she acts, and is of the nature of Venus, that is, inciting to neatness, lust, and pleasure, she was the wife of Perseus, placed in heaven by Minerva, now ♀ in ♂ with Mirach, it is as if Venus & Mirach bestowed their wits and time to make the native neat, and incline him inwardly to love, and adorn him with beauty. 2. Regulus said to be of the nature of ♃ and ♂, signifies indeed the true nature of a lion's heart, which they say is the Lion Hercules, showed in the Nemean forest. 3. He that is borne the 24 of ♉ ascending, is inclinable to wantonness, because of the Pleiades, who are said to be the 7 daughters of Atlas; now he that hath the spirits of 7 wenches working in him or upon him, cannot choose but be a wanton, especially if ♀ be with them in Conjunction. If the head of Medusa ascend, the Native is addicted to evil, and subject to violent death, which is but Medusa's story revived again in the Native. 4. Orion in the 17. ♊ is said to sharpen the wit, if according to the fable Orion was the son of Jupiter, Mercury, and Neptune, three of the Gods, and partakes of all their natures, and makes the Native partaker of his, who withal was a cunning huntsman, and placed in the heaven by Diana, who yet was said to have his being from urine. Let me deal plainly, and freely deliver my soul before God in this thing, Satan by these fables could not delude men if he did not know that the Influences of the heavenly powers of the air than inclined not men to subtlety more than other times, and thereby seduced men to believe these lies, and worship the Demons, as if it were from them and their adjutors the Heroes, which things were first under these fancies delivered by Satan. 2. Satan deceives by the very word of God, much more by the Planets, stars, and powers of the air, which he could not do, but by the Doctrine of the Demons, and lies of Poets in this way. 3. One cause that induceth me to think the same, is, because that that part of knowledge remained in man that was of God, is lost or adulterate, for what the stars, Job, Micha, and others mention, are, & in what part of heaven, none of the Astrologers, Jews, or other know not nor agree upon, but altogether Jews and Gentiles are now lead by this daemon discovery of heaven, and its powers and order, which are lies and fables, and means of Idolatry and Superstition. The lesser Dog star in ♋ called Protion, the dog of Erigonus, signifies a petulant saucy fellow, prone to anger, rash and giddy, how this sets out the nature of a little waspish cur, who doth not see, so that the man is as if Protion lived, acted, and ruled in him. Hercules ♋ 18. Induces spirit, valour, audaciousness, mix● with cruelty and rashness, what doth this doctrine but set out the hero his life and agreeing with it, and now his star must he living in it induce the Native borne under it thereto. Whose ensign in heaven is the lion's skin he slew in the Nemean forest, and placed among the gods for his valour. The scorpion's heart star signifies a rash ravenous headstrong person, destructive to himself by obstinacy. The daemon doctrine says thus; That Orion boasting of his strength said, no beast could kill him, this Scorpion than rose out of the earth, and slew him. Orion with a Dart slaying him also, Jove placed the Scorpion among the stars for a Document to mortals not to presume above their strength. The Eagle 26. ♑ a bold confident valiant person, never yielding, guilty of bloodshed. This Eagle, Jupiter placed among the stars for carrying Ganimydes. How the doctrine and the nature of an Eagle agrees, who apprehends not, which made the Romans to carry for their ensign in war the Eagle. The Dolphin from the 9 to the 15 of Aquary, portends one of simple looks, cheerful, delighted in pleasing sports of double intentions, speaking one thing, intends another. The Doctrine says thus; Arion a cunning harper desired of the sailors that were casting him into the Sea, that he might play on his Harp first. When the Dolphins came and sported about the Ship, he cast himself on the back of a Dolphin, who carried him to the King of Corinth: The Dolphin dying, the King erected a Statue to the Dolphin. The mariners returning said, Arion was dead and buried, who by the King were commanded to swear by the gods in the dolphin's Image that Arion was dead, when Arion came out of the Image of the Dolphin, for which Apollo caused Arion and the Dolphin to be set among the stars. 1. The natural form of the Dolphin is a simple looked creature. 2. Delighted in the pleasing sport of a harp. 3. In the Image appearing a Dolphin not able to discover aught. 4. But in Arion's coming out of him put in by the King, was another thing intended then to the mariners appeared. 5. It is easy for a man to prove astrology from all the other Asterisms to be nothing but the pure doctrine of the Heathen Demons. 6. My appeal is to you Astrologers, if you received any footstep of your astrology in the Asterims doctrine or practice, from the Scripture? or where you have in the foundation, practice, or doctrine declined the Heathens in their delusions? I come now to speak of the state of Saints as in communion with Christ in the true state of the Church, how far they are above the powers of the air, and how subject to them. 1. They are said not to be of the world, as Christ is not of the world, John 17.16. That they cannot be looked on as in that capacity. 2. They are delivered from Satan, Acts 26.18. so that though the stars have an Influence on their earthy part, yet it is without the direction of Satan, his power acts not with the powers of the air. 3. They are of another world, called the new Heaven & Earth, Rev. 21. they themselves are new creatures, so that the heavenly bodies do in another then ordinary way act on them as harmless, as holy, and sanctified to them. 4. Heb. 6.5. This new heaven is that that is called the world to come, in which are powers proper and distinct from the former, 1. Satan hath no power there, Rev. 12.7. The good Angels of God direct for them the starry powers for good to them, as the evil to evil in the old world. 2. Whereas in the first world out of the Church-estate the government of the world was committed to Angels, the state of the Church is not, Heb. 2.5. 1. As under the Law, Dan. 12.1. In the 9 of Jude, as in the Church wilderness estate, Rev. 12.7. 2. As in the world estate, Ephes. 2.2. 2 Tim. 3. Now in the Church estate, when Satan is cast down, comes the power of God, authority of Christ, and kingdom of God, as ruled in another & more immediate way then before of God, he living in, walking and dwelling in them, so that as concerning them, old things are past away, all things are become new, Rev. 21.3. 4. Consider whether it be not a just judgement of God that such as observe the Names of the Demons days, and their doctrine, should be acted by Satan at his will for giving heed to them, when Cyrus, Julius Caesar, and others, that heeded them not, though Heathens, were made successful against the predictions of astrology. 5. It is emphatically spoke, Rev. 11.17. Thou hast taken to thyself thy great power, and hast reigned when the Kingdoms of the world are the kingdoms of the Lord, & his Christ; God then takes the government from Angels to himself. 6. Thus it is clearly predicted, Isa. 9.6. The government shall be upon his shoulders, until the Church estate it is committed to Angels after the Lord Jesus is received he governs those that receive him, Joh. 17.11. 7. It is easily apparent, for after the sanctification of the heart by the powers of heaven, a proud heart by nature is the most humble when changed, the most unclean natural heart made holy, is most chaste, so, &c. the world is overcome in him, and to him, Christ hath redeemed him from his vain conversation, that the airy power, nor Satans cannot act in him. 8. The stars and the powers of the air are in themselves good, and do not stir up to war, lust, or other evil, but as they meet with corruptions in mixed bodies, and as they are directed by Satan, & managed to further his designs in the world on all occasions, which is unpossible for man to know but by Satan. 9 And the reason is because Satan as he is a power himself, and the chief of the powers of the air, by his power he doth direct & overrule the other natural powers to serve his temptation, as every occasion requires, and as every individual natural person is to be wrought upon. 10. Christ prayed the Father to keep those are his, Joh. 17.15. I pray not that thou wouldest take them out of the world, but keep them from the evil. 1. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, may be understood from the evil one. 2. By evil of the world, if it be understood in a larger sense, it then comprehends fin, and the means of it, whether it be by stars or else. 3. In that he said, I pray not that thou take them out of the world, it shows that they are under the Influence of the heavenly powers, as well as others, they only are kept from the evil of them, others are not. 4. That these powers may occasion corruption in the bodies of Saints, and ordinarily by their influence, as the means thereof bring forth death, in or on them, I see no reason to deny, they having mortal and corruptible bodies. Yet so as, 1. It is not mixed with any power of Satan. 2. This acting of these powers is free from evil, it is not the evil of the world to Saints, but it is gain to them, as all other things in the world are theirs, so death in this kind is theirs also. 5. God himself undertakes in the new world to give every good thing to the Inhabitants thereof, and against and above the airy powers, to make a man's enemies to be at peace with him; as in the case of Jacob and Esau, Jacob and Laban. Yea God himself, Hosea 2.20. God will make a Covenant with beasts, fowls, creepings things for them, and war shall cease: let the starry powers meet and oppose, and square again, it will be nothing. 6. Then the heavens will speak for the Saints, not against them, the earth, the corn, the wine and oil, will hear Jezrael, as if Jezrael should then be beloved of them, and as if in nature since the fall men were beloved of them, Hos. 2.23, 24. This is excellently set out in that the stars are said in their order to fight against Sicera, as it were God directing those heavenly powers to work fear in the one, and at that time God wrought valour in his people's hearts, Judges 5.20. Which I would rather read, the stars in their way fought, &c. That is, in the way they fight, and signifies, that they have a way of fighting against such as God employs them, or from their influence or powers. And that they fought for Israel, God by his Angel directing them, as ver. 23. Curse ye bitterly, saith the Angel of the Lord, &c. The Angel helped them by the Starry powers, and declares a curse on the Inhabitants for not helping them. 7. The ground of this appears, because Satan being bound a thousand years, Rev. 20.2, 3. the world will be free from his power and malicious actuating the airy powers, they then acting in their own way and nature, as in the Creation, and directed by God's immediate providence to his, and the Ministry of his Angels to others, who will no more be esteemed as fortunes and infortunes to men. 8. In this binding the doctrine of Demons shall cease, and astrology shall be laid aside, for Satan hath not deceived the Nations more than by the daemon doctrine, and the doctrine of Antichrist by Astrologers and Antichrist Ministers, both which in the binding of Satan cease, together with the Human teaching of Aristotle in the Academies, by which the world hath been much seduced. 9 Whereas before the binding, God's Elect were delivered from him, but after that the very world in general shall be delivered from these ways of deceit, a thousand years after which he is to be loosed a little, all which proves the binding hath not been as yet, for Satan did never deceive the world more than since the days of Constantine, when they say he was bound, these being the days of the reign of Antichrist, after whom the whole world followed. Note; As the kingdom of Satan and Christ differ, and Christ and Satan, so the powers differ, one is a power acts by darkness, the other is a power acts by light, one to deceive, the other to direct. 1. Between these powers is an enmity; as it is said, The wisdom of the world is Enmity with God, James 3.15. Says, it is earthly, sensual, Devilish, but that from above, vers. 16. is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, &c. 2. These powers show themselves in the men acted by them, so that God says, Genes. 3.15. I will put enmity between her seed and thy seed, Gal. 4.29. He that was borne after the flesh persecuted him that was borne after the spirit. 3. The greatest power is in the world to come, that destroys the work of the devil; Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world, 1 John. Rom. 16.20. God shall tread down Satan under your feet. Satan's power is a created power, and so limited, the power of a servant only to do what he is appointed, and no more. 4. All these are set out excellently in him, Mark. 6.2. What is there to me and thee thou Jesus, &c. As if he should say, I am not of this world under thy power, I am Satan's, thou hast nothing to do with me, nor I with thee, so that though he worshipped Christ, whiles he was under Satan's power he had no desire to be under Christ's, that seemed a torment to him, but when he was under Christ's, he would not again be under Satan's. 5. Hence though the number of Satan's subjects are more, and the nature of his power more agreeable to the world, yet the virtue of his power being weak it cannot prevail, no not so much as against the weakness of God, or the weak ones of the Lord Jesus, who are mighty through Christ, the poor fishers cast down Devils out of their holds, take away their captives, discover his deceits. 6. The conceit was too high that Eusebius citys of the stars, that they are for signs, and so are as a book in which are set forth the natures and state of things below, with the revolution of the times thereof, which is expressly against the Scripture, who says, That the times and seasons are in the father's hands, that is, known only by him, so as that Christ himself as man had many things hid from him of that nature, and therefore not revealed in the book of the stars, Act. 1.7. Matth. 24.36. FINIS.