Catastasis mundi, or, The true state, vigor, and growing greatness of Christendom, under the influences of the last triple conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Leo, the late comet, &c. together with the true genitures of Mahomet the imposter, the Grand Seignior, the German Emperour, the French monarch : proving thence that the Turks will be defeated in all their attempts against Christendom, &c., notwithstanding Mr. Holwel's menaces to the contrary in his Catastrophe mundi, and his appendix thereunto : also the said Holwel's monstrous falshoods and errours discovered, retorted, and confuted, and himself remitted to the Turks, to comfort them now after their losses before Vienna / by John Merrifield ...

To the Impartial READER.

Courteous Reader,

IT having been my Chance, (amongst the rest of my manifold Studies) to light of a small Book, entitled, An Appendix to Holwel's Catastrophe Mundi, on which carelesly casting mine Eye, I beheld all Christendom, or at least the greatest part of it, over-run, or speedily to be over-run with Turks, which put me into a very great Amazement, to behold the Hand of the Lord so sorely stretched out against those Nations which do pro∣fess the Name of Christ, and do acknowledge him to be the Son of God, and Saviour of the World: and doubting in my self, the Author of the said Book might have any divine Revelation of Prophesie against those Nations, as Jonah had against Nine∣veh, and as the other Prophets had before Christ came in the Flesh; but considering that Christ came to fulfil the Law, I thought whether this Holwel might be a Prophet of Mahomet, to encourage the Turks, and to dishearten the Christians, as all Ahab's Prophets did, Micaiah excepted, encourage Ahab to go to Ramoth-gilead, which were in comparison no more than Mahometal Prophets possess'd with lying Spirits, which caused Ahab to go to Ramoth-gilead there to be slain, as the Turks fell at Vienna. But taking a more serious View of it, I found it to be predicted Astrologically, and then I was resolved to peruse it more carefully, whereby to see if such Judgements were determi∣nate by the celestial Influences, according to secondary Causes, not doubting of a divine Providence of God over Christendom, against the tyrannical Turks, and Power of Mahomet. And also I soon procured Holwel's Catastrophe Mundi it self, and with a careful and judicial Eye I thorowly perused them both, and found it judged not really from Astrology, but rather from Fancy; I also found many Mistakes, both in the time of the Nativities of those magnanimous Princes there mentioned, and in many other places, which I shall hereafter make appear, and give you

the true Nativities, with an Astrological Discourse thereon shewing you how that the Turks shall not over-run Christendom, neither shall the French King come to be the poorest Prince in the World, as Mr. Holwel in his Appendix saith he shall. But I shall shew Astrologically, what may be the Fate of those Nati∣ons, both by the true Nativities of their Emperours, Kings, &c. and by the Effects of Conjunctions, Comets, and other Configurati∣ons; shewing my Reader a more fafe and rational way of Judge∣ment of the Effects of these Configurations, than Mr. Holwel sheweth, in either his Catastrophe Mundi, or his Appendix, which he hath written, to make ignorant People believe that the World should be turned immediately upside down, by means of the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Leo, 1682. and of the Comet that appeared in 1680. But let Mr. Holwel as well as my Reader know, that there have been such Conjunctions and Co∣mets before these, which have had Effects bad enough, but far different from what Mrs. Holwel writes of these, and therefore unlike to be true; but I will shew you what hath hapned upon such Configurations already past, and my Judgement on those lately hapned for the time to come.

The Scheam of the Nativity of the French King, is the same that Morinus his own Physician published in his Astrologia Gal∣lica, and since printed in Mr. Gadbury's Defence of Scorpio; that of the Grand Seignior is taken out of Mr. Gadbury's Book de Cometis, but the Scheams of the Nativity of Mahomet, Author of the Turks Faith, and that of the German Emperour, I had of my very good Friend Mr. John Gadbury's own Hand, which he affirms to be the true ones, for which I return him my hearty thanks.

And thus, courteous Reader, I have shewed thee, according to the perfect Rules of Astrology, the Fate that Europe will be like to undergo for near this twenty years yet to come, both by the Nativities of some of her most Noble Princes, the amazing Co∣met, in 1680, and the Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Leo, 1682, which I do not question but Time will manifest to be true: And in the mean time I crave nothing but thy kind accep∣tance,

judicial perusing, careful observation of the Effects for the future, and thy judgement of it according to its merits, and this will encourage me to present thee with something of greater Consequence; till then farewel.

John Merrifield.

From my House at the Hand and Pen at the lower end of Horsly∣down, near the Dock∣head in Southwark, London, ♀ Feb. 22. 1683/4.