Astrology proved harmless, useful, pious. Being a sermon / written by Richard Carpenter.

To the Honourable SOCIETY OF ASTROLOGERS.

Gentlemen,

AS in our Country, which is Hea∣ven, God is Speculum Crea∣turarum; The Glass of the Creatures: wherein the Crea∣tures are resplendent, visible, and presented by the Beatifical Vision, (though not as it bea∣tifies:) So in our Way, being this World and Life, the Creatures are Speculum Creatoris, The Glass in which we behold the Creator. Now because the Creator is Primum Ens, The first Thing: and therefore the most noble of all Things; those Creatures are the clearer, and the more Christalline Glass, which are the most noble. In this rank are the Heavenly Bodies. And to the view of this Glass especially, ye are now invited, and as it were, sollicited by them.

Tertullian observes, That the verbal Salutation of* 1.1

the old Jews, when they met occasionally, Scalom le∣chem, Pax vobis, Peace be unto you: and that the Apostolical Salutation somewhat differed, being Gratia & Pax vobis; Grace and Peace be unto you; because the Apostles were the Preachers of Grace derived from God through Christ. Wherefore, that the noble Creature may be a fair Glass to you, representing the Creator; my Salutation of you, shall be likewise Apostolical: Grace be to you, and Peace: Grace from God the Fountain of Grace; and that Peace which divine Grace produces, and settles. Grace be to you before your enquiry into the heavenly Bodies; and a gracious Peace, after it: that your enquiry may be chiefly and primordially, a sober enquiry into God and his Omnipotency. For, as Saint Gregory Nazi∣anzen,* 1.2 Theologically teaches: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, It is the best or∣der, when we begin either a Speech or a Work; religiously to begin with God, and to end with God religiously. By the way: I do not here abuse the most holy Name of God, and of Religion, (although some have done it) as Conjurers in their Incantati∣ons; to perpetrate those Things which are most adverse to God, and most destructive of Religion: but I use it onely in the shutting up of my Apostolical Salutation of you, as ye are Christians, and as wise beholders of the Glass, wherein the Creator, though in Himself invisi∣ble, visibly appears and shews Himself.

If ye steer this course; (and I am not warranted to judge otherwise of you:) I shall number your ignorant, yea, impudent Enemies, and those who revile you, a∣mongst the mad people of this Nation. And now it calls

for admittance; I will open to you a Secret, lock'd up in the close Cabinet of my Thoughts. But, I pray, keep it as a Secret, and tell it not abroad: neither let it go in∣to the cold air. I have experimentally found in the world, that Princes have their Jayls for Offenders, and their Bedlams for mad People: and I know, that God is the greatest of Princes; and that Hell is his Jayl. And in good sooth I never heard of, read of, or beheld a place, which can more appliably be called his Bedlam than England. But ye will say: How so? England God's Bedlam? are all the People of Eng∣land mad? I answer: No: for in a Bedlam-house, the mad People have their sober Keepers, their wise Physitians, their civil Waiters and Servants; and also those, whose office it is to whip them, and thereby to a∣wake and recal their Senses. There's the Secret. But they who ignorantly and impudently scoff at you, are cer∣tainly in the number of the mad ones. And therefore, be not ye dismayed; be not discomforted.

The Psalmist singeth of Man: Thou hast made* 1.3 him a little lower then the Angels. Saint Hierom gives: a little lower then God; the Word being E∣lohim, signifying both God and Angels. And in ma∣ny respects, man is priviledg'd before the Angels. One of which I shall propose here. The Creature purely cor∣poreal is subjected to the Angels, because the Angels stand above it in order, and because they may natu∣rally exercise their prevalent power upon it; if God gives the Command: as men also can supernatually, who are supernatually endued with the power of working Miracles. But it is not subjected to them quoad usum, to use it as God hath subjected it to men. It is granted: the Angels more acutely, and accurately,

more fully and and plentifully understand the motions and effects of the heavenly Bodies, then men do: But yet again, they do not, as men do, communicate their knowledge to men, (nor always to Angels) neither are we rendred more learned by them.

In a Lymbeck, the substance of greatest purity and vertue is sublimated: I mean: climbes to the top of the Lymbeck: when the sullen drossy matter sinks down∣ward, and falls to the bottom. Go on therefore, O ye no∣ble Students in Astrology: and because the soul is im∣mur'd in the Body, and is like the Bird of Para∣dise, when she is cag'd; though your Bodies, being drossy, are not obedientially subject to your souls in their motions: advance your souls towards Heaven. And yet as Saturn the most supreme Planets hath the slowest course; so the higher ye are in your Thoughts, be ye the more deliberate in your actions: and I pray God to strike all our hard and heavy hearts with the Rod of Moses,* 1.4 that our sins, and every weight in our souls, may run away in tears; and that we ascending to and above the Lights in Heaven, our conversation may be in hea∣ven,* 1.5 and shine upon Earth.

Yours in all Chri∣stian Respects: Richard Carpenter.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Tert. lib. 5. Con∣tra Marcion. cap. 5.
• * 1.2

  St. Greg. Naz. in Apologetico.
• * 1.3

  Psal. 8. 5. S. Hieron. in Bibl.
• * 1.4

  Exod. 17. Heb. 12. 1.
• * 1.5

  Philip. 3. 20. Mat. 5. 16.