shook with violent and universal peals of laughter. "Well, cried Chamfort, "I am easy, if we are not to be dispatched until Laharpe has become a Christian. At that rate, we shall never die.” "We women come off the best," observed the Dutchess de Grammont, "as we pass for nothing at all in this revolution. I mean not to say, that we shall have no hand in it, but, it is admitted, that our sex"Your sex, madam, will not, in this case, protect you; it will avail you nothing that you refrain from intermeddling; you will be treated, without distinction, like us men.” "What say you, M. Cazotte? That must certainly be the end of the world." "That I know not, but this I know perfectly well, that you, Madame la Duchesse, will be conveyed in the executioner's cart, in company with many other ladies, with your hands tied behind your backs." "At any rate, then," said the Duchess, “I shall be allowed a carriage covered with black cloth." "No, madam; ladies of still higher rank than yourself will be drawn in a cart, with their hands tied behind them." "Ladies of higher rank? Who can they be?" "The princesses of the blood royal. Of still higher rank than" Here the company was in visible emotion; a deep gloom overspread the countenance of the master of the house, and they felt that the joke had been carried too far. Madame de Grammont, in order to bring back the cenversation to a more agreeable tone, contented herself with observing-" They will, however, let me have a confessor?" "No, Madam, nobody will have any the last condemned person, to whom it will be allowed as a favor, will be" He paused a moment-" will be the King of France."

The host rose abruptly from the table, and his example was followed by all his guests. He went up to M. Cazotte, whom he addressed in a pathetic tone: "Dear Cazotte," said he, "your gloomy fancies have lasted too long; you go too far; you might commit yourself and the whole company." Cazotte took his hat, and was about to retire, without saying a word. Madame de Grammont, who always avoided every thing like gravity, detained him, saying, "Dear Mr. Prophet, we have listened long enough to your prophecies concerning us; but you have not said a word about yourself." Cazotte paused for some time; his eyes were bedimmed with tears. "Have you, Madam, ever read the siege of Jerusalem, by the historian Josephus?" "Undoubtedly; who is there but has? But continue, as though I had not." "Well, then, Madam, during this siege, a'man went, for seven successive

days, round the ramparts of the city, in the face of the besieging Romans, and of the besieged Jews, incessantly crying, with a voice of thunder, Woe to thee, Jerusalem! On the seventh day, he exclaimed, Woe to thee, Jerusalem! woe to myself!' and, at the same moment, a prodigious stone, discharged by the enemy's machines, dashed him into a thousand pieces." After this answer, Cazotte bowed, and withdrew.

Let the reader open the history of the revolution, and he will find how, and in what day, the events announced in 1788 were accomplished in the years 1792, 3, and 4. Laharpe, as it is well known, escaped; but the atrocities of the revolution, which he looked upon as the consequence of what was denominated philosophy, made such an impression upon him, that, in his last years, he became one of the most zealous defenders of that holy religion, which he had before so furiously attacked.

Lond. Mag.

TO THE EDITORS.

GENTLEMEN,

Observing in your last Magazine, Number 8, some strictures respecting astrology, with an historical anecdote of Mr. Dryden, (which anecdote I had seen before in the [London] Gentleman's Magazine, apparently confirmed as truth) I could not help sending you the following incidental fact, as coming within my own knowledge.

I suppose it may now be about twenty years ago, a lady, who made a great profession of what I then called internal religion, went to consult the cunning man (as he was called) respecting her success in the ensuing lottery: he told her, that if she got such a certain number on such a certain day, she might be sure of a prize; accordingly, she bought that number on the appointed day; the issue was, that it turned up a very considerable prize. The effect it had upon her was, that by degrees religion became a burden, and at last was thrown aside as an incumbrance.

The above is the general fact; but it being so many years ago, I cannot recollect each particular. Now as I am not an advocate

This we believe was mere guess-work; for if the astrologer really knew what number would be a capital prize, why did he not secure it for himself? The answer is ready; because he knew nothing about it.

414

INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF ASTROLOGY.

for, nor an adversary to astrology, but only a sincere seeker after truth, I should be glad to have the matter explained, agreeable to the New Jerusalem doctrine, by some of your correspondents; for though I never did, nor ever had any inclination to apply to astrology for the knowledge of any future event, as it apppeared to me rather unlawful; yet I should be happy in having the matter unfolded, as it may not only dissipate my clouds of ignorance in that matter, but it may perhaps be a means of setting at liberty some, who may have been entangled in the designing subtlety of astrologic tricking.

Whether, in the above instances, the knowledge attained was by immediate intercourse with permitted spirits, or conveyed mediately by spirits through the means of the astrologer's ideas, respecting particular situations of the heavenly bodies, (as all phantasies are instigated in man by spirits who are in those phantasies ;) yet this we may conclude, that as the Lord is Divine Order itself, in all and every the most minute incident of his Divine Providence, it certainly was permitted by divine wisdom for divine good; perhaps, permitting the lesser evil, to prevent the greater, as the Jews were permitted to deny the Lord to prevent their believing and profaning.

The author from whom you have. taken the abstract, I think, goes too far, when he says, that the celestial bodies (as they are called) have no influence on this world.. Let any man look at the ebbing and flowing of the tide, and the periodical affections of maniacs, and then be bold enough to say, if he can, that the moon's influence has no effect either upon the rational or mateial creation in this our globe. The moon most certainly, as it appears to me, being an external correspondent to faith, as described in the WORD, has undoubtedly a natural influx into, and regulates the motion of water; but I may be wrong, and trusting that some one of your kind correspondents will set this matter in its proper light, I remain with sincere affection,

In the last Number of the Magazine, where astrology is treated of, we gave no opinion of our own on the subject; but left the reader to draw his own conclusions. However, as we since understand, that some have taken up the question on one side, and some on another; while others again are in anxious suspense, and know not what to think of the science; we now

find ourselves at liberty to declare our sentiments in a plain and candid manner, but nevertheless in the most pointed and decided terms. And this we do purely for the sake of truth, that the members of the New Church may be put on their guard, and not suffer themselves to be seduced by that dangerous and delusive species of naturalism, usually called astrology.

We are sensible, that in thus delivering our opinion, we may incur the displeasure of some who are particulaly attached to such studies; but as we do not mean any offence, but on the contrary, a real service to them, as well as to the rest of our readers, we shall proceed in our remarks, without any further apology.

Astrology, then, is the art of foretelling future events, by the different aspects, positions, and influences of the planets and other heavenly bodies. This science is by some divided into two distinct branches, viz. natural and judicial. To the former belongs the prediction of natural effects, such as tides, eclipses, the changes of weather, winds, storms, hurricanes, thunder and lightning, foods, earthquakes, &c. This art properly belongs to natural philosophy, being rather a part of astronomy and acrology, than of what is commonly understood by astrology; and is only to be deduced, à posteriori, from phenomena and repeated observations. Yet even here the science is not to be depended upon, except in those changes which are fixed and constant, as the regular seasons of the year, eclipses, tides, &c. from a proper knowledge of which arises the art of making calendars and almanacs.

Judicial astrology, on the other hand, is the pretended art of foretelling future moral events, or such as have a dependance on the free-will and agency of man, as if they were directed and determined by the influence of the stars. This is the kind of astrology which is generally understood by the word, and to which we mean to confine our present remarks. This includes all the idle conceits about the horary reign of planets, the doctrine of horoscopes, the distribution of the houses, the calculation of nativities, fortune-telling, good or bad hours of business, the event of wars, sieges, battles, and private quarrels, courtships and marriages, scars or other marks on the body, and such like fatalities, which are no better than a mass of mere levities, and may be plainly confuted by experience, as well as by sound reason.

In our inquiry into this subject, two things are to be considered:

1. Whether there be any truth in the science, or not.

2. Whether or not it ought to be pursued; and the consequences of such pursuit.

As to the first, let it be remarked, that the most learned men, whose successful inquiries into the secrets of nature have made their names respectable in every country of Europe, are decidedly against it, as a mean and contemptible imposition on the weakness of the ignorant, and as a science which has no real foundation in truth. This we believe to be the fact; although we are well aware, that many circumstances have at times occurred, which appeared to stamp the authority of truth upon the astrologer's predictions. By these occasional appearances of truth, many are deluded, and the cunning man himself confirmed in his art. Such are the fallacies of nature, not only in astrology, but in many other natural sciences. And if a man suffers himself to be deluded by a mere appearance, and at the same time confirms himself therein, we may rest assured he will never arrive at the genuine truth.

It, is true, the moon has a natural influence upon the waters of our globe: so has the sun, and every other body in the heavens, in proportion to their magnitude and distance. This is agreeable to the fixed laws of gravity, according to which every part of the material world is governed. But the same influence is equally exerted upon the solid parts of the earth; and the only reason why its effects on them are not so evident and perceptible, is because they want the property of fluidity!

As to the periodical affections of maniacs, which some may suppose to be an incontestible evidence, that natural influences govern spiritual things, such as the faculty of reason, &c. in man, this is an appearance of nature, and a mere fallacy of the senses; for it is an established law of creation, which holds good in every possible case, that spirit flows into, and operates upon matter, and not matter that flows into, and operates upon spirit. It appears, indeed, as if there were a certain natural influence proceeding from the moon, which regulated and governed the rational powers of some individuals, and in others destroyed them altogether. But this is a mistake: natural or material things can only operate upon what is natural in man: thus upon the material substances which compose his bodily frame, and by no means upon the faculty of rationality, which in itself is above the sphere of nature, and conscquently secure from all the assaults and storms