sure in the Course of the Sign Aquarius, there may be both Rain and Wind and fair Weather, but how these can foretell the Destiny of the Year, is the Question.

As then there is nothing in the Saint, or his Day to prognosticate any such Thing, I mean, as it is the Day of St. Paul, or the Twenty-fifth of January, so I must confess I cannot find out what may be the Ground of this particular Observation. But however thus much is very obvious, that this Observation is an exact Copy of that superstitious Custom among the Heathens, of observing one Day as good, and another as bad. For among them were lucky and unlucky Days; some were dies atri, and some dies albi; the atri were pointed out in their Calendar, with a black Character, the albi with a white; the former to denote it a Day of bad Success, the latter a Day of good. Thus have the Monks in the dark and unlearned ages of Popery copy'd after the Heathens, and dream'd themselves into the like Superstitions, esteeming one Day more successful than another; and so according to them, it is very unlucky to begin any Work upon Childermass-Day; and what Day soever that falls on, whether on a

Munday,

Munday, Tuesday, or any other, nothing must be begun on that Day through the Year; St. Paul's Day is the Year's Fortune-Teller ; St. Mark's Day is the Prognosticator of your Life and Death, &c. and so instead of persuading the People to lay aside the Whims and Fancies of the Heathen World, they brought them so effectually in, that they are still reigning in many Places to this Day.

But of all the Days of the Year, they could not have chosen one so little to the Purpose. For the very Saint, whose Day is so observed, has himself cautioned them against any such Observation: For in the Fourth Chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians, he tells them, how dangerous it was to observe Days, and Months, and Times, and Years; which is not, as some would persuade us, to Caution us against the Observation of any Day but the Lord's-Day; but only that we should not observe the abolished Feasts of the Jews, nor the abominable Feasts of the Gentiles, nor their superstitious Observation of fortunate and unfortunate Days. St. Austin, upon this Place, hath these Words, * Let us not observe Years,

* Non itaque dies observemus, & annos & menses, & tempora, ne audiamus ab apostolo, timeo vos, ne forte sine oausa laboraverim

Years, and Months, and Times, least we hear the Apostle telling us, I am afraid of you, least I have shewn on you labour in vain. For the Persons he blames, are those who say, I will not set forward on my Journey, because it is the next Day after such a Time, or because the Moon is so; or I'll set forward that may have Luck, because such is just now the Position of the Stars. I will not Traffic this Month, because such a Star presides, or I will, because it does. I shall plant no Vines this Year, because it is Leap-Year, &c.

I

The learned Mr. Bingham, has among several others, a Quotation from the same St. Austin on these superstitious Observations, with which I shall conclude this Chapter.

To this kind, says he, belong all Ligatures " and Remedies, which the Schools of Physi"cians reject and condemn; whether in In

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chantments, or in certain Marks, which they "call Characters, or in some other Things "which are to be hanged and bound about

laboraverim in vobis. Eos enim culpat, qui dicunt, non profisiscar, quia posterus est, aut quia luna sic fertur, vel profisiscar, ut prospera cedant, quia ita se habet positio siderum, &c. Beda ex Augustin. in loc.

* Bingham, 16 L. C. 5. Antiq. Eccl. P. 300. Aust. de Doct Christ. L. 2. C. 10.

"the

"the Body, and kept in a dancing Posture; "not for any Temperament of the Body, but "for certain Significations, either Ocult, or Manifest: Which by a gentler Name, they call Physical, that they may not seem to affright Men with the Appearance of Superstition, but do good in a natural Way: Such are Ear-rings hanged upon the Tip of "each Ear, and Rings made of an Ostriche's "Bones for the Finger; or when you are told "in a Fit of Convulsions, or Shortness of

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Breath, to hold your left Thumb with your "right Hand. To which may be added a thousand vain Observations, as, if any of "our Members beat; if when two Friends are talking together, a Stone, or a Dog, or a "Child, happens to come between them, they "tread the Stone to Pieces, as the Divider " of their Friendship, and this is tollerable in Comparison of beating an innocent Child that comes between them. But it is more pleasant, that sometimes the Childrens Quar"rel is revenged by the Dogs; for many "Times they are so superstitious, as to dare "to beat the Dog that comes between them, "who turning again upon him that smites " him, sends him from seeking a vain Remedy,

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" to

26

"to seek a real Physician indeed. Hence proceed likewise these other Superstitions : For a Man to tread upon his Threshold when "he passes by his own House, to return baci"to Bed again, if he chance to sneeze as he "is putting on his Shoes; to return into his House, if he stumble at his Going out; if the Rats knaw his Cloths, to be more terrk

fied with the Suspicion of some future Evil, "then concerned for the present Loss. He ઘડ says, Cato gave a wise and smart Answer to ❝ such an one, who came in some Consterna"tion to consult him, about the Rats having "knawed his Stockings; that, said he, is no

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great Wonder, but it would have been a "Wonder indeed, if the Stockings had knaw

r

ed the Rats. St. Austin mentions this witty

Answer of a wise Heathen, to convince "Christians the better of the Unreasonableness "and Vanity of all such superstitious Observations. And he concludes, that all such Arts, whether of triffling or more noxious Superstition, are to be rejected and avoided by Christians, as proceeding originally from somė pernicious Society between Men and Devils, and being the Compacts and Agreements of such treacherous and deceitful "Friendship.