The Israelites usually asked counsel of God by the ephod, the Grecians by their oracles, the Persians by their magi, the Egyptians by their hierophantae, the Indians by their gymnosophistae, the ancient Gauls and Britons by their Druids, the Romans by their augures or soothsayers. It was not lawful to propose any matter of moment in the senate, priusquam de coelo observatum erat, before their wizards had made observations from the heaven or sky. That which they did impiously and superstitiously, we may, nay we ought to do in another sense, piously, religiously, conscionably, i.e., not to embark ourselves into any action of great importance and consequence, priusquam de Coelo observatum est, before we have observed from Heaven, not the flight of birds, not the houses of planets, or their aspects or conjunctions, but the countenance of God, whether it shineth upon our enterprises or not, whether He approve of our projects and designs or not. (J. Spencer.)
