Expositio vera harum imaginum olim Nurenbergae repertarum ex fundatissimo verae magiae Vaticinio deducta

for this is of such a nature that it encompasses nothing other than all that which cannot be known through Magic and Astronomy: for it shows the glory, misery, and the final judgment of the Soul. However, the eclipse of the Sun and Moon, and the natural failing of their light, should by no means be referred here to these three types of presages, nor to the chapter of Matthew which states: The Sun and Moon will lose their light, etc. For Christ does not speak in this passage about natural light, but only about the loss of a light of which every man is ignorant. At the day of judgment, it will not be Astronomical signs that precede, but the prophecies of Christ, which will remain hidden from all Astronomers. Other plagues, earthquakes, and famines exist as indicated by the heavens, but others are indicated by Christ: in the latter way, they are unknown to all men. Likewise, this loss of light in the Sun and Moon cannot be known through any Astronomy, in what way or by what reason it is to happen. There is no reason, therefore, for us to cry out: "Behold, the signs of the final judgment are now present." These things about which we make a judgment are not from the prophecy of Christ, but from the arts of Astronomy and Magic, from which the signs of Christ are not to be sought. The subsequent presages must be judged in the same way, and it must be firmly held that they in no way proceed from the Gospel, nor denote its signs, but concern only the ecclesiastical state