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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	write_n	write_v	year_n	544	4	4.5503	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29517	A discovery of the impostures of witches and astrologers by John Brinley.	Brinley, John.	1680 (1680)	Wing B4698; ESTC R24764	37,372	135

most material Actions of Mortal Bodies as he has reserved to himself the disposing of that pure substance Mans Soul And such was his love to Mankind that he would Teach a way whereby they might recover part of that Knowledge was lost in the first Mans Fall and Disobedience And so that they might not be altogether involved in Darkness and obscurity of what was to come he Taught them to Read in that Great Volume the Chief Contingencies of their Life That what I say is probable and not an Idle Whimsey of some Melancholick Brain is Manifest from the common Opinion of Learned Men among the Iews Greeks and Latines and others who call the Heavens a Sacred Book wherein by those Capital Letters the Stars may be read the Events of things below The Learned Origen upon this place of Genesis Et erunt in signa Affirms that the Stars were placed in this Order in the Heavens for no other end but to shew by their diverse Aspects and Figures whatever is to happen while the World indures aswell in general as in particular yet not so as that they were the Causes of all these things never any such thing came into the Thoughts much less into the Writings of this Learned Man For as the Prophecies that are Written in Books are not the Causes of those Events which they foretel shall happen but only the Signs so may the Heavens be says he very justly called a Book wherein God hath Written all that is hath been and hereafter shall be And for Confirmation Cites a Passage out of a Book called Narratio Ioseph wherein the Patriarch Iacob giving his Blessing to all his Children upon his Death-bed says Legi in Tabulis Coeli quaecunque contingent vobis Filijs vestris whence the same Origen concludes on this Question Vtrum Stellae aliquid agant That some Mysteries may be assuredly Read in the Heavens by reason that the Stars are disposed and Ordered there in the Form of Characters Iulius Syrenus has undertaken the Defence of this Doctrine and holds it a most safe and true Opinion St. Augustine lib. 2. contra Manichaeos cap. 2. has this Expression Neque in illis corporibus Caelestibus hic latere posse Cogitationes credendum est quemadmodum in his corporibus latent sed sicut nonnulli motus animorum apparent in Vultu maximè in oculis sic in illâ perspicuitate ac simplicitate Caelestium corporum omnes motus animi latere arbitror All the Platonists in a manner were likewise of the same Persuasion and this is the reason that Porphyrie assures us that when he had resolved to have killed himself Plotinus who had Read his intention in the Stars hindered him from doing it To the same purpose is that of Orpheus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certus tuus Ordo Immutabilibus mandatis currit in Astris Amongst the Modern men Flud has this expression in his Apology for the Rosie Cross men In Coelo inquit inserti impressi hujusmodi Characteres qui non aliter ex Stellarum ordinibus conflantur quàm lineae Geometricae Literae Vulgares ex punctis superficies ex lineis Corpus ex superficiebus Postellus gives us this account of his own Experience in this matter in these words Si dixero me in Coelo vidisse in ipsis Linguae Sanctae Characteribus ab Esrâ primum publicè expositis ea omnia quae sunt in rerum naturâ constituta ut vidi non explicitè sed implicitè vix ullus mihi crediderit tamen testis Deus Christus ejus quia non mentior After the Deluge and the scattering abroad of the Nations through the whole Earth the Study of Astrology was likewise Dilated and become common to many Nations so that they not only Vied one with another in the accurateness and perfection of Skill but also about the Invention of it every one desiring to ascribe the Invention of so Noble a Science to their own Country but 't is most probable nay in a manner certain that they of Asia considering that Adam was there made and that Noahs Arks rested upon a Mountain in that part of the world from whom the Face of the whole Earth was Inhabited were they who first improved this Study Nor is it reasonable to think that the Asians who were setled in a Residence and had both Motives and Opportunities enough should let the Africans or Europoeans outstrip them in the Invention of Arts who were Cumbered for many years in finding out convenient Habitations and in defending themselves from the Incursions of their troublesome Neighbours Amongst the Asians the Chaldaeans Challenge Priority in this mater and glory of instructing other Nations herein according to which is that of Herodotus in Euterpe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. The Graecians Learned of the Babylonians or Chaldeans the Doctrine of the Poles and of dividing the Day into Twelve parts Likewise Didorus Siculus in the Third Book of Antiquities Testifies of the Chaldaeans that by long observation of the Course of the Stars they found out their Nature and Foretold things that were afterwards to come to pass Tully likewise in primo de Divinatione Principio inquit Assyrij ut ab ultimis auctoribus repetam propter planitiem magnitudinemque regionum quas incolebant cum Caelum omni ex parte patens atque apertum intuerentur trajectiones motusque Stellarum observaverunt Nor is it meet that we forget Abraham a man so highly approved of by God who was a Chaldaean and the Chief Astrologer of the East of whom Berosus as Eusebius says spoke in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Decimâ vero post Diluvium generatione apud Chaldaeos erat vir justus magnus Coelestium habens experientiam i. e. in the Tenth Generation after the Floud there was amongst the Chaldaeans a Just and Great Man one well skill'd in the Heavens which no doubt is meant of Abraham who was so Famous in respect of the great sway he bore as a Nobleman but more especially for his Piety and Sober manner of Living and his Miraculous and Conspicuous Preservation in all Dangers by the immediate hand of Providence Abraham Learn'd of his Father Thare or Terah which is the Opinion of Philo in his Book of Nobility where he Writes thus of Abraham and his Father Thare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primus Parens Iudaeorum Chaldaeus erat Natione Patre prognatus dedito syderali Scientiae uno ex ijs qui circa Mathesin versarentur Where by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant Thare the Father of Abraham Now although we ought to look upon the Chaldaeans as the First and most Eminent in this Faculty yet we are not to look upon them as the sole Monopolists of Sydereal knowledge the Bactrians will put in for a share and say that though they did not first lay down the Rules yet they improved them as high as any Witness their so

of Commentators upon Aratus will not permit me to leave him out of the Roll he Wrote in Verse the time of the Rising and Setting of the Stars and gave Rules to know what Temperatures of Air would be upon the different Aspects and Positions of the Heavenly Bodies About the time of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus Conon Flourished who Collected the Eclypses of the Sun and Moon and it was he that first gave Notice of the Star called Berenices Hair as Catullus says in his Poem de comâ Berenices Idem me ille Conon caelesti lumine vidit E Bereniceo vertice Caesariem Fulgentem clarè quam multis illa Deorum Non sine taurino sanguine pollicita est About Ten years after him that is about the Hundred and Fortieth Olympiad Aristarchus Samius was Famous for his skill he followed the Opinion of Pythagoras Philolaus and those who held the Motion of the Earth About the same time Flourished the Famous Archimedes who made the Flying Dove and the Artificial Sphere wherein were Motions answerable to that of the Caelestial Bodies the Artificial Planets keeping Correspondence with the Natural The Study of the Stars being now grown to a considerable height wanted not Admirers in all the succeeding Ages who imployed their Parts and Indeavours in these Speculations and by their Industry and good Fortune dayly added to the perfection of this Art It were easie for me to give you their Names in Order as they appeared to the world to these very times but that not being so necessary I shall only speak something of the Progress it had after the Decay of the Graecian Monarchy and then proceed to my intended Discourse against the Defamers and Blots to this Noble Science the Judicial Astrologers I begin with Alcuinus otherwise call'd Flaccus Albinus not that he was the first who deserved to be taken Notice of but for Brevity considering it would Swell my Volume to too large a Bulk to name them all He was Born in England a Yorkshire-Man and was made Deacon in the days of Offa King of the Mercians and was by him for his great Learning but especially for his skill in the Mathematical Studies sent over to Charles the Great and was by him Honourably received and staid with him in France He got a Grant for an University at Paris and Taught the Liberal Sciences there He Read Astronomy to Charles the Great and shew'd him the use of an Ephemeris 't was he gave the German Names to the Winds by which our seamen at this day call them This Kings being delighted so much with Astronomy brought him into a good Esteem with the then King of Persia who was addicted the same way and sent him a Dial for the Planets which was no less pleasant for the Favour than useful for the Ingenuity of it Not long after lived Maimon King of the Saracens who caused Ptolomies System to be brought in again after it had been a long time neglected And Contemporary with him was the Famous Albumassar the Arabian In the year One Thousand Four Hundred and Eighty flourished Marsilius Ficinus at first a great Favourer of Judicial Astrology but afterwards Reading that Excellent Treatise of Picus Mirandula's concerning that Subject he Recanted being convinced of the Fopperies thereof by the reasons of so Learned a Man He was a Great man in all Learning but an especial Admirer of Plato's Philosophy In the year One Thousand Five Hundred flourished Abraham Zacuti Mathematician to Emanuel King of Portugal he left a perpetual Almanack for the Revolutions of all the Stars From the year of Christ One Thousand and Five Hundred Mathematical Studies grew so Universal and well known in the Christian World that it is impossible to Rank them in their Order the Multiplicity of Students bringing Confusion into the History I shall only therefore speak of the most Renowned And first with Ioannes Wernerus a German who was a most exact Observer of the Starry Motions he Wrote two Books of the Motion of the Eighth Sphere Contemporary with him was Ioannes Blanchinus and about sixteen years after was Ioannes Staeflerus he Taught the way to make an Astrolabe and Wrote Commentaries upon Proclus his Sphere he was sometimes Master to Philip Melancthon and inflamed that Learned man with such a Love to Mathematicks as endured to his very Death After him was Henricus Baersius and Iohn Cario both very Eminent men of which the first Wrote a Book of the Composition and use of the Quadrant the other of Practical Astrology and Ephimeredes for many years In the year One Thousand Five Hundred Thirty Six Nicolaus Copernicus became Eminent one who revived many Opinions that had for a long time been Buried in obscurity of whom Ismael Bulialdus in his Prolegomena's to Phylosophical Astronomy gives this Character Nicolaus Copernicus vir absolutae subtilitatis non solum observator fuit sed etiam Hypotheseos Pythagoricae antiquae instaurator Per eum enim ex humanis cogitationibus exemptoe Ptolomaicarum Hypotheseon tricae circulorum multiplicium involutiones ad Physicam simplicitatem revocatae sunt hominum mentes After him was Petrus Apianus Lucas Gauricus a Neopolitan and Ioachinus Fortius Rithenbergius commonly called Sterck who lived at the same time with Erasmus Roterodamus and was first moved to apply himself to study by Conversing with Erasmus and more particularly as himself Confesses by Reading that little Treatise De ratione studij In the year of Christ One Thousand Five Hundred and Sixty Lived Gerardus Mercator a man well Read in Astrology Many others there are whom it is needless to insert not that they were less deserving than others but because these I have mentioned may serve to shew by whom and at what times this Science has been propagated And though some may object that I go against my self in thus playing the Herald and reckoning the Ancestors of Astrology and that it had been more advantageous to my Cause to have sought to have proved that none of Ingenuity or Learning had ever studied in these matters yet let them know that it makes much for me upon Consideration that none of these ever descended to these Nonsensical Fopperies wherewith Judicial Astrology is stuffed full and which has brought into Question the more material points of the Heavenly Reading Nor have these Fortune-tellers any more reason to boast that so many Worthy men have imployed themselves in Contemplating the Starry Bodies than the Romanists to boast of St. Peter and the Apostles Doctrine forasmuch as both of them have lost their Art and Religion with Superstition and Fopperies CHAP. II. A Discourse concerning Iudicial Astrology THat Curiosity is the Epidemick Disease of the Mind every man may Experience in himself and observe in others which if it was not so there had been no occasion of the present Discourse Yet forasmuch as through the Impudent Rashness of some and the Serious simplicity of others not only the Stars but also the Votes and Desires