A42469:233
Thomas Gataker B.D. his vindication of the annotations by him published upon these words,…
Thomas Gataker B.D. his vindication of the annotations by him published upon these words, Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them, Jer. 10. 2 against the scurrilous aspersions of that grand impostor Mr. William Lillie : as also against the various expositions of two of his advocates, Mr. John Swan, and another by him cited, but not named : together with the annotations themselves : wherein the pretended grounds of judiciary astrology, and the Scripture-proofs produced for it are discussed and refuted.Thomas Gataker B.D. his vindication of the annotations by him published upon these words, Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signes of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them, Jer. 10. 2 against the scurrilous aspersions of that grand imposter Mr. William Lillie : as also against the various expositions of two of his advocates, Mr. John Swan, and another by him cited, but not named : together with the annotations themselvs : wherein the pretended grounds of judiciary astrologie, and the Scripture-proofes produced for it are discussed and refuted.
London: printed by J.L. for Richard Thrayle, 1653
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The Rainbow was appointed by God to be a sign and seal of that Covenant which God made with Noah in behalf of the whole world, that it should never be universally drowned again. Gen. 9.11, 12. Yet what future good or evil doth the Rainbow portend, so oft as it appears, to ensue shortly thereupon? nor let any imagine that it will suffice to say, that in the nature of it, it may conjecturally forewarn this or that, a sudden shower, or the like; the question being, not what in the course of nature it did or might either before or after foreshow; but what by virtue of that use, that God then made of it, or power that he then imparted to it, to be a pledge of his promise and the performance thereof, which it yet retaineth unto this day, and in regard whereof it is said to be a sing, it is enabled to portend. In like manner God ⟨p. 120⟩ordained Circumcision to be a sign and seal of the Covenant that he made with Abraham and his issue, either according to the flesh, or according to the faith, Gen. 17.11, 13. Rom. 4.11. Yet did not Circumcision therefore portend unto each one that was circumcised, what should betide or befall him either for good or evil, through the whole tenor of his life, either of it self, or in reference to the day of the week on which, or the hour of the day in which he received that rite. Of the Sabbath it is said by God himself, that it is a Sign between him and his people, that he hath sanctified them; that is, separated them unto himself. Exod. 31.13, 17. Ezek. 20.22. Yet did not each Sabbath in that regard portend ought in particular to fall out the week following; it having rather relation to the week past, that it concluded, then to that ensuing, as being another, a new week. But pass we from these mysterious rites, to strange, stupendous, miraculous signs, Moses his rod turned into a snake, and that snake returned into a rod; his hand suddenly overspread with a leprosy; and as suddenly restored to its wonted plight; is called either of them a Sign: