A42469:328
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.
and yet so far from approving these Fortune-tellers figments, that they even detest and abhor them.
From Thales Mr. S. proceeds to Solon. and here, I hope, he will come nearer home to the mark he aims at. For Pliny, 1saith he, reports, that Solon the wise Law-maker among the Athenians, did by the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon foretell the defects and subversions of certain States and Kingdoms in Asia.
From Thales Mr. S. proceeds to Solon. and here, I hope, he wil come neerer home to the mark he aims at. For Plinie, 1saith he, reports, that Solon the wise Law-maker among the Athenians, did by the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon foretel the defects and subversions of certain States and Kingdomes in Asia.
- 1Ibid.
This were somewhat to the purpose indeed, if it could be made good, to prove that Solon had some smack of this Divinatory trade; tho not sufficient to justify the warrantableness of it. But Mr. S. should have done well to have informed his Reader, in what place or part of Plinies Natural History, this of Solon is reported. for Plinies Natural History is a vast work, ⟨p. 170⟩consisting of 37. large Books, divided each of them, into a multitude of Chapters. And tho I have taken more pains in searching into Pliny, as well where he entreats purposely of Eclipses, as where he hath ought occasionally of the subversion of the Asian Empire, then I took in picking up of Laertius his scattered scraps concerning Thales; yet can I meet with nothing in him concerning these predictions of Solon. This testimony therefore concerning Solon, is justly liable to suspicion. and that the rather, not only because Laertius hath not a word of it, but much more, because Plutarch a more diligent Author, in the life of Solon written by him at large, reports of him, that he gave himself most to Ethic, or Moral Philosophy, and herein to the Politic or Civil part of it especially; but that [Greek or Hebrew], in Physics, or Natural Philosophy, he was very simple, and vulgar, or silly, rude and raw; for so the word [Greek or Hebrew] is oft used, and must needs be here, being joined with [Greek or Hebrew], as elsewhere with [Greek or Hebrew] in Plato. This therefore is not likely of Solon, who was so meanly seen in Physics, whereof Mr. S. from Melanchthon (if he also so say) tells us, this is a part, by the Stars to foretell the mutations of Common-Weals.