N00277:232
Kometographia. Or A discourse concerning comets; wherein the nature of blazing stars is enquired…
Kometographia. Or A discourse concerning comets; wherein the nature of blazing stars is enquired into: with an historical account of all the comets which have appeared from the beginning of the world unto this present year, M.DC.LXXXIII. : Expressing the place in the heavens, where they were seen, their motion, forms, duration; and the remarkable events which have followed in the world, so far as they have been by learned men observed. : As also two sermons occasioned by the late blazing stars. / By Mr. Increase Mather, teacher of a church at Boston in New-England. ; [Three lines of Scripture texts]Kometographia. Or A discourse concerning comets; wherein the nature of blazing stars is enquired into: with an historical account of all the comets which have appeared from the beginning of the world unto this present year, M.DC.LXXXIII. : Expressing the place in the heavens, where they were seen, their motion, forms, duration; and the remarkable events which have followed in the world, so far as thay have been by learned men observed. : As also two sermons occasioned by the late blazing stars. / By Mr. Increase Mather, teacher of a church at Boston in New-England. ; [Three lines of Scripture texts]
printed by S.G. for S.S. i.e, 1683
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 whereas, Wars, Commotions, Persecutions Heresies, the Death of Princes, Changes, and overturnings in the World do usually happen after the appearance of such Stars, they seem to be only signal and not causal of such events. The reasons alleged by some to prove that Comets have a physical influence into such effects are not solid. […] should therefore rather conclude, that they are signs of such things to follow only in respect of their Universal and supernatural cause, God having ordained them for that end, that so the Inhabitants of the World, when they behold such fearful sights might thereby ⟨p. 134⟩be awakened unto repentance. I know some Learned Men do not assent unto this conclusion. Scaliger laughs at their conceit who csuppose that Comets threaten Kings and Kingdoms. Budritius dhath published a Tractate, whose design is to prove the contrary. And the truth is, that the Arguments insisted on by the Admirers of Aristotle are frivolous; And when they speak of Comets falling upon the Earth, and so infecting the Air, and tell us that sometimes Stones of a Sulphurous nature have fallen down out of them, their fancies are ridiculous. But it doth not follow that a principle is not true, because it hath been weakly maintained by some that have undertaken its Patronage. The weightiest objection against the inference which we adhere unto, is, That there have been some happy Comets, and that the evils pretended to follow after them, have sometimes happened when no Comet hath appeared▪ Tacitus calls that an happy Blazing Star which was seen before Nero's Death, because it signified the downfall of one that had a malignant influence upon the whole Earth; Others mention the Comets that were observed before Wycliffe, Huss, and Luther began to publish the Gospel, as happy Omens that the light of truth should be dispersed in the World. But truly, the number of instances on this hand, is so small and inconsiderable, that it cannot invalidate their ⟨p. 135⟩Assertion, who affirm that Blazing Stars are most commonly portentous of evil Events. And if we should say as some do that the appearance of a Comet is like the coming of a New Ruler to the people,