Chap 1
Jbat certaine obfervations are indifferent ¡certaine ridiculous, and certaine impious, whence that cunning is derived of Apollo, and of Artifices.
I Know not whether to difallow ordifcomniend the curious obfervation The rid>cu-ufed by our elders, who conje&ured upon nativities: fo as, if Saturne ip«5 arc nt" and Mercui ie were oppofite in any brute ligne, a man then bor«e ihould tivity-caftmg. be dumb or ftammer much j whereas ic is d yly feeue, that children naturally imirate their parents conditions in that fbehalfe. Alfo they have nored, that one borne in the fpring of the moope , fhall be healthy, in that time of the wane, when the moonc is utterly decayed, the childe then borne cannot live j and in the conjun&ion, ic cannot long continue.
Bur I am fure the opinion of Julius Maternus is moft impious, who writeth, that he which is borne when Saturne is in Leone, fhalllivc long, .. «. and after-his death (hall go co heaven prefently. And fo is this of Albu- lull"s. mazar, who faith, that whofoever prayeth ro God , when the moone is .nus,n,s m0 ^ in Capite draconis, fhall be heard, and obtaine his prayer. Furthermore, '™Pi0US °Pl" to play the cold prophet, as to recount it good or bad luck, when fait or lon' wine falleth on the table, or is fhefl, 8cc. or to prognofticate that guefts approach to your hoafe, upon the chacicring of pies or haggifters, whereof there can be yeelded no probable reafon, is altogether vanity and fu-perftition: as hereafter fhall be more largely ihewecf. But to make Ample people beleeve,thac a man or woman can foretel good or evil fortune, is meere wicchcrafc orcoufenage: for God is the onely (earcher oflhe heart, anddelivereth noc hiscounfel to fo lewd reprobates I know fivers writers affirme, that witches foretel things,as prompted by a real devilj and Bodinut.Da-that he againe learneth it out of the prophefies written in the fcriptures, nam.Eraffuf. and by other nimble Heights, wherein he paifeth any other creature ffemittiius. earthly» and chat the fame devil, or fome of his fell'owes runnes or flies as Milmalef. far as Rochefter,to mother Buagy : or to Canturbury to M. T. or to Del- thorn.Aquinas phos,to Apollo', or to /Efculapius, in Pcrgamo*, or to fome other idol or * witch, and there by way of oracle anfwers all queftions, through his un-dtrftanding of the prophefies contained in the old teftament, efpecially in Daniel and Efay: whereby the devil knew of the tranfhtion of the mo-naichie from Babylon to Grzcia, &c. But either they have learned this of fome oracle or witchor elftlknow not where the devil they find it. Marry certaine ic is, that herein they ihew themfelves to be witches and fond diviners i for they find no fach thing writren in Gods word.
Of theidoll called Apollo, 1 have fomewhat already fpoken in the former title of Ob or Pyth->*> and fame occafion Iihall havetofpeak thereof hereafter:and thaefcieuc this time ic fhall fufbee to tell you,tht the credit gained ch-;reancOi was by the crafc and cunning of the priefts, which tended thereupoa j who with their counterfeit miracles fo bewitch«^
Thedifcovery.
A polios pafli 0118-
bewirchcd the people, as tbey thought fuch vertue to have been cob-tained in the bodies of ckofe idols, as God hath not promifed to any 0f his angels, or clcft peoplc.For it is faid, that if Apollo weie in a chafe, he would fweat : if he had rtmotfc to the affli&cd,attd could nor help them, he would fhed tears, which I believe might have been wi^ away with that handkerchiefe , that wiped and diycd the Rood of graccfc face, being in the like perplexities. Even as another fort of witching priefts called Arufpices prophefied viftorv to Alexander, becaufea eagle lighted one hi? head : which eagle tnight(I beleeve ) be cooped« cjged with Mahomets dove, that picked peafon out of his eare.
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