Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2016 10:46:21 GMT
CHAP. XXXV.
Of Chiromancy.
CHiromancy fancies Seven Mountains in the Palm of a Mans Hand, according to the number of the Seven Planets; and by the Lines which are there to be seen, judges of the Complection, Condition, and Fortune of the Person; imagining the harmonious dis∣position of the Lines, to be as it were certain Coelesti∣al Characters stampt upon us by God and Nature, and which, as Job saith, God imprinted or put in the hands of men, that so every one might know his works; though it be plain, that the Divine Author doth not there Treat of vain Chiromancy, but of the Liberty of the Will. These Fortune-tellers have this to say for themselves, That though they judge not of the Events or Effects of things by the Causes of things, yet they judge thereof by such Signs as are taken like Impressi∣ons from the same or like Causes, which to the same things continue still the same; and to things alike, continue still alike. They farther say, That Pythago∣ras made use of this Art, who made his Conjectures of the Nature, Conditions, and Ingenuity of Children, by the lineaments and features of the Face and Body, and received none into his School but such as he judged capable of Learning. Which was also the pra∣ctice of Pharaotes King of India, as Philostratus re∣lates. But there is no need to bring any other rea∣son to make manifest the Errors of this Arts Professors, than only that one, that they have no Reason in 'um. Many grave and ancient Authors have Written con∣cerning the same, as Hermes, Alchindus, Pythagoras,
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Pharaotes the Indian, Zophirus, Helenus, Ptolomeus, Aristoteles, Alpharabius: besides these, Galen, Avicen, Ra∣sis, Julianus, Maternus, Loxius, Philemon, Palamon, Con∣stantine and Africanus: among the Latines, Lucius Syl∣la and Caesar were mightily addicted to this Art. Of later years, Peter of Appo, Albert the Teutonick, Mi∣chael Scotus, Antiochus Bartholomeus, Coclitis, Michael Savonarola, Antonius Cermisonus, Petrus de arca, An∣dreas Corvus, Tricassus Mantuanus, Johannes de Indagine, and many other famous Physicians: but none of them have been able to make any farther progress than Con∣jecture, and observation of Experience. Now that there is no certainty in these Conjectures and Obser∣vations, is manifest from thence, because they are Fig∣ments grounded upon the Will; and about which, the Masters thereof of equal Learning and Authority do very much differ. Therefore are they most certainly mad, and drowned in Error, that will undertake to fore∣tel by such Signes as these, not only the Complexion of the Body, and Disposition Natural; but also the very Affections of the Mind, and Chances of Fortune, evi∣dent in the judgment of Zopyrus concerning Socra∣tes. Nor must we believe what Appion the Gram∣marian hath left behind him in writing, that one Alex∣ander did so discerningly paint or express the likenesses of resemblance, that from thence he could tell the cer∣tain years of past or future death; which that they can be known by those Arts, is not so much incredible as it is impossible. But it is given to these idle sort of people thus to dote and frame Chimaeras to themselves by the instinct of the Devil, who by that means leads them from Error into Superstition, and from Super∣stition into Infidelity.
Of Chiromancy.
CHiromancy fancies Seven Mountains in the Palm of a Mans Hand, according to the number of the Seven Planets; and by the Lines which are there to be seen, judges of the Complection, Condition, and Fortune of the Person; imagining the harmonious dis∣position of the Lines, to be as it were certain Coelesti∣al Characters stampt upon us by God and Nature, and which, as Job saith, God imprinted or put in the hands of men, that so every one might know his works; though it be plain, that the Divine Author doth not there Treat of vain Chiromancy, but of the Liberty of the Will. These Fortune-tellers have this to say for themselves, That though they judge not of the Events or Effects of things by the Causes of things, yet they judge thereof by such Signs as are taken like Impressi∣ons from the same or like Causes, which to the same things continue still the same; and to things alike, continue still alike. They farther say, That Pythago∣ras made use of this Art, who made his Conjectures of the Nature, Conditions, and Ingenuity of Children, by the lineaments and features of the Face and Body, and received none into his School but such as he judged capable of Learning. Which was also the pra∣ctice of Pharaotes King of India, as Philostratus re∣lates. But there is no need to bring any other rea∣son to make manifest the Errors of this Arts Professors, than only that one, that they have no Reason in 'um. Many grave and ancient Authors have Written con∣cerning the same, as Hermes, Alchindus, Pythagoras,
Page 102
Pharaotes the Indian, Zophirus, Helenus, Ptolomeus, Aristoteles, Alpharabius: besides these, Galen, Avicen, Ra∣sis, Julianus, Maternus, Loxius, Philemon, Palamon, Con∣stantine and Africanus: among the Latines, Lucius Syl∣la and Caesar were mightily addicted to this Art. Of later years, Peter of Appo, Albert the Teutonick, Mi∣chael Scotus, Antiochus Bartholomeus, Coclitis, Michael Savonarola, Antonius Cermisonus, Petrus de arca, An∣dreas Corvus, Tricassus Mantuanus, Johannes de Indagine, and many other famous Physicians: but none of them have been able to make any farther progress than Con∣jecture, and observation of Experience. Now that there is no certainty in these Conjectures and Obser∣vations, is manifest from thence, because they are Fig∣ments grounded upon the Will; and about which, the Masters thereof of equal Learning and Authority do very much differ. Therefore are they most certainly mad, and drowned in Error, that will undertake to fore∣tel by such Signes as these, not only the Complexion of the Body, and Disposition Natural; but also the very Affections of the Mind, and Chances of Fortune, evi∣dent in the judgment of Zopyrus concerning Socra∣tes. Nor must we believe what Appion the Gram∣marian hath left behind him in writing, that one Alex∣ander did so discerningly paint or express the likenesses of resemblance, that from thence he could tell the cer∣tain years of past or future death; which that they can be known by those Arts, is not so much incredible as it is impossible. But it is given to these idle sort of people thus to dote and frame Chimaeras to themselves by the instinct of the Devil, who by that means leads them from Error into Superstition, and from Super∣stition into Infidelity.