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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66810	A survey of the heavens being a plain description of the admirable fabrick and motions of the heavenly bodies, as they are discovered to the eye by the telescope, and several eminent consequences illustrated thereby. I. The infinite wisdom, power, glory, and incomprehensibility of God in the creation. II. The verifying of the Copernican hypothesis. III. The probability of more inhabited worlds. IV. The clearing of some difficult places of scripture from doubtful interpretations. V. The higher exaltation of Gods attributes in the business of our redemption. VI. An essay to prove the Sun to be the seat of the blessed, with several other useful notions. To which is added the gout raptures. Augmented and improved in English, Latin, and Greek lyrick verse. By Robert Witty Dr in physick in both universities, and fellow of the Colledge of Physicians in London.; Ouranoskopia, or, A survey of the heavens	Wittie, Robert, 1613?-1684.	1685 (1685)	Wing W3234; ESTC R221136	68,864	172

beginning and duration as truly as he can foretel or see the Eclipses between the Earth and the Moon Observations about Saturn Likewise that Saturn has some rayes of glory with which that Planet is begirt together with three Satellites or Moons that go about it at some small distances which yet probably are greater Bodies than this Globe of the Earth now of late discovered by Mounsieur Cassini A probability of more Worlds in several of the Planets Also the Probability that there is a World in the Moon and that the Earth is a Planet most ingeniously discoursed of by the late Reverend Dr Wilkins Bishop of Chester And why I pray pari ratione may not the other Planets be Worlds too and have Inhabitants to exalt the great Name of their and our Creator Indeed if the Planet Jupiter be Inhabited their Day there must be but five hours long only they are supplied in the Night by four Moons which may probably afford sufficient Light to the Inhabitants for business besides the frequent return of the Day Not inconsistent with the Scripture And if it be so that some of those Heavenly Bodies are Worlds that are Inhabited of which Opinion are some Learned and considerate Persons whom I have met withal then is one great difficulty cleared in that place of Scripture Phil. 2.11 which has been usually taken in a Figurative sense seeing it may be literally true where the Apostle says that God has exalted Jesus Christ and given him a Name above every Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. That in the Name of Jesus every knee may bow of those in the Heavens in the Earthy Some dark Scriptures cleared and under the Earth If the main scope of that Text be to point out the Mediatory Office of Christ and that by bowing the knee is principally meant praying to God the Father in the Name of Jesus Christ as the genuine Sense of the place seems to import and not merely the Adoration which is to be given to Christ by all Created Beings which is clear enough from other Scriptures then I cannot see how the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of things in Heaven can be thought to be meant of Angels or Saints departed such as Enoch and Elias who being in the full fruition of the Beatifical Vision are in need of nothing and therefore above Prayer wholly taken up with Hallelujahs of Praise And then it being supposed that there are Inhabitants in those Heavenly places it 's reasonable enough for us to think that St Paul respects them and will have us to know that God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has exalted Christ our Language has not a word to express it it signifies he hath exceedingly exalted him as that those Rational Beings that are in the Heavenly places must pray to God in that Name even as we As for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of knees under the Earth that must bow which so much gravels Interpreters I take it to be a Pleonasme a Figure frequently used in Scripture as in other Writings when a thing is designed to be copiously and very largely expressed A parallel place to which I find Jam. 3.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where not only all other Creatures on the Earth but even the Fishes in the Sea are said to be tamed by Man a thing scarce practicable In the one place St Paul highly extols the Soveraign Authority God has given to Jesus Christ over all Created Beings where ever they may be supposed to be And in the other St James describes that absolute Dominion Man has over all the Creatures in the World The like Figure is used in John 21. ult and many other places Nor incongruous to Reason And why should it seem strange to any man of Reason to think there are more inhabited Worlds that shall consider the Immensity of that space of Heaven and the Analogy as I have mentioned in many particulars that is betwixt some of the Heavenly Bodies and this Earth together with the inconsiderable proportion there is of this in comparison of almost all of them so as if one of us were in those Bodies the Earth could not be seen for its smalness We plainly discern them to be dark Bodies like this Globe of the Earth and to have a continual Succession of Day and Night and Moons that surround them that give Light by Night to them and we may probably guess there are other Influences that must according to the Course of Nature flow from them and operate upon their several Planets as the Moon upon this Globe of the Earth and Sea but what signifie all these if there be no Inhabitants or rational Beings in them We are not indeed capable of ascertaining any thing of Inhabitants there no more than they can of us if possibly they can see this Globe of the Earth and its Moon wherein we resemble them unless they have it by Revelation which we pretend not to seeing there can be no Commerce maintain'd betwixt them and us but it seems reasonable enough for us to think they are inhabited and that they and we are not alike ordered for nothing but for like ends and uses Suppose some of us were at Sea in a Ship and some of the Company that were able to climb up to the Top-mast-head should tell us they discovered a Country at distance and should make a Description of some great Palace or Castle that appear'd very Noble and Magnificent like Whitehall or Windsor bravely suited with all manner of Conveniences though the place were inaccessible nor could ever any come from thence to make a further report than what they were able to discover by the Eye Were there not ground enough to think that place were Inhabited and that it were the Palace of some great Prince that kept his Court there and not merely an Inchanted Castle especially if we could suppose the same Architect or Workman made them all Such is the case we are discoursing of Nor do I see what absurdity in Reason or Religion can arise from such reasoning to think that the All-wise God doth use the same Methods of Providence throughout the whole Universe for like ends Does it not savour of too much Haughtiness and too high an Opinion of our Selves and our Services to God to suppose that the great God made all those immense Bodies that yield so fair a Luster and that immeasurable space possessed by them only for the use of Us on this pitiful invisible point and that the Infinite Deity of Heaven should have no active Service or Adoration in all those Bodies save only from us poor Worms The Nations of the Earth are compared Isa 40.15 to the drop of a bucket and the small dust of the balance Now can any wise Man think that the deep Well of the whole Creation and the Bucket were made for the Drop or that the Balance than which nothing requires more exactness and

Earth mentioned before Must our Saviour be understood in a plain sense when he says He is the Vine and the Father a Husband-man what absurd consequences would follow from thence Such is the ground of the great contest betwixt us and the Church of Rome in the Sacramental Elements they understand it in a proper literal sense when he says This is my Body We take the words figuratively They say it s become whole Christ and therefore yield Adoration We say it s neither so in whole nor in part and therefore we worship it not though we honour its Institution to such an end and use The consequence of a literal sense would be strange while St Paul 1 Tim. 1.17 calls Christ the Eternal Immortal Invisible and only wise God Are these to be attributed to the Sacramental Elements 'T is not Eternal 't was made by the Baker or at best by the Priest It s not Immortal for 't is subject to putrefaction Nor is it invisible we see it and 't is Bread still Nor is it wise for 't is inanimate and so cannot be said to be God But upon the whole matter we see there is a reasonable scope to be allowed to scriptural Expressions as to all other Writings and Sayings of those that are wise which are never to be stretched to absurd consequences nor inferences made that are collateral and not the scope of the place nor suitable to sense or reason and that in particular the Scripture makes out nothing against this Hypothesis of the Earths motion upon its Axis The Copernican Hypothesis examined by Reason I will now examine it according to the rules of Reason and then leave it to every wise man to judge as he sees cause Either this Globe of the Earth turns upon its Center once in Twenty four hours from the West to the East or else the Sun runs its course from the East to the West either of which will serve to make up our natural day Now let us consider upon a Standard of miles that we may the better understand what we are speaking of wherein I follow the generally received Rules of our best Modern Astronomers who are much more exact than the Ancients and I have the help of Mr Thomas Street an eminent Mathematician in London the Author of that exquisite Book called Astronomia Carolina Of the Earths diurnal motion By the Standard of London 5000 feet make an English mile and 8365 of such miles is the Diameter of the Earth or in plain English the thickness from one side to the other and the Semidiameter that is to say the half thickness from the Center to the Circumference is 4182 miles and ½ Now six Semidiameters is the circumference of the Earths Superficies something more but I shall keep to round numbers and that amounts to 26280 miles so that supposing the Earth to turn about in twenty four hours upon the Aequinoctial line then the hourly Motion is 1095 miles and consequently it must move 18 miles ● in every minute of time upon the said Line which perhaps is as fast as a Bullet flies out of a Gun and probably upon the first consideration it may be thought to be a very swift motion Of the Suns diurnal Motion But if we must suppose the Sun to move from the East to the West round about the Heavens in twenty four hours then that we may find what measure of miles it runs we are to consider its distance from the Earth and I find it agreed on by common consent that the mean distance of the Sun from the Earth is 13755 Semidiameters of the Earth according to the Standard aforesaid which amounts to 57530287 or in words at length fifty seven millions five hundred thirty thousand two hundred eighty seven Miles and then its hourly Motion must be 15061725 viz. fifteen millions sixty one thousand seven hundred twenty five miles and consequently it must run 251029 viz. two hundred fifty one thousand twenty nine miles every minute of time which how it can be ought to be considered I know some good men having not throughly weighed the point have a ready Answer wherewith they satisfie themselves as to the difficulties that gravel others about this stupendous Motion of the Sun which they draw from the Omnipotency of God who is able to do it they being not willing to recede from the Common Notion upon the account of the Texts of Scripture before mentioned To whom I reply thus I adore all the Attributes of God and particularly that of his Almightiness to which all things are possible nothing is too hard for him And I desire with all good Men to fear him both for his Greatness and his Goodness and would abhor the least thought tending to the questioning of his Divine Perfections But every good Man should study to be also wise that he may think and speak rightly as well as reverently in things that relate to God As in matters of Religion we are to be regulated hy his declared Will in his Word So in things of Nature our sentiments ought to be suited to his manifest works of Providence in the Creation Now I conceive here we are not to rest with presuming upon his absolute Omnipotency and what he is able to do but to eye his methods of Providence in the World and what he uses to do and how in things of this Nature he has made manifest the Wisdom of his Will For he that by his Power and Goodness has given all things their Being has by his Wisdom and Providence stated their manner of Being Now as to all material and corporeal things he has been pleased in his Wisdom so to order them that they cannot move or change place at such a rate Loco-motion in corporeal Substances such as we are discoursing of does by the Methods of his wise Providence necessarily exact a stated time for a due distance And though his Omnipotency is unlimited so as nothing is impossible with God yet it is so concordant with the Wisdom of his Will in all things throughout the whole Creation which he has made in due Order Weight and Measure that he is alone able to do what he will Now since its apparent to our Observation and suitable to our Reason wherewith he has indued us to judge of his Works of Providence that it is impossible for gross Bodies to move at such a rate as we have said of the Sun upon the ground of that Hypothesis he having disposed them otherwise we ought not to expect that from his Power which crosses the manifest Wisdom of his Will lest making his Attributes to enterfere one with another we fancy him inconsistent with himself and so unawares sin against his Holiness which highly consists in that harmony that is eminently conspicuous among his Attributes Certainly it is not the way to convert Atheists to attribute Operations to his Power which in the Nature of things are impossible but rather it

Heavens do move and the Earth stands still Objections from sense against it And 't is also doubted of by many eminently Learned and Pious because it seems to thwart the plain sense of Holy Scripture To the first I shall answer I am afraid those Thomases that will be led only by their Senses will never become Proselytes to the Doctrine of the Circulation of the Blood because they feel it not move which was as long latent and unknown to the world as this of the Earths Motion upon its Axis Will they not believe the motion and descent of the meat they eat through the bowels from the Stomach to the lowest gut because they feel it not in its passage If those men were on Shipboard in a calm Sea carryed on either by a smooth Tide or a very soft gale would they not believe that the Vessel moved under them because they feel it not stir Would they rather encline to think that the Mountains Churches and Trees moved and changed their places because they seem to do so to their eye So smoothly and silently yea and a hundred times more does the Globe of the Earth move upon its Axis so as if they can receive any conviction that their Senses are not fit Judges in the aforesaid cases there will be no ground of perswasion left to make them Umpire in the last Objections from Scripture Now as to the Scriptures which do attribute Stability to the Earth and Motion to the Sun we are to know that in things of this nature the Scripture speaks according to vulgar acceptation and outward appearance so as when men thought they saw and did believe that the Sun moved and the Earth was fixed the Holy Ghost in the Pen-men of the Scripture applies himself to that vulgar Opinion of the Age from which it never design'd to withdraw men so as they go most impertinently to work that will ground Philosophical notions on Scriptural expressions The Scriptures are able to make us wise unto Salvation wherein if we hold to them we are sure we cannot err though not unto curiosity or Philosophical Notions wherein it matters not much whether we be right or wrong The Holy Pen-men in things of that lesser alloy were wont to speak according to the vulgar Opinions of their Age and it may be to think so too or at least not to examine them their thoughts being imployed in things of greater Consequence Their business was to let the world know that what ever they could conceive concerning any thing in Nature throughout the whole Creation it was from God and therefore while they thought the Earth to be so firmly fixt that it could not be moved the Psalmist not contradicting the Hypothesis preaches up the infinite Power and Soveraignty of God therein 1 Chron. 16.30 and elsewhere in the Psalms Though if the Texts be well considered the words do not genuinely import what they would infer against such motion as we are mentioning The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies to stagger the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Septuagint signifies to be shaken and we all agree that the Earth is so firmly establisht by the Almighty Power and Providence of God in its proper place that it cannot stagger nor be shaken from off its foundation but that hinders not but it may move upon its Foundation in a regular way if there be reason to think so without straining those Texts Psal 89.37 the Moon is there said to be establisht in Heaven shall any man therefore deny its Motion from that Text So we read that Josuah in his zeal against the Enemies of God and his People in the heat of battle perhaps led by the vulgar opinion of the Suns motion called to the Sun and Moon to stand still c. The design was that the light might be lengthned till he might destroy the Army of the Amorites and the day was accordingly prolonged so as the Sun went not down for a whole day and the Moon also staid But why should Josuah call to the Moon to stand still as well as the Sun which could be of no use to him while the Sun was up To this I answer with all due modesty I do believe Josuah did call thus by inspiration and a special impulse from God upon his Spirit for that which would make the Sun stand still would also stay the Moon and therefore as his heart was inflamed with zeal from God to call for such an extraordinary thing so was his tongue guided to call for more than he needed and yet that which Divine Providence would order and was naturally to attend the other from the stopping of the Earths motion of which we are speaking He that from the hasty zealous call of this great General shall think to found an Argument to prove the Philosphical notion of the Suns diurnal Motion about the Earth by taking the words in a proper literal Sense may as well go on and eke it out a little further and then he may prove the Sun to have been in the next great Town Gibeon and the Moon in the Valley but if to all men this latter shall be judged a weak Inference I dare say to many wise men so will the former And on this occasion let me tell my ☜ Observation that where there is in the Scripture any seeming difficulty in a Text in what sense it is to be taken there is usually something couched in the Context that clears it and being seriously weighed points out the most genuine interpretation When we read in Scripture of the Suns rising and setting and of its rejoycing as a Giant to run its course must we needs draw Arguments from thence to assert the Suns Motion Do not all men at this day call it the rising and setting of the Sun even those that are sure it moves not but do firmly assert the Earths motion which is enough to make out that Phaenomenon of the perpetual Motion of the Heavens and we are drawn thereto by vulgar acceptation and propriety of our modern Language but must every man be drawn to defend it because of his compliance with the Vulgar certainly no that is an inference which was never intended nor can be rationally born with when the Argument is laid to the line It may as well be inferred that the Sun runs in a progressive motion by steps as a Giant doth and that it has a reasonable Soul and the affection of Joy Figures often used in the Scripture In the Scripture as in all other writings yea and sayings too of the wisest of men there are many passages which cannot fall under a plain sense without gross absurdity There are many mystical and figurative Expressions that we frequently meet with both in the Old and New Testament else we must think that the Mountains skipped like Rams and the little hills like Lambs which would plainly contradict this stability of the

was wisely forbidden by the Ancient Church and is most justly exploded by all wise Politicians and Law-makers in Europe The Holy Patriarchs There are some so daring as to averr That the Holy Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob were well skilled in Astronomy and particularly Josephus reports that Abraham communicated much herein to the Egyptians while he sojourn'd there but that is gratis dictum since he lived so many Centuries after Abraham that he can neither well prove it nor give us grounds to believe it if we should be sceptical I take the Family of Terah who was Abrahams Father to have been one of the best that was in all the East living in an eminent place viz. Vr of the Chaldees and that Abraham might be presum'd to be Educated in what ever was the breeding or Learning of that Age and so probably in the Study of the Stars But that he and his Sons should be said to have been so eminent therein and in Astrology too especially Judicial as some would pretend to prove I think it 's a great presumption grounded on a mistake in respect of their frequent postures of Devotion looking up to Heaven without any Image before them according to the Custom of the Nations among whom they lived they thought they were observing the Heavenly Bodies when they were in their most serious Devotions and Communion with God As also That their removal of their Families and Herds wherein consisted the Wealth of that Age was from the presages of the Stars of some evil to come not understanding that it came from the immediate Command and Appointment of God as the Text most plainly makes out I know R. Abarbanel pretends to prove That they were knowing even in Astrology and perhaps too Ceremonious therein yea more than was owned by any in that Age in his Exposition on that Text in the 30th of Gen. 11. Where Leah having a Child born to Jacob by her Maid Zilpah she called his Name Gad which is the Name among them of the Planet Jupiter as saith Aben-Ezra and signifies a Fortune as now that Planet is call'd Fortuna major which Interpretation the Learned Gaffarellus the French Critick seems to close with But what though it signifies a Fortune and the word be an Epithete of Jupiter does it not also signifie a Troop And may not the sense more properly be such that finding the Woman fruitful she thought her self Fortunate in it and might expect a great Number or a Company or a Troop of Children as our Translation renders the word Yea and Jacob himself who seems to be the best Interpreter plainly takes it in this sense Gen. 49.19 Gad a Troop shall overcome him but he shall overcome at last And besides there 's another reason why methink it should be taken in this sense and not with respect to Jupiter because none of the other Children are Named with any respect to the Predominant Planet And further if it be meant a good Fortune then would it enterfere with the next Child that Zilphah bare wherein she said she was happy and called his Name Asher Besides if that had been the matter aim'd at and a good Fortune had been predicted it was plainly an Errour in Prognostication like others of that kind for he had no better fortune did betide him than others of his Brethren nor yet so good as some of them especially Judah from whom came the Scepter Nor yet was that which Jacob foretold of Gad any other than according to the Spirit of Prophecy as of all the rest and not a Prognostication from Jupiters Dominion in the Horoscope of his Nativity Moreover this was said by Leah a Woman whom we cannot suppose to have had any knowledge in Astrology Nor can it be supposed that she had learnt it from Jacob who seems not to have been present at the Births of his Children but to have left the Naming of them all to the Women Besides of all the rest of the Patriarchs there was the least reason to think that Jacob understood that Art of the Heathen which doubtless his Grandfather and Father knew to be unlawful which we see was afterwards expresly forbidden to the whole Nation After this I find this Knowledge of the Stars was followed by the Greeks These either through Pride or affectation of Repute that they might seem to be Inventers of new things changed the Hebrew Characters into the Names of Animals as Beasts Birds and Fishes and some Inanimates also as they thought fit of which no good reason can be given And some they call'd by their Heroes or Women that were famous in Story To these afterwards did the Hebrews and Chaldeans conform that there might be a right understanding among them in those matters therein yielding to the Learning Wisdom and Authority of the Greeks who were now of highest Repute in the World and besides were become Masters of the Empire and so might perhaps challenge a Compliance whom the Romans also followed and all the Western Monarchy retain to this day without any considerable alteration And this may be observed in the Septuagints Translation of the Old Testament in all the places where any of the Constellations are mentioned that those Interpreters hold not to the Hebrew as in all other proper Names they use to do but give other Names even the same that are used in all prophane Authors to which all the Learned of the World to conform thus Job 9.9 as also Job 38. That which the Hebrew calls Ash they call Arcturus Chesil they call Orion and Cimah they call Pleiades Neither is the Study of the Stars eligible for it self alone affording the greatest variety of pleasure above all natural Studies in the world but it 's also useful to other ends and serviceable to other Arts and Faculties while several of them cannot be rightly managed without a due knowledge of them their Motions and Influences I shall content my self with two viz. Physick and Navigation Astronomy useful in Physick All men know the Stars have a great power upon the Humours of our Bodies as Second Causes and do cause great Mutations in order to Health and Sickness and therefore we find it requisite for us in the Exercise of our Faculty of Physick to observe the risings and settings of great Constellations and the Positions of the most ponderous Planets in them whereby we are enabled to Predict what Diseases are like to ensue and prepare accordingly even before they invade us And hence it is that our great Master Hippocrates De Aere Aq. Loc. says That Astronomy does very much conduce to the Art of Physick as without which a Physician cannot manage it to his Reputations as he ought Especially it 's useful to us in our Prognosticks whereby we are the better enabled to foretel either the Symptoms or the event of a Disease in order to Life or Death There are indeed a great many things to be observed in order to the making of

a right Prognostick as the Nature of the Disease the Constitution and Strength of the Patient together with his compliance or non-compliance to use Means the time of the Disease and the Suitableness to his Constitution and the Season of the Year and several other things but the Position of the Stars especially the Moon affords no little help In acute Diseases we see sudden Mutations many times in order to Life or Death which we call Crises which happen in or near the 7th Day from the Decumbiture or 14th or 21th c. Now these depend upon the Moons Motion to a Trine or Opposition or to her place at the beginning of the Disease and do come sooner or later as she is in her quick slow or mean Motion which may be foretold accordingly and 't is certain they prove better and perfecter if the Moon apply to Jupiter or Venus their Influences being found strengthening to our Nature and worse if she apply to Saturn or Mars whose eminent Cold or Heat or other occult Influences are hurtful Vid. Gal. de diebus Decretoriis And these Crises do usually happen either when the Moon comes to the first Angle in peracute Diseases or the second or third Now while a Physician is all along acting for the Patient according to right Reason and the Rules of Art he may depend upon God for Success and give a rational account to wise Men whatever the Event be And if he has join'd to his skill in his Faculty this Knowledge in Astronomy to observe the Moons Motions and her Conjunction to the fixed Stars and the Planets so as he can Predict the Crises to come sooner or later and to be better or worse on probable grounds it s very Satisfactory to wise Men and Ornamental to his Faculty and tends to his Reputation But as for those that would have Bleeding Vomiting Purging c. to be done only when the Moon is in such or such Signs as we see our Almanack-makers direct yea and I find some Physicians go that way I think they do nimis altum sapere being more nice than wise Those are to be done or not according to the Nature of the Disease the Strength of the Patient Natures inclinations c. If we should ordinarily stay till the Moon come to such Signs as they mention it would undoubtedly tend to the hazard of many a Mans Life But these things would require a peculiar Tract I 'll therefore rather refer the Learned Reader to Dariotus de Morbis Diebus criticis than enlarge the Porch any further Also for Navigation So also the knowledge of the Stars is most necessary to the Art of Navigation an Art so useful to the world that it maintains converse among mankind and makes all the Inhabitants of the Universe to be as of one Corporation and without which all Islands would be no less than Prisons to their Possessours and we of this should too truly as was said of old be divided from the World divisos Orbe Britannos By the Elevation of the Pole-Star whether in this or the Southern Clime they know the Latitude and what course or length they steer and in case that be Clouded they reckon by other Stars of prime Magnitude that shall happen to appear or by the Sun whose Meridian height they take and so judge whereabouts they are when they are without all view of Land for Weeks or Months together And by the help of other Stars of prime Magnitude their Rising Culminating or Setting they have a good guess of their Longitude which it 's hoped in a little time may be yet further improved which if ever it come to pass it must assuredly be performed by the truer and fuller understanding of the Motions of the Stars Perhaps it may seem strange to some what I have related concerning those new Observables among the Heavenly Bodies which they never heard of before viz. that the Planets are dark Bodies and have no light but what they received from the Sun and that is by whirling about their Centers in their several Periods which makes Day and Night in them and that some of them have Moons that turn about them and that the Sun it self turns upon its Center c. Let such know that the things are not more strange than true for I have said nothing but what we see with our Eyes and of which I have a thousand witnesses As for the Consequences which thence I have inferred that 't is probable this Globe of the Earth and Sea turns like all the rest for the making of our Day and Night That the Planets may probably be inhabited Worlds as well as this Earth That then those passages in St Paul's Epistles where he treats of those that are in the Heavenly places which perhaps are some of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St Peter tells of viz. things hard to be understood may admit of a literal sense I impose upon no mans belief nor yet in that Notion that the Sun is the Seat of the Blessed Let him that reads use his judgment of Discretion In these things that are not de fide let the best Arguments carry it if they may but consist with the Sense of Holy Scripture and cross not matters of Faith I have reasoned with modesty according to my module and shall not wilfully fall out with any man that differs from me So I close this Discourse with that of a Modern Poet Non eadem sentire bonos de rebus iisdem Incolumi licuit semper amicitia London Basinghall-street ☽ July 18.1681 THE GOUT-RAPTURES Augmented and Improved ΑΣΤΡΟΜΑΞΙΑ OR AN Historical Fiction OF A War among the Stars In English Latine and Greek Lyrick VERSE Useful for Schools and such as would apply themselves to the Study of Astronomy and the Celestial Globe By Robert Wittie Doctor in Physick in both Universities and Fellow of the Colledge of Physicians in London LONDON Printed by J. M. and are to be sold by the Boksellers in London 1681. TO THE READER THis following Ode has been so acceptable to the truly Learned and Judicious in its first Edition which therefore has been taken into some Schools and made use of as an Introduction to the Study of the Celestial Globe that it has encouraged me to a second Edition with the Addition of forty Stanzaes in all the three Languages to make it still more useful to those ends I was in a fit of the Gout when I first projected it and being not able to handle a Pen or turn over the Leaves of a Book I happen'd to fall into a Contemplation of the Celestial Bodies with the Modern Opinions of Wise men concerning their Motions Aspects and other Accidents of which I have been discoursing more at large in my Ouranoscopy or Survey of the Heavens to which therefore I have thought fit to tack this as both referring to the same thing only differing in this that the other relates to matters of Fact and

well known to Cantabrigians made in English Latine and Greek from whence I took the Notion I know more than Apollo For as he laid a sleeping I saw the Stars at mortal jarrs And Vulcan was a weeping c. And further I am sure I might have done the same much more easily in Heroicks wherein I had not been bound up so strictly to Rhyme or Meeter If any object that it is but a Fiction let such consider well of Jothams Parable Jud. 9. Or of the History of Dives and Lazarus and several that might be mentioned nothing being more usual both in Sacred and Prophane Writings than to teach by way of Fiction and point out serious things in Parables And thus we find the Learning of the Ancients did consist very much in Mythology and ours is imploy'd in the frequent use of Tropes and Figures which without the annulling of that most noble Art of Rhetorick we cannot lay aside If any man quarrel at some unpolisht expression in the English Copy which he fancies might have been better phrased Let such know I am not conceited of any thing here said nor had he been troubled with the view of them if I had not been overcome with the Importunity of some Friends of sufficient Learning who thought they might be useful to the publick which we ought all to serve But I do express my self and my sense of things in such words as did then best suite my Genius that the three Languages might explain one another Besides it may be I do purposely make choice of such Expressions to point out some Terms of Art referring to Astronomy or somewhat in the Globe which I design to explicate and then I hold to the Sense in all the Versions reserving to each Language its proper Idiom And herein I do willingly submit to the judgment of such as understand them all rather than to the carping censure of such as know nothing more than their own Mothers Tongue Take it as it is if it may profit or delight any ingenious Reader I have my Design and if by my endeavours herein I do but little good to others yet this is great good to me that by my labour herein I have kept my self in action and so do neither hurt to others nor receive any to my self In the mean time as I spent not much time in it for I did it at idle hours and in my Journeys so thereby I imployed my Fancy in the Study of the Globe and of the Languages especially of the Greek wherein I should be glad still to make further improvement The Names of the Planets with their Characters ♄ Saturn ♃ Jupiter ♂ Mars ☉ Sol ♀ Venus ☿ Mercury ☽ Luna The Names of the twelve Signs of the Zodiack with their Characters ♈ Aries ♉ Taurus ♊ Gemini ♋ Cancer ♌ Leo ♍ Virgo ♎ Libra ♏ Scorpio ♐ Sagittarius ♑ Capricornus ♒ Aquarius ♓ Pisces The Names of the rest of the fixed Constellations as they come in Order in the Story Cassiopeia's Chair Ariadne's Crown Andromeda Berenice's Hair The Centaur The Eagle The little Dog Antinous Arcturus Orion Ophiuchus Castor Pollux Arctophylax Cepheus Heniochus The Horse i. e. Pegasus The two Dogs The two Bears The Wolf The Dragon The Goat The Hare The Serpent The Crow The Swan The Crane The Vultur The Dove The Peacock The Phoenix The Altar The Pleiades The Hyades The River Eridanus The Arrow or Dart. Perseus The Gorgons head i. e. Medusa Hercules Noahs Ark or Ship Bootes The Milky way The Viol. The Southern Fishes The Dolphin The Whale The Northern Crown The Cup. The Triangle Several principal Stars and parts of Heaven which are occasionally mentioned together with other Lines and parts of the Globe which do frequently occur in the Writings of Astronomers Stars of prime Magnitude The Dog-star Sirius Aldebaran Bulls eye Virgins Spike Scorpions heart Arcturus Bootes A Planet may be Direct Stationary Retrograde Planets have their Houses Exaltations Detriments Ealls The Moon has three motions Slow Mean Rapid Tropicks two Cancer Capricorn Hemispheres 2. Zones 5. Poles 2. Imaginary lines Ecliptick Aequinoctial Horizontal Meridian Parallel Imaginary parts ☊ Dragons head ☋ Dragons tail ⊕ Part of Fortune The Spheres and Orbs of the Planets Mazaroth i.e. The 12 Signs Zodiack i.e. The Circle of the 12 Signs wherein the Planets move The Zenith and Nadir or two perpendicular points above and beneath us After the coming forth of the former Edition of the Gout-Raptures the late Reverend and Eminently Learned Gentleman subscribed sent the Author a very kind Letter together with these two Papers of Verses Printed exactly by his own Copy In ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viri Doctissimi verè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Roberti Wittie M. D. CArmina de coelo possunt deducere Lunam Praestitit ingenio hoc Wittius ecce suo Saturnum Lunam pugnantia vidimus astra Stellasque armatas ordine quamque suo Ad nos de coelo deducit Sydera pugnas Astrorum nostris dum facit essepares Quinetiam haec ternis decantat praelia linguis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vates Ennius ipse Tricor Et rhythmis canit sonulis haec Musica coeli Stellae dum pugnant harmoniam faciunt Astronomo Graecè docto pariterque Poetae Tergeminae huic laus est debita palma triplex Quòd siqua in pugnâ hac Astrorum vulnera fiant Sanabit Medicus quae facit Astronomus In Ejusdem Carmen de Podagra COrripis podagram tu producísque podagram Systole an haec licita est Ectasis atque tibi Ars longa est Vita brevis sic longa podagra Quam nulla Ars curat Vita brevis podagra Contrahit haec etiam vitam sed prorogat artem Dum pede corripiens traxcrit ipse Charon Morbum pro libitu reddis longúmque brevémque Hexametrum hinc Versum Pentametrúmque facis Causidico lites Medico producere morbos Fas est nonnè illum corripere ergo decet JA. DVPORT D. D. Coll. Magd. apud Cantabrigienses Magister These following were sent lately to the Author hereof after perusal of the Copy of this second Edition by the Reverend and Learned Author of those two ingenious Poems Conflagratio Londini Conflagratio Northamptoniae together with the English Translation that follows made by his Friend a Graduate of Oxford Nephew to the Famous Dr Wild. 1. PEde rhythmico fuganti Atrox pedum nosema M. D. suo Rob. Wittio Homogeneum Poema 2. Podagricos dolores Qui pharmacis levatis Cum balneis pilulis Hinc vosmet auferatis 3. Valete venditores Cat aplasmatum valete Hinc ollulas pyxidas Celerrimè amovete 4. Post artuum quietem Saepè aureis redemptam Quicunque vult non esse stultus vult salutem inemptam 5. Adeste quot quot estis Pede morbido dolentes Cujus malum gravissimum Lassaverit medentes 6. Methodo en novâ celebris Arthritidem molestam Fugat novus