REFLECTIONS UPON LEARNING, Wherein is shown the INSUFFICIENCY Thereof, in its several Particulars.  
In order to evince the Usefulness and Necessity, OF REVELATION.  
The Second Edition Corrected.  
By a GENTLEMAN.  
LONDON, Printed for A. Bosvile, at the Dial against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet. MDCC.   

PREFACE.  
A Work of this nature, that would so hardly find a Patron, will stand the more in need of a Preface; Men that writ in commendation of Learning, usually seek out some great Genius to prefix to their Book, whom they make an Instance of all the Learning and Perfections that are described in it; were I to choose a Patron, consistently with my design, I must Compliment him with the weakness of his Parts and shortness of his Understanding, which is such a Compliment, as I presume I shall willingly be excused from. But th●n a Preface will be the more necessary to give an account of my undertaking, which is rather to inquire into the abuses, and to show the insufficiency of Humane Learning, than wholly to descredit its use. No Man e●er did this, without disparaging his own Understanding, nor decried Learning but for want of it; it having been an old Observation, that will hold perpetually, That Knowledge has no Enemies except the Ignorant. An attempt of this nature would be utterlly impracticabl●, for either it would be well performed, and then it must be done by reasons borrowed from the Stores of Learning, by which means by reasoning against Learning, we must at the same time reason for it, and all our Arguments must return upon us; or if the performance were unlearned, it would be to no purpose, and might as well be let alone. This then is no part of my design.  
All that I intent, is, to take it down from its supposed heights, by exposing the vanity of it in several particulars, its Insufficiency in the rest, and I believe I might say, its difficulties, in all: And there is the more need of this in an Age, in which it seems to be too much magnified, and where Men are fond of Learning almost to the loss of Religion. Learning is our great Diana, nothing will pass with our Men of Wit and Sense, but what is agreeable with the nicest Reason, and every Man's Reason is his own Understanding: For if you examine them to the bottom, these mighty Pretenders ha●e no truer grounds to go upon than other Men, only they affect a liberty of judging according to themselves, and (if they could be allowed it) of making their own judgement a Standard of others. They plead for right Reason, but they mean their own, and talk of a reasonable Religion, whilst their own false Notions are mistaken for it; and while they seek the Goddess, they embrace a Cloud. In the mean time, they take us of from our surest Guide, Religion suffers by their Contentions about it, and we are in danger of running into Natural Religion.  
Where these things will end, God only kmows, it is to be suspected, they may at last end in the thing we fear, and may bring us about to that Religion, for which of all others, we have the most abhorrence: For after Men have tried the force of natural Reason in matters of Religion, they will soon be sensible of its weakness, and after they have run themselves out of breath and can centre no where, they will be glad of any hold where they think they can find it, and rather than be always wand'ring, they will take up with an Infallible Guide. I am unwilling to entertain such hard Thoughts of a Neighbouring Church, as to think they are sowing Discord among us to that purpose, but I much fear, we are doing their Work for them, and by our own Divisions, are making way for a Blind Faith, and Implicit Obedience; And may it never be said, That as Learning was one grea● Instrument under God, to bring about a Reformation, so the Abuse of it, by the Divine Permission, has brought us back to the same place from whence we came, and that our Enemies have done that by secret Engines, and Domestic Distractions, which by open Attempts they were never able to do. It is the sense of such Dangers and such Abuses ●ha has drawn from me these Reflections, and has inclined me to harder Thoughts, and possibly, to say, harsher things of some parts of Learning, than will be agreeable to the Humour of the Age, and yet if any one who thinks thus of me, will ●nly suspend his Censure so long, till I draw my Conclusion, I am willing to hope, that the goodness of the End will a●one for the hardest things, that shall be said in the Book.  
I am sure I am not singular in this Design, one of the first Restorers of Letters, 
a Ple. Mirand. Exam. Van. Doct. Gent. Op. vol. 2. p. 467.  A Man noted for his Piety as well as Parts, has writ a Book to this purpose, but it having been principally levelled against Aristotle's Philosophy, which is now so much out of Credit, that it rather wants an Advocate to defend it, than a new Adversary to run it down, the Book itself is as much out of use, as the Philosophy is, that it designs to decry. He was followed in his Design by Lodovicus Vives 
b De Corrupt. Art. Op. vol. 1. p. 221.  in better Latin, and with greater Eloquence, but Vives' main Talon having been in Philology, and having been less conversant in Philosophical Matters, his Book is both very defective as to the Particulars it treats of, and being suited to the Ancient Literature, is less agreeable to the Genius of our Age. What Cornelius Agrippa 
c De van. Scient.  has writ upon this Subject is chief declamatory, and fit for Schoolboys, than of any just Moment or Consideration in a serious Enquiry. And a French Book 
d La vanite des Sciences, Ams. 88  lately published upon the same Subject and with the same Title, tho' well and piously Writ, yet has nothing in it of what I expected, and is rather a Sermon, than a Treatise of Science. None of these Authors, nor any other I have yet met with, have come up full to my purpose, nor have I been able to borrow much help from them; where I have, I have quoted them, and if in any other things we happen to agree, without remembering them, it is a fault of Memory, and I make this acknowledgement once for all.  
Sir W. Temple, and Mr. Wotton, have turned their Pens the other way, and have been so much taken up with describing the Beauties and Excellencies of Learning, as to have less occasion to discover its Faults; tho' it was scarce possible, whilst they crossed one another's Opinion, either to commend Ancient Learning, without entering into the Defects of the Modern, or to prefer the Moderns, without censuring the Ancients; so that by consequence tho' not professedly, they have fallen into this Controversy. I have, as far as possible, avoided saying any thing that has been observed by them already, (tho' perhaps this may be thought my fault, and I may thereby have said worse things of my own) and if in any other things I have contradicted them, I have done it in so tender a manner, as neither of them could blame, were they yet both Living. I have treated all Men with Decency and Respect, except Mons. Le Clerc, who has not deserved such Treatment. I have seen little of Monsieur Perault, and a considerable part both of his and Mr. Wotton's Books, come not within my Account of Learning; for I have nothing to say to Sculpture, Painting, Architecture, Gardening, Agriculture, etc. which I take to be more properly of Mechanical Consideration. But if Learned Men will needs include these likewise within the compass of Learning, it shall give me no disturbance: The Bounds of Learning are of late wonderfully enlarged, and for aught I know, Mr. H's Trade Papers may pass in time for a Volume of Learning.  
Not that there is any need of swelling the Account, for Learning is already become so Voluminous, that it gins to sink under its own weight, Books crowd in daily and are heaped upon Books, and by the Multitude of them, both distract our Minds, and discourage our Endeavours. Those that have been writ upon Aristotle, are almost innumerable; In a very few Centuries, from Albertus Magnus, till a short time after Luther, there have been Twelve Thousand Authors, that have either Commented upon his Books, or followed him in his Opinions: This we have from good Authority, tho' the Author that reports and censures it, had surely forgot, that he himself has strengthened the Objection, by publishing a gross Volume, only to give an Account of Aristotle, his Writings, and Followers. 
e V Pr. Patric. Discus. Peripat. ●. 10. p. 145. Bas. Fol.  But however their Number may be in the Old Philosophy, I believe we may reckon by a modest Computation, that since that time to ours, we may have had double the Number of Authors in the New; which tho' some may look upon as an Argument of Learned Times; for my part I have quite different Thoughts of Things, and must needs esteem it the great Mischief of the Age we live in, and cannot but think we should have more Learning, had we fewer Books.  
I have notwithstanding adventured to throw in one to the Account, but it is a very small one, and writ with an honest design of lessening the Number: I propose neither Credit nor Advantage, (for I hope to take effectual care to be in the Dark) if I may do some little Service to Religion, and no Disservice to Learning, I have my End. I am inclined to hope, the Treatise may be of some use, as an Historical Account, in observing the Defects, and marking the Faults that are to be avoided by Beginners, and, possibly, it may afford some Hints to Wiser Men. As it is, I offer it to the Public, if it proves useful, I shall hav● much Satisfaction in myself, and if otherwise, I shall be very willing to be made a fresh Instance of that which I pretend to prove, The Weakness of Humane Understanding.   

CONTENTS.  

Chap. 1. INtroduction P. 1  
2. Of Languages 7  
3. Of Grammar 19  
4. Of Rhetoric and Eloquence 32  
5. Of Logic 51  
6. Of Moral Philosophy 64  
7. Of Natural Philosophy 76  
8. Of Astronomy 87  
9, Of Metaphysics 99  
10. Of History 106  
11. Of Chronology 121  
12. Of Geography 135  
13. Of Civil Law 146  
14. Of Canon Law 160  
15. Of Physic 172  
16. Of Critical Learning 187  
17. Of Oriental Learning, jewish and Arabian 204  
18. Of Scholiastic Learning 215  
19 The Conclusion 228  
20. The Appendix 239    

Books Printed for A. Bosvile at the Dial against St. Dunstan's Church, in Fleetstreet.  
THe History of Portugal, from the first Ages of the World, to the late Revolution, under King john iv in the Year 1640. Written in Spanish by Emanul de Faria ● Sousa, Translated and continued down to the Year 1698. By Captain john Stevens. In 8vo.  
Letters of the Cardinal Duke de Richlieu, great Minister of State to Lewis XIII. of France, wherein is contained several Secret Memoirs and Instructions relating to our late Civil Wars in England, in particular, as well as to the Affairs of Europe in general. Never before Printed. Translated from the French by Mr. Thomas Brown.  
The Memoirs of the Count de Roc●fort, containing an Account of what passed most considerable under the Ministry of Cardinal Richlieu, and Cardinal Mazarine. Made English from the French. The second Edition.  
The Life of Cornelius Van Tromp Lieutenant Admiral of Holland and West-Friesland, containing many remarkable Passages relating to the War between England and Holland.  
The Christian Belief, wherein is Asserted and Proved, that as there is nothing in the Gospel contrary to Reason, yet there are some Doctrines in it above Reason; and these being necessarily enjoined us to believe, are properly called Mysteries, in answer to a Book entitled, Christianity not Mysterious. The second Endition. Price 2 s.  
The Ground and Foundation of Natural Religion, discovered in the Principal. Branches of it, in opposition to the prevailing Notions of the Modern Sceptics, and Latitudinarians. With an Introduction concerning the necessity of revealed Religion. These two last by Tho. Beconsal, B. D. and Fellow of Brasen-Nose-College, Oxford.  
A Discourse of Conscience, showing what Conscience is, and what are its Arts and Offices, Published ●hiefly for the benefit of the unlearned, tho' it may also be useful to others.   

REFLECTIONS UPON LEARNING, etc.  

CHAP. I.  
SInce I first begun to think, I have always had a mean opinion of two things, Humane Understanding, and Humane Will; The weakness of the latter is a confessed thing; we all of us feel it, and most Men complain of it, but I have scarce yet met with any, that would own the weakness of his Understanding: And yet they both spring from the same corrupt Fountain; and the same cause, that has derived Contagion upon the Will, has spread Darkness upon the Understanding; and however Men may please themselves with an opinion of their own Wisdom, it is plain, the wisest Men know little, and they that are fullest of themselves and boast the highest, do usually see lest, and are only wise for want of thinking.  
We have had a mighty Controversy of late betwixt the Old and New Philosophers, and great inquiry has been made, whether the preference is to be given to the Ancient or Modern Learning; For my part I will not venture to engage in so warm a Controversy, but 'tis some argument to me, that we have not over much of the thing, otherwise we should know better where to find it, and if I would say any thing, I should be of opinion, that neither side has reason to boast. What the Wisdom of the Ancients was, is not so easily known at this distance, by those Specimens of it that are left us, it does not appear to have had any thing in it very extraordinary, or which might not be attained to by their Posterity without standing upon their Shoulders; Have not some dark and oracular expressions been esteemed enough to entitle a Man to the Reputation of Wisdom? And was not any odd and sometimes extravagant opinion, if subtilely maintained, sufficient to set a Man at the Head of a Party, and make him the Author of a Sect of Philosophers? The most Ancient Philosophy was usually wrapped up and involved in Symbols and Numbers, which as far as they can be explained, do not contain any thing very mysterious, but it was the interest of these Great Men to keep a distance and be always in the Clouds, that they might be thought profound and procure a veneration by th● obscurity of their Writings. They that have writ more plainly, have (at least some of them) been plain to an objection, and have said little more, than what good Sense improved by Observation and Thought, would suggest to most Men without reading; To say nothing here of the vast variety of Opinions amongst them, which will fall in more properly in the thread of my Discourse; they did not agree in the first Criteria of Truth, which they have made as many and as different as could possibly be thought of and carried their differences so far, that it put the Sceptics pretty early upon doubting of every thing, and at last brought them to deny; that there was any such thing as Truth in the World.  
The moderns have not yet gone so far, but they have made some advances, and seem by pretty easy consequences to be leading us towards it: For since Aristotle's Philosophy has been exploded in the Schools, under whom we had more peace, and possibly almost as much Truth as we have had since, we have not been able to fix any where, but have been wavering from one Opinion to another. The Platonic Philosophy was first introduced with the Greek Learning, and wonderfully obtained for some time, among the Men of Polite Letters; but however Divine it might seem at first and for that reason was entertained more favourably, it was found upon a short trial to lead to Heresy, and so went off again under a Cloud. The moderns were now wise enough to set up for themselves, and were more pleased with their own inventions, than with the dry Systems of the Old Philosophers. Several attempts were made unsuccessfully, nor had they set out long or done much, till they had run themselves into such a maze, That M. Des Cartes thought it necessary to sit down and doubt, whether they were not all out of the way: His doubts increased upon him by doubting, and he must have continued under them, had he not by a strange turn of Thought struck Evidence out of Uncertainty; for he found such strength and conviction in doubting, that he brings an Argument from it to prove a first Truth, The reality of his own Existence: He likewise borrowed great light from Ideas, which have been since improved, by comparing their agreement and disagreement with one another, and with the Reality of things; and since that conformity has not been evident enough, we have been consulting the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ideal World, to fetch thence more perfect Ideas, and are at last come to see all things in God; A way, which could it be as easily made out, as it is asserted, I do not see, what we could desire further, for we shall hardly see more clearly in a state of Glory: But all these particulars we shall meet with, as we go along.  
What has been said of Philosophy, is true in other sorts of Learning, and however we may be puffed up with vain conceits, and may flatter ourselves with discoveries of New Worlds of Learning, and fancy there is little bid from the profound Search and accurate Inquiries of so learned an Age, to me it seems we are yet much in the Dark, that many of our discoveries are purely imaginary, and that the state of Learning is so far from perfection, much more from being the Subject of Ostentation, That it ought to teach us Modesty and keep us Humble. To this end, I propose to trace it in its several Branches; and were the management of my Argument answerable to the truth of it, I should not doubt of giving satisfaction to impartial Readers.   

CHAP. II.  
Of Languages.  
Language's being the Channels by which most of our Learning is conveyed, it is necessary to the attaining of Knowledge, that these should be kept clear and open; if the Streams in these run muddy, or are corrupted, all the knowledge that is conveyed by them, must be obscure: words at the best are no very certain signs of things, they are liable to ambiguity, and under that ambiguity are often subject to very different meanings; and tho' this, as far as it is the common condition of Speech must be submitted to, and is no objection in plain Laws and easy Precepts, that are intelligible enough in any Language, yet in matters of Science, it is much otherwise; these are nice things; the strict meaning is to be observed in them; nor can we mistake a word without losing the Notion.  
The first Language, the Hebrew, was very plain and simple, (a good Argument of its being an original) consisting of few Roots, and those very simple and uncompounded: it seems fitted for the purposes, for which it was designed, which was not so much to improve Men's knowledge, as to better their lives, and this end it did perfectly answer: Indeed the Ancient Tongues are generally the most uncompounded, and consequently more plain and easy; but than whilst things continue thus, as Languages were easy, so they were defective, and therefore as from necessity Men were put upon improving Speech; so particularly as Arts increased, Languages grew up with them, and Men were put upon coining new words to express the new Ideas they had of things. This has enlarged the Bounds of Language, and swollen it to such a height, that its Redundancy is now a greater Inconvenience, than the defectiveness of it was before.  
The Inconveniences from Languages are chief two, First, Their variety, and Secondly, Their mutability. 1. Were there only one Language in the World, Learning would be a much easier thing, than it now is; Men might then immediately apply to things, whereas now a great part of our time is spent in Words, and that with so little advantage, that we often blunt the edge of our understanding, by dealing with such rough and unpleasant tools: For however apt Men may be to over-value the Tongues, and to think they have made a considerable progress in Learning, when they have once overcome these, yet in reality there is no internal worth in them, and Men may understand a thousand Languages without being the wiser, unless they attend to the things, that they deliver: It is in order to this that they are to be learned, and it is the hard condition of Learning, that in this respect, it cannot be without them; This labour must necessarily be devoured in our way to Knowledge, and every Man must dig in this Mine, that hopes to be Master of the Treasure, it conceals; much dross is to be separated, and many difficulties to be overcome.  
When I speak of the variety of Languages, I do not mean that all of them are necessary, at least not to all sorts of Learning, were this our case, we could have few complete Scholars; but tho' all of them be not necessary, yet some of them are allowed to be so, particularly such as are styled Learned; and there is such a connexion among most Tongues of the same kind, that it is hard to excel in any one, without some tolerable skill in the rest. This is pretty plain in the Greek and Latin, and the reason is clear in the Eastern Tongues, where the affinity is greater. Two of the Languages that in their different kinds pretend to most Learning, (I do not here inquire, how truly) are the Arabic and Greek, and it happens not well, that these two are the most copious and difficult. They that have skill 
a V Walt. Proleg. 14 §. 6.  in the first assure us, that it abounds in Synonymous Words, that it has five hundred words for a Lion, and almost a thousand for a Sword, which are enough to make an entire Language, and almost as many as all the Radicals in the Hebrew Tongue. And as for the Greek, which is uncontestedly Learned, most know how copious it is, for tho' its Radicals are not so many as might be imagined, which some have computed not much to exceed three thousand, 
b Wilk. R. Ch. cap. ult.  yet this is abundantly made up in its Compositions, and however simple it may be in its Roots, it spreads very widely in its Branches: If we add to this, it's many different dialects, and all the various Inflections of Nouns and Verbs, which diversify words, and distinguish them from themselves, this will swell the account much higher, and make it almost an Infinite thing. So that what from the variety of Languages, and the Copia of those that are reputed Learned, one great obstruction lies in the way of Learning.  
The other inconvenience is from their mutability, for whatever their number may be, yet were their nature fixed and their condition stated, the measures that are taken from them might be more steady; but when to the multitude of them, we add their mutability, we are still under greater difficulties. Words, like other things, are subject to the common Fate of vicissitude and change; they are always in Flux, ebbing and flowing, and have scarce any fixed period: for being governed by Custom, which itself depends upon one of the most unconstant things in the World, the humour of the People, it is scarce possible it should be otherwise: no Prince ever gave Laws to these, Caesar who gave Laws to Rome, could give none to its Language, and it was looked upon as the height of flattery in that Sycophant, that offered to Compliment him with such an extravagant Power; in this Custom is only absolute. We can scarce have a better instance of this, than in the Tongue we are now speaking of, the Latin; that Language that was spoke soon after the Foundation of Rome, was perfectly unintelligible in the Age of Augustus; nay, some hundred years after that period, and not 150, before Cicero's time, the Tongue that was then vulgar, can hardly now be understood without a Comment. This is evident from the Inscription on the Columna Rostrata, that is yet in being, and a Copy of which has been given us by Bishop Walton 
c Proleg. p. 5. . In Cicero's Age, that Tongue was in its full height, it had been growing up till then, ever after it was declining, and had only one short Stage of Perfection. They that came after were observed to write with some mixture, even Livy had his Patavinity, which is most probably understood of a tincture from his Country Education.  
Successively on, they were more corrupt, Paterculus, Seneca, etc. still writ with a greater mixture, till at last either by mixing with Foreign Nations, in sending Colonies, or by the breaking in of Barbarous People upon them, the Language sunk into decay and became utterly Barbarous.  
The Greek Tongue had the same Fortune with the Latin, tho' it continued vulgar longer; for as Greece did assist the Romans in giving perfection to their Speech, (they having not begun to cultivate Arts, or polish their Language, till they had subdued Greece) so they received a great tincture and corruption from their Conquerors, either first, when they became an accession to their Empire, as appears from those that writ in that Tongue after the reduction of Greece; or after, when the Empire was translated to Constantinople, and that City became new Rome, and the Seat of Empire. From that time, the Greek sunk apace, as must needs be expected, where the Latin was the Court Language, and made use of in their Laws and Courts of Judicature, and the Greek in a manner confined to the vulgar. In Iustinian's time, who was not very long after Constantine, it is plain, it was much corrupted, as is evident, from the Acts of the Councils of these times, and the Acclamations of the People and Clergy on such occasions, Instances whereof are given by Du Fresne, in his Learned Preface to his Greek Glossary 
d §. 7. . As we descend lower the corruption is greater, as is shown by the same Learned Person: The reduction of Constantinople by the Franks was one other great blow, the last and fatal stroke was given by that Deluge of Barbarism, in the Inundation of the Turks, who bore down all before them. What the condition of it now is, may be seen in Crusi●s, 
e Turcograe. p. 99 224, &c,  whence will appear not only the present corrupt State of that Tongue, but also the Reasons from which it proceeds, either from the mixture of the Latin, the Turco-Arabic, and other foreign Tongues; or by dividing Words that should be conjoined, or running two Words into one that should be divided, or by other faults in Orthography, that is now in great neglect among them. And what is most melancholy in the account, is, That even at Athens, that was once Renowned for Learning and Eloquence, their Tongue is now more corrupt and barbarous, than in any other part of Greece; to that degree, as is there taken notice of, that it would draw tears from any one to observe 
f ib. p. 99  the miserable change. In all parts of Greece, their Speech is so far degenerated from its ancient purity, that as a Learned Greek cannot throughly understand the modern vulgar Tongue, much less is the Ancient Greek understood by the moderns.  
Now under this great multiplicity, as well as change, what difficulties are we to struggle with, and what uncertainties are to be overcome? Our Words are so many, and so uncertain, that there is both great difficulty in becoming Masters of them, and after that in fixing and determining their Sense: We are to trace them up to their first Originals, and afterwards to pursue them down to their last Decay, to mark their several times and periods, in all which they much vary, and are often capable of different meanings, or their true meaning is very obscure. There is only one way of coming at their meaning, after they become dead Languages and cease to be vulgar, by the Books that have been writ in them; but besides the want we are in of some of these, and defects in those we have, tho' they might serve well enough for common ends and uses, yet the things we are now enquiring after, are matters of Science, which are abstruse things, and not so easy to be expressed in such proper terms, as are not liable to be misunderstood; Such particularly are Terms of Art, that must needs be obscure as being too comprehensive, and taking in more notions than one under the same Word: Which tho' of good use, as being designed to make knowledge more compendious, yet have frequently turned the other way, by requiring large Comments, that have been often writ upon a single word, and perhaps after all, have left it more doubtful than it was before.  
Dictionaries indeed have been called in to our assistance, which have been compiled with much pains and in great plenty, not only for Words, but for Sciences and Arts, but besides the no great agreement that is among them, they are swollen to such a height, and become so numerous, that those very Books that were designed as helps, now breed confusion, and their Bulk and Number is become a Burden. Such alone as have been composed for the French Tongue (which as yet is no Learned Language, tho' it bids pretty fair for it) would fill a Library, and only one of those, and that not the largest, has been the work of forty Years, tho' it was carried on by the united labours of the French Academy; after all which care, it has not escaped censure but has been thought to want Correction; and does thereby show how impossible it is to set Bounds, or give a Standard to Language, for which purpose it was designed: Not only every Tongue, but every Faculty has met with this help, Dictionaries are become a great part of learning, and nothing remains, but that as it has fared with Bibliotheques, which were grown so numerous, that 
g V Ant. Teisser. v. Ph. Lab.  a Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum was thought a necessary work, so Dictionaries should have the like service done them; a Dictionarium Dictionariorum, might be a work of some use, I am sure of great Bulk, and I wonder it has not been yet undertaken.  
To redress and heal all these inconveniencies, an universal Remedy has indeed been thought of, a Real Character and Philosophical Language, a work that has been pursued of late with great application, and with some expectations of success and advantage; But however plausible this may seem at a distance, it is to be feared, it is only so in Theory, and that upon Trial, it will be found an impracticable thing. For this Language being designed not to express words but things, we must first be agreed about the nature of things, before we can fix Marks and Characters to represent them, and I very much despair of such an agreement. To name only one, when Bishop Wilkins first undertook this design, 
h Real. Char. Par. 2. v. 1.  Substance and Accidents were a received Division, and accordingly in ranking things, and reducing them to Heads, (which is the great excellency of this Design) He proceeds according to the order they stand in, of Substance and Accidents, in the Scale of Predicaments; but were he to begin now and would suit his design to the Philosophy in vogue, he must draw a new Scheme and instead of Accidents must take in Modes, which are very different from Accidents both in Nature and Number. Bishop Wilkins was an extraordinary Person, but very projecting, and I doubt this design may go along with his Daedalus and Archimedes, and be ranked with his flying Chariot and voyage to the Moon. The Divisions of Tongues was inflicted by God as a Curse upon humane Ambition, and may have been continued since for the same reason; and as no Remedy has been yet found, so it is most probable, it is not to be expected, nor are we to hope to unite that which God has divided. The Providence of God may have so ordered it for a check to Men's Pride, who are otherwise apt to be building Babel's, were there no difficulties to obstruct and exercise them in their way.   

CHAP. III.  
Of Grammar.  
THO' Grammar be looked upon by many as a trivial thing, and only the Employment of our Youth, yet the Greatest Men have not thought it beneath their care; Plato and Aristotle among the Greeks, and Caesar and Varro among the Latins have treated of this Subject. In our times the Common Grammar that goes under the name of Mr. Lily was done by some of the most considerable Men of the Age; The English Rudiments by Dr. Colet Dean of Paul's, with a Preface to the first Editions, directing its use by no less Man than Cardinal Wolsey; The most Rational part, the Syntax, was writ or corrected 
i Op. Tom. 1. p. 141.  by Erasmus, and the other parts by other hands: So that tho' Mr. Lily now bears the name, which while living, he always modestly refused, yet it was carried on by the joint endeavours of several Learned Men, and he perhaps had not the largest share in that work.  
Were there more of Caesar and Varro extant, they might be of good use to us in our Inquiries, but all Caesar's Book on this Subject being lost, and only some parts of Varro left, we want two good Helps: Tho from those short Specimens we have of Caesar, we were not to expect too much from him; he has been quoted by 
k L. 19 c. 8.  A. Gellius with a doubtful Character, and twice or thrice 
l L. 1. p. 69. 214. Ed. Putsch.  by Chari●ius an Ancient Grammarian, and always to correct him, as he will seem to deserve to any one who will take the pains to consult the particular places: And as for Varro, his Books are chief about the Etymologies of words, which are of no great use, being obscure and uncertain.  
The following Grammarians are yet more defective, we have a large Collection of them put out by Putschius, who (against the custom of most Editors, that seldom used to speak disparagingly of their Authors) ingenuously confesseth, that some of them were scarce worth an Edition. And most of them having been writ, either when Learning was low, or after Barbarism had begun to overflow the Empire, it is no wonder, that they do not rise above their Level, or that while they lay down Rules in this Art, they scarce writ in tolerable Latin: Priscian himself will be no exception to this, who notwithstanding his strictness in giving Rules and severity in censuring others, has much ado to preserve himself from Barbarism: Let any one read some of his first lines, he will need go no farther to make a judgement.  
Some of our Modern Critics have deserved well of this Art, who as they have used more perspicuity, so they have writ with much greater Purity, than most of the Ancient Grammarians have done: Valla, Erasmus, and our Linacer have taken much pains and shown great Judgement in this matter; and yet after all, as if nothing had been done, ariseth Sanctius, and after him Schioppius, and Correct all that had gone before them. Cicero and Quinctilian were blind with these Men, who make such discoveries, as never had been thought of, by any of the Ancients; all Grammar before them was, Cloacina, polluted and full of mistakes; theirs only is the true way, which they pretend is highly Rational, containing few and easy Rules, and under these scarce any exceptions. Tho if this new method be examined, it will be found as fallacious, and they as fallible as other Men: Sanctius' great principle on which he goes, is, That Languages, and particularly the Latin, are not purely arbitrary, or depending barely on use and custom, but that an Analogy has been observed, and a reason may be given of the Idioms of Tongues, and upon this he builds a Rational Grammar. This perhaps might hold in some measure in the Hebrew, as far as its words were imposed upon just Reasons; but in the Latin Tongue which he treats of, that was first formed and afterwards grew up in confusion; and under a People, while they were yet Barbarous, we are not to expect such mighty Regularity. The Romans knew nothing of Grammar, till the times of Ennius, when that Tongue was pretty well grown, and consequently could have no great regard to it in forming their Language, and therefore for any one now, to pretend to fix the Analogy of words, or to reduce all under strict Rule, is to set bounds where they were never intended, and to find a Reason that was never meant. Had Grammar been as ancient as Languages, we might have proceeded in this manner, but it being invented only as a help, and not framed originally as an Immutable rule, we must suit it to our business as well as we can, but are not to expect, it should be uniform and not liable to many exceptions.  
To take a short view of some particulars, 1. As to Letters, we are not yet agreed about their Original, which might be of use in fixing our Alphabets, for though the Greek letters, and from them the Latin, seem derived from the Phoenician and these again from the ancient Hebrew, as has been attempted to be shown, not only from History, but from the affinity of letters, by turning the Hebrew Characters towards the Right hand, according to our way of reading; yet there lies one great objection against this, That Cadmus who brought the Phoenician, letters among the Greeks, is only said to have brought sixteen, and therefore must have left some behind him, for the Phoenician or Hebrew Alphabet was always fixed, and of the same length as now, since we have had any writing, a standing Evidence of which we have in several Alphabetical Psalms and Chapters. Were this more certain, it would help to determine our Alphabets, both as to their Numbers and Powers, whereas now we are uncertain in both, and there are great disputes among the Critics, as to some of the Elements, whether they be letters or no.  
(2.) In the Etymological or Analogical part, we labour under the same difficulties; nor can it be otherwise, where Languages were so much the effect of chance, and were not framed by any settled or established Rules. When Varro writ his Book, De Lingua Latina, it is plain this Analogy was a disputable thing, he brings several objections against, as well as reasons for it, and his Instances are so many, and his objections so considerable that he must needs be allowed to have left it doubtful. In the same Age, when a question was put by Pompey to most of the Learned Men in Rome, 
m V A. Gell. l. 10. cap. 1.  concerning the Analogy of a very common word, they could come to no resolution about it, tho' Cicero was one of the number, and so it was left undetermined. And if the thing were so much controverted among them, who had better opportunities of enquiry, as living nearer the Original, when many monuments of Antiquity were left, and the Latin yet a living Language, among them; it must needs be much more so to us, who live at this distance, and want many of their helps: Our greatest light must be borrowed from their Books, and we can be only more happy in the application. Accordingly we follow them pretty close, and are much more directed by the custom-of Ancient and Approved Authors, than by the reason of words that is perpetually varying. How many words are there agreeable enough with Analogy, and of Modern use among learned Men, which yet, because they are not used by the Ancients, are not only disliked, but are looked upon by the Critics, as vitia Sermonis? Innumerable instances may be had 
n De vit. Sermon. sparsim.  in Vossius: few Men would be afraid to use, Incertitudo, Ingratitudo, and other words of the like nature; there is nothing disagreeable in them, or disproportionable to Speech; and yet because they have not been used by the best Classic Authors, but have been seemingly avoided, when they came in their way, and either paraphrased, or Greek words put in their room, they have been exploded by our Modern Critics. The Anomalisms in words have been so many, and the differences yet more among those that have treated of them, that some have gone so far as to deny the thing itself, and to allow no Analogy either in the Greek or Latin Tongue.  
3. Grammar has fared no better in the constructive part, whether we will be guided by Rules, or Authority of Best Authors; the number of Rules is become a Burden, and the multitude of exceptions is yet more vexatious: If we will believe Schioppius, there are five hundred Rules in our Common Grammars, in the Syntax only of Nouns and Verbs and Participles, and scarce any of those without their exceptions, and so proportionably in the other parts of Syntax; all which must employ a great part of our time. Or if we will be directed by Authorities, the Critics have been so unmercifully severe, that we scarce know, which to follow: Cicero though the most unexceptionable has not escaped their censure, he has been pelted by them, and Valla and Erasmus have charged him with Soloecisms. Diutius commorans Athenis— erat animus ad te scriber●; and Quum in animo haberem navigandi, 
o Vid. Eras. Ciceron. Dial. Op. Tom. 1. P. 823. v. Valla, L. 1. Cap. 25.  are noted passages to this purpose. And indeed though Cicero be looked upon as a Standard of Language with us, yet he was not so to those of his own Age; Atticus 
p L. 7. Ep. 3.  in an Epistle to him, chargeth him with false Latin, and being put upon a vindication, he defends himself by the authority of Terence; so that whatever Cicero be to us, Terence was then the better Authority. Neither of them sure are unexceptionable, nor any other that we can meet with, though we should carry our search through the whole Set.  
4. Pronunciation has been the Subject of great Debates, especially in the Greek Tongue, the pronunciation of which, has been more neglected: And though at first view, it may seem a light thing, and hardly worth a Debate, yet the neglect of it, has been of very ill consequence to that Tongue. For while the Modern Greeks had little regard to the powers of their Letters, and mixed and confounded the sounds of their Vowels and Diphthongs, and run most of them into one, in their pronunciation, they came at last in many words, to write as they spoke, which was one great occasion of the corruption of their Tongue. This vicious way of speaking was brought by the exiled Greeks into Italy, and from thence together with Learning, spread over the greatest part of Europe, till it met with a check here in England, from two very Eminent Men, both of them successively Professors in the University of Cambridge, Sir Thomas Smith, and Sir john Cheek. And because the Controversy is not much known, and may afford some light to the pronunciation of the Greek, I will give a brief account of this Grammatical War.  
It was in the latter end of Hen. viii Reign, that Smith and Cheek began to observe the inconveniences in this sort of pronunciation; they saw that not only the Beauty of the Language was lost in this way, but likewise its very Spirit and Life were gone, by the loss of so many Vowels and Diphthongs, and the Language become jejune and languid: In this way of speaking it, nothing of numerosity appeared in the Ancient Orators and Rhetoricians, nor those flowing Periods, for which they had been renowned in Old Greece; neither could they themselves show their Eloquence, in their Orations or Lectures, for want of the Beauty and variety of sounds. This put them upon thinking of a Reformation, 
q V Chek De ling. Gr. pronunt. Disput. cum Steph. Wint. spars. v. Smith De pronun. Ling. Gr.  and having consulted most of the Ancient Rhetoricians, and other Greek Authors, who had treated of Sounds and finding sufficient grounds from thence for an alteration, with the consent of most of the learned Linguists in the University, they set about the work, with some little▪ opposition at first, but afterwards with success, and almost general approbation. Cromwell was then Chancellor of the University, under whom Reformations were not so dangerous, but Gardiner succeeding, who disliked all Innovations, a stop was put for some time; This Man assumed a power, that Caesar never exercised, of giving Law to Words, and having writ to Cheek then Greek Professor to desist from this new method, which in reality was the Ancient and true way, and not meeting with a suitable compliance, he sends out an Order in his own name and the Senate's, which being too long to insert at large, I shall only mention two or three Heads of it, as being somewhat extraordinary.  
Quisquis nostram potestatem agnoscis, sonos literis sive Graecis sive Latinis ab usu publico praesentis seculi alienos, privato judicio affingere ne audeto.  
Diphthongos Graecas nedum Latinas, nisi id diaeresis exigat, sonis ne diducito— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, sono ne distinguito, tantum in Orthographia discrimen servato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, uno eodemque sono exprimito—  
Ne multa. In sonis omnino ne philosophator, sed utitor praesentibus—  
After such a public Declaration, there was no farther room for private judgement, an obedience was paid, and Gardiner's way prevailed, till a Reformation in Religion, made way for a Reformation in Language, that has obtained ever since. However, the Controversy was then managed with much warmth and Learning; Gardiner insisted principally upon Custom, and the Authority of the present Greeks: on the other side they pleaded Antiquity, and that drawn down from the most Ancient Authors; several of the Greek Rhetoricians were brought into the Controversy, and other Authors that had dropped any expression that looked that way, and a Man would wonder to see so much Learning shown on so dry a Subject. Where the victory lay is pretty visible, and so great a Man 
r Glos. Gr. Praef. ●. 12.  as Du Fresne could not have been at a loss, how to determine the matter, had he not been possessed with partiality for a Party, which he shows too plainly, by blaming Bishop Godwin (though very unjustly) for leaving Gardener out of his Catalogue of Bishops.  
But I have run out too far in Grammatical niceties, whoever desires more on this Subject, may meet with enough in Bishop Wilkins 
s R. Char. L. 1. Ch. 4. etc.  and I have principally insisted on such particulars as have been neglected or overlooked by him.   

CHAP. IU.  
Of Rhetoric and Eloquence.  
AS Grammar teacheth us to speak properly, so it is the part of Rhetoric to instruct, how to do it elegantly, by adding Beauty to that Language, that before was naked and Grammatically true. If we would be nice in distinguishing, there is a difference betwixt Rhetoric and Eloquence, though we treat of them under the same Head; the one lays down Rules, the other practices them, and a Man may be a very good Rhetorician, and yet at the same time a mean Orator: Perhaps Quinctilian gives as good Rules as Cicero, I am sure in better method, and with greater closeness; whereas the other is so much an Orator, that he cannot forget it, whilst he acts the part of a Rhetorician, he dilates and flourishes, and gives Example instead of Rule: And yet a Man that would form a comparison betwixt Quinctilians Declamations, (if yet they be Quinctilians) and the Orations of Tully, would be in great danger of forfeiting his discretion.  
The Ancient Romans had Orators among them and some Eloquence, Instances whereof we have in their History almost as high as the Tarquins; but it was then a chaste thing without Paint or Dress, Rhetoric was not yet known among them, the name of it was not so much as heard of some hundred years after, they wanting a word to express it by, which they were afterwards forced to borrow from the Greeks 
t Quintil. l. 2. cap. 14. . As soon as it came among them, we trace it in its effects, for as among the Grecians, whence it was borrowed, it had occasioned Tumults and Concussions of State, especially at Athens where it prevailed most, only Lacedaemon was more quiet, from whence it was banished, and where a plain Laconic Style was in vogue, so at Rome when once it had got any footing, and the Gracchis, the Bruti and other Demagogues begun to harangue the People, there was no more Peace in that State, nothing but continual Broils and intestine Commotions, till they had fought themselves out of that liberty which they seemed to contend for, and their heats ended in the ruin of their Commonwealth. The Roman Orator had seen so much of this in his time, before things were brought to the last extremity, that he gins his Book of 
u De invent. Rhet. ●. 1.  Rhetoric with a doubt, whether that art had brought greater advantage or detriment to the Commonwealth? And if an Orator where he is treating of Eloquence, were so doubtful in the matter, we need not be at a loss on which side to determine the Case.  
To pass by consequences, that are not justly chargeable on things, which are generally good or otherwise, according as the persons are that use them, we will consider the art itself. If it be an advantage to any Art, to have been treated of by Men that are skilful in it, this Art should have received greater improvements and be nearer perfection, than most others, having been considered by one of the greatest Masters that ever was. Cicero has composed pretty large Treatises upon this Subject, that have been preserved and delivered down to us; particularly two 
x De Oratore, Orator sive Brutus. , in the former of which, as he treats of the several kinds, and lays down such Rules, as are necessary to be observed in our way to Eloquence; so in the latter he delineates and gives us the Portraiture of a perfect Orator. I will not pretend to judge of so great a Master; thus much may be said with modesty enough, that as in the first Treatise, the Persons in the Dialogue differ from one another; so in the latter the Orator seems to differ from himself; the first he is doubtful, in the latter impracticable: In his Dialogue, (which has so much the face of probability, that some among the Learned have mistaken it for a real Conference). The Persons introduced are equally Great, and argue and discourse with equal Learning, and he having assigned no part to himself, consistently with his doubtfulness in this matter, a Man may sometimes be at a loss, which side to close with. And his Orator is too great and inimitable an example, perfectly imaginary, and consequently of no use in humane life, for which Eloquence is designed. He himself gives him only an Ideal Being, and owns that he is no where to be found but in the conceptions of our mind.  
And indeed we must not expect to find him any where else, if all those things be necessary to an Orator, that he seems to require. For first, Nature and Genius are indispensibly necessary, without which the wheels being clogged and under force, will drive heavily; our Orator must have a flowing invention to furnish him with Ideas, a strong imagination to impress them, a happy memory to retain, and a true judgement to dispose them in their due rank and order. He must have Law, to lead him into the knowledge of the Constitution and Customs of his Country, History to acquaint him with examples, Logic to supply him with proper Topics, and morality to enable him to penetrate into, and apply to the Manners and Passions of Men, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which are the Springs of Action, and sources of Persuasion: In short, being to treat of every thing, he must be ignorant of nothing. He must be in Cicero's Language, a Wiseman, that is a Man of universal knowledge, and what is more a Paradox, he must likewise be a Good Man; a Quality that so rarely accompanied Heathen Eloquence, that both Cicero and Quinctilian are much at a plunge in asserting it to the Greek and Roman Orators. He must not only have a general knowledge of things, but must have skill in adorning them, he must have the greatest Art, and yet at the same time the skill to conceal it, for when ever Art appears, it loseth its effect, and nothing can please, much less persuade, but what is natural. The most external things are necessary to his accomplishment, he must not only have Eloquence in his words, but likewise in his looks, decent motions, and an air of persuasion, that graceful action and pronunciation, which Demosthenes made the first and second and third thing, and which had so great a share in his own Composures, that we are not to wonder, that his Orations please less in the reading, than they did in the deliverance, as wanting three parts of what they had when they were spoke.  
These being the qualifications that are necessary to a complete and perfect Orator, it is next to impossible, there should ever be any such Man. If any such were, in whom all these conditions met, it must have been he who requires them, I mean Cicero, who had the happiest Genius, and that cultivated with the greatest Art and Industry, that perhaps ever Man had; he whom Quinctilian 
y ●. 10. cap. 1.  opposeth to all the Grecian Orators, to whom he gives the Force of Demosthenes, the sweetness of Isocrates, and the Copia of Plato; he whom he styles the name not of a Man, but of Eloquence itself, and gives it as a Rule, by which a Man may judge of his own Proficiency in Eloquence, if Cicero gins to please him: yet this Cicero was so far from pleasing in his own Age, that as he met with Detractors among his Enemies, one of which composed a Treatise 
z Largius Licinius ap Gell. l. 1. 17. cap.  against him, under a very disparaging title, so he did not satisfy Brutus among his Friends, who taxeth him with looseness in his composures, and charges him with want of Nerves and Strength. And Quinctilian 
a L. 12. cap. 1.  where he comes to explain himself tells us, that he styles Cicero a Complete Orator only in the vulgar meaning of the word, for in the strict sense, he was yet to seek, and does not only desire perfection in him, but acquaints us with the faults he was charged with 
b L. 12. cap. 10.  to wit, that he was turgid and swelling in his Expressions, too frequent in repetitions, broken in his Composition, and not only easy in his Style, but soft. In the last Age, and when Learning begun to revive, and Cicero was studied almost to the neglect of our Bibles, yet one of our Great Critics in the Latin Tongue, could never be reconciled to a Ciceronian Style, nor could hear him read 
c Certe Linacer— Ciceronis dictionem nunquam probare potuit nec sine fastidio audire. V Gard. Epist. ad Chek. p. 176.  without weariness and somewhat of loathing.  
It is not yet agreed among the learned, which of his Composures are the most Elegant, otherwise it were easier to know where to make our Reflections. Sir William Temple brings his Oration for Labienus, 
d P. 313.  (whom by an error very pardonable among so many excellencies he mistakes for Ligarius) as an Instance of the power of humane Eloquence. It must be confessed this is a remarkable instance; here was the Greatest Orator and the Greatest Judge, (for Caesar is allowed by Cicero to be one of the most Eloquent Persons of his time) Caesar comes into the place of Judicature, breathing revenge against Ligarius, and with an obstinate resolution to condemn him, but with difficulty is prevailed with to hear Cicero in his Defence, which he gives way to, rather as a thing of mere form, than with any thoughts of yielding to his persuasion: However, no sooner is he heard, but he moves and affects, and when he comes to touch upon Pharsalia, the Conqueror has no more Soul left, he takes fire and is transported beyond himself, he shakes and trembles, and drops the Paper that he held in his hand, and in spite of all his resolutions, absolves the Criminal, whom he was determined to condemn. And now I think I have allowed enough to Eloquence; but to deal impartially, the force of it is so great, and the effect of it so wonderful in this Instance, that it would raise a Man's curiosity to inquire into the Cause. Had this Oration been lost, we should have had most terrible Out-cries, and lamentable Complaints among the Learned, of the loss that the world has sustained in so consummate a piece. Lo it is yet extant! and although this, as every thing of Cicero's, be excellent in its kind, yet so much will be granted, that it may be read without rapture and amazement.  
But granting as much force to Eloquence as can be desired, how is it, it it does persuade, in this and other instances? I am sure not from rational arguments, which ought to be the proper means of convincing a reasonable Man, but from quite different motives and Topics of persuasion: Caesar's deliberate, and perhaps most reasonable resolution, was, not to pardon so great a Criminal, an implacable wretch, that had afterwards a hand in the Blood of his Deliverer. The Orator does not so much seek to convince him of the unreasonableness of the thing, as endeavour to prevail with him from other inducements, he applies to his passions instead of his Reason, his weak and blind side, by putting him in mind of the Pharsalian Field, of his glory in subduing, and the greater honours he had acquired by pardoning; he styles him Father, though at the same time he thought him an Usurper, and bids him remember it was his People that begged Ligarius of him, and that he could not do a more popular thing, than by yielding to their requests and giving way to his usual Clemency. Such are the Topics that are brought from Rhetoric! The truth of it is, our common Eloquence is usually a cheat upon the Understanding, it deceives us with appearances, instead of things, and makes us think we see reason, whilst it is tickling our sense: It's strongest proofs, do often consist in an artificial turn of words, and beautiful expressions, which if unravelled, its strength is gone and the reason is destroyed.  
There are few that read Seneca, that do not imagine, he writes with great force and strength, his thoughts are lofty, almost every line in him is a Sentence, and every Sentence does seem a Reason, and yet it has been well observed, by a Master in the Art of thinking 
e Malebranch. Recherch. Par. 3. l. 2. ch. 4. , who has taken some pains in unravelling some of his loftiest expressions, that there is little more in him at the bottom, than a Pomp of Words. And the same observation is made there, upon two other Authors, the one of whom is not so proper to be mentioned, the other is not worth the mention: All of them are known, and are as much quoted, and will go as far in popular discourses as Authors of closer thought.  
It is not enough to say, that this is the fault of these Authors and not of Eloquence, for its end being to persuade, and the persons whom we are to deal with, being usually the People, who as they are the most, are not generally the wisest, if we would persuade them, we must suit ourselves to their capacities, otherwise we must be content to lose our end. An apposite Similitude is argument with them, and a acquaint saying will go farther than a substantial Reason, for being guided by Imagination, they are most affected with sensible resemblances, and not having capacity to penetrate into things, that which is easiest and lies uppermost persuades them most: So that unless we could make them wise, they will be easy and credulous, and will be lead by appearances instead of Truth. And this is one reason, why Eloquence could never flourish, at least not arrive to any considerable height, unless it were among a people, that had understandings above the ordinary size, such as the Athenians once were, and afterwards the Romans: And for the same reason it is, that the wisest Men are not always the best Orators, either at the Bar or in the Chair, for they are too much above the People's level, their Artillery shoots over, and it is no wonder if they miss their aim. And if it be yet said, there is notwithstanding such a thing as true Eloquence, that will always have its force with Wisemen; I grant there is, but besides that this is to restrain it to a very narrow compass, Wise Men will be most guided by wise considerations, such as are grounded upon close Argument and Rational Conclusions, which are more properly the business of Logic than of Rhetoric and Eloquence.  
Having gone thus far in my reflections, principally with regard to the Ancient Orators, it is almost needless to examine the Moderns; some of their Patrons in other sorts of Learning, have given up the comparison in this; so that if the Ancients are found to be wanting in perfection, we are not to expect to find it in the Moderns. However a Word or two of them. The French have shown most care in this particular, among whom an Academy has been erected for the refining their Language; the Members whereof have spent whole days in examining the propriety of a word, and have been no less accurate in studying the Beauties and Ornaments of Speech and Numerosity of their periods: But I doubt the observation is true, that whilst they have been so scrupulously nice, they have run into the fault of over much accuracy, and by adding Beauty to their Language have broken its strength; by spining and refining it, and giving it too much paint and flourish, much of its masculine strength is lost, and I have sometimes thought, that it boded not well to that Society, that their first Prize of Eloquence was given to a Woman 
f Mad. de Scudery. . It is certainly a fault in Oratory to be too curious in the choice of words, a bold Period, tho' against Rule will please more, than to be always in phrase, and a decent negligence is often a Beauty in expression, as well as Dress; whereas by being over correct or always flourishing, our Periods become either too luscious or too stiff. And yet tho' some Members of the French Academy have pretty freely censured this fault, and have deservedly laughed at some Gentlemen, that did not only misspend their time in studied Periods, but in avoiding rough and unsounding words, it is plain some of their own Brethren have run into the same fault, and have been curious and affected in their Style, almost to a degree of superstition. For what can be said less of him who composed 
g M. de Gomberville v. Hist. Acad. Franc. p. 50.  a large Book in five Volumes, in all which he declined making use of a common and almost unavoidable word 
h Car. , only because it did not please him? or did M. Vaugelas employ his time better, who having undertaken the Translation of Quintus Curtius, no very great performance, spent thirty years in translating his Author, and yet left it an unfinished work? In which work it is very remarkable, that having left five or six different Translations in the Margin of his Book, that which stood first was generally approved of as the best 
i ib. p. 213.  as containing his first and natural thoughts, whereas the others were probably more forced and strained.  
But Mr. Pelisson in his History of the Academy, has given us a Panegyric upon the French King, which I suppose is designed as a Specimen of French Eloquence, and being there in five different Languages, every Man may read it in a known Tongue, and be able in some measure to judge, to what degree of perfection Oratory has arrived among our Neighbours: Tho' the truth of it is, the English Translation is wretchedly mangled, and so different from the Author's sense, that it ceases to be his. However take it in the Original, I believe it will not be pretended, that he has painted out his Hero, in such charming colours, as either Pliny has done his Trajan; or Cicero, Pompey in one of his Orations 
k Pro lege Manilia. Pro Marcel. & Ligar. , or Caesar in another. The Academies Rhetoric is yet wanting, which they have given us an expectation of, both in the same History and in the Preface to their Dictionary. But that work having cost them forty years, and a Grammar being in order their next undertaking, if that likewise should employ them a proportionable time, their Rules of Eloquence seem reserved for Posterity and not for us.  
The English as they have not taken the same pains nor pursued the design with equal Industry with their Neighbours, by erecting Societies for the improvement of Oratory; so whatever their performances have been, they have been more modest in their pretensions: For tho' the French have composed large volumes upon this Subject, with much Ostentation, yet I scarce know of any, that have been published by the English, whether it be that there Genius inclines them to strength rather than beauty, or that trusting to their native Force they despise the fineness of Art. They have indeed been charged by their Neighbours 
l V come. ap. Iourn. Des Scau. An. 65. p. 100  with a sort of Eloquence that is not very charming, in beginning their discourses generally with some Prophecy or surprising Story, which if it were true, is not perhaps so much to be attributed to their want of skill, as to their compliance with the humour of a People, that attend too much to Prophecies, and are too much affected with stories: But however, it were 200 years ago, when the observation was first made, it is otherwise now, when Oratory after the many changes, it has undergone, has put on a quite different Face: tho' even from those frequent alterations, its instability is too remarkable, and would tempt a Man to think, that in some measure it depends upon humour, and has not so unmoveable a Foundation as might be wished.  
For to look back, a very little, in those dark● times, it is not impossible, that Eloquence was much about that pitch, the observation would have it, in a blind age, when Legends were in fashion, and the People were kept in Ignorance and led by Wonder; a Reformation in Religion brought with it an advancement in Learning, and as Elegancy begun then to be restored to the Latin Tongue, so in Queen Elizabeth's Reign, the Writers of that age, seem to have affected a Ciceronian style in English, both in the length of their periods, and often by throwing the verb to the end of the Sentence: The succeeding Reign degenerated rather than improved, when the generality run into an affected way of writing and nothing would please, without a fantastic Dress and jingle of Words. And though in the following Reign, this way of writing was much laid aside yet even then they larded their Discourses so thick with Sentences of Greek and Latin, that as things now are, it would be a hard matter to excuse them from Pedantry. What sort of Oratory obtained in the late times of Confusion, is well known, especially in the Pulpit: As if the observation of our Neighbours had been calculated for them, little Similitudes and odd Examples, and a worse sort of Cant, was the Eloquence of these times, which notwithstanding charmed the People to that degree, that it hurried them besides themselves, and almost out of their Wits. And though Oratory may be thought to be now at its full height, and we may flatter ourselves, that nothing can be added to the Strength and Solidity of those Discourses, that are published among us almost every day, upon every Subject; yet I will not undertake but that somewhat may be produced in the next Age, so much more perfect, at least more pleasing, than any thing we yet have, that the present Eloquence shall be looked upon by our Posterity with the same neglect, with which we now treat the performances of our Forefathers. No doubt, what they writ, pleased their own age, as much as our most boasted Pieces please now, and we ought not to be too confident in our own performances, with disregard to other ages; unless we will make ourselves the Standard of Eloquence, and not give other Men leave to judge of us, as we have done of those before us.  
I know no reason, why it may not vary according to times as well as places, which in the latter case it so evidently does, That, that which is looked upon as Elegant in one Nation, would be laughed at by another People. The Eastern Nations are so different from us in their stile, that could our most Elegant Composures be understood by them, they would be thought flat and insipid, they being so accustomed to Sublime and Lofty Expressions, that nothing will affect them, but what is fetched from the Sun and Moon and Stars. And nearer home, where the difference ought not to be so considerable, the French and Italians, who have taken such pains, and spent so much time in polishing their Style, yet charge one another with imperfections in their way of writing, and both of them differ from the English. Every Nation can discover faults in their Neighbours, and do not consider that their Neighbours see the like faults to blame in them.   

CHAP. V.  
Of LOGIC.  
LOgic in the Modern phrase is the Art of thinking, and being designed for a help or Instrument of Reason, its very nature implies weakness in the understanding; and therefore we ought not to value ourselves too much upon our ability, in giving subtle Rules and finding out Logical Arguments, since it would be more perfection not to want them. God Almighty who sees all things intuitively does not want these helps, he neither stands in need of Logic, nor uses it; but we whose understandings are short, are forced to collect one thing from another, and in that process we seek out proper Mediums, and call in all other helps that may be subservient to Reason.  
There was little considerable done in this matter before Aristotle, (for the Eleatic Logic was only an Art of Wrangling, as the Academic, was of doubting) He was the great advancer of this Art, insomuch that ever since his time, the main grounds of reasoning have been borrowed from him, even by those that have despised him. But as nothing can be begun and perfected together, so his Logic has been charged with several defects; for whereas all Logic is properly reduceable to the four principal operations of the Mind, the two first of these, have been handled by Aristotle very perfunctorily, to say no worse, and of the fourth he has said nothing at all: Most of his time has been spent upon the third operation, of which he has treated so largely, that his Logic is in effect, an Art of Syllogizing. In this he glories as his own invention, and has been so much valued upon it by some, that it has been styled by a modern Author, 
m Rapin. Reflex surla log. p. 375.  the greatest effort of humane Wit. But though the Invention be confessedly extraordinary, to reduce our vague thoughts and lose reasonings, that are almost infinite to certain Rules, and make them conclude in Mode and Figure; yet whosoever considers the nature of a Syllogism, in how many things it may be false in the Matter and peccant in Form, That not only the Terms and Propositions must answer to one another, but must be adapted to the notions of things, and that these two are hard to be connected; whilst every little slip in a Proposition or Ambiguity in a word can spoil the Syllogism, will have a less opinion of its conclusiveness and will find it a hard thing, to bind any Syllogism so close upon the mind, as not to be evaded under some plausible distinction.  
Another Modern 
n Bacon. Nou. Organ. p. 50, 132.  I am sure had this opinion of the matter, for which reason he thought it necessary to seek out another sort of Logic.  
I only hint at the principal operations of the Mind, for if I should descend to less particulars, there are few things in Aristotle, that have not been excepted against by Modern Authors; some of whom have gone so far as to question the genuineness of his Books, because forsooth, they cannot discover in them that Flumen Orationis, that Cicero speaks of. But though there can be no sufficient ground to think them spurious, notwithstanding better arguments have been brought to that purpose by an Eminent Philosopher of these later ages 
o Pic. Mirand. Tom. 2. p. 668, etc. , yet we have too much reason to believe they were much corrupted, from Strabo's 
p V lib. 13.  account of their having been mutilated and consumed with moisture, by being buried so long under ground in Greece after Aristotle's death; and after they were brought to Rome, by having been again mangled by ignorant Transcribers: So that it is hard to know, how much we have of Aristotle.  
The Logic in use among the Romans was rather a sort of Rhetoric than Logic, in which sense it is generally to be understood, where we meet with mention of it among them: It was first borrowed from the Stoics, who were in vogue at Rome, before Aristotle was much known there; and their Logic having been rather Specious than Solid, as consisting much in pomp of words, and in giving plausible colours to improbable things, was best fitted to that People, who were little farther concerned for that Art, than as it was of use in point of Eloquence. And though Cicero takes in Aristotle, especially in the Topical part, that has most affinity with Rhetoric, yet it is plain, he has likewise followed the Stoics, though it was not reputable enough to be owned. What the Romans have done upon this Sbuject is not worth much notice, having had little occasion to make use of this Art, and what they have of it to purpose being borrowed from Aristotle; the active Life was their business, and disputing never seems to have been much in fashion with them.  
However when Cicero begun to revive in these later Ages, this sort of Logic was again attempted; the Men of nice Palates could not relish Aristotle, as he was dressed up by the Schoolmen, and were so madly struck with Cicero, that they thought all sort of Learning was to be borrowed from his Stores! Cicero is drawn in beyond his Province, and his Topics ransacked to frame a Logic: But though these Men were extraordinary Persons, yet nothing shows more plainly, how necessary it is for Men to keep within their proper bounds; For when they come to treat of this matter, it is so foreign and unwieldy in their hands, that they make very ordinary work: They bring indeed some plausible objections against Aristotle, and so far they are within their proper Sphere, but when they should lay down somewhat new of their own, they either offer nothing, or what they do, is so unsuccessfully, as only to show that they are out of their Element, and that Logic is no●e of their Talon. I speak this of the first Reformers of Learning, for though Ramus run in with them, in his opposition to Aristotle, yet he has outdone them in this, that he himself has given us a plausible Systeme; (For I cannot look upon Valla's performance to be so much) which though it was much Read and Commented on, upon its first appearing in the World, yet seems now to be disregarded, and in the next Age may probably be forgot.  
My Lord Bacon saw clearer into the defects of this Art, than most Men did, and being neither satisfied with the vulgar Logic, nor with its Reformations that were made, suitably to his vast and enterprizing Genius, attempted a Logic wholly new, the Plan of which is laid down in his Novum Organum. The way of Syllogizing seemed to him very fallacious and too dependent upon words, to be much relied on, his search was after things, and therefore he brought in a new way of arguing from Induction, and that grounded upon Observation and Experiments: Tho this Plan as laid down by him, looks liker an Universal Art, than a distinct Logic, and the design is too great and the Induction too large to be made by one Man, or any Society of Men in one Age, if at all practicable: For whatever opinion he might have of the conclusiveness of this way, one cross circumstance in an Experiment, would as easily overthrow his Induction, as an ambiguous word would disorder a Syllogism, and a Man needs only make trial, in any part of natural History, as left us by my Lord Bacon, to see, how conclusive his Induction was like to have been. To say nothing, that notwithstanding his blaming the Common Logics, as being too much spent in words, himself runs into the fault, that he condemns; for what else can we make of his Idola Tribûs, Idola Specûs, Fori, Theatri; or of his Instantiae Solitariae, migrantes, Ostensivae, Clandestinae, Constitutiv●, etc. but fine words put to express very common and ordinary things?  
After the way of free thinking had been laid open by my Lord Bacon, it was soon after greedily followed, for the Understanding affects Freedom as well as the Will, and Men will pursue liberty, tho' it ends in Confusion. The Cartesians have been observed to be no friends to Logic, their Master has left nothing extant upon that Subject, except some scattered expressions; unless a Treatise of method must be interpreted a Logic, which notwithstanding is more properly metaphysical. One of his first Principles of Reasoning, after he had doubted of every thing, seems to be too circular to be safely built upon, for he is for proving the Being of a God from the truth of our Faculties, and the truth of our Faculties from the Being of a God; he had better have supposed our Faculties to be true, for they being the Instruments that we make use of in all our proofs and deductions, unless we suppose them to be true, we are at a stand, and can go no farther in our proofs: So that the way of supposing seems to be more rational than that of doubting.  
The notion of perceiving things by Ideas is of a piece with this, which however plausible it might seem when first started, after it came to be examined Men's Ideas about the same objects happened to be so vastly different, and that in things that were the most clearly and distinctly perceived, that it was a great prejudice against this opinion. There are few of the first started Ideas, that have not been examined, and many of them effectually confuted, by the late Improvers of this way, and other Ideas substituted in their room, which have given no more satisfaction to others, than the first did to them: and till we can agree about some Rule or Standard, by which to measure and adjust our Ideas, it is only a lose way of thinking, and there can be no end of Controversy this way: Although there be little hopes of this, whilst we have reason to believe, that nothing pleaseth more in this way, than the liberty it gives, or which every Man takes of framing new and fine Ideas. I am no enemy to free thinking, yet I must always wish, we might proceed by some Rule, (for a Rule is no Bar but a perfection of freedom) otherwise I am sure, there is no agreement to be expected, and it is to be feared we shall end in Confusion. Clear and distinct perception has been given us for a Rule, and the conformity of our Ideas with the Reality of things has been given as another; but it is no good proof of either, that Men have differed much in some of those things, that have been supposed to be the most clearly perceived, and most agreeably to the nature of things. The great difficulty is, in discovering that Conformity, or in clearing and distinguishing our thoughts; for every Man's Ideas are clear to himself.  
It would be looked upon as an omission to pass by the Art of thinking supposed to be writ by M. Arnault 
q L' Art de pens. Par. 68 . The best part of it must be owned to be borrowed from Aristotle, only be clothing old Terms, under new Ideas, which shows that it is not so easy to frame a new Logic as a new Philosophy, and gives a ground of suspicion, that this Philosophy is not at perfect amity with reason, otherwise they might more easily be adapted to one another. One thing upon which this Author values himself is, his substituting useful Instances, in the place of those trivial common ones formerly in use with the old Logicians, which he makes an objection to the old way: But can it be an objection to any thing, that it is suited to the end, for which it was designed? the use of Instances is to illustrate and explain a difficulty, and this end is best answered by such Instances as are familiar and common: whereas the Instances which this Man brings, are usually taken from other Sciences, and suppose Men to be wise already, contrary to the intention of Logic, which is only an introduction to other Sciences, and being fitted for Beginners, supposeth our knowledge to be yet weak, and is designed for an Instrument to help us forward. And yet there is a worse objection against his Instances, that many of them being borrowed from an unsound and corrupt Divinity, they can hardly be read by Beginners without danger of being corrupted: For such false Opinions are never more contagious, than when they are held forth to us under such plausible appearances, nor are their impressions ever like to be more lasting, than when they are sucked in with the principles of Reason. I will not say, that these opinions are sown there on purpose, that they might grow up with our Reason, but where so much Divinity is mixed with our Logic, it is very suspicious that it has a meaning.  
The last Systeme of Logic that I have met with, is the Medicina Mentis which has been esteemed the Best, and, for aught I know, may maintain that Character till a new one appears: It is not safe to censure an Author of so established a reputation, only thus much a Man may venture to say, That it seems to be too strong Physic for most Men's Constitutions, and it looks so like a Mountebank to boast of Infallible Cures 
r Medicine. Ment. Praef.  that I could not but have a less opinion of this Author. He makes light account of the former Logicians; and Perception which was thought to be so clear a mark of truth, is shown by him to be often the effect of Imagination, 
s Ib. Par. 2. p. 43.  and therefore he fetcheth his Criterion higher, which he placeth in Conception, or a yet higher degree of Cogitation. But whether knowledge be grounded in Perception or Conception seems not very material, provided they could s●ow us the way, how to find it: This is what we desire; and the telling us, we must assent to nothing, of which we have not a Conception, does not seem to further our search over much. It serves well to another purpose, to show us the shortness of our Reach, for if we must assent to nothing without Conception, we must needs know very little, there being few things, that we conceive perfectly. I am apt to think Mr. T. has borrowed some Hints from this Author, tho' he has applied them to purposes, the Author never meant, and indeed flatly disavows: For the Author seems to mean well, only is too fanciful a Man, to make an extraordinary Logician, and whoever reads his Medicina Corporis will be confirmed in this opinion: If his Rules of Reason be not better suited to the mind, than his Rules for Health are fitted to our Bodies, he is not like to be much followed.   

CHAP. VI  
Of Moral Philosophy.  
MOrality may be considered two ways, as an Habit, or a Rule; either as it is in us, ' or as an Art for the conduct of Life and a Doctrine of Manners: In both respects, it is very imperfect, if considered only in its own strength, and without the assistances of Revelation; Philosophy being as unable to give Rules, as nature is to practise them. Most of the Philosophers and some of grosser capacities were sensible of this, they were so far bewildered in their search after Happiness, as to be able to perceive their own wander, and could feel the disorders of their nature; But how to return into the way, or remedy these disorders was beyond their Power.  
Socrates was the first, who, after the Philosophers had tired themselves out in the search of nature, with little success, observing the great uncertainties and vanity of such inquiries, brought down Philosophy from fruitless Speculations, to the uses of Life: His Opinions in Morality were clearer and much better grounded, than those of most of the succeeding Sects; having had truer notions of God, of the Immortality of the Soul and future Rewards, than the rest had, without which all Virtue is a floating unstable thing, wanting both its due end and sufficient foundation. But though he was clearer than most of the rest were, yet he expresseth himself too doubtfully, to be depended on: Most of his Philosophy is in broken Sentences, delivered with much doubtfulness, and his dying Words are well known, when he had least to fear, which are so full of Diffidence, that they can give little encouragement to others to follow him. He proposeth his Sense, as a probable Opinion, of the truth whereof, he had conceived good hopes, from its agreeableness with the Divine Goodness, and the order of Providence; rather than built upon such solid Principles, as would give assurance, and bear Men up in the discharge of their Duty, where it meets with Reproaches and Discouragements, the usual attendants of Virtue.  
Plato does little more than Copy from his Master, and being awed by his hard Fate, speaks yet with more reserve; his most Divine Dialogue, is chief a relation of Socrates' Opinions, and an account of the Discourses he had with his Scholars, sometime▪ before he died 
t V Platon. Phae. done. . And both the Socratic and Platonic way having been enemies to dogmatizing, and rather doubting and denying than asserting any thing; we are not to expect certainty, where it is not pretended to.  
Aristotle is more noted for his order, in bringing Morality into Systeme, by treating of Happiness under Heads; and ranging it in Classes according to its different Objects, and distinguishing Virtues into their several kinds, which had not been handled Systematically before, than for any real improvement he made in this sort of knowledge: which was a diviner thing in Plato's Dialogues, although only Lax and Moral Discourses, than it was under all the advantages, that Aristotle could give it, by reducing it into order; whilst he wanted the only thing, that could render it amiable.  
As for the rest of the Philosophers, they generally go upon false Principles, That Sect of them, which was strictest in its Institution, and pretended to the greatest Perfection, the Stoics, were more extravagant than most others were: Their Rule was to live up to Nature, which as they understood it, was to divest themselves of Humanity; for that was to be laid aside, and an absolute unconcernedness to be embraced, in order to the happiness, they were to be possessed of; Their Wiseman was to be Rich and Powerful, and every way Happy in the midst of Torments: All good with them was equal and alike; only their Wiseman was somewhat above the Gods 
u V Senec. Ep 53. Est aliquid quo Sapiens antecedat Deum.  In short their Philosophy was all Paradox, it made a great show, and dazzled those that looked no farther than appearance, but was nothing more at the bottom, than an Ostentation of Wisdom.  
It were tedious to recount the various Opinions of the Heathen Moralists, which in short compass of time, were grown so numerous, that it gave occasion to the Sceptics, to dispute the Truth of all, and to maintain that there was nothing true or false, good or evil; and consequently to place their happiness in a perfect indifference, an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the understanding: and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the will 
x V Sext. Empiric. l. 1. c. 12. . This was to go beyond the Stoics, who, as they could feel no pain, so these Romantic Heroes could taste Happiness without being affected with Pleasure. Their Master Pyrrhon, who flourished about the time of Zeno, was so struck with this Principle, that if a Chariot or wild Beast came in his way, he scorned to turn aside, and must often have perished, had he not been preserved by his Friends. He was best answered by the Dog in Diogenes Laertius 
y Lib. 9 vit. Pyr. rhon.  which coming upon him by surprise, ere the Philosopher had time to consider, made nature start back, and the Philosopher confess that such imaginary principles will not hold.  
In Varro's time the different Opinions were so extravagantly multiplied, that in his Book of Philosophy 
z V Aug. de Civ. Dei l. 19 c. 1. , he reckons up two hundred and eighty eight several Opinions, only concerning the Summum Bonum. And if the difference were so great concerning the ultimate end, which all Men desire, and in which, if any thing, the common sense of mankind should seem to agree; we may easily imagine what agreement there was, in other less Ends and particular Duties. I need not show it, it is a common Theme, and may be seen in every Treatise of Morality.  
But though Morality may have been very imperfect amongst the Philosophers, it is otherwise, I suppose with us, who have better light and a surer Rule for our direction, than they had: It is true it is so, whilst we keep to our Rule, but when we forsake that, we go astray like other Men. Our Modern Casuists, especially the Jesuits, afford too clear an evidence of this, who by starting nice Cases and Philosophising upon them, have brought us back in some things to the state of Philosophers; they have already given us a new Notion of Philosophical Sin, which as stated by them has no such sting in it, as to deter most Men from its Commission: Their Theses are Printed, that were to be maintained by the Jesuits at Dijon, the first of which is, Peccatum Philosophicum seu morale, est Actus humanus disconveniens naturae Rationali & Rectae Rationi; Theologicum vero & mortale est transgressio libera legis Divinae: Philosophicum quantumvis grave, in illo qui Deum vel ignorat, vel de Deo actu non cogitat, est grave Peccatum, sed non est offensa Dei, neque Peccatum mortale dissolvens amicitiam Dei, neque aeternâ poenâ dignum: A Thesis indeed very favourable to the Heathen Philosophers, but impossible to be reconciled to the Principles of the Gospel. It has been reprinted at the Hague 
a Novu. Her. dans la moral. Ala hay 89. , and sufficiently answered and exposed by a good hand, though nothing can expose it more than naming it.  
This is only one of their Casuistical Decisions, a large Collection of which may be had in the jesuits Morals 
b Morale des jes. A Mons. 1667. , which as represented by a Doctor of the Sorbonn, and he quotes their own licenced Authors, is such a System of Morality, as the Heathen Philosophers would blush to own. According to the Doctrine of that Morale, how many sins are there, that may be committed, and what Duties that may not be evaded in some degree, or under some distinction? Their one Doctrine of Probability, is a ground of as much liberty, as an ordinary sinner can desire; for if a Man may act upon a probable Opinion, and an Opinion becomes then probable, when it is supported by one Reason, or maintained only by one Doctor 
c V mo●●l p. 148, 158. , I will venture to affirm, there are few things so hard in morality, that have been defended by the losest Moralists, that have not been maintained by some of the Jesuits, as cited in that Book. And yet this is not the utmost liberty, these nice Casuists and Indulgent Fathers have allowed; they go farther, and where there are two probable Opinions, a Man may act upon that which is less probable, nay he may venture upon an Opinion that is only probably probable; which is certainly as low a degree of probability, as can well be imagined; and I do not see, how they can go lower, unless they would allow a Man to act upon an Opinion that is improbable.  
It might have been expected, that where so many hard Opinions have been charged upon the Jesuits, as have been produced in the jesuits Morals, they should say somewhat in their own defence: Somewhat indeed they have said▪ and one of the Pleas they insist upon most is, that many of the same Opinions are maintained by the Schoolmen, some of whom were canonised, and their Books generally received in the Church of Rome: But whatever Opinion they may have of such a defence, it is nothing to us, who bring the same charge against the Schoolmen, that we do against the Jesuits, as far as they maintain the same Opinions, and we think them the more dangerous, if they have not only been defended by Jesuits, but by such Men, as by having been received into the Catalogue of Romish Saints, have in a manner canonised their Opinions, by being canonised themselves, and made their Church in some measure answerable for them: Tho to do that Church right, others of her Members have taken offence at such Doctrines, particularly the jansenists; and among the Benedictines, Father Mabillon, though otherwise reserved enough in his Censures, yet where such lose Casuists come in his way, cannot forbear giving them a lash, and declaring it his Opinion, that a Man may read Tully's Offices with more profit than he can do certain Casuists 
d Etud. monast. Par. 2. c. 7. : which though smart enough, as coming from a modest humble Man, yet another Frenchman has said a severer thing, where he defines Morality as treated by the Casuists, L' art de chichaner avec Dieu; and indeed in their way of handling, it looks liker an Art to ease Men from the Burden of rigorous Precepts, by showing them the utmost bounds they may go without Sin, than what it should be, a direction for the ease of tender Consciences, by showing Men their duty in particular Cases.  
To speak the whole matter in one word, a good Conscience and an upright Man will see his duty with only a moderate share of Casuistical skill, but into a perverse heart, this sort of wisdom enters not: It is usually some lust to be gratified or danger to be avoided, which perverts the Judgement in practical Duties, but were Men as much afraid of sin as they are of danger, there would be few occasions of consulting our Casuists.   

CHAP. VII.  
Of Natural Philosophy.  
PHysical knowledge taking in the whole Compass of Nature, is too vast a subject to be comprehended by humane Mind; it is an unexhaustible Mine, wherein we may always dig and yet never come at the bottom: For though the things it treats of be material Objects, and as such sensible and easy, yet when we come to treat of them in a Philosophical manner, they eat our Sense, and are liable to equal difficulties, with nicer matters. There is nothing more common in nature, than Matter and Motion, or more easily distinguished, but then we must understand them to be so only in their grosser meaning, for if we speak of subtle Matter and intestine Motion, they escape the nicest scrutiny of Sense: And yet these are the secret Springs of most of the operations in nature, and as for gross matter and visible motion, they are rather of mechanical consideration. A Philosopher's business is to trace Nature in her inward Recesses and Latent Motions, and how hide these are, is best known to those, who are most conversant in Philosophical Inquiries: Such Men by looking deep into her, and observing her in all her wind and mazes, find matter enough for Wonder, and reason to adore the Wisdom of God, but at the same time only meet with mortification to their own Wisdom, and are forced to confess, that the ways of Nature like those of God, are past Man's finding out.  
Aristotle who has gone so far in his rational Inquiries, has given us little insight into Physical Truths; for having framed a Body of Physics out of his own Head, all the various Phaenomena of Nature were to be suited to his Philosophy, instead of his Philosophy's being drawn from Observations in Nature: His reasoning which did well in Logics, was somewhat out of place, and misguided him here, where he was rather to be led by Observation, and where he does make observations they are usually unphilosophical, and such as few Men could be ignorant of: His four Elements are gross things, and leave the understanding at the same pitch where it was, and his three Principles do not advance it much higher; his first Principle as he has explained it, is unintelligible, and the last of the three is no Principle at all, unless we will allow that for one Principle, that is destructive of another: He tells us, that all knowledge is to be derived from the Sense, and yet presently forsakes that, and flies to Reason. But his Philosophy is enough decried already, and needs not be brought lower than it is.  
I need not here reckon up the opinions of other Ancient Philosophers; most of them have been revived, and have been again confuted, and have died the second time in our own Age: The opinion of Thales and the jonic Sect, in making Water the Principle of all things, has been revived by those, who have attempted to explicate a Deluge from such an Original: And the Opinion of Pythagoras and the Italic Sect, in placing the Sun in the Centre of the World, and ascribing motion to the Earth, has been maintained anew by Copernicus and his Followers; and though Transmigration of Souls be one of Pythagoras' hardest sayings, yet it has found a Patron of late in a Countryman of our own 
e Mr. Bulstr●de. , who has maintained it in a qualified Sense, which perhaps was as much as Pythagoras meant. An Anima Mundi, Preexistence of Souls, with the rest of Plato's Opinions, have found a strong party in their defence; and many other late Opinions, which have little in them, except their novelty to recommend them to the World, do really want that too, and might be easily shown, to be only the Spawn of the Ancient Philosophers; by whom as there is nothing so absurd, that has not been said, so they have scarce said any thing so extravagant, wherein they have not been followed.  
But among all the ancient Opinions, none have been revived with more general approbation, than those of Democritus and Epicurus, the Founders of the Atomical or Corpuscular Philosophy; an ill Omen to Religion, when they who have explicated the production of the world, by the Laws of Mechanism without a God, have been so generally followed. In this M. Des Cartes has been too successful, whom though it would be very unjust to charge with denial of a God, whom he supposeh to have created Matter, and to have impressed the first motion upon it, yet in this he is unblamable, that after the first motion is impressed, and the wheels set a going, he leaves his vast Machine, to the Laws Mechanism, and supposeth that all things may be thereby produced, without any further extraordinary assistance from the first impressor. The supposition is impious, and as he states it destructive of itself; for not to deny him his Laws of motion, most of which have been evidently shown to be false, and consequently so must all be that is built upon them, his Notion of Matter is inconsistent with any Motion at all; for as Space and Matter are with him the same, upon this supposition there can be no vacuum, and there can be no Motion in a Plenum: Motion is only the succession of Bodies from one place to another, but how should they succeed from one place, if there be no room to receive them in the next, which there cannot be, if all be full? And the difficulty is still greater upon the first framing of things, before the subtle matter is produced, that was to suit itself, to all the little Interstices, betwixt the larger solid Bodies, which must needs clog and interfere with one another, unless we will allow some fluid matter, that will yield and give way to the other's motions. M. Des Cartes imagines he answers all this, by a succession of Bodies in a Circular Motion; but I think this Motion carries its own Confutation with it, and that nothing can be supposed more absurd, than to imagine, that upon the motion of every little Atom, the whole frame of things must be disturbed and set a going. Motion is one of M. Des Cartes' darling Principles, and by this and Matter, he pretends to solve the greatest difficulties, that are in Nature, and it is very remarkable, that he has not failed more in any of his Notions, than in these two great Fundamentals of his Philosophy, for allowing him these, his other explications hang together somewhat better. But this it is to frame Hypothesis out of one's own imagination, without consulting Nature, which Mr. Des Cartes has not done, for it was equal to him, what Hypothesis he went upon, and had Father Mersennus 
f V Rapine. Reflex. p. 423.  told him, that a vacuum was as much in fashion, and as agreeable to the taste of the Age, as a Plenum then seemed to be, we should have had an Hypothesis grounded upon a vacuum, and no doubt as specious and plausible, as that we now have; perhaps more plausible, being more consonant to his own Sense, as having been his first design, and the other only hammered out by the direction of his Confident Mersennus: And it is a wonderful thing, that Men should run mad after such an Hypothesis, which, as it has not the least ground in Nature, so the Author himself never believed it. It has been answered and effectually confuted in all its Branches, by several hands, but by none better than the Author of, A Voyage to the World of Des Cartes, which though not always conclusive, is every where ingenious, and confutes him in his own way, for one Romance is best answered by another.  
But we have been taught to distinguish betwixt Hypotheses and Theories, the latter of which are shrewd things, as being built upon Observations in Nature, whereas Hypotheses may be only Chimeras: I should be glad to see that Theory, that is built upon such Observations. The most plausible Theory I have yet met with, is only built upon an Hypothesis, to wit, the Incrustation of the Earth, and the cracking of its Cortex, the very same in substance we have been speaking of, and how this Theory should be more certain, than the Hypothesis it goes upon, is past my understanding. Thus much I believe may be said of all our Theories, That, however natural they may seem at first view, they have always some mark in nature set upon them, to discover them to be false: Thus Dr. B's Theory, of the Incrustation of the Earth is very ingenious, but then there is no sufficient Provision made, for Antidiluvian Waters, much less for Springs and Rivers, which can neither be generated, nor flow in Streams without Mountains. Mr. W's Theory, shows a vast reach and depth in its Contrivance, both in his accounting for the formation of things, and in his Explication of a Deluge; But his Paradisiacal days are so long, by his allowing only an annual motion to the Earth in that State, as to exceed all belief; and tho' he makes a tolerable shift, to supply us with such stores of Waters, from the Atmosphere of a Comet, as might occasion a Deluge, yet it is impossible for him to carry them off again after the occasion is over; and for aught I can see, they must have continued with us, till the return of his Comet. So that whatever differences may be alleged betwixt Hypothesis and Theories, they are much upon the same level, as to any real light they have yet afforded to Nature, and one great difference seems to be this, that the former are only modestly proposed, whereas Theories are ushered in with greater assurance. It is well if Theories be not as much out of fashion in the next Age, as Hypotheses are in this; for so many Observations and Experiments are required to raise a Theory, that I despair of ever seeing One that will bear the Test.  
When I speak of Observations and Experiments, I would not be thought to undervalue a Society, which has been erected to that purpose, and whose endeavours have been so successful that way already: But however successful they may have been, those excellent Persons have more modesty, than to over-rate their own performances, and nothing has done them more injury, than the vanity of some few Men, who have been so Planet-struck as to dream of the possibility of a Voyage to the Moon, and to talk of making wings to fly thither, as they would of buying a pair of Boots to take a journey 
g Mr. G's Scep. Sc. p. 134. . The Genuine Members of that Society have other thoughts of things, being far from any hopes of mastering Nature, or of ever making such progress, as not to leave work enough, for other Men to do. One of their Number, a great glory of their Society, after he had grown old in these Studies, learned Modesty and diffiding thereby, and was never more reserved than in his full growth and maturity of Knowledge, when he had least reason to be so. And another Incomparable Person, who has added Mathematical skill to his Observation upon Nature; after the nicest Enquiry, seems to resolve all into Attraction, which, tho' it may be true and pious withal, perhaps will not be thought so Philosophical.  
The truth of it is, we may as well rest there, for after all, Gravitation was never yet solved, and possibly, never may, and after Men have spent a thousand years longer in these Inquiries, they may perhaps sit down at last under Attraction, or may be content to resolve all into the Power or Providence of God. And might not that be done as well now? We know little of the causes of things, but may see Wisdom enough in every thing: and could we be content to spend as much time in contemplating the wise ends of Providence, as we do in searching into Causes, it would certainly make us better Men, and I am apt to think, no worse Philosophers. For tho' Final Causes have been so much banished from our modern Physics, yet nothing is more to the purpose, or more easy to be understood. Whereas Causes are yet Latent; and it is very remarkable, that the very last Author, 
h M. le Clerc.  that has given us a System of Physics, after all the Discoveries that have been talked of, and Improvements that have been made in Nature, has been forced to proceed in an Analytical method, for want of Principles to go upon, and instead of demonstrating Effects from the Causes, has been forced to trace the Causes of things from their Effects: which tho' it be some Argument of the Author's Modesty, yet I do not speak it to commend his performance, for his Physics are like his other Works, faulty enough.   

CHAP. V.  
Of Astronomy.  
THE Chaldaeans were the first (unless you will except the Chinese) that we meet with in Profane Story 
i Cicer. de Divin. l. 1. p. 1. , that made Observations upon the Stars: Two reasons might incline them to this, First, the evenness of their Country, which afforded a free and open prospect; and next the opinion they had of the Stars, whom esteeming as Gods, it must have been a part of their Religion to look up to Heaven and observe them. But then their observations were principally Astrological, they did not so much measure the Heavens, as fetch their directions from thence, and were more concerned for the influences of the Stars, than their Motions: So that tho' Astrology were at its full height amongst the Chaldaeans, yet Astronomy never seems to have arrived at any maturity. The same may be said of most of the Eastern People; even the Chinese, after they have made Observations upon the Stars above four Thousand years, yet have made so little progress in Astronomy, that upon the arrival of the Missionaries, their Mathematicians could not compose a perfect Calendar 
k L● Compt. nouv. Memoir. L●t. ●. p. 100 .  
The two Hypotheses of Ptolemy and Copernicus will take in most of what needs be said on this Subject; for as to that of Tycho Brahe, as it is in a great measure compounded of these two, and seems designed to account for difficulties, in both these Hypotheses, so it is liable to several Objections in them both.  
The Ptolemaic Hypotheses has too much appearance of Art, to be esteemed natural, all its Epicycles and Eccentries and other Ambages can never be thought the Contrivance of Nature, which acts in a more simple manner, without going so far about; those solid Spheres which it supposes have been shattered and overturned by the Modern Philosophers, and shown to be inconsistent both with the Trajection of Comets, and with that equal light, which is conveyed to us from the Planets and other Stars, which by passing through such different Mediums and Solid Bodies must have suffered innumerable Refractions: Several of the Phoenomena of the Heavens admit of no tolerable solution this way, particularly those of Mercury and Venus, and the Access and Recess of the Polar Star to and from the Pole, which in the time of Hipparchus was distant from it 12 Degrees, but is not now fully three, and in process of time will recede from it again more than ever; and the many different, and likewise opposite motions of the Stars and Spheres are not easily conceived. But nothing is so inconceivable as the velocity of their motion, for upon this Hypothesis they must be supposed to move some thousand Miles in a Minute, which tho' it may be conceived by Philosophers, is not very obvious to common understandings. Such are the Objections that have been commonly brought against this Hypothesis, which have rendered it so hard of digestion; and tho' nothing can excuse the hard saying of that Profane King 
l Alphonsus of Castille.  so well known and so often quoted, yet it may be so far mollified, that having been levelled against this Hypothesis, he did not thereby pretend to correct the Works of God Almighty, only did not believe them to have been framed in such a manner by God, as Ptolemy has described.  
The Copernican Hypothesis values itself upon its easiness, and the great Compendiousness of the way it goes in: But tho' it accounts for appearances more Compendiously than the other does, and without the vast Apparatus, that is required in the Ptolemaic Hypothesis, yet it contains things as incomprehensible as the other does: For as the celerity of Motion in the former exceeds all belief, so the Regularity of Motion is unfathomable in this. The Motion of the Earth is of hard enough digestion in itself, but supposing it to move in a fluid Medium, who is there that can imagine, that it should be so regular and uniform as it is? The fluid with which it is environed and in which it moves, is unstable, and mutable, consisting of little Bodies, that are always altering their position to one another, and changing their shapes by constant and mutual Attrition, and yet tho' the Ambient Fluid be always altering, the motion is the same. It describes our days by its Diurnal Motion upon its own Axis, our years by its Annual Revolution, and our Seasons, by that and its Inclination, and all these so regularly, as not to vary in so many Successions of Ages, and yet we must believe that this Constancy and Regularity is maintained by fluctuating matter, the most unstable thing in the world. The exactest Movements or Machine's, that humane Wit can frame, are Subject to innumerable disorders, either from the breaking of the Spring of their Motion, or wearing of their wheels, or some other external impulse or inward decay, and therefore always want our care, either to set them right, or keep them in order; only this vast Machine and Frame of things, preserves its Course, and never varies, tho' acted in appearance by the most unconstant Causes. A Man that well considers this will be inclined to entertain a more favourable opinion of the Ancient Philosophers, and tho' he cannot believe the Heavens to be turned and acted by Intelligences, yet he would find it almost as hard to apprehend, how they move without them: whatever become of Intelligences, an Intelligent Being must of necessity be taken in, without which our Philosophy will be very unable to do the business.  
There is another difficulty in this Hypothesis, which the Copernicans cannot easily get over, and which will perplex any Man's understanding that well considers it: That the Earth is only a point in respect to the Universe, tho' it be a pretty large Postulatum, yet possibly must be granted upon any Hypothesis; but that not only the Earth, but the whole Magnus Orbis, or that vast Orbit which the Earth describes round the Sun, should be esteemed a point, (without which supposition the Copernican Hypothesis cannot be maintained) is such a Postulatum in Astronomy, as the more a Man thinks of, the less easily he can assent to. For what is this Magnus Orbis or vast Circle which must be esteemed as a point? To take only the Semidiameter of this Circle, or about the sixth part of the whole, Hugenius 
m Cosmotheor. p. 124. , no incompetent Judge of these matters, has calculated the distance betwixt the Earth and the Sun to be about 17 Million Germane Miles; or in other words, that supposing a Bullet shot from a Gun could retain always the same velocity, it had at its first discharge, with this swiftness in about twenty five years, it would pass from the Earth to the Sun: All which immense distance is about a sixth part of Copernicus' point. It is true, Hugenius assigns a proportionable distance (if there can be any proportion in such an immensity) to the fixed Stars; for this Bullet being shot again, with the same swiftness, he 
n Ib. p. 137.  supposes, it might come at the nearest of the fixed Stars in about 700 years, which is such a distance as common apprehensions cannot reach, and will once more require a Philosopher's Understanding.  
In this vast compass, our Astronomers have discovered new Worlds (like that Sanguine Conqueror who was seeking out New Worlds before the old one was half subdued) every Planet must be a World and ever Star must have its Planets: this Project was pursued by M. Fontanelle in a pleasing entertaining way, but has been embraced by others with greater seriousness. What these Worlds are, might as well be left undetermined, God having thought fit to say little of them, and having placed them beyond our reach; But if we may guests at the discoveries that are to be made in the remotest Stars, from those that have been made already in the nearest, the Moon, I do not think they will make any great addition to knowledge. It must be confessed, that mighty discoveries have been talked of in that Planet: Hevelius has given us its Geography, and has marked out 
o Selenograph. p. 226.  every Mountain and Valley, Sea, and River, as exactly as if he had been there, in his accurate Map of that World. Ricciolus 
p Almagest. p. 204.  has gone a little farther, and has assigned every Astronomer his proportion of ground; you may there meet with the Land of Copernicus, Galilaeus and Kepler; and it is but just that they should have the benefit of their Invention: And the same Author to show his modesty has placed Ricciolus in the best and most Conspicuous spot of Ground in that World. But are these Men in earnest? Or do we yet know where we are? That the Moon is an Opake Body is no new discovery, the nature of Eclipses has long since shown it, and I am afraid it is little we yet know beyond this. For tho' the Moon has been divided into Sea and Land, and the Division so much acknowledged, that a Man's parts must have been suspected, that would have doubted of the thing; and tho' the obscure parts of its Body, have been generally thought to be Watery, and the Luminous parts, Earthy and Solid, yet this Division seems rather to be grounded upon an inference of Reason, to wit, that the obscure and Watery parts imbibe the Light, whereas the Earthy Solid parts reflect it, than upon the experience of Sense, assisted by Glasses. These Glasses indeed discover the difference betwixt the dark and Luminous parts much more clearly, than the naked eye can, but will never show the nature of either, or what Substance they are of, much less distinguish the different portions of Earth and Water: But Men come possessed with an opinion of Seas and Rivers, and then easily think they see them (as every sound does answer the tune that runs in our ears) and after one Man has seen them, it is a reproach to the next, not to be as acute and distinguishing as he, and so we cheat one another into a tolerable agreement. That this is the Case I am verily persuaded, for tho' I can neither pretend to good eyes, nor good Glasses, and therefore will lay no weight upon my own opinion, yet Hugenius who had them in perfection, and who writ since these accurate Maps were taken, could neither observe Seas nor Rivers in the Moon, and expressly denys, that any such are to be seen there 
q Cosmotheor. p. 114.  And there is this reason besides, that if any such were, they must necessarily raise a mighty Atmosphere, which, as it would hinder our clear prospect at all times, so by its clouds, it would sometimes darken one part of the Moon's Body, and sometimes another; whereas now the dark and Luminous parts are always the same: So that as far as I can see, we know little more of the Moon, than that it is an Opake and solid Body, and so much we were pretty well assured of, before Telescopes came in fashion.  
No doubt, Telescopes are a noble Invention, and the discoveries that have been made by them are very considerable, but as to the discovering thereby the Nature and Substance of Heavenly Bodies, I look upon it as utterly impossible: And yet this is the modish way of framing new Worlds; we first observe Seas and Rivers, in the Moon, and if such be there, there must be Plants that they water, and if Plants, there must be likewise Animals to feed upon them, and all these are designed for the service of Men. The reason is easily carried further, for if the Moon be a World, by parity of Reason, so must the other Planets be also, and if all the visible Planets are carried about in the Vortex of the Sun, which is no better than the other Stars, no doubt, the other fixed Stars, have their attending Planets, as well as the Sun, and so we have a Plurality of Worlds with a witness: but this chain of reasoning is easily broken, by breaking its first Link, for if there be no Waters in the Moon, in consequence of that, neither are there any Plants, or Animals, or Men, and if none of these be there, by parity of reason, neither are there any in the other Planets, and so the whole Chain falls to pieces.  
These World-mongers are always objecting the improbability of God's framing so many vast and glorious Bodies, only for the sake of this Earth, so inconsiderable a portion of the whole: Amongst the rest Hugeni●s, who in one place makes this Objection, in another part of his Book, 
r P. 33.  as if he had forgot himself, thinks it enough to say, That God raised this mighty Frame of things, that he might contemplate and delight himself thereby; and were there no other reason, we ought to acquiesce in this: But they that argue thus, seem to measure things by their Bulk, which is a false way of reasoning; there is more Beauty and Contrivance in the Structure of a humane Body, than there is in the Glorious Body of the Sun, and more perfection in one rational immaterial Soul, than in the whole Mass of Matter, be it never so bulky. There cannot then be any absurdity in saying, that all things were created for the sake of this inferior World, and the Inhabitants thereof, and they that have such mean thoughts of it, seem not to have considered, who it was that died to redeem it. Let them measure the World by that Standard, and they cannot undervalue it any longer, without some reproach to infinite Wisdom.   

CHAP. IX.  
Of Metaphysics.  
Metaphysicss having so great an affinity with Logic, and being so interwoven with the learning of the Schools, I need say less of them in this place: They are styled by Aristotle Natural Theology, from whence we may be enabled to take some measures of them; for Natural Theology is in itself a poor, weak thing, and Reason unassisted has not been able to carry the clearest Philosophers very far, in their pursuit after Divine Matters▪ We have seen this already in practical Truths, and the Reason lies stronger, in such as are Speculative. And if we see so dimly in physical matters, which are nearer our Sense, and in a manner exposed to view, how much more must we be bewildered in our search after Spiritual abstracted Truths, in the consideration of Universals, and of things of a Transcendental Nature, such as fall properly under the consideration of Metaphysics? For though Metaphsiycal Truths may be certain enough in their own nature, yet they are not usually so to us, but being abstruse things, and lying deep and remote from Sense, it is not every one that is capable of understanding them, and there are yet fewer that understand their true use. They are usually under the Conduct of subtle Men, and these nice Professors, instead of resolving doubts, have spun out new difficulties, and framed Labyrinths, out of which they have scarce been able to disentangle themselves: So that Metaphysics, which were at first only Natural Theology, are now become the most artificial thing in the World.  
One need only dip into any System, to see how these Men are plunged in setting out, for whereas there are two things of principal consideration in Metaphysical Knowledge, its Object and Affections; and whereas Philosophers are pretty well agreed about the Object of other Sciences, as that Quantity is the Object of Mathematics; and matter of Physics, and so of the rest; the Metaphysicians have not come to any tolerable agreement about the Object of this Science, or Sapience, or whatever you will call it: Suarez produceth six different opinions, and himself brings the seventh, which is his own. And as to its Affections, they are again at a plunge to find out Affections different from Being (which seems to comprehend every thing) for if the Affections and Subject are the same, their Demonstrations are Indentical, and prove nothing. But these are dry Considerations.  
What Aristotle has done upon this Subject, is much short of a perfect Work, and is rather an Essay, than a Complete Treatise, for tho' he has left fourteen Books upon the Subject, yet they are lose and indigested, (which was not usual with Aristotle, where he has given his last hand) and the two last are so Foreign to his design, and so unsuitable to the place they stand in, that some have thought fit either to strike them out of his Works, or to place them in a new order: And indeed his twelfth Book should seem to be his last, which concludes with his Notion of God and Spiritual Being's; though none of his Books are Divine enough, to give a true account of Natural Theology. It is plain he wants light in these matters, and neither knows where to fix, nor what to determine; which is one reason of the obscurity of his Books of Metaphysics, for no Man can write clearer than he thinks. And therefore his Commentators have often tugged in vain, in labouring to make out a meaning, where possibly the Author himself was at a loss. If any Man could have understood him, Avicen had the best plea, who was as subtle a Philosopher and studied him as much as perhaps any Man ever did; and yet after he had read his Metaphysics forty times over, and had them all by heart (which I will venture to say, is more than ever any Man will do again) he was forced to lay them aside as unintelligible 
s V vit. Avicen. p. 3.  In one thing I must do him right, that whereas he has been represented as too Positive and Dogmatical in his opinions, it is the fault of his Followers, not his: He gins these Books in a very different manner: His third Book (for the two first are chief Prefatory) is taken up with doubts, and the Title of the first Chapter is, The use of Doubting, to do which well, he makes one mark of a Philosopher; and gives this reason, because unless a Man knows how to find out and state a difficulty, it is impossible to solve it, as a Man must see the folds and wind of a knot, before he can untie it. So that the Art of doubting is no new invention, having been known to Aristotle, as well as the Moderns, with this difference only, that he does it more modestly, and is not so Sceptical, as the first mighty pretender to this way.  
And because we are come thus far, let us consider this new Method of knowledge by doubting, upon which our Modern Metaphysicksturn so much, and of which our new Philosophers talk so loudly: For my part I can see no great use either of their doubting, or of the knowledge, it leads to. For what is it we must doubt of? Even of the most certains Truths in Nature, of the verity of our own Bodies, as whether we have Hands, Arms, and Legs 
t Cart. Princip. p. 2. Meditat. 1.  And what is the first knowledge that results from this doubting? That since I doubt, I am; for that which doubts must itself necessarily have a Being. Now allowing all this, I do not think we are much the wiser; for had ever any Man real doubts of these matters? Or did ever any Man in his Wits question the truth of his own Being? Such doubts and such proofs are only fitted for melancholy Persons, and I hope we are not Philosophising at this time of day to yield conviction to such Men. Evident truths and first Principles may be reasonably supposed, and indeed they must be supposed, for they are not capable of proof, there being nothing clearer by which they may be proved; and for Men to offer at proof in such matters may make a pompous show, but is no real advancement of knowledge. The old way of proceeding upon allowed Principles seems to me more rational than this method of questioning every thing, till we have unsettled the first grounds and foundations of Truth; and however useful doubting may be in Philosophical Inquiries, it ought always to suppose a ground, for a groundless doubt is so far irrational.  
After our Philosopher has done with doubting, and has proved to us our own Existence, he brings us at last to the Being of a God, 
u Meditat. 3.  in which a great part of his Metaphysics is spent; and I am so unwilling to weaken any proof to that purpose, that I shall pass it over: Only thus much may be inoffensively said, that his proof from the Idea, is the abstrusest and the least conclusive argument that has been brought, for tho' constant and universal agreement in the Notion of a God, may be a good Argument to prove his Existence, and familiar enough to the weakest Capacities, yet this Idea as managed by our Author, is neither clear nor very conclusive: For what is there of either, in the Objective Perfection or Reality of this Idea, being greater than the formal Perfection or Reality in the Mind, and therefore that this Idea cannot proceed from thence, but must have some Superior Cause to produce it? When after all this Objective Reality is nothing more than an operation of the Mind, or rather a mode of its operation, which is such a Reality, as one would imagine, the Mind alone might be able to give it.  
But this Philosopher's Metaphysics are only Meditations, a Complete Treatise was to be given us by his Followers; amongst whom M. Poiret, I know not how, has obtained a name; he has refined upon his Master, and is so full of thinking, that he has made Cogitation to be the substance of the Mind 
x Cogitat. Ra●. l. 2. c. 3. 5. , and in pursuance of this, the Essence of God to be likewise Cogitation; which, with other odd opinions will hardly recommend him to considering Men. I always looked upon M. Poiret as a Phanatic in Philosophy, and have been confirmed in my Opinion, by what has happened since; for as Phanaticism has no bounds, he has since (if he be the same Man) express, ' d it in his Divinity, by licking up the vomit, and adoring the Opinions of a silly Woman, of whose Inspiration he is as well assured as of the Being of a God 
y V Bour. Det. Nar. 1. p. 10. ; an expression which nothing but Enthusiasm, can excuse from Blasphemy. And therefore I have the more wondered to see a comparison formed betwixt Plato and M. Poiret, which I could have wished had been let alone.  
I must rank Mallebranch in the same order, whose Recherche has furnished out such refined and abstracted Metaphysics, as if they were designed for Comprehensors; he has exalted Ideas to their utmost Height, and because they bore not with them certainty enough, whilst they were barely operations of the mind, or representations from external Objects, he has placed them in a Subject that cannot err, to wit, in the Wisdom of God himself, whom having supposed to be the Place of Spirits, as Space is of Bodies, and that there is an intimate Union betwixt God and the Soul of Man, by attending to him, who is always presential to our Minds, we are to see all things in this Ideal, or Intelligible world 
z reach. ●. 3. Par. 2. c. 6. . Now tho' there can be no doubt, but God can lead us into all Truth, by displaying himself to us, and perhaps may deal thus with us when we are in Heaven, yet this way seems too Supernatural whilst on Earth, and too clear for frail and weak Men, who are not yet to know by Vision; and it is withal so like the inward Light of a New Sect of Men, as not to make it over reputable: To which purpose it is very remarkable, that Mallebranch's Opinion having been espoused of late, by an Ingenious Person of our own, with all the advantages of Beauty of Style and Perspicuity of Expression, yet the Men of New Light have taken such hold of it, as to make it necessary for him to write an Apology to disengage himself from the Quakers, who would needs have it thought they had gained a Proselyte 
a V Conned. Hum. Lif. p. 183. : Wherein tho' he has distiguished himself from these People, yet thus much he owns, That if the Quakers understood their own N●tion, and knew how to explain it, and into what Principles to resolve it, it would not very much differ from his. In another thing there is too great an agreement: that these men of thought have too low a value for humane Learning, either as it lies in our common Books, or in the Book of Nature, in respect of that light which displays itself from the Ideal World, by attending to which, with pure and defaecate Minds, they suppose Knowledge to be most easily had. Experience and Deductions have been formerly esteemed useful, but in this compendious way to knowledge, provided we make our approaches, with our Souls purged and with due preparation of Mind, there needs little more than application and attention. Indeed Prayer has been made another Condition, which tho' it be proper and of good use upon all occasions, yet is not so pertinent here, where we speak only of natural means.   

CHAP. X.  
Of History.  
I Scarce ever met with any Historian, who does not write true History, if you will take an account of him from his Preface, and not be too nice in examining his Book; the first Pages are usually filled with the Care and Integrity of the Author, which possibly, are to be found no where else: Those who have taken most care, have been charged with some negligence, and all of them have been so far faulty, as to extort a Confession from one of their number, wherein he fairly owns, That there is none of the Historians, that do not lie in some things 
b Vopisc. juxta init.— Neminem Scriptorum quantum ad Historiam pertinet, non aliquid esse mentitum. . He names some of the most unexceptionable, and pretends to be able to make good his charge by contestable proofs. Let us take a short view.  
We have little considerable remaining of Profane Ancient Story, except what we have left us, by the Greeks and Romans; for as to the Chaldaean History of Berosus; and the Egyptian of Manetho they both writ since Herodotus, and we have only some Fragments of them left preserved by josephus, Eusebius, etc. and the Books that go under these great names, are the impudent Forgeries of Annius of Viterbo. And as to Sanchoniathon, who has given us the Phoenician History, tho' he pretends to be much more Ancient, yet his great Antiquity has been questioned by Scaliger, and his very Being, by Mr. Dodwell, So that those we are to depend on are the Greeks and Romans.  
The Greeks as they have not been noted for their veracity in any respect, so their Truth and Integrity in this particular has been always so questionable, That Graecia Mendax has been stigmatised in History: We have no tolerable account from them before the Olympiads, the times before these were the Mythic Ages, and are all Fable; and when the Historical Age commenceth, our Accounts of things are not much better: For they having not originally had any Public Annals, or Registers of things, and amongst their Ancient Authors, the Poets having had the first rank; we may easily imagine what sort of Accounts are to be expected from those Men, who were either to follow uncertain Reports and Traditions, or what is much worse, to Copy the Poets. Accordingly their first Accounts were very lose, and rather Poems than Histories, which they have been charged with by the Romans pretty freely, and Quinctilian is so far from softening the matter; That he compares the liberty they took to a Poetic Licence 
c Instit. l. 2. c. 4. . But no Man has exposed them so much as josephus 
d Contr. Appion. l. 1.  has done. He tells them, Their accounts of things are all novel, that they have no Public and Authentic Annals, nor any Author more Ancient than Homer, and those they have do differ from one another, that Hellanicus, differs from Acusilaus, that Acusilaus corrects Hesiod; and Hellanicus, Ephorus; he again is corrected by Timaeus, as Timaeus is by others; and Herodotus, by all: And yet this is that Herodotus, who has been styled the Father of History, tho' he might with equal right be named the Parent of Fable. I know what Apologies have been made for him, especially from late Voyages and Discoveries; But it is enough to say, he cannot be defended, and that those few Instances, which have been brought, do rather show the Wit of his Apologists, than signify much towards the redeeming the Credit of their Author; his mistakes are too numerous and too gross to be accounted for, from some accidental agreement with Modern Discoveries.  
It must be confessed, some of the following Historians, have writ more cautiously, and in this, the Children have exceeded their Father, particularly Thucydides who has been noted for his Accuracy and Care; but not to insist upon Iosephus' Authority, who has not exempted him from the Common Censure, a great part of his History is taken up with large Speeches and Harangues, which had never any Existence, except in the imagination of his own Brain; and the rest of his Story is of too narrow extent, both as to time and place, to be of any considerable importance in the account of ancient times, of the darkness whereof he himself complains in the entrance of his Book. He who has done most and whose accounts are most extensive is Diodorus Siculus, taking his rise from the Original of things and describing the World in its full Latitude and extent; and let any one excuse him from Fable, and the Cause is yielded. His first five Books are almost a continued Fable, describing more Ages than the World has had duration, and such Nations as have had no Being: Lucian's true History has scarce any thing more incredible, than what may be met with in that Author. The best thing that can be urged in his excuse is, that he owns and confesseth the Charge, that is brought against him, Entituling his first Books, Mythic History, which in plain English is Fabulous. But this argument has been largely prosecuted by a learned Pen 
e Orig. Sacr. cap. 4. .  
Well but however fabulous the Grecians may have been, there may be more certainty in Roman Story: It is possible there may, and yet not near so much, as might be desired. The most complete and only General History we have among them, is Livy, whose Genius has been thought to equal the Majesty of the People he describes: To pass by his Patavinity, which has been understood by some, of Partiality to his Country, and his long Orations that are pure Fiction; and Monstrous Prodigies, which are such vanities as only serve to amuse the weaker sort of People; his accounts of remote times are dim and blind, and for want of sufficient vouchers, are justly questionable. He himself describes the first times, to the Foundation of Rome, as a Poetical Period, rather than grounded upon undoubted Monuments 
f Li●. 1 p. 1. ; and after the building of the City, he complains, that the use of Letters had been very rare, and consequently little could be consigned to writing, that therefore the memory of things was his best Guide, at least so far, as to the burning of Rome, when most of their public Monuments, did perish with their City 
g Lib. 6. p. 1. : which could they have been preserved, yet they were so jejune and naked, that they could hardly furnish out materials for a tolerable History.  
The first ground of the Roman Story is the coming of Aeneas into Italy, with this Livy gins his Book, and ushers it in with tolerable assurance, and if any thing could be known among them, it must have been their own original, and yet this is so far from being allowed, that Strabo 
h Lib. 13.  plainly shows, Aeneas never stirred out of Troy; and if Homer's Authority be of any weight, it is plain, he did not only die there, but his Posterity were to reign there in succeeding Ages 
i Iliad. 20. l. 306. . And that he never set foot in Italy, has been made pretty evident, in a late Dissertation to that purpose 
k Bochart. Epist. numb, Aeneas unquam fuerit in Italiâ. . And yet notwithstanding what can be said against it, this was so received a Truth at Rome, that the ancient Families derived from Venus and Aeneas, and upon this reason, the People of Troy had Privileges and Immunities granted them by the Romans, especially by I. Caesar who derived from them. But this was an effect of partiality to their Country and of vanity, in being thought descended from Gods and Heroes, wherein with like reason, they have been since imitated by other Nations.  
The truth of it is, this partiality to their Nation does show itself in all their Historians; they represent themselves not only as the most Valiant People, but likewise as the most Just and Faithful in all their Wars and Alliances, and having had the advantage of writing their own Story, they must have been believed in all they say, had not there been some way left of discovering the contrary. Themselves discover the opinion their Enemies had of them; Galgacus our brave Countryman is introduced describing them as Pirates and public Robbers, Men of insatiable Avarice and unbounded Ambition, and upon these motives, as disturbers of the Peace of Manking: And though no doubt that noble Speech of his in Tacitus, were made for him, yet the Historian had not observed a due Decorum, had he not made him speak the Sense, their Enemies had of the Roman People. And though Polybius does sometimes censure the Roman Justice, yet he no where discovers so much truth, as by what he tells us, of Fabius and Philinus: It seems these two had writ the Panic War, the one a Roman, the other a Carthaginian; the one blames the Carthaginians almost in every thing, and the other the Romans: It is possible they might both be unblamable, but I know no reason, why we are not to give as much credit to the Carthaginian, as we are to the Roman. Had such Historians as Philinus been yet preserved, we might then have known all the Romans faults, as we now read little, besides their Virtues; tho' we have the less need of them to this purpose, the Christian Apologists 
l V Min. Felix. v. Lanct. Inst.  having left such an account of their Justice and public Virtues, as is very inconsistent with their own Histories. And indeed we have one sure way of detecting their insincerity, by comparing them with sacred Story: what monstrous absurdities have justin and Tacitus related of the jews, where they might have had opportunities of being better informed? and we are not to think, that they have been more inquisitive in knowing, or perhaps much more favourable in describing other Nations: So that upon the whole, the Romans in this matter have not much outdone their Neighbours.  
I am not ignorant what mighty expectations were conceived of one Man 
m Cic. de leg. l. 1. p. 1. , I mean Cicero, and how forward Men have been in imagining, that nothing could have been wanting in this kind, had he undertaken the work, he once intended. For my part I scarce wish he had, and cannot but think, he would have been as partial, and under as powerful prejudices, as any of the rest. For how do you think he had cut out and contrived his Work? He had designed a History from the foundation of Rome, to his time, and in order to that designed to begin at his own Consulate, and write backward to Romulus 
n V ●ion. Cass. l. 46. ad juit. Tussal. i●. : A very preposterous and unaccountable Method, did not the reason appear; the Good Man was full of himself, and was impatient to come at his own praises; Catiline, no doubt, was in his head, and after he had pressed his Friends to write that War, and could not prevail with them to undertake it, he is resolved to do it himself; and whether in the conduct of the Work, Cicero's Character would not have been too large, and Catiline's too foul, I leave to every Man to judge: Would not Catiline have been painted out in the same dress, as he now stands in the four Orations? And had our Orator's History come down as low as Anthony, should we not have had too much of the Philippies, to be reconcilable to truth? Cicero requires so much of Oratory as an ingredient in an Historian 
o De Orat. l. 2. juxt. init. Epist. 12. L. ●.  and so much partiality in his own Historian, as to confirm the suspicion, beyond a doubt.  
If I should descend to Modern times, I should have a large field before me, but the path is so trodden, that every Man's own reading will furnish him with observations: If there should be any Man, who has made none of this kind, he needs only peruse the English and French Historians, and by comparing them together, he will find matter of Diversion and Admiration at the same time. How differently do they describe the same action? How manifestly in favour of a Party? How often do the French glory in a Victory, which with the English is esteemed an Overthrow? And again how do the English sometimes proclaim Victory, where their Enemies think they have given them a Defeat? How do they both Triumph, where perhaps neither of them have reason to glory? Or if the advantage be too undeniably on our side to be contested, as at Agincourt and Cressey, how do our Enemies seek to lessen it? How do they palliate every thing, and charge Heaven, or cross accidents, or mad Despair, with the fortune of the Day? How do they turn every Stone and labour to have the success and Honour fall any where, rather than on the English? Whereas on the other side, How do the English arrogate all to themselves, and their own courage, and scarce allow any share to Fortune or Despair, or lucky accidents. You have Fabius and Philinus, only altering the Nation in the French and English. What a reproach to truth was it, That a Duke of Orleans, one of the first Persons in France, should be said to be openly executed for Treason at Paris; as was reported in twenty Histories, whilst the D. was living, and could contradict the report, who afterwards died in peace, to the shame and ignominy of all his Historians 
p V Bodin. Meth. Hist. cap. 4. . Or who could imagine, that it should be thought an universal Custom amongst the English, that upon an invitation to a Friends House, the Person invited, should in compliment, lie with his Neighbour's Wife? And yet this, however barbarous it may seem, has been related, by an European Historian 
q Chalcocond. l. 2. p. 49. , a Christian, and one that lived almost to the last Century. Would not a Man have suspected, he had lived two thousand years ago, or in some remote corner of the world, where the English had been reckoned amongst Barbarous People?  
These are Domestic Instances. If we look abroad; upon the discovery of the West-Indies, what strange Relations have we had from thence? we have been told there of a Nation of Amazons, of Giants of a prodigious Stature, the People of such monstrous Shape and truculent Aspect, as if they were of another Species; and as many Cannibals, as might eat up an ordinary Country 
r V P. Mart. Ang. Ocean. p. 2. 4. etc. Purch. l. 2. p. 34, 58, 91, 79. . Whereas upon further enquiry, we meet with no Amazon's, unless long Hair and want of Beards will metamorphose Men into Women, and the People are much of the same size and shape with the rest of Mankind: But the Spaniards either saw them in a fright, or were under the vanity of reporting strange things, or being in love with the Gold of the Country; they were to represent the People as Monsters, that they might have a fairer pretence to destroy them. And such Instances may serve to illustrate ancient History. Doubtless, Herodot●s and Diodorus were imposed upon by such false Relations, and had not the like opportunities with us, of correcting their mistakes.  
I should be infinitely tedious, should I give a History of Incredible things, and therefore I only touch upon some few, and those too matters of Fact, which ought to be most certain: Whereas should we launch out into Mysteries of State and the Cabinets of Princes, which are the most instructive part, and most properly the Business of an Historian, we should be still more in the dark. Matters of Fact are visible things, and fall under common observation, whereas politic reasons and considerations, are abstruse and hidden, and only penetrated into, by some few of clearer Capacity and deeper Reach: every ordinary Capacity can judge of time by the point or hand, but the spring and secret Motions are only observed by Men of skill. These Men in the State are the Ministers, tho' the secret be often hid even from them; for the Reasons which Princes give, are often only pretended, and rather what they would have others think of them than the true motives by which they are guided. Such things are out of my Road, and therefore I dismiss them.  
I shall only observe further, that however vicious our Histories may be already, there has been one way taken to make them more corrupt, by Secret Histories and Turkish Spies, and other Books of the like nature, which by an appearance of Truth and by mingling it with falsehood, impose upon Men of easy belief, and are now grown so numerous, that it is a matter of Discernment to distinguish betwixt Spurious and Genuine Pieces. To which I may add Varillas and Maimburgh, and other French Authors, who writ with so Romantic an Air, as if they designed rather pleasant Books, than true History, and rather to entertain, than inform their Reader; who give us paint instead of Dress, and make Heroes, if they cannot find them.  
I have done with this Head, and have kept close to one Condition of History, the consideration of its Truth; for should I take in all the Conditions required by Vossius and Le Moyne, we should either have very little History▪ or none at all. The Jesuit Le Moyne, one of the last that has treated of this Subject, requires such Conditions, and lays down such Rules as no Man can follow, and is so nice in his Examples, as to allow 
s Disc. 1. ch. 2.  only four Historians among the Romans and not so many among the Greeks, and all of them short of Perfection. And as to the Moderns, he is yet more scrupulous, in admitting them into account, only it had been strange, had he not found two or three of his own Order, Ma●●eus, Strada, and Mariana, whom he thinks fit to equal with Tacitus and Livy. He designs us a History himself, and to that end has chalked out such a method as he means to pursue; but if we may Judge of his veracity, by his perpetually running a Parallel betwixt History and Poem; or of his prejudices, by his partiality to his Order, he is not like to outdo his Predecessors: And notwithstanding his great design, we may conclude this Chapter, as he does his Book, That a Complete History, shall not appear, but in that year, that discovers the Perpetual Motion and the Philosopher's Stone.   

CHAP. XI.  
Of Chronology.  
CHronology and Geography have been looked upon as the two eyes of History, if these shine dim, our History must be yet more obscure; without these it lies in confusion, is only a heap of indigested matter, flat and insipid, and will neither profit nor delight in reading. It is time and place that give Life as well as Beauty, and a naked relation of things, without Circumstance, is very unaffecting stuff: So that as if these can be had, they will be an accession of Beauty, in want of these, there will be as great a blemish. And in what measure we have them, we must next inquire.  
And here again I shall pass by the fabulous accounts of times, such as the Chinese, Egyptian and Chaldaean may be justly thought to be; for tho' Is. Vossius has attempted the Chinese Antiquity, and the Egyptian Dynasties have been endeavoured to be reconciled by our Learned Countryman Sir john Marsham; yet there are so many things to be supposed in their Accounts, and so little possibility of proof at so immense a distance, that the Systems which they raise are perfectly precarious; and whatever the aim of those Authors was, I doubt neither of their Books have done Service to Religion. They seem to me like an Hypothesis in Philosophy, which being granted, our Philosophers will argue plausibly upon it, and make a shift to reconcile all difficulties that shall be brought, though the ground they go upon be Fiction and Enchanted: so these men will shift off objections pretty plausibly, and lay things together in Specious order, tho' the Foundation they build upon, be laid in the Air.  
'Tis true our Accounts of Greece are somewhat more clear and certain, but then they are such as are too recent; if you trace them up to their remote Antiquities, the Grecians are as obscure as the rest of the World; The Athenians, the most knowing People of that Race, know nothing of their own original; according to themselves they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and either sprung from the Earth or had no original at all. When their Historical Age takes place, yet their Periods of time are dark and confused, and their Chronology is not so ancient as their History. This has been observed by Sir I. Marsham 
t Chron. Can. p. 14, 139. , who shows that the Ancient Greeks, were wholly unskilful in Chronology, especially in the Technical part of it. There was such diversity and inequality in their Years, and such variety in their Periods and Cycles, as did necessarily occasion great Confusion; and it was impossible they should make right Computations of times, where they had no sure rule to go by: This they had not, and accordingly their year was so disordered, and their Recurrent Feasts thereby so unsettled, That Aristophanes 
u Ap. Seld Marm. Arund. p. 233.  pleasantly tells us, that the Gods themselves did not know them, and introduceth the God's complaining of the Moon, that by her uncertain notice of these good times, they were disappointed of their Entertainments, and often forced to return back hungry to Heaven. Meton was the first who adjusted these differences, and reduced their Accounts to tolerable Regularity, by the Invention of that famous Period of nineteen Years, for which he has deserved the honour to be recorded in Letters of Gold; Tho' his Period was not so accurate, as not to be capable of amendment, and therefore was afterwards corrected by Calippus and Hipparchus. So very unsteady have their computations been. The Arcadians may have been thought to have been before them in this, if you will take that account of their being before the Moon, assigned by some; by understanding it of their having had a Course of Lunar Years, before the Greeks had fixed their Periods; unless Scaliger's reason will be thought more probable 
x Proleg. ad Emend. p. 3. .  
Nor are the Roman Computations more Regular: It has been looked upon as matter of wonder, That the Romans should differ so much in their first and great Epocha, the time of building their City; Onuphrius 
y Comment. ad Fast. p. 15.  reckons up seven different opinions, most of them maintained by considerable Authorities, and is not a little amazed at the disagreement. I should have wondered if it had been otherwise, considering either the darkness of their Ancient History, or the irregularity and unequalness of their Computations. So little regard had they to order in time, upon the Foundation of their City, that their first Years were neither regulated by the Course of Sun or Moon. Romulus' instituted such a Year as might be expected from a Warlike Prince, and an Illiterate People, consisting of ten Months, beginning at March, and ending at December 
z V Blondel Hist. du Cal. Rom. L. 3. C. 1. : and although this Year was soon discovered to fall short of the Natural Year and Course of the Sun; yet it is probable, he had not Skill, or perhaps Concern enough to correct the Mistake; and the Intercalations that were made, were done in an unskilful, or negligent Manner: So that the Year of Confusion must have happened sooner than it did, had he not been succeeded by a Prince, who had more inclination for the Arts of Peace than War. Numa undertook the Calendar, where Romulus had left it, and tho' I do not think he had any assistance from Pythagoras, as some have imagined 
a Blond. ib. cap. 2. , (which I doubt will appear to be a Chronological Mistake) yet he reduced the Year to better order, than could be reasonably hoped for, in so dim an Age, by adding the two Months, which had been wanting in Romulus' Account, and ordering such Intercalations to be made, as were necessary to set right the irregular Days. But whether it was that his Calendar was yet very imperfect, or that the High-Priests (with whom the power of Intercalation was lodged) were wanting in their Duty, or whether somewhat of both concurred to the miscarriage; this is certain, that before I. Caesar's time, the course of the Year was so much disordered, that the Months had run back into one another, their Winter was run into Autumn, and their Summer into Spring; and had not that wise Prince applied a Remedy; their Winter might have run into Summer. These Inconveniences being observed by Caesar, put him upon a Reformation, which he attempted by his Pontifical Power, and the assistance of So●igenes, a skilful Astronomer, and having run all the irregular Days into one Year, consisting of Fifteen Months according to Suetonius, or of 445 Days, as Cens●rinus will have it; by one Year of Confusion, he brought their Calendar again to order, by such a Regulation, as is too well known, to need to be explained. However, his Computations (notwithstanding the Skill of the Undertaker) were not accurate enough, for in less than 1300 Years from the Council of Nice, to Gregory XIII.) the Calendar and the Heavens were found to be again at Discord, and to vary ten Days in the Course of the Sun, and about four Days in the Course of the Moon, which brought things into such disorder, as to occasion another Year of Confusion, under that Pope, in the Year 1582.  
And tho' this Pope's Reformation, has been thought so complete, as to be styled A Perpetual Calendar, and Medals have been struck upon the occasion to perpetuate the Memory of the thing, yet he must be a bold Man that will undertake, it shall be perpetual, or will venture to maintain it to be so exact, as not to admit of improvement. This is well known, that it had not been long abroad, till it was censured, and its failings discovered, by Scaliger and Calvisius, and wanted an Apology from Clavius, who had been one of the Principal Persons employed in the design; with so little success notwithstanding, that if we will believe Scaliger 
b Scaliger an. P. 51. , it wants a Second Apology. And unless the Motions of the Sun were perfectly regular and uniform even to Minutes and Scruples, (which according to the best Calculations they are not) it is scarce possible they should fall under an Invariable Rule. However this be, unless this Calendar were more generally received, than it has yet been, it is like to occasion further confusion: For whilst it reaches little further, than to those Kingdoms, under the Obedience of the Pope, and the julian Account obtains, in almost all the other Christian parts of Europe, we are cutting out Work for future Critics, who are like to find Employment enough some Hundred Years hence, in reconciling the Differences which shall arise from the Old and New Style.  
From this Historical Account of Times, I think we have a fair Specimen of the uncertainty of Chronology. Should we remove the Scene from Times to Men, they will further evince this Truth: The two great Men in this sort of Learning, were Scaliger and Petavius, the former of these has taken prodigious pains upon the Subject; which appears in several of his Works, so more particularly, in his great Work of the Emendation of Times, of which he had so good an Opinion, and was so much Complemented by Learned Men, upon his Divine and Immortal Work, that a Man would have imagined the Difficulties in the Accounts of Time, had been pretty well cleared, and little left to be done further. His Divine Work had not been long abroad in the World, ere it was taken notice of by Petavius, who had spent as much time in these Studies, as Scaliger had, and is so far from allowing him those mighty Praises, that he shows, he had been almost under a continued mistake. A great part of Petavius' Doctrine of Times; is spent in confuting Scaliger, scarce a Chapter in his five first large Books, wherein Scaliger is not mentioned, and his many Errors and Hallucinations discovered; in such manner, that his Work might as reasonably be entitled a Confutation of Scaliger, as a Doctrine of Times. He will scarce allow him to have done any thing well in Chronology, or to have made any considerable Discovery, unless it were in the julian Period, and after he had granted him that Praise, as if he had done him too much Honour, he retracts that Commendation, and will not allow him to be the Inventor of that Period, but to have stole it from the Greeks 
c Ac pr●fecto in tot Scriptis ab eo Chronologicis libris, nihil fere est, quod momentum aliquod ad rem ullam habeat; quodque reprehensionem effugiat, praeter particulam istam, quâ julianae Periodi methodum explicavit— Quanqum in eo castigandus est non nihil Scaliger: quod se periodi illius Inventorem, ac methodi fuisse glorietur, hanc enim ● Graecis transtulit— Doctr. Temp. L. 9 c. 1.  And if that Invention had been allowed him (which our Learned Primate perhaps with more reason does attribute to a Country man of our own a Biship of H●reford) yet it being only a Technical thing, and common measure for fixing and reducing other Periods unto, and itself no real Period in time; tho' it be of good use, as an Instrument to work with, yet it is no real discovery in the Accounts of time, which notwithstanding this, remain in the same obscurity, only they may be ranged in better order, under this common Period, than they were in before. So that either Scaliger had discovered nothing, at lest nothing considerable, or he has been very unjustly censured by his Adversary Petavius. In many things, no doubt, they have been both of them mistaken; tho' both of them pretend to demonstrate, and in many of their Calculations proceed with Mathematical assurance.  
What has been done since, has been chief in the Historical part of Chronology, (the Controversy some Years ago, having run much in the Technical, the Reformation of the Roman Calendar, having probably turned men's Disputes that way) wherein Father Pagi has excelled, and from one accidental Observation (to say nothing of his other Discoveries) concerning the Quinquennalia, Decennalia, and other Roman Feasts, has given much Light to the Roman Fasti, and discovered the Mistakes of Scaliger, Petavius, Baronius, and most of the Historians and Chronologers, who have Writ before his Time. How far his Observation will hold, Time must show; he seems to glory too much, where he compares it to the Discovery of the West-Indies by Columbus 
d Pagi, Dissert. Hypat. p. 6. .  
Our late Incomparable Bishop of Chester, as he begun to write about the same time with Pagi, so he has done it with like success, and from some dark Hints, and particularly from his Observations upon Plotinus' Life by Porphyry, has given much light to a very obscure part of History, in his Cyprianic Annals: tho' I cannot altogether have the fame Opinion of his Posthumous Chronological Works: For behold the Power of Prejudice even in good Men! The Bishop in this Work being to fettle and adjust the Succession of the Roman Bishops; it happens that Eutychius' Annals were of good use to this purpose, and very agreeable to the Bishop's Opinion: Who this Eutychius was, is well known, one whom the Bishop in his Vindication of Igna●ius's Epistles 
e Par. ●. Cap. ●. , had represented as too modern Authority to be much credited, living in the Tenth Century; and ignorant of the Affairs of his own Church, a trifling Arabic Historian, without Judgement, and contradicting himself: And yet this same Eutychius, when he favours the Bishop's Opinion, tho' he knew little of his own Church, is good Authority in the Affairs of the Church of Rome, where he had reason to be ignorant, 
f Oper. Posthum. Dis. 1. C. 14.  and the Bishop is so possessed with him, that he forsakes our Greek and Latin Authors, to follow his Footsteps; altho' his Authority be really of no value, and he has had that right done him to be contemned by most of those who have taken notice of him; except Mr. Selden, who to gratify his Anger against the Bishop, gave us a part of this Author, and encouraged Dr. Pocock to publish the rest.  
We have been promised great things of late from Medals and Inscriptions; Ez. Spanheym famous for his Book, De usu Numismatum, has largely shown the Use of Medals 
g De Vsu Num. P. 859.  in Chronology, which Du Fresne, and Foy-vaillant have since illustrated by Example; the one, in the Constantinopolitan Emperors; the other, in the History of the Seleucidae accommodated to Medals; and a third has gone so far, as from a few obscure Medals of Herod's Family, not only to call in question the Authority, but by broad Intimations, to suspect of Forgery, both josephus, and several others of our best Authors. But besides the danger from a dim Legend or Inscription, where the least stroke, will alter the Sense, or determine the Number very differently; whoever considers, That Annius of Viterbo could forge large Histories, will surely not think it strange, that we should have Forgeries in Medals. It is too certain, there have been such, and the thing is so noted, that some Medals are now as valuable, for being exact Counterfeit, as others are, for being truly Originals. And as to Inscriptions, who knows not, that it was generally the way of Flattery, to Compliment Princes and Great Men of all sorts, with fulsome Eulogies, and that Domitian's Medals and Inscriptions were called in after his Death, because he had not deserved such Honours? And tho' I do really think the present French King to be a Wise and Heroic Prince, yet I believe there are few, who would be willing to take his History, from Menestrier's Lewis XIV. from Inscriptioes' and Medals.   

CHAP. XII.  
Of Geography.  
A Stranger to Geography, that should read the Voyages of Ulysses or Aeneas, as they are described by the Poets, and should observe the time that is spent, the Removes that they make, and dangers they undergo, in being tossed from Shore to Shore, would be apt to imagine, they had visited most parts of the habitable World; and yet it is plain, one of them scarce went any further than the Aegean-Sea, and neither of them ever past the Mouth of the straits: It is much so, with our Ancient Geography, where we have a great noise and little done. The Poets were wise in stopping short of the Straits, for had they launched out, and led their Heroes beyond these Bounds, they must have been in danger of being lost, all beyond having been, Terra Incognita. Nor can this seem strange in the Poets, the Ancient Historians and Geographers knew little farther; Herodotus 
h Herod. l. 2. Strab. l. 3. ad init.  is lost when he passeth the Straits, Posidonius and Artimedorus in Strabo make the Sun to set there, and A●istotle's Philosophy will carry him little further, who will needs have India to confine upon the Straits, and Herculeses Pillars: And indeed it is so far true that the Straits and India did border upon one another, as India seems to have been a common name amongst the Ancients for Ignorance, for where they knew no farther they called it, India: of which Strabo tells us 
i Lib. 2.  all the Geographers that have writ have given us nothing but lies. I will not enter upon a narrative of the mistakes of the Ancients, and show how they have confounded places nearer home, and jumbled Sea and Land together, how some of them have mistaken the Mediterranean, and joined it with the Persian Sea: How the Northern Seas have been made to run into the Caspian, That is really a Lake; and the Arabian, has been made a Lake, that is well known to flow into the Ocean: He that has a curiosity may meet with a plentiful Harvest of such mistakes, in Strabo's three first Books.  
Strabo indeed has corrected many of these mistakes, and has delivered things down to us with g●●●ter accuracy: But neither is he exact enough; he is too much an Historian, to be a Good Geographer, and wanting Tables and Maps, and the Longitudes and Latitudes being things beyond his Skill, without which it is scarce possible to fix places a right, he must needs err for want of such Helps to guide his Course: And the same may be said of most of the rest of the Geographers, before or soon after his time.  
The honour of reducing Geography to Art and System, was reserved to Ptolemy, who by adding Mathematical advantages, to the Historical Method in which it had been treated of before, has described the World in a much more intelligible manner. He has delineated it, under more certain Rules, and by fixing the bounds of places from Longitude and Latitude, has both discovered others mistakes and has left us a Method of discovering his own. What these are I need not say, the most considerable may be seen in Agathidaemon's Map of the World, which is printed with Ptolemy's Works, and is the first of its kind now extant. A man may see there with some pleasure, what Idea the Ancients had of the World, after it was thought, to have been pretty plainly discovered by Ptolemy's labours: No very clear one you may be sure; amongst other mistakes, the situation of Britain is quite mistaken, Scandinavia a large Peninsula, is divided from the Continent, and contracted into a poor narrow Island; Africa is described without bounds, and no passage allowed from the Mediterranean to the Red-Sea, and it will not be wondered, if the description of India be remote from truth. Lesser errors abound in him; how many of this kind have been detected by a late skilful Geographer 
i Cluvet. German. Antiq. Praef.  only in one of our European Nations? And how many more might be shown in the rest? And if he could be so much deceived, as he is, in the Description of Cyprus, an Island near Alexandria, and almost at his own door, it will not seem strange, that he should be more out in his accounts of Scandinavia and Britain. It is certainly no commendation, that the forecited Author, prefers Pliny's accounts to Ptolemy's, who has not been very reputable for his accuracy or truth, and that Strabo (in the Historical part) is preferred to them both.  
We have had a Geography of late deducing all things from the Phoenician Antiquities, which has appeared with pomp enough to dazzle men into an Opinion thereof, and thereby to obtain Credit and Reputation in the World. The Author is a considerable Person, and one who in order to establish his Phoenician Antiquities, has successfully enough overturned those of the Greeks: But when he comes to establish these Antiquities, the first thing he complains of, is, want of Monuments 
k Praef. ●d Chan.  and therefore flies to the Greeks to fetch them thence; so that we are much in the same place, where we were. However what are these Monuments, which we meet with there? By his own Confession only some lose and broken Fragments, which seem to disover little more, than in general, that the Phoenicians made long voyages, and visited remote Countries; and what is that to us, if they have left us not Charts or Journals, which they have not done? So that at last, he usually takes shelter in the derivation of a word, or place, from a Phoenician Root, wherein, tho' he has been happy enough in his conjectures, yet this way is principally conjectural, and too precarious to build a Geography upon. If this be all, I will undertake Goropius Becanus will go near to do as much for the Dutch, Pere Pezron for the Celtique, and almost every Country, that pretends to an Original Language, and has a fanciful man amongst them, will do the like for their own Nation. I am unwilling to oppose this Author, for the sake of his Title, which is Geographia Sacra, and shall readily grant, nay it is what I contend for, that as far as it is Sacred, it is likewise true; but where he leaves Moses, he forsakes his Guide, and wanders as much as the Phoenicians ever did.  
I have no design to form a Comparison betwixt the Ancients and Moderns, they are both alike to me, but the advantage in this, is too visible on the side of the Moderns to be dissembled: They have opened a passage to a New World, unknown to the Ancients, and those parts of the Old, which have been thought Unhabitable, have been found to be Inhabited; and their Torrid Zone to be Temperate enough, by refreshing Showers, and constant Breezes, and cold Nights, by the direct Setting of the Sun, and interposition of the whole Body of the Earth. Antipodes, who have been the Subject of so much Controversy, are to us Matter of Fact, and the Globe itself has been compassed with less noise by Magellan and Drake, than the Phoenicians and Greeks could Coast upon the Mediterranean. However, lest we should swell too much upon our Discoveries, there is yet World enough left undetected to be a Check upon our Ambition.  
I am not of his Opinion 
l La Mothe le Vayer, Vol. 1. P. 825. , who thinks that almost one half of the Terrestrial Globe is yet undiscovered, but by modest Computation, I suppose we may allot a fourth part. That there is a vast Southern Continent, as yet scarce looked into, is now past Centroversie; tho' I much doubt, whether the further Discovery would turn to great account; for the Dutch, who pretend to have Sailed to the 64th. Degree of Southern Latitude, have observed Mountains covered with Snow; and no farther South than the utmost Bounds of America, the Straits of Magellan are so Froze in April 
m Narborough's Voyage, P. 15. , that there is then no passing that way for Ice: So that much of the Country must be cold and barren, answerable to our Northern Climes on this side. The Northern parts of America are yet undiscovered, nor can it be determined, till its Bounds that way be laid open, whether it be a vast Island, or a Contiment. Africa, tho' it has been compassed round and round from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, yet little more than its Coasts are thoroughly known, except Egypt and Abassia; its Inland parts have been either not sufficiently viewed, or imperfectly described, neither the Merchant's Gain, nor the Missionaries Zeal having determined their Pursuits to such rude and desolate Countries. And as to Asia, what a prodigious Compass are we forced to fetch about, to come at the extreme Regions of that Quarter of the World, most of which might be saved, and a Voyage made with half the Charge and Time, could a Passage be discovered by the North, to Tartary and China: A Passage which has been often attempted, but always with disappointment, and sometimes with the loss of the Adventurers; and is like to continue, a ne plus ultra, to their most daring Endeavours: Whether we consider the Dangers they are exposed to from rough Winds, in a Clime intensely cold; or from Mountains of Ice, which are the Rocks that are most feared in those Seas; or the Difficulties in making their way in thick Mists and Fogs; or what may happen worse, in Nights of some Month's continuance, and no Moon either to direct their Course, or give them Light. To say nothing of a vast Ridge of Mountains, which has been observed by our late Missionaries 
n Le Compt. Memoir. Let. ult.  to stretch itself forth into the Tartarian Sea, the Cape whereof has never yet been doubled, and probably never may; it being doubtful, whether these Mountains may not reach to the opposite Coast, and join America with the Asian Continent: So that the bounds of Asia on that side, as well as the opposite American Coast have been hitherto hid from our Inquiries.  
There is one thing yet very lame in our Geography, the fixing the true Longitude of places; and tho' several new ways have been lately tried, to redress this Inconvenience, both from exact Pendulums, and from Observations upon the Immersions and Emersions of Jupiter's Satellites, yet they have not altogether proved effectual. For want of this, China has been placed in our Maps five or six hundred French Leagues further distant, than it really is 
o Le Compt. ib. , and an imaginary Country found out, to fill up the vast intermediate space; and Vossius, who delights in Paradoxes, (who has magnified Old Rome to above Seventy Miles in compass, and its Inhabitants to fourteen Millions of People 
p Var. Observat. P. 23, 34. ib. P. 168.  has removed it yet farther off. And tho' the Jesuits of the Mission, have pretended to rectify this Mistake, from the Mathematical Observations abovenamed, yet neither could Vossius see into the strength of such Arguments, and I much question, whether they would have obtained Credit, had not a Missionary of the same Order 
q Auril. l. 2.  determined the Matter in a more undeniable way, by opening a Passage from Muscovy to China, and by marking the several Stages, and showing, from undoubted Relations, it was only a Journey of so many Days. And yet the difficulty is greater at Sea, which is not capable of being so easily measured, and where the Observations in our Telescopes cannot be so regularly made, as they may upon firm Ground; and there it is, the Jesuits themselves complain, they are at a loss.  
Vossius has assigned such a reason 
r Var. Obseru. p. 169.  of the variety in fixing the Longitude of the Eastern part of the World, as may be extended further, and be of excellent use in Speculations of this Nature. Upon the discovery of the West-Indies, by the Spaniards, and a Passage opened by Sea near the same time, to the East, by the Portuguese; Alexander VI, by the Power which Popes have of disposing of Temporal Kingdoms, did by solemn Bulls 
s Marian, l. 26.  dispose of this new World to these two Nations; and having divided it into two Hemisphaeres, the Western Hemisphere he allotted to the Spaniards, and the Eastern to the Portuguese; a Division which the Dutch and English have not thought themselves obliged to submit to. However, the Division was made, but when the Parties came to claim their respective Shares, a Question presently arose about fixing their Longitude, and the Pope's having not been then Infallible in Matters of Fact, especially in such as depend upon Mathematical Calculations; the two Nations were left to end the Controversy betwixt themselves. The great Contention was about the Molucca-Islands, which the Spaniards claimed as theirs, and the Portuguese pretended, fell within their share in the Division, and Men of Skill being consulted on both sides: the Spanish Geographers went one way, and the Portuguese went another, and so far were the two Nations from coming to agreement, that they differed almost forty Degrees in their Calculations, which is a large proportion of the whole Globe; and yet so obstinate were both in their Accounts, that Orders were given by public Edicts, that the Degrees and Meridian's should be no otherwise fixed in their several Charts and Maps, than as they have been determined by the two Nations. How much the one side was mistaken, has been since better known, the Conclusion was, that whilst the Longitude was determined, in such an unaccountable manner, by public Edicts, and absolute Power, it occasioned strange confusion in our Degrees and Meridian's, of which Vossius thinks, we have not recovered since.  
But granting the Globe to have been nicely measured, has it withal been as accurately described? I doubt not. How are our Modern Geographers perplexed in making out the Situation of Ancient Places? Babylon once the most Glorious City upon Earth, is almost as much hid 
t ●uyts p. 492. , as the obscurest Village ever was; nay, they often stumble, where they tread in known Paths. Ferrarius has given us a Geographical Dictionary, pretending to be Universal, afterwards so much Enlarged and Corrected by Baudrand, as to seem a new Work; they were both of them Men noted for their skill in Geography: Notwithstanding which, their joint Work had not appeared above Twelve Months in the World, till Monsieur Sanson had discovered five hundred Faults 
u Novu. de la Rap. An. 84. p. 310.  only under the first Letter A. A Work of the like Nature has been since published in English by two other extraordinary Persons, and tho' no Sanson has yet made his Observations upon it, yet I will undertake with the little skill I have in Geography, to show greater Mistakes under the Letter A, than any that occur in Ferrarius, or Baudrand. To name only one, the Azores are there described as the same with the Canary Islands; which is an Error of worse consequence, and more inexcusable, because the first Meridian is usually placed in these Islands: And yet they stand thus in the correct and enlarged Edition.   

CHAP. XIII.  
Of Civil Law.  
WE have certainly one great Proof of the Excellency of the Roman Laws, from the consent of those many Nations, by whom they have been received; and that too where there is no Living Authority to enforce them, and they come recommended only by their own native force: T●e Roman's Laws have lived longer, and spread wider, than their Arms ever did, and the Conquests of their Wisdom have been greater than those of their power. However, there is only one perfect Law, a Character to which no Humane Ordinance can have any claim, and of which the Roman Laws will be found upon Examination to fall much short; notwithstanding the Reputation of Wisdom that they stand possessed of.  
The Twelve Tables contain the first Grounds of the Roman Laws, and having been Abridgements of those of Solon at Athens, and those of the other Cities in Greece renowned for Knowledge, added to the Ancient Customs of Rome; if there be any Wisdom in Humane Constitutions, it might be expected to be met with there. It was of these Tables, that Cicero pronounced under the Per●on of Crassus 
x De Orat. l. 1. , that they were of more Use and Authority, than all the Books of the Philosophers. We have only some Fragments of them left Collected by Baldwin and others; amongst which, as there are some things hard, so that Law which permits the Body of the Debtor to be cut in pieces, and divided amongst his Creditors, for want of Payment, is not only Cruel but Barbarous. Baldwin 
y Com. de Leg 12. Tab. c. 46.  himself cannot quote it without Exclamation; and Quinctilian who could give a colour to most things, and as a Roman was concerned to do it in this, yet where this Law comes in his way, rather seeks to excuse it 
z Ap. Bald. ib.  than offers at its defence. The best thing he says for it is, that it was then antiquated, and as such we leave it with the rest of that Set, and pass on to those, that are now in force, the Imperial or justinianean Laws, and will see what Exceptions can be made to those.  
They are principally reducible to two Heads, the Pandects and the Code, whereof the first contains the Opinions of Learned Lawyers; the other, the Decrees of Roman Emperors. As to the Institutes, they usually go along with the Pandects, and are only a Compendium, or useful Introduction to young Beginners: and the Novels are a Supplement to the Code: The Feuds are not of Roman Original, but Customs of a later Date, and meaner Extraction.  
The Civilians who pretend that if the Latin Tongue were lost, it might be found in the Book of Pandects, would take it ill to be thought mistaken in the Word Pandect, which although a Masculine 
a H. Steph. de abus. Ling. Gr. p. 12. , is generally used by them in a Feminine Signification: This is a light Error, only it is in the Threshold. It will not be denied, the greatest part of the Pandects are writ with purity enough, they have that from the Authors, and the Age they were writ in, and so much is owned by those Critics, who have been pretty severe upon the other Tomes of the Law, and therefore I shall make no Objection here: No more than I shall, that the Emperor by whose Order they were collected, is under no very advantageous Character for Learning, that which Suidus gives him being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Man that did not understand his Alphabet: For tho' he were unlearned himself, he might employ Men of Understanding, and if Tribonian were such, who was the great Instrument in that work, his Laws will have no less Authority upon that account: But so it happens, that Tribonian's Character is worse than the Emperor's, not for his Understanding but Integrity, being represented by the same Author 
b Suid. ad Tribon.  as a Corrupt Person, one that writ Laws and took them away, and prostituted Justice for the sake of Lucre, one that complied with his Prince's Passions and Humours, and flattered him almost to Adoration. I know Suidas' Authority is suspected, in both these instances, and therefore I should lay the less weight upon it, did not justinian seem to countenance the charge in his own Constitutions 
c V Constitut. de Cod. conf. & de Conc. Digest. ubi. Divina nostra, Numen nostrum, etc. , where he assumes such Titles and Honours, as Tribonian is said to have given him. However I charge nothing upon this Emperor, I only cite his Words, and leave others to judge of and reconcile them.  
But whatever Tribonian's other qualifications were, I doubt we have too much reason to blame his want of care, and to suspect the Conception of the Pandects, as well as the other Tomes of the Law, was a hasty work, and not digested with that accuracy, which a work of that vast importance might justly require. For whereas in his time the Books of the Law, had been g●owing up above 1000 years, and had then swollen to that Bulk that they were contained in 2000 Volumes, so many as could not easily be read in some years, much less compared and digested and reconciled; Tritonian with his few Assistants had overcome all these difficulties in a short time, and in three years had finished the Digest and Institutes, then added to the first draught of the Code; which last in all probability, having been composed too hastily, was forced to undergo an Emendation and to come forth in a second Edition. And doubtless the Digest might likewise have been more correct, had it cost more years, and had had Trihonian's second Care. The Emperor himself seemed surprised with the Dispatch, for as before it was undertaken, he styles it an infinite Work, such as none of the former Emperors had ventured to undertake, or thought possible; so after it was finished within the Compass of thr●e Years, he plainly owns 
d Constitut. lb. , he did not imagine, it could have been effected in less than ten. Accordingly the marks of haste have been observed in the Work: In some places too short and consequently obscure, in others redundant and ●he same things repeated only in different words, or from different Authors; Antinomies are almost unavoidable in such variety of Opinions and Answers, and sometimes inextricable difficulties occur, by mangling the Sense and curtailing Authors: Some things in that or the Code seem not so consistent with the Canons 
e Wind●ck, Can. & 〈◊〉 cons●ns & di●. ; and other Cases yet harder have been cited 
f Pa●q. reach. l. 9 c. 41.  by a Learned Advocate. A great part of it is spent in Cases and subtle Opinions, possibly of greater Learning than real advantage in the common uses and occasios of Life; and all these are left us much indigested, in lose and broken Sentences, not in such method as is suitable to a Regular Body of Laws. Most of which particulars have been taken notice of by ●ud●eus, Hottoman, Valla, and others.  
Nor is the Code less liable to Censure, for besides that it wants much of the purity and Learning, which appear in the Pandects; Tribonian ●s unskilfulness or insincerity do more visibly display themselves here. For whereas, almost all the Books of the Ancient Lawyers are now lost (the blame whereof, if some men's suspicions may be credited, will fall heavy on the Emperor or Tribonian) from whose labours the Pandects were collected, and therefore we are less able to Judge, of any unfair dealing that has been shown there; Many of the Emperor's Constitutions do yet remain and have been preserved in the Theodosian Code, from all which it is easy to determine, what sort of treatment, the Imperial Constitutions have met with, in Tribonian's new Compilation. Some of the Constitutions have been altered without Judgement, and others in such a manner as betray no little ignorance in the Compiler; in some the words are struck out, that determine the Sense of the Law, and again words added that give it a new▪ one one Law is split into two, and sometimes ' two are run into one; the time and date are often mistaken, and sometime the Person; the knowing of both which does afford great light to a Constitution: With other mistakes, which I should not have ventured to have put down, had they not been shown at large, in a Learned Preface and more Learned Prolegomena to the Theodosian Code: A Code of such use to this day, that there is no understanding Iustinian's Law without it; and formerly of such Authority that for several hundred years after Iustinian's time it did obtain 
g V Seld. Dis. ad. Flet. c. 5. v. Pasq. reach. l. 9 ch. 36.  in some of the Western parts of Europe, when Iustinian's Law was in a manner extinguished and forgot, and must have been in danger of perishing at least in the principal part of it, the Pandects, had it not been preserved, in the Pisan or Florentine Copy, from which all our other Copies 
b Ant. August. Emend. l. 1. c. 1.  have been taken; and is now used as Law: So that by a strange Reverse of things, Iustinian's Law which for so many Ages was lost or neglected, does now obtain, and the Theodosian Code is in a manner antiquited: The Theodosian Code was the better Law, till the Reign of Lotharius, when Iustinian's Law begun to revive; and now, it seems, Iustinian's Law is better than that, and Time, or Chance, or Opinion shall determine their worth. It is plain Iustinian's Law had not the same esteem at its birth, as it has since acquired by Age, since it could go into disuse so early after its conception, as to make it a question, whether it obtained its Course 
i Pasq. reach. l. 9 C. 33.  in justinian's own reign? Or if it obtained then, as doubtless it did, it kept its ground a short time till the Reigns of Basilius and Leo, when Iustinian's Law was Abridged and Reformed by those Emperors, as he had done by the Laws before his own time; and these Emperor's Laws obtained in the East under the Title of the Basilic Constitutions) till the dissolution of that Empire, as the Theodosian Code had done in the West. So that if we might measure things by Success or Duration, Iustinian's Laws have not yet been long lived, and what is more surprising, it might perhaps be made a question, in what Sense they live now? For if we will believe a noted Author, who had reason to understand their Authority and Extent 
k Sr. W. Temp. vol. 1. p. 161.  they have not now the force of Laws, either in France, Spain or Holland, (some of the most considerable Nations in Europe) but have only the force of Good Reasons or Authority when alleged, but the Customs and Statutes of those Places, are only Laws. An● of this Opinion Mr Selden 
k 〈…〉 6.  seems to be, as to some other European Nations.  
After the Consideration of the Pandects and Code, if I should take in all those large Volumes, that have been writ upon them, I should make no end. The first attempts of this kind were pretty modest, only by explaining the Text in short Glosses, which was Accursius' method: But he having not had the assistances of Humane Learning and particularly of the Greek Tongue, the want of these have betrayed him to gross and childish mistakes: And it is a wretched Gloss, where a Sentence of Greek occurs in the Text, Haec Graica sunt quae nec legi nec intelligi possunt. And yet his Authority is great in the Law, much greater than that of his Son; of whom it is said he never made a good Gloss 
l V Gryphiand. de Ins. p. 9, 10. .  
Commentaries succeeded Glosses and have swollen to a larger Bulk: In this kind, Bartolus is of great name; whose Authority is as much valued in some Nations amongst the Modern Lawyers, as Papinian's was among the Ancients: who, as he was to be followed, where the Opinions of the Lawyers were equally divided, 
m Duck de usu. l. 1. c. 8.  so Bartolus' Opinions of late have been of like force. He was confessedly an extraordinary Man, and might have done more service in his Profession, had he not lived under the same Infelicity of times, and wanted the same helps that Accursius did, whereby he dashed against the same Rocks. It was from him, we have had that noted and almost Proverbial saying that has cast some reproach upon the Law, 
n V vit. Bart. ap. Freher.  De verbebus non curat jurisconsultus, and odd expression for an Interpreter of that Law, one Title whereof is, of the signification of Words: But this was a Title, that he did not care to meddle with, and which his Enemies have charged him, with not daring to explain. Notwithstanding all his Faults, he ought not to have been treated so reproachfully by L. Valla, and the Men of Polite Letters; for however unpolished he may be in his his Style, or nice or obscure in expressions, or however ignorant in History or Roman Customs, it is certain, he is not that Goose and Ass, that Valla 
o Op. p. 632.  would make him; and that he has more Law, though the others may have more Learning.  
The Polite Men of this Set, who gave the last turn to the Law, were Alciat, Cujacius, Budaeus and others; they have indeed restored the Law to its primitive Purity and Lustre, and clothed it in a more Elegant Dress, and made that a pleasant study, which in the hands of Bartolus and Baldus was uncouth and rugged; They have given it all the advantages of Humane Learning, and ransacked all the Stores of Arts and Sciences to fetch thence Beauties to adorn it: But whilst they have busied themselves in various Learning, and attended to too many thing at once, they have been thought wanting in the one main thing; and have had less Law, than many of those whom they censure and despise. Ant. Augustinus, who should have been named with the first of this Rank and Order, does in a manner confess the charge, and owns that Budaeus whilst he had been too much distracted, in attaining the Tongues, had made no great progress in the knowledge of the Law. The most considerable improvements, that have been made by these Men, have been principally upon one Title, about the signification of Words, in which, however they may have excelled, they have been rewarded by Bartolus' ●ollowers with no better Character, than ●●at of Grammarians and Critics. And ●●deed many of their Discoveries are not 〈◊〉 remarkable, and some of them 〈◊〉 a Catalogue of which may be had 〈…〉 Gentilis' two last Dialogues, 〈◊〉. because it is too sportful, I forbear 〈◊〉 That wherein they 〈◊〉 excel being the Signification of 〈◊〉, will be allowed to fall much short of the knowledge of things.  
One thing should not have been omitted, that has occasioned no little obscurity and confusion: when the Law by the Bulk and Number of Books that were Writ, was grown too voluminous, a way was taken up of contracting it into a narrow Compass, by short Notes and Abbreviations: This way was found to be of such use and so compendious, that it prevailed much, but its inconvenience was quickly discovered from the Ambiguity that such short Notes were subject to, and therefore they were forbid by a Constitution 
p Cod. l. 1. Tit. 17.  of justinian. However the mischief was not so easily remedied as forbid, for it still prevailed, and that almost in Iustinian's own time, and some of them have crept into the Florentine Pandects, which tho' not so Ancient as justinian, (as some have been of opinion, but whom this very thing 
q V Ant. Aug. Emend. l. 1. c. 1.  does sufficiently confute,) yet must be granted to have been writ soon after; and at last they grew to that height, and occasioned such Confusion and Ambiguity, that several Treatises have been writ to explain them; a Collection of which, and a Specimen of the notes may be had in Putschius. Even of late they have been found so troublesome, that the Italian entered them in his Prayer, amongst the three Evils he Petitioned to be delivered from, (he might have deprecated greater Evils) and after, Dafuria de villani, and Da guazuabuglio di medici; Dagli & caetera de not ai, was the third Petition 
r V Her●. Hug. de. Orig. Scr. c. 21. .  
And here again, as in the entrance upon this Chapter, I must profess my esteem for the Roman Laws, which I would by no means be thought to undervalue, and all that I infer or pretend to prove is this, That no human Laws are exempt from faults, since those that have been looked upon as most perfect in their kind have been found upon Enquiry, to have so many.   

CHAP. XIV.  
Of Canon Law.  
I Have no design to bring contempt upon the Ancient Canons, which were doubtless, very well fitted for the occasions of the Church in its purer Ages; having been framed by Men of Primitive Simplicity, in free and conciliar Debates, without any ambitious Regards. That which is justly complained of, is, that these Canons are too much neglected, and a New sort of Discipline erected in the Church, established upon different foundations, and ofttimes for different ends with the former; which is so notorious, that it has given occasion to a distinction amongst some Members of the Church of Rome, betwixt the Old and New Law: Especially amongst the French, who pretend that the Gallican Privileges, are chief Remainders of the Ancient Canons, which they have preserved against the Encroachments of the Roman Pontif. For that Prelate having taken advantage of the fall of the Roman Empire, and of the confusion among his Neighbours, upon the inundation of the Goths and Vandals and other Barbarous People; and of the ignorance that ensued thereon; made a pretty easy shift to erect a New Empire, and for its support it was necessary to contrive and frame a New Law. I shall not recount the several advances that were made in the several Ages; Is●dore's Collection was the great and bold stroke, which tho', in its main parts, it has been since discovered 
s V Blond. Pseudo-Is. & Tur. Vap.  to be as impudent a Forgery as ever was, yet to this Day stands recorded for good Authority in the Canon Law.  
The two principal parts of this Law, are, the Decrees, and the Decretals, which, to give them the greater face of Authority, answer to the Pandects and Code in the Civil Law: For as the Pandects contain the Answers and Opinions of famous Lawyers; and the Code, the Decrees made and Sentences given by Emperors; so the Decree consists chief of the Opinions of the Fathers and Definitions of Councils; and the Decretals, of the occasional Sentences and Decrees of Popes. As to the Clementines and Extravagants, which may answer to the Novels, they are only Supplements to the other two parts, and we have yet no Institutes in the Canon Law. For as to Lancelottus' Book of Institutes, which Dr. Duck seems to make a part of the Corpus, he is therein mistaken, if it be his Opinion, for wanting Sanction and Authority, 
u Dou●at Hist. du Droit. Can. Par. 2. Cham 20.  it is only yet a private work.  
The Decree carries contradiction in its very Title, being Concordantia Discordantium Canonum, or a Concordance of disagreeing Canons: Or if there were none in the Title, I doubt there are too many in the Body of the Work, which have occasioned innumerable Glosses and busied the Canonists in reconciling them. It having been compiled by Gratian, in an Ignorant Age, we ought not to be too nice in examining it, and perhaps it were unreasonable to require too much accuracy, amongst so much Ignorance; and therefore if his Style in Latin be somewhat course, or if in quoting a Greek Father or Council, he mistakes their meaning, or gives a wrong one, that might easily be forgiven him, Greek being a Language, that was not understood in that Age, and was rather the misfortune of the time, than his own: But then if he gives us such Fathers and Councils as have no Being, or if he mistakes a Father for a Council, or a Council for a Father; this surely is not so parpardonable, and yet this is what he has been charged with, 
x Ant. Aug. D● Emend. Grat. Di● al. ●, etc.  by Authors of his own Communion. And among the Jesuits, who are not usually wanting in the Cause of their Church, Bellarmin owns, that he has quoted a Heretic instead of a Father. And the poor Monk having probably never seen many of the Decrees and Councils, that he had occasion to use, nor traced his Authorities to their Fountains, but having made use of others Collections, it was impossible but he should fall into mistakes▪ which are so numerous, especially in the names of Persons and Places, that a Man had need of good skill in History, and of a New Geography to understand him a right; and without such helps, one may easily lose himself in travessing the Decree.  
It might be expected that he should be pretty exact in the names of Popes, these being his Lawgivers, whose Authority he makes use of upon all occasions, and yet even in these he sometimes miscarries, and gives us such names as were never heard of in Ancient Story. I can never read him, but he puts me in mind of a late noted Author, who has given us a Church History of Bishops and their Councils; for as in that Book, you may meet with a Council at Araufican, 
y V Mr. P. & D●. M's An●.  Another at Tole●ane and a third at Vienue near France, with others as remote from knowledge, as these are; so in Gratian, you may find like mistakes, only altering the Language, a Concilium Aur asicense, Anquiritanum, Bispalense, and more of the like nature: one would be tempted to think, that Mr. B. had studied the Canon Law and had borrowed his Authorities from thence.  
After so much Ignorance we are not to wonder, if Gratian have no very favourable Opinion of Humane Learning, which is condemned in the Decree, more particularly Poetry and Logic: Those of the highest order in the Church, even Bishops themselves 
z V Distinct. 37. Episcopus Gentium lib●os non legate—  are forbid to read Books of Heathen Learning, and St. Ierom's Authority is urged who was reproved by an Angel for reading Cicero. It is true, the Canonists endeavour to reconcile this, by alleging other places in the Decree, where Learning is allowed, and by showing it to be Gratian's way, to cite differing Canons and Opinions to the same purpose; and I will grant so much if they please, but than it can be no great commendation of a Law, that it contains such contrary Opinions, that it must be another Man's work to reconcile them. Nor does his Morality exceed his Learning; the Decree in case of two Evils, the one of which is unavoidable, allows us to choose the less 
a Distinct. 13. ; which altho' the Canonists would understand of the Evil of punishment, yet it seems pretty plain from the Text, and the Instances there produced, that it must be understood of the Evil of Sin; in which Sense the case can never happen, unless we will admit of a necessity of sinning, which is as impossible in Morality, as any the greatest difficulty can be, in Nature. That which follows in the 34th. Distinction is yet worse, is qui non habet uxorem, & pro uxore Concubinam habet, à Communione non repellatur; which in modesty I forbear to translate, and could hardly have believed it, to have been in Gratian: And when I first met with it there, I thought it had been only to be found in some old Editions, and concluded with myself, it must be amended in that more correct and authorised Edition by Gregory XIII. But was still more surprised, when I found it stand there uncorrected, as if there had been no hurt done. I think nothing can be said worse, unless what is said by the Learned Ant. Augustinus in his fifteenth Dialogue of his Emendation, to be in some Books of Gratian be so, Qui non habet uxorem, loco illius Concubinam habere debet. If any thing can be said worse of them, than they have said themselves, it may be had in Luther 
b Oper. Tom. 2. p. 120. Wit.  who began the Reformation with burning the Canon Law, and in vindication of what he had done, made a Collection of such Articles, as were most liable to give offence. I have not yet compared his Quotations with the Text, and therefore do not put them down, but if they be faithful, I am sure there is enough, to give a Man a hard opinion of the Canon Law.  
The Decretals, tho' not altogether so gross as the Decree, are more Imperious, having appeared in the World, when the Papal Power was grown to its full height, and having been compiled by Gregory IX, and consisting principally of the Constitutions of Innocent III. the first of whom waged almost a continual War with an Emperor; and the latter Subjugated a King, and called him his Vassal, nothing better could be expected. For though several Conciliar Decrees and Canons were intermixed with the Papal Constitutions, yet they are with such Exceptions and Reservations to the Pope's dispensing Power and absolute Dominion, that they became useless: Popes were now become the Fountain of all Power, and both Princes and Councils were brought under their Obedience. It is expressly said in the Decretals 
c Lib. 1. Tit. 6. Cap. 4.  That no Councils have prefixed Laws to the Church of Rome, inasmuch as all Councils do borrow their Authority from that Church, and the Papal Authority is excepted in them all. And Innocent, in the Title, De Majoritate, exalts the Papal Power as much above the Regal, as Spiritual things are better than Temporal, or the Soul Superior to the Body; and having compared these two Powers, to the two great Lights in the Firmament, infers from thence, That the Pontifical Authority is as much Superior to the Regal, as the Sun is greater than the Moon. Upon which there arising some difference, concerning the proportion of Magnitude, betwixt these two Luminaries, and consequently betwixt these two other great Powers; the Gloss does learnedly refer us, to Ptolemy's Almagest to adjust the proportion. But I need not cite particular Constitutions, a good part of the Decretals turning upon this point, and resolving all into a Monarchical Power at Rome: For which reason the five Books of Gregory 
d Doujat. Hist. du Droit Can. Par. 2. Ch. 15. 17.  have not yet been received in France without Restrictions; no more than the sixth Book of Boniface VIII. has been.  
The Clementines, notwithstanding a good part of them were given in a pretended General Council at Vienne in France, yet are no Conciliar Decrees, only the Constitutions of Clement V Such having been the manner of some of the late Western Councils, That the Bishops were only Assessors or Advisers, on at the most Assenters, and the Pope alone defined in a pretty absolute manner; and therefore they are not styled Decrees of such a Council, only the Constitutions of Clement in the Council at Vienne. The Extravagants are tedious things, and want that Majesty, which Brevity gives to Sanctions and Decrees: Both they and the Clementines have this besides, that having been compiled in the Scholastic Age of the Church, they are mixed with Theological Questions, and are as much Divinity, as Law.  
Nor is the Gloss better than the Text, which, however it be of great Authority among the Canonists, yet it may be justly questioned, whether it deserves so much? For to take things as they rise and to go no further than the first Page of the Decree: Gratian having begun his Book very properly, by distinguishing betwixt the several sorts of Right, and having said that Ius, was so called because it was Iust. The Gloss upon this observes, that there is a Right that is neither Equitable nor Just 
e Quandoque est aliquod jus, quod non est aequum nec justum. Dist.  and produceth Instances, that are neither pertinent, nor prove the Point; and then concludes, that in all Cases upon a Reason and for public Good, Rigour is induced against natural Equity, and in some Cases without a Reason. Take another Instance upon the Decretals, 
f Lib. 1. Tit. 1.  which beginning with the Symbol, of our Faith: upon that the Author of the Gloss inquires into the Nature of Faith, and having passed the Apostle's account, as an imperfect Definition, gives a much more insufficient one of his own; for which he is justly chastised by Erasmus: And as for the word Symbol that should not seem to be over difficult, he derives it from, Sin, and Bolus, which in the Language of the Gloss does signify, Morsellus; and then enquiring into the number of Symbols, he adds a fourth to the other three; for no reason that I can see, unless it were that they might answer to so many Gospels. Besides other less mistakes upon the same Title, which I pass over, because the same Gloss says, that, Modicum quid non nocet, and citys the Decretals 
* Lib. 5. Tit. 3. c. 18.  for it, where modica res, is said not to induce Simony; and yet the Modica Res, there mentioned, is a Horse.  
The Canonists are too numerous to be mentioned he●e, and therefore I pass them over, and indeed they generally keep to their Text, and run out upon the power of the Pope, to the great Diminution of Councils or indeed of any other Authority: And whereas in that large Collection of Tracts that was published at Venice, there are two gross Volumes concerning the Power of Popes, and their Cardinals; it is very observable that there is scarce any thing said of Councils, unless by such, as will be sure to subject them to the Pope. That Haughty Bishop is their darling Theme, and one of them has gone so low, as to write a Tract, 
g Joseph. Stevan. val Tract. De adoratione Pedum Romani Pontificis, Tom. 13.  about the Adoration of his Feet. Nor shall I insist upon the differing Opinions and Constitutions in the Decree and Decretals, in how many things they interfere and cross, and in how many more, they contradict the Civil Law. Baptista à Sancta Blasio, has furnished us with two hundred contradictions betwixt the Canon and Civil Law: Zanetin has discovered a great many differences of the same kind, and I suppose it were no hard matter, to swell the account yet higher: But I leave those, we have already, to be reconciled by the Learned in the Law. 
That I may do all Right to the Canon Law, it must be owned, that the Canonists have interpreted the word Concubina in a sense of near affinity with a Wife: In the best sense, it is bad enough and has been justly censured.    

CHAP. XV.  
Of Physic.  
IF any Credit may be given to Pliny 
i Lib. 8. c. 26, 27.  we shall have no reason to boast of the Invention of Physic, two great Operations in that Art, having been owing to two inconsiderable Creatures. Bleeding and purging have been taught us by the Hippopotamus and Ibis, the former of which being overcharged with Blood, breathes a Vein by rolling himself among the sharp Reeds of the Nile; and the latter sucking in the Salt Water, administers a Cathartic, by turning her Bill upon her Fundament. I will not vouch for my Author, (whom if I would make use of, it should be to a different purpose, in showing, how little reliance there is upon our Natural History) although the account he gives here of Physic may be as true, as theirs is, who fetch its Original from Aesc●lapius and Apollo.  
It is doubtless ancient, Men's necessity and desire of Health did put them early upon this search, and Hypocrates who lived 2000 years ago has left a Treatise concerning ancient Physic; so that it was ancient in his time. But the Physic then in use was chief Emperical, Hypocrates brought in the Rational way, and what he did in this Art, did so far surpass others labours, that their Works are in a manner lost and forgot; and Hypocrates who was then a Modern, is to us a very ancient Author. His Age gave him Authority, and although that, and his short way of writing, have rendered him less intelligible to ordinary Readers, yet he was almost universally followed: His Aphorisms have been looked upon as Maxims, and Macrobius 
k Hypocrates— qui tam fallere quam falli nescit Lib. 1.  speaks of his knowledge in such lofty strains, as are only agreeable to God Almighty. Notwithstanding, of late he has been discovered to be a frail Man, his Aphorisms have been examined, and the danger detected, in blindly following great Names; and how mischievous the consequences may have been, in an implicit submission to all his Rules, may appear from one, which once crudely swallowed, has cost so many lives, all which might have been saved, had the contrary practice been ventured upon sooner, which is now found 
l Boyl. us. Expel. Phil. Par. 2. p. 5.  to be not only Safe but Salutary.  
Galen as he differs from Hypocrates in some things, so he follows him in the main, and both in explaining his Author; and where he gives us his own Sentiments▪ is somewhat tedious; he tires and distracts his Reader as much by being too large, as the other does, by saying too little, which yet might be excused, had he in so many gross Volumes and different Treatises, left us a Complete Body of Physic. But this he is so far from having done, that it scarce seems to have been in his design; most of his pieces having been undertaken with particular views, either to gratify Friends, or as helps of memory, or exercises of invention. His Anatomical Pieces, which have been cried up above measure, have been less admired, since nicer Observations have been made in Anatomy, than he was capable of making; and those which he has made, are often erroneous, for want of Comparative Anatomy, in comparing and distinguishing, betwixt the Bodies of Men and Brutes: Most of his Observations having been made upon the latter, and it being questionable, whether he ever saw the dissection of a Human Body. Even his Treatise De Vsu Partium has been censured, as in many things grounded upon Inferences of his own, rather than upon Observations from Experience and View; and the Parts are described there in such order, as none will think fit to imitate, unless any Man can find method, in beginning with the hand and proceeding to the Foot, and so up again to the Belly. And though he has been remarkable for his care and tenderness of Life, which he has expressed, as in other Instances, so particularly in being against publishing exquisite Treatises of the Nature of Poisons, yet I question whether it will be thought another Instance of it, that he sometimes took away six pounds of Blood 
m De cur and. Rat. per Sang. mis. cap. 14.  in a Fever: And bled his Patients, till by fainting they could bear no longer, for which he was twitted in his own time, as appears from his Books 
n De Meth Med. l. 9 c. 4.  and was said to work Cures by muthering Diseases.  
Whatever faults he had must have been derived upon his Successors, for as he commented upon Hypocrates, so the following Physicians have copied Galen. The Greeks Oribasius, Aegineta, and Aetius have in a manner transcribed him; and Avi●en and the Arabians have done little more, than translate Galen into their own Tongue: And their Translations having not been over Faithful, and the Version double; first from the Greek to the Arabic, and from that back again into the Latin, they cannot be depended upon without eminent hazard, especially in the names of Drugs and Plants, where the mistake in a word, may endanger a Life. They were subtle Men, and most of them Logicians, accordingly they have given method, and shed subtlety upon their Aathor and little more can be said for them.  
The Chemists have appeared with so much Ostentation, and with such Contempt of the Arabians and Galen, that we have been made to expect Wonders from their performances. Paracelsus who would be thought the Head of a Sect, has treated the Galenists so rudely, as if they were the most ignorant Men in the world, and had little skill beyond a Plaster or a Purge: Tho neither ought he, to have vaunted so much of his Discoveries; One of his great Admirers 
o Helmont. Chym. Princ.  having shown, that some part of his skill was stole: And it is some prejudice against him, that a Man who pretended to such immortal Remedies, should himself die in his forty seventh year, whereas Hypocrates and Galen are said to have lived beyond a Hundred.  
If there be any thing certain in Chemistry, it ought to be their first Principles, which the Chemists have substituted in the place of others, which they have thought fit to explode; and pretend that theirs are so evident from the Analysis of Bodies, that there can be no room for doubt; and yet whereas at first we had only three of these Principles, their number is already swollen to five, and who knows whether they may stop there? Or whether their practice be better grounded than the Principles they go on? For though great Cures have been effected by Chemical prescriptions, and those too in a manner less cloying and nauseous, than the former practice would admit of, by separating the Faces, with which the Galenical Medicines are clogged; yet the question will be, whether they be not attended with other inconveniences? Whether they be equally safe, and have no dangerous consequences to discourage their use? It will not be denied that the Chemical Preparations are more vigorous and potent in their effects than the Galenical are, and often work such Cures, as the other gross Medicines have not activity enough to effect: But then, as their activity is great, is not the danger so too? And does not the same power, that enables them to heal, empower them to destroy? And whilst the Cures are recorded, are not the miscarriages forgot? Have not our Enterprising Chemists sometimes preserved life, only to make it the more miserable? And saved their Patients by ruining their Constitutions? Have not their strong Opiates often disordered the Head? And their too free use of Mercury, Antimony, etc. the whole habit of the Body? If such Cures be offered me, I hardly accept them. He is the true Physician, who attends to all possible Consequences, who does not heal one Disease, by procuring us a worse, but restores such a life as a Man can enjoy; but where shall this Perfect Man be found?  
Some have gone as far as China to find him out, of which People's skill such Wonders have been reported, as the Chemists themselves can hardly pretend to. The Circulation of the Blood, which with us is a Modern Discovery, has been known there according to Vossius 
p Var. Ob. servat. p. 70. 71.  4000 years, they have such skill in Pulses as is not to be imagined, but by those that are acquainted with them; and the Arabians are there said, to have borrowed thence their knowledge in Physic. Even the Missionaries who have reason to know them best, grant, that there is somewhat surprising in their skill of Pulses, 
q Le Let. 8.  tell us they have made observation in Medicine 4000 years; and that when all the Books in China were ordered to be burnt by the Emperor Chiohamti, those in Physic were preserved by a particular exception. But yet they likewise acquaint us, that most of their skill is built upon Observations, which have not been improved, to such purposes as they would have been by the Europeans; and that for want of Philosophy and Anatomy the great Foundations of Medicine, their Notions are confused, and their Practice in some things ridiculous. The Chinese are an unaccountable sort of People, strangely compounded of Knowledge and Ignorance; they have had Printing among them, and Gunpowder, and the use of the Compass, long before they came among the Europeans; and yet for want of due improvement, these useful Inventions have not turned to any great account; and Physic has had the same Fate. So that after all our Travel, the most considerable improvements in this Art, are most probably to be found at home; and being so near, need not be much enquired into.  
We have generally Men enough ready to publish discoveries whether real or pretended, whilst deficiencies in most Arts are often concealed or passed by in silence. What noise have we had for some years about Transplantation of Diseases, and Transfusion of Blood, the latter of which has taken up so much room in the journal des S●avans, and Philosophical Transactions; and the English and French have contended for the discovery; which notwithstanding as far as I can see, is like to be of no use or Credit to either Nation. The retrieving the Ancient Brittanica has made no less noise, Muntingius has writ a Book upon it, and we were made to hope for a specific against the Scurvy: A●ter all it is like to come to nothing, and Men lose their Teeth and die, as they did before. The Circulation of the Spirits is a third Invention, which, if I might have leave to judge, I should think scarce capable of being proved; for neither are the Spirits themselves visible, nor, as far as I know, does any Ligature or Tumour in the Nerve discover their Motion. The Circulation of the Blood has indeed been said to be demonstrated to Sense by Monsieur Leeuwenhoek, by the help of his Glasses, and Men have been look upon as dull, that will not see it. I will not question the Fact, tho' I cannot but observe that a late Italian 
r Hom. Piso Crewon● An. 90. ap. Act. Lips.  Author has in effect done it for me, who either has not met with M. Leeuwenhoek and his Experiments, or cannot see so clearly in his Glasses as he does; which however it be aught to be some check upon assurance. I might enumerate a world of such like particulars; Anwald's Panacea discussed by Libavius, and Butler's Stone so much magnified by Helmont, were as much talked of in their own time as most things we can pretend to, and yet they are dead, and have been buried with their Authors.  
The most considerable real Discoveries that have been lately made, have been in Anatomy, and Botany: no Man in his right wits, will contest the former; tho' the Discoveries in that kind have been rather in the parts of the Body, than in the Humours and Spirits and B●ood, which are the principal Seat of Health as well as Disease: For the first seem designed for Strength and Motion, and fall not improperly under the Surgeon's skill; the latter are the Seat of Life and under the consideration of Physic, and are yet imperfectly understood. Till these be thoroughly known, which perhaps they never will, there will be one fundamental Deficiency in our Physic.  
Another great deficiency was observed by my Lord Bacon 
s Adu. of Learn. l. 4. c. 2.  in his time, that will I believe always hold, and that is in Comparative Anatomy: He then granted, as we may with more safety, that simple Anatomy had been clearly handled, and that the several parts had been diligently observed and described; but the same parts in different Persons had not been duly compared, nor have they yet been; though we may differ as much in the inward parts of our Bodies, as we do in our outward Features, and that difference may occasion great variety in Application and Cure. This is a deficiency that is not like to have a speedy remedy, requiring more dissections than most Men have opportunity of making,  
Nor are the deficiences less in the Botanic part; for tho' this sort of knowledge be mightily enlarged, since the discovery of the East and West Indies, by opening a vast Field, and giving a much a larger range to it than it had before, yet the great difficulty remains still to be overcome: our Herbals, it is true, are sufficiently stored with Plants, and we have made a tolerable shift, to reduce them to Classes, and to describe them by Marks and Signatures, so far as to distinguish them from one another: But as their Characteristic marks are known, are their Virtues so too? I believe no Man will venture to affirm it. The qualities of many of our Plants and Simples are yet in the dark, or so uncertain in their operations, that they are rather matter of Curiosity, than Subjects of Skill: Or where some of their Virtues are too remarkable to be concealed, yet they act one way singly, and quite otherwise in Mixture and Composition; or they may have one effect, when outwardly applied, and a quite different one when taken inwardly, after they have undergone so many alterations in the Blood and Stomach, as they must do, before they can reach the part affected; and they may again vary, according to the different temper of the Bodies, to which they are applied. It is not enough to say, their natures may be known by being Chemically resolved, for their effects are often very disproportionable to the principles and parts that result from the Analysis; there are other parts more subtle, and yet most active and vigorous in their Operation, that act upon the Spirits, as the grosser part do upon the Blood and Humours, and those the subtlest Chemists, and the most exquisite Analysis will not be able to reach.  
In short, whether we consider our Bodies, or our Medicines, Physic must be the most uncertain thing imaginable: Our Bodies are more compounded and unequal than other Bodies are, most other Creatures live upon a simple Diet, and are regular in their Appetites; whereas Man feeds almost upon every thing, Flesh and Fish, Fruits and Plants, from the Fruit of our Gardens to the Mushroom upon the Dunghill; and where Appetite fails, the Invention is called in to swell the Account; high Sauces and rich Spices are fetched from the Indies, which occasion strong Fermentations and infinite disorder in the Blood and Humours: Hence proceed such variety of Diseases as perplex and distract the Physician's Skill. A sound Body and healthy Constitution is easily restored when out of order, Nature in a great measure does its own work, (a noted instance whereof, we have in Cornaro in Lessius, who by regularity and temperance had brought an infirm Body to such a temper, that he was not troubled with any Disease, and any wound in him would in a manner heal itself) whereas in a disordered Body, every little thing is Wound and Disease, and a Physician must give a new Constitution, before he can perfect a Cure; this is a hard trial upon our Physician, and yet by our way of living we often require it.  
It is the harder, because his Medicines and Methods of Cure will not enable him to work Wonders; For tho' our Materia Medica be large enough, and to look into our Dispensatories, one would think no Disease incurable, yet the mischief of it is, all those fine Medicines, do not always answer in the Application, nor have they been found so Sovereign in our Bodies, as they are in our Books. All which things have so distracted our Physicians, that they vary even in the most common Methods: At one time they keep their Patients so close and warm, as almost to stifle them with care, and all on a sudden the Cold Regimen is in vogue; In one Age Alkalies are in fashion, and in the next Acids begin to recover Credit; Antimony at one time is next to Poison, and again, the most innocent thing in the World, if duly prepared; Bleeding is practised in one Nation, and condemned by their Neighbours; some People are prodigal of their Blood, and others so sparing, as if so much Life and Blood went together; Helmont and his Followers are for the latter way, Galen and Willis and their Followers, encourage the former: and all of them, as you will imagine, with equal assurance.   

CHAP. XVI.  
Of Critical Learning.  
CRiticism as it is usually practised, is little more than an Art of finding Faults, and those commonly little ones too, and such as are of small importance to the Scope and Design of an Author. Monsieur bail was sensible of this, whose first design was to publish a Dictionary of Faults, but was diverted from his Purpose, by his Friends representing to him, that they were not considerable enough to be insisted on: And yet he had that to say for himself, that they were such as were taken notice of by Scaliger and other noted Critics, either some mistake in a Name, Time, Place, or other minute Circumstance. The truth of it is, Criticism is at a low Ebb, Men will be finding faults in Authors, and yet our store is well near exhausted, for there are few Faults in this kind, that have not been taken notice of.  
Erasmus and the first set of Critics had Matter enough to work upon, a long Age of Ignorance had cut out sufficient Employment, by vicious Copies and obtruding Spurious from Genuine Authors; the distinguishing of which was a Work of Use and Skill: But after the Business is pretty well done, the Vein of Criticising still continues; Men will play at small Games rather than want Employment, so that our Modern Critics have usually either degenerated into Grammarians, or if they soar higher, it is too often, by venturing too freely upon those Books, which ought to be handled with greater tenderness: Their business sometimes is in finding Faults, where there are none, or in perverting the Sense, that they may make room for Correction. And for as much as these Men do find Faults with all the World, they have no reason to take it amiss, if one who is none of their Number, does find one or two, in them. I shall seek for no more (nor have I room in the compass of a Chapter) but they shall be in two Critics of Name; one of whom has writ the Art of Criticism, the other, A Critical History of the Old and New Testament.  
The former, Monsieur le Clerc, is as free in his Censures, as any Man I ever met with, and oft times as Unhappy: He gins with Erasmus, for I take the first thing I meet with, whom he exposeth 
t Ars Crit. cap. 1. p. 13. Ed. Lond.  as ignorant in Geography, for having in his Notes upon Act. 28. mistaken Rhegium, a City in Italy, for a Town in Sicily; and for having took Melita an Island, either for Mitylene a City; or the same Island, that is situate in the Mediterranean, or African Sea, for an obscure Island in the Adriatic: and then falls foul on him, as a Man that had scarce ever seen a Geographical Map. It seemed very strange to me, that Erasmus who is known to have writ his Commentaries upon the new Testament, with the Map of the Roman Empire always before him, should be guilty of such Errors in Geography, and therefore I had the curiosity to consult the Author: I have not so bad an Edition of Erasmus, as Mons. Le Clerc quotes, but I consulted the worst Edition I could meet with; in that, he is so far from placing Rhegium in Sicily, that he expressly says, it is a City in Italy, and corrects St. Jerome for having been guilty of so gross a mistake: And as to Melita the Island, he directly distinguisheth it from Mitylene the City, which Island he placeth betwixt Africa and Sicily, a Situation very different from that, which Monsieur Le Clerc endeavours to fasten upon him.  
Monsieur Le Clerc in the next place is angry with Erasmus for quoting Hugo Carrensis, being an Author of no Credit, and one who lived in the Scholastic Age, and seems to think he was led into his Mistake, by trusting so mean an Authority: It is true, Erasmus does quote Hugo Carrensis, but it is only to make sport with him, as he does sometimes with the Schoolmen, and Monsieur Le Clerc needed not have gone above ten Lines further for a convincing Proof of this, where Erasmus calls upon his Reader to laugh 
u In Act. Apost. c. 28. v. 11.  at Hugo Carrensis for his Critical Observation upon the Sign of Castor and Pollux.  
Well! But Erasmus is not yet clear of Monsieur Le Clerc, for he remembers, that Erasmus somewhere in his Notes upon St. Ierom's Epistles, mistakes the City Mitylene for the Island Melita, only ● he forgets the particular place, but it is somewhere, where St. Jerome mentions St. Paul's Shipwreck: I always suspect a Man where he forgets the place, and therefore I will help his Memory; it is in St. Ierome's Epistle to Oceanus in the first Tome of Erasmus' Edition; where, if Erasmus reads Mitylene I suppose it was only because, it was the same word, which was used by his Author St. Jerome, for both of them make it an Island and expressly the same where S. Paul suffered Shipwreck, and without question the same, that Erasmus meant in his Notes upon the Acts. If Erasmus be to be blamed in any thing, it is for making St. Jerome, read Mitylene instead of Melita, for in all the MSS. that I have seen of that Father, and I have seen more than one, the reading is, Melita: But I dare say that is more than M. Le Clerc knows. Erasmus may have had mistakes in Criticism, for tho' he tells us of himself, that his care in publishing St. Jerome was such, that it cost him almost as much pains, in restoring his Works, as it did the Author in writing them; yet Marianus Victorius 
x Epist. Pio Quarto  pretends to have made 1500 Corrections upon him barely in the Edition of that Father; and the Benedictines, no doubt, have added more. But as for M. Le Clerc's attacks, I dare be confident, they will neither hurt St. Jerome, nor any of his Editors; tho' he falls as foul upon the Benedictines, as he does upon Erasmus. He would gladly make the World believe, that they understand not Greek, and indeed they pretend less that way, and therefore their chief care hitherto has been in the Latin Fathers, in which they have deserved great Commendation: But as to M. Le Clerc's Critical observation 
y Tom. 2. cap. 13.  which he passeth upon them with so much Contempt, it is so far short of proof to me, that I cannot but think their mistake better than his Correction, I am sure more agreeable to St. Ierome's meaning.  
He has passed the same censure in another Work 
z Patres Apostol. A●t. 98.  upon one who has less deserved it, the Learned Sorbonist Cotelerius, who has not been susepcted of want of Greek, till M. Le Clerc took him to task, he has caught him tripping in his Greek, where all things were plain, and tells us he has shown it in his Notes upon Barnabas and Clemens. For my part I can meet with no material Corrections upon either of these Authors, and the only thing he chargeth him with in his Preface is, That he renders, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Capitulatim, which in M. Le Clerc's opinion, should be summatim, which in reading our Animadverter, a Man, would think Cotelerius had done, either in Barnabas or Clement's Epistles. I have read over hastily these three Epistles; I will not be overpositive, but I am pretty confident, the word does not occur in any one of the three; and if it be to be met with in the Clementines, it is nothing to the Animadverter's purpose; for we are not to expect to meet always with Classical Greek there, or with words, always in the sense of Classical Authors. Cotelerius 
a Barnab. Es. p. 1.  has rendered the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as M. Le Clerc would have it; and if he have rendered the Adverb otherwise, it is probable it was not from mistake, but judgement. Haddit M. Le Clerc considered, that there is a sort of Ecclesiastical Greek, very different from the Classical, he would have been more reserved in his Censures. But this is a sort of Greek, wherewith he seems not to be much acquainted. St. Jerome, who understood this sort of Greek better than ei●her of them, has rendered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by, recapitulare 
b Ad Ephes. cap. 1. v. 10. ; and tho' M. Le Clerc should oppose, I must think St. Jerome a good Translator.  
Our Historian is a Critic of a higher form, but sets out as unfortunately as M. Le Clerc has done: To recommend the Critical Art to the World, he tells us, that in St. Ierom's time several Ladies of Quality, made Criticism their Study; and to prove this 
c Hist. Crit. du Vieux ●est. p. 1. 2.  quotes an Epistle of that Father to junia and Fretella, which shows them to have been knowing in the Greek and Hebrew. The Hebrew was so little known in that Age, that perhaps St. Jerome was the only Person of his Time, that understood it perfectly, except the Jewish Rabbins, who were his Instructors; and this Father Simon knows very well: But as to the Father's two Ladies, I can assure him, there were none of that name that understood a word of either Language: for Sunnia and Fretella were two Learned Men of St. Ierom's Acquaintance. Somewhat of this was observed by a Friend of Vossius 
d Let. a M. justel. : and if Father Simon have any doubt of the thing, I have that Epistle now before me in two very fair Manuscripts; in both which it is, Dilectissimis Fratribus Sunniae & Fretellae. This is no very great mistake, but it is always ominous to stumble at the Threshold.  
I will not trace him through his mistakes; I will only Note one other, which an Englishman has better opportunities of examining than other Men have. Father Simon 
e Hist. Crit. du N. T. c. 30, 31, etc. Hist. des vers. c. 3, 5, etc.  has not taken more pains upon any one Subject, than he has done upon the ancient Manuscript Cambridge Copy of the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, and two other Manuscript Copies of St. Paul's Epistles; the one in the King of France's Library; the other in the Library of the Benedictines of St. german: In the Latin Copies, of which he thinks he has discovered the Ancient Vulgar Latin, as used in the Western Church, before St. Ierom's time, to whom we own the Vulgar now in use. I should be as glad, and would go as far to meet with the Ancient Vulgar of the New Testament, as any Man shall do; but cannot be of Opinion, that Father Simon or Morinus have met with it in these Manuscripts. For to speak only to the Cambridge Copy: Any one that has observed that Manuscript, knows, that the Latin Copy answers the Greek so exactly, that there are very few various Readins: So that if the Latin be Ancient, as the Vulgar undoubtedly was almost as Ancient as the Preaching of the Gospel at Rome, the Greek probably is so too; and it will hardly be imagined, that had there been a Latin Copy so exactly agreeing with the Greek Original, before St. Ierom's time, that he would have ventured upon, or have thought a new Translation necessary. St. Ierom's manner of reforming the Ancient Vulgar was, by comparing and reducing it to the Greek Original: but here was a Copy already, agreeing with the Greek. If it be said, the Greek in that Manuscript may be a more Modern Copy, but still before St. Ierom's time, and that the Latin is translated from it: This may be true; but then the Latin is no longer the Ancient Vulgar, but a later Version.  
There is one pretty probable way of trying it, by comparing the Citations in the New Testament, with the same Texts, as they stand in the Ancient Vulgar, in the Old. This I have done in the Psalms, and am far from meeting with any exact agreement: The same Observation will hold, in the Old Ecclesiastical Writers, as far as the Vulgar can be traced there; and I believe Hilary the Deacon, who has been noted for keeping closest to the Old Translation, will be no exception to this Rule. Had Father Simon been as quick and diligent in observing Differences, as he has been in marking Agreements, perhaps he would not have been so hasty in drawing his Conclusion: In many things there is an agreement betwixt the Ancient and Modern Vulgar, but no Man will conclude from thence that they are the same.  
Father Simon truly observes 
f Hist. N. T. c. 30. , that the Greek in these Manuscripts, is very faulty, and grounds an Argument thereupon, that they could not for that Reason be brought from Greece. Had that Father had a Copy of the Latin Version of the Cambridge Manuscript, as he has of the Greek, he would have found, that the Latin is the more faulty of the two; and that not only in the Orthography, but Concord. For what would he think of Hic verbus, Joh. c. 21. v. 23. Or of, Retiam, v. 6. and repeated, v. 8. Or of, Cumesset in Mesopotamiam posteaquam mortuus esset in Charris, instead of, Prius quam moraretur in Charan: Act. 7. v. 2. Or of, Esset ei Filium, v. 5. Or of, justitias coepisset cum genus nostrum, v. 19? All which mistakes are to be met with in two Chapters, and more, which I forbear to mention, as I do to translate those I have mentioned because I would not uncover the nakedness of this Version. But tho' mistakes of this kind be so common, as to occur pretty frequently in this Manuscript, yet they are not very agreeable to the Style of the Ages before St. jerom. We have enough left us of the Ancient Vulgar, to enable us to judge of its Style, by all the Remainders of it we have, tho' it has not Elegancy, which it did not affect, yet it appears to have been writ with tolerable Purity; whereas the Version we are now speaking of, is uncouth and rude, and almost barbarous.  
What then shall we think of it? Whatever the Version is, or whencesoever it is taken, the MS. itself seems to be Gothic; and probably both are of the same Extraction, and were done after St. Ierom's Time, when the Goths had overrun the Empire; and Father Mabillon 
g De Re. Diplom. p. 347.  the greatest Judge of MSS of this Age, sets the second part of this MS. no higher. We have already seen the Version is rude, and suitable enough to these Times, and Dr. Marshal 
f Ad Evang. Goth. p. 403. ●84, etc.  upon the Gothic Gospels has observed such an agreement betwixt those Gospels and the Cambridge MS, that he thinks them to be taken from the Greek of that Copy; and this agreement he has shown in several particular Texts. The Characters in that MS are many of them Gothic, and Father Simon, who thinks he has met with Greek Letters in the Latin Copy of the Second Part of this MS, and Grounds an Argument upon it, is undoubtedly mistaken, for they are only Gothic Characters several of which have a great affinity with the Greek: The Abbreviations are often the same in the Cambridge MS and Gothic Gospels, and the Numbers expressed by Numeral Letters, ϊ and γ̈ are sometimes pointed, and ει, for ι, put down after the Gothic way; and Eusebius' Canons are placed in the Margin, in a rude manner, without Marks of Distinction to make them useful, with other Gothisms, that might be observed, did I design this, for any more than a Hint or Specimen. One thing is too observable to be passed over, that whereas our Saviour's Genealogy in St. Luke, is placed in Columns in the Gothic Gospels, it is put down in the very same manner in the Cambridge MS, which is the more remarkable, because the rest of that MS is writ in long Lines, and the Words run into one another. From all which, one would be apt to infer, That this Copy was taken under the Goths, that it is compounded of the Ancient and Modern Vulgar, which were both of them in use in the Gothic Churches, and particularly in Spain two or three Centuries after St. Ierome's Time; tho' in many things it differs from them both; as it needs must, whilst it keeps so close to a Greek Copy much differing from any Copy, either Printed or Manuscript that we now have. It has been taken from a Copy fitted for Ecclesiastical use: For that it has been taken from such a Copy, appears from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Lessons marked in the Margin Rubric-wise; and from the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, sometimes put at the end of a Lesson, to denote the Conclusion of a Reading. That these are the Marks of such Copies has been observed by Father Simon 
g Hist. N. T. Ch. 33. , and he needed only have applied them to this Manuscript, to have shown it to have been taken from a Copy of this Nature. I am so far satisfied, of its having been taken from such a Copy, that I once thought it, to have been fitted for the Churches of the Greek Empire, when both Greek and Latin were spoke there, as they were from Constantine, till after justinian; in like manner, as they yet have the Bible in two Tongues in such places, where the People are of two Languages: But I think I have reason to alter my Opinion.  
What Father Simon further conjectures, concerning the French MSS of St. Paul's Epistles being the Second Part of the Cambridge Copy, is undoubtedly true of one of them; For besides that in a Catalogue of the Books of the New Testament, at the end of one of these, MSS 
h Morin. l. 1. Exerc. 2. c. 3. , the Gospels are placed in the same order, wherein they stand in the Cambridge Copy, St. john immediately after St. Matthew, and the agreeableness in the Character betwixt the Cambridge and Benedictine Copy, according to the Specimen of it, we have in Mabillon 
i P. 347. . There is a Fragment of St. John's last Epistle, betwixt St. Mark's Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles, not altogether in the same hand, but in a Version somewhat different from the present Vulgar which shows, the Catholic Epistles have been there, and that the Book was once entire, bating only the Revelations, that were not for some Ages, so universally received in the Church.  
If I have brought the Age of this MS too low, or lessened its Authority too much, I shall be ready to alter my Opinion upon better Reasons, for I am not much concerned for the Reputation of a Critic. I hope I shall always have a due Concern for Religion and the Church, and that my opinion should be true, I think, is the interest of both: For this Copy differing so much from all others, the less Authority we give it, it will be able to do the less hurt. I am sure they have set it too high, who fetch it from Irenaeus, or St. Hilary, both which Fathers were Born before the Goths had Letters; for that the Characters are Gothic, I think I may be pretty positive. For this Reason I shall never desire to see it Printed, tho' a worthy Person seems to have that Design and a Scheme has been marked out to that purpose: But I hope that Learned Body, in whose Custody it is, will have more regard to the Will of the Donor, whose first Intention, it certainly was, that it should not 
k V Bez. Epist. ad Acad. Can.  be published.  
It's various Readins have been given us already in the Polyglot Bibles, tho' not over accurately, and sufficient care taken that it shall not, In uno exemplo periclitari; And what would the Critics have more? Even Father Simon has procured a Copy, from England, tho' I much suspect, it is no other than those various Readins: The Father tells us, Morinus had it from junius the Library-keeper of Cambridge, by such a mistake 
l Hist. N. T. Ch. 30.  as another Critic has given us a Magdeburgh College at Oxford. But of this perhaps too much.  
I will only offer one Criticism, in order to wipe off a Blot from the English, that has been unjustly cast upon the Nation, either by the Author, or Interpreter. I have already said in another Chapter, that Chalcocondylas does report of the Enlish, that upon a Visit made to a Friend, it is permitted the Stranger by way of Compliment to Lie w●th his Neighbour's Wife: This the Learned Interpreter of Chalcocondylas does plainly say, and it stands so in the last Royal Edition of that Author: But the Word in Greek, is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * which one would suspect was rather meant of Kissing; no doubt some wand'ring Greek had been in England, and having observed our way of Kissing our Neighbour's Wives, which might as well be let alone, had reported it to Chalcocondylas in a Word of nearest affinity in the Greek, and thereby given occasion to this Mistake. This Account seems so probable, that (with Submission to the Critics) I durst almost venture from thence, to add one other Word to our Glossaries. 
† 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, being a proper word for kissing, there can be no great doubt of the Correction I made, nor needs the word be thrown into a Glossary any otherwise, then as it seems to be there rendered from the English.    

CHAP. XVII.  
Of Oriental Learning, Jewish and Arabian.  
IT has been an old Question, and much debated amongst▪ Learned Men, whether greater Profit or Inconvenience ariseth from reading the Jewish Books? On the one hand it is alleged, that the Hebrew Tongue, and Jewish Rites and Customs, can be no way so well learned, as from themselves; and that as in order to understand the Greek and Roman Polity, it is necessary to read Greek and Latin Authors: So if we would be acquainted with the Jewish affairs, we cannot learn them better, than from their own Books. On the other side, they have been charged with gross Ignorance, even in their own affairs; and their Books said to be so stuffed with Trifles, or, what is worse, with poisonous Opinions, that the profit in reading them will not countervail the danger. Accordingly they have met with a very different Fate; At one time they have been ordered to be read and studied, as by Clement the 5 th', 
m Clementin. l. 5. Tit. 1.  in the Council of Vienne: And again, the Talmudic Books have been adjudged to be burnt, as 12000 Volumes were by public Order, 
n V Sixt. Senens. l. 2. p. 120.  only out of one Library at Cremona; And had not the Famous Reuchlin advocated for them under the Emperor Maximilian, they had been in danger of an Universal Ruin.  
In such variety there may be need of distinction; And therefore the Jewish Writers may be considered two ways, either as Witnesses, or Interpreters: In the first sense, they have been Faithful Depositaries, and very useful in handing down the Sacred Volumes, and in preserving the Text entire: In the other sense, their Skill or Authority, as Interpreters, has not been thought very considerable.  
The great Reason whereupon their Books have been valued, has been their seeming Antiquity: In the last Age, we have been told of Books as Old as Abraham and Ezra, that have had the fortune to be believed by wisemen; 
o V Morin. l. 2. Exerc. 6. cap. 1. Exerc. 9 cap. 8, etc.  and could their Rise be traced up and derived from such an Original, they would have reason to be valued: But this Vizor has been taken off, and their Novelty or Imposture has been detected: Morinus has brought down most of them several Centuries from their boasted Height. Their Talmud that has been commented upon by the Modern Rabbins, has been shown to be little older than the Age of justinian, the first Authentic mention we have of the Misna, or Text of that Book (for the Gemara, or Comment must have been yet later) being in one of his Novels 
p Novel. 146. , and probably, the Contention among the jews about receiving it, had given occasion to that Law. Origen and St. Jerome knew nothing of that Book; who notwithstanding were inquisitive Men, and knowing in the Hebrew, and having had opportunities of consulting their Hebrew Masters, and occasions of citing them, and having done it in things of less moment, could not have avoided mentioning this, had it been then in being, and so noted, as to be a standing Law Ecclesiastical and Civil among the jews 
q Morin. ibid. Exerc. 6. . Their two Books Bahir and Zohar, so venerable; among them for their mighty Age, have been brought down yet lower; though whatever Age they be of, they can be of no use to any, being only a heap of Cabbalistical Niceties 
r Buxtorf Bibl. Rab. , which though much valued by such Men, as admire every thing that is abstruse and hidden, are sufficiently known to be nothing better than Jargoon and Cant. The truth of it is, few of their ancient Books have been thought much better, being either so mystical, as hardly to be understood, or so full of Gross Legend, as to force them to take shelter under Allegories to reconcile them to sense. There is little Light to be borrowed from them, for almost a 1000 Years after the last Destruction of their Temple; and though about that time, some of the Modern Rabbins began to introduce Learning, yet this was no part of their Rabbinism, but a departing therefrom; most of the Learning they had was borrowed from the Arabians; and Maimonides, Qui primus inter suos desiit nugari, by mixing Philosophy and Reason with his Comments, in order to make their Books speak sense, thereby gave such offence, that he was continually persecuted for it by his Brethren, 
s Buxtorf Praef. in Mor. Ne. vocb.  and hardly escaped being branded for à Heretic. They that have taken the same way, aught upon their Principles to fall under the like Censure; and it ought always to be remembered, that the modern Rabbins have done best, whose Authority by their Age is inconsiderable, and their Skill not so extraordinary, as to need be imitated by Christians, who now understand their Language as well, and their Critical and Philological Learning much better than they do themselves. Even Maimonides 
t Mor. Nevoch. Par. 1. cap. 67.  confesseth of his times, that the jews were not then skilful in their own Language.  
I am not ignorant with what design some Men have decried the Rabbins; whatever their design may have been, they may have spoke truth, and at the same time mistake their aim: We have the less reason to be jealous of them, since they are not the only Men that have gone this way: For to pass by Luther, who has treated the Rabbins very ruggedly 
u In Gen. cap. 16, etc.  Let us hear what a great Professor, Reuchlin's Scholar and Successor says of them, one who had spent all his Life, and part of his Estate in these Studies; 
x joh. 〈◊〉.  In his Preface to the Dictionary (one of the first considerable ones of this kind) he gives this account, In them is no light, no knowledge of God, no Spirit, no true and solid Art, no Understanding even of the Hebrew Tongue— they have done nothing worth notice towards understanding the Sacred Text; Their Dictionaries and Comments have brought more obscurity than Light or ' Truth— And then goes on to challenge them in matter of Fact, and to point out a better way than that which they have followed, and such as himself has pursued.  
He may have gone too far in depressing the Rabbins; if he have been too warm in decrying them, doubtless others have gone too great a length the other way, who have studied the Talmud so long as to draw Contagion from thence, and almost become Rabbins themselves: A Countryman of our own has exceeded in this, who though he has only commented upon one Book, has had such Faith in the Talmud, as to believe, That many of its Traditions were divinely delivered to Moses in Mount Sinai, which it was not lawful for Moses to divulge in writing; but being transmitted down orally to his Posterity, they are related to us in the Talmudic Books. 
y V Praef. ad Cod. joma. Multa Alkgorica & p●a dicta, quae Antiqui Rabbini à Deo exagitati ●j●usque numine abrepti protulerunt, in scriptis Talmudic it continentur. Ibid.  And lest this should not be enough, he is of opinion, There are many Allegorical and Pious Say contained there, that were uttered by the ancient Rabbins, when heated with the Divinity, and moved by God. Can any jew have said more? Or could it be imagined, a Christian would have said so much? If these be the Fruits of Rabbinical Inquiries, surely they were better let alone. That a Man that is conversant in these sort of Studies should undervalue all other sorts of Learning, is no new thing; it is what has been observed, and for which a reason may be given: For these Inquiries being out of the way, and not every Man's possession, vulgar Studies must be despised by Men of uncommon Attainments, and those only valued that are difficult and uncommon. Or that others should imagine they find Eloquence in the Rabbins, and should compare Abravanel to Cicero, and Aben-Ezra to Sallust 
z Sim. Crit. Hist. l. 3. c. 7. , is not very strange; for Men are apt to find Beauty in Blemishes, where they have placed their Affections: But that Men should proceed to Idolise them, no other Reason can be assigned, but that which is given for all Idols, and that is, that they are all of them vain.  
Because the Rabbins have been said to have borrowed most of their humane Learning from the Arabians, I will likewise speak one word of them. As the jews have borrowed from the Arabians, so have the Arabians from the Greeks; For they were so far from having any Learning of their own, that the true Arabs, the Descendants of Ishmael, had no Letters; and their Language must have been lost, had it not been preserved in their Poems, that were composed by their Ancient Bards 
a Pocock ad Spec. Arab. , and by their facility being easily learned, were delivered down from hand to hand. Other Learning they had very little, except Poetry, till having overrun the Eastern Parts of the Greek Empire, they were taught it by the Vanquished People, who translated the Greek Authors for them into their own Language; and the Arabians being Men of quick Wits, refined so much upon their Authors, that Aristotle became more subtle in the Arabic, than he was before in his own Tongue; and so much was he admired in that Dress, that he was turned from thence into Latin, with Averro upon him; and for some time, one was not thought to understand Aristotle aright, unless he had read him with Averroes' Comment. But this humour held no longer than Averro came to be understood, (understood I should not have said; for perhaps no Man ever understood him, but till he came to be better looked into,) for then his overgreat Nicety was not only discovered; but besides other Errors, he was charged with the Whimsies and Visions of the Alcoran 
b Lud. Viu. de Caus. Corrupt. Art. Lib. 5. : And Averro is now as much out of fashion for his Philosophy, as Avicen is for his Physic, though they were once the Wonder of their Age and Nation.  
Physic and Philosophy were the Studies wherein the Arabians excelled most, and therefore the Books of that kind were first translated and published among us: But since those Books have ceased to be admired, an attempt has been made another way, and we have been furnished with a Sett of Arabic Historians, by Erpenius, Golius, and Dr. Pocock. Their Books may be seen, and containing Matter of Fact; every Man is able to judge of their performance: What sort of Historian Abulpharajius is, may be inferred from his Learned Editor, who was under discouragements in publishing him, from his disagreement with Greek and Roman History. I am sure Eutychius is no better, (whom Mr. Selden is pleased to style Our Egyptian Bede;) His History of the Council of Nice is such a Romance, as exceeds all Faith, but that of a Rabbin or Arabian 
c Eutych. p. 440, etc.  According to him above 2000 Bishops met at Nice, after they had been above two years in assembling there; The Patriarch of Alexandria is appointed Precedent, and no more notice taken of Hosius, than if he had not been present: Constantine is described as transferring his Power upon the Bishops by the delivery of his Ring, Sword, and Sceptre; with other things equally absurd: And that the Canons might bear better proportion to the number of Bishops; In the Arabic Copies we have above a hundred, 
d V Abr. Ecchel. Eutych. Vind. Par. 2. c. 17.  whereas all the World knows there are only twenty genuine Canons of that Council.  
We have been told oftener than once of Livy complete in Arabic, yet dormant among their Manuscripts: But if their Translations be no better than their Histories, (and if we will take Huetius' 
e De Clar. Interpr. p. 121.  account of them, they are rather worse,) we have no reason to desire it over-eagerly, though it could be produced, which I almost despair it ever shall. Nor have we reason to be more fond of their Geography, if we may make an Estimate from that taste thereof, which has been given us, by Gabriel Sionita, in the Nubian Geographer, who has relished so little with the World, as not to raise any thirst or appetite of having more. With what exactness he has described the three parts of the World, particularly Europe, might be easily shown, were it worth the while to trace him in his Failings: He is to be seen, and every one that has a Globe and Maps, can judge of the Work.  
In one word, the great Use of the Arabian and Rabbinical Writers seems to be, in confuting the Alcoran and Talmud; and to that end, there is no doubt, they may be effectually useful.   

CHAP. XVIII.  
Of Scholastic Learning.  
DIvinity, as it is professed in the Schools is become an Art, and so profound a piece of Learning, that it requires great Parts, and much Pains to master it; an argument sure, that it is not so very necessary, otherwise it would need less skill to be understood. I would not detract from, much less deny all use of this sort of Learning, tho' if I should be free in my Censures, I should have good authority to warrant me therein; most of the first Reformers having lead the way, and some of them having declaimed against it pretty warmly. It's great abuse in the Church of Rome had given too just occasion to this; for that Church having adopted it into her Systems, and interwoven it with most of her Opinions, and the Schoolmen having been the Great Champions of her Cause, the Reformers were never safe, till they had disarmed her of this hold, which they did by exposing this new method, and introducing in its stead a much surer one, built upon the clear Text of Scripture, and deductions from thence, which they made use of in all their Conferences and Disputations. This, tho' the true and ancient way, and most agreeable to the simplicity of the Gospel, yet had been much neglected by the Schoolmen, who having broached new Opinions, were to support them by new Methods, and the Scriptures having been silent, or not speaking home to their purpose, they therefore used them very sparingly: The Authority of the Fathers was called in, and where these were deficient Aristotle's Philosophy was to supply the defect, (without whom, if the observation in my Author 
f In ●he ●aveva gran parte Aristotle, college haver distinto Essattament tutti i generi di cause; ● che se egli non fosse adoperato, noi mancavano di molti ●rticoli di fede. Hist. deal Conc. Trident. 1. 2.  be true, a Neighbouring Church had wanted some Articles of Faith) the Fathers and Philosophical reasons were their great strength. Tho' after all it must be confessed, that where the Opinions of their Church have not been concerned, and where they have argued barely upon the Principles of Reason, they have often done exceeding well; only launching out beyond their line they have as frequently miscarried.  
The Faults in this sort of Learning are chief these, (1.) Defectiveness for want of proper helps. (2.) Incoherence. (3) Nicety. (4.) Obscurity. (5.) Barbarity. (1.) The Languages are one proper help, for Aristotle's Philosophy, and many of the Father's being writ in Greek, it was necessary in order to be Master of these, that the Language wherein they were writ should be understood: This help the Schoolmen wanted, having had no Greek and only a very moderate share of Latin; Aristotle was known to them in a Tongue that was none of his own, and being obscure enough in himself, was much more so, in wretched Translations; and the Fathers, who were very Intelligible in Greek, were either obscured, by being turned into another Idiom, or were made to speak somewhat they never meant. Both Greek and Latin Fathers have been treated equally ill, for want of another proper help, viz. Criticism, in distinguishing Genuine from Spurious Authors; for want of which Authorities have been crudely swallowed down without distinction; false Authorities have been obtruded, and true ones rejected, or often mutilated; the Ages of Authors have been confounded, and some late Imposter has assumed the name of a venerable Father. Instances whereof (for I do not love to dwell upon sores) may be had in Launoy in several of his Epistles, and in Danaeus' Censure upon the first Book of Sentences.  
(2.) By incoherence I do not mean any inconsequence in the way of arguing in the Divinity of the Schools, but a disagreement of the parts, that it principally consists of: which being chief two (as we have before observed) the Sentences of the Fathers and Aristotle's Philosophy, what tolerable agreement can there be betwixt two things so very different, most of the Fathers were Platonists in their opinion, possibly for the sake of some agreement, which that Philosophy seemed to have with the Christian Religion: Origen, St Chrysostom, and to name no more, St. Augustine who was more followed in the Schools, than all the rest, was of that number: Aristotle was either much neglected by the Fathers, or where they had occasion to speak of him, they usually condemn him; and that either for his Sophistic way of reasoning, or for his unsuitable Notions of God and Providence, which are of first consideration in the Schools. Even in the Church of Rome Aristotle was often forbid, sometimes ordered to be burnt, and what is most strange, at that time when his Books were commented upon by Aquinas, they stood prohibited by a Decree of Gregory the IX, 
g V Launoy de var. Aristot. Fortuna cap. 7, etc.  Of late, almost in our time, a proposal was made at Rome to Gregory the XIV. that Aristotle's Philosophy might be banished the Schools, and Plato's substituted in his place, as being more agreeable to the Christian Religion, and Sense of the Fathers; and above forty propositions were then produced, wherein Plato's Consonancy was shown, in all which Aristotle was pretended 
h Ibid. cap. 14.  to be Dissonant from the true Religion: Whether upon just grounds or no, I will not venture to determine; for since Platonism has obtained, as it once did pretty early, and has again done of late, it has been found liable to as dangerous consequences, as any that have been yet charged upon the other Philosophy. I only bring thus much to show, that there can be no good agreement in this particular, where the Parts are of so different a nature, as the Fathers and Aristotle, and so jarring, that they cannot naturally cohere.  
(3.) Nicety is the great fault of the Schools, her Doctors have been styled Profound, Subtle, Irrefragable; Titles which they have most valued themselves upon, and seem not much to have affected the Reputation of being Familiar and Easy, at lest none of their Titles have been derived from thence. They delight in refining upon one another, and sometimes spin so fine a thread, that it is either broke, or much weakened in drawing it out: They have perplexed Knowledge, by starting insuperable difficulties, and seem in this to have run into the same fault with your too profound Politicians, who, as they have often foreseen designs, which are neither practicable, nor ever intended; so these men have proposed Objections, that would never have been thought of, had not they first started them; the consequence whereof has been, that we have furnished our Enemies with Objections, who have made use of our Weapons, and have turned our own Artillery against us. This is too visible in our Modern Socinians, who have often gathered out of this Storehouse, and by picking up difficulties in the Schoolmen, have turned their Objections into Proof and Arguments, and have thereby gained the Reputation of subtle Men. Thus Controversies have been multiplied, and those we have already, have swollen to an unmeasurable height, and every difference has become irreconcilable; whilst Men study Nicety more than Peace, and stretch their Wits, and rack their Inventions, to outreach their Opponents. And it were well if the mischief had stopped here, and men's Curiosity had not led them on, from nice Questions to such as are Impious: It has done this, and lest I should be thought to do them wrong, I shall refer the Reader to an unexceptionable Author 
i 〈◊〉 Perron. de p Eu●har, l. 3. ch. 20.  one of the Greatest Champions, the Church of Rome ever had, for a Catalogue of them; which are so offensive to Christian Ears, that I forbear to put them down in English, though he has not scrupled to give them in a more common Language  
(4.) Obscurity, where things are intricate in themselves, if they be not so clearly explained in treating of them, as might be desired, the nature of the things will excuse, as not being capable of perspicuity; or if hard Terms are made use of, if very significative, and not too many, this is what is allowable in all Arts; But then, if Terms of Art have been multiplied beyond necessity, and without significancy; or if things that are plain in themselves have been obscured, by being handled too Artificially, this sure is a great Abuse; and this is, what has been charged upon many of the Schoolmen. The mysteries of Religion are not capable of being rendered obvious to Reason, and therefore if they have not made these plain, they are not to be blamed; they would have been more excusable, had they explained them less, and had not trusted too much to rational helps, in explaining things, that are not the Objects of our Understanding; but tho' Mysteries are not to be explained, other things in Religion are clear enough, and would continue so, were they not clouded and involved by too much Art. I do not charge this as a general fault, tho' it be too common; some of the Schoolmen are less obnoxious to this charge, and generally the first are lest Obscure; and Lombard and Aquinas, the two Authors of the Sentences and Sums have been more plain, than many of those that have writ upon them, whose Comments have often helped to obscure the Text. It is an odd Commendation that is given by Cardan 
k De Subtle. l. 16.  to one of our Countrymen, one of the most subtle among the Doctors, that only one of his Arguments was enough to puzzle all Posterity, and that when he grew old h● wept, because he could not understand his own Books. Men that writ De Subtilitate, must be allowed to say what they please, but those of ordinary Capacities would have thought it a greater Character, that our Doctor had well explained that one Argument, and had writ so, that he might have been understood. There are great Charms in being esteemed subtle, and it is an argument hereof, that Cardan commends this Author for his subtlety, whom in all probablity, he had never seen, otherwise he could not so foully have mistaken his name, as he does 
l Richard. al. Raymund Suiseth. Venet. 1520. ap. Ca●dan. johan. Suiisset.  and as some others have done, that have spoke of this Author, who is very rare. He is indeed profoundly obscure, tho' I must confess, I have only looked into him so far, as to observe his way of writing, which is really such, as if he never meant to be understood. Others have been faulty enough in this way, and it were no hard task to show it in many of the rest, but having mentioned this Man, I can say nothing worse against obscurity.  
(5.) Rough Language and Barbarousness of Expression, that were made so great Objections upon▪ the reviving of Learning, and are yet so with Polite Men, whose ears can bear nothing without ornament and smoothness, shall be no great faults with me, and in abstruse Subjects may be born with; and I should digest Caramuel's new Scholastic Dialect, provided it conduced to promote knowledge: However, a bad Dress and ill Mien are Blemishes upon knowledge, tho' they detract nothing from its strength, and aught to be some mortification to those Men who are apt to ver-value themselves upon imaginary Perfection. Of all Men they are farthest from it, and after so many Imperfections as have been charged upon them, it was surprising to me, to meet with one of the la●t Commentators upon the Sum 
m Bapt. Gonet. Clip. Theolog. Par. 1669.  writing as if he had lived before Luther. In a Prefatory Discourse entitled, Commendatio Doctrinae D. Thomae, he endeavours to prove in so many several Chapters, that St. Thomas had writ his Books, not without special infusion of God Almighty, Chap. 1. That in writing them, he received many things by Revelation, Chap. 2. That all he writ was without any Error, Chap. 4. That Christ had given Testimony to his Writings, Chap. 6. And to show of how near the same Authority, St. Thomas' Sum is to the Holy Scriptures, he assures us, That as in the first General Councils, it was usual to have the Holy Bible laid open upon the Altar, as the Rule of their proceed; so in the last General Council (which with them is the Council of Trent,) St. Thomas' Sum was placed with the Bible upon the same Altar, as another Inferior Rule of Christian Doctrine, Chap. 8. which is very agreeable to what has been writ by a Jesuit 
n Tauner. Quaest 1. Dub. 2.  upon the same Subject, That all the General Councils, that have been held since St. Thomas lived, have taken the opinions they defined from his Doctrine. It were needless after this to cite the Elegy of another Jesuit 
o Petr. ●abbe ap. Gonet. ibid. , where St. Thomas is styled an Angel, and that as he learned many things from the Angels, so he taught Angels some things; That St. Thomas had said, what St. Paul was not suffered to utter; That he speaks of God as if he had seen him, and of Christ, as if he had been his voice, and more to this effect.  
When such bold expressions are openly vented, it is time to look about us, and it concerns every Man to endeavour to give a check to such daring assertions. I am far from detracting either from the Knowledge or Holiness of St. Thomas, which doubtless were both extraordinary, but when a Mortal Man, is equalled to the Angels in Heaven, and such Eulogies given him, as if he were capable of hearing, he must blush to receive; it is justice to him, to rescue him from false and undue Praises. To do him Right, he has improved natural Reason to an uncommon height, and many of those proofs of a God and Providence and Natural Religion, that have been advanced of late, as new Arguments with so much applause, have been borrowed from him or other Schoolmen; and are only not his, by being put in a new Dress, and sometimes in a worse method. Had it been his fortune to have lived in a happier Age, under better opportunities, and with those helps that we now enjoy, he must have made a greater Genius, than many of those, who are now looked upon with wonder.   

CHAP. XIX.  
Conclusion.  
AND now having gone through the several sorts of Learning, and observed the various defects, and ofttimes uncertainties, which they are subject to; The Conclusion is obvious, That since no complete satisfaction is to be met with from them, we are to seek for it somewhere else, if happily it may be found. It may be found, but not in our own powers, or by our own strength; and that which our most exalted Reason, under all its improvements, cannot yield us, is only to be had from Revelation. It is there we may securely rest, after the Mind has tried all other ways and methods of Knowledge, and has tired itself with fruitless Inquiries. It is with the Mind, as with the Will and Appetites; for as after we have tried a thousand Pleasures, and turned from one Enjoyment to another, we find no rest to our Desires, till we at last fix them upon the Sovereign Good: So in pursuit of Knowledge, we meet with no tolerable satisfaction to our Minds, till after we are wearied with tracing other methods, we turn them at last upon the one supreme and unerring truth. And were there no other use of humane Learning, there is at least this in it, That by its many defects, it brings the Mind to a sense of its own weakness, and makes it more readily, and with greater willingness, submit to Revelation. God may have so ordered in his Wise Providence, thereby to keep us in a constant dependence upon himself, and under a necessity of consulting him in his Word which since Profane Men treat so neglectfully already, they would have it in greater Contempt; and it would be much more vile in their Eyes, did they find any thing within them equally perfect, which might guide them in their Course, and bring them to the Haven, where they would be. But this since they do not meet with, it ought to wean them from an opinion of themselves, and incline them to seek out satisfaction somewhere else, and to take shelter where it may be found.  
I have said nothing in this whole Discourse (nor can I repeat it too often) with design to discredit humane Learning; I am neither of their mind 
p Anabaptists in Germany.  who were for burning all Books, except their Bibles; nor of that Learned Man's opinion, who thought the Principles of all Arts and Sciences might be borrowed from that Storehouse: I would willingly put a just Value upon the one, without depressing the other: But where Men lash out the other way, and take the liberty to exalt Learning to the prejudice of Religion, and to oppose shallow Reason to Revelation, it is then time, and every Man's business, to endeavour to keep it under, at least to prevent its aspiring, by not suffering it to pass its due Bounds. Our Reason is a proper Guide in our Inquiries, and is to be followed, where it keeps within its Sphere; but shining dimly, it must borrow Rays from the Fountain of Light, and must always act subordinately to Revelation. Whenever it crosseth that, it is out of its Sphere, and indeed contradicts its own Light; for nothing is more reasonable, than to believe a Revelation, as being grounded upon God's Veracity, without which even Reason itself will be often doubting. That whatever God (who is Truth itself) reveals, is true: is as sure and evident a Proposition, as any we can think of: It is certain in its Ground, and evident in its Connexion, and needs no long Consequences to make it out; whereas most of our rational deductions are often both weakly bottomed, and depending upon a long train of Consequences, which are to be spun from one another, their strength is often lost, and the thread broken, before we come at the Conclusion.  
And tho' it be commonly objected, that there are as many differences concerning Divine Truths, as about those of Nature: yet I think there needs nothing further be said to this, but that Men would approach Divine Truths with the same dispositions, that are required by Philosophers to the reading of their Writings, and the Objection would soon fall to the ground: The best Philosophers require, that in reading their Books, we should lay aside partiality to a Party, all passion and other prejudice; and let Men only approach the Scriptures with the same preparations of Mind, and with these and ordinary Grace (that is never wanting to those that seek it) I dare be confident, they will have no reason to complain of Obscurity or Ambiguity in those Sacred Writings: With these Helps (that are had by ask) the weakest and most ordinary Capacity shall see enough, and shall not stand in need of deep Reach or Penetration, which are necessary to the understanding of Natural Truths. God, who would have all Men happy, has likewise made them all so far wise, and has so ordered, that the most important Truths, should be the most easy and common; and if it can be no objection, that to the understanding of them, we must make use of ordinary means, and must come prepared with suitable dispositions: This is what is necessary in all other things; for every thing is best understood by the same Spirit by which it is writ.  
God has gone yet farther with us; Necessary Truths are not only the most common, but he has likewise made them the most convincing, and has given them a power, that is not easily resisted: Rational Arguments, however, convincing they may seem, are usually repelled by Reason, and it is hard to convince a Man by such methods, that is equally Master of Reason with ourselves; whereas Divine Truths make their own way, they act upon us with a secret Power, and Press the mind with an almost irresistible Strength, and do not only persuade, but almost force an assent: The first only act like Light, the other strike down and pierce us through like Lightning. We have as remarkable a passage to this purpose 
q Sozo●● Hist. l. 1 c. 18. Rufin. Hist. l. 1. c. 3. , as most in Ecclesiastical Story; which tho' well attested, yet were it only a Parable, the Moral of it might be of good use. Upon the Convening of the first General Council at Nice, and the appearing of the Christian Bishops there, several of the Heathen Philosophers offered themselves among the Sons of God, intending to signalise themselves upon so great an occasion, by attacking the Faith in its most Eminent Professors, and by endeavouring to overthrow it by Philosophy and Reason. To this End several Conferences were held upon the Principles of Reason, by the most noted Men of either Party, in which one of the Philosophers more forward than the rest, begun to grow Insolent upon a supposed advantage, and must needs Triumph before Victory: An aged Bishop took fire at this, one who had been a Confessor in the late Persecution, and was more noted for his Faith than Learning; Philosophy he had none, but encounters his Adversary in a new manner, in the name of Jesus, and by the word of God, and with a few plain Weapons drawn from thence, he humbles the Pride of this arrogant Philosopher, and straightway leads him Captive to the Font; All the Reply our Philosopher had left him, was, that while he was encountered by Philosophy and humane Learning, he defended himself the same way, but being attacked by higher Reasons, it was necessary for him to yield himself up to the power of God. Such is the Force of that Word, which simple vain Men so much contemn!  
What then must we do? Are we to give ourselves up to this Word, and lay aside all humane Learning? I am far from thinking so, and have already cautioned against any such Wild and Anabaptistical Conceit; these two may well consist, Learning is of good use in explaining this Word, and the Word serves very well to lessen our opinion of humane Learning; the former may be serviceable, whilst it acts ministerially and in subservience to the latter, but being only a Handmaid to Religion, whenever it usurps upon that, it is to be kept down, and taught its Duty; it is still only humane Learning, that is, very weak and very defective, and after all the great things that can he said of it, and the uses that may be assigned it, it must after all be confessed, that our Bible is our best Book, and the only Book that can afford any true and solid satisfaction. It is that which satisfies and never satiates, which the deeper it is looked into, pleaseth the more, as containing new and hid Treasures, by the opening whereof, there always springs up in the mind fresh pleasure and new desire. Whereas Humane Writings (like all humane things) cloy by their continuance, and we can scarce read them the second time without irksomeness, and oftentimes not without nauseating those fine things, that please so wonderfully at the first reading.  
The Sum of all is this, we busy ourselves in the search of Knowledge, we tyre out our Thoughts, and waste our Spirits in this pursuit, and afterwards flatter ourselves with mighty Acquirements, and fill the World with Volumes of our Discoveries: Whereas would we take as much pains in discovering our Weakness and Defects, as we spend time in Ostentation of our Knowledge, we might with half the time and pains, see enough to show us our Ignorance, and might thereby learn truer Wisdom. We frame to ourselves New Theories of the World, and pretend to measure the Heavens by our▪ Mathematical Skill (that is, Indefinite Space by a Compass, or Span) whilst we know little of the Earth we tread on, and every thing puzzles us, that we meet with there: We live upon the Earth, and most Men think they rest upon it, and yet it is a very difficult Question in Philosophy, whether the Earth rests or moves; and is it not very wonderful, that we should be such strangers to the place of our Abode, as to know nothing, whether we rest there, or travel a daily Circuit of some thousand Miles? We rack our Inventions to find out Natural Reasons for a Deluge of Waters, by fetching down Comets from above, and cracking the Cortex of the Earth, to furnish out sufficient stores for that purpose; and yet from the Convexity of the Waters, it is hard to account in the Course of Nature, why there should not bea Deluge every day: And perhaps Providence is the surest Bar, that has set Bounds to the Waters, which they shall not pass. We are not only puzzled by things without us, but we are strangers to our own Make and Frame, for tho' we are convinced, that we consist of Soul and Body: yet no Man hitherto has sufficiently described the Union of these two, or has been able to explain, how Thought should move Matter? Or how Matter should act upon Thought? Nay the most Minute things in Nature, if duly considered, carry with them the greatest wonder, and perplex us as much, as things of greater bulk and show. And yet we, who know so little in the smallest matters, talk of nothing less than New Theories of the World and vast Fields of Knowledge, busying ourselves in Natural Inquiries, and flattering ourselves with the wonderful Discoveries and mighty Improvements that have been made in Humane Learning, a great part of which are purely imaginary, and at the same time neglecting the only true and solid and satisfactory Knowledge: Things that are obscure and intricate we pursue with eagerness, whilst Divine Truths are usually disregarded, only because they are easy and common: Or if there be some of an higher nature, they shall possibly be rejected, because they are above or seemingly contrary to Reason, whilst we admit several other things without scruple, which are not reconcil able with Revelation; though Revealed Truths be certainly Divine, and the other, either no Truths at all, or at the best, only Humane. This sort of Conduct is very preposterous, for, after all, true Wisdom and satisfactory Knowledge, is only to be had from Revelation, and as to other Truths, which are to be collected from Sense and Reason, our Ignorance of them will always be so much greater than our Knowledge, as there are a thousand things we are ignorant of, to one thing that we throughly know.    

APPENDIX.  
WHilst I have been free in censuring others faults, I ought to be ready to acknowledge my own; I never doubted but I was as subject to them as other men, though upon a serious review of my Book, I have not yet met with many, and such as I thought material, I have Corrected. The great Objection that has been made by my Friends, is, rather a Defect than a Fault; I am told by them, my Conclusion is too Short, and that I ought to have enlarged upon the necessity of Revelation. This I am sensible of, and freely own the Charge, but have neither time nor opportunity now to redress it; and besides the Argument has been so well and largely treated of by other Hands, that little new can be said upon the Subject.  
On the other side, I have received Letters and Papers from several Hands, which flatter me with an opinion, that I have done somewhat well, some of which, it would have been an advantage both to myself and Book to have published: But I deny myself herein, only make this small but grateful acknowledgement to the Worthy Persons, from whom they came.  
FINIS.   

AN Answer to the Dissenters Pleas for Separation, or an Abridgement of the London Cases: wherein the Substance of those Books is digested into one short and plain Discourse. By Tho. Bennet, M. A. and Fellow of St. John's College in Cambrige. Printed for A. Bosvile, at the Sign of the Dial against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet. Price 4 s.