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cause_n	act_n	power_n	will_n	1,439	5	6.6180	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57329	An abridgement of Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the world in five books ... : wherein the particular chapters and paragraphs are succinctly abrig'd according to his own method in the larger volume : to which is added his Premonition to princes.	Raleigh, Walter, Sir, 1552?-1618.; Echard, Laurence, 1670?-1730.; Raleigh, Walter, Sir, 1552?-1618. A premonition to princes.	1698 (1698)	Wing R151A; ESTC R32268	273,979	474

from Night but with reference to the Sun's Creation in which this dispersed Light was united v. 14. 'till when there was no Motion to be measur'd by Time So that the Day named v. 5. was but such a space as after by the Sun's motion made a natural Day As then the Earth and the Waters were the Matter of the Air Firmament upper and lower Waters and of the Creatures therein so may the Light be called the Material Substance of the Sun and other Lights of Heaven How beit neither the Sun nor other Heavenly Bodies are that Light but the Sun is enlightned by it most of all other and by it the Moon and so the next Region which the Greeks call Aether the supposed Element of Fire is affected and by it all Bodies living in this our Air. And though the nature of Light be not yet understood yet I suppose the Light Created the First Day was the substance of the Sun though it had not formal Perfection Beauty Circle and bounded Magnitude 'till the Fourth Day when dispersed Light was united and fixed to a certain place after which it had Life and Motion and from that time separated Day from Night So that what is said of the Day before was by Anticipation for 'till the Creatures were produced God's Wisdom found no Cause why Light should move or give heat or operation § 8. Firmament between the Waters is the extended distance between the Sea and Waters in the Earth and those in the Clouds ingendred in the superiour Air This Firmament in which the Birds flye is also called Heaven in Scripture Gen. 49.25 Psal. 104.18 Mat. 8.26 The Crystalline Heaven Basil calls Childish § 9. God having Created the Matter of all things and distinguished every general Nature and given their proper Form as Levity to what should ascend and Gravity to what should descend and set each in his place in the three first Days in the three last he beautified and furnish'd them with their proper kinds as the Sun Moon and Stars in the higher Firmament of Heaven Fowls in the Air Fishes in the Waters Beasts on the Earth giving generative power for continuation of their Kinds to such as in the Individuals should be subject to decay or needed increase § 10. Nature is an operating Power infused by God into every Creature not any self-ability to be the Original of any thing of it self no more than the Helm can guide the Ship without an Hand or an Hand without Judgment All Agents work by virtue of the first Act and as the Eye seeth Ear heareth c. yet it is the Soul which giveth Power Life and Motions to these Organs So it is God which worketh by Angels Men Nature Stars or infus'd Properties as by his Instruments all second Causes being but Conduits to convey and disperse what they have received from the Fountain of the Universal It is God's infinite Power and Omnipotence that giveth Power to the Sun and all second Causes and to Nature her self to perform their Offices which operative Power from God being once stopp'd Nature is without Virtue Things flourish by God said Orpheus I endeavour not to destroy those various Virtues given by God to his Creatures for all his Works in their Virtues praise him but how he works in or by them no Man could ever conceive as Lactantius confounding the Wisdom of Philosophers denyed that all their study had found it for could the precise Knowledge of any thing be had then of necessity all other things might be known § 11. Destiny might safely be admitted but for the inevitable necessity even over Mens Minds and Wills held by Stoicks Chaldeans Pharisees Priscilianists c. Hermes and Apuleius conceived well That Fate is an obedience of second Causes to the First Plotinus calls it a disposing from the Acts of the Celestial Orbs working unchangeably in inferiour Bodies which is true in things not ordered by a rational Mind Fate is that which God hath spoken concerning us say the Stoicks Seneca Ptolomy And no doubt Stars are of a greater use than to give an obscure Light neither are the Seasons of Winter and Summer so certain in Heat and Cold by the motions of Sun and Moon which are so certain but the working of the Stars with them God hath given Virtues to Springs Plan●● Stones c. yea to Excrements of base Creatures Why then should we rob the Beautiful Stars of working power being so many in Number and so eminent in Beauty and Magnitude The Treasure of His Wisdom who is so Infinite could not be short in giving them their peculiar Virtues and Operations as he gave to Herbs Plants c. which adorn the Earth As therefore these Ornaments of the Earth have their Virtue to feed and cure so no doubt those Heavenly Ornaments want not their further use wherein to serve his Divine Providence as his just Will shall please to determine But in this question of Fate let us neither bind God to his Creatures nor rob them of the Office he hath given them If second Causes restrain God or God by them inforce Man's Mind or Will then wicked Men might lay the fault on God § 12. Prescience or Fore-knowledge if we may speak of God after the manner of Men goeth before his Providence for God infallibly foreknew all things before they had any Being to be cared for yet was it not the Cause of things following nor did it impose a Necessity § 13. Providence is an intellectual Knowledg Foreseeing Caring for and Ordering all things Beholding things past present and to come and is the Cause of their so being and such we call Provident who considering things Past and comparing them with the Present can thereby with Judgment provide for the Future § 14. Predestination we distinguish from Prescience and Providence these belong to all Creatures from the highest Angel to the basest Worm but this only concerns Mens Salvation in the common use of Divines or Perdition according to some Augustine sets it out by two Cities one predestinated eternally to reign with God the other to everlasting Torments Calvin Beza Buchanus and the like are of the same Opinion Why it pleased God to create some Vess●ls to honour some to dishonour though the Reason may be hid unjust it cannot be § 15. Fortune the God of Fools so much Reverenced and as much Reviled falleth before Fate and Providence and was little known before Homer and Hesiod who taught the Birth of those humane Gods have not a Word of this new Goddess which at length grew so potent that she ordered all things from Kings and Kingdoms to the Beggar and his Cottage She made the Wise miserable and prospered Fools and Man's life was but her Pastime This Image of Power was made by Ignorants who ascribed that to Fortune of which they saw no manifest Cause Yet Plato taught That nothing ever came to pass under the Sun of which there was not a just

216 CHAP. VII The Greek Affairs from the Persian Wars to the Peloponesian 221 CHAP. VIII The Peloponesian War with the Condition of Athens and Sparta at the beginning of it Alcibiades his Victories his deposing 224 CHAP. IX Matters concurring with the Peloponesian War and some time after 230 CHAP. X. Cyrus the Younger his Expedition into Persia and the great Services of Xenophon 232 CHAP. XI Of the Greek Affairs under the Lacedemonians Command 237 CHAP. XII Of the flourishing Condition of Thebes from the Battle of Leuctra to that of Mantinea Of the Peace that succeeded A Comparison between Agasilaus and the Roman Pompey 241 BOOK IV. CHAP. I. Of the Macedonian Kingdom from Philip Father to Alexander the Great to the Race of Antigonus 247 CHAP. II. Of Alexander the Great his Wars with Darius and others his Cruelty Death and Character 251 CHAP. III. Aordaeus's Reign after Alexander 271 CHAP. IV. Of Antigonus's growth in Asia 282 CHAP. V. Of the Civil Wars of Alexander's Captains 286 CHAP. VI. Of the Wars between the New Kings 'till they were all destroy'd 287 CHAP. VII Rome's Growth and the setling of the Eastern State 299 BOOK V. From the setled Rule of Alexander's Successors 'till the Romans Conquer'd Asia and Macedon CHAP. I. Of the First Punick War 307 CHAP. II. What pass'd between the First and Second Punick War 326 CHAP. III. Of the Second Punick War 336 CHAP. IV. Philip King of Macedon Father of Perseus subdu'd by the Romans 370 CHAP. V. Of the Roman Wars with Antiochus and his Adherents 380 CHAP. VI. Of the Second Macedonian War With the death of Philopoemen Hannibal Scipio c. 396 ERRATA PAge 13. l. 31. r. but one p. 32. l. ult after slew add many thousands of them p. 37. l. 25. instead of Cursed r. not needful to be taken in p. 38. l. 19. dele Toy E. p. 54. l. 26. r. of Chush p. 64. l. 9. for Legal r. Regal p. 65. l. 29. for Babel r. Babylon p. 70. l. 23. for no r. a. p. 94. l. 13. for Linages r. Images p. 96. l. 10. r. many things p. 96. l. 19. for Their r. Therefore and for that r. a. p. 131. l. 15. for lightsomely r. plainly p. 139. l. 24. for Three r. Third p. 216. l. 27. after Thousand r. Darici p. 220. l. 10. for thirty thousand r. three hundred thousand ibid l. 20. after fifty thousand r. more p. 226. l. 26. for first r. worst p. 243. l. 35. after grown r. powerful p. 248. l. 28. r. set up Pausanius p. 286. l. 13. r. he would not share THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART I. OF THE First Ages from the Creation to Abraham CHAP. I. Of the Creation and Preservation of the World § GOD Invisible is seen in his Creatures God acknowledged by the wisest men to be a Power uneffable a Virtue infinite a Light by the abundant Clarity invisible an Understanding which it self can only comprehend an Essence eternal and spiritual of absolute Pureness and Simplicity was and is pleased to make himself known by the Works of the World In the wonderful magnitude whereof we behold the Image of that Glory which cannot be measured and that one Universal Nature which cannot be defined In the glorious Lights of Heaven we perceive a shadow of his Divine Countenance in his Provision for all that live his manifold Goodness and in creating by the absolute power of his own Word his All-sufficiency which All-sufficiency in Power and Wisdom which Light Virtue and Goodness being but Attributes of one simple Essence and one God we in all admire and in part discern by the Glass of his Creatures in the disposition order and variety of Bodies Celestial and Terrestrial Terrestrial in strange manifold Diversities Celestial in their Beauty Magnitude and continual contrary motions yet neither repugned intermixed nor confounded By these potent Effects we approach to the knowledge of the Omnipotent Cause and by these motions their Almighty wise Mover In these more than wonderful Works God speaketh to Men who by their Reason may know their Maker to be God who with Corporal Eyes can no otherways be seen but by his Word and this visible World Of all which Works there was no other Cause preceding but his Will no Matter but his Power no Workman but his Word no other Consideration but his own Goodness § 2. The Worlds Creation acknowledged by ancient Philosophers Mercurius Trismegistus called God the Original of the Vniverse and that God made it only by his Word Jupiter having hidden all things in himself did after send forth into the grateful Light the admirable Works he had fore-thought Pindar calls him the one God Father and Creator of all And Original of all saith P●ato Though Scripture have no need of Foreign Testimonies yet St. Paul despised not the Use of Philosophers c. Truth by whomsoever uttered is of the Holy Ghost said Ambrose § 3. All things began to be in the Creation before which was neither Matter nor Form of any thing but the Eternal For had there been a former Matter the Creation had not been first and if any thing were before Created there must be a double Creation if any thing had been uncreated but God there must have been a Beginning and two infinite Eternals § 4. Heaven and Earth first Created was not Matter without all Form without which nothing can exist but it was that solid Substance and Matter as well of the Heavens and Orbs as of the Globe of the Earth and Waters which cover'd it the Seed of that Vniversal saith Calvin § 5. As Moses by Heaven meant the Matter of all Heavenly Bodies and Natures so by Earth comprehending the Waters he meant the Matter of all things under the Moon Waters in the plural signifying a double Liquor of divers natures mixed with Earth 'till God separated them § 6. Spirit of God moved c. Seeing that God is every way above Reason though the Effects which follow his wonderful ways of working may in some measure be perceived by Man's Understanding yet that manner and first operation of his divine Power cannot be conceived by any Mind or Spirit united with a mortal Body And St. Paul saith they are past finding out Therefore whether that motion vitality and operation were by Incubation or any other way that 's only known to God The English word Moved is most proper and significant for of motion proceeds all production and whatsoever is effected This moving ●pirit can be no other but that infinite Power of God which then formed and distinguished and which now sustains the Universe This motion of the Spirit upon the Waters produced their Spiritual and Natural motion which brought forth Heat whereof came rarefaction of Parts thus was Air begotten an Element lighter and superiour to the Waters § 7. The Light is next which for Excellency is first called good but as I conceive did not yet distinguish Day

Linus Anaximenes Anaxagoras Empedocles Melissus Pherecydes Thales Cleanthus Pythagoras Plato and many others who found in the necessity of invincible Reason one Eternal Infinite Being to be the Parent of the Vniverse Whose Opinions tho' uncertain saith Lactantius shew that they agree upon one Lord Providence whether Nature Light Reason Understanding Destiny or Divine Ordination which is the same we call God For as all Rivers in the World tho' rising and running diversly fall at last in the Ocean So after all searches made by Human Capacity all Man's Reason dissolves it self in the Necessity of this Infinite Power Those who held the Matter of the World Eternal hardly deserve an Answer as giving part of the Work to God part to Fortune by which God found this Matter And were it Eternal it either fitted it self to God or he accommodated himself to it both which are foul Absurdities But suppose this Chaos or Matter had been too little for the Work God then Created out of nothing so much New Matter as was wanting or if the Matter were too much he must annihilate what was supersflous both which are alike proper to God only It could not therefore be caused by a less than an All-sufficient Power for to say it was the Cause of it self were the greatest tism Again if Matter were eternal of necessity it must be infinite and so left no place for infinite Form but the finite Form proves the Matter finite and so not eternal He who will believe the contrary eternal Death be his Reward for what Reason of Man not stupify'd by presumption hath doubted that That infinite Power of which we comprehend but the Shadow can want either Matter or Form for as many Worlds as there are Sands in the Sea if it were his Will which is the only limitation of his Works Can a finite Man a Fool and meer Dust change the Form of Matter made to his Hand and infinite Power cannot make a finite World without preexisting Matter The universal World has not shew'd us all his Wisdom and Power which cannot be bounded But others who hold the Worlds Eternity upon the ground of nothing nothing is made which is true where the Agent is finite may consider their Master Aristotle confessing That all the Ancients Decree a kind of Beginning and the same infinite and he farther saith There is no beginning of it but it is found the beginning of all things and embraceth and governs all things If we compare the universal World that Infinite it self we may say of the most unmeasurable Orbs of Heaven that they are neither quid quale nor quantum and therefore to bring Finite out of Infinite is no wonder in God's Power Therefore Anaximander Melissus and Empedocles call the World not Vniversal but a part of the Universality and Infinite Plato calls it a Shadow of God God's being a sufficient effectual cause of the World proves it not Eternal as he is For as his Sufficiency is free so is his Will no difficulty can hinder nor necessity force his Will in choice of Time Again tho' natural Agents which can work do it not 'till they are moved which argueth Change in them yet it followeth not that because God cannot be moved therefore he caused the World from Eternity For the same action of his Will which intended the World for ever from Eternity did also set down the time to effect it 'till which time he withheld it Others answer That the Pattern of the World was Eternally with God which the Platonists call the spiritual World but the Material World was not eternal but shall continue for ever which Christians understood of a new Heaven and Earth yet without new Creation of Matter They who deny the World shall have any End Reason from the Heavens which are neither Corrupted nor have any shew of Age. The little Change may argue Newness but not Perpeuity Yet to Answer Conjectures with Conjectures many of old held the Torrid Zone not habitable by reason of the Suns Heat nor the Sea Navigable under the Equinoctial Line but now we know the contrary which argueth that the Suns Heat is decayed And if little Change did prove perperuity then also many Stone-walls which have stood two or three Thousand Years and many things digged out of the Earth might seem to remain unchanged ever since the Flood and Gold probably held Created from the Beginning c. If Elementary Bodies shew so little Change no marvel if Celestial shew none And seeing inferiour Creatures are generated by help of Celestial and receive Virtue from the Sun their general decay argueth its decay also But if the World were eternal why not all things in it especially Man who is more Rational why did he not provide for his Eternity Again if there were no common order of the divers Natures how came that Difference who set the Earth in the Center the Sun and Celestial Bodies in their Courses c. If those keep their Course of their own accord to do good to the inferior Bodies they are then eternal Love yea so many Gods c. And if they be limited to their Course there is an efficient Cause which hath bounded them Now as to Nature As Aristotle hath by the Ambiguity of the Name recommended Errors and obscured God's glory in the Creation and Government of the World so his best Definition of it is but Nominal only differencing natural Motion from artificial which yet the Academicks explain better calling it Seminary strength infused into Matter by the Soul of the World and why give they the first place to Providence the second to Fate and third to Nature But be Nature what it will it cannot be the Cause of all things if it hath not both Will and Knowledge said Lactantius Nature cannot but work if Matter be present and then also it can but produce the same things except she have divers Matters to work upon said Ficinus But Nature could not chuse diversity of Matters without Understanding and Will Reason and Power why then is such a Cause call●d Nature rather than God All Men assign the highest place among all their Gods to One by Aristotle's confession de Coelo and Reason teacheth us to Acknowledge and Adore the most Sublime Power I account it therefore monstrous Impiety to confound God who disposes all things according to his own Will with Nature which disposes of nothing but as the Matter wherein it worketh will permit Nature existeth not of her self but as a Faculty infused into things existing by the supreamest Power who therefore is to be Worshipped for creating such a Nature in all things as without understanding what or how it worketh yet bringeth all things to perfection If therefore Men will rest upon that ground which all Antiquity held That there is a Power infinite and eternal all things deliver'd in Holy Scripture do as easily flow to the Proof of it as the Waters to that of a running

be attended with more than one Woman abroad except they were drunken which Dispensations Women were ashamed to claim § 6. Ierusalem in the third year of Iehojakim is Besieged by Nebuchadnezzar the second year of his Reign with his Father and notwithstanding the assistance of Neco King of Egypt forced Iehojakim to become his Vassal and took Daniel and his Fellows Hostages but hasted home not intending there to stay Neco coming with such disadvantage so far from home in a Country which loved him not Besides his Father's death called him to possess his own before he sought other Mens But the next year which was Nebuchadnezzar's first and Neco's last they fought on the Bank of Euphrates where Neco Fought his last and Nebuchadnezzar recover'd all Syria Pausanius succeeded Neco but inferiour in Valour he thought to restore Iehoahaz his Prisoner and cast out Iehojakim but the Lord said to the contrary Iehojakim also rely'd on the Egyptians 'till Nebuchadnezzar forced a Tribute on him so he submitted quietly three years in his fourth year it seemeth that Ieremiah was first Imprisoned Tyrus holding out against Nebuchadnezzar was in his seventh year Besieged and in his fourteenth year taken for her Captivity was limited to seventy years and her Siege was thirteen It was divided from the Main by a deep broad Channel excelled in store of Ships which Nebuchadnezzar wanted and every Wind brought supply from Foreign Parts so that it feared neither Force nor Famine But God that had threatned Tyre sent a King impatient of resistance to undertake such a piece of work to stop a vast Channel in the Sea using thereto the Wood of Libanus not far off and the Ruins of old Tyre with the toilsom labour of many thousands of Men wherewith he prevailed at length But the wealthy Citizens fled by Sea to Creet and left little Wealth for Booty therefore the Lord promised them Egypt see Ezek. 29.18 19. Iehojakim upon what occasion is uncertain whether Mutiny among the Souldiers or Rumour of the Egyptians coming against Nebuchadnezzar renounced his Subjection but was presently subdued by Nebuchadnezzar and slain and his Son Iehojakim or Ieconias put in his place and after three Months removed to Babylon and Mattanias his Uncle established in his stead and called Zedekiah who took an Oath of subjection In his fourth year he went to Babel about some business wherein it seems he was not satisfied for upon his return he began to practice with the Neighbouring Princes of Moab c. what year Iohanan the False Prophet opposed Ieremy Nebuchadnezzar hearing of Zedekiah's practice came in the dead of Winter and Besieged Ierusalem and though the year following he raised his Siege to meet Hophra yet upon the Egyptians abandoning his Enterprize he returned and gave the City no rest 'till he brake it up Zedekiah escaping in the Night through a Vault under the Earth is yet overtaken c. and his Eyes being put out he was carried into Babel but saw it not as Ezekiel foretold Ch. 12.13 This was the eleventh year of Zedekiah and eighteenth of Nebuchadnezzar the year after the Temple was burnt the four hundred thirty first year after the Building What followed is written 2 Kings 25. Ier. 39. 52. THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD BOOK III. Part I. FROM The Destruction of Ierusalem unto Philip of Macedon CHAP. I. The time from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Assyrian Fall § 1. THE Connexion of Sacred and Profane History § Before the Grecian Olympiads and the Eastern Date from Nabonassar the Course of Time had no beaten Path as after it had more certain Marks yet from Ierusalem's Destruction the former with the succeeding Ages are more clearly discern'd in their Connection The harm which some have found in the years of the overgrown Monarchies doth preserve their Names which otherwise might have been forgotten but cannot shew the Year of such a King in which any thing expressed in Scripture was done Neither could any certainty be gathered from the late Kings of the Assyrians c. if Nebuchadnezzar's Reign had not been precisely applied to the years of Iehojakim and Zedekiah Hence have we the first light to discover how to connect Sacred and Profane Histories for Iudah's Seventy years Captivity begin under Nebuchadnezzar and ending the first of Cyrus directs us backward and forward This first year of Cyrus is joyned with the first of the fifty fifth Olympiad And that he Reigned twenty three year before his Monarchy and seven after is apparent and giving them four hundred and eight year between Troy's Fall and Iphetus's restoring the Olympiads we may arrive to the knowledge of the true Grecian Antiquities For other Nations let St. Augustine be trusted § 2. The Seventy Years of Babylonian Captivity being our chief mark of direction we are to inform our selves truly therein Some begin from Ieconias's Captivity eleven year before Zedekiah citing Ezek. 40.1 Beraldus judgeth that it began the first of Nebuchadnezzar and fourth of Ioakim citing 2 Chron. 36. and Dan. 1. Matth. 1.11 but cannot thus make it good Wretched Porphyrie scoffeth at St. Matth. 1.11 not knowing Iosias's Sons had divers Names as Epiphanius shewed The Wretch affirmeth the Book of Daniel was written long after his death at or near the time of Antiochus Epiphanes whom Eusebius Apollonius c. have answered And the Seventy Interpreters Translated it out of Hebrew one hundred year before that Iaddus the High-Priest also shewed the Book to the Great Alexander c. True it is the Iews ascribe it to Esdras and equal it not to the Prophet but put it among the Hagiographs or Holy Books which are Daniel Psalms Iob Proverbs Canticles Ruth Lamentations Ecclesiastes Hester Nehemiah and Chronicles Our Christian Councils and Fathers acknowledge it Canonical and our Saviour who cited no Apocrypha cited it as a proof exceeding all § 3. That the Seventy Years Captivity began at Ierusalem's destruction not Ieconias's Captivity is clear Ieremiah himself explained himself and Daniel cited by some to the contrary Compare Chap. 25.9 11 12. with Chap. 29.10 where in the first place he expresly beginneth the Captivity of Seventy years at Ierusalem's Destruction and thereof certifies the Captivity in the second place So also it is understood by themselves 2 Chron. 36.19 20 21. So Dan. 9.2 the Seventy years referred to Ierusalem's Desolation § 4. Touching the King's Reigning in Babylon those seventy Years and the time of each help us a little to the times before or after neither it seems were most of their Acts worth Recording For as Nebuchadnezzar's latter times were either in delights or madness so his Posterity grew slothful as Sons whose Fathers have purchased enough to their hands yet let us consider of Men's Opinions therein and judge as we see cause The surest Opinion is theirs which follow the Scripture which Name only Nebuchadnezzar Evilmerodach and Balthasar and Ieremy which seemeth to limit the Dominion of Babel to Father Son