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 callâ—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
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 Pâ—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 â—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
preceding Cause and the Scripture maketh it clear in things most casual Deut. 19.5 Prov. 16.33 The best Philosophers held that all things in Heaven and Earth were ordered by the Soul of the World said Cicero When Riches and Honour are given to empty Men and Learned Virtuous and Valiant Men wear out their Lives in a dejected condition the Cause is manifest to the Wise tho' Fools ascribe it to blind Fortune For either it is Affection in Men preferring others or great Persons which endure no other Discourse but that of Flatterers So that Honest Open-hearted lovers of the Truth which cannot Form themselves to it must hang under the Wheel Shall he who tells a Ruler he is unjust a General he is a Coward or a Lady that she is ugly be made a Counsellour a Captain or a Courtier It is not sufficient to be Wise Just and Valiant under such but with the change of the Successor he must change else the base Observant will out-go him in Honour and Riches by that only quality of Humouring Mens Vices as Virtues with which every Fool is won said Menander He therefore that will live out of himself and study other Mens Humours shall never be Unfortunate but he who values Truth and Virtue except in a Virtuous Age shall never prosper by the Possession or Profession of them It is also the token of a Worldly Wise-man not to contend in vain against the nature of the Times but to give way to Fury And he which aims at the Machivel's two marks Glory and Riches must have a Steel Back to a Wooden Bow to fit both weak and strong or as Men at Sea must either Hoise or Strike Sails as Calms or Storms do require or use Sails of small extention and content himself to travel slowly so must Men which esteem Virtue for it self CHAP. II. Of Mans Estate in the Creation and of God's Rest. § 1. MAN was the last and most admirable of God's Works The greatest wonder said Plato out of Mercurius meaning of the internal Form whose Nature is an immortal Spirit Essence and in quality by God's Creation Holy and Righteous in Truth and Lord of the World This Image of God in Man Chrysostom makes chiefly to consist in Dominion so Ambrose and others but he denyeth it to Women contrary to the Text let them rule not excluding the Woman Others conceive this Image to be in Man's immortal Soul which is one and Incorporeal governing the Body being in every part of it totally as God is totally in every part of the World but the Soul 's being totally in every part more than potentially is doubted of School-men make the Resemblance especially to be in Man's Mind whose Memory Understanding and Will really differ and yet are but one Mind resembling the Trinity They also with Victorinus made a difference of the Image which they refer to the Substance of the Soul not lost and the Similitude which is in Holiness and Righteousness of quality But as Augustin defended that Man lost the Perfection of God's Image so St. Paul makes it the same with similitude 1 Cor. 15.39 Ia. 3.9 Col. 3.10 Rom. 1.23 Zanchius held this Image to be both in Body and Mind because it was referr'd to the Hypostasis or whole Man Yet he confesses it may be answered Moses used a Synecdoche But Augustine anathematiz'd him who compar'd the Deity to Man's Body In general Humane Virtue is liker God than his Figure said Cicero Neither Dominion nor the Immortal Soul indued with Memory Understanding and Will is this Image seeing that Man has these common with Devils Sybill called right Reason the Image of God that is rightly to know confess serve love and obey God § 2. Of the intellectual Mind of Man and God's Image in it This Mens or Mind is not taken for the Soul which is the Form of the Nature of Man but for the principal Power of the Soul whose Act is perpetual Contemplation of Truth and is therefore called Divine Understanding and a Contemplative Mind Cusan calls it a Power compounded of all Powers of comprehending Mercurius held it the Essence of God no other way separated from him than the Light from the Sun which Error the Manichees also held But as the Sun is not of the Essence of the Divine Light but a Body enlighten'd with a created Light so this Mind or Understanding in Man is not of the Essence of God's Understanding but the purest of the Soul's Faculties or the light of the reasonable Soul called the Soul of the Soul or Eye of the Soul by Augustine or Receptacle of Wisdom Between this Mens or understanding power and Reason between it and Anima and Animus is this difference that by the Soul we live by Reason we judge and discourse by the Mind or Animus we will and chuse but this Mind called Mens is a pure substantial Act of the Soul not depending on Matter but hath relation to that which is intelligible as its first Object Mercurus saith the Soul is the Image of the Mind which is the Image of God c. Ficinus labours to prove the Mind hath no need of Organs Zanchius says the Mind needs no Means to understand by yet confesseth that the Representations which come from the Sense to the Phantasie are the Objects of the Understanding which Resemblances are to the Mind as Colours are to the Sight Thus he makes the Phantasie an Organ to the Mind as the Eye to the Sight contrary to his first Assertion However these be determined we may resemble our selves to God in Mind in respect of that pure Faculty which is never separated from Contemplation and love of God The Mind said Bernard is not the Image of God because it understands remembers and loveth it self but because it understands remembers and loveth God who Created it So that Immortality Reason and Dominion do not make us God's shadow but the Habit of Righteousness most perfectly infused into the Soul and Mind in the Creation It is not by Nature that we are printed with the Seal of God's Image though Reason be part of the essential Constitution of our proper Species or Kind but this is from the Bounty of God's Goodness which breathing Life into Earth contrived therein the Inimitable Ability of his own Justice Piety and Righteousness So long therefore as Men walk in God's ways which is called walking with God and do fear love and serve him truly for the love of God only so long they retain this Image But it cannot be in Unjust Cruel False and Ambitious Souls c. And though Nature according to common understanding do make us capable and apt enough to receive this Image yet if God's exceeding Wisdom and liberal Mercy framed not Eyes to our Souls we could not come by it For not only the Perfection but the Image of it self to wit the supernatural Gift of Grace and Glory is wholly blotted out by Sin § 3. Adam's
of Misraim in Egypt and before Iupiter Belus Son of Saturnus Babilonious or Nimrod As for the latter Grecian Iupiter he was a little before the Wars of Troy § 7. The Philosophers opinion of God Pythagoras Plato Orpheus c. believed not the Fooleries of their Times though they mingled their Inventions with Scripture Pythagoras hung Homer and Hesiod in Hell forever to be stung with Serpents for their Fictions yet Homer had seen Moses as Iustine Martyr â—heweth in a Treatise converted by Mirandula Plato dissembled his Knowledge for fear of the Areopagits Inquisition yet Augustin excused him He delighted much in the Doctrine of one God though he durst not be known of it or of Moses the Author of it as may be gathered out of Iustin Martyr Origen Eusebius and Cyril though he had from Moses what he writ of God and of Divinity as Ambrose also judged of Pythagoras Iustine Martyr observed that Moses described God to be I am he who is It is as hard to find out this Creator of the World as it is impossible if he were found to speak of him worthily said Plato who also said God is absolutely good and so the Cause of all that is Good but no Cause at all of any thing that is Evil. The Love of God is the cause of the Worlds Creation and Original of all things Apuleius saith The most high God is also Infinite not only by exclusion of Place but also by dignity of Nature neither is any thing more like or more acceptable to God than a Man of a perfect Heart Thales said God comprehended all things because he never had a Beginning And he beholdeth all the thoughts of Men said Zeno therefore said Athenodorus All men ought to be careful of their Actions because God was every where present and beholding all things Orpheus calling Men to behold the King of the World describes him to be one begotten of himself from whom all things spring who is in all beholds all but is beheld of none c. Who is the First and Last Head and Middle from whom all things be Foundation of Earth and Skye Male and Female which never dyeth He is the Spirit of all of Sun Moon c. The Original and End of all in whom all things were hidden 'till he produced them to Light Cleanthes calls God Good Iust Holy possessing himself alway doing good and Charity it self Pindarus saith he is one God and Father most high Creator and best Artificer who giveth to all things divers proceedings c. Antistbenes saith God cannot be likened to anything and therefore not elsewhere to be known but only in the everlasting Country of whom thou hast no Image God said Xenophon shaketh and setteth all things at rest Is great and mighty as is manifest to all but of what Form he is none knoweth but himself who illuminateth all things with his Light God saith Plato is the Cause Ground and Original of the whole nature of things the most high Father of the Soul the eternal preserver of living Creatures and continual framer of the World a Begetter without propagation comprehended neither in place nor time whom few conceive none can express him Thus as Ierom said We find among the Heathen part of the Vessels of God But of them all none have with more Reverence acknowledged or more learnedly expressed One True God and everlasting Being all ever-causing and sustaining than Hermes the Egyptian But of all these see Iustin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus Lactantius Eusebius Du Pless Danaeus § 8. Hethanism and Iudaism when confounded Touching the Religions of the Heathen they being the Inventions of Mortal Men they are no less Mortal than themselves The Caldean Fire is quenched and as the Bodies of Iupiter and the rest were by Death devoured so were their Images and lasting Marble Temples by Time The Trade of Riddles for Oracles and Predictions by Apollo's Priests is now taken up by Counterfeit Egyptians and Cozening Astrologers yet was it long before the Devil gave way For after Six several spoilings and sackings of his Temple at Delphos and as many repairings thereof at last when Iulian sought unto it God from Heaven consum'd all with Fire So when the same Apostate incourag'd the Iews to re-build a Temple God by Earth-quake over-threw all and slew many Thousands § 9. Satan's last Refuge to uphold his Kingdom who being driven off the open Stage of the World crept into the Minds of Men and there set up the high and shining Idol of Glory and all commanding Image of Gold He tells men that Truth is the Goddess of Danger and Oppression Chastity is an Enemy to Nature and all Virtue is without Taste but Pleasure delighteth every Sense and true Wisdom gets Power and Riches to fulfil all our Desires And if this Arch-politician find Remorse in any of his People or any fear of future Judgment he persuadeth them that God hath such need of Souls to re-plenish Heaven that he will accept them at any time and upon any Condition And to interrupt their return to God he layeth those great Blocks of rugged Poverty and Contempt in the narrow way which leadeth to his Divine Presence Neither was he ever more industrious and diligent than now when the long Day of Man-kind draweth fast to the Evening and the World's Tragedy and Time near to an end CHAP. VII Noah's Flood the Vniversality of it and Noah's memory of Antiquity § 1. MOses's Divine Testimony of Noah's Flood natural Men regard no farther than Reason can reach and therefore may have disputed the Vniversality of it and Iosephus citeth Nic. Damascen who reports that many were saved on the Mount Baris in Armenia and the Talmudists held the same saith Annius § 2. Ogyges's Flood the Greeks the Corrupters of all Truth saith Lactantius make the most ancient when yet Ogyges's Flood was sixty seven Years after Iacob and short of Noah's Flood by 500 Years neither do any Authors report that it over-flowed any part of Syria as Mela Pliny and Solinus do of Noah's speaking of Ioppa's Ruins c. As for this Flood as it exceeded not Peloponesus so was it foreseen by a concurrence of Causes which Noah's was not Touching Varro's Report out of Castor of the strange Colour quantity and shape of Venus the Fogs which then rise might cause such Apperances For Galilaeus a Modern Worthy Astronomer by Perspective Glasses observed many undiscover'd things in Stars unknown to former Ages § 3. Deucalion's Flood more certain for Time being in the Reign of Cranaus King of Athens according to Varro cited by Augustin or under Cecrop's after Eusebius and Ierom in whose latter times Israel came out of Egypt which after Functius was 753 or 739 Years according to Mercator after Noah's Flood But following the better Account which giveth Abraham 60 Years more after the Flood I reckon the Flood thus The general Flood Anno Mundi 1656 Iacob's Birth 2169 which is 519 Years after
which hath held us in Chase from the Womb hath put an end to both Let him therefore whom Fortune hath served and Time befriended take an Accompt of his Memory the only Keeper of Pleasures past and truly examine what it hath reserved of Beauty Youth or past Delights or of his dearest Affections or whatsoever Contentment the amorous Spring time gave his Thoughts and he shall find that all the Art which his Elder Years had can draw no other Vapour out of these Dissolutions than heavy secret and sad Sighs He shall find nothing remaining but those Sorrows which grow up after our fast Springing Youth overtook it when it was at a Stand and overtopping it utterly when it began to wither Looking back therefore from the Instant of our present Being And the poor diseased Captive hath as little Sense of all former Miseries and Pains as the Man so blessed in common Opinion hath of fore-past Pleasures and Delights For whatsoever is cast behind us is just nothing and what is to come depends upon deceitful Hope Only I must except those few black Swans who having had the Grace to value worldly Vanities at no more than their worth do by retaining the comfortable Memory of a well-acted Life behold Death without Dread the Grave without Fear and imbrace both as necessary Guides to Endless Glory For my self this is my Comfort and all that I can offer to others That the Sorrows of this Life either respect God when we complain to him against our selves for our Offences and confess Thou Lord art just in all that hath befallen us Or respect the World when we complain to our selves against God as doing us wrong either in not giving what we desire or taking away what we enjoyed Forgetting that humble and just Acknowledgment of Job The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken And out of doubt he is either a Fool or ungrateful to God or both that doth not acknowledge that how mean soever his Estate be it is far greater than God owes him Or how sharp soever his Afflâ—ctions be the same are yet fâ—r less than those that are due to him If an Heathen called Adversities the Tributes of living a wise Christian ought to know them and bear them as the Tributes of offending For seeing God who is Author of all our Tragedies hath written out and appointed what every Man must play using no Partiality to the mightiest Princes Why should other Men who are but as the least Worms complain of Wrongs Did not the Lord set Darius to play the part of the greatest Emperor and the part of the most miserable Beggar that begged Water of an Enemy to quench the Drought of Death Bajazet the Grand Seignior of the Turks in the Morning the same Day became the Footstool of Tamberlane both which parts Valerian the Emperor had played being taken by Sapores Bellisarius had performed the part of a most Victorious Captain and after became a Blind Beggar with a Thousand like Examples Certainly there is no other Accompt to be made of this ridiculous World than to resolve That the change of Fortune on this great Theatre is but as the change of Garments on the lesser For when every Man weareth but his own Skin the Players are all alike If any Man out of Weakness judge otherwise for it is a Point of great Wit to call the Mind from the Senses it is by reason of that unhappy Fancy of ours which forgeth in Men's Brains all the Miseries to which he is subject the Corporal excepted therein it is that Misfortune and Adversity effect what they do For seeing Death is the end of the Play and takes from all whatsoever Fortune or Force takes from any one It were foolish Madness in the Shipwrack of Worldly Things where all sinks but the Sorrow for the Loss of them to sink under Fortune which according to Seneca is of all other the most miserable Destiny Now to the Picture of Time which we call History let my good Intent excuse my drawing it in so large a Table The Examples of Divine Providence every where to be found the first Divine Histories being nothing else but a Continuation of such Examples have perswaded me to fetch my Beginning from all Beginnings the Creation For these two glorious Actions of the Almighty are so linked together that the one necessarily implieth the other Creation inferring Providence and Providence presuming Creation though many seeming wise have gone about to separate them Epicurus denies both yet allows a Beginning The Aristotelians grant Providence but deny all Beginning whose verbal Doctrine grounded upon a rotten Ground was not able to stand against the Doctrine of Faith touching the Creation in time Heb. 1. though natural Reason might have inform'd him better And though Aristotle failed herein and taught little other than Terms in the rest yet many do absolutely subject themselves to him as not to indure any other search of Truth The Law of their Philosophical Principles doth not so bind but that where Natural Reason is in Force against them it ought to stand in all Questions of Nature and Finite Power as a Fundamental Law of Human Knowledge For every Human Proposition hath equal Authority if Reason make no difference But where Reason is not admitted and Inventions of Ancestors approved without Iudgment Men suffer themselves to be led after the manner of Beasts This Sloath and Dulness has made Ignorance a powerful Tyrant and has set true Philosophy Phisick and Divinity on the Pillory and written over the First Contra Principia negantem over the Second Virtus specifica and the Third Ecclesia Romana But I will never believe that all natural Knowledge was shut up in Aristotle's Brain or that the Heathen only invaded Nature and found out her Strength We know that Time and not Reason Experience and not Art both taught the Causes of such Effects as that Sowerness doth Coâ—gulate Milk but ask the Reason why and how it does it and Vulgar Philosophy cannot satisfie you nor in many Things of the like Nature as why Grass is green rather than red Man hardly discerns the Things on Earth his Time is but short to learn and begins no sooner to learn than to dye Whose Memory has but a borrowed Knowledge understanding nothing truly and is ignorant of the Essence of his own Soul which Aristotle could never define but by effects which all Men know as well as he Man I say who is an Idiot in the next cause of his own Life and actions thereof will notwithstanding examin the Art of God in Creating the World and will disable him from making a World without Matter â—nd rather ascribe it to Atoms in the Air or to Fate Fortune Nature or to two Powers of which one was Author of Matter the other of Form And lastly for want of a Work-man Aristottle brought in that New Doctrin of the Worlds Eternity contrary to these Ancients Hermes Zoroaster Musaeus Orpheus