The Works of Sir Thomas Browne Volume I Part 8

That other Attribute wherewith I recreate my devotion, is his Wisdom, in which I am happy; and for the contemplation of this only, do not repent me that I was bred in the way of Study: The advantage I have of the vulgar, with the content and happiness I conceive therein, is an ample recompence for all my endeavours, in what part of knowledge soever.

Wisdom is his most beauteous Attribute, no man can attain unto it, yet _Solomon_ pleased G.o.d when he desired it. He is wise, because he knows all things; and he knoweth all things, because he made them all: but his greatest knowledge is in comprehending that he made not, that is, himself. And this is also the greatest knowledge in man. For this do I honour my own profession, and embrace the Counsel even of the Devil himself: had he read such a Lecture in Paradise as he did at _Delphos_,[10] we had better known our selves; nor had we stood in fear to know him. I know he is wise in all, wonderful in what we conceive, but far more in what we comprehend not; for we behold him but asquint, upon reflex or shadow; our understanding is dimmer than _Moses_ Eye; we are ignorant of the back-parts or lower side of his Divinity; therefore to prie into the maze of his Counsels is not only folly in man, but presumption even in Angels; like us, they are his Servants, not his Senators; he holds no Counsel, but that mystical one of the Trinity, wherein though there be three Persons, there is but one mind that decrees without Contradiction: nor needs he any; his actions are not begot with deliberation, his Wisdom naturally knows what's best; his intellect stands ready fraught with the superlative and purest _Idea's_ of goodness; consultation and election, which are two motions in us, make but one in him; his actions springing from his power at the first touch of his will. These are Contemplations Metaphysical: my humble speculations have another Method, and are content to trace and discover those expressions he hath left in his Creatures, and the obvious effects of Nature; there is no danger to profound these mysteries, no _sanctum sanctorum_ in Philosophy: the World was made to be inhabited by Beasts, but studied and contemplated by Man: 'tis the Debt of our Reason we owe unto G.o.d, and the homage we pay for not being Beasts; without this, the World is still as though it had not been, or as it was before the sixth day, when as yet there was not a Creature that could conceive, or say there was a World. The wisdom of G.o.d receives small honour from those vulgar Heads that rudely stare about, and with a gross rusticity admire his works; those highly magnifie him, whose judicious inquiry into His Acts, and deliberate research into His Creatures, return the duty of a devout and learned admiration. Therefore,

Search while thou wilt, and let thy reason go, To ransome truth, even to th' Abyss below; Rally the scattered Causes; and that line Which Nature twists, be able to untwine It is thy Makers will, for unto none, But unto reason can he e'er be known.

The Devils do know Thee, but those d.a.m.n'd Meteors Build not thy Glory, but confound thy Creatures.

Teach my indeavours so thy works to read, That learning them in thee, I may proceed.

Give thou my reason that instructive flight, Whose weary wings may on thy hands still light.

Teach me to soar aloft, yet ever so, When neer the Sun, to stoop again below.

Thus shall my humble Feathers safely hover, And, though near Earth, more than the Heavens discover And then at last, when homeward I shall drive, Rich with the Spoils of nature to my hive, There will I sit like that industrious Flie, Buzzing thy praises, which shall never die, Till death abrupts them, and succeeding Glory Bid me go on in a more lasting story.

And this is almost all wherein an humble Creature may endeavour to requite and some way to retribute unto his Creator: for if not he that saith, _Lord, Lord_, but _he that doth the will of his Father, shall be saved_; certainly our wills must be our performances, and our intents make out our Actions; otherwise our pious labours shall find anxiety in our Graves, and our best endeavours not hope, but fear a resurrection.

[10] G???? sea?t??, Nosce teipsum.

SECT. 14

There is but one first cause, and four second causes of all things; some are without efficient, as G.o.d; others without matter, as Angels; some without form, as the first matter: but every Essence created or uncreated, hath its final cause, and some positive end both of its Essence and Operation; this is the cause I grope after in the works of Nature; on this hangs the providence of G.o.d: to raise so beauteous a structure as the World and the Creatures thereof, was but his Art; but their sundry and divided operations, with their predestinated ends, are from the Treasure of his wisdom. In the causes, nature, and affections of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, there is most excellent speculation; but to profound farther, and to contemplate a reason why his providence hath so disposed and ordered their motions in that vast circle as to conjoyn and obscure each other, is a sweeter piece of Reason, and a diviner point of Philosophy; therefore sometimes, and in some things, there appears to me as much Divinity in _Galen_ his books _De Usu Partium_, as in _Suarez_ Metaphysicks: Had _Aristotle_ been as curious in the enquiry of this cause as he was of the other, he had not left behind him an imperfect piece of Philosophy, but an absolute tract of Divinity.

SECT. 15

_Natura nihil aget frustra_, is the only indisputed Axiome in Philosophy; there are no _Grotesques_ in nature; not any thing framed to fill up empty Cantons, and unnecessary s.p.a.ces: in the most imperfect Creatures, and such as were not preserved in the Ark, but having their Seeds and Principles in the womb of Nature, are every where, where the power of the Sun is; in these is the Wisdom of his hand discovered. Out of this rank _Solomon_ chose the object of his admiration; indeed what reason may not go to School to the wisdom of Bees, Ants, and Spiders?

what wise hand teacheth them to do what reason cannot teach us? ruder heads stand amazed at those prodigious pieces of Nature, Whales, Elephants, Dromidaries and Camels; these, I confess, are the Colossus and Majestick pieces of her hand: but in these narrow Engines there is more curious Mathematicks; and the civility of these little Citizens, more neatly sets forth the Wisdom of their Maker. Who admires not _Regio-Monta.n.u.s_ his Fly beyond his Eagle, or wonders not more at the operation of two Souls in those little Bodies, than but one in the Trunk of a Cedar? I could never content my contemplation with those general pieces of wonder, the Flux and Reflux of the Sea, the increase of _Nile_, the conversion of the Needle to the North; and have studied to match and parallel those in the more obvious and neglected pieces of Nature, which without further trouble I can do in the Cosmography of my self; we carry with us the wonders we seek without us: There is all _Africa_ and her prodigies in us; we are that bold and adventurous piece of nature, which he that studies wisely learns in a _compendium_ what others labour at in a divided piece and endless volume.

SECT. 16

Thus there are two Books from which I collect my Divinity; besides that written one of G.o.d, another of his servant Nature, that universal and publick Ma.n.u.script, that lies expans'd unto the Eyes of all, those that never saw him in the one, have discovered him in the other: this was the Scripture and Theology of the Heathens: the natural motion of the Sun made them more admire him, than its supernatural station did the Children of _Israel_; the ordinary effects of nature wrought more admiration in them than in the other all his Miracles; surely the Heathens knew better how to joyn and read these mystical Letters than we Christians, who cast a more careless Eye on these common Hieroglyphicks, and disdain to suck Divinity from the flowers of Nature. Nor do I so forget G.o.d as to adore the name of Nature; which I define not with the Schools, to be the principle of motion and rest, but that streight and regular line, that settled and constant course the Wisdom of G.o.d hath ordained the actions of His creatures, according to their several kinds.

To make a revolution every day, is the Nature of the Sun, because of that necessary course which G.o.d hath ordained it, from which it cannot swerve but by a faculty from that voice which first did give it motion.

Now this course of Nature G.o.d seldome alters or perverts, but like an excellent Artist hath so contrived his work, that with the self same instrument, without a new creation, he may effect his obscurest designs.

Thus he sweetneth the Water with a Word, preserveth the Creatures in the Ark, which the blast of his mouth might have as easily created; for G.o.d is like a skilful Geometrician, who when more easily and with one stroak of his Compa.s.s he might describe or divide a right line, had yet rather do this in a circle or longer way; according to the const.i.tuted and fore-laid principles of his Art: yet this rule of his he doth sometimes pervert, to acquaint the World with his Prerogative, lest the arrogancy of our reason should question his power, and conclude he could not; and thus I call the effects of Nature the works of G.o.d, whose hand and instrument she only is; and therefore to ascribe his actions unto her, is to devolve the honour of the princ.i.p.al agent upon the instrument; which if with reason we may do, then let our hammers rise up and boast they have built our houses, and our pens receive the honour of our writings. I hold there is a general beauty in the works of G.o.d, and therefore no deformity in any kind or species of creature whatsoever: I cannot tell by what Logick we call a _Toad_, a _Bear_, or an _Elephant_ ugly, they being created in those outward shapes and figures which best express the actions of their inward forms. And having past that general Visitation of G.o.d, who saw that all that he had made was good, that is, conformable to his Will, which abhors deformity, and is the rule of order and beauty; there is no deformity but in Monstrosity; wherein, notwithstanding, there is a kind of Beauty. Nature so ingeniously contriving the irregular parts, as they become sometimes more remarkable than the princ.i.p.al Fabrick. To speak yet more narrowly, there was never any thing ugly or mis-shapen, but the Chaos; wherein, notwithstanding, to speak strictly, there was no deformity, because no form; nor was it yet impregnant by the voice of G.o.d; now Nature was not at variance with Art, nor Art with Nature, they being both servants of his providence: Art is the perfection of Nature: were the World now as it was the sixth day, there were yet a Chaos: Nature hath made one World, and Art another. In brief, all things are artificial; for Nature is the Art of G.o.d.

SECT. 17

This is the ordinary and open way of his providence, which Art and Industry have in a good part discovered, whose effects we may foretel without an Oracle: to foreshew these, is not Prophesie, but Prognostication. There is another way, full of Meanders and Labyrinths, whereof the Devil and Spirits have no exact Ephemerides, and that is a more particular and obscure method of his providence, directing the operations of individuals and single Essences: this we call Fortune, that serpentine and crooked line, whereby he draws those actions his wisdom intends, in a more unknown and secret way: This cryptick and involved method of his providence have I ever admired, nor can I relate the History of my life, the occurrences of my days, the escapes of dangers, and hits of chance, with a _Bezo las Manos_ to Fortune, or a bare Gramercy to my good Stars: _Abraham_ might have thought the _Ram_ in the thicket came thither by accident; humane reason would have said, that meer chance conveyed _Moses_ in the Ark to the sight of _Pharoh's_ daughter: what a Labyrinth is there in the story of _Joseph_, able to convert a Stoick? Surely there are in every man's Life certain rubs, doublings, and wrenches, which pa.s.s a while under the effects of chance, but at the last well examined, prove the meer hand of G.o.d. 'Twas not dumb chance, that to discover the Fougade or Powder-plot, contrived a miscarriage in the Letter. I like the victory of 88. the better for that one occurrence, which our enemies imputed to our dishonour and the partiality of Fortune, to wit, the tempests and contrariety of Winds.

King _Philip_ did not detract from the Nation, when he said, he sent his Armado to fight with men, and not to combate with the Winds. Where there is a manifest disproportion between the powers and forces of two several agents, upon a Maxime of reason we may promise the Victory to the Superiour; but when unexpected accidents slip in, and unthought of occurences intervene, these must proceed from a power that owes no obedience to those Axioms; where, as in the writing upon the wall, we may behold the hand, but see not the spring that moves it. The success of that petty province of _Holland_ (of which the Grand _Seignour_ proudly said, if they should trouble him as they did the _Spaniard_, he would send his men with shovels and pick-axes, and throw it into the Sea,) I cannot altogether ascribe to the ingenuity and industry of the people, but the mercy of G.o.d, that hath disposed them to such a thriving Genius; and to the will of his Providence, that disposeth her favour to each Country in their pre-ordinate season. All cannot be happy at once; for, because the glory of one State depends upon the ruine of another, there is a revolution and vicissitude of their greatness, and must obey the swing of that wheel, not moved by Intelligences, but by the hand of G.o.d, whereby all Estates arise to their _Zenith_ and Vertical points according to their predestinated periods. For the lives, not only of men, but of Commonwealths, and the whole World, run not upon an Helix that still enlargeth; but on a Circle, where arriving to their Meridian, they decline in obscurity, and fall under the Horizon again.

SECT. 18

These must not therefore he named the effects of Fortune, but in a relative way, and as we term the works of Nature: it was the ignorance of mans reason that begat this very name, and by a careless term miscalled the Providence of G.o.d: for there is no liberty for causes to operate in a loose and stragling way; nor any effect whatsoever, but hath its warrant from some universal or superiour Cause. 'Tis not a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at Tables; for even in _sortilegies_ and matters of greatest uncertainty, there is a setled and preordered course of effects. It is we that are blind, not Fortune: because our Eye is too dim to discover the mystery of her effects, we foolishly paint her blind, and hoodwink the Providence of the Almighty.

I cannot justifie that contemptible Proverb, _That fools only are Fortunate_; or that insolent Paradox, _That a wise man is out of the reach of Fortune_; much less those opprobrious epithets of Poets, _Wh.o.r.e_, _Bawd_, and _Strumpet_. 'Tis, I confess, the common fate of men of singular gifts of mind to be dest.i.tute of those of Fortune, which doth not any way deject the Spirit of wiser judgements, who throughly understand the justice of this proceeding; and being inrich'd with higher donatives, cast a more careless eye on these vulgar parts of felicity. It is a most unjust ambition to desire to engross the mercies of the Almighty, not to be content with the goods of mind, without a possession of those of body or Fortune: and it is an error worse than heresie, to adore these complemental and circ.u.mstantial pieces of felicity, and undervalue those perfections and essential points of happiness wherein we resemble our Maker. To wiser desires it is satisfaction enough to deserve, though not to enjoy the favours of Fortune; let Providence provide for Fools: 'tis not partiality, but equity in G.o.d, who deals with us but as our natural Parents; those that are able of Body and Mind, he leaves to their deserts; to those of weaker merits he imparts a larger portion, and pieces out the defect of one, by the access of the other. Thus have we no just quarrel with Nature, for leaving us naked; or to envy the Horns, Hoofs, Skins, and Furs of other Creatures, being provided with Reason, that can supply them all. We need not labour with so many Arguments to confute Judicial Astrology; for if there be a truth therein, it doth not injure Divinity: if to be born under _Mercury_ disposeth us to be witty, under _Jupiter_ to be wealthy; I do not owe a Knee unto those, but unto that merciful Hand that hath ordered my indifferent and uncertain nativity unto such benevolous Aspects. Those that hold that all things are governed by Fortune, had not erred, had they not persisted there: The _Romans_ that erected a temple to Fortune, acknowledged therein, though in a blinder way, somewhat of Divinity; for in a wise supputation all things begin and end in the Almighty. There is a nearer way to Heaven than _Homer's_ Chain; an easy Logick may conjoin heaven and Earth, in one Argument, and with less than a _Sorites_ resolve all things into G.o.d. For though we christen effects by their most sensible and nearest Causes, yet is G.o.d the true and infallible Cause of all, whose concourse though it be general, yet doth it subdivide it self into the particular Actions of every thing, and is that Spirit, by which each singular Essence not only subsists, but performs its operation.

SECT. 19

The bad construction, and perverse comment on these pair of second Causes, or visible hands of G.o.d, have perverted the Devotion of many unto Atheism; who, forgetting the honest Advisoes of Faith, have listened unto the conspiracy of Pa.s.sion and Reason. I have therefore always endeavoured to compose those Feuds and angry Dissensions between Affection, Faith and Reason: For there is in our Soul a kind of Triumvirate, or triple Government of three Compet.i.tors, which distracts the Peace of this our Common-wealth, not less than did that other the State of _Rome_.

As Reason is a Rebel unto Faith, so Pa.s.sion unto Reason: As the Propositions of Faith seem absurd unto Reason, so the Theorems of Reason unto Pa.s.sion, and both unto Reason; yet a moderate and peaceable discretion may so state and order the matter, that they may be all Kings, and yet make but one Monarchy, every one exercising his Soveraignty and Prerogative in a due time and place, according to the restraint and limit of circ.u.mstance. There is, as in Philosophy, so in Divinity, st.u.r.dy doubts and boisterous Objections, wherewith the unhappiness of our knowledge too nearly acquainteth us. More of these no man hath known than my self, which I confess I conquered, not in a martial posture, but on my Knees. For our endeavours are not only to combat with doubts, but always to dispute with the Devil: the villany of that Spirit takes a hint of Infidelity from our Studies, and by demonstrating a naturality in one way, makes us mistrust a miracle in another. Thus having perused the _Archidoxes_ and read the secret Sympathies of things, he would disswade my belief from the miracle of the Brazen Serpent, make me conceit that Image worked by Sympathy, and was but an _aegyptian_ trick to cure their Diseases without a miracle.

Again, having seen some experiments of _Bitumen_, and having read far more of _Naphtha_, he whispered to my curiosity the fire of the Altar might be natural; and bid me mistrust a miracle in _Elias_, when he entrenched the Altar round with Water: for that inflamable substance yields not easily unto Water, but flames in the Arms of its Antagonist.

And thus would he inveagle my belief to think the combustion of _Sodom_ might be natural, and that there was an Asphaltick and Bituminous nature in that Lake before the Fire of _Gomorrah_. I know that _Manna_ is now plentifully gathered in _Calabria_; and _Josephus_ tells me, in his days it was as plentiful in _Arabia_; the Devil therefore made the _quaere_, Where was then the miracle in the days of _Moses_: the _Israelite_ saw but that in his time, the Natives of those Countries behold in ours.

Thus the Devil played at Chess with me, and yielding a p.a.w.n, thought to gain a Queen of me, taking advantage of my honest endeavours; and whilst I laboured to raise the structure of my Reason, he strived to undermine the edifice of my Faith.

SECT. 20

Neither had these or any other ever such advantage of me, as to incline me to any point of Infidelity or desperate positions of Atheism; for I have been these many years of opinion there was never any. Those that held was the difference of Man from Beasts, have spoken probably, and proceed upon a principle as inductive as the other. That doctrine of _Epicurus_, that denied the Providence of G.o.d, was no Atheism, but a magnificent and high strained conceit of his Majesty, which he deemed too sublime to mind the trivial Actions of those inferiour Creatures.

That fatal Necessity of the Stoicks, is nothing but the immutable Law of his will. Those that heretofore denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, have been condemned, but as Hereticks; and those that now deny our Saviour (though more than Hereticks) are not so much as Atheists: for though they deny two persons in the Trinity, they hold as we do, there is but one G.o.d.

That Villain and Secretary of h.e.l.l, that composed that miscreant piece of the Three Impostors, though divided from all Religions, and was neither Jew, Turk, nor Christian, was not a positive Atheist. I confess every country hath its _Machiavel_, every Age its _Lucian_, whereof common Heads must not hear, nor more advanced Judgments too rashly venture on: It is the Rhetorick of Satan, and may pervert a loose or prejudicate belief.

SECT. 21

I confess I have perused them all, and can discover nothing that may startle a discreet belief; yet are there heads carried off with the Wind and breath of such motives. I remember a Doctor in Physick of _Italy_, who could not perfectly believe the immortality of the Soul, because _Galen_ seemed to make a doubt thereof. With another I was familiarly acquainted in _France_, a Divine, and a man of singular parts, that on the same point was so plunged and gravelled with [11]three lines of _Seneca_, that all our Antidotes, drawn from both Scripture and Philosophy, could not expel the poyson of his errour. There are a set of Heads, that can credit the relations of Mariners, yet question the Testimonies of St. _Paul_; and peremptorily maintain the traditions of _aelian_ or _Pliny_, yet in Histories of Scripture raise Queries and Objections, believing no more than they can parallel in humane Authors.

I confess there are in Scripture Stories that do exceed the Fables of Poets, and to a captious Reader sound like _Garagantua_ or _Bevis_: Search all the Legends of times past, and the fabulous conceits of these present, and 'twill be hard to find one that deserves to carry the Buckler unto _Sampson_; yet is all this of an easie possibility, if we conceive a divine concourse, or an influence but from the little Finger of the Almighty. It is impossible that either in the discourse of man, or in the infallible Voice of G.o.d, to the weakness of our apprehensions, there should not appear irregularities, contradictions, and antinomies: my self could shew a Catalogue of doubts, never yet imagined nor questioned, as I know, which are not resolved at the first hearing; not fantastick Queries or Objections of Air; for I cannot hear of Atoms in Divinity. I can read the History of the Pigeon that was sent out of the Ark, and returned no more, yet not question how she found out her Mate that was left behind: That _Lazarus_ was raised from the dead, yet not demand where in the interim his Soul awaited; or raise a Law-case, whether his Heir might lawfully detain his inheritance bequeathed unto him by his death, and he, though restored to life, have no Plea or t.i.tle unto his former possessions. Whether _Eve_ was framed out of the left side of _Adam_, I dispute not; because I stand not yet a.s.sured which is the right side of a man, or whether there be any such distinction in Nature: that she was edified out of the Rib of _Adam_, I believe, yet raise no question who shall arise with that Rib at the Resurrection.

Whether _Adam_ was an Hermaphrodite, as the Rabbins contend upon the Letter of the Text, because it is contrary to reason, there should be an Hermaphrodite before there was a Woman; or a composition of two Natures before there was a second composed. Likewise, whether the World was created in Autumn, Summer, or the Spring, because it was created in them all; for whatsoever Sign the Sun possesseth, those four Seasons are actually existent: It is the Nature of this Luminary to distinguish the several Seasons of the year, all which it makes at one time in the whole Earth, and successive in any part thereof. There are a bundle of curiosities, not only in Philosophy, but in Divinity, proposed and discussed by men of most supposed abilities, which indeed are not worthy our vacant hours, much less our serious Studies. Pieces only fit to be placed in _Pantagruel's_ Library, or bound up with Tartaretus, _De modo Cacandi_. [SN: _In Rabbelais._]

[11] _Post Mortem nihil est, ipsaque Mors nihil. Mors individua est, noxia corpori, nec patiens animae ... Toti morimur, nullaque pars manet nostri._

SECT. 22

These are niceties that become not those that peruse so serious a Mystery: There are others more generally questioned and called to the Bar, yet methinks of an easie and possible truth.

'Tis ridiculous to put off, or down the general Flood of _Noah_ in that particular inundation of _Deucalion_: that there was a Deluge once, seems not to me so great a Miracle, as that there is not one always. How all the kinds of Creatures, not only in their own bulks, but with a competency of food and sustenance, might be preserved in one Ark, and within the extent of three hundred Cubits, to a reason that rightly examines it, will appear very feasible. There is another secret not contained in the Scripture, which is more hard to comprehend, and put the honest Father to the refuge of a Miracle: and that is, not only how the distinct pieces of the World, and divided Islands should be first planted by men, but inhabited by Tigers, Panthers, and Bears. How _America_ abounded with Beasts of prey, and noxious Animals, yet contained not in it that necessary Creature, a Horse, is very strange.

By what pa.s.sage those, not only Birds, but dangerous and unwelcome Beasts, came over: How there be Creatures there (which are not found in this Triple Continent); all which must needs be strange unto us, that hold but one Ark, and that the Creatures began their progress from the Mountains of _Ararat_: They who to salve this would make the Deluge particular, proceed upon a principle that I can no way grant; not only upon the negative of holy Scriptures, but of mine own Reason, whereby I can make it probable, that the World was as well peopled in the time of _Noah_, as in ours; and fifteen hundred years to people the World, as full a time for them, as four thousand years since have been to us.

There are other a.s.sertions and common Tenents drawn from Scripture, and generally believed as Scripture, whereunto notwithstanding, I would never betray the liberty of my Reason. 'Tis a Paradox to me, that _Methusalem_ was the longest liv'd of all the Children of _Adam_: and no man will be able to prove it; when from the process of the Text, I can manifest it may be otherwise. That _Judas_ perished by hanging himself, there is no certainty in Scripture: though in one place it seems to affirm it, and by a doubtful word hath given occasion to translate it; yet in another place, in a more punctual description, it makes it improbable, and seems to overthrow it. That our Fathers, after the Flood, erected the Tower of _Babel_ to preserve themselves against a second Deluge, is generally opinioned and believed, yet is there another intention of theirs expressed in Scripture: Besides, it is improbable from the circ.u.mstance of the place, that is, a plain in the Land of _s.h.i.+nar_: These are no points of Faith, and therefore may admit a free dispute. There are yet others, and those familiarly concluded from the Text, wherein (under favour) I see no consequence: the Church of _Rome_, confidently proves the opinion of Tutelary Angels, from that Answer when _Peter_ knockt at the Door; _'Tis not he, but his Angel_; that is, might some say, his Messenger, or some body from him; for so the Original signifies, and is as likely to be the doubtful Families meaning. This exposition I once suggested to a young Divine, that answered upon this point; to which I remember the _Franciscan_ Opponent replyed no more, but That it was a new, and no authentick interpretation.

SECT. 23

These are but the conclusions and fallible discourses of man upon the Word of G.o.d, for such I do believe the holy Scriptures: yet were it of man, I could not chuse but say, it was the singularest and superlative piece that hath been extant since the Creation: were I a Pagan, I should not refrain the Lecture of it; and cannot but commend the judgment of _Ptolomy_, that thought not his Library compleat without it. The Alcoran of the _Turks_ (I speak without prejudice) is an ill composed Piece, containing in it vain and ridiculous Errors in Philosophy, impossibilities, fictions, and vanities beyond laughter, maintained by evident and open Sophisms, the Policy of Ignorance, deposition of Universities, and banishment of Learning, that hath gotten Foot by Arms and violence: This without a blow, hath disseminated it self through the whole Earth. It is not unremarkable what _Philo_ first observed, That the Law of _Moses_ continued two thousand years without the least alteration; whereas, we see, the Laws of other Common-weals do alter with occasions; and even those, that pretended their Original from some Divinity, to have vanished without trace or memory. I believe besides _Zoroaster_, there were divers that writ before _Moses_, who, notwithstanding, have suffered the common fate of time. Mens Works have an age like themselves; and though they out-live their Authors, yet have they a stint and period to their duration: This only is a work too hard for the teeth of time, and cannot perish but in the general Flames, when all things shall confess their Ashes.

SECT. 24

I have heard some with deep sighs lament the lost lines of _Cicero_; others with as many groans deplore the combustion of the Library of _Alexandria_: for my own part, I think there be too many in the World, and could with patience behold the urn and ashes of the _Vatican_, could I, with a few others, recover the perished leaves of _Solomon_. I would not omit a Copy of _Enoch's_ Pillars, had they many nearer Authors than _Josephus_, or did not relish somewhat of the Fable. Some men have written more than others have spoken; [12]_Pineda_ quotes more Authors in one work, than are necessary in a whole World. Of those three great inventions in _Germany_, there are two which are not without their incommodities, and 'tis disputable whether they exceed not their use and commodities. 'Tis not a melancholy _Utinam_ of my own, but the desires of better heads, that there were a general Synod; not to unite the incompatible difference of Religion, but for the benefit of learning, to reduce it as it lay at first, in a few, and solid Authors; and to condemn to the fire those swarms & millions of _Rhapsodies_ begotten only to distract and abuse the weaker judgements of Scholars, and _to maintain the trade and mystery of Typographers_.

[12] Pineda _in his_ Monarchica Ecclesiastica _quotes one thousand and forty Authors_.

SECT. 25

I cannot but wonder with what exception the _Samaritans_ could confine their belief to the _Pentateuch_, or five Books of _Moses_. I am ashamed at the Rabbinical Interpretation of the Jews, upon the Old Testament, as much as their defection from the New. And truly it is beyond wonder, how that contemptible and degenerate issue of _Jacob_, once so devoted to Ethnick Superst.i.tion, and so easily seduced to the Idolatry of their Neighbours, should now in such an obstinate and peremptory belief adhere unto their own Doctrine, expect impossibilities, and, in the face and eye of the Church, persist without the least hope of Conversion. This is a vice in them, that were a vertue in us; for obstinacy in a bad Cause is but constancy in a good. And herein I must accuse those of my own Religion; for there is not any of such a fugitive Faith, such an unstable belief, as a Christian; none that do so oft transform themselves, not unto several shapes of Christianity and of the same Species, but unto more unnatural and contrary Forms, of Jew and Mahometan; that, from the name of Saviour, can condescend to the bare term of Prophet; and from an old belief that he is come, fall to a new expectation of his coming. It is the promise of Christ to make us all one Flock; but how and when this Union shall be, is as obscure to me as the last day. Of those four Members of Religion we hold a slender proportion; there are, I confess, some new additions, yet small to those which accrew to our Adversaries, and those only drawn from the revolt of Pagans, men but of negative Impieties, and such as deny Christ, but because they never heard of him: but the Religion of the Jew is expressly against the Christian, and the Mahometan against both. For the Turk, in the bulk he now stands, he is beyond all hope of conversion; if he fall asunder, there may be conceived hopes, but not without strong improbabilities. The Jew is obstinate in all fortunes; the persecution of fifteen hundred years hath but confirmed them in their Errour: they have already endured whatsoever may be inflicted, and have suffered, in a bad cause, even to the condemnation of their enemies. Persecution is a bad and indirect way to plant Religion: It hath been the unhappy method of angry Devotions, not only to confirm honest Religion, but wicked Heresies, and extravagant Opinions. It was the first stone and Basis of our Faith; none can more justly boast of Persecutions, and glory in the number and valour of Martyrs; for, to speak properly, those are true and almost only examples of fort.i.tude: Those that are fetch'd from the field, or drawn from the actions of the Camp, are not oft-times so truely precedents of valour as audacity, and at the best attain but to some b.a.s.t.a.r.d piece of fort.i.tude: If we shall strictly examine the circ.u.mstances and requisites which _Aristotle_ requires to true and perfect valour, we shall find the name only in his Master _Alexander_, and as little in that Roman Worthy, _Julius Caesar_; and if any, in that easie and active way have done so n.o.bly as to deserve that name, yet in the pa.s.sive and more terrible piece these have surpa.s.sed, and in a more heroical way may claim the honour of that t.i.tle. 'Tis not in the power of every honest Faith to proceed thus far, or pa.s.s to Heaven through the flames; every one hath it not in that full measure, nor in so audacious and resolute a temper, as to endure those terrible tests and trials; who notwithstanding, in a peaceable way do truely adore their Saviour, and have (no doubt) a Faith acceptable in the eyes of G.o.d.

SECT. 26