the Land the Water and the Firmament and come to a knowledge of the Magnitude of the Clouds and the Force of the Winds should behold the Sun and understand the Proportion Beautifulness and Efficiency of the same that it occasions Day by spreading its Light over all the Sky And further when Night had darken'd the Earth they should view the whole Heaven diversify'd and embellish'd with stars and the various Lights of the Moon both Waxing and Waining the Risings and Settings of them all and their Courses Certain and Immutable throughout Eternity When I say they should see all This they would undoubtedly presume both that Gods there are and that these so mighty Works were of Their effecting And Thus far He. Another Allusion to the same purpose Let us also Imagine Darknesses as great as were Those upon the Eruption of the Fires of Aetna that are said to have obscur'd the Countreys near about to such a degree that for two days one man could not know another And when upon the Third the Sun appear'd again they seem'd to one another as if they had been a new restor'd to Life And did it so fall out now in Eternal Darknesses that on a sudden we should see the Light how strange would the face of the Sky appear to us But now by the daily use and custom of our Eyes our Minds are wonted to it and neither Admire nor search into the Reasons of what they have always before them As if the Novity rather then the Bulk and Worth of matters ought to incite us to an Enquiry into their Causes Could he be judg'd deserving the shape he wears who upon viewing the so constant Motions of the Heavens such Immutable * Three things in every Order the Efficient Form and the End Orders of the Stars and all things so apt and compacted among themselves should deny that in These which are govern'd by a Wisdom above the Reach of all Counsel there is not any Reason at all and averr them to have been made by Chance When we see any thing as a Sphere a Clock or the like mov'd by some or other kind of Ingenious Device we make no question of its being the Result of Reason And can we then upon Observing the Powers of Heaven to be turn'd and carry'd about with a wonderful Celerity and most constantly compleating * Yearly Revolutions Anniversary Vicissitudes to the perfect Health and Conservation of all things but be satisfy'd that These come to pass by Reason and That too a Transcendent and Divine BUT let me Now A Demonstration of the Order throughout every part of the World whereby a Divine Providence is plainly discernible waving subtilty of Dispute take a kind of speculative Survey of the Beautifulness of what we affirm to be administer'd by a Divine Providence †And First of the Earth and Earthly things And First of the Universal Earth which is seated in the Middle Quarter of the World is solid round and every way conglobated as to its proper Inclinings within it self cloth'd with Flowers Herbs Trees Fruits the Incredible Multitude of all which are distinguish'd by an insatiable Diversity Ad to This the gelid Perseverings of Springs the Crystal Waters of Rivers the most virdent Clothings of Banks the hollow Depths of Caves the Cragginesses of Rocks the Heights of impending Mountains and the Spaciousnesses of Fields As also the hidden Veins of Gold and Silver and the infinite store of Marble What likewise and how Various are the kinds of Beasts both Wild and Tame the Flyings and Singings of Birds the Grazings of Cattle and the Life of Forrest-Beasts What now shall I say to the Race of Man Who being ordain'd as it were to Till the Ground suffer it not either to be made desolate by the Salvageness of Wild Beasts or turn'd into Desart by the Roughness of Trees And as the Effects of whose skill and pains do Fields appear Isles and Coasts diversify'd with Houses and Cities All which were it but as easie to be taken in by the sight of the Eye as it is by the Contemplation of the Mind no body could so much as look upon the Earth and doubt of a Divine Reason Next of the Sea and the things of the same And then again how great is the Pulchritude of the Sea How Taking the Form of the Universe The Numerousness and Variety of Islands The Emenities of Coasts and Shores How Many and Different are the Kinds of Creatures some Under the Water others floating on the Top of it Some Swimming and Others again in Natural shells cleaving to Rocks And the Sea it self coveting the Land does in such a manner play along and bound its Coasts that they may seem to be but One made up of Two Natures Then of the Air. Next to This is the Air bordering upon the Sea distinguish'd into * Night and Day sorts of Air. Day and Night Being sometimes rarify'd and extenuated it is carry'd on high and Otherwhiles Thicken'd is driven into Clouds And collecting Humours enriches the Earth with showers As also extending it self at large it produces the Winds The same Air causes the Annual Vicissitudes of Heat and Cold enables Birds to Fly Relieves by Respiration and susteins every Animated Being There yet remains the Last of all Now of the Sky the Highest from our Abodes the All-embracing and containing Circle of the Heavens Coelum which same is also call'd Aether the Sky the utmost bound and Determination of the World In This the * The Stars Fiery Figures do fulfil their appointed Courses after an admirable manner Amongst which the Sun The Sun spoken to being sundry Degrees Larger then the Earth is carry'd about the same and it Rising and Setting occasions Day and Night As also coming nearer the same Earth Some times at Others withdrawing farther off it makes each Year two ‖ Reversions Contrary from the Extreme †i. e. Two Digressions from his Ordinary Stage In the Interval of which it sometimes affects the Earth with a kind of Sadness as it were and Otherwhiles again chears it in such sort that it looks as if it were pleased and gladdened with Heaven As to the Moon The Moon which as Mathematicians shew is bigger then one Half of the Earth it * i. e. Runs the same Stages wanders in the same spaces with the Sun and one while going along with it another turning from it it imparts to the Earth the Light that it derives from the Sun and changes its Light into several Forms And moreover being some times under and Opposite to the Sun its Beams and Light are darken'd And at Others interfering with the shadow of the Earth when right over against the Sun it is by the Interjection and Interposition of the same Earth suddenly Ecclipsed and put out for a season The Planets Those Stars also usually term'd Wandering are carry'd about the Earth in the
is without c. has no longer any Conjunction at all with the Main Body after it is sever'd from it But of c. lin 29 30. Temerity Casualty of Fortune but c. lin 32. To speak once more for all Two sorts of Opinions amongst Philosophers concerning Nature Hippocrates of Nature of Nature the Opinions of the Ancients concerning it may be reduc'd into two Ranks One of which made her to be Destitute of the Other Indu'd with Reason Of the Former beside Strato c. Hippocrates seems to have been for he says Epidem 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature found out her ways of her self not by Reason Nor does Epicurus acknowledge any other Epicurus's Accidents of Aâ—â—ms by his Three Principles of Things Atoms Void and the Accidents of Both of which Accidents he with the Peripatetiques admitted two sorts but under different Terms for what the Former call'd Proper he nam'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or not separated whereof are usually reckon'd Three Magnitude Figure and Gravity or Weight and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that are Separated those which They term'd Common as Concourse Connexion Position Order c. I do not well perceive what might be his Accidents of Void save only a kind of Infiniteness and Immobility See Epicurus's Physiology Collected and Illustrated by Gassendus Of the Latter Plato in Philebo constantly asserts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Plato touching Nature Nature digested adorn'd the Vniversality of things according to Reason and with Reason and Understanding And the Stoiques Defin'd her as in the Context and Notes before She Cherishes and augments c. pag. 122. pag. 122. lin 5. higher and External Natures i. e. the Water and Air c. lin 6. nourish'd preserv'd by c. lin 10. the same Reason holds c. i. e. for the like Reason is the rest of the World sustein'd by the same Nature For c. lin 11 c. sustein'd by breathing the kept alive by drawing in Air c. lin 13. fees c. a Catacresis lin 14. Conversion Circumvection about c. lin 23. the Middle the Vicissitude i. e. alternate motion of one into another of these c. lin 23. One a Continuate and Entire c. l. 24. those Natures Principles things that were before the World was made the best 124 c. pag. 124. lin 5. Sense Intelligence and c. lin 18. effects the same thing in represents the same Motions of the Sun c. pag. 125. pag. 125. lin 4. horrid Raging Noise c. lin 32. some Whirl-wind press'd in c. th' Round Tops Of Billows forc'd Aloft by th' Whirling Waters c. p. 126. pag. 126. l. 8 9. perchance some Island c. lin 18. the Sea be waging War ' gainst th' Earth and This some vast Piece of Bank that Neptune thus tosses up in Triumph Cries says Thus of them c. l. 21. of swift and sharp-set sportive Dolphins c. lin 24. a Song Melody by some or other Chief Man amongst the Argonauts c. lin 26. a fuller view more certain Tokens begins c. lin penult the World Heaven chance to c. pag. 127. pag. 127. lin 2. establisht firm Orders c. lin 6. weighty a Charge Glorious a Spectacle c. lin 11. there are out of the Sky do arise c. pag. 128. pag. 128. lin 5. the whole Earth c. lin 8. Here i. e. since the Order of theVniverse is so Admirable c. lin 18. by their own force c. lin 21. the Universe or rather Innumerable Worlds to c. pag. 129. pag. 129. lin 2. signs Images and c. lin 21. Those Heretofore upon c. p. 130. pag. 130. lin 14. it so fall out c. the same thing happen to Vs escaping out of Eternal c. lin 21 22. Now as for Aetna and the Fires thereof Fasellus Fasellus's History referr'd to who has treated of the Affairs of Sicily lib. 2. cap. 4. may be repair'd to Anniversary Vicissitudes the various seasons of the Year to c. p. 131. pag. 131. l. 12. passe not barely by Reason but by a certain Transcendent and Divine Reason c. lin 15 16. Conglobated as to its proper Inclinings c. i. e. by its own weight Collected into a Round whilst All Parts in Equal Moments tend to the some Centro c. lin 24. an Insatiable Diversity a Variety that never sates the Eye of the Beholder c. lin 28. gelid Perseverings perpetual Coolnesses of c. lin 29. Depths Latitudes of c. lin 31. the Universe Ocean c. pag. 132. pag. 132. lin 12. of Islands scil in that part of the Mediterranean at this day term'd the Archipelago and elsewhere c. the c. l. 22. Coveting c. approaching to and as it were laying hold of the Earth does c. lin 28. Distinguish'd Vary'd c. lin penult driven gather'd into c. pag. 133. pag. 133. lin 2. enriches c. makes the Earth more Fruitfull by showers c. lin 3. highest most Remote from c. lin 11. term'd the Skie c. lin 13. the Stoiques The Stoiques Confound Heaven with the Skie as I hinted before Confounded the Element of Fire with Heaven but other Philosophers the Peripatetiques especially accounted of them as vastly Different Rising and Setting c. lin 20. i. e. ascending above and descending below the Horizon for the very shadow of the Earth hindring the Light of the Sun Night how Caus'd The Sun how coming Nearer the Earth causes Night said Lucilius before coming nearer the Earth c. lin 21. i. e. to one of the two Plaga's of the World either the Northern wherein we Live or the Southern from which we are at a mighty Distance the Sun departing from the One while he is coming to the Other Two Reversions Contrary from opposite to the Extreme c. lin 24. scil the One from the Tropic of Cancer the Other from That of Capricorn which two Tropics Cicero The Poles why term'd Entremes here terms Extreme not that they really are the Extremes in the Sphere or in the Heaven for the two Polar Circles are Further and there is a great distance betwixt Them and the Tropics but because they are the Utmost Bounds of the Course of the Sun Interval of which i. e. which same Reversion while the Sun is making c. lin 25. affects c. scil in Winter-time for while it wanders thus to and again it causes Winter and Summer Winter c. how occasion'd gladden'd together with c. lin 29. spaces Zodiac with c. lin 33. changes its light into several Forms it self suffers several Mutations of its Light These its Phases have been Noted before c. pag. 134. pag. 134. lin 2. Opposite to the Sun interpos'd betwixt the Sun and our Sight it s Beams and
Verses out of her Ancient Professors to serve as Flowers History statelily sets forth certain special Events that can never enough be wonder'd at Divination produces Celestial Impulses of the Divinity and Predictions of Future and most Secret Events Physiques that most diligent Searcher into All Nature intimates whatever is abstruse and hidden in the very Bowels of Matter First the salutary Heat which the Stoiques deem'd to be in the Whole World and every Part thereof Then fetching a Compass it brings forth what the Porch so highly accounted of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as Cicero renders it Principality of the Universe Mythology draws out its Fables full of Mystery Geometry gives a Taste of its Figures by the By while Astrology freely and at leisure ransacks every Quarter of the Heavens and fetches Thence what contributes unspeakably to the Lustre of the Stoical Theology gives in the Innumerable Multitudes of the Stars their eternal Conversions Constant Orders and Certain Risings and Settings by Turns the Infinite Power of Light and a Pulchritude that can never sate us In short Here it is that Universal Nature uncovers her Bosom as with Hands and submits her whole Proportion to Open View And as the Eloquence of the Greatest of Oratours reigns every were throughout the Book so more particularly in the last Part thereof it grows above it self almost Equal to the Infiniteness of the Argument and triumphs even to Splendour and Admiration For being got out of the Narrownesses of the Porch and come into a Field the spaciousest that can be it courses over the whole Parible world in a Clear and Streaming Oration First the Stars the Various Courses of the same the Vicissitudes of Days and Nights and the Seasons of the Year effected by the Sky Next the Elements And Afterward Those usually term'd Mixt Bodies the whole Generation of Vegetibles and Animals the Innate Vertues imparted to each Kind by the Provident Deity as well as the Arms enabling them to defend and preserve themselves are most admirably describ'd in so pure and Rapid a Current of Elocution that one would almost say the Stars of the Night the Moon nay even the Sun it self receiv'd an Accession of Light from the Lustre of the Expression that the Countenance of Nature was render'd more Chearfull by such an Elegance of Language that the World it self than which not any thing can so much as be imagin'd to be more adorn'd deriv'd no small Embellishment from the Splendour and Brightness of so Noble a Style Last of all he comes to Man the Masterpiece of God the Architect and when a body would expect all the Power of Rhetorique that ever Tully was Master of had been quite spent by so long a Course of Speaking Then it is that he sets upon Pourtraying this Admirable Piece of the Greatest Artificer And yet Entire Man I say from Head to Heel Within and Without stupendiously contriv'd with all Faculties and Abilities of Body and Mind does he Represent with so unspeakable a Variety of Colours such a Store of Matter and so great a Plenty even abundance of Words that one would think he had gather'd Strength and Vigour by the very Exercise But further Preface and Exhortation apart for his Pulse must needs beat very cool toward Letters whom what has been already said excites not to a perusal of this more Human Theology whereunto so many Famous Arts are Subservient I will subjoyn a Compendiary Synopsis that will at one Glance as it were summarily and distinctly shew the Contents of the respective Branches of the whole Book It may then be divided into Three Parts The Division of the Second Book the First is a kind of Passage to the Argument by a commendable Contest of the Well-bred Disputants mutually Lessening themselves by turns The Second is the Disputation it self of Balbus setting forth the Theology of the Stoiques at large even to the very last Section of the Book which is the only one Left for the Other Part The Third is a Brief sort of Peroration wherein the Stoique exhorts Cotta in the Academical Liberty of Disputing rather to Defend than to Oppugn the Deity The Contents of the First Part of the Second Book PURSUANT to This Division then BOOK II. PART I. from page 71. to lin 17. of pag. 72. Cicero passes from the Disputation of Cotta wherein in the Foregoing Book he had Exploded the Theology of the Epicureans to That of Balbus But before Balbus is Velleius here brought in who a◠If overcome by Cotta with a Gentile Courtesie commends both the Learning and Eloquence of his Antagonist and Invites Balbus to speak He again out of Modesty refers the Province to Cotta exhorting him with the same power that he took away False Gods to Introduce the True THENCE to lin 11. of pag. 73. Cotta Thus call'd upon Excuses himself And Balbus being desir'd a second time gently enters upon the Disputation which he Divides into Four Parts and making a Motion to let two of them alone till another time Cotta requires to have them all spoken to But This by the By. Explanations c. of the First Part of the Second Book pag. 72. I will come to at another Time i. e. I will speak of your Learning and Eloquence at another Time Cotta c. pag. 72. lin 1. as to things of this Quality what should not be thought than what should c. lin 21 22. This same Academical Profession of Inscience of Cotta's upon all Occasions and in Divine Matters more especially seems to have some Affinity with that sort of Negative Theology profess'd by Plato Himself in his Timaeus Negative Theology what where he declares he knows not What God is but only what he is not no Colour nor any thing of That Kind And indeed how Great soever the things attributed by Divines to the Godhead Wisedom Goodness c. may be yet being so Inferiour to such a Majesty they agree with the Divine Nature only Negatively That is to say God is Deny'd to be Wise the manner we usually speak of Men. Agreeable whereunto is a passage of Dionysius that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bird of Heaven as St. Chrysostome in regard of his soaring Contemplation of Divine Matters styles him in C. 1. of his Mystical Theology Viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. It is meet in It the Divine Nature as the Cause of every thing to place and affirm all the Positions vulgarly Attributes of whatever is and more proper to Deny all those with relation to the same as being above each one of them And we are not to imagine that Affirmations are Here Opposite to Negations but much rather to conceive it the Divine Nature to be above Privation as what is beyond all Ablation and Position Here observe that which comes nearer to the Mind of our Academique that it is more proper to Deny than to Assert the Attributes so common in every Bodie 's Mouth
fill'd Mens Minds with the c. lin 26. Philosophical Reason Sense pleasant c. l. 25. contains Rules Defines Bounds the c. pag. 110. pag. 110. lin 7. which is as much as to say which same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a space of Time c. lin 11 12. As to the Fables of Saturn and of his Father Coelus The Fables of Saturn c. where handled or Coelum Natalis Comes has diligently persu'd in Lib. 2. Mythol and Lactantius exploded them in Lib. 1. of his False Religion in Adversity we call him whom in Change of Inflexion for the Word Jupiter makes Jovis in the Genitive Case contrary to the General Rule we name Jove c. lin 23. as above as I said before Expresses Names saying Thus Behold c. lin 32 33. more Clearly plainly sup does he express Heaven in c. pag. 111. pag. 111. lin 1. A Person for whose Service I 'le * i. e. Vndeify Some Slave or other perhaps introduc'd by Ennius says This. Abjure This †The Skie or Heaven i. e. Jupiter according to the Stoiques which no wonder if a Slave knew not how to Call since only the Learned know what it is same what e'er it be Whence Light 's ‖ And by the benefit of which all things come to be seen deriv'd lin 3. c. It is Him also c. i. e. it appears by the Discipline of the Augurs and their way of Speaking that by the Name of Jupiter Heaven or the Skie is usually understood c. lin 7. Untemper'd and Immense c. lin 13. Honour'd with the Appellation Consecrated under the Name of c. lin 20. it was suppos'd to be they made it i. e. Aer a word of the Masculine Gender Feminine i. e. a Goddess of the Feminine and c. lin 24. by according to Fable c. lin 29. Homer Il. o. furnishes the Division of these Kingdoms Plutarch Plutarch c. referr'd to in the Life of the same Homer as also Fulgentius Bocacius and Natalis Comes the Physical Exposition of the Fable and Lactantius Cap. II. de Falsa Religione the Historical pag. 112. which who is nam'd Dis by the Latins as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Dives Rich amongst the Greeks because c. p. 112. l. 8. Diminishing scil the Forces of the Enemy perhaps Menacing sup Death to the Adverse Party c. lin 27. greater Power and Vertue most Importance It being an usual saying He that has Well Begun has Half Done And the End Crowns the Work c. lin 30. to Begin with Janus scil because they phansi'd him to have the Command of the Beginnings and Endings of all things c. lin 32. Their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Focus a Hearth c. pag. 113. pag 113. lin 5. This Power scil with the Goddess Ceres c. lin 20. Consum'd by Fire c. pag 114. pag. 114. lin 16. Erostratus burnt it to get a Name And because this Goddess Now upon that Goddess who comes to has an influence upon all things have Our People bestow'd the c. lin 20 c. brought down c. and all the Infirmities of Human Nature Imputed to the Gods c. pag. 115. pag. 115. lin 4. shews himself in passes thorough scil by his Immensity the c. lin 21. And Others in Other Cases c. And Others may be understood in the Other Elements who what they are and by what Name Custom has stil'd them which Deities we ought c. lin 23 c. as it were to Collect c. very often to Reade and every where studiously as it were to Collect all matters c. pag. 116. pag. 116. lin 7. the force of Reading is One i. e. All these Words denote the same Original with the word Religiosus à Relegendo c. lin 13. So much for this Second Branch of the Dispute THIS Third Branch of the Stoiques Disputation means to Prove a Divine Providence Universally Th Suâ—â— ct of th 〈◊〉 Brâ—â—â— â—e â—â—spâ—â— I shall not subjoyn any other Synopsis of it than what Balbus pag. 117 118. draws up himself So that to the Contents The Contents of each Section of it PART II. SECT III. From pag. 116. to l. 30. of pag. 117. In making a Transition to the Third Branch of the Dispute He First briefly repeats what he had Treated of in the two foregoing Then Intimates that which he purposes to Prove in This Next Raises Expectation both by the weightiness of the Argument it self and the Considerableness of its Opponents And in the Last place after a Reproof of the Epicureans for their grosser sort of Ignorance in that they were still Cavelling at the Divine Providence he removes all Occasion of Exception by more clearly Proposing the Question THENCE to lin 23. of pag. 118. He advances anew the Particulars he means to Handle in this Third Branch of his Dâ—scourse Divides the Branch it self into Three Parts and forthwith proceeds to the First of them wherein he makes the Reason or Being it self of a Deity to be the Leading Argument of a Divine Proviâ—ence THENCE to lin 17. of pag. 119. He shews that a Divinity once admitted a Providence must also be allow'd First by the Absurd Consequence of Denying it in that Then it follows that something or other is more Excellent than the Deity Secondly by removing two Obstructions of Providence Ignorance and Imbecillity THENCE to lin 3. of pag. 120. He assumes This as the Right of the Divine Essence that the Gods are Animated indu'd with Reason and that being in a kind of Civil Communion and Society one with another they Govern the World Whence he infers that there is the same Reason Truth and Law with the Gods that there is in Men and also Collects thâ—t Reason and Vnderstanâ—ing were deriv'd to Mankind from Above Upon which Consideration the Mind Faith Vertâ—e Concord in that they were conceiv'd to Procâ—ed from the Powers Divine were held to be Goddesses which should they not be in the Deities were rashly worshipt in their Images THENCE to lin 25. of the same page He again Inculcates what he had taught in the Section foregoing that Human Vertues are in the Deities and in much greater Perfection too than in Men. Then he as of Right Assumes that the Gods make use of these same Vertues in administring the World nothing being more Noble than such Administration And in the Last place from the Beneficialness of the Stars and other Divine things in the World he Concludes All to be Govern'd by the Providence of the Gods THENCE to l. 33. of pag. 121. He proceeds to Another Argument of a Divine Providence inferr'd from some or other Governing Nature Moreover in regard the word is of doubtfull and various signification amongst Philosophers to make the matter the plainer he expounds what Nature is according to the Sense both of
Light are Darken'd it darkens his Beame and Light i. e. takes it away from our Sight c. lin 4 5. Eclips'd it self lin 10. i. e. is really without any Light at all in that it has no proper and innate Light of its own as has the Sun Yet Berosus in Laertius makes one Half of it to be Bright One Half of the Moon Light in the Opinion of some or as Cleomedes says Fiery and Others in Plutarch allow it a sort of innate Light Vpon This matter and the various Motions of the rest of the Planets Sempilius the Scot and Gassendus may be Consulted Moreover The Moon how much Less than the Earth in that Tully here pag. 133. lin 32. speaks the Moon to be bigger than one Half of the Earth I find not any Astronomers agree with him Ptolemy makes it to be 39 times Less than the Earth Copernicus about 43 Tycho Brahe almost 42. figuration whereof c. i. e. these Stars are so distinguish'd in Astrological Descriptions that Names have been appli'd to them according to the various Figures of things well known to us which they seem'd after a sort to represent And here c. lin 21 c. and Nights and Days c. pag. 135. pag. 135. lin 8 9. and are Roll'd about Together with the Heaven and Nights and Days th' Extreme Top c. lin 13. These so call'd not because they are the highest Parts of Heaven but in that it is turn'd about them For to speak truly the Poles The Poles what are the two Extreme Points of that Axle-tree which Astronomers feign to be drawn from the South through the Centre of the World to the North. never Set i. e. descend below the Horizon c. lin 17. Survey c. pag. 136. pag. 136. lin 1 c. i. e. by surrounding visits the same Arctic Pole with Stars equal in number and dispos'd in the like Manner and Figure with those of the Greater Bear but small if compar'd with the Other either in its Place or Light c. lin 12. bow'd down oblique c. pag. 137. pag. 137. lin 10. bent turn'd back as c. lin 11. him who that Image which in c. lin 20. the Septentriones i. e. the greater Bear is c. pag. 138. pag. 138. lin 17 And yet further Then those that follow Boötes for c. lin 23. all the Figures c. in the Distribution of them into Order c. pag. 139. pag. 139. l. 6. Trembling Quivering Flame c. l. 13. a â—ouble Figure i. e. That of Andromeda and Pegasus in c. p. 141. pag. 141. l. 2. Wing'd Swift Bird c. lin 21. a Spacious Circle the Spacious Zodiac c. pag. 142. pag. 142. lin 4. has invested with his Constant Light c. Thô the Sun does ever Illuminate Capricorn and all the Other Stars yet here he is said to Invest the Celestial sign of Capricorn The Tropie of Capricorn with a Constant or perpetual Light at the time more especially wherein he comes to that his Station as it were scil after the 22d day of December For when the Sun has reacht the Tropie of Him he advances no further to the South but bending his Course returns again to the North. Not far c. lin 9 c. Rising shews himself Aloft With a Crosse-bow behind him the Scorpion's Tail being Crookt into a Bow Here by 't self Lies th' Arrow The Arrow but no Archer Somewhat near It Hovers the Bird the Swan surely And not far off the Eagle Bears her self The Eagle with Ganymede in her Talon and an Ardent Body with her This she carries in her Talon the Greeks understand it to be Ganymede the Latins Antinous It is term'd Ardent not because Inflam'd with Lust perhaps but in regard of its Light both Enlightening and Inflaming compos'd of full Eight Stars Hence on th' Oblique to Taurus shines Orion c. pag. 143. pag. 143. The Dog-days whence and when lin 1. The Dog c. lin 4. i. e. Canis Major whence the Dog-days from the 24th of July to about the 22d of August have their Name all which Time this Star Rises and Sets along with the Sun Then for And after the same Orion also comes the Hare c. lin 6. his her Course c. lin 7. glide Hall'd because mov'd with the wrong end forward along c. lin 8. Here now c. lin 10 c. The Ram and Scaly Fishes cover th' Whale Pistrix whose the same Whales Shining Body touches th' Banks of th' River her it the River Eridanus stretching c. lin 14. South-breezes cool It Forebodes Storms c. lin 19. not far from it under Scorpio and Libra is c. lin ult The Original it self was Imperfect in some of these Places the Chelae of the Scorpion under Libra Servius in lib. 1. Georg. testifying that the Chelae of the Scorpion Compose Libra Whence The Chaldaeans Confounded Scorpio and Libra the Chaldaeans of Old accounted upon Libra and Scorpio as one and the same Sign c. pag. 144. pag. 144. lin 2. Four-footed Creature i. e. the Wolf c. l. 5. Shining-feather'd Crow Crow born on her Wings pecks c. lin 12. Description Disposure of c. p. 148. pag. 148. lin 2. what Other Nature were any Nature either destitute c. lin 7. Compacted for Duration i. e. in such manner constituted of Parts so join'd and ally'd one to another for mutual Preservation as not c. pag. 149. pag. 149. lin 4. surrounding c. tending to the Centre are carry'd Thither-ward with an Equal endeavour i. e. equally on all sides at once And more especially the and the Greater Bodies c. lin 9 c. diffus'd extended thorough Most Philosophers of Opinion that the Divine Nature was extended through the Vniverse and that it was the Centre of all things c. lin 15. That the Divine Mind or Nature was diffus'd and extended through theVniverse is deliver'd to have been the Common Opinion of the Platonics Academiques and Stoiques to the Middle i. e. to the Centre the Divine Nature it self by Plato c. being held to be the Centre of all things c. lin 16. Converts Extremes i. e. reconciles whatsoever things are plac'd in that which we term the Circumference about the Centre c. lin 17. contein'd in like proportion c. i. e. equally distant from the Centre c. lin 20. that nothing can Interrupt the Parts thereof tending to the Middle now this same Middle is the Lowest in the Globe of the World which may be of force to obstruct so vehement an Endeavour of Weight and Gravity c. lin 22 c. and without c. neither ever redounds it or overflows c. lin 32. Comprehending Continuate c. lin 34. Sublime Levity of a Lightness that tendsVpward c.
be as they too often are expos'd to great Afflictions Part of This Divinity must consequently be Miserable Which cannot be And Then were Human Reason a God how could it be Ignorant of any thing Or how moreover could This Vniversal Soul if it be purely ‖ And w th ut any Body He spâ—aking â—arnally and as if it were a pouring of Liquour one a Vessel Spiritual be mingled with or infus'd into the World Xenophanes who held the whole Mass of things as Infinite and indu'd with a Spirit to be a God lyes open to the same exception with the * Alemaeo Thales c. who presumâ—d the Mind which they still speculateâ— upon as in mixtures to be yet able to subsist without any Body at all Other especially as to his †The same Case with Anaxagoras's before Infiniteness which excludes all sensible Appertenences But * He wâ—s of Elea a City of Luâ—ania Parmenides Harps upon a certain Device in the nature of a Ring That Supreme †Others term his Supreme Circle in Infinite Mind Circle which environs the Heavens and is endu'd with Light and Heat he terms Stephane and makes it to be a Deity Thô neither sense nor any Divine Form is discernible in it He abounds in other Monstrosities of the like stamp subjecting the Gods to Broyls Discords Lusts and such other Infirmities as are defac'd by Time Distemper Sleep Age or Oblivion Nor are his Concepts about the Stars of any better Leaven But having objected against them in Alemaeo I will here pass them by Empedocles is Out in many things The Elements no Dâ—ityes and Why. but in his Opinion of the Gods most shamefully For he will have the four Principles whereof he phansies all things made and to consist to be Divine Which yet are palpably lyable to Rise and Decay and absolutely void of Sense Neither did ‖ Protagoras's Uâ—certainty in the Matter reprehended likewise The Epicureans being still peremptory in all Casâ—s Protagoras in acknowledging himself unable to deliver any thing of Certainty touching the Gods or to say whether there were any or no or what they were seem to be one jote more Knowing in the Nature of the Deity What shall I say of Democritus Dâ—mocritus's opiâ—ions exploâ—ed who ranges the Stars and their Orbs in the number of the Gods and that * That iâ— aâ—jâ—y to sensiâ—lâ— maâ—ter and sâ—â—â—pable of Mâ—tion Incorporated Vertue which produces them and directs their Courses As also Human Judgment and Understanding Was he not involv'd in great Errors And then in denying any thing to be Sempiternal because nothing alwayes abides in one and the same state what does he but so wholly overthrow That God that 〈◊〉 searâ—â— lâ—aâ— s us any account of him * The Air no Deity As to the 〈◊〉 which Diogones of Apollonia takes to be a â—â—iry what sense can it pretend to Wha◠〈◊〉 of a Divinity He comes back to Plaâ—o agaâ—n and câ— râ—â—â— him with Vâ—steadyness IT would be Long to insist upon Plato's Fluctuation in This Particular In his Dialogue â—â—â—iâ—led Timeus he denyes God to be Expressiâ—le as the Father of the Univâ—rse And in his Books of Laws will not adâ—â—â—â—f too much Inquisitiveness touching his Nature †The Epiâ—ureans helâ— God to have a Body But in making him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks say and without a Body he feigns an Impossibility since Then he could not but be destitute of Sense Reason Pleasure all which we comprehend in the notion of a Deity The same man both in his Timeus and Books of Laws sets up the World for a God as also the Air Stars Earth our Minds too and all Those which Tradition has handed down as instituted by our Ancestors All which are in themselves notorious Untruths as well as plain Interferings one with another Xenophon Xenophon reprehended in fewer words commits in a manner the same Mistakes For in his Summary of Memorable Sayings and Acts of Socrates he represents him Disputing the Lawfulness of enquiring into the Figure of the Deity and yet asserting the Sun and the Mind to be such and one while the Being only of One God by and by of More Which are Levityes much of a sort with those before noted in Plato * He was an Athenian Antisthenes's Doctrine in his Treatise call'd The Naturalist that there are Many Gods of vulgar Consecration but only †The Epicureans pâ—ansied that there were many Gods One Natural one is likewise destructive of the Power and Nature of the God-head Nor is Speusippus's much otherwise for following his Unkle Plato in maintaining a certain incorporeal Power capable of Perception by which all things are administer'd he seeks to †root up out of our minds the very Notion of a Deity ‖ Becausâ— They conceipt that the Soul can neither Exist nor discern if abstracted frâ—m a Body Aristotle in his Third Book of Philosophy Oâ—jectiâ—â—s against Aristotle's Conjectures upon This Topique is as confused as the rest varying in one thing alone from his Master â—lato First he Deifies the Mind only Then the World it self By and by sets a certain * Herein he diffâ—rs from Plato in that he sets up another kind of Deity beside that Divinity which his Master compriz'd witâ— in the Ciâ—cumfâ—renâ—e of the Mind Essence over That and gives him in charge to guid and govern it by a knack of Revolution or tossing to and again Next he ascribes Divinity to the Heat of the Firmament never considering that it is part of the Universe which he had elsewhere accounted upon as a God Thô it be hard to conceive how That Divine sense should abide in so great an †The Epicureans suppâ—s'd the â—reâ—s to be â—â—le Agitation and what too must become of all the Rest of the Deities if even Heaven it self be set up for one And Then in not allowing him a Body what does he less then at once strip him of ‖ As They reaâ—h Sense and Reason And moreover how without a Body could the World be mov'd Or how Lastly can it be at ease and Happy being in Incessant Self-motion His Fellow-Pupil Xenocrates Xenocrates excepted agaâ—nst for not descrâ—bing â—he Term of the Gods and upon other accounts has not any greater cunning to boast of in this Particular In whose Discourses upon this Subject we meet not with any Description of the shape of the Deity He makes the Gods to be Eight in number the * Saturn Jupiter Mars Venus Mercury Planets Five of them the Sixth to consist of all the other Stars in the Zodiac †Or thus either Which as of sâ— many scatter'd Parts or Members as it were are to be c. which severally are only Limbs and Members but in the Cluster must be reputed One single Divinity The Sun he says is the Seventh and the Moon the Eighth But in what
Power Stirring up necessary Motions in all Bodies And Others That it is a Virtue partaking both of Reason and Order proceeding as it were in a Track and declaring what the Cause of every thing is and what the Effect Whose Skill no Art no Hand no Artist can attain unto by Imitation For as much as thô Seed be exceeding Small of it self yet is the Virtue of it so great that if it fall into a Nature proper for Conception and to contain it and get but matter whereby it may be sustained and encreased it so forms and fashions every thing in its respective kind that Some are nourish'd only by their Roots Others indu'd with Motion Sense and Appetite and a capacity out of Themselves to beget their Like Again there are yet Others also who apply the word Nature to every thing As Epicurus who Divides Thus All Natures that are says he do consist of a Body and a Void and the Accidents that accompany them * Nature according to the Stoiques consists of Orâ—er and Art But as for Our People when we say the World is supported and govern'd by Nature we do not understand after the manner of a Clod a scrap of a Stone or any thing of the like sort that is without a faculty of sticking together But of a Tree an Animal in which there appears nothing of Temerity but Order and a certain Resemblance of Art Now if those things which subsist by their Roots A Course of Argument to mâ—ke out that aâ—l things are subjected to and govern'd by Nature after an admirable manner do live and flourish by the skill of Nature The Earth it self is undoubtedly sustein'd by the same Art and Power of Nature as one that being Impregnated with Seeds produces and brings all things forth of her self embracing the Roots she augments them and is her self again nourish'd by higher and external Natures And by the * Exhalations expirations of the †i. e. The Earth same is the Air also fed the Sky and all the Stars Wherefore if the Earth be upheld and nourished by Nature the same Reason holds too for the rest of the World For Roots are fixt in the Earth Animated Beings are sustain'd by breathing the Air and the Air it self sees hears sounds together with Us for without it none of these could be done nay and it is mov'd with us too for wherever we stir where-ever we go it seems as it were to give place and to yield And whatsoever things are carried in the Middle which is the Lowest part of the World or from the Centre to the Superficies or by a round Conversion about the Middle all These do constitute One Entire Nature that holds the whole World together And whereas there are Four sorts of Bodies by the Vicissitude of Them it is that the Nature of the Universe is continu'd For the Water arises out of the Earth the Air out of the Water the Sky out of the Air And so backward again the Air proceeds from the Sky the Water from the Air and from the Water the Earth which is Lowest of all Thus by the moving upward and downward back and forward of These Natures whereof all things do consist is effected a Conjunction of the several Parts of the World Which must necessarily be either Sempiternal and of the self same Garniture and Appointment that we now see it to be Or certainly of an exceeding long standing and likely to remain for a great and almost Immense space of time Now whethersoever of these it be it follows yet that the World is administer'd by Nature For what sayl of Fleets what Embattlement of Armies Or on the Other hand to make a Collation of the things that Nature effects what shooting up of a Vine or a Tree Moreover what Figure of any Animated Being and Compaction of Members is significatory of so great skill of Nature as is the World it self Either there is nothing at all therefore that is govern'd by ‖ Sensibilis Sensitive Nature or it must be confess'd that the World so is For that which contains all other Natures and their Seeds how can it self but be administer'd by Nature If a Body should allow that Teeth and the Beard do proceed from Nature but not that the Man himself out of which these grow exists by the same Nature he could not be thought to understand that what produces any thing out of it self is of greater perfection then the thing so produc'd Now the * Which the Stoiques held to be Vniversal Nature and a Deity World is the Seedsman Planter Begetter as I may say and the Educator and Nourisher of all things that are administer'd by Nature and cherishes and sustains every one of them as its Parts and Members But if the Parts of the World be administer'd by Nature by Nature also cannot the World it self but be govern'd And indeed with the Administration thereof is no fault to be found For of those Natures that Were the Best that could be is effected Let any one shew how they might have been Better But That no body will ever be able to do And whoever would mend any thing in it will either make it worse or desire that which is not possible to he done But if all the Parts of the World are so constituted that they could neither have been more convenient for Use nor fairer to the Eye let us examine whether they be Casual or else in such a State that they were no way able to Cohere but under the Influence the Direction of Sense and a Divine Providence If then the things that are perfected by Nature are Better then such as are wrought by Art and that Art effect not any thing without the help of Reason Assuredly Nature her self is in no wise void of Reason How therefore can it be Proper when you cast your Eye upon an Image or a Picture to conclude that there went Art to the framing of it And upon Making at a great distance a Ship under Sail not to question its being Steer'd by Skill and Reason Or when you see a Clock either of Brass or of Water * Scipio was the First that Invented the Water-Clock in Rome to understand that the Hours are Told by Art not by Chance And yet to think the World which contains these very Arts themselves the Masters of them and all things to be destitute of Counsel and Reason Should any body carry the Sphere lately invented by our Intimate Friend Posidonius each Conversion whereof effects the same thing in the Sun the Moon and the Five Wandring Stars that in the Compass of every Day and Night is wrought in the Heaven into * They were accounted to be Barbarous Countries Scythia or Brittany what one even of those very Barbarians would doubt but there went Reason to the framing of it Whereas †The Epicureans c. Greek and Latin who appropriated all Learning and
Civility to their respective Countries These People are at great Uncertainties as to the very World out of which every thing arises and wherein All is made whether it was effected by Chance by some or other Necessity or by a Divine Wisdom and Reason And conceipt that ‖ A famous Geometrician of Syracuse who made an admirable Artâ—ficial Sphere of Glass wherein the Motions of the Sun Moon and the Other Planets were Represented to the astonishment of the Beholders He said he could remove the whole World had he but Where to place the Foot of his Engine Archimedes did more in Imitating the motions of the Spheres then Nature in Causing of them Notwithstanding that the Perfection of the One is by many degrees more Curious then the Counterfeit of the Other So too for That of the Shepherd in * A Tragique Poet. Actius Who having never seen a Ship before When at a great distance he discry'd the divine and new Vessel of the †So those 54 Worthies were call'd who accompany'd Jason in the ship Argo to fetch the Golden-Fleece from Colchos Argonauts at First wondring and being astonish'd at it he speaks in This manner So huge a Bulk a float with horrid noise ' It from the Deep turns up the Sea before it Whirls ' loft the Billows and then Down again Dashes and throws about the Waves As if A Broken Cloud were roll'd along Or some Torn Rock were Hurry'd on high into the Air By a Tempestuous Blast Or else some Whirl-Wind Press'd in th' Encounter of two Raging Seas Vnless perchance some Island be cast up Or * In Fable Neptune 's Trumpeter Triton †Or Thus either 'bout to overturn his Den At th' bottom of the Wavy Ocean Has with c. Rising from his Watry Den Has with his Trident loosen'd at the Roots Some Mass of Stone and tosst it into th' Air At First he is at a loss what kind of Nature That should be which he sees but knows not what to make of And the same Person upon beholding the Young men and hearing the Singing of the Marriners cryes They keep a Din now with their ‖ Rostris Snouts like That Of Sharp-set Dolphins And so on 'T is such a Song I hear methinks as if * The God of the Woods 'T were our Sylvanus The Example accommodated to Philosophers Now as He at First sight thinks he Eyes something Inanimate and void of Sense but afterward upon a fuller view begins to Imagine the Quality of that which he doubted of So ought Philosophers if the first appearance of the World happen to confound them to Resolve yet at length upon observing the Certainty and Equality of its Motions and all things in the same to be govern'd by establish'd Orders and an Immutable Constancy that there is not only some certain * The Existence of a Deity gatherable from a Contemplation of the Universe Inhabiter in this Divine and heavenly Mansion but a Superintender also a Disposer an Architect I may say of so great a Work so weighty a Charge But truly to Me †The Epicureans c. They seem not so much as to take into their Thoughts the Wonderfulness of things Celestial and Terrestrial ‖ The Order and Continuation of the World according to its Parts For first of all the Earth is plac'd in the Middle part of the Universe and every way surrounded with that Nature whereby we breath and live call'd the Air. The word is Greek I confess but yet it is now entertain'd amongst Us and as common as if it were Latin This again is encompass'd by the boundless Sky Aether which consists of the Fire above We shall borrow * i. e. Aether this word also for Aether may be used in Latin as well as Aer Thô Pacuvius enterprets it Thus What I am speaking of by Vs it term'd Coelum and Aether by the Greeks As if now he were not a Greek that says This But he speaks Latin Yes But like a Grecian His very Speech bewrays him t' be a Greek By Birth As the same man elsewhere has it But to return to greater matters In the Sky then there are innumerable Starry Lights whereof the Sun enlightening All with its bright beams and being many degrees bigger and larger then the Earth is the Chief And after Him the other Stars of vast Proportions And yet These many and mighty Flames are so far from harming the Earth and the things that are therein that they are of advantage to it and So that were they remov'd from their Stations were the Temperature of them withdrawn it must needs be burnt up with such great Heats Epâ—curus 's Atoms confuted May I not Here admire that any one there should be who can perswade himself that certain Solid and Individual Essences are carry'd about by Force and Weight and that this exquisitely adorn'd and beautiful World was made by a fortuitous Concourse of the same Whoever phansies This could be for ought I perceive he may as well think that were a great many sorts of the * The Romans had no K. W. 〈◊〉 in theâ—r Alphabet One and Twenty Letters either of Gold or any thing else thrown somewhere together it were possible for Ennius's Annals to be by a shaking of These down upon the Earth compos'd so as to be ever after Legible When it is a question whether Fortune could have so much effect as to one single Verse of them with what Face then can these People affirm the Vniverse to have been perfected by little Bodies without either Colour Quality which the Greeks term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sense but flocking together at random and by Chance Or that there are Innumerable of ‖ i. e. Worlds them either some Rising Others Dissolving and Perishing every Instant of time But if a Concourse of Atoms be able to frame a World why can it not make a Porch a Church a House or a City Which are Works surely of much less Toyl and Difficulty Trust me * The Epicureans They bable so inconsiderately concerning the Vniverse that I cannot think they ever meditated upon this admirable Adornment of the Heavens Which is the †The Third Point the imbellishment of the Sky Next Point Now A Passage out of Aristotle to insinuate that the World is govern'd by Reason Aristotle delivers himself excellently well If any there were says he that had always dwelt under ground in lightsom and convenient Habitations beautify'd with Signs and Pictures and provided of all those things that such as are reputed Happy do abound in And tho they never stir'd forth had receiv'd yet from Fame and Hear-say that there is a certain Divine Power and Majesty After This upon the Opening of the Earth should they be able to make an Escape and go out of those secret Abodes into these Seats wherein we live When all on a sudden they should see