relates it trembling as a story he durst give no credit to himself though possibly some others might Nay he was so far from assenting to it that he denies there is any such thing as an Ocean Lib. 2. Ch. 23. p. 98. and blames the Geographers of his time for affirming without any proof that the Earth was encompassed by it And as for those few who did venture to launch out into this great Deep they did it with much fear and caution as appears by the Voyages of Solomon's and Hiram's Fleets to Ophir 1 Kings 10.22 that is to Summetra or Zeilan Boet. Phat Lib. 2. Ch. 27. Chan. lib. 1. ch 46. as learned men prove from the Commodities they brought thence in which they did but creep by the shore all the way as is manifest from the length of time spent in one of those Voyages three years which is now performed in less than half the time from these parts of the World though the distance be ten times as much from hence as it was from the Red Sea where Solomon's ships set out And when any one undertook and succeeded in an attempt of that nature he was looked upon as an extraordinary and Divine Person as we read of Hanno a Carthaginian who it is like was the first that ventured out of the Streights and built some Cities upon the neighbouring Coasts of Afric that he valued himself so highly upon this performance and grew so vain in his imagination as to account himself a God and that others might think so of him too Aelian says Var. lib. 14. ch 30. he had taught certain Birds to call him The Great God Hanno So was he puffed up with a successful Voyage into distant and unknown Places Vit. Agr. And Tacitus speaking of some seditious Souldiers in the Roman Army who seizing upon three Vessels compelled the Mariners to sail with them round about this Island of Britain He calls it magnum memorabile facinus a great and daring attempt which deserved to have the memory of it perpetuated to all Generations And now I am sure I need not in this Auditory adde any thing to shew how much the modern improvements are advanced beyond the utmost that the boldest Adventurers of old could attain to the new Islands and Kingdoms and the new World discovered of late Ages do give abundant proof of that and your own experience confirms it I proceed therefore to the second Head The consequent of this improvement the benefit which should thereby redound to mankind that together with Navigation knowledge should likewise proportionably advance too 1. The knowledge of Nature 2. The knowledge of Arts. 3. The knowledge of Divine Providence and 4. The knowledge of true Religion 1. The knowledge of Nature which is an effectual means to lead us to the knowledge and love of God Psal 19.1 2. The Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work the frame and motion and influences of the Heavens do demonstrate to any man who considers them with attention how great and powerful and wise and gracious that God is who formed them and all the other Creatures which do continually preach and instruct men in the glories of the great Creator The whole World saith St. Basil is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the School of reasonable Souls where they may be taught to know God And for this reason the Psalmist calls upon the Heavens and Sun and Moon Psal 148. and Stars to praise the Lord because those heavenly bodies do by their beauty and order and greatness and usefulness and long continuance proclaim the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of him who made them all out of nothing as Moses said at the beginning God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good so good as to glorifie the maker by exciting the beholders to magnifie and adore him If we go over the whole frame of things saith St. Augustin Tom. 8. in Psal 26. there is not a creature but tells us with a loud voice Deus me fecit God made me Whatever is good or delightful in the Work commends the Author If you look up to the Heavens they are the work of his hands I and contrary to the laws of Architecture he made the Heavens first and then the Earth set up the roof before he laid the foundation if you look down upon the Earth God made that variety of Seeds that diversity of Plants that multitude of living Creatures and who can fully set forth the praises of all these of the Heaven and Earth and Sea and all in them or of the invisible Beings the Angels and Thrones and Dominions and Powers or of the Soul that is in us which gives life to the body moves the parts acts the senses comprehends so many things in its memory and discerns and judges of them by its understanding And if we be at a loss in speaking of the effects with what language can we sufficiently magnifie the glories of the Almighty cause of all Now the improvement of Navigation hath hugely advanced the knowledge of Nature and of the works of God Psal 104.24 c. O Lord saith the Psalmist how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy riches So is this great and wide Sea wherein are things creeping There go the Ships And by the help of them these latter ages of the World have arrived at a much fuller knowledge of those manifold works of God than former times could attain to Every Region and every Country abounds with his wonders which were all concealed and hidden or at most but imperfectly and fabulously related whilst they were deprived of intercourse with one another To give one instance of this It was a general opinion amongst the Ancients that the Countries which lie under or near the Aequinoctial Line were not habitable by reason of the great and violent heats they must be subject to for finding all places by how much nearer they lie to that so much more exposed to heat they concluded that between the Tropicks all was exusta flammis cremata as Pliny's words are Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 68. wholly burnt up and not to be endured I know a worthy writer of our own Nation is pleased to affirm Sir w. Ral. Hist l. 1. c. 3. §. 8. That Tertullian of all the Ancients was of another opinion which came nearer to the truth and that he thought the Countries within the torrid Zone to be places of great pleasure and delight imagining withal that Paradise where our first Parents were placed and where the Souls of good men go after death was seated there But certainly this judicious person either did not read or strangely mistook his Author Apol. c. 47. For Tertullian's opinion appears to have been That Paradise is not within the Tropicks but beyond the furthest of them and that it
is maceriâ quâdam igneae illius Zonae à notitiâ orbis communis segregatus severed from the known world by the hedge and fence as it were of the fiery Zone which not being to be past through it is like the Angels flaming Sword to keep men from approaching near that Paradise which lies beyond it And give me leave to observe in passing that possibly this conceit of his in first making this earthly Paradise to be the seat of the Blessed till the Resurrection and then placing it beyond this as he imagined burning Region might give rise to the Doctrine of Purgatory in the Romish Church which teaches that there is a place of flames to be gone through after Death before the Soul arrives at a state of happiness And thus ignorance in Geography begot a very great errour in Divinity For experience and late discoveries have convinced the World that those parts which of old were with some colour of reason judged uninhabitable are not only well peopled but withal so excellent in the pleasant and healthful temperature of the Air and so abundantly stored with all manner of provision and delight that they yield to no part of the Earth but go beyond all others And this does very much vindicate and clear that Divine wisdom which made the World Georg. l. 2. p. 76. for had that been true which Strabo affirms and was generally believed that if we divide the Earth into five parts three of them are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uncapable of inhabitants the scoffing Atheist would have had some colour to ask Why the biggest part of the Earth was made in vain and for no use But now when we consider that that part of it which the greatest Wits of former ages judging in appearance with great reason did conclude to be almost all flame so unsupportably hot that men could not live or breathe in it is now found by experience to be so far from that that it is rather the Garden and Paradise of the whole Earth it will teach us thus much that as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 3.19 The wisdom of this world even of the wisest men in it is foolishness with God and that there cannot be a greater folly than for us men to think of measuring his Ocean by our span or that we can fathom his depths with the short line of humane reason Ignorance and Impiety have only one thing now to object which is That still those parts of the Earth which lie under each Pole are by reason of their excessive cold not to be inhabited Of the North we have proof and there is as much ground to believe it of the South But to this I shall Answer in the sense of a most Learned person Voss de Idol l. 2. c. 2. That the reason of the Universe required it should be so For the Sun the Fountain of heat being most fitly placed in the middle betwixt the two Tropicks it was necessary that under each Pole there should be a fountain of Cold too which might disperse it self over all the World to temper and allay the Suns heat as experience shows it does after an extream hot season by the blowing of the North wind And without this cold the watry humour would have been quite consumed which yet is no less necessary to the production and conservation of things than heat it self is 2. The knowledge of Arts. Without Winds and Seas and Ships Nat. qu. l. 5. c. 18. as Seneca truly speaks man would have been imperitum animal an ignorant and unknowing Creature confined to his own home without the benefit or so much as the knowledge of what might be learnt from the People or enjoyed and made use of from the product and improvement of distant Countries No Nation is so self-sufficient as to abound with all the provisions of life but either wants or does but sparingly enjoy what others have in great abundance both for themselves and strangers some of which are for necessity and use others for delight and ornament One Nation is a Granary for Corn another a Wardrobe for Cloathing a third a Vineyard for Wine a fourth a Mine for Gold and Silver a fifth a Store-house for all Provisions of War And even this Country of ours in the most barbarous and rude and uncultivated times of it when only a small part of it towards the end of Cornwall was discovered by the Phoenicians Geogr. 1.2 p. 121. as Strabo tells us they valued it so highly for the Mines of Tin which they found there that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conceal and keep it close from all the World besides that they might engross the benefit of that useful commodity to themselves And adds withal That one of their Ships being followed by the Romans out of a design to discover the place the Commander discerning their intent ran his Ship on shore and drew them after him into the same ruine but he escaping with his life had amends made him when he returned home out of the publick Treasury for the good service he had done his Country in keeping so beneficial a Trade still concealed from their Enemies though it was with the hazard of his life and the loss of all his goods Now Ships are the great Bridge of a Kingdom which reach from hence to the East or West Indies transport into foreign Countries what can be spared at home and in exchange bring back with them whatever any part of the Earth affords and make the Sea become the great Mart of the whole World And together with Wealth and the conveniences of life Learning and all useful knowledge is hugely improved this way There may be a traditio lampadis not only from one Age but from one Nation to another too This Consideration put some great Philosophers Pythagoras and Plato upon travelling all the learned World over that they might enjoy the Conversation of knowing men who were not all confined to one Countrey however the vanity of the Greeks reckoned all the World but themselves barbarous Whenas yet their own Writers confess They learn'd Arithmetick and Astronomy we may add the very use of Letters too from the Phoenicians who were the greatest Merchants and Navigators of those Ages and by that means attained a great name for Philosophy and all kind of wisdome and knowledge Il. 4. v. 743. whence it is that Homer calls the Sidonians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being men who had acquaintance with all the best and most ingenious Arts. And the Scripture it self as in one place it gives it the Attribute of the Great Sidon Josh 11.8 not as if there was any other of the same name less than it but because it was the chief City of all Phoenicia having a convenient Haven and abounding in shipping whereby it became exceeding rich and populous so in another place it calls it very wise Tyrus and Sidon though it be very wise Zach. 9.2
them to a love of your Religion When the Unbeliever shall see the Christian sober and composed and regular in his whole conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 524. he will be astonished saith St. Chrysostom* and will be ready to say Certainly the God of the Christians is a great God What kind of men does he make them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of how bad how good of Men he makes them Angels It is a known saying of Plato's that if virtue could assume an humane shape its beauties and excellencies are so great that all men would be taken with the love and admiration of it Now by the good lives of Christians Virtue and goodness are as it were imbodied and represented not only to the Ears but to the Eyes of men made visible to all they converse with which must doubtless very much adorn their holy calling and would have a mighty efficacy upon those who should see these shining lights Those Husbands saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.1 2. who obey not the word may without the word be won by the conversation of the Wives Their Modest and Virtuous behaviour would be a most likely means to commend that Religion wherein they had been instructed Justin Martyr gives us himself for an instance of this Apol. 2. who as he says being brought up in the School of Plato and hearing the Christians every where spoken against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but seeing them fearless of death and whatever the world accounts dreadful he concluded it was impossible they should be wicked or voluptuous persons as they were represented to be who were so resolute and constant in the greatest dangers When the lives of Christians are visible Sermons Epist ad Trall and as the Blessed Ignatius says of a Primitive Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that his whole carriage and behaviour was a constant lecture of all Christian graces whereby at once and that all his life long he preached to his whole Diocess then it is no wonder if as he there adds that even Atheists and the most prophane contemners of Religion could not chuse but stand in awe of such a person for a good man is the most sacred and venerable thing upon earth And certainly it would tend much to the honour of Christianity for you to manifest by your regular and exemplary lives what influence the commands and promises and threatnings of the Gospel have had upon your own hearts And whilst the School-men dispute with a great deal of curiosity more than profit about the Character of Baptism do you show the reality of it in your lives by making it evident to those Heathens with whom you Converse and Traffick that your separation to Christ your being markt out and designed for his in your Baptism has imprinted an indeleble Character of all Christian Vertues and Graces upon your Souls Eth. ad Nicom l. 10. c. 7. That so what Aristotle says loftily concerning the Contemplation of the great Book of Nature may as in reason it ought be the visible effect of your study of this less but better Book of Scripture that it does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were render men Immortal divest them of their bodies and raise them above the dregs and baseness of this lower world This would be a convincing demonstration indeed which would even compel them to come in to the Faith You would then carry thither a greater treasure than any you can bring from thence The Kingdom of Heaven that is the Doctrine of the Gospel being a rich Jewel Matt. 13.45 46. a pearl of great price which well deserves the parting with all we have for the attainment of it This would consecrate even your civil Employments make your Trade become an act of Worship and Religion and as God tells the City of Tyre render your Merchandise holiness to the Lord. Is 23.18 It would be your comfort in this life you might then Deut. 33.18 as Moses bids them of Zebulun Rejoyce in your goings out your Voyages abroad would be really a cause of joy and comfort to you when you made them subservient to true Religion For certainly next to that Peace which passeth all Understanding the calm and serenity which ariseth from a good Conscience and a sense of Gods favour there is nothing can be matter of more real and solid joy than to have rescued a Soul from the jaws of everlasting Misery to have made another happy to have been the instrument of my Brothers Eternal welfare And lastly it will abound to your account in the day of the Lord Jesus for as it is in the Verse before the Text Dan. 12.3 They who turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever FINIS ERRATA PAge 5. l. 4 marg for Rom. r. Dan. 7. p. 6. l. 2. r. adventurers ib. l. 5. for around r. by the South of ib. l. 5. marg for Boet. Phat r. Boch Phal p. 19. l. 7. r. Creation p. 21. marg r. Psal 135. 7. p. 24. l. 7. for should r. would