THe Title bespeaks the Dedication of this discours of the World to the World ; which if it were Animal , as Plato fansied , would most freely acknowledg and subscribe to the Divine History of its own Creation : But I write to the Animate and Intelligent World of Mankind , both present and future ; and more specially to the Christian World , ( which is now almost the whole World of Learning ) but most particularly to the British World , whose Language I therefore speak . Now though Men in these latter Ages of the World seem to forget the Original Creation therof so many Thousand Years past , certainly Adam the first Man , who was immediately Created by God , was very Conscious of his own Creation ; nor could he by his Fall lose this Natural Knowledg , more than of being a Man : and most probably he delivered this great Tradition to his Posterity ; who also reteined it , while they could reckon themselves in succession , as Enoch the Seventh , and Noah the Tenth from Adam . But afterward in or about the Fourteenth Generation ; when Nimrod the Mighty Hunter and his Impious faction began to build the Tower of Babel , ( whereupon ensued the Confusion of Languages ) this Knowledg also began to be Confounded ; and thenceforth remained with the Primitive Language only in the family of Heber , the Father of the Hebrews ( in whose days the Earth was divided when his eldest Son Peleg was born ) and in his Sacred Seed after him . And from the Hebrews living in Chaldaea the Chaldaeans first derived their Philosophy ; and so after them the Egyptians , and Phoenicians ; and from them the Graecians ; mingling it with their several Superstitions and Idolatries . And as Iosephus observeth , Nimrod first taught his Babylonians to contemn Gods Power and Providence ; which he could not do without a denial of the Creation . Whence the Chaldaeans began to worship the Creature , or Created Nature , instead of God the Creator : but principally the Sun , and Fire , as the Supreme and most Beneficial Element . The Egyptians who would also have their National Deity , did Idolise Water rather than Fire ; induced thereunto by a Gratitude to their Great Benefactor the River Nilus . The P●oenicians , Graecians , Romans , and generaly all the more Western Nations , have worshiped all the Elements , under several Names , and in the several Forms and Images wherewith they pleased to Invest them ; deducing them all from Coelum and Terra , or Heaven and Earth , ( which the Chineses still worship ) But Pan and Proteus , whereby they represented Matter and Motion , were by all esteemed Dii Minorum Gentium . This Antient Theogony is also Recorded and Celebrated by the Poets . Which though afterward the Athenian Philosophers did more strictly examin , yet the Tradition of a Chaos and Creation did very long continue among them : but they supposed the Creation of the World by one Chief God to have been Eternal like himself , with certain Revolu●ions of Time , and Transmigrations of Spirits , Eternally Circulating and Changing by Perpetual Generation and Corruption ; believing the Lying Records of Egyptian Antiquity , from whom also Pythagoras learned his Philosophy , and fansied I know not what Harmony of the Spheres : with many such Fictions , which he by his own Ipse Dixit pleased to Affirm , and Impose as Credenda on his Disciples . And Plato , being partly a Follower of his Sect , and partly a Master of another , generally reteined and refined this Philosophy . But Aristotle rejecting all Matters of Faith , both Divine , and Human , and examning all things only by Reason , descended lower even to a first Matter , affirming it , and the Potentia thereof , to be Common Principle of all Material things . Upon which false Foundation , and also his Compliance with popular Idolatry , almost all his other Errors are grounded ; though otherwise I esteem him the greatest Master of Reason among all Pagan Philosophers : and his Errors are not Dangerous being now so well known to all . But as Moses is the only Divine and true Philosopher ; so of them all I acknowledg Aristotle to be his best Commentator . Epicurus departed from both these ways of Knowledg , regarding Sens more than either Reason or Faith . Whereas these three , being all , and the only Ways of Human Knowledg a Philosopher should accordingly make use of them all : and therefore all Heathen Philosophy , wanting the Divine Light of Faith , could never yet produce any Complete System of the World , nor give any true and satisfactory Account therof . And this Universal Dissatisfaction begat the last of Sects which was Scepticism , or a professed Denying or Doubting all things whatsoever : admitting no Testimony or Evidence either of Faith , Reason , or Sens. But though Doubting may be a good Disciple , yet certainly it can be no Master of Philosophy ; and if it be Affected and Resolved is the very Contradiction therof , and Oppugner of all Knowledg , both Divine , and Human , Speculative , and Practical : and however some may esteem it Caution in Philosophy , it is plainly Libertinism in Morality , and Infidelity in Theology : and any Dogmatical Error or Inconvenience can hardly be greater than Total Scepticism , which is as Utter Darkness , and the State of Desperation , the Bottomless pit , and Vorago of all Knowledg and Practice . Now as this was formerly the Progress of Heathenish Philosophy , so since Christianity Illuminated the World , yet through the Natural Darkness and Corruption of Human Understanding , it hath again had the same Revolutions . For so first Platonical Philosophy , which Porphyrius , Plotinus , Iamblichus , and others very much rectified and refined by the Spiritual Light of Christianity , was by them opposed against it . Also Philo Iudaeus , and Origen , and some of the Christian Fathers seem to have some Savor therof . Afterward the Schoolmen generally referring Matters of Faith to Scripture , and examining Nature by Reason , rather embraced the Peripatetical Philosophy , which hath long continued , untill in this last Age , some others , though they can discover nothing which the Athenian Wits had not Invented before them , yet reviving and renewing old Errors , like Fashions , relaps again to Epicurism , in one kind or other , of Atoms , or Corpuscles , or the like , And when this Humor hath lasted as long as it did formerly , we may expect Scepticism to succeed : and indeed I suspect that we are already in the very Confines therof . Now though Wanton Wits think they may thus dally with Opinions as they please ; yet , as it is most truly said , Studia abeunt in Mores : and so Virgil very aptly introduceth Drunken Silenus changing the Epicurean Opinion , but Grave Anchises more soberly Platonising . Certainly their Novell Doctrine of Matter and Motion doth much Embase the Immaterial Spirit of Man , and render it more Gross and Sensual , and unfit for Spiritual and Divine Contemplations . And though I believ some of the Assertors therof to be as far from Atheism as my self , yet I must freely profess that the Assertion tendeth toward it , and was by Heathens Improved to the Denial of a Creation ; and I appeal to every Reader whether it doth not Induce some Suspicion therof in himself ; yea I suppose this to be chiefly that which renders i● so acceptable and agreeable to the Corrupt Minds of Men ; and the Writers therof themselvs seem to be somewhat Conscious herein , while they make their usual Apologies , and need to tell the World they are no Atheists . Thus also by affirming Accidents and Qualities to be no Real things , they make both Virtue and Piety to be only Notions .

And if they could also prove the Reward therof , and Punishment of Impiety and Vice ( which all must accordingly perceiv and feel ) to be only Notional , and not Real ; they should thereby deliver up all Mankind to a Reprobate sens , or rather Insensibility and Indistinction of any Good or Evill . And their Opinion of Universal Nature is like that of Caesar : Respublica Inane Nomen . Besides how prejudicial such Contempt of Antiquity , and of all Authority , and the Affection of Novelty and Innovation , may be to Church or State , I leav to wise Politicians , Certainly all Christian Academies and Schools of Literature should deeply resent such Novell Attempts , which Professedly subvert all the Antient foundations of Learning ; 〈◊〉 formerly the Barbarous World was taught both Arts 〈…〉 and a ready way prepared for Christian Religio● 〈…〉 wherupon so fair a Superstructure hath been raised ( 〈…〉 these Novellists ow their Education and Instruction ) and a farther Progress might still have been made , if it were not Obstructed by themselvs ; and Young Wits led away into an Inextricable Labyrinth of Matter and Motion ; and the Magnum Inane of Vacuity , and at last plunged into the Abyss of Perpetual Scepticism . I have no Petulant Humor , yet it may exceed the Meekness and Patience of my Great Master Moses , to hear some Christians affirm the very Essences and Formalities of all Elementary , Vegetative , yea even sensitive Natures , to be only Matter and Motion : as Aaron said of his Materials ; I cast them into the fire , and there came out this Calf : and so to set up several Figures of things , as the Jews did the Figures which they had made ; and Heathenish Idolaters their Idols and Images . Wheras indeed it is rather the Art of a Statuary , than of a Philosopher , thus to make Mercurius Ex quolibet ligno : or as he who having only an Hercules of Wax in his shop , when one came to buy of him a Mercury , could presently turn his Beard into a Galerus , his Club into a Caduceus , and his Buskins into Talaria ; and so he might as well have made thereof a Iupiter , Iuno , Venus , Man , Beast , or Tree , or as we say Quidlibet ex quolibet : Which yet shou'd be only Wax varied . Thus our new Philosophers , not acknowledging all those several Primitive Natures which God in his Infinite Wisedom pleased to Create , like Etymologists , can derive one thing from another so far as scarcely to leav any Primitives . Cartacean Philosophy , which describes the World in Paper otherwise then God hath made it to be in Nature , beginning , Cogito , Ergo Sum , and so proceeding , Cogito , Ergo Est : as though becaus the Operation doth indeed prove the Essence of the Cogitant , it did therefore also prove the Real Entity of any thing Cogitated : and yet this is all the Argument it can afford us to prove that First and Fundamental Truth , That there is a God , Cogito esse Deum , Ergo Est. Whereas the most Judicious and Ingenious Father , long before had Invented the first Argument , when disputing with a Sceptike , he first proves that he Is , because he doubts whether he Is or not ; and because he is a Creature , thereby also proves that there is a God the Creatour : whom I shall rather chose to follow than any such Neophytes ; who , when God saith in the Beginning he made Heaven and Earth , say he made only Matter and Motion ; and professing that they had deliberated and tried to deduce all this Spectable World from a Chaos , or from Matter only diversified by its own Motion , Figure , and the like ; have asserted it to be Matter ; whereas God expresly declareth that he Produced it out of a Chaos in the Six Days Works : and who make Sol and the Planets , and the Starrs to be the Centers and Foundations of all the Vortices of Matter and Corpuscles about them ; whereas the whole Aether , Air , Water , Earth , and Vegetatives , were made in the Three first days before them . Whereupon I may very truly and safely pronounce ; Aut haec non est Scriptura , aut i●ta non est Philosophia . For mine own part I must here profess , that having long since studied Philosophy in the University , and read over several Philosophers , both Antient , and Modern , I could never find a satisfaction in any of them : and if I had not reflected on this Divine History , should have been tempted , as others , to Invent some new Philosophy suitable to mine own Fansy : For now he is no Philosopher who willnot attempt to make a new Philosophical World , and produce his Module therof ; shewing how it might be best made , and with least Charges : but certainly it is most Ridiculous and Impious thus to presume that God must therefore have made the World according to our Module , becaus we judge it best ; rather than acknowledge that to be best which he hath made , becaus he who made it is Infinitely Wiser than us . Wherefore to find out how God made the World , I had recours to his Word , reading over this first Chapter of Genesis again and again ; and also many Commentators , in whom generaly ( besides the first Article of our Creed concerning God the Maker of Heaven and Earth ) I found more of Aristotle than of Moses ; ( yea even Translators seem to incline that way ) but the Cabalistical Rabbins , and Scholastical Philosophers , by their Jewish , and Heathenish Interpretations , have so Confounded and Obnubilated this Divine Light , that almost all Christians fear to approach it ; and seem rather to dread and adore it at a distance as some Inscrutable Mystery : and some think they greatly favor Scripture by restraining it to Theology and Morality , and not intitling it to Natural Philosophy ; and so , as it were going backward , cover it with the Mantle of their Indulgence , that the Philosophical Nakedness thereof may not appear to themselves or others . Whereas considering for what end this Divine History of Created Nature was writ , and being sufficiently confident of the Intrinsecal Verity , and Extrinsecal Evidence thereof , I adventured to look into the Naked Simplicity of the Text , and endeavored first to discover the plain and true System of the World , which God the Creator hath described therin , and therby reveled unto us . Which I have accordingly expressed in my Explications ; being only a brief Philosophical Paraphrase upon the Text : and yet while I thus Explicate the Text by my Paraphrase , I still submit my Paraphrase to be judged by the Text : and I therefore set these Explications , as a Partition , or Cancelli , between the Divine Word and my Human Illustrations therof : which I have also deduced from the Created Nature , as the Counterpart of Scripture ; and have hearkned to the Voice therof , as to the Echo of the Creating Voice of God . Nor do I dissent from Pagan Philosophy Animo Contradicendi , or to flatter Christianity ( which is far above it ) but shall also retein any thing of Truth that I have found therin ; and all advantages therof , either Platonical Speculations , Peripatetical Ratiocinations , or Epicurean Sensations , yea even Sceptical Caution it self : and am Dogmatical only in such Theses which according to the Law that I impose on my self , I shall first prove by the Concurrence of Divine Authority , Human Argument , and Sensible Experiment : and if I knew any more ways of Probation , should not decline , but most gladly embrace them . Neither do I thus offer any thing to the World wherof I have not first satisfied my self after so long trial and strict examination ; wher in I could never yet find any thing considerable , either of Reason , or Sens , which I could not fairly reconcile to the Divine Authority of the Text. Also I have adventured to propound many Hypotheses ; which though I dare not so confidently Assert , yet I should not Insert them , if I did not esteem them very Probable : for indeed it is the most proper , and a sufficient Task for any Philosopher , to Inquire only what God hath Created : and I ever reputed it a great Vanity in any who presume to go farther , and will also offer to shew what he might have Created : not without some Insinuation of what one most Profanely Expressed , That if he had stood at Gods elbow when he made the World , he could have shewed him how to have made it better : as though whatsoever Hypothetical Natures , or Poetical Worlds , they please to fansy and describe , Natura aut facit haec quae legis , aut faceret .

Possibility is Indefinite , and to pursue it Vain and Endless . It is not Absolutely Impossible , that this , or any other Book , might be Printed by the Casual Concurrence of Letters , Ink , and Paper , without any Composer , or Printer ; yet if any should therefore write a large Discours therof , or of any other such like Hypothesis , I think it might well deserv to be placed in Rablais his Library . But though I shall carefully exclude any such Improbable Trifles , yet I doubt not but that among so many supposed Probabilities , I may run into some Errors , and many Errata in Terms of Art , and such other Peccadillos , which may prove Scandalous and Offensive to Weaker Minds , who regard Words more than Things ; and may be matter enough of Disgrace and Disparagement to the Captious , who though they can find no fault in Venus her self , will Carp at her Sandal , or something about her . And I am Conscious that I may be more liable hereunto , being no Mathematician , Astronomer , Chymist , or other Artist whatsoever ; but one among the Laity of Mankind , having only two Books which I regard , Scripture , and Nature : and though any may easily bite through my Human Infirmity , yet he sha●l break his Teeth at these Bones , Fragili quaerens illidere dentem Offendet Solido — However I am sufficiently secure , being already where I would be ; that is , below Fame , and above Infamy : and as I do not Superscribe my Name to gain the one , so neither do I Conceal it to avoid the other : but either is as Indifferent to my self as it is to my Pen to write it , only it is somewhat less not to write it . Nor will I presume to add any thing to Divine Authority , professing it to be my chief Designe to Exalt it as the only Statera of Truth , both Natural , and Supernatural ; and as we Eminently call it Scripture and Bible , so it is indeed the Writing of all Writings , and Book of all Books ; whereby ●hey are to be Judged ; and If they speak not according to this Word , it is becaus there is no Light in them . As a worthy Friend , laying his hand on the Bible , once truly said to me , If this Book were not Extant in the World , there were nothing Certain and Infallible left to Mankind : wherof we have sufficient Evidence , not only in Scepticism , but even in all other Philosophy , of which there are so many several Sects and Opinions , or indeed only Hypotheses ; for I cannot conceiv that the Authors therof were ever satisfied in themselvs , or could expect to satisfie others thereby ; but vented them as some things which they esteemed Possible , or the best of them only as fair Probabilitys . Wheras this foundation laid in Scripture is as sure as Nature it self ; which both are the Work and Word of the same Divine Creator ; and every Superstructure rightly built therupon shall stand . Now though I may not presume to be any such Master-builder ; yet I think it a very great Work effected , if I may reduce others to this Fundamental System , and provoke them to build upon it ; as I have begun , and offered this rude Essay : and though they shall pleas to Demolish my whole Fabrike , and themselvs to Erect any other , and lay upon it Gold , Silver , Pretious Stones , Wood , Hay , Stubble , or what they list , I have my Designe ; which is to Assert this to be the only true Foundation of Natural Philosophy , as well as of Theology , and Morality . And the Fire shall try every mans Work of what sort it is . And so I not only Dedicate this my Work unto the World ( as indeed every Writer writes to all by making his Writing Publike ) but also I Appeal unto it , and make every Reader my Judg : for I do not presume to teach the World ; nor shall I , as others , term it the People that knoweth not the Law of Nature ; for though it consist of many Heads , and almost as many Sentences , yet I do not find but that the last Result , and that wherin they Acquiesce , is Truth : whose common Fate in the World is first to be gazed on , and perhaps derided and oppugned , and at last after farther scrutiny to be enterteined and embraced ; and the Fate of Error contrary therunto , first to be Applauded and Admired , and so received withou● any Pratike , and afterward when it is more strictly examined , to be Rejected and Exploded . Thus Truth is the Daughter of Time ; and as Time is the best Critike , so I esteem Homer , Virgil , and such others , to have been the best of Poets , and Plato , and Aristotle , the best of Philosophers ; becaus their Works have so long survived ; wheras there are only some Fragments of Epicurus now remaining , as broken and minute as his Corpuscles or Atoms , Certeinly Scripture is both most Antient , and also most Intire . Nor can I suppose that the Discovery of any consyderable Natural Truth , or Profitable Good to Mankind , hath been renounced , or will ever be lost by them . Wherefore now O Christian World ! who art a Collection not only of Men , but of Christians , Judg thou according to both Capacitys , whether Scripture be not the truest Comment that ever was made upon Nature : and that thou maist rightly discern between them , set the short System of the Divine Genesis therof by all or any other whatsoever . Contuleris toto cum sparsa Volumina mundo ; Illa Homines dicas , haec docuisse D●um . And now after so many Christian Ages , let it be once Determined , whether this be a true History of the Creation , or not ; and if it be , ( as most undoubtedly it is ) let us no longer be bereaved of so great a Treasure , which hath hitherto I know not how been not only hid under ground , but trampled on by the feet of men . Nor let any Elude and Enervate it by the Imputation of Popularity , whereby even Popular Understandings may learn Divine Philosophy ; as the Psalmist professeth , that thereby he had acquired More Understanding then all his Teachers . Nor let us resigne not only our Faith , but also our own Reason to others , becaus they pleas to abandon theirs , and scoffingly call it Logical , or Metaphysical , or the like ; which are the Acquests of those Noble Arts and Sciences , whereby we excell Brutes , Barbarians , and themselvs . Nor may they justly term this a Prejudice against them ; for how do they Prejudg ? who Appeal to the whole World , or the Great University of Mankind ; and as good Scribes bring forth out of their Treasure things New and Old : doing herein like Galenists , who willingly admit and add to their Dispensatorys any Chymical Experiments which are sound and useful ( and to such Physicians all wise Patients commit their Bodys rather then to Empirikes ) Or are they prejudiced ? who affirm nothing but what they prove by all the ways of Probation , Authority , Argument , and Experiment . For to what Judg can we Appeal but the World , or to what Law but Faith , Reason , and Sens ? and may we not rather suspect the Prejudice to ly in Novelty and Party , and a new Sect of men , who admit only sens , and yet will not be Judged by that , unless it speak their Sens ? But as I have not pawned the Authority of mine own Name , upon which I know I could borrow very little ; so I only beg of others ; that neither any Passionate Amours which they may have for any Man or his Opinions , nor the Inebriating Fansys of their own Spirits , nor any pretended Monarchy or Monopoly of Knowledg , may be by them Opposed to Truth ; for Magna est Veritas & praevaelebit : and I doubt not but that Scriptum est , and Probatum est , will by their own Intrinsecal Value , without any Image or Superscription , pass Current through the whole Christian World . But let us all rather Consult together the Advancement of true Knowledg , and the Real Benefits of Mankind ; both in Speculation , and Action : Wherof the Speculative Part doth properly belong to Scholes and Academys , who , if they shall make this Divine History of the Creation to be their Symbolum Philosophicum , shall need no other Fundamentals ; nor have they any better way to preserv their Disciples from these new Philosophical Romances of Mundus Alter , & Idem . And as it hath been much wished by Wise men that Scholars would season their Studys with more of Common Life and Civil Conversation ( the want wherof hath been the Scandal and Scorn of Learning ) so particularly Academical Philosophers should hearken more to Experiments , which though it be not fit for themselvs to Practice , yet they may Inquire of Chymists and Mechanikes , and be Informed therof by them , to whom the Practical Part doth properly belong . And Mechanikes may be also much Assisted and Directed by Philosophers , with many Rules and Regular Proportions ; whereby they may be Instructed , and also Cautioned from attempting Impossibilitys , or any thing Impracticable ; as the Philosophers Stone , Perpetual Motion , or Fire , and the like ; and also much Advantaged in the Attempts of Possibilitys ; as if the Doctrine of Local Motion of Bodys were more fully cleared , and all the Variations therof , not only according to Distances from the Center , Multiplications of Wheels , Pulleys , Leavers , and the like , and all the several Situations and Positions therof ; but also all the Mysterys of Increments and Decrements of Velocity , Consistent Strength , Elasticity , Pressure and Nonpressure , Preventions of Vacuity , and the like , were ascerteined unto them , it might greatly help them in contriving their Machins and Engines . It hath been observed that though Speculative Philosophy hath not much Advanced in these last Ages of the World , yet there hath been a great Improvement of Mechanical Arts : but I conceiv that thus both might grow up together . Nor is a Mechanike so mean a Title in Human Society as is commonly reputed ; Certeinly the End of all these Speculations is Practice , which doth most Immediately promote the Good of Mankind . And if I should endeavor any such Profitable Inventions , I had rather be assisted therin by a Corporation of Mechanikes , then any College of Philosophers : and I would kiss that mans Hands , yea his Feet , who should Collect and Publish an exact and faithful History of Artificial Experiments , not only Chymical and Curious , but Mechanical , and of all Trades and Artifices : which together with the History of Extraordinary Natural Phaenomena , are very great Desiderata , and would be of very much Use and Improvement . But Inventions , as I conceiv , are rather strange Fates and Felicitys ; and some Magnalia therof have proved as great Treasures to the World as the Indian Mines , which certeinly the D●scovery made by Columbus did comprehend . Yet as they are not of Ordinary Production , so neither only Chances , as we term them ; but Extraordinary Providences of God in some Ages , wherin he designeth thereby to accomplish some greater Intendments : as when God purposed to revele the Glorious Light of the Gospel through the whole World before the second coming of Christ , he stirred up the Spirit of Columbus , by a strange Dogmatical Confidence of more Earth then was before discovered , maugre all Repulses , and Delays , Indefatigably , and Undeniably , to endeavor and attempt the Discovery therof : which yet he could never have effected if also the Compass , or Seamans Card , wherof former Ages were Ignorant , had not been then lately Invented ; and so likewise the Gun , without which so few Adventurers could never have kept Possession against Innumerable Natives . And about the same time Printing also was Invented , to Disseminate Knowledg through both the Worlds . But I do not esteem Additions to be Inventions ; as the Telescope or Microscope , which are only farther Improvements of the Perspective , ( that was first Invented by a Mechanike : ) or as the Granado is of the Gun , and the like . Yet we might hope for more both Inventions and Additions , if Philosophy were made more Mechanical , and Mechanike more Philosophical . Wherof we have now the greatest expectation from the happy Institution of the Roial Society ; and that so many Mercurial Wits , Interceding between both these Regions of Speculation and Practice , will transmit Philosophical Instructions to Mechanikes , and Mechanical Experiments to Philosophers : and after all their Curious Disquisitions , and many Vibrations , like the Pendulum , setle at last in the most Direct Line of Truth , Proving all things , and holding fast that which is Good , and shall be for the Good of this Nation , and of all Mankind : which shall render their Society a Solomons Hous , and this Island a New Atlantis . And as the Lord Veru●●m hath well observed , that the Practical Theology of Scripture ●ath been by none better Ventilated then by English Divines ; so may this Divine History of the Genesis of the World be best Elucidated by them , who though they superscribe Nullius in verba in defiance of any Human Magistery , yet always except Verbum Dei , in submission to D●vine Authority . And if the Active Spirits of this Nation would freely clear and disengage themselvs from the Humor of Forein Noveltys , they might exceed others in their happy Endeavors ; though we Tramontanes have been Judged by them better for Imitation then Invention : but I desire them to produce any thing in this last Age equal to those two Noble Inventions which were both of English Extraction : that is , the Inclinatory or Dipping Needle , whereby the Latitude is discovered ; wherof , as I have received it by Tradition , the Inventor was Robert Norman our Countryman , whose Name deservs more Heraldry ; as they will easily acknowledg who shall attempt to Invent the like Natural Instrument , whereby to discover the Longitude . The other is the first Observation of the Circulation of the Bloud , wherof our Learned Doctor Harvey is the well known and Monumental Author . And for Philosophical Discourses and Discoverys of Nature I may name two others ; who though Parallel one to another , yet I suppose neither of them can be Parallel'd by any other Nation : that is , the Great Chancellor Bacon whose Natural History hath made his own Name H●storical : and the truly Honorable Robert Boyle ; of whom I may well say , that as Hiero made a Law in Syracuse That every one should believ whatsoever Archimedes affirmed that he could do ; so all ought to believ whatsoever this Noble Person declareth that he hath done , in all those manifold Experiments wherewith he hath enriched the World . Now let this be the Conclusion and Summ of the whole matter ; That as the End of all Created Nature is the Divine Glory of the Creator , which the whole World as a Mirror was made to Represent to us Naturaly ; so should all Spiritualy Render it unto him . And thus we Christians being taught by God , the Author both of Scripture and Nature , truly to know the Creation and System of the World , which Heathen Philosophers groped to find out all their days , and have disputed in all Ages , should with the Primitive Hebrews , and their Divine Doctors , Moses , David , Solomon , and the rest , Glorify the Infinite Iehovah , Creator of Heaven and Earth . And I have very much wondered that not only in Spirituals , but also in Naturals , Seing we should not See , and Hearing we should not Hear , and Understand with our Hearts , the things which are writ in such large Characters , and Proclaimed to us with so loud a Voice . Wherefore I beseech the Divine Spirit so to Illuminate us in the true Knowledg of his Word and Works , that henceforth they may be no longer hid from our Eys ; but that it may now be said of Holy Scripture , and of the Nativity of the World therin , Nota Mathematicis Genesis tua .