THE Discourse of Mr. Glanvill , was the first occasion of my writing about the Royal Society , the provocation which it gave to all sorts of men , of different Professions were such , that it might stir up any publick spirit , to support so common a cause . I was sensible of the injuries he doth unto the dead , the affronts he puts upon the living , the contempt wherewith he decries that University Learning , and those Studies by which Christianity hath been supported against the Arrians , the Jews , the Mahometans , and of late the Papists and Socinians : and which if they be relinquished , I profess , that I think that the Christian Religion must inevitably fall without the aid of a Miracle . It is a kind of Apostacy from the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds to slight Metaphysicks . The distinction of the Trinity , of Essence and Personality , the Hypostatical Union of the two Natures in our Saviour , and the meritoriousness of his death , ( which depends thereon , ) are undermined with School-Divinity ; and whosoever hath any sense or value for the benefits we derive from Controversial-Divinity , either as to the quieting of his Conscience , or convincing of his Adversaries , must detest this Enterprise of Mr. Glanvill . And methinks that whosoever doth but call to mind that variety of foolish Sects , which gave the Church so much trouble in its first Infancy , and of late years , and considers that they had their Original from want of Logick , should not condemn that Art , by which men argue rightly from sound Principles . It was no less strange to me to finde the names of Reverend , Sage , Grave , Disputer and Logician , perverted into terms of Contumely ; yet had not all those Motives prevailed with me , but that he had so defamed the Ancient and Modern Physicians , until those late Innovators , that many importuned me to revenge my Faculty upon this Insolent Man . Besides , I had been much troubled with impertinent discourses of some , who to excuse their Ignorance in the Prognostick and Therape●tick parts of Medicine , indulged themselves in the vilifying all the ancient learning and reading , and asserting out of the Writings of the Society , the necessity and conveniency of new methods , in curing and abbreviating diseases . I soon espied my advantages over Mr. Glanvill . But perceiving his Defence so complicated , with the History of the Royal Society , that I could not well meddle with the one without reflecting upon the other ; I set my self to peruse that also , and found the Errors therein so numerous and gross , and the tendency of it so dangerous , that it seemed but an easie , yet necessary work , to the Universities , and all Learning , as well as the profession of Methodical Physick , to write against these new-fashion'd Philosophers ; I remarked so many defaults in both books , that I was at last weary of taking notice of them , there being still Plus ultra . I resolve to give my Studies no further diversion in pursuing Mr. Glanvill ; but to leave him to the scorn of some more common Pens , who being at the Universities may have more leisure then I have at present . After all this Ostentation of Learning , the things he talks and writes of are such , as he is utterly unacquainted with : the Authors he mentions he never saw , and all his discourse about the Mathematicks , and Mathematicians , procured him no other acknowledgements from a Learned and Reverend Prelate , ( to whom he sent one of his Books ) than a Reprimand for intermedling with what he understood not . Who can choose but smile when he reads how Apuleius improved the Mathematicks a●●●● ●●clide ? who ●ver heard of such men as Maximus Palanudes , Achazen and Orentius ? Plus Ultra . pag. 23. I suppose this last should have been Orontius , and he is so famous a Geometrician , that when Sir H. Savill ( as I remember ) was to seek for an instance of a pitiful fellow ; this was the man he fixed upon ; He tells us that the most learned 〈◊〉 of all so●ts and professions ; Mathematicians , Page ● . Chymists , 〈…〉 ns , ●natomists , Antiquaries , and Philosophers , make up the Royal Society : but one would not guess so by their History ! He tells us , that the former Methods of Science for so many Centuries , never brought the world so much practical beneficial knowledge , as would help towards the Cure of a Cut Finger , which he says is a palpable Plus Ultra Pag. 7. and 8. Argument , that they were fundamental mistakes , and that the way was not right . Can any one that hath heard of Podalirius and Machaon in Homer prate thus ? Quos tamen Homerus non in pestilentia , neque in variis Corn. Celsus in Pra●at . generibus morborum aliquid attulisse auxilii , sed vulneribus tantummodo ferro & medicamentis mederi solitos esse proposuit . Ex quo apparet has partes medicinae solas ab his esse tentatas , easque esse vetustatissimas . Had our Virtuoso but known how Hippocrates had writ about Wounds and Ulcers , and that Dieg. Laert. in vita Arist. Suidas in Nicomacho , & Ammonius in vita Arist. Vide notas Menagii in Diog. Laert. l. 5. Aristotle himself was descended of the line of Aesculapius , and that his Ancestor Nicomachus was Physician to Amyntas King of Macedon , And that Aristotle also was a Physician , and writ several books ( besides his Anatomy of Man ) in that Science , and was upon that account valued by Alexander the Great , as Plutarch saith . And how little the Ancients stood in need of modern discoveries and aids to cure Cut Fingers , any man may judge , that knows what Scribonius Largus , and Galen ( in his books de Compos . Medicam . sec. genera ) have written : and how this last Author ( upon Philosophical deductions ) compounds several Medicaments to that purpose . In the Augustane Dispensatory , to this day his Tripharmacon , his Diapalma , his Diadictamnum , and others are recorded . And if any thing rendred Paracelsus justly famous , it was the cure of inveterate Ulcers , not green Wounds : and that therein he did out-doe the ancient Physicians , is a question , I cannot grant , and have not leisure to dispute .

He reckons up Five Instruments by which the latter Ages Plus Ultra . Page 10. have improved Knowledge above Antiquity . The MICROSCOPE , TELESCOPE , THERMOMETER , BAROMETER , and the AIR-PUMP . Some of which were first invented , all of them exceedingly improved by the ROYAL SOCIETY . But as for the Telescope , he confesses that to have been invented by Metius and Galilaeo . Which Confession of his , although it take from the Society all pretences to the invention thereof ; yet it is unbecoming an inquisitive person , who might upon better Intelligence from Borellus , in his book about the Inventor of Telescopes , published in 1656. He might have learned thence that Adrianus Metius of Alkmaer did not invent them , but one Zacharias Joannides of Middleburgh in Zeland , ( though perhaps Baptista Porta had obscurely proposed it ) and that he who may most justly come in for a second share in the glory of that invention is one Joannes Lapreius of the same Town . And whereas 't is generally written , that Galilaeo was the first who applied those tubes to the contemplation of Celestial Objects , even that appears to be false , seeing that the first Inventor , even Zacharias Joannides , ( together with his son Joannes Borel de vero invent . Telescop . c. 12. Zacharides ) did make use of them to discover several new Phaenomena in the Moon and Heavens . Which mistake is unpardonable in our Virtuoso ( and his Assistants ) because that a more particular Enquiry hath been made of late years hereinto , then ever before . The Barometer he allows to have been first invented by Torricellius , not to try the gravitation of the Aire , but to prove a vacuum ; Afterwards , the different ascent of the Quicksilver , being tried on the top and at the bottom of Hills in France , the opinion of the rising of the Quicksilver from the pressure of the Air , was introduced and illustrated . But nether is the gravitation , or pressure of the Air , a new opinion ; it is as old as Aristotle , it is Pecquet . Exper●m 2. in Diss 〈…〉 at . p. 54. Ed raris . 1651. his , and he essayed to weigh the Air , in his book de coelo l. 4. sect. 29 , 30 , 39. He proves the Air to ponderate , because a bladder full of Air weighs heavier then one that is empty . Concerning which Experiment I shall adde the words of Scipi Claramontius , that learned Writer , the truth of it having Scipio Claramont de universo l 14. c 3. been questioned , Possum tamen testari observationem Aristotelis dicto faventem , fuitque diligens observatio , & à diligentissimo pensatore , exactusque stateris & lancibus peracta , me praesente & adsistente , cum pluribus veritatis cupidis viris : pensit avimus ergo primum follem novum penitusque vacuum , primo statera quae solum unciarum differentiam indicabat , invenimusque unciarum decemnovem , & totidem reperimus eundem follem diligenter inflatum , & solo spiritu nulloque humore immisso : ac postea usi sumus lance , quae semuncias quoque indicabat , tumque follem inflatum unciarum decemnovem & & semis invenimus , adeo tamen ut ibi libra in aequilibrio absque tractu ( ut vocant nostri ) adamussim permaneret : at idem vacuus non amplius in eodem signo sine tractu , sed cum tractu perstabat . Quocirca verum dicit Aristoteles . So that whether we consider the gravitation of the Aire , or its being weighed , ( which Mr. Glanvill in his Plus ultra thinks so strange of , as he expresses , To have said in elder Time , That Plus Ultra p 59. c 8. Mankind should light upon an Invention , whereby those Bodies might be weigh'd , would certainly have appeared very wilde and extravigant ; and it will be so accounted for some time yet , till men have been longer , and are better acquainted Many Peripa●●●icks ( as Claramontius ) 〈…〉 impure Air of ●or Atmosphear doth gra●itate , 〈…〉 deny it as to the pure Elemental Air. with this Instrument , &c. The opinion it self , and the attempt to weight it , is Aristotles : Nor is this Discourse casually proposed once in Aristotle ; but sundry times he avows the gravitation of the Air in his Problems , viz. sect. 11. probl 45. sect. 21. probl. 18. sect. 25. probl. 12 , 13. From hence we may judge how well Mr. Glanvill is acquainted with the tenets of Aristotle , and how well read he is in him whom he condemns . He and his Philosophick friends dealt only in some pitiful Compendium of Physics , and from thence learned that which was the opinion of Themistius , Simplicius , and o●her eminent Peripatetics , as if it had been the avowed doctrine of their great Master ; and thereupon they thus deliver themselves . And on this occasion , Sir , I observe the incompetency of their Mr. Glanvill , p. 122. judgments , who are Enemies to the real Experimental Philosophy , in that they do not ( as I intimated at all , or very little , understand what they condemn . This I have some reason to say , since in the whole Compass of my Acquaintance , which is not very narrow , I profess I know not one who opposeth the Modern way , that is not almost totally unacquainted with it . And on the other side , upon the most careful turn of my thoughts among my Philosophick friends , I cannot light on one of all those that are for the free and experimental procedure , but who hath been very well instructed in the Peripatetick doctrines , which they have deserted , and most of them much Pecquet . Exper . Physico-Math . de Va●uo . pag. 10 , &c. Parit 1651. Mersenni Phaenomena Pneumat . pag. 140. Par. 1644. better than those who are yet zealous Contenders for them . I might tell our Divine , that the Gravitation of the Air seems proposed in Job 28. 25. Qui fecit ventis pondus , God is said to make weight for the winde : indeed neither the gravitation of the Atmosphear , nor the notion of Aerial cylinders , pressing upon subjacent bodies , were any News in the world when the Society was first established . But the News of the Barometer is so pleasant , that I will insert the whole passage .

But ( IV. ) The BAROMETER is another late Instrument , very helpful to useful Knowledge . That there is gravity even in the Air it self , and that that Element is only Plus Ultra cap. 8. pag. 59. comparatively light , is now made evident and palpahle by Experience , though Aristotle and his Schools held a different Theory : And by the help of Quicksilver in a Tube , the way is found to measure all the degrees of Compression in the Atmosphere , and to estimate exactly any accession of weight , which the Air receives from Winds , Clouds , or Vapors . To have said in elder Times , that Mankind should light upon an Invention whereby those bodies might be weigh'd , would certainly have appeared very wilde and extravigant ; and it will be so accounted for some time yet , till men have been longer , and are better acquainted with this Instrument . For we have no reason to believe it should have better luck than the Doctrine of the Circulation , the Theory of Antipodes , and all great Discoveries in their first Proposals . 'T is impossible to perswade some of the Indians that live near the heats of the Line , that there is any such thing as Ice in the World ; but if you talk to them of Water made hard and consistent by Cold , they 'l laugh at you as a notorious Romancer . And those will appear as ridiculous among the most of us , who shall affirm it possible to determine any thing of the Weight of the Wind or Clouds . But Experience turns the laugh upon the confident incredulity of the Scoffer ; and he that will not believe , needs no more for his Conviction , then the labour of a Trial. Let him then fill a Tube of Glass , of some Feet in length , with Quicksilver ; and having sealed one end , let him stop the other with his Finger , and immerge that which is so stop'd into a vessel of Mercury , the Tube being perpendicularly erected ; let him then substract his Finger , and he will perceive the Quicksilver to descend from the Tube into the subjacent vessel , till it comes to 29 Digits or thereabouts ; there , after some Vibrations , it ordinarily rests . The reason that this remainder of the Mercury doth not descend also , is , because such a Mercurial Cylinder is just equiponderant to one of the incumbent Atmosphere that leans upon the Quicksilver in the Vessel , and so hinders a further descent . It is concluded therfore , That such a Cylinder of the Air , as presses upon the Mercury in the Vessel is of equal weight to about 29 Digits of that ponderous Body in the Tube . Thus it is when the Air is in its ordinary temper : but Vapours , Winds , and Clouds alter the Standard ; so that the Quicksilver sometimes falls , sometimes rises in the Glass , proportionably to the greater or less accession of Gravity and compression of the Air hath received from any of those alterations ; and the Degree of increase beyond the Standard , is the measure of the additionable gravity . —

There is something so charming and so divertive in this discourse , that I cannot yet dismiss it , notwithstanding what I have said out of Aristotle and Claramontius . That there is Averroes adheres to Aristotle , and holds the Air doth gravitate . gravity even in the Air it self , and that that Element is only comparatively light , was of old made evident by the Man of Stagira : nor did the Schools hold a different tenet , if you take Air for this impure mixture and Sphaera vaporosa about the Earth , which we breath , and in a special manner have to do with : as appears from Claramontius in his Book of the Universe , and Septalius upon Aristotle's Problems . But Mr. Glanvill neither understands what he opposeth , nor what he Asserts . For in the beginning he speaks of the gravitation of the Element of the Air ; whereas that Instrument called a Barometer proposeth only a way to measure the degrees of compression in the Atmosphear , in which Region I believe no man ever denied but that the Aqueous and Terrestrial corpuscles interspersed had their weight and pressure : Thus the ordinary temper of this Air ( which is never pure ) the alterations of it by vapors , winds , clouds , are the subject of those contemplations , as any man knows that reads Mr. Boyle , or even Mr. Glanvill . Thus all the flourish of Rhetorick comes to nothing , the wonder is ceased , and we come to try only a more particular way of examining the weight of a body , which no man in his wits ever denied to be ponderous . And here I must tell our Virtnoso , that his reading or consideration extends not so far as to the writings of Mr. Boyle , and the experiment in him . For it appears out of Him that F eri● ▪ Phy●●c-Mechan . E ▪ per. 7. the Mercurial Cylinder riseth and falls in the Magdeburgical Air-Pump , according to the lessening or vigorating of the Spring of the Air : and that upon putting in the Barometer , and closing the Engine , there appeared not any change in the height of the Mercurial Cylinder , no more then if the interposed Glass-Receiver did not hinder the immediate Besides , the difference in Quicksilver is such , that all Writers take notice of it , and I am apt to believe the Phaenomenon may be much varyed in the Cylinder , according to that . pressure of the ambient Atmosphear upon the inclosed Air ; which hereby appears to bear upon the Mercury , rather by vertue of its Spring then of its weight . And if this Phaenomenon proved such in a greater and less Receiver , with a greater or less cylinder of Mercury ( it being indifferent which is used , ) I doubt this Barometer will not determine the strength of the Spring of the Air , much less its weight . For the Elasticity is a distinct consideration from the weight of the Air : as when some Experimentators went about to weigh the Pike , the Flownce or Spring of the Pike was no part of the weight of the Pike , though it might turn the Scales . This sole consideration destroys all the great promises we have from the Barometer , for if the Spring of the Air cannot be exactly known , that we must be for ever ignorant of the nature of those other bodies which influence and press upon our Air , and compress the Spring of the Air , and may have many operations upon it which we know not , neither can comprehend ; If the height of the Atmosphear cannot be determined , ( which I make a postulatum of ) the alterations in the higher Regions are unsearchable , and the mechanismes of those corpuscular combinations incomprehensible , I shall not doubt to say , that there is not yet found out a way to measure ALL THE degrees of Compression in the Atmosphear : nay , 't is far from that exactness ; for the body of the Quicksilver varies not upon insensible variations in the Air : the intercepted Air in it takes off from the Nicenesse of the Experiment : and since even heat , ( and perhaps other circumstances ) adds to the Spring of the Air , it cannot give us that account pretended , about vapours , winds and clouds .

The Essay by Tubes and Quicksilver , as ingenious as it is , yields the Society no further glory , then to have illustrated it , and perhaps to have made some further Experiments in it then those had done , to whom , as the first Inventor , ( by the concession of the Historian ) appertains all or most of the Honour which ariseth from such accessionals . It is true , our Virtuosi fixed on it the name of Barometer , but they had done better to have called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or Gas , or Blas , or Diaceltateston , or some such unintelligible name , rather then have termed it thus : the Appellation signifying no more an instrument to measure the gravity of the Air , then an instrument to weigh a parcel of Tarre , or indefinitely a pair of Stillyards . The Aerometer might have been a little more Emphatical ; especially considering that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are Synonimous . Had not Aeroscopium been accommodated to the Thermometer , it would not have been much incongruous . But I conceive , that Aerobaricon or Aerostaticon would have fitted the Experiment as well as any name I can now think upon . The Barometer was invented by Torricellius to prove a Vacuum , and in Mersennus's Cogitata Physico-Mathematica , you may find it applied to the examining the difference of the Air in several places . The Air-Pump was found out at Magdeburgh , and not in England ; it was first published by Schottus , under the name of Instrumentum Magdeburgicum . Mr. Boyle amended it , and prosecuted many ingenious Experiments in it , for which all Philosophers are redevable to him , but cannot proclaim him the Inventor of the Instrument , no , nor of the ( notion of the Elasticity Hen. Reg. Philos Nat. l. 2 c. 12. p. ●4 . & l. 2 c. 3 p. 173. ed. 1661. of the Air , which was proposed first to the world by Henricus Regius , under the name of the spontaneous dilatation of the Air : and illustrated by Pecquetus , who first , ( that I know of , ) spoke of the Elater , Pecquetus pag. 19 ( quem elaterem nuncupo ) . The Microscope was invented by the aforesaid Borel ubi supra c. 12. p. 26. Blancanus de mundi fabr . part. 3. c 2. Zacharias Joannides : The Thermometer , or Thermoscopium was first the invention of Sanctorius ; so Blancanus saith , Audivi Doctorem quendam medicum Patavii degentem , qui Sanctorius cognominatur , hujus esse inventorem And now I demand of our Virtuoso , which of these Five Instruments for the Improvement of knowledge have been found out by the Royal Society : The Thermometer is the discovery of a Galenical Physician ; but as to our Virtuosi nothing appears but the pretension to other mens discoveries , and the improving of them .

By the Benefit indeed of one of these Instruments , the Telescope , we are put in hopes to find a sure way to determine those mighty Questions , Whether the Earth move ? or , The Planets be inhabited ? And who knows which way the Conclusion may fall ? — I perceive hereby that Mr. Glanvill is not altogether convinced that the Earth moves ; and I am as little satisfied , that the solution of those Questions is so mighty and important a thing ; for if the Earth stand still , then things will be as they are now : and if it be determined otherwise , yet shall we not need to fear that the Revolution of the Earth in its Diurnal motion , either shake our houses about our ears , or shake us off by the tangent line : and as for those inhabitants of the Planets , in case all our other trading should be lost , we shall not finde out any gainful commerce with them ; nor need we dread that they will piss out our Eyes as we look up . So that let their Telescopes be brought to that unimaginable perfection , whereby to discover the inhabitants of the Planets as plainly as mites in Cheese , and let the Conclusion fall which way it will , things will fall out no otherwise than they do .

He inveigheth bitterly against Aristotle for his Heathen-Notions , and in his Preface to the Clergy of B. & W. wishes that the devoted Admirers of Aristotle would study his Rhetorick , History of Animals , and Mechanicks . I wonder he did not recommend unto them the perusal of his Ethicks . Certainly they deserve as much to be read in these days , as any Piece . And perhaps his Politicks might contribute something to the instruction of a Nation . But how dare herecommend any book of that man of Stagira to be read , if those motives that swayed him to Anti-Aristotelism , be of any validity : Alas ! he is troubled at his Heathen-Notions ! Oh! rare Puritanism ! But my dear Brother Scruple , ought any one to be offended at every thing that is of Heathen-Original , though it contain nothing of Gentilisme in it ? Represent your adversary as you please to his Diocesan , nothing hath more of the Presbyterian and Fanatick then this Topick . Moreover , what do you think of those Atoms and Corpuscles ? are they not Heathen-Notions , and decried by the Fathers ? what do you think of the terms used by the Mathematicians ? what of the Languages , such as are not Sacred ? what of the months , days of the year , and the names of the Stars , Constellations , &c. Must every thing be reformed according to the Coelum Stellatum Christianum of Julius Schillerus ? Besides , these words in Theology , of Unity and Trinity , have as much of Heathenism in them , as they have of Platonism . I shall here take further notice of his exceptions against Aristotle , as they are Recapitulated here ( though they are more largely proposed by him in his Letter against Aristotle , which I have fully answered in a distinct Treatise ) the generall censure whereof is , That they are nothing but Lies , and such as no man that is acquainted with any thing of ancient Literature could have uttered . I protest in the Presence of Almighty God , that if there be not great care taken , we may be in a little time reduced to that pass , as to believe the story of Tom Thumb , and all the Legends or falsifications of History , which the Papists obtrude upon us ! This Philosophy fairly disposeth us therevnto , by taking us off from the Pedantism of Philology , and ancient reading , and by accustoming us to believe the forgeries they obtrude upon us . Methinks herein he is one as absurd as that Romish Monk was in the Pulpit . Heresbachius I. C. citante Taubmanno , J● H●n H●ttingerus in 〈◊〉 . Oriental l. 1. c. 2. p. 2 audivi , inquit , Monachum in Ecclesia declamantem , qui , nova , inquiebat , jam reperta est Lingua , quae vocatur Graeca , ab hac sedulò cavendum : Haec enim est quae parit omnes omnes istas heraeses . Ea lingua est liber proditus , in manibus passim habetur & vocatur N. T. Plenus hic liber rubetis , & viperis . Alia etiam oriturlingua , quam vocant Hebraeam , hanc qui discunt , efficiuntur Hebraei . We are running on as fast as we can to this condition of ignorance , and shall be so inured to Historical untruths , magisterially imposed upon us , and disused from inquiring into them , as to beleeve any thing . He tells us the Aristotelian Philosophy aims at no more , than the instructing men in Notion and Dispute , that its Design was mean , and its Principles at the best uncertain and precarious , — — One may guess how well our Virtuoso understands the Old Philosophy , to ascribe that unto it all in general as its aim , which is but the intendment ( and that a necessary one too ) of the Dialectick and Metaphysical parts . In Natural Philosophy their designs were the same that our Moderns boast of , if they miscarried in the main , let us pity their misfortunes , but not blame their intentions . Did Aristotle in his books of Animals , or Theophrastus about Plants , instruct men only to Dispute ? Had his Anatomy , and his Problems nothing but Notion ? Must we cast off all Notions ? Or ought we to endeavour after the gaining of clear notions of things ? If men hitherto did proceed no further , and yet pretended to be Peripateticks , blame the abuse , but condemn not the Philosophy , which hath nothing in it that puts a stop to Enquiries and Curiosity . Nor do I find that those Physicians , and others , who advanced the several parts of Natural Philosophy and Physick , did thereby act contrary to the rules of their Master or Tutors . It is true , that their Schools did meddle but with few points mainly , and those were such as related to Divinity , as the Eternity of the World , the Nature of the First and Second Causes , of the Soul and its Faculties , &c. as to an exact natural Philosophy , they did not much trouble themselves , nor had we had what we have , but that Averroes and the Physicians befriended us . But must Scaliger and such like suffer under these Imputations , which particularly relate unto their School-Divines ? and must they also be blamed for not teaching nor putting men upon further Enquiries than were necessary to that Christianity , which they were to support against the Mahometans and Jews ? He that knows the end of their first institution by Charlemaigne , can best judge how prudential it was , and how they answered expectation . But our Illiterati know nothing of that , and are always reviling them where they are not faulty , and would have had them nglected that part which was necessary to the Education of all that were to live under and support Christianity , to pursue Studies that contribute little thereto , and such as were never essential to the being of a State , but have been often exploded as prejudicial thereunto . The same Apology may serve the present Universities , who do enough in breeding up men to be fitly qualified for Employments in Church and State , and instruct them in so much Philosophy as is necessary for the explaining and defending of our Religion against Atheists , Papists , and Socinians : and whosoever shall put the accurate debate of these Points , the Art of reasoning , the Validity of Consequences , the unfolding of crytical Syllogisms and Fallacies , the general doctrine of Topicks , the Moral Philosophy , and Foundations of Civil Prudence , ( besides Civil and Ecclesiastical History and Languages ) which are taught there , or ought to be by their Constitution , into the Scales on one hand , and the Mechanical Education ( recommended with all the advantages that ariseth from Aphorisms of Cider , planting of Orchards , making of Optick Glasses , magnetick and S●e Mr Sprat , p. 329. hortulane Curiosities ) on the other hand , will be able to judge easily which Studies deserve the most encouragement by the publick , and which are most useful and requisite . Having said thus much in behalf of our University-Learning ( which is now contradistinguished from the Mechanical Education ) I shall adde thus much in favour of our Ancestors , who gave solemn encouragement to Archery , Cudgel-playing , Foot-ball-playing , and other Exercises , that prepared the Vulgar to Military Performances ; as the more Academical did the Gentry to State-affairs : whereas they gave little countenance to the Experimental Philosophers and Naturalists : that the practice is justified by Vegetius l. 3. c. 10. Quis autem dubitat artem bellicam rebus omnibus esse potiorem , per quam libertas retinetur , & dignitas propagatur , provinciae conservantur & Imperium ? Hanc quondam relictis doctrinis omnibus Lacedemonii , & post coluere Romani . Hanc solam hodieque Barbari putant esse servandam : caetera aut in hac arte consistere , aut per hanc artem assequi se posse considunt . Haec dimicaturis est necessaria ▪ per quam vitam retineant & victoriam consequantur . But to return to our Virtuoso ! Are not the principles of Des Cartes , and the figured Atoms of Gassendus as precarious as those of Aristotle , and less subjected to sense ? Have 〈◊〉 si ac●●piantur h●c Chymicorum p●●●●ij 〈◊〉 assent ▪ 〈◊〉 ●●s p●ss●mus , ita ut pro Mercurio aqua ponatur , Sulphure ignis & ●er , S le ter●a . Analogiá negatâ negatur omnia eo abire Ex aqua & terra sac li●um viscidum ▪ & hunc cu●ae conglutinari & con●rescere in ●apidem : quemadmodum naturam 〈◊〉 videmus . Si hic resolvatur in ultima non in Mercurium . Sulphur , & Salem , sed in vulgata & Physica resolvetur principia ▪ M. Ruland . Progyn●n . Alchym Qu●● . not the Chymical Principles so much of uncertainty , as they have of Equivocation ? Are not they precarious too , and suspicious ? Are there any of those that agree amongst themselves ? and do not they as little agree with Nature as those of the Peripatetick way ? I will not doubt to maintain that as far as Physick is concerned in the debates ; The ancient Philosophy better agrees with the Phaenomena of Nature , and carries us on with more assurance to work ( as they phrase it ) then any other , and that the diligent reading of Vallesius , Mercatus , Saxonia , Claudinus , &c. shall produce better Physicians then Sylvius , Helmont , or Odorode . And whosoever resolves any of the other Questions in the Negative , whatever he pretend , hath never considerately studied the Points . Give therefore the Aristotelians leave to hold an Hypothesis , which is accommodated to the polity of our Nation ) at least as revocable , till a better be introduced ; and do not proceed in an exterminative way , till something else be ready to be substituted .

If Notions might be rejected for being first proposed and used by Heathens , then is not Aristotle in a worse condition then Epicurus , Democritus , Plato , or Pythagoras ; If Impiety in the Teacher may authorize us to reject doctrines not impious , I think the condition of our Stagirite not to be worse then that of other ancient Philosophers , and better then some of the New . That there is impiety enough in Gassendus's Answer to Des Cartes , any Christian will grant , especially if he be a Protestant . And the life of Des-Cartes had but little of the Saint : this is I cannot finde any ground to conclude Aristotle so wicked . If we indemnifie him for having an hand in poisoning Alexander , ( which perhaps is not true ) . In his last Will , there is much generosity : in his life , many testimonies of a singular vertue : ●n his discourses much wit and worth . He writ an Apologie for Piety ; got the walls of his destroyed Country to be rebuilt , and made excellent Laws for it . Philip chose him to breed up Alexander . And those are greater assurances that he was not so wicked , as he is reported by his adversaries ▪ They repeat nothing but old lies , such as Apellicon refuted : and Aristocles saith , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Se● Casaubon upon Diog. Lart . manifest . And I desire Mr. Glanvill to acquit Paracelsus from being impious in his life , and many of his doctrines . If he was a Corrupter of the Wisdom of the Ancients , for mis-citing , and misrepresenting their opinions ; and must therefore be condemned and rejected : who can approve of Mr. Sprat , Mr. Glanvill , and their Adherents ? He saith , that Aristotle was of no such superlative Account in the wisest times . But he tells us not which those most wise times were , when he was in disesteem . I have not read of any more wise people , then Greece , Rome , and the Mahometans , under their first Caliphs and King Almansor . And yet all these admired him at several times . He that chargeth Philip of Macedon , Alexander the Great , and his Successors , ( particularly the Ptolomyes of Egypt , ) with Folly : and Sylla , Tully , and those other Romans that admired him , with want of wisdom ; Or , who thinks that the Empire of the Moors , and their Academies at Bagdod , Fez , and Cordula , were composed of a sort of Simpletons , may go seek for the wise and the prudent in Gotam Colledge . And perhaps those Christians that celebrated Aristotle , and advanced him to that repute in their Kingdoms and Universities , were not Idiots or Changlings . That He was much opposed and slighted by the first Fathers , is an Objection that hath some truth in it , but not much to the particular prejudice of our Stagirite . For at first they hated and detested all humane Learning , and Philosophy ; and when they came any of them to admit of those Sciences , then they divided into the Aristotelians and Platonists , as they did into Arians and Catholicks : That the Arians were Aristotelians , is to me as evident , as that Mahomet taking the advantage of that faction , and of the brutal lives and ignorance of the Catholiques depending upon the Patriarch of Constantinople , did advance the Sect of Christians , called Mahometans ; and his Successors the Caliphs , did wholly employ themselves to improve 〈…〉 that the Virtuosi would enquire after the Peripatetick Philosophy , at Alexandria after the Ptolomies and not at Athens . And when they have done that , and studied the condition of Christianity , during the time of the Arrians , and enquired into the rise of Mahomet , the circumstances that advanced him , and contributed to the spreading of his doctrine , and increase of that Empire under the Caliphs , then they will be able to judge of the truth of what their Historian , and Mr Glanvill writes in the books animadverted on , and in his Letter concerning Aristotle . the doctrines of Aristotle and the Peripateticks . So that Aristotelism , Arianism , and Mahometanism issued out of the same parts of the world , viz. Alexandria , and the adjacent Countreys : Nor was it Chance or the black ignorance of the Age , but great prudence in Charlemaine and his Successors in the West , that brought in Aristotle : as any man will say that understands the circumstances of those dayes . But so much History is above the reach of my Experimental Philosopher : To supply that defect , Christians must be once more told , that since their minds are enlightned with the rays of the glorious Gospel , they have less reason to bow down to the Dictates of an Idolater and an Heathen . And so farewel to the Rhetorick and other works of Aristotle , which our Virtuoso a little while agoe recommended unto us . Let us shake hands with Seneca , and Epictetus , and Plato : and joyn with Tertullian in that saying . Nobis Philosophia opus non est post Jesum Christum , nec Aristotele post Evangelium . Having said thus much to these grand accusations against Aristotle , with which Mr. Glanvill was so perplexed , I suppose he may think that a more devout Admirer of Aristotle then I am , with more time , may say enough to convince him , that it was his fault , and not the Peripateticks , that he benefited so little by them . And I pray what language did Epicurus , Pythagoras , and Philolaus make use of ? He writ better about divine things than Plato , as Vossius witnesseth , Quanquam multa de Deo scripta sunt a Platone , accuratius tamen apertiusque de iis egit Aristoteles . He cites a passage of Plato , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and adds , that the Universe must be known by the Art , by which it was made . If it be not to be known any other way , it is unintelligible . Let him answer Dr. More 's Dialogues upon that point , where he explodes the Mechanism of Nature : and reckons upon Des-Cartes as the most prodigious Fool that ever was , for holding that opinion . I shall adde , that Geometricians are commonly a sort of men , that being once got out of their Science , they are far from being elevated and improved thereby : And the reason is , because that the severe procedure of Mathematical demonstrations , and their ways they take to demonstrate things appertaining to their Science , these do not qualifie a man at all for those argumentations which sway and guide in Metaphysicks , Ethicks , Politicks Arist Eth. l. 6. c. 8. and Religion it self . Upon this account Aristotle observed , that a child might become a Mathematician , but not a Politician , or Moralist . Hence it is , that Geometricians , ( except their studies have particularly acquainted them with those Dialecticks , which regulate the generality of Mankinde in such discourses , ) seldom , if ever , prove Metaphysicians , Religieuse , or otherwise of tolerable ratiocination : either rejecting as false , frivolous , and demonstrable those reasonings and studies , according to which humane affairs are regulated ; or else ignorantly , running into Whimseys , and phantastical ways of arguing . Neither is this more manifest , then I think these two Conclusions are , which I deduce from thence in opposition to some Comical Wits in their History , viz.