THE Argument of these following Papers seems , in a great Measure , to be so very remote from that holy Profession , and from those Studies , to which I am , in a more particular Manner , obliged to dedicate my self , that it may , perhaps , be expected that I should give some Account of the Reasons which engaged me to set about it .

In the first Place therefore , I imagined , that if the several Boundaries of Ancient and Modern Learning were once impartially stated , Men would better know what were still unfinished , and what were , in a manner , perfect ; and consequently , what deserved the greatest Application , upon the Score of its being imperfect : Which might be a good Inducement to set those Men , who , having a great Genius , find also in themselves an Inclination to promote Learning , upon Subjects wherein they might , probably , meet with Success answerable to their Endeavours : By which Means , Knowledge , in all its Parts , might at last be compleated . I believed likewise , that this might insensibly lead Men to follow such , and only such , for their Guides , as they could confide in for the ablest and best in those several Kinds of Learning to which they intended to apply their Thoughts . He that believes the Ancient Greeks and Romans to have been the greatest Masters of the Art of Writing that have ever yet appeared , will read them as his Instructors , will copy after them , will strive to imitate their Beauties , and form his Stile after their Models , if he proposes to himself to be excellent in that Art himself : All which Things will be neglected , and he will content himself to read them in their Translations , to furnish his Mind with Topicks of Discourse , and to have a general Notion of what these Ancient Authors say , if he thinks he may be equally excellent a nearer Way . To read Greek and Latin with Ease , is a Thing not soon learnt : The Languages are too much out of the common Road ; and the Turn which the Greeks and Latins gave to all their Thoughts , cannot be resembled by what we ordinarily meet with in Modern Languages ; which makes them tedious , till mastered by Use. So that constant Reading of the most perfect Modern Books , which does not go jointly on with the Ancients , in their Turns , will , by bringing the Ancients into Dis-use , cause the Learning of the next Generation to sink ; by reason that they , not drawing from those Springs from whence these excellent Moderns drew , whom they only propose to follow , nor taking those Measures which these Men took , must , for want of that Foundation which these their Modern Guides first carefully laid , fail in no long Compass of Time .

Yet , on the other Hand , if Men who are unacquainted with these Things , should find every Thing to be commended because it is oldest , not because it is best ; and afterwards should perceive that in many material and very curious Parts of Learning , the Ancients were , comparatively speaking , grosly ignorant , it would make them suspect that in all other Things also they were equally deficient ; grounding their general Conclusion upon this very common , though erroneous , Principle , that because a Man is in an Errour in those Things whereof we can judge , therefore he must be equally mistaken in those Things where we cannot . Now , this Extream can be no Way more easily avoided , than by stating the due Limits of Ancient and Modern Learning ; and shewing , in every Particular , to which we ought to give the Pre-eminence .

But I had another , and a more powerful Reason , to move me to consider this Subject ; and that was , that I did believe it might be some way subservient to Religion it self . Among all the Hypotheses of those who would destroy our most holy Faith , none is so plausible as that of the Eternity of the World . The fabulous Histories of the Egyptians , Chaldeans and Chineses seem to countenance that Assertion . The seeming Easiness of solving all Difficulties that occurr , by pretending that sweeping Floods , or general and successive Invasions of Barbarous Enemies , may have , by Turns , destroyed all the Records of the World , till within these last Five or Six Thousand Years , makes it very amiable to those whose Interest it is , that the Christian Religion should be but an empty Form of Words , and yet cannot swallow the Epicurean Whimfies of Chance and Accident . Now the Notion of the Eternity of Mankind , through infinite successive Generations of Men , cannot be at once more effectually and more popularly confuted , than by shewing how the World has gone on , from Age to Age , improving ; and consequently , that it is at present much more knowing than it ever was since the earliest Times to which History can carry us .

But upon Examination of this Question , several Difficulties appeared , which were carefully to be removed . The greatest was , That some Sciences and Arts , of a very compounded Nature , seem really to have been more perfect anciently than they are at present ; which did , as it were , directly overthrow my Position . Therefore I was obliged , first , to enquire whether the Thing were true in Fact , or not : Next , If true , whether it proceeded from a particular Force of Genius , or from the Concurrence of some accidental Circumstances ; and also , whether , in Case such Circumstances did concurr , in other Things , where those Accidents could have no Place , the Moderns did not out-do the Ancients so much , as , allowing the World to be no older than the Mosaical Account , it was reasonably to be expected that they should . For then , if all these Questions could be satisfactorily resolved , the Objection would be no Objection at all ; and Mankind might still be supposed to improve , even though in some Particulars they should go back , and fall short of the Perfection which once they had .

There is no Question but these Excellencies of the Ancients might be accounted for , without hurting the Account given by Moses , by resolving them into a particular Force of Genius , evidently discernable in former Ages , but extinct long since . But this seemed to be of very ill Consequence , since it did , as it were , suppose that Nature were now worn out , and spent ; and so might tempt a Libertine to think that Men , like Mushrooms , sprung out of the Earth when it was fresh and vigorous , impregnated with proper Seminal Atoms , now , of many Ages , no longer seen .

When nothing therefore seemed so likely to take off the Force of the main Objection , as the finding of particular Circumstances which might suit with those Ages that did exceed ours , and with those Things wherein they did exceed them , and with no other Age nor Thing besides ; I did at last please my self , that I had found these Circumstances ; and in setting them down , I took Care , neither to be deceived my self , nor ( as I hope ) to deceive any Body else .

But what shall be said to those numerous Deluges , which , no Body knows how many Ages before that of Noah , or before one another , are said to have carried away all Mankind , except here and there a Couple of ignorant Salvages , who got to some high Mountain , and from thence afterwards replenished the Earth ? This Hypothesis ( as these Men call it ) is so very precarious , that there needs nothing to be replied , but only that it is as easily dis-proved by denying , as affirmed by asserting , since no Records nor Traditions of the Memory of the Facts are pretended ; and something easier , because it may be demonstrably proved , that a general Flood cannot be effected without a Miracle . Now , partial Deluges are not sufficient : If one Country be destroyed , another is preserved ; and if the People of that Country have Learning among them , they will also have a Tradition , that it once was in the other Countries too , which are now dis-peopled .

Upwards of the Age of Hippocrates , Knowledge may be traced to its several Sources : But of any great Matters done before Moses , there are no sort of Foot-steps remaining , which do not , by their Contradictions , betray their Falshood ; setting those aside which Moses himself has preserved . There is Reason to suppose that Invasions of Barbarous Enemies were anciently of the same Nature , as they have been since ; that is , they might possibly make entire Conquests of the Countries which were so invaded ; but we cannot suppose that any of these pretended Ante-Mosaical Conquests , of which we are now speaking , made a greater Alteration than that which the Goths and Vandals made in the Roman Empire ; that which the Saracens first , and the Turks afterwards made in the Greek ; or that of the Tartars in China . The Goths and Vandals had no Learning of their own ; and if we consider Politeness of Manners , and nothing else , they seem truly to have deserved the Name of Barbarous : They therefore took some of the Roman Learning , as much as they thought was for their Turn , the Memory whereof can never be said to have been quite extinct during the whole Course of those ignorant Ages , which succeeded , and were the Effects of their Conquests . The Saxons in England , being taught by the British Refugees , who planted themselves in Ireland , and from thence , by the Way of Scotland ▪ came by degrees back again into their own Country , had as much , if not more Learning than any of their Europaean Neighbours . The Saracens applied themselves to Learning in earnest , as soon as the Rage of their first Wars was over ; and resolving to make theirs a compleat Conquest , robbed the Greeks of their Knowledge as soon as they had possessed themselves of the most valuable Parts of their Empire . The Turks learnt enough , not to be thought illiterate , though less proportionably than any of the forementioned Conquerors : They can write and read ; they preserve some rude Annals of their own Exploits , and general Memorials , it matters not how imperfect , of precedent Times : And they lose none of the Mechanical Arts which they found in the Countries where they came , since they either work themselves , or employ others that shall ; which , to the present Purpose , is all a case . The Tartars have , since their Conquest , incorporated themselves with the Chineses , and are now become one People , only preserving the Authority still in their own Hands .

In all these Instances one may observe , that how barbarous soever these several Conquerors were when first they came into a Civilized Country , they , in Time , learnt so much at least of the Arts and Sciences of the People whom they had subdued , as served them for the necessary Uses of Life ; and thought it not beneath them to be instructed by those to whom they gave Laws . Wherefore there is Reason to believe , that since Mankind has always been of the same Make , former Conquests would have produced the same Effects , as we see later ones have done . In short , We cannot say that ever any one Invention of Universal Use has been laid aside , unless some other of greater , and more general Use has come in the Room of it , or the Conquerors took it away , for some Political Reason , either letting it totally die , or supplying it with something else , which to them seemed a valuable Equivalent . Have any of these Conquerors , since Tubal-Cain's Time , once suffered the Use of Metals , Iron for Instance , or Gold , to be lost in the World ? Have Letters been ever lost , since the Time of that first Cadmus , whoever he was , that found them out ? Or was Mankind ever put to the Trouble of inventing them a second Time ? Have the Arts of Planting , of Weaving , or of Building , been at any Time intermitted ? Does any Man believe that the Use of the Load-Stone will ever be forgotten ? Are the Turks so barbarous , or so spightful to themselves , that they will not use Gun-powder , because it was taught them by Christians ? Does not Garçilasso de la Vega inform us , that the Peruvians would have worshipped the Spaniards as Gods , if their Cruelties had not soon led these harmless People to take them to be something else , because they taught them the Use of Iron and Looking-Glasses ? ( Whence we may be sure that this innocent and honest Nation never had Learning amongst them before . ) Do not we find that they and the Mexicans , in a Compass of Four or Five Hundred Years , which is the utmost Period of the Duration of either of their Empires , went on still improving ? As the whole New World would , probably , have done in not many Ages , if these two mighty Nations had extended their Conquests , or if new Empires had arisen , even though the Spaniards had never come among them ; since those two Empires of Mexico and Peru , which were the only considerable Civilized Governments in America , got constant Ground of their Enemies ; having the same Advantages over them , as formed Troops have over a loose Militia . Or can we think that they would again have relapsed to their old Barbarity of themselves , when once they had been weary of those Arts , and of that Learning ( such as it was ) which then they had ? Mankind is not so stupid a Thing , but if they do at any Time find out what may do them great and eminent Service , they will learn it , and make use of it , without enquiring who it is they learn it of , or taking a Prejudice at the Thing , because , perhaps , they may be indebted to an Enemy for it . Barbarous and Polite are Words which rather referr to Matters of Breeding and Elegance , than of Sound Judgment , or Common Sense ; which first shew themselves in making Provision for Things of Convenience , and evident Interest , wherein Men scarce ever commit palpable Mistakes . So that it seems unaccountable that the History of Learning and Arts should be of so confessedly late a Date , if the Things themselves had been very many Ages older ; much more if the World had been Eternal .

Besides these , I had a Third Reason to engage me to this Undertaking ; which was , the Pleasure and Usefulness of those Studies to which it necessarily led me : For Discoveries are most talked of in the Mechanical Philosophy , which has been but lately revived in the World . Its Professors had drawn in to it the whole Knowledge of Nature , which , in an Age wherein Natural Religion is denied by many , and Revealed Religion by very many more , seemed highly important to be so far known at least , as that the Invisible Things of the Godhead may be clearly proved by the Things that are seen in the World . Wherefore I thought it might be Labour exceeding well spent , if , whilst I enquired into what was anciently known , and what is a new Discovery , I should at the same Time furnish my Mind with new Occasions of admiring the boundless Wisdom and Bounty of that Almighty and Beneficent Essence , in and by whom alone this whole Universe , with all its Parts , live , and move , and have their Being .

I had also a fresh Inducement to this Search , when I found to how excellent purpose my most learned and worthy Friend , Mr. Bentley , has , in his late Discourses against Atheism , shewn what admirable Use may be made of an accurate Search into Nature , thereby to lead us directly up to its Author , so as to leave the unbelieving World without Excuse .

But , after all that I have alledged for my self , I must acknowledge , that I soon found that I did not enough consider Quid valeant humeri , aut quid ferre recusent . The Subject was too vast for any one Man , much more for me , to think to do it Justice ; and therefore , as soon as I had drawn up a rude Scheme of the Work , I intended to have given it over , if the importunate Sollicitations of my very ingenious Friend , Anthony Hammond , Esq had not at last prevailed upon me to try what might be said upon it : And it was so difficult a Thing to me to refuse what was so earnestly pressed by a Person who was so very dear to me , and which in the present Case was a great deal more ; one , for whose Sence and Judgment , all that know him have so very particular a Regard , that I resolved at last , rather to hazard my own Reputation , than to deny his Request ; especially , since I hoped that it might , perhaps , give some Body else an Opportunity to compleat that , of which this Treatise is a very imperfect Essay .

I hope I need make no Apology , that a great Part of this Discourse may seem too Polemical for a Writing of this kind : But that could not be avoided , because the Argument it self has been so much debated . The ablest Men of the two opposite Parties are , Sir William Temple , and Monsieur Perrault : They are too great Men , and their Writings are too well known , and too much valued , to be over-looked . They cloath their Thoughts in so engaging a Dress , that a Man is tempted to receive all they say , without Examination ; and therefore I was afraid that I might have been accused of betraying my Cause , if , whilst I endeavoured to act the Part of a Mediator , and to give to every Side its just due , I had omitted what these two elegant Advocates had severally alledged for their respective Hypotheses .

What Censure the World will pass upon my Performance , I know not ; only I am willing to think that those who shall not agree to what I say , will grant that I have represented the Opinions of other Men with Impartiality and Candour , and that I have not discovered any Bigottry or Inclination to any one particular Side ; which will be a good Step to make them believe , that I shall not obstinately defend any one Position , which may hereafter be proved to be erroneous .