To proceed to that which is next in order from GOD to fpirits; we find, as far as credit is to be given to the celestial Hierarchy of that supposed Dionyfius the Senator of Athens, the first place or degree is given to the Angels of love, which are termed Seraphim; the second to the Angels of light, which are termed Cherubim; and the third, and fo following places, to thrones, principalities, and the rest, which are all Angels of power and ministry; so as the Angels of knowledge and illumination are placed before the Angels of Office and domination.

To defcend from spirits and intellectual forms to fenfible and material forms; we read the first form that was created was Light, which hath a relation and correfpondence in nature and corporal things to knowledge in Spirits and incorporal things.

So in the distribution of days, we fee, the day wherein God did reft, and contemplate his own works, was bleffed above all the days wherein he did effect and accomplish them.

After the Creation was finished, it is fet down unto us, that Man was placed in the Garden to work therein; which work, fo appointed to him, could be no other than work of contemplation; that is, when the end of work is but for exercise and experiment, not for neceffity; for there being then no reluctation of the Creature, nor sweat of the brow, man's employment must of consequence have been matter of delight in the experiment, and

not matter of labour for the use. Again, the first Acts which man performed in Paradife confifted of the two summary parts of Knowledge; the view of Creatures, and the impofition of Names. As for the Knowledge which induced the fall, it was, as was touched before, not the natural Knowledge of Creatures, but the moral Knowledge of good and evil; wherein the supposition was, that God's Commandments or prohibitions were not the originals of good and evil, but that they had other beginnings, which Man aspired to know; to the end to make a total defection from GOD, and to depend wholly upon himself.

To pass on in the first event or occurrence after the fall of Man, we see, (as the Scriptures have infinite Mysteries, not violating at all the truth of the Story or letter,) an Image of the two Estates, the Contemplative State and the Active State, figured in the two perfons of Abel and Cain, and in the two fimpleft and most primitive Trades of life; that of the Shepherd, (who, by reason of his leifure, reft in a place, and living in view of heaven, is a lively Image of a contemplative life,) and that of the Husbandman: where we see again the favour and election of GOD went to the Shepherd, and not to the tiller of the ground.

So in the age before the flood, the holy Records within those few memorials which are there entered and registered, have vouchfafed to mention and honour the name of the Inventors and Authors of Mufic and works in Metal. In the age after the

Flood, the first great judgment of GOD upon the ambition of Man was the confufion of Tongues; whereby the open Trade and intercourse of Learning and Knowledge was chiefly imbarred.

To defcend to Moses the Lawgiver, and God's first pen he is adorned by the Scriptures with this addition and commendation, That he was feen in all the Learning of the Egyptians; which Nation, we know, was one of the most ancient Schools of the world for fo Plato brings in the Egyptian Priest saying unto Solon: You Grecians are ever Children; you have no knowledge of antiquity, nor antiquity of knowledge. Take a view of the ceremonial Law of Moses; you shall find, besides the prefiguration of CHRIST, the badge or difference of the people of GOD, the exercise and impreffion of obedience, and other divine uses and fruits thereof, that fome of the moft learned Rabbins have travelled profitably and profoundly to observe, some of them a natural, fome of them a moral sense, or reduction of many of the ceremonies and ordinances. As in the Law of the Leprofy, where it is faid, If the whiteness have overspread the flesh, the Patient may pass abroad for clean; but if there be any whole flesh remaining, he is to be shut up for unclean; one of them noteth a principle of nature, that putrefaction is more contagious before maturity than after and another noteth a pofition of moral Philofophy, that men abandoned to vice, do not so much corrupt manners, as those that are half good and half-evil. So in this and very many

other places in that Law, there is to be found, befides the Theological sense, much aspersion of Philofophy.

So likewise in that excellent Book of Job, if it be revolved with diligence, it will be found pregnant and fwelling with natural Philofophy; as for example, Cofmography, and the roundness of the World, Qui extendit aquilonem fuper vacuum, et appendit terram fuper nihilum; wherein the penfileness of the Earth, the pole of the North, and the finiteness or convexity of Heaven are manifeftly touched; fo again, matter of Aftronomy; Spiritus ejus ornavit Cælos, et obstetricante manu ejus eductus eft Coluber tortuofus. And in another place; Nunquid conjungere valebis micantes ftellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris diffipare? Where the fixing of the Stars, ever standing at equal distance, is with great elegancy noted. And in another place, Qui facit Arcturum, et Oriona, et Hyadas, et interiora Austri; where again he takes knowledge of the depreffion of the Southern Pole, calling it the secrets of the South, because the Southern Stars were in that climate unseen. Matter of generation; Annon ficut lac mulfifti me, et ficut cafeum coagulafti me? &c. Matter of Minerals; Habet argentum venarum fuarum principia: et auro locus eft in quo conflatur, ferrum de terra tollitur, et lapis folutus calore in as vertitur: and fo forwards in that Chapter.

So likewise in the perfon of Solomon the King, we see the gift or endowment of Wisdom and

Learning, both in Solomon's petition, and in GoD's affent thereunto, preferred before all other terrene and temporal felicity. By virtue of which grant or donative of GOD, Solomon became enabled, not only to write those excellent Parables, or Aphorifms concerning Divine and Moral Philofophy; but also to compile a natural History of all verdure, from the Cedar upon the Mountain to the Moss upon the wall, (which is but a rudiment between putrefaction and a herb,) and also of all things that breathe or move. Nay, the fame Solomon the King, although he excelled in the glory of Treasure and magnificent buildings, of shipping and Navigation, of service and attendance, of fame and renown, and the like, yet he maketh no claim to any of those glories, but only to the glory of Inquifition of Truth; for fo he faith expreffly, The glory of GoD is to conceal a thing, but the glory of the King is to find it out; as if, according to the innocent play of Children, the Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to the end to have them found out; and as if Kings could not obtain a greater honour than to be GOD's play fellows in that game; confidering the great commandment of wits and means, whereby nothing needeth to be hidden from them.

Neither did the dispensation of GOD vary in the times after our Saviour came into the world; for our Saviour himself did first shew his power to fubdue ignorance, by his conference with the Priefts and Doctors of the Law, before he fhewed his power to fubdue nature by his miracles. And the