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fured truth; which is, that there hath not been fince Chrift's time any King or temporal Monarch, which has been fo learned in all literature and erudition, divine and human. For let a man seriously and diligently revolve and peruse the succeffion of the Emperors of Rome; of which Cæfar the Dictator, who lived fome years before CHRIST, and Marcus Antoninus, were the best Learned; and fo defcend to the Emperors of Gracia, or of the Weft; and then to the lines of France, Spain, England, Scotland, and the reft, and he shall find this judgment is truly made. For it seemeth much in a King, if, by the compendious extractions of other men's Wits and Labours, he can take hold of any fuperficial Ornaments and shews of Learning; or if he countenance and prefer learning and learned men but to drink indeed of the true Fountains of learning, nay, to have such a fountain of learning in himself, in a King, and in a King born, is almost a Miracle. And the more, because there is met in your Majesty a rare Conjunction, as well of Divine and facred literature, as of profane and human; so as your Majesty standeth invested of that triplicity, which in great veneration was ascribed to the ancient Hermes; the power and fortune of a King, the knowledge and illumination of a Priest, and the learning and universality of a Philofopher. This propriety, inherent and individual attribute in your Majesty, deserveth to be expreffed not only in the fame and admiration. of the present time, nor in the History or tradition

of the ages fucceeding, but also in some solid work, fixed memorial, and immortal monument, bearing a Character or fignature both of the power of a King, and the difference and perfection of such a King.

Therefore I did conclude with myself, that I could not make unto your Majesty a better oblation than of fome Treatife tending to that end, whereof the fum will confift of these two parts; the former, concerning the excellency of Learning and Knowledge, and the excellency of the merit and true glory in the Augmentation and Propagation thereof the latter, what the particular acts and works are, which have been embraced and undertaken for the Advancement of Learning; and again, what defects and undervalues I find in fuch particular acts to the end, that though I cannot pofitively or affirmatively advise your Majesty, or propound unto you framed particulars; yet I may excite your Princely Cogitations to vifit the excellent treasure of your own mind, and thence to extract particulars for this purpose, agreeable to your Magnanimity and Wisdom.

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IN the entrance to the former of these, to clear the way, and as it were, to make filence, to have the true Teftimonies concerning the dignity of Learning to be better heard, without the interruption of tacit objections; I think good to deliver it from the discredits and disgraces which it hath re

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ceived, all from Ignorance; but Ignorance feverally disguised; appearing sometimes in the zeal and jealoufy of Divines; sometimes in the severity and arrogancy of Politicians; and fometimes in the errors and imperfections of Learned men themselves.

I hear the former fort say, that knowledge is of those things which are to be accepted of with great limitation and caution; that the aspiring to overmuch knowledge, was the original temptation and fin, whereupon enfued the fall of Man; that knowledge hath in it fomewhat of the Serpent, and therefore where it entereth into a man it makes him fwell; Scientia inflat: that Solomon gives a cenfure, That there is no end of making books, and that much reading is a weariness of the flesh; and again in another place, That in fpacious knowledge there is much contriftation, and that he that increaseth knowledge increaseth anxiety; that St. Paul gives a Caveat, That we be not spoiled through vain philoSophy; that experience demonftrates how learned men have been Arch-heretics, how learned times have been inclined to Atheism, and how the contemplation of second Causes doth derogate from our dependance upon GOD, who is the first cause.

To discover then the ignorance and error of this opinion, and the misunderstanding in the grounds thereof, it may well appear these men do not obferve or confider, that it was not the pure knowledge of Nature and Univerfality, a knowledge by the light whereof man did give names unto other

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creatures in Paradise, as they were brought before him, according unto their proprieties, which gave the occafion to the fall: but it was the proud knowledge of good and evil, with an intent in man to give law unto himself, and to depend no more upon GOD's Commandments, which was the form of the temptation. Neither is it any quantity of knowledge, how great foever, that can make the mind of man to fwell; for nothing can fill, much less extend the foul of man, but GOD and the contemplation of GOD; and therefore Solomon, fpeaking of the two principal senses of Inquifition, the Eye and the Ear, affirmeth that the Eye is never fatisfied with seeing, nor the Ear with hearing; and if there be no fulness, then is the continent greater than the Content: fo of knowledge itself, and the mind of man, whereto the fenfes are but Reporters, he defineth likewife in thefe words, placed after that Calendar or Ephemerides, which he maketh of the diverfities of times and seasons for all actions and purposes; and concludeth thus: GOD hath made all things beautiful, or decent, in the true return of their feafons: Alfo he hath placed the world in man's heart, yet cannot man find out the work which GOD worketh from the beginning to the end: declaring not obscurely, that GOD hath framed the mind of man as a mirror or glass, capable of the Image of the univerfal world, and joyful to receive the impreffion thereof, as the Eye joyeth to receive light; and not only delighted in beholding the variety of things and viciffitude of

times, but raised also to find out and discern the ordinances and decrees, which throughout all those Changes are infallibly observed. And although he doth infinuate that the fupreme or fummary law of Nature, which he calleth, The work which GOD worketh from the beginning to the end, is not poffible to be found out by Man; yet that doth not derogate from the capacity of the mind, but may be referred to the impediments, as of fhortnefs of life, ill conjunction of labours, ill tradition of knowledge over from hand to hand, and many other Inconveniences, whereunto the condition of Man is fubject. For that nothing parcel of the world is denied to Man's inquiry and invention, he doth in another place rule over, when he faith, The Spirit of Man is as the Lamp of God, wherewith he searcheth the inwardness of all fecrets. If then fuch be the capacity and receipt of the mind of Man, it is manifeft that there is no danger at all in the proportion or quantity of knowledge, how large foever, left it fhould make it fwell or out-compafs itself; no, but it is merely the quality of knowledge, which, be it in quantity more or lefs, if it be taken without the true corrective thereof, hath in it fome Nature of venom or malignity, and fome effects of that venom, which is ventofity or fwelling. This corrective spice, the mixture whereof maketh knowledge fo Sovereign, is Charity, which the Apostle immediately addeth to the former Claufe: for fo he faith, Knowledge bloweth up, but Charity buildeth up; not unlike unto that which he delivereth in

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