Philofophers who beld, that Que and the • himself by that Exercise. To those who asked him, Why he did not find out a more commodious Place to eat in, than the open Street;' he made Answer, Because I am hungry in the open Street.' The Women Philofophers, who mixed with their Sect, mixed also with their Perfons, in all Places, without Reservation : And Hipparchia was not received into Crates's Society, but upon Condition, that she should, in all Things, follow the Ufances and Customs of his Rule. Thefe Philofophers fet a great Price upon Virtue, and renounce all other Discipline but the Moral: And yet, in all Actions, they attributed the fovereign Authority to the Election of their Sage, and above the Laws, and gave no other Curb to Voluptuoufness, but Moderation only, and the Prefervation of the Liberty of others. Heraclitus and Protagoras (forafmuch as Wine seemed bitter to the Sick, and pleasant to the Sound, the Rudder crooked in the Water, and straight when out, and fuch-like contrary Appearances as are found in Subjects) argued from thence, That all Subjects had, in themselves, the 'Causes of thefe Appearances; and that • there was some Bitterness in the Wine, which had some Sympathy with the fick Man's Tafte; and the Rudder fome bending Quality, fympathifing with him that looks upon it in the Water :' And so of all the reft, which is to fay, 6 That all is in all Things, and confequently nothing in any one; for, where all is, there is nothing." This Opinion put me in mind of the Experience we have, that there is no Senfe, or Afpect, of any Thing, whether bitter or fweet, ftraight or crooked, that human. Wit does not find out in the Writings he undertakes to tumble over. Into the cleaneft, pureft, and moft perfect Difcourfe that can poffibly be, how many Lyes and Falfities are there fuggefted? What Herefy has not there found Ground and Teftimony fufficient to make it embraced Jame Subject bad contrary Appearances. The purest Way of Speaking, capable of various Interpre tations. Diogenes the Cynic, in his Life by Diog. Laert. lib. vi. sect. 69. • Idem, ibid. fect. 58. Diog. Laert. in her Life, lib. vi. fect. 96, 97. " embraced and defended? 'Tis for this, that the Authors of fuch Errors will never depart from Proof of the Teftimony of the Interpretation of Words: A Perfon of Dignity, who would prove to me, by Authority, the Search of the Philofophers Stone, wherein he was, The Philofoover Head and Ears, engaged, quoted to me, phers Stone aplately, five or fix Paffages in the Bible, upon proved. which he said he first founded his Attempt, for the Dif charge of his Conscience; (for he is, by Profeffion, a Divine) and, in Truth, the Invention was not only pleasant, but, moreover, very well accommodated to the Defence of this fine Science. Obfcure Writings easily find Interpreters who do them Honour. By this Way the Reputation of divining Fables is acquired There is no Fortune-teller, if he have this Authority, but, if a Man will take the Pains to fearch him, and narrowly to pry into all the Folds and Gloffes of his Words, he may make him, like the Sibyls, fay what he will. There are fo many Ways of Interpretation, that it will be hard but that, either obliquely, or in a direct Line, an ingenious Wit will find out, in every Subject, fome Air that will ferve for his Purpofe: Therefore is a cloudy and ambiguous Stile in fuch frequent and ancient Ufe; let the Author but make himself Mafter of this, he may attract and imploy Pofterity about his Predictions; which not only his own Parts, but the accidental Favour of the Matter itself, may as much or more affift him to obtain. Let him, as to the reft, express himself after a foolish, or a fubtle manner, whether obfcurely or contradictorily, 'tis no Matter; a Number of Wits, fhaking and fifting him, will fqueefe out of it a great many Forms,; either according to his Meaning, or collateral, or contrary to it, which will all redound to his Honour: He will fee himself inriched by the Means of his Difciples, like the Regents of Colleges, by their Pupils and yearly Prefents. This it is which has given Reputation to many Things of no worth at all; that has brought several Writings in Vogue, and given them all Sorts of Matter that can be defired; one and the fame Thing receiving a VOL. II. thoufand A a thousand and a thousand Images, and various Confiderations, nay, even as many as we please, Hoau Homer came to be reckoned the Leader of all Generals. Is it poffible, that Homer could mean to fay all that we make him; and that he defigned fo many, and fo various Figures, as that the Divines, Law-givers, Philofophers, and all Sorts of Men who treat of Sciences, how variously and oppofitely foever, fhould quote him, and fupport their Arguments by his Authority, as the Mafter General of all Offices, Works, and Artisans, and Counfellor General of all Enterprises? Whoever has had Occafion for Oracles and Predictions, has there found sufficient to ferve his Turn. 'Tis a Wonder how many, and how admirable Occurrences, a learned Friend of mine has there found out in Favour of our Religion, who cannot easily be put out of the Conceit, that it was Homer's Defign; (yet he is as well acquainted with this Author, as any Man of his Time) and what he has found in Favour of ours, very many, anciently, have found in Favour of theirs. Do but obferve, how Plato is tumbled and toffed, every one thinking it an Honour to apply him to himself, and to fet him on what Side they please: They draw him in, and ingraft him in all the new Opinions the World receives; and, according to the different Courfe of Things, fet him in Oppofition to himself: Every one makes him difavow, according to his own Senfe, the Manners and Customs which were lawful in his Age, because they are unlawful in ours; and all this with Vivacity and Power, in Proportion to the Force and Sprightliness of the Wit of the Interpreter. From the fame Foundation that Heraclitus and this Sentence of his had, "That all Things had in them thofe Forms which we difcerned,' Democritus drew a quite contrary Conclufion; namely, That Subjects had nothing at all in them of what we find in them; and because Honey is fweet to one, and bitter to another,' he argued, That it was neither fweet nor • bitter.' The Pyrrhonians would fay, That they ⚫ knew "In Sext. Empir. Pyrrh. Hypot. lib. i. c. 23. w Idem, adverf. Mathem. p. 163. X knew not whether it is fweet or bitter, or neither the one, or the other, or both;' for these always aspire to the high Point of Dubitation. The Cyrenaics held, That nothing was perceptible from without, and that that only was perceptible, which internally touched us, as Grief and Pleasure; acknowledging neither Sound, nor Colour, but certain Affections only that we receive 'from them, and that Man's Judgment had no other • Seat.' * Protagoras believed, That what feemed fo to every one, was true to every one.' The Epicureans lodged 'all Judgment in the Senfes, and in the Knowledge of Things, and in Pleafure.' Plato would have the Judgment of Truth, and Truth itself derived from Opinions, and the Senfes to appertain to the Mind and • Thought.' ، Qur Knowledge commences and terminates in the Senfes. This Difcourfe has put me upon the Confideration of the Senfes, in which lies the greatest Foundation and Proof of our Ignorance: Whatfoever is known, is, doubtlefs, known by the Faculty of the Knower; for, feeing the Judgment proceeds from the Operation of him that judges, 'tis an Argument, that this Operation performs it by his own Means and Will, not by the Constraint of another; as it would happen, if we knew Things by the Power, and according to the Law of their Effence: Now all Knowledge makes its Way in us by the Senfes, they are our Masters: via qua minuta fidei Proxima fert humanum in pectus, templaque mentis". i. e. The nearest Path that Certainty can find, Science begins by them, and is refolved into them: After all, we fhould know no more than a Stone, if we did not know, that there is Sound, Smell, Light, Tafte, Measure, Weight, Softnefs, Hardness, Sharpness, Colour, Smoothnéfs, * Cic. Acad. Quæft. lib. iv. c. 7. lib. v. v. 103. A a 2 y Ídem, ibid. c. 46. z Lucret. nefs, Breadth, and Depth: These are the Platforms and Principles of the whole Structure of our Knowledge; and, according to fome, Science is nothing else but Sense: He that could make me contradict the Senfes, would have me by the Throat, he could not make me go further back : The Senfes are the Beginning, and the End of Human Knowledge. Invenies primis ab fenfibus effe creatam i. e. Of Truth, whate'er Discoveries are made, Let us attribute to them the leaft we can, we must, however, of Neceffity, grant them this, that it is by their Means and Mediation that all our Instruction makes its Way. Cicero fays, That Chryfippus, having attempted to extenuate the Force and Virtue of the Senfes, reprefented to himself Arguments, and fo vehement Oppofitions to the contrary, that he could not be fatisfied in • himself therein :' Whereupon Carneades, who maintained the contrary Side, boafted, that he would make Use of the fame Words and Arguments that Chryfippus had done, to controvert and confute him; and therefore thus cried out against him, O Wretch! Thy own Force has deftroyed thee.' There can be nothing abfurd to a greater Degree, than to maintain, that Fire does not warm, that Light does not fhine, and that there is no Weight nor Solidity in Iron, which are Notices conveyed to us by the Senses; neither is there Belief nor Knowledge in Man, that can be compared to that for Certainty. a Lucret. lib. iv. v. 480, 481,-484, 485. b Cic. Acad. Quæst. lib. iv. c. 27. Plutarch, in the Contradictions of the Stoic Philofophers, c. 9. I The |