Page:History of the Royal Society.djvu/371

 What ambitious Disquiets can torment that Man, who has so much Glory before him, for which there are only requir'd the delightful Works of his Hands? What dark or melancholy Passions can overshadow his Heart, whose Senses are always full of so many various Productions, of which the least Progress, and Success, will affect him with an innocent Joy? What Anger, Envy, Hatred, or Revenge, can long torment his Breast, whom not only the greatest, and noblest Objects, but every Sand, every Pebble, every Grass, every Earth, every Fly can divert? To whom the return of every Season, every Month, every Day, do suggest a Circle of most pleasant Operations? If the Antients prescrib'd it as a sufficient Remedy against such violent Passions, only to repeat the Alphabet over; whereby there was Leisure given to the Mind, to recover itself from any sudden Fury: Then how much more effectual Medicines, against the same Distempers, may be fetch'd from the whole Alphabet of Nature, which represents itself to our Consideration, in so many infinite Volumes!

I will now proceed to the weightiest, and most solemn Part of my whole Undertaking; to make a Defence of the Royal Society, and this new Experimental Learning, in Respect of the Christian Faith. I am not ignorant, in what a slippery Place I now stand; and what a tender Matter I am enter'd upon. I know that it is almost impossible without Offence, to speak of things of this Nature, in which all Mankind, each Country, and now almost every Family, do so widely disagree among themselves. I cannot expect that what I shall say will escape Misinterpretation, though it be spoken with the greatest Rh