I. iJ ' of Natural Philofophers d Lactantius,

firft that made enquiry afte natural Caufes.
Sect. I. That Water is thePrinciple of all things.
IN his difquifition of the Natural Caufes of thingSjhe conceived Water to be the firft Prin¬ ciple of all natural Bodies, whereof they confift, and into which they refolve. His Keafons (as de¬ livered by e Plutarch, and repeated by j Sto~ baus) thefe :
Firft, Becaufe Natural Seed, the Principle of all living Creatures is humid.^ whence it is proba¬ ble that humidity is alfo the principle of all other things.
Secondly , Becaufe all kinds of Plants dre nou- rifhed by moifture j wanting which, they wither and decay.
Thirdly, Becaufe Fire, even the Sun it felf and the Stars are nourifhed and maintained by Vapors proceeding from Water, and confequently the whole World confifts of the fame. Whence Homer fup- pofng all things to be engendrid of Water, faith,
’iiKSctvos yenaif rsTUitJa/.
The Oceari whence all things receive their Birth.
In purfuit ( g as Ariftotle faith) of this Opini- onpLQ aflTigned Water the loweft place, Wi//>?^(ac- cordingto h Seneca) that the whole Earth floats, and is carried above the Water, whether that we call the Ocean or great Sea, or any fimple moifture of another nature, or a moift Element. By this Wa¬ ter (faith he) the Earth is fufiained as a great Ship, which preffeth upon the Water that bears it
5
Nat.
13-
tip, becaufe the moft 7aeighry part of 1 he World ifheldhy the Air, zvhich is-fubtle and ^4 , * ^ Ariftotle to be explained, who i
laith, Lhales held, that the Earth being capable of fwmmingyefteth a r Wood or the like-, now of fuch things, none jwim upon Air, but upon Water.
Upon this ground it was that he held Watcr(as Laertius Pmh) to be the caufe of Earthquakes. ,
Thus k ScTiccd^ Hd Dolds thdt the Globe of the^
Earth is upheld by the JVater, and c err r ted as a^ Barque,andfloateth by the mobility thereofat fuch time as it is f aid to quake. One of hisReafons al- ledgedby / Seneca, is this, becaufe in all extra- > ordinary motions thereof fome new Fountains com- 6 monly iffued, which if they incline to one fide, and ’ fhew their Keel afidelong, gather Water -, which, if it chance the burden they bear be over weighty, raifet h it felf higher towards the right or left fide.
From the Teftimony of Homer, by which ThalesldiCCOxAm^ toPlutarch and fuftin Martyr) defended this Tenet ( that Water is the Principle of all things) it ismanifeft it was delivered, (tho’ imperfectly; by other Grecians before Thales - > . Plutarch m elfewhere producing this Authori- "ISmL > ty or n Hefiod. -
qusfl.
N.it. q:i.ej}.
6,
n Theogon,
IlavTuv (lira ar^l/Jisa, yspiT’~ -
Of all things Chaos was the firft. -
t Placit. hf. t. 3. f Eckg. Ptyj. I.
g Metaph.h. 2 t) Natnr. q:«eji. 6.6,
addeth, the greater part of ancient Philofophers being calledWater Chaos, from dif-
fufion. The Scholiatt of 0 Apollonius upon thefe words,
0 Argonaut. 4;
The Earth of Slime was made.
affirms Cciting Zeno ) that the Chaos, whereof all things were made at cor ding to Hefiod, was water, which fetling became Slime, the Slime condenfed into f olid Earth-, to which add this Teftimony of p j,
Orpheus, Athenagoras.
u
Of Water Slime was made.
^ This Opinion they borrowed from the Phceni- clans, with whom the Gratcians had a very anci¬ ent correlpohdence. Linus came from thence j Orpheushs.^ his Learning from thence ; as Thales is conceived to have done likewife, which ap¬ pears clearly in q Numenius, an ancient Philofo- q Porphyr. de pher,_ who cites the vew words of Mofes for this Opinion. The Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters. There is an eminent place in r Eu-ypyj^pay. e. febius to prove this; the divinity of the Phoeni- vangel. 1. 10. dans ajferts the Principle of this World to be a dark Spiritual Air, or the Spirit of dark Air, and Chaos troubled and involved in darknefs, that this was Infinite, and a long time had no bounds : but (^fay they) the Spirit being moved with the love of his own Principles, there was made a mix¬ tion, which nexure was called Love •, this zms the beginning of the produUion of all things', but the Spirit it felf had no Generation, and from this connexion of the Spirit was' begotten which
fome call Slime, others corruption of zmtery mi¬ llion, and of this w-cu made the Seed of all Crea¬ tures, and the Generation of all things.
Nor
t
6 T H A L^E S, _ Part L
f str.ih.iib.i-:,. Noi were the Indians ignorant of this, as Mcgaflhenes delivers their Opinion, f They are of the fame mind in many things, with the GrecuiJjS, as that the World had beginning, andl fhall have end •, that God its Maker and Gover¬ nor goes quite through it t^jhat all things had different beginnings, but that of which the World was made was Water.
The word ?rinciple, becaufe with Phi- lofophers it includes the efficient caufe, and confequently undeiitood fingly excludes the j reft, that being the moft Noble, hath given oc- cafion to fome to miftake Thales, as if by ac¬ knowledging no other Principle, he conlequent- ly accounted Water to be God •, but that Thales underftands by Principle only the material Caufe, we may eafily gather from Plutarch, t D l ^ condemneth Thales for confounding a rhiiof/i.i Principle with an Element, and for holding them to be both one^ whereas (faith he) there is great difference •, Elements are compounded,
. Principles are neither compounded, nor are any compleat Subjlance, and truly Water, Air, Earth, Eire, we term Elements, but Principles we call other Natures, in this refpeli that there is nothing precedent to them,whereof they are engendred.Eor otherwife, if they were not the frji, they would not be Principles, but that rather fhould be fo termed whereof they were made. Now certain things there are precedent, whereof Earth and Water are compounded, vii.The firji inform Mat¬ ter, and the form it felf and privation. Thales therefore errs,affirming Water to be both Element and Principle of all things. Thus we fee by Plu¬ tarch, that the objection can only be as to the name, not to reafon of the name -, for the diftin- £lion of Principle and Element being not ufedin that time, Thales hy Principle,mQ3Lnz nothing of the efficient caule, which is moft certain from Arijiotle. Thales, faith he, affirms Water to be the Principle : voherefore he held the Earth to be above the Water ■, perhaps he conceived fo, becaufe he faw that the nutriment of all things, is hu¬ mid, that heat it felf confifis thereof, and that every Creature lives thereby-, he held that of which things are made to be the Principles of all things, for thofe reafons he was of this Opinion, its alfo becaufe the Seeds of all things are of a hu¬ mid Nature, and Water is the principle of things * humid,
Se6:. 2. Of God.
Mmum^enullum faith. That SMes XoOxfm en- gm.' X quiring concerning the Deity, gave no cer-
dtifuphyf. i. z-tain account, but defined fever al times of delibera¬ ting to no cffebi. He feems to refleft upon the fame or a like Story to that which is reported of Simonides and Hieron.
But what the Opinion oE Thales was concern¬ ing Goi, may be gathered from two Apothegms cited by Laertius, repeated with this glofs by aSiTowat.$. ^ Clemens Ale xandrinus-, and what are Tiot thofe the flyings of Thales that are derived from hence. That God is Glorified for ever and ever, and he o- penly confejfes that he is calledKa,fLoy.varnf,he who knoweth hearts. E'or Thales being demanded what God was.ihat (faith he) which hath neither begin¬ ning nor end. Another asking if a Alan might do ill and conceal it from God. How, faid he, when a
Man that .thinks it cannot ? Men ought to think
(fays Z’ Cicero in his name) that the Gods fee 2.
all things.
He acknowledged the firit of Beings, and Au¬ thor of the World, afferting (according to Laer-. tins) that the moft ancient of all things is God, for he is not begotten that the faireft is theWorld, for it is his Work. This is confirmed by Cicero.
Thales the Milelian (faith he ^ ) who firft engui- n, j
red ffiito thefe things, faid, that Water was the or,
Principle of things, but that God was that Mind which formed all things of Water. If Gods may be without Senfe and Mind, why did he joy n the Alind to Water? Why Water to the Alind, if the Mind can fubjifi: without a Body ? Thus Cicero, who underftands Thales to intend the material Princi- ' pie to be co-eternal with the efficient ^ which Thales himfelf leems not to mean, when he de¬ clared God to be the firft of Beings. But that the Mens of Anaxagoras, for the annexing of which to Matter, he was lo much famed, was no more than what he borrowed from Thales, the words of Cicero make good.
He affirmed that God by the immutable De¬ cree of his Providence Governs the World. Tha¬ les ( faith Stobaus) being demanded what was moji ftrong, anfwered Neceffity, for it Rules all the World. Neceffity is the firm fudgmeilt and immu¬ table Power of Providence. Hither we muft like- wife refer what is cited under his name by the fame Stobaus, that the firji mover is immovable, which c Arijiotle hath borrowed from him, not owning the Author. ^ 7.
Something imperfeftly was before delivered hy Orpheus, concerning God, alledged by fl'C/f- ^ mens Alexandrinus and others j but as Cicero faid, gm.
Thales was the firji among the Grecians, whr made any Search into thefe things and that he brought it out of JEgypt, the Grecians them- felves deny not, e tor they acknowledge that t Herodot. they received the nam6s of their Gods from s- thence, and believed the JEgymians to be the firft, who looking up to theWorld above them, and admiring the Nature of the Univerfe, re- flefled upn the Deity.
Se£t. 3. 6f Demons.
T Hales (faith a Plutarch) wftZfPythagoras,.*
Plato, and the Stoicks that Daemons fo/. 1.8. are Spiritual Subjiances, and the Heroes Souls feparated from the Bodies, of which fort, there are two, good, and bad-, the good Heroes are the good Souls, the bad, the bad. The lame order b A- b Atoloi. thenagoras attefts to be obferved by Thales, rank¬ ing the-three degrees thus: Firft, that of -the Immortal Gods, next Daemons, thirdly. Heroes :
This was followed hy Pythagoras, that tffeGods were to be prejerred in reverence before Daemons Hero’s before Men. ’
He affirmed ( as Stobseus faith ) the World to be full of thefe Dzmons. This is thought the meaning of that of c Arijiotle, repeated by Ci-cDeAnm^ cero, + Thales thought that all things were full of Gods. The fame affertion Laertius afcribes Pythagoras, that all ihe Air is full of Souls,which ^ ^
are Heroes and Datmons.
This Opinion was afferted by the Greeks, be¬ fore the time of Thales, particularly by Hejiod ;
but