PART xin.

EPIC U RU S.
i
i
i
t
f
I
bulks of Stones did diverfly fwell out to the very Superficies. Whereupon Mountains came to] be made, and confequently Vallies, and Plains; muft needs have been between thern^ •
Soon after, about the Mountains and the Hills, and in the Valleys, and in the Fields grew up Herbs, Shrubs, Trees, almoft in the fame man¬ ner, as Feathers, Hair, Bridles, about the Bo¬ dies and Members of Birds and Beads.
But as concerning Animals themfelves, k is likely that the Earth, retaining this new genital Seed, brought out of it felf fome little bubbles, in the likenefs of little Wombs, and thefe when they grew mature (Nature fo compelling,) broke, and put forth young little Creatures. Then the Earth it felf did abound in a kind of Humor, like to Milk, with which Aliment living Creatures were nourilhed.
Which Creatures were fo framed, that they had all parts neceffary for nutrition, and all other ufes. For as when EJil^s forfakes the ’ Fields, and the Earth beginneth to grovy dry, through heat of the Sun, the Husbandman, tur¬ ning up the Glebe, finds feveral living Creatures, part begun, part imperfeft, and maimed ; fo that in the fame Creature one part liveth, the other is mere Earth : In like manner, amongd thofe fird efforts of the Earth, befidcs the liv¬ ing Creatures perfectly formed, there were fome produced, wanting Hands, Feet, Mouth, and other parts ; without which, there is no way to take nourifhment, or to live long, or to propagate their Kind.
What I fay of other living Creatures, I hold alfo iir Man, that fome little Bubbles and .Wombs, fticking to the Roots of the Earth, and warmed by the Sun, firft grew bigger, and by the aflidence of Nature afforded^ to .'Infants fprung from it a connatural moidur^, called Milk ^ and that thofe thus brought up, and ri¬ pened to perfection, propagated Mankind.
Two things 1 add ; One, that it is by no means to be allowed, what fome affirm, that at that time were produced Centaures^ ScyUaes^ ebimardes, and other Menders confiding of Parts, of different kinds. For how in a Centaur (for example,) could the Limbs of a Man, and of a Horfe be joyned together, when at the third Year of his Age, at what time a Child is hardly weaned, a Horfe i« in full vigor ? And at what time a Horfe languifheth with Age, a Man flou- rifheth in the prinlc of his Youth. .
The other. That in the Earth there were cre¬ ated new living Creatures, and more and greater than now, by more and more vigorous Seeds, and amongd thofe. Men too-, fo as that race of Men was more hardy, as confiding of greater and more folid Bones and Nerves : And fo at lad the Earth, her Seals being exhauded, like a Wnman too old to bear Children, left off to produce voluntarily fuch living Creatures. Whence it comes to pafs, that now Men are no where generated on this fadiion -, but both they, and other more greater and perfeft Animals, Ipring up only by way of Propagation.
C H A P. V.
Of the EiJJitudes in the World,
THere followeth a Quedion, V>^hether the World be Governed by it felf, or by the Providence of any Deity /
Fird ^erefore, we ought not to think, that the Motion of Heaven, or the Summer and Winter,Courfe of the Sun,orthe Eclipfe of the Sun and Moon, or the Rifing and Setting of the Scats, or the like, happen, becaufe there is fome Ruler oyer them, who difpofeth, and hath dif- pofed of them • and withal poflefleth Beatitude and Immortality ; for with felicity agree not Bufmefs, Solicitude, Anger, and Favour • thefe happen through Imbecillity, Fean, and want of external Help.
Neither ought we ( it being a tronblefome employment, and wholly averfe from a happy date,; to think, that the Nature which poflef- feth Felicity isiueb, as that (knowing and wil¬ ling,) it undergoes thefe Commotions or Per¬ turbations of Mind ^ but rather to obferve, out of refpeft to it, all veneration, and toufe fome kind of addrefe to it, fuggeding fnch Thoughts ' as out of which arife no Opinions contrary to Veneration.
.0 We diould rather think, that, when the VVorld was produced, there were made thofe Circumplexions of Atoms, involving themfelves -about one another, that from thence the Celedi. al Bodies being framed, there w«s produced iti them this neceffity, whereby they ^re moved in fuch a manner, and perform fufch periods ; and aftbr the fame manner all the red perform their -tasks,in order tb th e courfe of things once begun.
/And why ftiotdd we not rather think thus ? For 'Whether the World it felf is a God^ as fome conceive. What can beliefs quiet, than uncef- fantly to roll about the Axis, with admirable fwiftnefs -, But unlefs it be quiet, nothing is happy, dr whether there be fome God in the World, who rules, governs, confer ves the courfp of the Stars, the mutations of Seafons, the yiciffitude and order of things, who is pre- fent in all plaps, and at all times i and, how great foever is the variety, or rather innumera- bility of all particular things, is did rafted by fo m^y cares, by taking order that they be done ^his way, and no othet • indeed he is, as I before objefted, involved in bufinelTes troublefome and laborious.
Befides, tho it were but only fuppofed, that God doth not take care of things, Shall we not find, that all things happen no otherwife, than as if there were no Providence ? For fome fall out well, but the mod ill, and otherwife than they ought. To omit the reft, if Jupiter himfelf did Thnnder,or guide the Thunder, he ought at lead to fpare Temples, tho it were only not to give occafion^of doubting, whether it proceed from. Fortune, or Divine Ctounfel ; that is, all things, in a manner, holding on their courfe, as it was at fird begun.
This alfo is of no little weight, that they af- fert a fpecial Providence in relpeft of Men. For ( riot to repeat what J even now Hid, That a happy and immortal Nature cannbt be poflefs’d with Anger or Favour,) put cafe, That God
takes
57+