8.

wandereth through dry places, seeking rest, and PART I. finding none, and returning into the same man, with seven other spirits worse than himself; it is manifestly a parable, alluding to a man, that after a little endeavour to quit his lusts, is vanquished by the strength of them; and becomes seven times worse than he was. So that I see nothing at all in the Scripture, that requireth a belief, that demoniacs were any other thing but madmen.

speech.

There is yet another fault in the discourses of Insignificant some men; which may also be numbered amongst the sorts of madness; namely, that abuse of words, whereof I have spoken before in the fifth chapter, by the name of absurdity. And that is, when men speak such words, as put together, have in them no signification at all; but are fallen upon by some, through misunderstanding of the words they have received, and repeat by rote; by others from intention to deceive by obscurity. And this is incident to none but those, that converse in questions of matters incomprehensible, as the School-men; or in questions of abstruse philosophy. The common sort of men seldom speak insignificantly, and are therefore, by those other egregious persons counted idiots. But to be assured their words are without any thing correspondent to them in the mind, there would need some examples; which if any man require, let him take a School-man in his hands and see if he can translate any one chapter concerning any difficult point, as the Trinity; the Deity; the nature of Christ; transubstantiation; free-will, &c. into any of the modern tongues, so as to make the same intelligible; or into any tolerable Latin, such as they were acquainted withal, that lived when

PART I. 8.

speech.

the Latin tongue was vulgar. What is the meaning of these words, The first cause does not necessarily Insignificant inflow any thing into the second, by force of the essential subordination of the second causes, by which it may help it to work? They are the translation of the title of the sixth chapter of Suarez' first book, Of the concourse, motion, and help of God. When men write whole volumes of such stuff, are they not mad, or intend to make others so? And particularly, in the question of transubstantiation; where after certain words spoken ; they that say, the whiteness, roundness, magnitude, quality, corruptibility, all which are incorporeal, &c. go out of the wafer, into the body of our blessed Saviour, do they not make those nesses, tudes, and ties, to be so many spirits possessing his body? For by spirits, they mean always things, that being incorporeal, are nevertheless moveable from one place to another. So that this kind of absurdity, may rightly be numbered amongst the many sorts of madness; and all the time that guided by clear thoughts of their worldly lust, they forbear disputing, or writing thus, but lucid intervals. And thus much of the virtues and defects intellectual.

CHAPTER IX.

OF THE SEVERAL SUBJECTS OF KNOWLEDGE.

9.

THERE are of KNOWLEDGE two kinds; whereof one PART I. is knowledge of fact: the other knowledge of the consequence of one affirmation to another. The Knowledge. former is nothing else, but sense and memory, and is absolute knowledge; as when we see a fact doing, or remember it done: and this is the knowledge required in a witness. The latter is called science; and is conditional; as when we know, that, if the figure shown be a circle, then any straight line through the centre shall divide it into two equal parts. And this is the knowledge required in a philosopher; that is to say, of him that pretends to reasoning.

The register of knowledge of fact is called history. Whereof there be two sorts: one called natural history; which is the history of such facts, or effects of nature, as have no dependence on man's will; such as are the histories of metals, plants, animals, regions, and the like. The other, is civil history; which is the history of the volun tary actions of men in commonwealths.

The registers of science, are such books as contain the demonstrations of consequences of one affirmation, to another; and are commonly called books of philosophy; whereof the sorts are many, according to the diversity of the matter; and may be divided in such manner as I have divided them in the following table.

Consequences from the accidents
common to all bodies natural;
which are quantity, and motion

Consequences from the qualities of bodies transient, such as sometimes appear, sometimes vanish, Meteorology .

Consequences
from the
qualities of
bodies per-
manent.

Consequences from the qualities of the stars

Consequences of the qualities from liquid bodies, that fill the space between the stars; such as are the air, or substances ethereal.

Consequences from the qualities of bodies terrestrial.

1. Of consequences from the institution of COMMONWEALTHS, to the rights, and duties of the body politic or sovereign.

2. Of consequences from the same, to the duty and right of the subjects.

Consequences from quantity, and motion indeterminate; which being the principles or first foundation of philosophy, is called Philosophia Prima.

Consequences (By Figure

PHILOSOPHIA

PRIMA.

Consequences from motion

and quantity determined.

from quan-
tity, and mo-

tion deter

(Consequences from the light of the stars. Out of this, and the motion of the sun, is made the science of

Consequences from the influences of the stars

Consequences (Consequences from the qualities of minerals, as

from the

stones, metals, &c.

Consequences from the qualities of vegetables.