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THE MASCULINE BIRTH OF TIME; 



OR, THE GREAT INSTAURATION OF MAN S DOMINION 

 OVER THE UNIVERSE. 



To God the Father, God the Word, God the Holy Ghost, 

 I address my most humble and ardent prayers, that mind 

 ful of the miseries of man, and of this pilgrimage of life, of 

 which the days are few and evil, they would open up yet 

 new sources of refreshment from the fountains of good, for 

 the alleviation of our sorrows ; and also, that things divine 

 may not in this be prejudiced by things human, nor from 

 the opening up of the passages of sense, and the kindling 

 of greater natural light, any infidelity or darkness may 

 arise in our minds towards the mysteries of God : but 

 rather that, by the understanding cleansed and purified 

 from fantastic and vain ideas, yet wholly submissive and 

 subjected to the divine oracles, those things which are of 

 faith may be rendered to faith. W. G. G. 



TRANSLATION OF THE MASCULINE BIRTH OF TIME. 



OR, THREE BOOKS CONCERNING 

 THE INTERPRETATION OF NATURE. 



1. The Purification and Application of the Mind. 



2. The Light of Nature, or Method of Interpretation. 



3. Nature illuminated, or the Truth of Things. 



C. I. Legitimate Mode of Statement. 



I find, my son, that men in showing forth, and no less in 

 concealing the knowledge which they think they have ac 

 quired, have not acted in a spirit of good faith and of duty. 

 No less mischievous, though perhaps less shameful, is the 

 error of those, who, with good intentions but little wisdom, 

 are ignorant of the art and rules proper for setting forth 

 their several subjects. We do not intend, however, to 

 begin a complaint of either this perversity or ignorance in 

 the expounders of knowledge. Had they, by unskilful 



