THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. 45 



manner of it may be contained or comprehended 

 within the narrow compass of human search. Not 

 without reason therefore it is feigned to corne of an 

 egg which was laid by Nox. Certainly the divine 

 philosopher grants so much. Eccl. iii. ] 1. &quot;Cuncta 

 &quot; fecit tempestatibus suis pulchra, et mundum tra- 

 &quot; didit disputationibus corum, ita tamen ut non 

 &quot; inveniat homo opus, quod operatus est Deus, prin- 

 &quot; cipio ad finem.&quot; That is, he hath made every thing 

 beautiful in their seasons, also he hath set the world 

 in their meditations, yet man cannot find the work 

 that God hath wrought, from the beginning even to 

 the end. For the principal law of nature, or power 

 of this desire, created, by God, in these parcels of 

 things, for concurring and meeting together, from 

 whose repetitions and multiplications all variety of 

 creatures proceeded and were composed, may dazzle 

 the eyes of men s understandings, and comprehended 

 it can hardly be. The Greek philosophers are 

 observed to be very acute and diligent in searching 

 out the material principles of things : but in the be 

 ginnings of motion, wherein consists all the efficacy 

 of operation, they are negligent and weak, and in 

 this that we handle, they seem to be altogether 

 blind and stammering: for the opinion of the Peri- 

 pateticks concerning the appetite of matter caused 

 by privation, is in a manner nothing else but words, 

 which rather sound than signify any reality. And 

 those that refer it unto God do very well, but then 

 they leap up, they ascend not by degrees : for doubt 

 less there is one chief law subordinate to God, in 



