XXIV PREFACE. 



in the work, and of great use, I receive it, but deliver 

 it as doubtful.&quot; 



This, perhaps, will be illustrated by some of the 

 articles in the tenth century of this work,* in his 

 enquiry touching the &quot; transmission and influx of 

 &quot; immateriate virtues and the force of imagination,&quot; 

 where he thus begins : &quot; The philosophy of Pytha- 

 &quot; goras, which afterwards was, by the school of 

 &quot; Plato and others, watered and nourished. It was, 

 &quot; that the world was one entire perfect living crea- 

 &quot; creature ; insomuch as Apollonius of Tyana, a 

 &quot; Pythagorean prophet, affirmed, that the ebbing 

 &quot; and flowing of the sea was the respiration of the 

 &quot; world, drawing in water as breath, and putting it 

 &quot; forth again. They went on, and inferred, that if 

 &quot; the world were a living creature, it had a soul and 

 tf spirit ; which also they held, calling it spiritus 

 &quot; mundi, the spirit or soul of the world : by which 

 &quot; they did not intend God, for they did admit of a 

 &quot; Deity besides, but only the soul or essential form 

 &quot; of the universe.&quot; . . . With these vast and 

 &quot; bottomless follies men have been in part enter- 

 &quot; tained. 



&quot; But we, that hold firm to the works of God, 

 &quot; and to the sense, which is God s lamp, lucerna Dei 

 &quot; spiraculum hominis, will inquire with all sobriety 

 &quot; and severity, whether there be to be found in the 

 &quot; footsteps of nature, any such transmission and in- 



* See page 487. 



