T 



142 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



CHAPTEK II 



Natural Theology with its Appendix, the Knowledge of Angeli and Spirits 



HITS having first seated the common parent of the 

 sciences, as Berecynthia rejoicing over her celestial 

 offspring 



&quot;Omnes coelicolas, omnes supera alta tenentes,&quot; 



we return to our division of philosophy into divine, nat 

 ural, and human; for natural theology may be justly called 

 I divine philosophy. Divine philosophy is a science, or rather 

 / I the rudiments of a science, derivable from God by the light 

 lof nature, and the contemplation of his creatures; so that 

 I with regard to its object, it is truly divine; but with re- 

 !gard to its acquirement, natural. The bounds of this 

 knowledge extend to the confutation of atheism, and the 

 ascertaining the laws of nature, but not to the establishing 

 of religion. And, therefore, God never wrought a miracle 

 /f to convert an atheist, because the light of nature is sum 

 s/I I cient to demonstrate a deity; but miracles were designed 

 1 for the conversion of the idolatrous and superstitious, who 

 acknowledged a God, but erred in the worship of him the 

 light of nature being unable to declare the will of God, or 

 assign the just form of worshipping him. Fox^as^the power 

 and skill of a workman are seen in his works, but noFhi^ 

 person, so the works of God express the wisdom and .om : 

 nipotence of the Creator, without the least representation 

 ojLJiis image. And in this particular, the opinion of the 

 heathens differed from the sacred verity, as supposing 

 the world to be the image of God, and man a little im 

 age of the world. The Scripture never gives the world 

 that honor, but calls it the work of his hands; making 

 only man the image of God. 2 And, therefore, the being 



1 JEueid, vi. 787. * Ps. viii. 3, cii. 25, et al. 



