CHAP. xilJ appendix to history, 95 



God are so secret as to be absolutely unsearcbablo to inan,^ 

 yet the Divine goodness has sometimes thought fit, for tho 

 confirmation of his own people, and the confutation of thosQ 

 who are as without God in the >vorld, to \vrite them in such 

 capital letters, as they %vho run may read them.*' Such are 

 the . remarkable events and examples of God's judgments, 

 though late and unexpected, sudden and unhoped for delive- 

 rances and blessings. Divine counsels dark and doubtful at 

 length opening and explaining themselves, &c. All which 

 have not only a power to confirm the minds of the faithful, 

 but to awaken and convince the consciences -of the wicked. 



CHAPTER XII. 



The Appendix of History embraces the Words of Men, as the Body of 

 History includes their Exploits. It3 Division into Speeches, Letters, 

 and Apophthegms. 



And not only the actions of mankind, but also their say- 

 ings, ought to be preserved, and may doubtless be sometimes 

 inserted in history, so far as they decently serve to illustrate 

 the narration of facts ; but books of orations, epistles, and 

 apophthegms, are the proper repositories of human discourse. 

 The speeches of wise men upon matter of business, Aveighty 

 causes, or difficult points, are of great use, not only for elo- 

 quence, but for the knowledge of things themselves. But 

 the letters of wise men upon serious affairs are yet mori* 

 sei^'iceable in points of civil prudence, as of all human speech 

 nothing is more solid or excellent than such epistles, for 

 they contain more of natural sense than orations, and more 

 ripeness than occasional discourses.: so letters of state affairs, 

 written in the order of time by those that manage them, 

 with their answers, afford the best materials for civil 

 history. 



Nor do apophthegms only serve for ornament and delight, 

 but also for action and civil use, as being the edge-tools of 

 speech, — 



" Secures aut mucrones verborum,"' 

 vliich cut and penetrate the knots of business and affairs ; 



* 1 Cor. ii. ^ * Epis. to the Ephesiana ii. ;uMi Habak. ii. ' 



** Cicero's Epis. Fam. ix. 



