P K E F A 'G r, , rz 
of working who created all things \ and this nray ferve as natural Arguments of his 
infinite Wifdom and Power. 
Mr. Horfley in his Britannia Romana, making a fort of Apology for that Work in 
his Preface, has thefe 'Words, which will not be amifs to quote for my prefent Purpofe. 
tl I have always looked on it as an Inftance of divine Wifdom, that it fhould be 
ie fo order’d that different Men have fuch different Taftes and Inclinations. By 
se this means the feveral Parts of Knowledge are* more cultivated: And I think 
<{ we owe our Thanks to any one, who will apply himfelf to the Study of any 
“ particular Thing ; though it feem minute, and may not fuit our Tafle or Inclina- 
s< tion to purfue it ourfelves. This gives us, at lead:, an Opportunity of knowing 
‘ e on eafier Terms what can be faid on that Subjedt.” 
It is always necefary that every Age Jhould labour to difcover fomething, and not 
fit down content with the Difcoveries of our Forefathers , for Experience Jhews the 
Knowledge of our Ancefiors dwindles away, and decays daily ; for fuch is the Nature 
of Fime, that it obfcures or defiroys the Knowledge of pafl Ages by the many wafieful 
Events which happen in a long Courfe of Tears, fuch as Fire, Rapine, Inundations, 
Lofs of the Liberties of Countries, and many other Things. But more than all thefe, 
the Change of Languages ajfebls our Knowledge ; for no Language continues the fame 
for many Centuries: Infcriptions indeed have continued fome Thoufands of Tears, but 
when the Languages are dead in which they are wrote, the Senfe of them by Ages 
becomes darker and darker, till at lafi they are utterly obfcure, as we find the mofi antient 
are, witnefs the Monuments of the antient Egyptians, the Rums of Perfepolis, and 
other mighty Ruins in many Parts of the World: So that we fee we cannot depend on 
the Kno wledge of the Antients as a perpetual Fund j we mufi, as Times go, gather 
what we can from them, and add to it as much as we can of our own, that we may 
keep up the Stock we have by adding fomething in the room of what muft hie vitably be 
loft -, for if we fit down content with what is already known, which is a Knowledge 
we are fare is decreafing every Day, we in a few Ages may know nothing, and be re¬ 
duced to a fiate equal to the wild Americans, fince we know that Europe itfelf hath been 
well nigh reduced to fuch a State, a few Centuries ago, by falling into a fuperfiitious 
[ b ] Lethargy * 
