PREFACE
TO THE
READER.
HAVING given an account of this
whole Work in the first Chapter, and
of the method of either Book, whereof
this Volume consists, in their proper
places, there remains not much to be
said here to the Reader. This Theory
of the Earth may be call'd Sacred, because it is not
the common Physiology of the Earth, or of the Bodies that compose it, but respects only the great
Turns of Fate, and the Revolutions of our Natural
World; such as are taken notice of in the Sacred
Writings, and are truly the Hinges upon which the
Providence of this Earth moves; or whereby it opens
and shuts the several successive Scenes whereof it is
made up. This Englisb Edition is the same in substance with the Latin, though, I confess, 'tis not so
properly a Translation, as a new Composition upon
the same ground, there being several additional
Chapters in it, and several new-moulded.
As every Science requires a peculiar Genius, so
likewise there is a Genius peculiarly improper for every one; and as to Philosophy, which is the Contemplation of the works of Nature, and the Providence
that governs them, there is no temper or Genius, in
my mind, so improper for it, as that which we call a
mean and narrow Spirit; and which the Greeks call
Littleness of Soul. This is a defect in the first mako
of some Men's minds, which can scarce ever be cor
