SECT. XXIII.

Thefe are but the conclufions, and fallible difcourfes of man upon the word of God, for fuch I do believe the holy fcriptures; yet were it of man, I could not chufe but fay, it was the moft fingular, and fuperlative piece that hath been extant fince the creation; were I a Pagan, I fhould not refrain the lecture of it; and cannot but commend the judgment of Ptolemy, who thought not his library compleat without it.The alcoran of the Turks (I fpeak without prejudice) is an ill compofed piece, containing in it vain and ridiculous errors in philo fophy, impoffibilities, fictions, and vanities beyond laughter; maintained by evident and open fophifms, the policy of ignorance, demolition of universities, and banishment of learning; which hath gotten foot by arms and violence: this, without a blow, hath diffeminated itself thro' chrishanity

thro' the whole earth. It is not unremarkable what Philo first observed, that the law of Mofes continued two thousand Years without the leaft alteration; whereas, we fee, the laws of other, commonwealths do alter with occafions; and even those, that pretended their originál from fome divinity, have vanished without trace or memory. I believe, befides *Zoroafter, there were divers that writ before Mofes, who notwithstanding have fuffered the common fate of time. Mens works have an age like themselves; and tho' they out-live their authors, yet have they a ftint and period to their duration: this only is a work too hard for the teeth of time, and cannot perish but in the general flames, when all things fhall confefs their ashes.

* "Go to your natural religion

I.

Sherlock
SECT.

SECT. XXIV.

I have heard fome with deep fighs lament the loft lines of Cicero; others with as many groans deplore the combuftion of the library of Alexandria; for my own part, I think there be too many in the world, and could with patience behold the urn and afhes of the Vatican, could I with a few others recover, the perished leaves of Solomon. I would not omit à copy of Enoch's pillars, had they any? many nearer authors than Jofephus, or did not relish fomewhat of the

fable.

Some men have written more than others have fpoken; Pineda quotes more authors in one work, than are neceflary in a whole world. Oft thefe three great inventions in Germany, there are two which are not without their inconveniencies, and it is difputable whether

Pineda in his monarchia ecclefiaftica quotes

one thoufand and forty authors.

2u will they not destroy

one

whether they exceed not their use
and advantages. It is not a me-
lancholy utinam of mine own, but
the defire of better heads, that there
were a general fynod; not to u-
nite the incompatible difference of
religion, but for the benefit of learn-
ing, to reduce it as it lay at first in
a few and folid authors; and to
condemn to the fire those swarms
and millions of rhapsodies, begot-
ten only to distract and abuse the
weaker judgments of scholars, and
to maintain the trade and mystery
of typographers.

Antiquam inquirite

SECT. XXV.matrem.

I cannot but wonder with what exceptions the Samaritans could confine their belief to the Pentateuch, or five books of Mofes. I am ashamed at the rabbinical interpretation of the Jews upon the Old Teftament, as much as their defection from the New: and truly

p.140. Contrast of ancient &modern Italy Shensta

68 RELIGIO MEDICI,
it is beyond wonder, how that
contemptible and degenerate iffue
of Jacob, once fo devoted to eth-
nick fuperftition, and fo eafily fedu-
ced to the idolatry of their neigh-
bours, fhould now, in fuch an ob-
511
ftinate and peremptory belief, ad-
here unto their own doctrine, ex
pect impoffibilities, and, in the face
and eye of the church, perfift with-
out the leaft hope of converfion :
this is a vice in them, that were a
virtue in us; for obftinacy in a bad
caufe is but conftancy in a good.
And herein I muft accufe those of
my own religion; for there is not
any of fuch a fugitive faith, fuch an
unftable belie
as a Chriftian
as a
none that do fo oft transform them-
felves, not only into feveral fhapes of
Chriftianity, and of the fome fpecies,
but into more unnatural and con-
trary forms, of Jew and Mahomet-
an; who, from the name of Saviour,
can condefcend to the bare term of
prophet;