The history of the Royal Society of London, for the Improving of Natural Knowledge / By Tho. Sprat.

  • Thomas Sprat
Date:
1702
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of the Royal Society of London, for the Improving of Natural Knowledge / By Tho. Sprat. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    35/470 page 13
    V ^OYAL SOCIETY. 13 it was impoffible for any thing of this Nature to- have profper’d : and in fo vaft an inundation of ig¬ norance,which carry'’d away with it the very grown and aged Trees themfelves (Thofe parts of Learning which had taken root,fo many Generations pail) it would have been in vain, to have committed any new plants to the ground. Such (Indies as thefe, as they mult receive incouragement from the Sove¬ reign Authority, fo they muft come up in a peace¬ ful time, when mens minds are at eafe, and their, imaginations not difturb’d, with the cares of pre¬ ying their Lives, and Fortunes. To go on therefore with the matter of Fad: Fla- Seri. VIIIF ving left that difmal Bloody Age, we come into a The Philofc- Courfe of Time, which was indeed far quieter : phj under But it was like the quiet of the night,which is dark the Church ■■ withall. The Bifhopsof Rome taking the opportu- of Rome. nity of the decay of the Roman Empire, had vvreft- eft from it fb many priviledges, as did at laft wholly deftroy it: and while it was gafping for life, forc'd it to make what Will, and Teftament they pleas’d. Being thus eftabliflfd,and making Rome^whoih name was Bill venerable, the Seat of their Dominion, they fbon obtain’d a Supremacy over the Weftera World. Under them for a long (pace together men lay in a profound deep. Of the Univerfal igno¬ rance of thofe times ,* let it fuffice to take the Tefti- mony of William of Malmshury, one of our antient Rnglijh Hiftorians, who fays. That even amongft the Priefts themfelves, he was a Miracle that could mi- derftand Latin. Thus they continued ,* till at laft, that Church adopted, and cherifh’d/ome of the Pe- ripatetick opinions,which the moft ingenious of the Moncks, ,
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