the fame Meaning; from which their generous Antagonists inferred, they pretended that God is not to be known. As to the Creation, they taught "that as God is uncompounded, and a perfect,Unity, nothing "could proceed from him, but a Being uncompounded, and perfectly one as he is, "From this firft intelligent Being proceeds

a Succeffion of others, who, it feems, re"ceived from their Maker a creating "Power." This Syftem they invented to falve fome Difficulties, which they judged unfolvable in any other Hypothefis. They thought it abfurd to fuppofe, that the great God fhould have framed fo imperfect aWorld as this is, and they rather chose to afcribe its Formation to fome inferior Being or Beings. So far they all agreed; but in other Respects there were Variations in their Doctrine.

Some were for fuppofing (g) that the Angels who had framed this World were all good, and had done it with a View of communicating fome part of their Happinefs. They faw a Multitude of fpiritual Beings formed after the Image of the Almighty. They took them for Patterns, and endeavoured to print the fame Image on Matter, which is eternal, and a Compound

(2) Ibid. vid. & Hift. de Manes, T. II. p. 11.

of

of Good and Evil; but the Task proved above their Reach, and they made, against their Intention, Man that is a Compound of Good and Evil.

Other Philofophers taught, that among the Angels, who were all originally good, fome fell through Pride, grew wicked, and formed this World to fet up a Kingdom for themselves; and of this Number the Fa thers fay Saturninus was; but I think it poffible to prove, by their own Accounts, that this is a falfe Imputation. They make him fay," that feven Angels having feen a "Part of the Image of God, endeavoured "to imprefs it on Matter,but that they were

able to form only an Animal unable to "ftand, and which they left crawling on "the Ground. That the great God, feeing "this, could not fuffer his Image to be fo "abused, and gave to that Portion of Mat

ter, on which it was impreffed, the Form "and Faculties which Man hath." This is too much like the Syftem of the Creation by good Angels to mistake it for the other. Befides, they make him fall into a Contradiction, and fay, "that thofe only who are "good have received the Image of the

great God;" whereas in the former Part of their Account, they had given it as his Syftem, that Man remained on the Ground till the Almighty raised him. An Inconfiftency,

fiftency, which it is not to be fuppofed a Philofopher would have been guilty of. But the Herefiologifts were refolved to represent him as a Philofopher of the worst Kind, and a Genius of the loweft Clafs, and this they did at once,

What a Pity that the Writings of those unfortunate Men, called Heretics, are all loft. They might afford fomething curious, or even inftructive, and perhaps fome Facts concerning the Gospel and its Propagation. Had they been tranfmitted to us, probably feveral of their Enemies fhould not be deemed now the Prefervers of Truth, and the true Pillars of the Church. This they forefaw, and they were refolved to prevent it. Were there but part of the Heretical Works loft, Charity would make us fuppofe it happened by meer Accident; but that not one of them fhould be preserved, fhews, I think, a determined Refolution to destroy them, which Defign was but too well ex ecuted,

(To be continued.)

ARTICLE

ARTICLE XII.

Botanofophiæ varioris brevis Sciagraphia, &c. That is to fay,

An Effay on Botanics by Mr. Siegelbeck, M. D. and Director of the Medicinal Garden at Petersburg, 4to. p. 64. (a).

B

Otanics are a very ancient Science. Mr. Siegefbeck affigns in his Preface the feveral Periods to which it may be referred, and through which, from very weak Beginnings, it hath been brought up to the State of Perfection in which it is at prefent.

The firft Period begins at the Creation of the World, and takes up above 3500 Years, but what we know of it is confined to what we may learn from the Holy Scriptures. And as they barely mention the Names of the feveral Vegetables the facred Writers have Occafion to fpeak of, without adding any Description, their Account gives Room to many Difficulties, which the Authors who wrote on that Subject could not folve; witnefs Meurfus's Arboretum facrum; Levinus

(a) Journal Literaire d'Allemagne, T. I. Part I. p. 144.

Levinus Emnius's Treatife de Herbis Biblicis ; J. H. Urfinus's Pythologia Sacra; and Hitlerus's Hierophyticon.

f

It

The Improvements of the Greeks on Botanics make up the fecond Period. keeps almost equal Pace with the first, in Point of Obscurity. The Writings of the antient Greek Botanists, viz. Chiron the Centaur, Linus, Orpheus, Afclepias, Cratevas, Democritus, are loft; befides they confined themselves almoft entirely to the MedicoPharmaceutic Plants, and what they faid of their Qualities was grounded on what they had received from Tradition, rather than on their own Obfervation and Experiments. We have in Hippocrates the Names of about 230 Plants, which he thought fo well known, that he contented himself with barely giving their Names fo that at this Time it is not known what he meant by the Hippophaës, the Sefamoïdes, the Peplium, the Sylphium, the Tetragonum, &c. We may fay as much of Theophraftus, who has left us in the Dark, with respect to the greater Number of the 500 Vegetables named in his Work. Diofcorides, who is generally allowed to have been more exact, is yet fo fuperficial in his Descriptions, as to give fome, which may be applied to ten or twelve Plants. He even defcribes very VOL, III. PART, I. N dif