A compleat history of the most remarkable providences both of judgment and mercy, which have hapned in this present age extracted from the best writers, the author's own observations, and the numerous relations sent him from divers parts of the three kingdoms : to which is added, whatever is curious in the works of nature and art / the whole digested into one volume, under proper heads, being a work set on foot thirty years ago, by the Reverend Mr. Pool, author of the Synopsis criticorum ; and since undertaken and finish'd, by William Turner...

THE PREFACE TO THE Wonders of Nature.

THE Impression which the Almighty hath made upon the se∣veral Pieces of the Creation, and diversity of Species, Figures, Lineaments, Properties, and Curiosity of Operation discernable in them, is enough to amuse and puzzle the Reason of the most Ingenious and Gigantic Atheist in the World: For can any Man in his right Wits and Senses conclude, that all these brave and curious Beings, made themselves; or, that they happen'd casually by a for∣tuitous Concourse of Atoms, and little Particles of Matter, acci∣dentally jumbled together? Men have lived now by Succession of Generations, several Thousands of Years in the World; and yet we never read, or heard of any of them, that ever saw a House built, or a Fly made, in this manner. We cannot bring the Herbs in our Garden, into the due Form and Mixture of a Sallad; nor prevail with our Labouring Cattel to come into their Harness, and draw in the Yoke; nor range Soldiers into their due Order, without the Exercise of Care, and the Discipline of a Superiour: And shall the whole Ʋniverse be filled with such Plenty and Varie∣ty of admirable Creatures, and those Creatures made with ad∣mirable Wisdom, and able to produce admirable Effects, and nothing but what is common and visible, and which occurs to our outward Senses, contribute and concur to the making of them. Fie upon such Stupidity and Bruitishness of Thought! I do here present the Reader, not with a Scheme of what is very com∣mon and obvious, Things that we may see and hear of every Day, every Way we go; but the Rarities of Nature, the most remarka∣ble Particulars of the visible Creation, the Archives and Treasury of this lower World, the Repository of Things more strange and wonderful than ordinary. And this I do on purpose to rouze and awaken the Reason of Men asleep, into a Thinking and Philosophi∣cal Temper; that if possible, when they will wink and sleep, and scorn to spend a serious Thought upon the Common Scheme of the World, they may startle at Extraordinaries, and wind up their Rea∣sons a little higher, upon the sight of Wonders. But this is not all I aim at; the Footsteps of the Divinity are so conspicuous in the Crea∣tion, that, methinks, 'tis very easie and natural for Human Reason

to climb the Porphyry-Tree, and ascend, as it were, by a Scala Coeli, from Earth to Heaven, from the Individuals here below, to the Su∣preme Creator and Architect above. And that Man that doth not improve his Faculties in this Case, is unworthy of that Rational Soul he is endowed with. And therefore I humbly request my Reader, to shake himself, and rub his Eyes, and look about him first of all, to see what Impressions of the Divine Attributes and Ex∣cellencies he can meet with, upon the several Beings in the World, and then fall down upon his Knees, in an humble and modest Ad∣dress and Adoration, to the Great, Wise, and Gracious Creator. The greatest Adversaries we have to deal with in this Case, are the Wits of the Age, some of Epicurus's Litter, who deny all Revelation and Scripture-Evidence, and take upon them to Philosophize upon the World, and so professing themselves to be Wise, they become Fools: For I am sure the Apostle was no Fool, when he tells us, The invisible Things of the Godhead may be visibly seen, by the Crea∣tion of the Things which are made. No, no, themselves, in the Judg∣ment not only of St. Paul, but even of the Heathen Poet, will be found faulty, through their Poverty of Wit, and their Beggarliness of Reason.

Tentat enim dubiam mentem Rationis Egestas, Ecquaenam fuerit mundi genitalis Origo. Lucret. p. 227.

And truly (as Bishop Fotherby saith, concerning his Athaeomastix) how the Reader will be affected in the Reading of this Book, I cannot tell; but myself in Writing of it, was no less affected than Tully, in Writing his De Senectute; being oftentimes so lively tou∣ched, that I never found in myself a more quick Apprehension both of God's incomprehensible Majesty and Goodness, and of Man's most contemptible Littleness and Baseness, than by this Contem∣plation of God in his Creatures; finding in myself the Truth of that in Tully, Est Animorum ingeniorumque pabulum, consideratio, contem∣platioque Naturae; Erigimur latiores fieri videmur, humana despicimus; cogitantesque supera, atque coelestia, baec nostra, ut exigna & minima contemnimus. Cic L 4. Acad. p. 38. The Contemplation of Nature is the Food and Nutriment of the Mind; it lifts up the Soul, and doth so brisk the Spirit, that our Minds seem to be more dilated and spread, as it were, into a Paraphrase, 'till at last we scorn Earth, and our own Studies here, as too little and narrow, and fall presenly upon the Consideration of Things more Divine and Heavenly.

This, Reader, is the Design of the following Collections, to glut and satiate the Mind with a Prospect of meer Nature, and to administer a fair Occasion for the raising of the Soul to Higher and more Lofty and Noble Speculations, the Study of Divinity, and the Glories of the Ʋpper World, which will please, and make us happy, without any Nauseousness, for ever and ever.