The Religion of Nature Delineated William Wollaston (my reading book .TXT) 📖

if those Essenes in Josephus, who are said ἐπὶ μὲν Θεῷ καταλιπεῖν τὰ πάντα, “to leave all things to God,” excluded human endeavors, they must be much in the wrong. ↩

Ut siquis in domum aliquam, aut in gymnasium, aut in forum venerit, cùm videat omnium rerum rationem, modum, disciplinam, non possit ea sine causa fieri judicare, sed esse aliquem intelligat, qui præsit, et cui pareatur, etc.: “In the same manner as if anyone should come into a house or place of public exercise, or into any court of justice, and see everything in exact order and according to strict discipline; such a one could not think that all those things were done without a cause, but he would immediately apprehend that there was somebody at the head, whose commands were obeyed, etc.” (Cicero, De Natura Deorum.) ↩

Little things have, many times, unforeseen and great effects: et contra. The bare sight of a fig, shown in the senate-house at Rome, occasioned Carthage to be destroyed: quod non Trebia, aut Trasymenus, non Cannæ busto insignes Romani nominis perficere potuere; non castra Punica ad tertium lapidem vallata, portæque Collinæ adequitans ipse Hannibal: “Which neither the river Po, nor the lake Trasymenus, nor the city of Canna, famous for the overthrow of almost the whole Roman nation, could do; no, nor the African camp intrenched for three miles round, nor Hannibal himself who ventured to the very gates of Rome.” (Pliny the Elder, Natural History.) The whole story is thus related by the same author: Cato, being very solicitous that Carthage should be utterly destroyed, produced one day in the senate-house a ripe fig, which was brought from thence, and, showing it to the senators, asked them how long they thought it was since that fig was plucked off the tree? They all agreed that it was very fresh; upon which he told them that it was plucked at Carthage but three days before; so near, says he, is the enemy to our walls. And this was the occasion of the third Punic war, in which Carthage was utterly destroyed. ↩

While everyone pushes his own designs, they must interfere, and hinder one another. Ad summum succedere honorem Certantes, iter infestum fecere viai: “By striving to get to the highest dignity, they render the way very dangerous.” (Lucretius, De Rerum Natura.) ↩

Or is it not more likely, πιπτούσης οἰκοδομίας, τὸν ὑποπεσόντα ἀποθανεῖν, ὁ ποιὸς ποτ̔ ἂν ᾖ: “that when a house falls, he that it falls upon should be killed, what sort of a man soever he be (good or bad),” in Plotinus’s words (Enneads)? ↩

Something more than this we meet with in Targum Onkelos’s paraphrase, where it is said that, upon Moses’s prayer, (Exodus 9:33), מטרא דחוה נחית לא מטא על ארעא: “the rain, that was falling, did not reach to the earth.” Which same place, Rashi eplains after the same manner; [מטר] לא הגיע [ארצה] .ואף אותן שהיו באויר לא הגיעו לארץ: “The rain came not to the earth, and also that of it, which was in the air, did not fall to the ground.” (Commentary on the Torah.) ↩

In Lucian, τῶν πλεόντων ὁ μὲν βορέαν ηὔχετο ἐπιπνεῦσαι᾿ ὁ δὲ, νότον᾿ ὁ δὲ γεωργὸς ᾔτει ὑετόν᾿ ὁ δὲ κναφεὺς, ἥλιον: “Some of the sailors pray for a north-wind, and some for a south-wind; the countryman wishes for wet weather, and the fuller for sun-shiny.” (Icaromenippus.) ↩

Some have talked to this purpose. So Rabbi Albo says of some prophets and hasidim, “holy men,” שישנו הטבע או ישתנה בעבורם: “that they can alter the course of nature, or it will be altered for them.” (Sefer ha-Ikkarim.) So Rabbi Israel Aboab, that the good or evil which happens to a man in this world, by way of reward or punishment, אין זה רק במעשה הנם והוא נס נסתר יחשוב בו הרואה שהוא של עולם: “is not only by plain miracles, but also by obscure marks; as anyone may imagine, who sees the manner of the world.” (Menorat Ha-Maor III.) So Abravanel היכולת האלהי הוא משנה הטבעים בהשגחתו וכו׳: “It is that power of God which changes nature by his providence.” And accordingly in Seder Tefillah we find this thanksgiving: מודים אנחנו⁠ ⁠… על נסיך שבכל יום עמנו: “praise thee⁠ ⁠… for thy wonders which we behold every day.” ↩

What Seneca says of the Gods (in the heathen style), may be said of the true God. Nota est illi operis sui series: omniumque illi rerum per manus suas iturarum scientia in aperto semper est; nobis ex abdito subit, etc.: “Known unto him is the whole course of his works; the knowledge, of all those things which are to pass through his hands, is clear to him but obscure to us, etc.” (De Beneficiis.) ↩

Ὁ γὰρ ζωοπλάστης θεὸς ἐπίσταται τὰ ἑαυτοῦ καλῶς δημιουργήματα: “God, who formed all living creatures, understands his own works thoroughly.” (Philo Judaeus, Legum Allegoriæ.) ↩

Ipsæ nostræ voluntates in causarum ordine sunt, qui certus est Deo, ejusque præscientia continetur, etc.: “Our wills themselves may be looked upon as causes, the manner of which God certainly knows, and it is contained in his foreknowledge, etc.” (St. Augustine, The City of God.) ↩

Etsi quem exitum acies habitura sit, divinare nemo potest; tamen belli exitum video, etc.: “Though nobody can tell what may happen to the army, yet I see what the event of the war will be, etc.” And