on Religion, which needed not its help, and which was only thereby made more tempestuous; while it might have been more fruitfully spent, on some Parts of Philosophy, which have been hitherto barren, and might soon have been made fertile.
But besides this, there have been also several other Professions, which have drawn away the Inclinations of Men, from prosecuting the naked and uninterested Truth. And of these I shall chiefly name the Affairs of State, the Administration of civil Government, and the Execution of Laws. These by their fair Dowry of Gain and Honour, have always allur'd the greatest Part of the Men of Art, and Reason, to addict themselves to them: while the Search into severer Knowledge has been look'd on, as a Study out of the Way, fitter for a melancholy Humorist, or a retir'd weak Spirit, than to make Men equal to Business, or serviceable to their Country. And in this, methinks, the experimental Philosophy has met with very hard Usage. For it has commonly, in Men's Censures, undergone the Imputation of those very Faults, which it endeavours to correct in the verbal. That indeed may be justly condemn'd for filling Men's Thoughts with imaginary Ideas of Conceptions, that are no way answerable to the practical ends of Life: But this, on the other side, (as I shall shortly make out) is the surest Guide, against such notional Wandrings; opens our Eyes to perceive all the Realities of Things; and clears the Brain, not only from Darkness, but false or useless Light. This is certainly so in the Thing it self: But the greatest Part of Men have still apprehended the contrary. If they can bring such Inquirers under the scornful Titles of Philofophers, or Scholars, or Virtuosi, it is enough: They pre-
