if a man applied himself ever so little
to the practice of such things, he would soon learn even the extent and
circumference of the whole earth, and how to measure it; but he did not
approve that a man should dive into the very bottom of this science, and
puzzle his brains with I know not what figures, though he himself was
expert in it, for he said he could not see what all those niceties and
inventions were good for, which take up the whole life of a man, and
distract him from other more necessary studies.

In like manner he was of opinion that a man should employ some time in
astronomy, that he might know by the stars the hour of the night, what
day of the month it is, and what season of the year we are in, in order
that we might know when to relieve a sentinel in the night, and when it
is best to venture out to sea, or undertake a journey, and, in short,
that we might know how to do everything in its proper season. He said
that all this was easily learnt by conversing with seamen, or with such
as go a-hunting by night, or others who profess to know these things; but
he dissuaded very much from penetrating farther into this science, as
even to know what planets are not in the same declination, to explain all
their different motions, to know how far distant they are from the earth,
in how long time they make their revolutions, and what are their several
influences, for he thought these sciences wholly useless, not that he was
ignorant of them himself, but because they take up all our time, and
divert us from better employments. In fine, he could not allow of a too
curious inquiry into the wonderful workmanship of the Deity in the
disposition of the universe, that being a secret which the mind cannot
comprehend, and because it is not an action acceptable to God to
endeavour to discover what He would hide from us. He held, likewise,
that it was dangerous to perplex the mind with these sublime
speculations, as Anaxagoras had done, who pretended to be very knowing in
them, for in teaching that the sun was the same thing as fire, he does
not consider that fire does not dazzle the eyes, but that it is
impossible to support the splendour of the sun. He did not reflect,
neither, that the sun blackens the sky, which fire does not; nor lastly,
that the heat of the sun is necessary to the earth, in order to the
production of trees and fruits, but that the heat of fire burns and kills
them. When he said, too, that the sun wa