TO THE MOST HONORABLE MAN

SIR JOSEPH WILLIAMSON

KNIGHT,

TO THE MOST SERENE CHARLES II.

King of Great Britain, France, & Ireland.

PRESIDENT

OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY

OF LONDON

Large drop cap 'D' at the beginning of the text block.

Not long ago, MOST HONORABLE SIR, the great and noble philosophers Porphyry and Iamblichus, Platonists by sect and Syrians by birth, visited me. Hardly two days had passed before I understood that some questions were being agitated between them, which have always seemed to me very difficult and obscured by great shadows. They were arguing about angels, about the soul, prophecy, providence, about the use of sacrifices and prayers; likewise about free will and the ultimate happiness of man.

Then I said to myself, Light from the East! Now at last, I trust, these shadows will be dispelled. The discussion had already proceeded quite far, and I saw that they agreed little with one another. Therefore, I advised them to refer such a noble controversy to some illustrious judge, whom they might find, by the consensus of the most learned men and the age, most suitable for such knowledge. Porphyry immediately addressed YOU, MOST DISTINGUISHED SIR.