184 The Life and Work of John Ray, and
Stirpium Britannicarum,' which, after the 'Historia' and the
'Methodus,' forms the third laurel in his botanical crown,
being, as it was, the first systematic English Flora, and not
only remaining for many years the pocket-companion of every
British botanist, but acting also as the model for many similar
works. It is worth notice that in the Preface to this work
Ray, who never said what he did not earnestly believe, thanks
God and congratulates his country on the establishment of
religion, law, and liberty by the Revolution of 1688.
In the following year, 1691, Ray issued, in an elaborated
form, one of his earliest productions, 'The Wisdom of God
manifested in the Works of the Creation,' which, as I have
said, is considered by competent judges to entitle him to rank
as a theologian with Paley and Butler. It was remarkably
successful, having to be reprinted in the following year,
and reaching eleven editions in about fifty years. In it he
urges the study of Nature to be a pious duty, and one suited
to a Sabbath day, and suggests the probability that it may
be one of the main occupations of the endless Sabbath here-
after. He followed this work, in 1692, by his 'Three
Physico-theological Discourses concerning the Primitive
Chaos and Creation, the Deluge and the Dissolution of the
World,' dedicated to Archbishop Tillotson, the curate, son-
in-law and literary executor of his friend Dr. Wilkins. This
work contains much interesting geological speculation, based
upon a large number of carefully observed facts, and was also
very successful, reaching a second edition in the following
year, and a third in 1713.
In spite of increasing age and infirmity, at the urgent
suggestion of his friends, and particularly of Dr. (afterwards
Sir) Tancred Robinson, that he should undertake a Fauna
Anglica and a History of Fossils, he did, at the age of 66,
undertake a Synopsis of Quadrupeds and Serpents, which
appeared in June, 1693, having been apparently completed in
a year, and of which Dr. Pulteney says, "In this volume we
see the first truly systematic arrangement of animals since
the days of Aristotle." His classification is based upon the
digits and the teeth, distinguishing the Solidungula, Bunii-