The veneration, wherewith Men are imbued for what they call Nature, has been a discouraging impediment to the Empire of Man over the inferior Creatures of God. For many have not only look'd upon it, as an impossible thing to compass, but as something impious to attempt.

A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Receiv'd Notion of Nature Made in an Essay, Address'd to a Friend (1686), 18–9