SECT. I.

I Know not Whether or no it be a Prerogative in the human Soul, that, as 'tis itself a True and Positive Being, so 'tis apt to conceive all other things, as True and Positive Beings also. But, Whether or no this Propensity, to frame such kind of Idea's, suppose an excellency, I fear it occasions mistakes; and makes us think and speak, after the manner of True and Positive Beings, of such things, as are but Chimerical, and some of them Negations or Privations themselves; as Death, Ignorance, Blindness, and the like.

It concerns us therefore, to stand very carefully upon our Guard, that we be not insensibly misled by such an innate and unheeded Temptation to error, as we bring into the World with us. And consequently I may be allowed to consider, whether, among other Particulars, in which this deluding Propensity of our minds has too great, though unsuspected, an Influence upon us; it may not have impos'd on us, in the Notion we are wont to frame concerning Nature. For this being the fruitful Parent of other Notions, as Nature herself is said to be of the Creatures of the Universe; the Notion is so general in its Applications, and so important in its Influence; that we had need be jealously careful, of not over-easily admitting a Notion, than which there can scarce be any that more deserves to be warily examin'd, before it be throughly entertain'd.

Let me therefore make bold to enquire freely, Whether That, of which we affirm such great Things, and to which we ascribe so many Feats, be that almost Divine thing, whose works among others we are; or a Notional thing, that in some sense is rather to be reckon'd among our works; as owing its Being to Human Intellects.

I know, most men will be forestall'd with no mean prejudices against so venturous an Attempt; but I will not do Eleutherius the Injury, to measure Him by the prepossess'd generality of Men; yet there are two scruples which I think it not amiss to take notice of, to clear the way for what shall be presented you in the following Discourse.

And first, it may seem an ingrateful and unfilial thing, to dispute against Nature, that is taken by Mankind for the Common Parent of us all. But though it be an undutiful thing, to express a want of respect for an acknowledg'd Parent, yet I know not, why it may not be allowable to question One, that a Man looks upon but as a pretended one, or at least does upon probable grounds doubt, Whether she be so or no; and, 'till it appear to me that she is so, I think it my duty to pay my gratitude, not to I know not what, but to that Deity, whose Wisdom and Goodness, not only design'd to make me a Man, and enjoy what I am here bless'd with, but contriv'd the World so, that even those Creatures of his, who by their inanimate condition are not capable of intending to gratifie me, should be as serviceable and useful to me, as they would be, if they could and did design the being so; and you may be pleas'd to remember, that, as men may now accuse such an Enquirer, as I am, of impiety and ingratitude towards Nature: So the Persians, and other Worshipers of the Coelestial Bodies, accus'd several of the Ancient Philosophers, and all the Primitive Christians, of the like Crimes, in reference to the Sun; whose Existence, and whose being a Benefactor to Mankind, was far more unquestionable, than that there is such a Semi-Deity as Men call Nature: And it can be no great disparagement to me, to suffer on the like Account with 〈◊〉 good Company, especially, when several of the considerations that Justifie them, may also Apologize for me. I might add, that, it not being half so evident to me, that what is called Nature is my Parent, as that all Men are my Brothers, Act. 17. by being the Off-spring of God; (for the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of Aratus is adopted by St. Paul) I may justly prefer the doing of them a service, by disabusing them, to the paying of Her a Ceremonial Respect. But setting Allegories aside, I have sometimes seriously doubted, whether the Vulgar Notion of Nature has not been both injurious to the Glory of God, and a great Impediment to the solid and useful Discovery of his Works.

And first, it seems to detract from the Honour of the great Author and Governor of the World; that Men should ascribe most of the admirable things that are to be met with in it, not to him, but to a certain Nature, which themselves do not well know what to make of. • Tis true that many confess, that this Nature is a thing of His establishing, and subordinate to Him; but, though many confess it when they are ask'd, Whether they do or no? yet, besides that many seldom or never lifted up their eyes to any higher Cause, he that takes notice of their way of ascribing things to Nature, may easily discern, that, whatever their words sometimes be, the Agency of God is little taken notice of in their thoughts: And however, it does not a little darken the Excellency of the Divine management of things, that, when a strange Thing is to be effected or accounted for, men so often have recourse to Nature, and think she must extraordinarily interpose to bring such things about: Whereas it much more tends to the Illustration of God's Wisdom, to have so fram'd things at first, that there can seldom or never need any extraordinary Interposition of his Power. And, as it more recommends the skill of an Engineer, to contrive an Elaborate Engine, so as that there should need nothing to reach his ends in it, but the contrivance of parts devoid of understanding; than if it were necessary, that ever and anon a discreet Servant should be employ'd, to concur notably to the Operations of this or that Part, or to hinder the Engine from being out of order: So it more sets off the Wisdom of God in the Fabrick of the Universe, that he can make so vast a Machine, perform all those many things which he design'd it should, by the meer contrivance of Brute matter, managed by certain Laws of Local Motion, and upheld by his ordinary and general concourse; than if he imployed from time to time an Intelligent Overseer, such as Nature is fancied to be, to regulate, assist, and controul the Motions of the Parts. In confirmation of which, you may remember, that the later Poets justly reprehended their Predecessors, for want of skill, in laying the Plots of their Plays, because they often suffered things to be reduced to that Pass, that they were fain to bring some Deity 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 upon the Stage, to help them out.

(Nec Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus,) &c.

And let me tell you freely, that, though I will not say, That Aristotle meant the mischief his Doctrine did, yet I am apt to think, that the Grand Enemy of God's Glory made great use of Aristotle's Authority and Errors, to detract from it.

For as Aristotle, by introducing the Opinion of the Eternity of the World, (whereof he owns himself to have been the first Broacher) did, at least in almost all Mens Opinion, openly deny God the Production of the World: So, by ascribing the admirable Works of God, to what he calls Nature, he tacitly denies him the Government of the World. Which suspicion, if you judg severe, I shall not, at more leisure, refuse to acquaint you, (in a distinct Paper) why I take divers of Aristotle's Opinions relating to Religion, to be more unfriendly, not to say pernicious, to It, than those of several other Heathen Philosophers.

And here give me leave to prevent an Objection, that some may make, as if, to deny the receiv'd Notion of Nature, a Man must also deny Providence; of which Nature is the Grand Instrument. For in the first place, my Opinion hinders me not at all from acknowledging God to be the Author of the Universe, and the continual Preserver and Upholder of it; which is much more than the Peripatetick Hypothesis, which (as we were saying) makes the World Eternal, will allow its Embracers to admit; and those things which the School-Philosophers ascribe to the Agency of Nature, interposing according to Emergencies, I ascribe to the Wisdom of God in the first Fabrick of the Universe; which He so admirably contrived, that, if He but continue his ordinary and general concourse, there will be no necessity of extraordinary interpositions, which may reduce him, to seem as it were to Play After-Games; all those Exigencies, upon whose account Philosophers and Physicians seem to have devis'd what they call Nature, being foreseen and provided for in the first Fabrick of the World; so that meer Matter, so ordered, shall in such and such Conjunctures of Circumstances, do all that Philosophers ascribe on such occasions to their almost Omniscient Nature, without any knowledg of what it does, or acting otherwise than according to the Catholick Laws of Motion. And methinks the difference betwixt their Opinion of God's Agency in the World, and that which I would propose, may be somewhat adumbrated, by saying, That they seem to imagine the World to be after the nature of a Puppet, whose Contrivance indeed may be very Artificial, but yet is such, that almost every particular motion the Artificer is fain (by drawing sometimes one Wire or String, sometimes another) to guide, and oftentimes over-rule, the Actions of the Engine; whereas, according to us, 'tis like a rare Clock, such as may be that at Strasbourg, where all things are so skilfully contriv'd, that the Engine being once set a Moving, all things proceed according to the Artificers first design, and the Motions of the little Statues, that at such hours perform these or those things, do not require, like those of Puppets, the peculiar interposing of the Artificer, or any Intelligent Agent imployed by him, but perform their functions upon particular occasions, by vertue of the General and Primitive Contrivance of the whole Engine. The Modern Aristotelians and other Philosophers would not be tax'd as injurious to Providence, though they now ascribe to the ordinary course of Nature, those regular Motions of the Planets, that Aristotle and most of his Followers (and among them the Christian School-men) did formerly ascribe to the particular guidance of Intelligent and Immaterial Beings, which they assign'd to be the Movers of the Coelestial Orbs. And when I consider, how many things, that seem Anomalies to us, do frequently enough happen in the World, I think it is more consonant to the respect we owe to Divine Providence, to conceive, that as God is a most free, as well as a most wise Agent, and may in many Things have ends unknown to us: He very well foresaw, and thought fit, that such seeming Anomalies should come to pass, since he made them (as is evident in the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon) the Genuine consequences of the Order, He was pleas'd to settle in the World; by whose Laws the Grand Agents in the Universe were impower'd and determin'd, to act according to the respective Natures he had given them; and the course of things was allowed to run on, though that would infer the happening of seeming Anomalies, and things really repugnant to the Good or Welfare of divers particular Portions of the Universe. This, I say, I think to be a Notion more respectful to Divine Providence, than to imagine, as we commonly do, that God has appointed an Intelligent and Powerful Being, called Nature, to be as his Vice-gerent, continually watchful for the good of the Universe in general, and of the particular Bodies that compose it; whilst in the mean time, this Being appears not to have the skill, or the power, to prevent such Anomalies, which oftentimes prove destructive to multitudes of Animals, and other Noble Creatures, (as in Plagues, &c.) and sometimes prejudicial to greater Portions of the Universe, (as in Earth-quakes of a large spread, Eclipses of the Luminaries, great and lasting Spots on the Sun, Eruptions of Vulcan, great Comets or new Stars that pass from one Region of Heaven to another.) And I am the more tender of admitting such a Lieutenant to Divine Providence, as Nature is fancied to be, because I shall hereafter give you some Instances, in which it seems, that, if there were such a thing, she must be said to act too blindly and impotently, to discharge well the Part she is said to be trusted with.

I shall add, that the Doctrine, I plead for, does much better than its Rival comply with what Religion teaches us, about the extraordinary and supernatural Interpositions of Divine Providence. For when it pleases God to over-rule, or controul, the establish'd course of things in the World, by his own Omnipotent Hand, what is thus perform'd may be much easier discern'd and acknowledg'd to be miraculous, by them that admit, in the ordinary course of Corporeal Things, nothing but Matter and Motion, whose Powers Men may well judg of; than by those who think there is besides, a certain Semi-Deity, which they call Nature, whose Skill and Power they acknowledg to be exceeding great, and yet have no sure way of estimating how great they are, and how far they may extend. And give me leave to take notice to you, on this occasion, that I observe the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles, pleaded by Christians on the behalf of their Religion, to have been very differingly look'd on by Epicurean and other Corpuscularian Infidels, and by those other Unbelievers who admit of a Soul of the World, or Spirits in the Stars, or, in a word, think the Universe to be Governed by Intellectual Beings, distinct from the Supream Being we call God. For this later sort of Infidels have often admitted those matters of Fact, which we Christians call Miracles; and yet have endeavour'd to solve them by Astral Operations, and other Ways not here to be specified: Whereas the Epicureàn Enemies of Christianity have thought themselves oblig'd, resolutely to deny the matters of Fact themselves; as well discerning, that the things, said to be perform'd, exceeded the Mechanical Powers of Matter and Motion, (as they were managed by those, that wrought the Miracles,) and consequently must either be deny'd to have been done, or be confess'd to have been truly Miraculous.

But there may hereafter be occasion,See the III, the IV, and also the last Section of this Treatise. both to improve the things already said, and add others, to satisfie Theological scruples about our Hypothesis.

I formerly told you, that 'twas not only to the Glory of God, (as that results from his Wisdom, Power, an • Goodness, express'd in the World) that I suspected the Notion of Nature, that I am examining, to be prejudicial, but also to the Discovery of his Works. And you will make no great difficulty to believe me, if you consider, that, whilst Men allow themselves so general and easie a way, or rendring accounts of things that are difficult, as to attribute them to Nature; shame will not reduce them to a more industrious scrutiny into the Reasons of Things, and curiosity itself will move them to it the more faintly: Of which we have a clear and eminent Example, in the Ascension of Water in Pumps, and in other Phaenomena's of that kind, whose true Physical Causes had never been found out, if the Moderns had acquiesced, as their Predecessors did, in that imaginary one, that the World was Govern'd by a Watchful Being, call'd Nature, and that she abhors a vacuum, and consequently is still in a readiness, to do irresistibly whatever is necessary to prevent it: Nor must we expect any great Progress, in the discovery of the true Causes of natural Effects, whilst we are content to sit down with other, than the particular and immediate ones.

'Tis not that I deny, that there are divers things, as the number and situation of the Stars, the shapes and sizes of Animals, &c. About which, even a Philosopher being ask'd can say little, but that it pleased the Author of the Universe to make them so; but when we give such general Answers, we pretend not to give the particular Physical Reasons of the things propos'd, but do in effect confess we do not know them. To this I add, that 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 of impious to attempt, the removing of those Boundaries which Nature seems to have put and setled among her Productions. And whilst they look upon her as such a venerable thing, some make a kind of scruple of Conscience, to endeavour so to emulate any of her Works, as to excel them.

I have staid so long, about removing the first of the two scruples I formerly propos'd against my present attempt, that, not to tire your Patience, I shall in few words dispatch the second, which is, That I venture to contradict the sense of the generality of Mankind: To which I answer, That in Philosophical Inquiries, it becomes not a Naturalist to be so solicitous, what has been, or is believ'd, as what ought to be so; and I have also elsewhere, on another occasion, shew'd, how little the sense of the generality of Men, ought to sway us in some Questions: But that which I shall at present more directly reply, is, First, That 'tis no wonder, Men should be generally prepossest with such a Notion of Nature, as I call in question, since Education (especially in the Schools) has imbued them with it from their Infancy, and even in their maturer years they find it taken for granted, and imployed not only by the Most but by the Learnedst Writers, and never hear it call'd in question by any; and then it exceedingly complies with our Innate Propensity, to think that we know more than we do, and to appear to do so. For to vouch Nature for a Cause, is an Expedient, that can scarce be wanting to any Man, upon any occasion, to seem to know what he can indeed render no good reason of.

And to this first part of my Answer, I shall subjoin this second. That the general custom of Mankind, to talk of a Thing as a real and positive Being, and attribute great matters to it, does but little weigh with me; when I consider, that, though Fortune be not any Physical thing, but a certain loose & undetermin'd Notion, which a Modern Meta-Physician would refer to the Classis of his non Entia, yet not only the Gentiles made it a Goddess, (Nos te facimus, Fortuna, Deam, Coeloque locamus,) which many of them seriously Worship'd, but eminent Writers, in Verse and in Prose, Ethnick and Christian, Ancient and Modern, and all sorts of Men, in their common Discourse do seriously talk of It, as if it were a kind of Antichrist, that usurped a great share in the Government of the World; and ascribe little less to It, than they do to Nature. And not to speak of what Poets, Moralists and Divines tell us of the Powers of Ignorance and Vice, which are but Moral defects: Let us consider what things are not only by these Men, but by the generality of Mankind seriously attributed to Death, to which so great and fatal a Dominion is assign'd; and then if we consider too, that this Death, which is said to do so many and such wonderful things, is neither a Substance, nor a Positive Entity, but a meer Privation; we shall, I trust, the less believe, that the Feats ascribed to Nature do infer, that there is really such a Physical Agent as is suppos'd.

And now having, as I presume, clear'd our Enquiry, as far as 'tis yet necessary, [and 'twill be further done hereafter] from those Prejudices, that might make the Attempt be censur'd before it be examin'd, I proceed to the Inquiry it self; wherein I shall endeavour (but with the brevity my want of leisure exacts) to do these six things. First, To give you a short account of the great Ambiguity of the word Nature, arising from its various acceptions. Secondly, To shew you, that the Definition also, that Aristotle himself gives of Nature, does not afford a clear or satisfactory Notion of it. Thirdly, To gather from the several things, that are wont to be affirmed of, or attributed to, Nature, the received Notion of it, which cannot be well gathered from the Name, because of its great ambiguity. Fourthly, I will mention some of those Reasons, that dissuade me from admitting this Notion of Nature. Fifthly, I shall endeavour to answer severally the chief things, upon which Men seem to have taken up the Idea of Nature, that I disallow. And, Sixthly, I shall propose some of the chief Effata or Axioms, that are wont to be made use of, concerning Nature in general, and shall shew, how far, and in what sense I may admit them.

And here it may be opportune, to prevent both mistakes and the necessity of interrupting the Series of our Discourse, to set down two or three Advertisements.

1. When any where in this Tract I speak of the Opinions of Aristotle and the Peripateticks, as I would not be thought to impute to him all the sentiments of those that will be thought his followers, some of which seem to me to have much mistaken his true meaning; so (on the other side) I did not conceive, that my Design oblig'd me to inquire anxiously into his true sentiments, whether about the Origine of the Universe, (as whether or no it were selfexistent, as well as Eternal) or about less important Points: Since, besides that his expressions are oftentimes dark and ambiguous enough, and the things he delivers in several passages do not seem always very consistent; it suffic'd for my purpose, which was to question Vulgar Notions, to examine those Opinions, that are by the generality of Scholars taken for the Aristotelian and Peripatetick Doctrines, by which, if he be mis-represented, the blame ought to light upon his Commentators and Followers.

2. The Rational Soul or Mind of Man, as it is distinct from the sensitive Soul, being an immaterial Spirit; is a substance of so Heteroclite a kind, in reference to things so vastly differing from it as mere Bodies are, that since I could neither, without injuring it, treat of it promiscuously with the Corporeal Works of God, nor speak worthily of it, without frequently interrupting and disordering my Discourse by Exceptions, that would either make it appear intricate, or would be very troublesome to you or any other that you may think fit to make my Reader; I thought I might, for others ease and my own, be allow'd to set aside the considerations of it in the present Treatise: And the rather, because all other parts of the Universe being, according to the receiv'd Opinion, the Works of Nature, we shall not want in them Subjects more than sufficiently numerous, whereon to make our Examen. Though I shall here consider the World but as the great System of things Corporeal, as it once really was, towards the close of the sixth day of the Creation, when God had finish'd all his material Works, but had not yet Created Man.

SECT. II.

I. A Considering Person may well be tempted to suspect, that Men have generally had but imperfect and confused Notions concerning Nature; if he but observes, that they apply that Name to several things, and those too such, as have some of them very little dependance on, or connexion with, such others. And I remember that in Aristotle's Metaphysicks, I met with a whole Chapter expresly written, to enumerate the various Acceptions of the Greek word, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , commonly render'd Nature; of which, if I mistake not, he there reckons up six. In English also we have not fewer, but rather more numerous significations of that Term. For sometimes we use the word Nature, for that Author of Nature, whom the School-men, harshly enough, call Natura Naturans; as when 'tis said, that Nature hath made Man partly Corporeal, and partly Immaterial. Sometimes we mean by the Nature of a thing, the Essence, or that which the School-men scruple not to call the Quiddity of a thing, namely, the Attribute or Attributes, on whose score it is, what it is; whether the thing be corporeal or not; as, when we attempt to define the Nature of an Angle, or of a Triangle, or of a Fluid Body as such. Sometimes we confound that which a Man has by Nature, with what accrues to him by Birth; as, when we say, that such a Man is noble by Nature, or such a Child naturally forward, or sickly, or frightful. Sometimes we take Nature for an Internal Principle of Motion; as, when we say, that a Stone let fall in the Air, is by Nature carried towards the Centre of the Earth; and, on the contrary, that Fire or Flame does Naturally move upwards towards Heaven.

Sometimes we understand by Nature, the Establish'd course of things, as, when we say, that Nature makes the Night succeed the Day: Nature hath made Respiration necessary to the Life of Men.

Sometimes we take Nature for an Aggregate of Powers belonging to a Body, especially a Living one; as, when Physicians say, that Nature is strong, or weak, or spent; or that in such or such Diseases, Nature left to her self, will do the Cure. Sometimes we take Nature for the Universe, or System of the Corporeal works of God; as, when 'tis said of a Phoenix, or a Chimera, that there is no such thing in Nature, (i. e.) in the World. And sometimes too, and that most commonly, we would express by the Word Nature, a Semi-deity, or other strange kind of Being, such as this Discourse examines the Notion of. And besides these more Absolute Acceptions, if I may so call them, of the word Nature; it has divers others (more Relative) as Nature is wont to be set in Opposition or Contradistinction to other things; as, when we say of a Stone when it falls downwards, that it does it by a Natural motion; but that if it be thrown upwards, its motion that way is violent. So Chymists distinguish Vitriol into Natural and Fictitious, or made by Art, (i. e.) by the Intervention of Human Power or Skill; so 'tis said, that water kept suspended in a sucking Pump, is not in its natural place, as that is, which is Stagnant in the Well. We say also, that Wicked Men are still in the state of Nature; but the Regenerate, in a state of Grace: That Cures wrought by Medicines, are Natural Operations; but the miraculous ones, wrought by Christ and his Apostles, were Supernatural. Nor are these the only Forms of Speech, that a more diligent Collector, than I think it necessary I should here be, might instance in, to manifest the Ambiguity of the word Nature, by the many and various things 'tis applied to signifie; tho' some of those already mentioned, should be judged too near to be co-incident. Among Latin Writers I found the acceptions of the word Nature to be so many, that I remember, one Author reckons up no less than fourteen or fifteen. From all which 'tis not difficult to gather, how easie 'tis for the generality of Men, without excepting those that write of Natural Things, to impose upon others and themselves, in the use of a word so apt to be mis-imploy'd.

On this occasion I can scarce forbear to tell you, that I have often look'd upon it as an unhappy thing, and prejudicial both to Philosophy and Physick; that the word Nature hath been so frequently, and yet so unskilfully imploy'd, both in Books and in Discourse, by all sorts of Men, Learned and Illiterate. For the very great Ambiguity of this term, and the promiscuous use Men are wont to make of it, without sufficiently attending to its different Significations, makes many of the Expressions wherein they imploy it, (and think they do it well and truly) to be either not intelligible, or not proper, or not true: Which Observation, tho' it be not heeded, may, with the help of a little attention, be easily verified; especially because the Term Nature is so often used, that you shall scarce meet with any Man, who, if he have occasion to discourse any thing long of either Natural or Medicinal Subjects, would not find himself at a great loss, if he were prohibited the use of the word Nature, and of those Phrases whereof it makes the principal part. And I confess I could heartily wish, that Philosophers, and other Learned Men (whom the rest in time would follow) would by common (tho' perhaps Tacite) consent, introduce some more Significant, and less ambiguous Terms and Expressions in the room of the too licenciously abused word Nature, and the Forms of Speech that depend on it. Or would, at least, decline the use of it, as much as conveniently they can; and where they think they must imploy it, would▪ add a word or two, to declare in what clear and determinate sense they use it. For without somewhat of this kind be done, Men will very hardly avoid being led into divers mistakes, both of things, and of one another; & such wranglings about Words and Names, will be (if not continually multiplied) still kept on foot, as are wont to be manag'd with much heat, tho' little use, and no necessity.

And here I must take leave to complain, in my own excuse, of the scarce superable Difficulty of the Task, that the design of a Free Inquiry puts me upon. For 'tis far more difficult than any one that hath not try'd, (and I do not know that any Man hath,) would imagine, to Discourse long of the Corporeal Works of God, and especially of the Operations and Phaenomena's that are attributed to Nature, and yet decline making oftentimes use of that Term, or Forms of Speech whereof 'tis a main part; without much more frequent, and perhaps tedious, Circumlocutions; than I am willing to trouble you with. And therefore I hope you will easily excuse me, if, partly to shun these, and to avoid using often the same words too near one another, and partly out of unwillingness to imploy Vulgar Terms, likely to occasion or countenance Vulgar Errors; I have several times been fain to use Paraphrases or other Expressions, less short than those commonly received: And sometimes for one or other of these Reasons, or out of Inadvertence, miss'd of avoiding the Terms used by those, that admit and applaud the Vulgar Notion of Nature: whom, I must here advertise you, that partly because they do so, and partly for brevity's sake, I shall hereafter many times call, Naturists: Which Appellation I rather chuse than that of Naturalists; because, many, even of the Learned among them, as Logicians, Orators, Lawyers, Arithmeticians, &c. are not Physiologers.

But if on this occasion you should be very urgent to know, what Course I would think expedient, if I were to propose any, for the avoiding the Inconvenient use of so Ambiguous a Word, as Nature: I should first put you in mind, that, having but very lately declar'd, that I thought it very difficult, in Physiological Discourses especially, to decline the frequent of that Term; you are not to expect from me the satisfaction you may desire in an Answer. And then I would add, that yet my unwillingness to be altogether silent, when you require me to say somewhat, makes me content to try, whether the mischief complain'd of, may not be in some measure either obviated or lessen'd, by looking back upon the (Eight) various significations, that were not long since deliver'd of the Word Nature, and by endeavouring to express them in other Terms, or Forms of Speech.

1. Instead then of the Word Nature taken in the first sense, [for Natura Naturans,] we may make use of the Term 'tis put to signifie, namely, God; wholly discarding an Expression, which, besides that 'tis harsh and needless, and in use only among the School-men, seems not to me very suitable to the profound Reverence we owe the Divine Majesty; since it seems to make the Creator differ too little by far from a Created (not to say an Imaginary) Being.

2. Instead of Nature in the second sense, [for, That on whose account a Thing is what it is, and is so call'd,] we may imploy the Word Essence, which is of great Affinity to it, if not of an adequate import. And sometimes also we may make use of the Word Quiddity, which, though a somewhat Barbarous Term, is yet frequently imploy'd, and well enough understood, in the Schools; and, which is more considerable, is very comprehensive, and yet free enough from Ambiguity.

3. What is meant by the Word Nature taken in the third sense of it, [for, what belongs to a living Creature at its Nativity, or accrues to it by its Birth,] may be express'd sometimes, by saying, that a Man or other Animal is Born so; and sometimes by saying, that a Thing has been Generated such; and sometimes also, that 'tis thus or thus Qualifi'd by its Original Temperament and Constitution.

4. Instead of the Word Nature taken in the fourth Acception [for, an Internal Principle of Local Motion] we may say sometimes, that this or that Body Moves as it were, or else that it seems to Move, spontaneously (or of its own accord) upwards, downwards, &c. or, that 'tis put into this or that Motion, or determin'd to this or that Action, by the concourse of such or such (proper) Causes.

5. For Nature in the fifth signification, [for, the establish'd course of Things Corporeal] 'tis easie to substitute what it denotes, the establish'd Order, or the setled Course of Things.

6. Instead of Nature in the sixth sense of the Word [for, as Aggregate of the Powers belonging to a Body, especially a Living one] we may imploy the Constitution, Temperament, or the Mechanism, or the Complex of the Essential Properties or Qualities, and sometimes the Condition, the Structure, or the Texture of that Body. And if we speak of the greater Portions of the World, we may make use of one or other of these Terms, Fabrick of the World, System of the Vniverse, Cosmical Mechanism, or the like.

7. Where Men are wont to imploy the Word Nature in the seventh sense [for, the Vniverse, or the Systeme of the Corporeal Works of God] 'tis easie, and as short, to make use of the Word World or Vniverse; and instead of the Phaenomena of Nature to substitute the Phaenomena of the Vniverse, or of the World.

8. And, as for the Word Nature taken in the eighth and last of the fore-mention'd Acceptions [for, either (as some Pagans styl'd Her) a Goddess, or a kind of Semi-Deity] the best way is not to imploy it in that sense at all; or at least as seldom as may be, and that for divers Reasons, which may in due place be met with in several Parts of this Essay.

But though the foregoing Diversity of Terms and Phrases may be much increas'd, yet I confess it makes but a part of the Remedy, I propose, against the future mischiefs of the confus'd Acception of the Word Nature, and the Phrases grounded on it. For besides the Synonymous Words, and more literal Interpretations lately propos'd, a dextrous Writer may oftentimes be able to give such a Form (or, as the Modern Frenchmen speak, such a Tour) to his manyways variable Expressions, as to avoid the necessity of making use of the Word Nature; or sometimes so much as of those shorter Terms, that have been lately substituted in its place. And to all this I must add, that though one or two of the eight fore-mention'd Terms or Phrases, as Quiddity and Cosmical Mechanism, be Barbarous or Ungenteel; and some other expressions be less short than the Word Nature: Yet 'tis more the Interest of Philosophy to tolerate a harsh Term, that has been long received in the Schools in a determinate sense, and bear with some Paraphrastical Expressions, than not to avoid an Ambiguity that is liable to such great inconveniences as have been lately, or may be hereafter, represented.

There are, I know, some Learned Men, who, (perhaps being startled to find Nature usually spoken of so much like a kind of Goddess,) will have the Nature of every thing, to be only the Law that it receives from the Creator, and according to which it acts on all occasions. And this Opinion seems much of kin to, if not the same with, that of the famous Helmont, who justly rejecting the Aristotelian Tenent of the Contrariety or Hostility of the Elements, will have every Body, without any such respect, to act that which 'tis commanded to act. And indeed this Opinion about Nature, though neither clear nor comprehensive enough, seems capable of a fair Construction. And there is oftentimes some resemblance between the orderly and regular Motions of inanimate Bodies, and the Actions of Agents, that, in what they do act, conformably to Laws. And even I sometimes scruple not, to speak of the Laws of Motion and Rest, that God has establish'd among things Corporeal, and now and then, (for brevities sake, or out of Custom) to call them, as Men are wont to do, the Laws of Nature: Having in due place declar'd, in what sense I understand and imploy these Expressions.

But to speak strictly, (as becomes Philosophers in so weighty a matter) to say that the Nature of this or that Body, is but the Law of God prescrib'd to it, is but an improper and figurative Expression. For, besides that this gives us but a very defective Idea of Nature, since it omits the general Fabrick of the World, and the Contrivances of particular Bodies, which yet are as well necessary as Local Motion itself, to the production of particular Effects and Phaenomena's; besides this, I say, and other imperfections of this Notion of Nature, that I shall not here insist on, I must freely observe, that, to speak properly, a Law being but a Notional Rule of Acting according to the declar'd Will of a Superior, 'tis plain, that nothing but an Intellectual Being can be properly capable of receiving and acting by a Law. For if it does not understand, it cannot know what the Will of the Legislator is; nor can it have any Intention to accomplish it, nor can it act with regard to it; or know, when it does, in Acting, either conform to it or deviate from it. And 'tis intelligible to me, that God should at the Beginning impress determinate Motions upon the Parts of Matter, and guide them, as he thought requisite, for the Primordial Constitution of Things: and that ever since he should, by his ordinary and general Concourse, maintain those Powers, which he gave the Parts of Matter, to transmit their Motion thus and thus to one another. But I cannot conceive, how a Body, devoid of understanding and sense, truly so call'd, can moderate and determine its own Motions; especially so, as to make them conformable to Laws, that it has no knowledg or apprehension of. And that Inanimate Bodies, how strictly soever call'd Natural, do properly act by Laws, cannot be evinc'd by their sometimes acting Regularly, and, as Men think, in order to determinate Ends: Since in Artificial things we see many Motions very orderly perform'd, and with a manifest Tendency to particular and pre-design'd Ends; as in a Watch, the Motions of the Spring, Wheels and other parts, are so contemperated and regulated, that the Hand upon the Dyal moves with a great Uniformity, and seems to moderate its Motion, so as not to arrive at the Points, that denote the time of the day, either a minute sooner, or a minute later, than it should do, to declare the hour. And when a Man shoots an Arrow at a Mark, so as to hit it, though the Arrow moves towards the Mark, as it would if it could and did design to strike it, yet none will say, that this Arrow moves by a Law, but by an External, tho' well directed, Impulse.

SECT. III.

II. BUT possibly the Definition of a Philosopher may exempt us from the perplexities, to which the Ambiguous expressions of common Writers expose us. I therefore thought fit to to consider, with a somewhat more than ordinary attention, the Famous Definition of Nature that is left us by Aristotle, which I shall recite rather in Latin than in English, not only because 'tis very familiarly known among Scholars, in that Language, but because there is somewhat in it, that I confess seems difficult to me, to be without Circumlocution render'd intelligibly in English: Natura (says He) est Principium & causa Motus & Quietis ejus,2 Phys. c. 1. l. 3. in quo inest, primo per se, & non secundum accidens. But though when I consider'd that according to Aristotle, the whole World is but a System of the Works of Nature; I thought it might well be expected, that the Definition of a thing, the most important in Natural Philosophy, should be clearly and accurately deliver'd; yet to me this celebrated Definition seem'd so dark, that I cannot brag of any assistance I received from it, towards the framing of a clear and satisfactory Notion of Nature. For I dare not hope, that what, as to me, is not itself intelligible, should make me understand what is to be declared or explicated by it. And when I consulted some of Aristotle's Interpreters upon the sense of this Definition, I found the more considerate of them so puzzled with it, that their Discourses of it seem'd to tend, rather to free the Maker of it from Tautology and Self-contradiction, than to manifect that the Definition itself is good and instructive, and such as affords a fair account of the thing Defin'd. And indeed, though the immoderate Veneration they cherish for their Master, engages them to make the best they can of the Definition given by him, even when they cannot justifie it without strain'd Interpretations, yet what every one seems to defend in gross, almost every one of them censures in parcels; this Man attacking one part of the Definition, and that Man another, with Objections so weighty, (not to call some of them so unanswerable) that if I had no other Arguments to urge against it, I might borrow enough from the Commentators on it, to justifie my dislike of it.

However, we may hereafter have occasion to consider some of the main parts of this Definition, and in the mean while, it may suffice that we observe, that several things are commonly receiv'd as belonging to the Idea, or Notion of Nature, that are not manifestly or not at all comprehended in this Aristotelian Definition, which doth not declare, whether the Principle or Cause (which Expression already makes the sense doubtful) here mention'd is a Substance, or an Accident; and if a Substance, whether Corporeal or Immaterial, nor is it clearly contain'd in this Definition, that Nature does all things most wisely, and still acts by the most compendious ways without ever missing of her end, and that she watches against a vacuum for the welfare of the Universe, to omit divers other things, that you will find ascrib'd to her in the following Section: To which I now proceed.

That the great shortness of this Third Section may not make it too disproportionate in length, to the others, this Tract consists of; I shall in this place, though I doubt it be not the most proper that could be chosen, endeavour to remove betimes the Prejudice, that some Divines and other Pious Men may perhaps entertain, upon the account, as they think, of Religion, against the care I take, to decline the frequent use of that Word Nature, in the Vulgar Notion of it: Reserving to another and fitter place some other things, that may relate to the Theological scruples, if any occur to me, that our Free Inquiry may occasion.

The Philosophical Reason that inclines me to forbear, as much as conveniently I can, the frequent use of the Word Nature, and the Forms of Speech that are deriv'd from it, is, That 'tis a Term of great Ambiguity: On which score I have observ'd, that, being frequently and unwarily imploy'd, it has occasion'd much darkness and confusion in many Mens Writings and Discourses. And I little doubt, but that others would make the like Observations, if early Prejudices and universal Custom did not keep them from taking notice of it.

Nor do I think my self oblig'd, by the just Veneration I owe and pay Religion, to make use of a Term so inconvenient to Philosophy. For I do not find that for many Ages the Israelites, that then were the only People and Church of God, made use of the Word Nature in the Vulgar Notion of it. Moses in the whole History of the Creation, where it had been so proper to bring in this first of second Causes, has not a word of Nature. And whereas Philosophers presume, that she, by her Plastick Power and Skill, forms Plants and Animals out of the Universal Matter; the Divine Historian ascribes the Formation of them to Gods immediate Fiat. Gen. i. 11. And God said, let the Earth bring forth Grass, and the Herb yielding Seed, and the Fruit tree yielding Fruit after his kind, &c. And again, Vers. 24, God said, Let the Earth bring forth the living Creature after its kind, &c. Vers. 25, And God (without any mention of Nature) made the Beast of the Earth after his kind. And I do not remember, that in the Old Testament, I have met with any one Hebrew word that properly signifies Nature, in the sense we take it in. And it seems, that our English Translators of the Bible were not more fortunate in that, than I; for, having purposely consulted a late Concordance, I found not that Word Nature in any Text of the Old Testament. So likewise, though Iob, David and Solomon, and other Israelitish Writers, do, on divers occasions, many times mention the Corporeal Works of God, yet they do not take notice of Nature, which our Philosophers would have his great Vicegerent in what relates to them. To which, perhaps it may not be impertinent to add, that, though the late famous Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel, has purposely written a Book of numerous Problems touching the Creation, yet I do not remember that he imploys the Word Nature, in the receiv'd Notion of it, to give an account of any of Gods Mundane Creatures. And when St. Paul himself, who was no stranger to the Heathen Learning, writing to the Corinthians who were Greeks, speaks of the Production of Corn out of Seed sown, he does not attribute the produc'd Body to Nature, but when he had spoken of a grain of Wheat,1 Cor. xv. 37, 38. or some other seed put into the ground, he adds, that God gives it such a Body as he pleaseth, and to every seed its own Body, i. e. the Body belonging to its kind. And a greater than St. Paul, speaking of the gaudiness of the Lillies, (or, as some will have it, Tulips) uses this Expression, If God so cloath the grass of the Field, &c. Matt. vi. 28, 29, 30. The Celebrations that David, Iob, and other Holy Hebrews, mention'd in the Old Testament, make an occasion of the admirable Works they contemplated in the Universe, are address'd directly to God himself, without taking notice of Nature. Of this, I could multiply Instances, but shall here, for brevity's sake, be contented to name a few, taken from the Book of Psalms alone. In the hundredth of those Hymns, the Penman of it makes this, That God has made us, the ground of an Exhortation, To enter into his Gates with Thanksgiving, and into his Courts with Praise, Psal. lxxix. 34. And in another, Let the Heaven and Earth praise God, [that is, give Men ground and occasion to Praise Him] congruously to what David elsewhere says to the Great Creator of the Universe. All thy work's shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy Saints shall bless thee, Psal. cxlv. 10. And in another of the Sacred Hymns, the same Royal Poet says to his Maker, Thou hast cover'd me in my Mothers womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well, Psal. cxxxix. 13, 14.

I have sometimes doubted, whether one may not on this occasion add, that, if Men will need takes in a Being subordinate to God, for the management of the World; it seems more consonant to the Holy Scripture, to depute Angels to that charge, than Nature. For I consider, that, as to the Coelestial Part of the Universe, in comparison of which the Sublunary is not perhaps the ten-thousandth part; both the Heathen Aristotelian's, and the School Philosophers among the Christians, teach, the Coelestial Orbs to be moved or guided by Intelligences, or Angels. And as to the lower or sublunary World, besides that the Holy Writings teach us, that Angels have been often imploy'd by God for the Government of Kingdoms, (as is evident out of the Book of Daniel) and the Welfare and Punishment of particular Persons; one of those Glorious Spirits, is, in the Apocalypse, expresly styl'd the Angel of the Waters: Rev. xvi. 5. Which Title divers Learned Interpreters think to be given him, because of his Charge or Office, to oversee and preserve the Waters. And I remember, that in the same Book there is mention made of an Angel, that had Power,Rev. xiv. 18. Authority, or Iurisdiction, ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) over the Fire: And though the Excellent Grotius gives another conjecture of the Title given the Angel of the Waters; yet in his Notes upon the next Verse save one,Verse 7. he teaches, That there was an Angel appointed to preserve the Souls that were kept under the Altar there-mention'd. And if we take the Angel of the Waters to be the Guardian or Conserver of them, (perhaps as the Romans (in whose Empire St. Iohn wrote) had special Officers to look to their Aqueducts and other Waters;) it may not be amiss to observe (upon the by) that he is introduc'd Praising his and his fellow-Spirits Great Creator: Which is an Act of Religion, that, for ought I know, none of the Naturists, whether Pagan or even Christians, ever mention'd their Nature to have perform'd.

I know it may on this occasion be alledg'd, that subordinata non pugnant, and Nature being God's Vicegerent, her Works are indeed his. But that he has such a Vicegerent, it is one of the main businesses of this Discourse to call in Question, and till the Affirmative be solidly prov'd, (nay, and tho' it were so) I hope I shall be excus'd, if with Moses, Iob, and David, I call the Creatures, I admire in the visiible World, the Works of God, (not of Nature) and praise rather Him than Her, for the wisdom and goodness displayed in them: Since among the Israelites, till they were over-run and corrupted by Idolatrous Nations, there was for many Ages a deep silence of such a Being, as we now call Nature. And I think it much more safe and fit, to speak as did those, who for so long a time were the peculiar People of God, than which the Heathen Poets and Philosophers, who were very prone to ascribe Divinity to his Creatures, and sometimes even to their own.

I mention these things, not with Design to ingage in the Controversie, about the Authority or Use of the Scripture in Physical Speculations, but to obviate or remove a prejudice, that (as I formerly intimated) I fear may be taken up, upon the account of Theology or Religion, against my studiously unfrequent imploying the word Nature, in the vulgar sense of it; by shewing, that, Whether or no the Scriptures be not design'd to teach us higher and more necessary Truths than those that concern Bodies, and are discoverable by the meer light of Reason; both its expressions and its silence give more countenance to our Hypothesis, than to that of the Naturists.

SECT. IV.

III. HAving shewn, that the Definition given of Nature by Aristotle himself, as great a Logician as he was, has not been able to satisfie so much as his Interpreters and Disciples, what his own Idea of Nature was; 'twould be to little purpose to trouble you and my self, with enquiring into the Definitions and Disputes of other Peripateticks, about so obscure and perplex'd a Subject; especially, since 'tis not my business in this Tract, solicitously to examine what Aristotle thought Nature to be, but what is to be thought of the vulgarly receiv'd Notion of Nature; and tho' of this, the Schools have been the chief Propagators, for which Reason it was fit to take notice of their Master Aristotle's Definition; yet the best way, I know, to investigate the commonly receiv'd Opinion of Nature, is, to consider what Effata or Axioms do pass for current about Her; and what Titles and Epithets are unanimously given Her, both by Philosophers and other Writers, and by the generality of Men that have occasion to Discourse of Her and Her actings.

Of these Axioms and Epithets, the principal seen to be these that follow.

Natura est sapientissima, adeoque opus Naturae est opus Intelligentiae.

Arist. de Coelo, l. II. c. 11. Natura nihil facit frustra.

Natura fine suo nunquam excidit.

Arist. de Coelo l. II. c. 5. it. de Gen. l. II. c. 10. §. 22. Natura semper facit quod optimum est.

Natura semper agit per vias brevissimas.

Natura neque redundat in superfluis, neque deficit in necessariis.

Omnis Natura est conservatrix sui.

Natura est morborum medicatrix.

Natura semper invigilat conservationi Vniversi.

Natura vacuum horret.

From all these Particulars put together, it may appear, that the vulgar Notion of Nature may be conveniently enough expres'd by some such Description as this.

Nature is a most wise Being, that does nothing in vain, does not miss of her Ends; does always that which (of the things she can do) is best to be done; and this she does by the most direct or compendious ways, neither employing any things superfluous, nor being wanting in things necessary; she teaches & inclines every one of her Works to preserve it self. And, as in the Microcosm (Man) 'tis she that is the Curer of Diseases, so in the Macrocosm (the World,) for the conservation of the Universe, she abhors a Vacuum, making particular Bodies act contrary to their own Inclinations and Interests, to prevent it, for the publick Good.

What I think of the Particulars, that make up this Paneygrical Description of Nature, will (God permitting) be told you in due place; my present work being only to make you the clearest Representation I can, of what Men generally (if they understand themselves) do, or with Congruity to the Axioms they admit and use, ought to conceive Nature to be.

'Tis not unlike that you may expect, or wish, that on this occasion, I should propose some Definition or Description of Nature, as my own. But declining (at least at present) to say any thing, Dogmatically, about this matter, I know not whether I may not, on this occasion, confess to you, that I have sometimes been so Paradoxical, or (if you please) so Extravagant, as to entertain, as a serious Doubt, what I formerly intimated, viz. Whether Nature be a Thing, or a Name? I mean, whether it be a real Existent Being, or a notional Entity, somewhat of kin to those fictitious Terms, that Men have devis'd, that they might compendiously express several things together, by one Name? as when, for Instance, we speak of the Concocting Faculty ascrib'd to Animals; those that consider, and are careful to understand, what they say, do not mean I know not what Entity, that is distinct from the Human Body, as 'tis an Engine curiously contriv'd, and made up of stable and fluid parts; but, observing an actuating power and fitness in the Teeth, Tongue, Spittle, Fibres and Membranes of the Gullet and Stomach, together with the natural Heat, the Ferment, or else the Menstruum,) and some other Agents, by their Co-operation, to cook or dress the Aliments, and change them into Chyle; observing these things, I say, they thought it convenient, for brevity's sake, to express the Complex of those Causes, and the Train of their Actions, by the summary Appellation of concocting Faculty.

Whilst I was indulging my self, in this kind of Ravings, it came into my mind, that the Natuists might demand of me, How, without admitting their Notion, I could give any tolerable Account of those, most useful, Forms of Speech, which Men imploy, when they say, That Nature does this or that; or, That such a thing is done by Nature, or according to Nature, or else happens against Nature? And this Question I thought the more worth answering, because these Phrases are so very frequently us'd by Men of all sorts, as well Learned as Illiterate, that this Custom hath made them be thought, not only very convenient, but necessary; insomuch, that I look upon it as none of the least things, that has procur'd so general a reception to the vulgar notion of Nature, that these ready and commodious Forms of Speech suppose the Truth of it.

It may therefore, in this place, be pertinent to add, That such Phrases, as, that Nature, or Faculty, or Faculty, or Suction, doth this or that, are not the only ones, wherein I observe, that Men ascribe to a notional thing, that which, indeed, is perform'd by real Agents; as, when we say, that the Law punishes Murder with Death, that it protects the Innocent, releases a Debtor out of Prison, when he has satisfied his Creditors (and the Ministers of Justice) on which, or the like occasions, we may justly say, That 'tis plain that the Law, which, being in it self a dead Letter, is but a notional Rule, cannot, in a Physical sense, be said to perform these things; but they are really performed by Judges, Officers, Executioners, and other Men, acting according to that Rule. Thus, when we say, that Custom does this or that, we ought to mean only, that such things are done by proper Agents, acting with Conformity to what is usual, (or customary) on such Occasions. And, to give you an yet more apposite Instance, do but consider, how many Events are wont to be ascrib'd to Fortune or Chance; and yet Fortune is, in reality, no Physical Cause of any thing, (for which Reason probably it is, that Ancienter Naturalists than Aristotle, as himself intimates, take no notice of it, when they treat of Natural Causes,) and only denotes, that those Effects, that are ascribed to it, were produc'd by their true and proper Agents, without intending to produce them; as, when a Man shoots at a Deer, and the Arrow lightly glancing upon the Beast, wounds some Man that lay beyond him, unseen by the Archer; 'tis plain, that the Arrow is a Physical Agent, that acts, by virtue of its Fabrick and Motion, in both these Effects; and yet Men will say, that the slight hurt it gave the Deer, was brought to pass according to the course of Nature, because the Archer design'd to shoot the Beast; but the mortal Wound, it gave the Man, happen'd by Chance▪ because the Archer intended not to shoot Him, or any Man else. And, whereas divers of the old Atomical Philosophers, pretending (without good Reason, as well as against Piety) to give an account of the Origin of things, without recourse to a Deity, did sometimes affirm the World to have been made by Nature, and sometimes by Fortune, promiscuously employing those Terms: They did it, (if I guess aright) because they thought neither of them to denote any true and proper Physical Cause, but rather certain Conceptions, that we Men have, of the manner of acting of true and proper Agents. And therefore, when the Epicureans taught, the World to have been made by Chance, 'tis probable, that they did not look upon Chance, as a True and Architectonick Cause of the System of the World, but believ'd all things to have been made by the Atoms, considered as their Conventions and Concretions into the Sun, Stars, Earth, and other Bodies, were made without any Design of Constituting those Bodies.

Whilst this Vein of framing Paradoxes yet continued, I ventur'd to proceed so far, as to Question, Whether one may not infer, from what hath been said, That the chief Advantage a Philosopher receives from what Men call Nature, be not, that it affords them, on divers occasions, a Compendious way of expressing themselves? Since (thought I,) to consider things otherwise than in a Popular way, when a Man tells me, that Nature does such a thing, he does not really help me to understand, or to explicate, how it is done. For it seems manifest enough, that whatsoever is done in the World, at least wherein the rational Soul intervenes not, is really effected by Corporeal Causes and Agents, acting in a World so fram'd as Ours is, according to the Laws of Motion setled by the Omniscient Author of things.

When a Man knows the contrivance of a Watch or Clock, by viewing the several pieces of it, and seeing how, when they are duely put together, the Spring or Weight sets one of the Wheels a work, and by that another, till by a fit Conse cution of the Motions of these and other parts, at length the Index comes to point at the right Hour of the Day: The Man, if he be wise, will be well enough satisfied with this knowledge of the Cause of the propos'd Effect, without troubling himself to examine, whether a Notional Philosopher will call the time-measuring Instrument, an Ens per se, or an Ens per accidens? And whether it performs its Operations by virtue of an internal Principle, such as the Spring of it ought to be? or of an external one, such as one may think the appended Weight? And, as he, that cannot, by the Mechanical affections of the parts of the Universal matter, explicate a Phaenomenon, will not be much help'd to understand, how the Effect is produc'd, by being told, that Nature did it: So, if he can explain it Mechanically, he has no more need to think, or (unless for brevity's sake) to say, that Nature brought it to pass, than he, that observes the Motions of a Clock, has to say, that 'tis not the Engine, but 'tis Art, that shews the Hour; whereas, without considering that general and uninstructive Name, he sufficiently understands how the parts, that make up the Engine, are determin'd by their Construction, and the Series of their Motions, to produce the Effect that is brought to pass.

When the lower end of a Reed, being dipp'd, for Instance, in Milk or Water, he that holds it, does cover the upper end with his Lips, and fetches his Breath, and hereupon the Liquor flows into his Mouth: We are told, that Nature raiseth it to prevent a Vacuum, and this way of raising it, is call'd Suction; but, when this is said, the word Nature does but furnish us with a short Term, to express a concourse of several Causes; and so does in other Cases, but what the Word Suction does in this. For neither the one, nor the other, helps us to conceive, how this, seemingly spontaneous, Ascension of a heavy Liquor is effected; which they that know, that the outward Air is a heavy fluid, and gravitates, or presses, more upon the other parts of the Liquor, than the Air, contained in the Reed, (which is rarefy'd by the Dilatation of the Sucker's Thorax) does upon the included part of the Surface, will readily apprehend, that the smaller pressure will be surmounted by the greater, and, consequently yield to the Ascension of the Liquor, which is, by the prevalent external pressure, impell'd up into the Pipe, and so into the Mouth, (as I, among others, have elswhere fully made out.) So that, according to this Doctrine, without recurring to Nature's Care, to prevent a Vacuum, one that had never heard of the Peripatetick Notions of Nature, or of Suction, might very well understand the mention'd Phaenomenon. And if afterwards he should be made acquainted with the receiv'd Opinions, and Forms of Speech, us'd on this occasion, he would think, that so to ascribe the Effect to Nature, is needless, if not also erroneous; and that the common Theory of Suction can afford him nothing, but a compendious Term, to express, at once the Concourse of the Agents, that make the Water ascend.

How far, I think, these extravagant Reasonings may be admitted, you will be enabled to discern, by what you will hereafter meet with, relating to the same Subjects, in the VII. Section of this Discourse. And therefore, returning now to the rise of this Digression, namely, That 'tis not unlike you may expect, I should, after the Vulgar Notion of Nature, that I lately mention'd, without acquiescing in it, substitute some Definition or Description of Nature, as Mine: I hope you will be pleas'd to remember, that the Design of this Paper was, to examine the Vulgar Notion of Nature, not propose a new one of my own. And indeed the Ambiguity of the Word is so great, and 'tis, even by Learned Men, usually employ'd to signifie such different things; that, without enumerating & distinguishing its various Acceptions, 'twere very unsafe to give a Definition of it, if not impossible to deliver one that would not be liable to Censure. I shall not therefore presume to Define a thing, of which there is yet no settled and stated Notion agreed on among Men. And yet, that I may, as far as I dare, comply with your couriosity, I shall tell you, that if I were to propose a Notion, as less unfit than any I have met with, to pass for the principal Notion of Nature, with regard to which, many Axioms and Expressions, relating to that Word, may be not inconveniently understood, I should distinguish between the universal, and the particular Nature of Things. And, of universal Nature, the Notion, I would offer, should be some such as this, That Nature is the Aggregate of the Bodies, that make up the World, framed as it is, considered as a Principle, by virtue whereof, they Act and Suffer according to the Laws of Motion, prescrib'd by the Author of Things. Which Desrciption may be thus Paphras'd, That Nature, in general, is, The Result of the Vniversal Matter, or Corporeal Substance of the Vniverse, considered as it is contrived into the present Structure and Constitution of the World, whereby all the Bodies, that compose it, are inabled to act upon, and fitted to suffer from, one another, according to the setled Laws of Motion. I expect, that this Description will appear Prolix, and require to be heedfully perus'd: But the Intricateness and Importance of the Subject hindred me from making it shorter, and made me chuse rather to presume upon your Attention, that not endeavour to express my self intelligibly and warily, about a Subject of such moment. And this will make way for the other (Subordinate) Notion, that is to attend the former Description: Since the particular Nature, of an Individual Body, consists in the general Nature, apply'd to a distinct portion of the Vniverse. Or rather, supposing it to be plac'd, as it is, in a World, fram'd by God, like Ours, it consists in a Convention of the Mechanical affections (such as Bigness, Figure, Order, Scituation, Contexture, and Local Motion) of its parts, (whether sensible or insensible) convenient and sufficient to constitute in, or to entitle to, its particular Species or Denominations, the particular Body they make up, as the Concourse of all these is considered as the Principle of Motion, Rest, and Changes, in that Body.

If you will have me give to these two Notions more compendious Expessions, now that, by what hath been said, I presume, you apprehend my Meaning; I shall express, what I call'd General Nature, by Cosmical Mechanism, that is, a Comprisal of all the Mechanical Affections (Figure, Size, Motion, &c.) that belong to the matter of the great System of the Universe. And, to denote the Nature of this or that Particular Body, I shall style it, the Private, the Particular, or (if you please) the Individual Mechanism of That Body; or, for Brevity's sake, barely the Mechanism of it, that is, the Essential. Modification, if I may so speak, by which, I mean, the Comprisal of all its Mechanical Affections conven'd in the Particular Body, consider'd, as 'tis determinately plac'd, in a World so constituted, as Ours is.

'Tis like, you will think it strange, that in this Description I should make the present Fabrick of the Vniverse, a Part, as it were, of the Notion I frame of Nature, though the generality of Philosophers, as well as other Men, speak of Her, as a plastick Principle of all the Mundane Bodies, as if they were Her Effects; and therefore they usually call them, the Works of Nature; and the Changes that are observ'd in them, the Phaenomena of Nature. But, for my part, I confess, I see no need to acknowledg any Architectonick Being, besides God, Antecedent to the first Formation of the World.

The Peripateticks, whose School either devis'd, or mainly propagated, the Received Notion of Nature, conceiving (not only Matter, but) the World to be Eternal, might look upon it, as the Province, but could not, as the Work of Nature, which, in their Hypothesis, is its Guardian, without having been its Architect.

The Epicureans themselves, that would refer all things, that are done in the World, to Nature, cannot, according to their Principles, make what they now call Nature, to have been Antecedent to the first Formation of our present World. For, according to their Hypothesis, whilst their numberless Atoms wildly rov'd in their infinite Vacuity, they had nothing belonging to them, but Bigness, Figure and Motion: And 'twas by the Coalition, or Convention of these Atoms, that the World had its Beginning. So that, according to them, it was not Nature, but Chance, that Fram'd the World; though afterwards, this Original Fabrick of things, does, by virtue of its Structure, and the innate and unloseable motive power of Atoms, continue things in the same state for the main; & this course, though casually fallen into, & continued without Design, is that, which, according to their Hypothesis, ought to pass for Nature.

And, as meer Reason doth not oblige me to acknowledge such a Nature, as we call in Question, Antecedent to the Origin of the World; so neither do I find, that any Revelation, contain'd in the Holy Scriptures, clearly teaches, that there was then such a Being. For, in the History of the Creation, 'tis expresly said, that In the beginning God made the Heavens and the Earth; and, in the whole Account that Moses gives of the progress of it, there is not a word of the Agency of Nature; and, at the later end, when God is introduc'd, as making a re-view of all the Parts of the Universe, 'tis said,Gen. i. 31. that God saw every thing that he had made; and 'tis soon after added, that He blessed and sanctified the Seventh Day,Gen. ii. 3. because, in it, (or rather, just before it, as I find the Hebrew Particle elsewhere us'd,) He had rested from all his Works, which God created and made. And tho' there be a passage in the Book of Iob, Job. xxxviii. 4, 6, 7. that, probably enough, argues the Angels (there call'd, the Sons of God) to have existed, either at the beginning of the first Day's Work, or some time before it; yet 'tis not there so much as intimated, that they were Cooperators, with their Maker, in the Framing of the World, of which they are represented as Spectators and Applauders, but not so much as Instruments. But since Revelation, as much as I always reverence it, is, I confess, a Foreign Principle in this Philosophical Enquiry, I shall wave it here, and tell you, That, when I consult only the Light of Reason, I am inclin'd to apprehend the First Formation of the World, after some such manner as this.

I think it probable, (for I would not Dogmatize on so weighty, and so difficult a Subject,) that the Great and Wise Author of Things, did, when he first Form'd the universal and undistinguish'd matter, into the World, put its Parts into various Motions, whereby they were necessarily divided into numberless Portions of differing Bulks, Figures, and Scituations, in respect of each other. And that, by his Infinite Wisdom and Power, he did so guide and overrule the Motions of these Parts, at the beginning of things, as that (whether in a shorter or a longer time, Reason cannot well determine) they were finally dispos'd into that Beautiful and Orderly Frame, we call the World; among whose Parts some were so curiously contriv'd, as to be fit to become the Seeds, or Seminal Principles, of Plants and Animals. And I further conceive, that he setled such Laws or Rules, of Local Motion, among the Parts of the Universal Matter, that by his ordinary and preserving Concourse, the several Parts of the Universe, thus once completed, should be able to maintain the great Construction, or System and Oeconomy, of the Mundane Bodies, and propagate the Species of Living Creatures. So that, according to this Hypothesis, I suppose no other Efficient of the Universe, but God himself, whose Almighty Power, still accompanied with his Infinite Wisdom, did at first Frame the Corporeal World, according to the Divine Idea's, which he had, as well most freely, as most wisely, determin'd to conform them to. For, I think, it is a Mistake to imagine, (as we are wont to do) that what is call'd, the Nature of this or that Body, is wholly compris'd in its own Matter, and its (I say not Substantial, but) Essential Form; as if from that, or these only, all its Operations must flow. For an Individual Body, being but a Part of the World, and incompass'd with other Parts of the same great Automaton, needs the Assistance, or Concourse, of other Bodies, (which are external Agents) to perform divers of its Operations, and exhibit several Phaenomena's, that belong to it. This would quickly and manifestly appear, if, for Instance, an Animal or an Herb could be remov'd into those Imaginary Spaces, the School-men tell us of, beyond the World; or into such a place, as the Epicureans fancy their Intermundia, or empty Intervals, between those numerous Worlds, their Master dream'd of. For, whatever the Structures of these living Engines be, they would as little, without the Co-operations of external Agents; such as the Sun, Aether, Air, &c. be able to exercise their Functions, as the great Mills, commonly us'd with us, would be to Grind Corn, without the assistance of Wind or running Water. Which may be thought the more credible, if it be considered, that by the meer Exclusion of the Air, (tho' not of Light, or the Earth's Magnetical Effluvia, &c.) procur'd by the Air-pump, Bodies plac'd in an extraordinary large Glass, will presently come into so differing a state, that warm Animals cannot live in it; nor flame (tho' of pure Spirit of Wine) burn; nor Syringes draw up Water; nor Bees, or such winged Insects, fly; nor Caterpillars crawl; nay, nor Fire run along a train of dryed Gunpowder: All which I speak upon my own experience. According to the foregoing Hypothesis, I consider the frame of the World already made, as a Great, and, if I may so speak, Pregnant Automaton, that, like a Woman with Twins in her Womb, or a Ship furnish'd with Pumps, Ordnance, &c. is such an Engine as comprises, or consists of, several lesser Engines. And this Compounded Machine, in conjunction with the Laws of Motion, freely establish'd and still maintain'd, by God among its Parts; I look upon as a Complex Principle, whence results the setled Order, or Course, of things Corporeal. And that which happens according to this course, may, generally speaking, be said to come to pass according to Nature, or to be done by Nature, and that which thwarts this Order may be said to be Preternatural, or contrary to Nature. And indeed, though Men talk of Nature as they please, yet whatever is done among things Inanimate, which make incomparably the greatest part of the Universe, is really done but by particular Bodies, acting on one another by Local Motion, Modifi'd by the other Mechanical Affections of the Agent, of the Patient, and of those other Bodies, that necessarily concur to the Effect, or the Phaenomenon produc'd.

N. B. Those, that do not relish the knowledg of the Opinions and Rights of the Ancient Iews and Heathens, may pass on to the next or V. Section, and skip the whole following Excursion, compris'd between double Paratheses's, which, though neither impertinent nor useless to the scope of this Treatise, is not absolutely necessary to it.

[In the foregoing (III.) Section of this Treatise, I hope I have given a sufficient Reason of my backwardness to make frequent use of the Word Nature, and now, in this (IV.) Section, having laid down such a Description, of Nature, as shews that her Votaries represent her as a Goddess, or at least a Semi-Deity: 'Twill not be improper in this place, to declare some of the Reasons of my dissatisfaction with the Notion or Thing it self, as well as with the use of the Name; and to shew, why I am not willing to comply with those Many, that would impose it upon us as very friendly to Religion.

And these reasons I shall the rather propose, because not only the Generality of other Learned Men, (as I just now intimated) but that of Divines themselves, for want of Information, or for some other cause, seem not to have well consider'd so weighty a matter.

To manifest therefore the Malevolent Aspect, that the Vulgar Notion of Nature has had, and therefore possibly may have, on Religion; I think fit, in a general way, to premise, what things they are, which seem to me to have been the Fundamental Errors, that mis-led the Heathen World, as well Philosophers as others. For, if I mistake not, the looking upon meerly Corporeal, and oftentimes Inanimate Things, as if they were endow'd with Life, Sense, and Understanding; and the ascribing to Nature, and some other Beings, (whether real or imaginary) things that belong but to God, have been some, (if not the chief) of the Grand Causes of the Polytheism and Idolatry of the Gentiles.

The most Ancient Idolatry, (taking the word in its laxer sense) or at least one of the earliest, seems to have been the Worship of the Coelestial Lights, especially the Sun and Moon: That kind of Aboda zara, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (as the Iewish Writers call strange or false Worships) being the most Natural, as having for its Objects, Glorious Bodies, Immortal, always regularly mov'd, and very beneficial to Men. There is Recorded, in the Holy Scripture, a Passage of Iob, who is probably reputed to be, at least, as Antient as Moses, which seems to argue, that this Worship, of the two great Luminaries, was practis'd in his time, and look'd upon as Criminal by Religious Men, and, as our English Version renders the Hebrew Words, Punishable by the Civil Magistrate. If, says Iob, I beheld the Sun when it shined, or the Moon walking in brightness: And my heart hath been secretly inticed, or my mouth hath kiss'd my hand, &c. Iob xxxi. 26, 27. And that this Idolatry was practis'd in Moses's time, may be gather'd from that Passage in Deuteromy. And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto Heaven, & when thou seest the Sun, & the Moon, and the Stars, even all the Host of Heaven. shouldst be driven to worship them, & serve them, &c. Deut. 4. 19. The Sabaeans, or, as many Criticks call them, the Zabians, are by some very Learned Men thought to have been the earliest Idolaters: And the ablest of the Iewish Rabbies, More Nevoch. lib. iii. cap. 30. Maimonides, makes them to be so Antient, that Abraham was put to Dispute against them. And their Superstition had so over-spread the East, in Moses's time, that the same Maimonides judiciously observes, that divers of the Ceremonial Laws, given to the Iews, were instituted in opposition to the Idolatrous Opinions, Magical Rites, and other Superstititions, of these Zabians. Of this, he (seconded therein by our Famous Selden) gives several Instances; to which,Histor. Orientalis. lib. i. cap. 8. some are added by the Learned Hottinger. But this only upon the By; my purpose, in mentioning these Zabians, being to observe to you, that they look'd upon the Planets, and especially the Sun and Moon, as Gods, & Worshipp'd them accordingly, taking them for Intelligent Beings, that had a great Interest in the Government of the World.

This may be prov'd out of some Eastern Writers, especially Maimonides, who, in one place,Lib. iii. cap. 36. asserts the Zabians to have Ador'd the Sun and Moon, and the Host of Heaven, 2 King. xvii. & 16. 2 Chron. xxxiii. & 3. (as the Scripture styles the Coelestial Lights) as true Gods. And this we shall the less wonder at, if we consult another place of the same Learned Author,Mor. Nevoch. lib. iii. cap. 25. where he informs the Readers, that these Idolaters (the Zabians or Chaldaeans) made Statues of Silver and Gold, those for the Sun, and these for the Moon; which, being Consecrated by certain Rites and Ceremonies, did invite, and, as it were, attract the Spirits of these Stars into those Shrines: Whence they would speak to their Worshippers, acquaint them with things Profitable, and even Predict to them things to come. And of some such sort of speaking-Images, some learned Criticks suppose the Teraphim (as the Original Text calls them) to have been,Gen. xxxi. & xix. vers. 30. that Laban so priz'd, as to call them his Gods: Which 'tis guess'd Rachel stole from her Father, lest, by consulting them, he might learn what way her Husband and his Company had taken in their flight. And the same great Rabbi, having inform'd his Readers that he saw several Books of the Zabian Superstition, somewhere mentions one or two, that treated of speaking-Images. And 'twas perhaps from these Zabians, or their Disciples, that Zeno, the Founder of the Stoical Sect, taught, as Stobaeus informs us, that the Sun, Moon, and the rest of the Stars were indow'd with Understanding and Prudence. And Seneca, an eminent Champion of that rigid Sect,Sen. de Benef. lib. vii. cap. 21. reprehends Epicurus and Anaxagoras, (whose Disciple he was in that Opinion) that they held the Sun to be a burning Stone, or an aggregate of Casual Fires, and any thing rather than a God.

I am sorry, I could not avoid thinking the Great Hippocrates, to have been involv'd in the great Error we are speaking of, when in his Book De Principiis aut carnibus, near the beginning, I met with this Passage. Videtur sane mihi id, quod ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) calidum vocamus, immortale esse, & cuncta intelligere & videre, & audire & scire omnia, tum praesentia tum futura. According to which Supposition, he presently attempts to give some such Account of the Origin of the World's Frame, as he could in a very few lines; and then spends the rest of the Book, in giving particular Accounts, how the Parts of the Human Body come to be Fram'd, wherein, though I commend the Attempt in general, because, without acquiescing in I know not what Faculties, he endeavours to give an intelligible and particular Account, how things come to be perform'd and produc'd; yet I cannot but look on this Book, as a Remarkable Instance of this Truth, that, without having recourse to the True God, a satisfactory Account cannot be given of the Original or Primitive Production of the Greater and Lesser World, since so great a Naturalist as Hippocrates, by the help of his Idoliz'd 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , was unable to perform this Task, with any satisfaction to an Attentive and Intelligent Enquirer. And Galen himself, who was not unacquainted with Moses's Writings, and liv'd where Christianity was propagated thro' a great Part of the World; Galen, I say, even in that admirable Treatise, De usu Partium, where he so excellently Declares and Celebrates the most Wise Author of Things, was so far transported with the Errour, which infected so many other Heathen Philosophers, that he Phancied the Earth itself, though he speaks contemptibly of it, had a certain Soul or Mind, imparted to it by the Superior Bodies, which, he saith, is so conspicuous,Galenus de usu Partium, l. xvii. apud Lacunam in Epitome Oper. Galeni. first in the Sun, next in the Moon, and afterwards in the other Stars; that by their Beauty the Contemplator will be induc'd to think it reasonable, that the more pure their Corporeal Substance is, 'tis inhabited by a Mind, so much the better and more perfect, than that of these Terrestial Bodies. And having spoken of the reasoning Nature, that shin'd in Plato, Aristotle, Hipparchus, Archimedes, &c. He thus infers. Si igitur in tanta colluvie (quo enim alio nomine quis appellet id quod ex carne, sanguine, pituita, ac bile utraque est conflatum) mens gignatur, adeo eximia & excellens; quantam ejusdem putandum est esse excellentiam in Sole, Luna, allisque etiam Sideribus? (to which he subjoins) Mihi quidem, dum haec mecum voluto, non exigua quaedam mens talis, per ipsum etiam nos Aerem ambientem, esse extensa videtur. Fieri enim non potest, quum lucis ipsius Solis sit particeps, quin vim etiam ab ipso assumat.

But this upon the By. Nor did this Opinion, of the Divinity of the Coelestial Bodies, die with the Zabians, or the Greek Philosophers. For I found, by some Questions I propos'd to an Inquisitive Person, who, having liv'd many years in China and several of the Neighbouring Kingdoms, had acquired Skill enough in the Tongues to converse with the Natives; I found, I say, that in a solemn Conference he had with some of the more Eminent and Philosophical Doctors of the Chineses Religion, they frankly profest, that they Believe the Heavenly Bodies to be truely Divine, and to be Worshipp'd, and that upon this particular Ground, That they imparted to Men such good things, as Light, Heat, Rain, &c. and the Productions and Consequences of these. And this Belief they declar'd, they thought more Rational, than that of the Europeans, who Worship a Deity, whose neither Shape, nor Colour, nor Motion, nor Efficacy on Sublunary things, were at all visible. It agrees very well with the Opinion of the Ancient Greeks, who, as Origen relates,Origen. cont. Celsum. l. v. call'd the Sun, Moon, and the Stars 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Conspicuous and Sensible Gods. And we are taught by Eusebius, that the Ancient Aegyptian Theologizers, Prae parat. l. iii. c. 4. Damascius vita Isidori apud Photium: Colunt prae coeteris Diis Aegyptii Osirim & Isin (i. e. Solem & Lunam,) illum omnia condere, & figuris numerisque materiam adornare arbitrati. whose Religion was neer of kin to that of the Chaldeans, if not borrow'd of it, look'd upon the Sun and Moon, whom they Worshipp'd under the Names of Osiris and Isis, not only as the Chief Gods, but as the Makers and Governours of much, if not of all, of the rest of the Universe.

I will not here enquire, whether these Old Heathen Philosophers did, besides the Stars and other Beings, that they ador'd as Gods, Believe one only Numen or Supream Deity. But that may suffice for my present purpose, which seems manifest, viz. that they ascrib'd to Sensible Beings, Attributes peculiar to the True God; that this was occasion'd by their thinking them Intelligent and Governing, and that these Inferiour Beings were, by far, the most usual and familiar Objects both of their Discourses and their Worship, and that they did (to use the Phrase of the Apostle of the Gentiles) Worship the Creature besides, or more than, (for the Greek Word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 may signifie either) the Creator, Rom. i. 25. who by Moses, the Prophets, and the Apostles, expresly declares a dislike of this Worship, and even in that more specious and seemingly excuseable kind of it, which was in use among the Ten Tribes, that Profess'd, and perhaps Believ'd, their Worship to be directed to the one Supream God, and him the true God of Israel. But this also upon the By.

This Belief, that the World and divers of its Principal Parts,Sed nec illam, quam ejusdem Numinis (Solis) beneficio adeptus sum, sortem conditionem que parvi facio; quod ex eo genere, penes quod Terrarum Dominatus atque Imperium est, temporibus nostris ortum acceperim. Julian. ad Regem Solem. as the Sun, Moon, Stars, &c. were animated and endowed with Intelligent Minds, was so Contagious, that, not only it help'd to seduce the Emperor Iulian from Christianity to Heathenism, (insomuch that He gives the Sun solemn Thanks for His Advancement to the Roman Monarchy;) but it infected very Learned Men among the Iews and Christians. Of the former, I shall need to name but two; the first being the Famousest and Judiciousest of the Ancienter Rabbins, Maimonides, in whom, I confess, I wonder'd to find this Assertion, That the Sun and Stars were animated Beings,More Novochim. l. 3. c. 29. (ni fallor. endow'd with Understanding and Will: And the other, being-reputed the Chief and the most Learned of the Moderns, Menasseh Ben Israel, (with whom I have Convers'd at Amsterdam) who in his Problems,Pag. M. 98. De Creatione; hath this notable Passage.—Quod de Intelligentiis tradunt id vero mera Fabula est; nam Coeli, secundum Rabbi Mosem, & rei veritatem, habent animas proprias rationali vita praeditas, sicut alibi à me demonstrabitur. And a Greater Man than Maimonides, Origen himself,Origen-contra Celsum. l. v. among the Christians, not only in one place adventures to say, Siquidem etiam Coelestes Stellae Animalia sunt Rationalia, virtute praedit • illustrata Cognitionis Lumine, à S ••• entia illa quae est Splendor aeterni Luminis; but in another proceeds so far, that I found (not without surprize) that He says, The Christians sing Hymns to God the Lord of all,Origen. contra Celsum. lib. 8. and God the Word; no otherwise than do the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and the whole Heavenly Host, since all these, being a Heavenly Quire, do with just Men celebrate the Supream God, and his only Begotten [Son.] The Boldness of these unjustified Paradoxes I the the less wonder at, when I consider, what has for many Ages been taught by the School Philosophers, from Aristotle; namely, that the Coelestial Spheres had their peculiar Intelligences, that is, Rational, Immortal, Powerful and Active Beings. 'Tis true, that in the Jews and Christians, I have been speaking of; the malignity of the Error, they embrac'd, was Corrected and Master'd by the sound and Orthodox Principles they held together with it. But still 'tis dangerous for those, that would be Loyal to Him,Exod. xx. that styles himself a Iealous God, to Adopt Premises that have been able to Mis-lead such Great Persons, and from which many Famous Philosophers have plausibly enough drawn Consequences very repugnant to true Religion. Nor are Christians themselves so much out of danger of being seduc'd by these Heathenish Notions, about an Intelligent World, but that (not again to mention the Apostate Emperor) even in these times there is lately sprung up a Sect of Men, as well professing Christianity, as pretending to Philosophy; who (if I be not mis-inform'd of their Doctrine) do very much symbolize with the Ancient Heathens, and talk much indeed of God, but mean such a One, as is not really distinct from the Animated and Intelligent Universe; but is, on that account, very differing from the True God, that we Christians Believe and Worship. And, though I find the Leaders of this Sect to be look'd upon, by some more Witty than Knowing Men, as the Discoverers of unheard of Mysteries in Physicks and Natural Theology; yet their Hypothesis does not at all appear to me to be new, especially when I remember, besides the Passages of the Ancients, cited in this Paper, some others of the same Import, such as is particularly that of Lucan.

Estque Dei sedes, ubi Terra, & Pontus, & Aer, Et Coelum, & Virtus: Superos quid quaerimus ultra? Iupiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris.

The great Affinity between the Soul of the World, so much talk'd of among the Heathen Philosophers, and the thing that Men call Nature, makes it fit for me to take notice, in this place, of the Influence which the Belief of that Imaginary Soul had upon the Gentiles with reference to Religion.

That divers of the Ancient Philosophers held the World to be Animated, hath been observed by more than one Learned Man. But that which makes more for my present purpose, is, that the same Old Sages did also (at least for the most part) Believe, that this Mundane Soul was not barely a Living, but a most Intelligent and wisely Active Being. This may be easily enough discerned by him, that shall heedfully peruse Diogenes Laertius's Lives of the Philosophers, and particularly of Zeno. But at present I shall rather make use of an Author, who, though he be very seldom cited for Philosophical History, seems to me to have been very well vers'd in it. The Writer I mean, is the Acute Sceptick Sextus Empiricus, (who is thought to have lived about Plutarch's time, and by some, to have been his Nephew;) who recites a long Ratiocination of Xenophon, which, whether it be solid or not, is at least ingenious and plausible, but too prolix to be Transcrib'd in this place, where it may suffice to say, that he thus concludes: Est ergo Mundus mente praeditus & Intelligens, Sextus Empir. adversus Mathemat. lib. 8. &c. which Assertion Sextus himself thus proposes for him; Si non esset aliqua Mens in Mundo, neque ulla Mens in te esset. Est autem in te Mens aliqua; ergo est etiam in Mundo. Et Ideo Mundus est Mente & Intelligentia praeditus. The same Sceptick introduces Zeno Cittiens. discoursing thus; quod immittit semen ejus quod est particeps rationis, est ipsum quoque rationis particeps. Mundus autem emittit Semen ejus quod est particeps rationis; est ergo Mundus rationis particeps. To which Testimonies I might add many others out of the same Author, who, in the same Discourse, tells us, That the Stoicks held the World to be an Animal. But the Opinion that the Old Philosophers, we have been speaking of, held of the World's being endowed with an Understanding or Rational Soul, will be yet more evident by what I now proceed to alledge, to manifest how this Opinion of theirs led them to the Worship of another, than the True God.

Sextus Empiricus, in the lately cited Discourse of Xenophon, infers from the Worlds being an Intelligent Being, that it is also a Divine One; for to the lately recited Conclusion, Est ergo Mundus mente praeditus & intelligens, he immediately subjoins this Other,P. M. 326. Et ideo Deus. And alittle after, repeating their Discourse that defended this Argumentation of Xenophon against an Objection, he concludes their Reasoning thus; Ideo Mundus est mente & Intelligentia praeditus: Cum sit autem Mente & Intelligentia praeditus, est etiam Deus. Quemadmodum (says also Phurnutus the Philosopher,) nos anima gubernamur, sic & Mundus animam habet, quae vindicet illum ab interitu; & haec vocatur Iupiter. To which agrees that in Cicero's Academick Questions; Mundum esse sapientem, & habere mentem, quae seipsam Fabricata sit, & omnia moderatur, regat. And the Reasoning of the Stoicks in St. Augustin is very ryclear to the same purpose;August. de Civit. Dei. l. 7. c. 2. Dicunt (saith he, speaking of the Embracers of that Sect) omnia Sidera partes Iovis esse, & omnia vivere atque rationales animas habere, & ideo sine Controversia Deos esse. And Socrates is introduc'd by Aristophanes, as no less than Invocating the Air and the Aether together, in these words.

O Rex, O Imperator, Aer vaste, quae Terram contines suspensam, Nec non splendide Aether.

Which brings into my Mind that plain Confession of the Poet Manilius.

Qua pateat, Mundum divino Numine verti, Atque ipsum esse Deum.

To all these I shall add that notable and express Passage of the Elder Pliny; Natur. Hist. l. 2. c. 1. Mundum & hoc quod alio nomine Coelum appellare libuit, cujus circumflexu teguntur omnia, Numen esse credi par est, aeternum, immensum, neque genitum, neque interiturum unquam. Sacer est, aeternus, immensus, totus in toto, vero ipse totum, finitus & infinito similis, extra, intra, cuncta complexus in se, idemque Naturae opus, & rerum ipsa Natura.

If it be objected, that the Passages, I have cited out of Heathen Philosophers, concern the Soul of the World, and not Nature; I Answer, that the Affinity of these Two is so great, that divers of the Old Sages seem to have confounded them, and not to have made account of any other Vniversal Nature, than the Soul of the World. And however, the great and pernicious Errors they were led into, by the Belief that the Universe itself, and many of its nobler Parts, besides Men, were endowed, not only with Life, but Understanding and Providence, may suffice to make us Christians very Jealous of admitting such a Being, as that which Men venerate under the Name of Nature: Since they ascribe to it as many wonderful Powers and Prerogatives, as the Idolaters did to their Ador'd Mundane Soul. But I shall give a further Answer to the above propos'd Objection, if I can shew, how Sacrilegiously they abus'd the Being we are speaking of, as well under the very Name of Nature, as under that of the Soul of the World. On this occasion I remember a Passage inNatur. Quaest. l. 2. c. 45. Seneca, that I did not expect to meet with, where, speaking of some Ethnick Opinions about Thunder, Non Iovem, (says he) qualem in Capitolio colimus, fulmina mittere, sed custodem rectoremque Vniversi, animam ac Spiritum Mundani hujus Operis Dominum & Artificem, cui nomen omne convenit. To which, within a few lines after, he adds, Vis illam Naturam vocare? Non peccabis, est enim ex quo nata sunt omnia, cujus Spiritu vivimus. Vis illam vocare Mundum? Non falleris, ipse enim est totum quid, totus suis partibus inditus & se sustinens vi sua. And the same Author elsewhere,De Benef. l. 4. c. 7. Nihil (says he) Natura sine Deo est, nec Deus sine Natura, sed idem est Vterque. And, in another of the Roman Sages, we have this Passage; Natura est Igitur quae continet Mundum omnem, eumque tuetur, & quidem non sine sensu ac ratione. And the Opinion, not of a Private Philosopher, but of the Sect of Stoicks, is thus delivered by Lactantius: Lib. 7. Cap. 1. Isti uno Naturae nomine res diversissimas comprehenderunt, Deum & Mundum, Artificem & Opus, dicunique alterum sine altero nihil posse, tanquam Natura sit Deus Mundo permistus. Nam inter dum sic confundunt, ut sit Deus ipsa mens Mundi, & Mundus sit Corpus Dei; quasi vero simul esse caeperint Mundus & Deus. And, to let you see, that in this our Free Enquiry, I do not, without Cause, here and there style Nature sometimes a Semi-Deity, and sometimes a Goddess, and talk of some Mens Idolizing Her; I shall here annex part of a Hymn of Orpheus's, address'd immediately to Nature.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , &c. which his Interpreter thus renders into Latin; O Natura omnium Mater Dea, artificiosa admodum Dea, Suscitatrix honorabilis, multa creans, Divina Regina, Omnidomans, indomita gubernatrix, ubique splendens.

And after a few Lines; Aetheria, Terrestiis, & Marina Regina, &c. I know Aristotle, and his Commentators, do not so directly Idolize Nature, as did Orpheus (or whoever was the Antient Author of the Hymns, that bear his Name;) but yet I doubt they pass further than they can justifie, when they so freely and often assert, that Natura est sapientissima, that Opus Naturae est opus Intelligentiae, that Natura fine suo nunquam excidit, that Natura semper quod optimum est facit, (to which may be added other-like Axioms:) And when they most commonly call the Works of God, the Works of Nature, and mention Him and her together, not as a Creator and a Creature, but as two Co-ordinate Governors, like the two Roman Consuls; as when they say frequently, and without scruple, (what I find to have been first by Aristotle himself)▪ that Deus & Natura nihil faciunt frustra; Deus & Natura nihil prorsus faciunt frustra. Arist. de Coelo, lib. ii. cap. 5. to which Phrase may agree that Expression of Ovid, where, speaking of the Chaos, whilst the Bodies, that compos'd it, lay shuffled together, and were not yet pack'd, he says, Hanc Deus & melior litem Natura diremit.

To the recital of the Irreligious Errors of the Ancient Heathens, about the Divinity of the World, and some of its Principal Parts, as the Sun, Moon, Stars, Aether, &c. I should add a redargution of them; if I thought it necessary, in this place, solemnly to refute Opinions, some of which are altogether precarious, and others very improbable. Those Greek and Latin Philosophers, that held the Sun to be a Fire, were much at a loss to find out Fuel to maintain the Flame. But those Zabians and Chaldeans that thought him indow'd, not only with a living Soul, but with Understanding and Will, must, if they had duly consider'd things, have ben much more puzzled, to find not only Food for so vast a Body, (above 160 times bigger than the Terraqueous Globe) but to find in him the Organs necessary to the preparation and digestion of that Food, and to the other Functions that belong to Animal-Nutrition. And, if we admit the Cartesian Hypothesis, the Way whereby the Sun, fix'd Stars, and Planets, are Generated, will sufficiently manifest them to be neither Intelligent nor Living Bodies. And, perhaps, I could here propose a quite other Hypothesis, about the Nature of the Sun, and the Fuel of its Fire, that may be countenanc'd by some Phaenomena and Experiments, without making him other than an Igneous, and altogether Inanimate Body, whose Flame needs to be repair'd by Fuel furnish'd to it nearer hand, than from the Sea or Earth. But I purposely omit such Objections against the Opinion I oppose, as, though drawn from the Dictates of sound Philosophy, about the Origine of things, may be question'd without being to be clear'd in few words. 'Tis also without proof, that 'tis presum'd and asserted, That the Coelestial Bodies, newly mention'd, are indow'd with Understanding and Prudence, especially, so as to be able to know the particular Conditions and Transactions of Men, and hear and grant the Prayers of their Worshippers. And the Moon, which was one of their Principal Deities, and by them prefer'd before all the other Planets and Stars, the Sun excepted, is so Rude and Mountainous a Body, that 'tis a wonder that Speculative Men, who consider'd how many, how various, and how noble Functions belong to a sensitive Soul, could think, a Lump or Mass of Matter, so very remote from being fitly Organiz'd, should be Animated and Govern'd by a true living & sensitive Soul. I know that both these Deifiers of the Coelestial Globes, and also the Heathen Disciples of Aristotle, besides divers of the same mind, even among the Christians, say great and lofty things of the Quintessential Nature of the Heavenly Bodies, and their consequent Incorruptibility; of the Regularity of their Motions, and of their Divine Quality of Light, that makes them refulgent. But the persuasion they had, of this Quintessential Nature of the Superior Part of the World, was not, if I guess aright, grounded upon any solid Physical Reason, but was entertain'd by them for its Congruity to the Opinion they had of the Divinity of the Coelestial Bodies: Of which, Aristotle himself,See Lib. xi. cap. 3. especially in his Books De Coelo, speaks in such a way, as hath not a little contributed, among his Followers; to such an excessive Veneration for those Bodies, as is neither agreeable to true Philosophy, nor friendly to true Religion. He himself takes notice, that the Pythagoreans held our Earth to be One of the Planets,Aristot. de Coelo. l. xi. c. 13. and that it moved about the Sun, which they plac'd in the middle of the World. And since this Hypothesis, of the Earths Motion, was in the last Age reviv'd by Copernicus, not only those great Men Keplerus, Galileo, and Gassendus, but most of the best Modern Astronomers; and, besides Des-Cartes and his Sect, many other Naturalists have imbrac'd this Hypothesis: Which, indeed, is far more agreeable to the Phaenomena, not only than the Doctrine of Aristotle, (who was plainly mistaken about the Order and Consistence of the Heavens) but than the Ancient and generally received Ptolomaick System. Now, supposing the Terraqueous Globe to be a Planet, he that considers, that 'tis but a round Mass of very Heterogeneous Substances, (as appears by the differing Natures of its great constituent Parts, Land and Sea) whose Surface is very rude and uneven, and its Body opacous, unless as it happens to be inlightned by the the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and so very Inorganical for so much as Nutrition, that it seems wholly unfit to be a living Animal, much less a Rational one. I say, he that considers such things will scarce be forward to ascribe Understanding and Providence, much less a Divine Nature, to the other Stars. As for Instance, to the Moon, which our best Telescopes manifest to be a very Craggy and Mountainous Body, consisting of Parts of very differing Textures, (as appears by her brighter Parts and permanent Spots) and which of herself is Opacous, having no manifest Light, but what she borrows from the Sun, and perhaps from the Earth.

As for the boasted Immutability of the Heavenly Bodies, besides that it may be very probably call'd in question by the Phaenomena of some (for I do not say every one) of the Comets, that by their Parallax were found to be above the Moon, and consequently in the Coelestial Region of the World; besides this, I say, the Incorruptibleness and Immutability of the Heavenly Bodies is more than probably disproveable by the sudden and irregular Generation, Changes and Destruction, of the Spots of the Sun: Which are sometimes so suddenly destroyed, that, I remember, in the Year 1660. on the 8th of May, having left in the Morning a Spot, whose Motions we had long observ'd through an excellent Telescope, with an expectation, that it would last many days visible to us, we were surpriz'd to find, that when we came to observe it again in the Evening, it was quite dissipated, though it seemed thick; and by comparing it to the Sun, we estimated the extent of its Surface to be equal to that of all Europe. As to the constancy of the motions of the Stars; if the Earth, which we know to be Inanimated, be a Planet, it moves as constantly and regularly about the Sun, (in that which they call the Great Orb,) as the other Planets do, or as the Moon doth about the Earth. And I consider, that though we should suppose our Globe not to be a Planet, yet there would manifestly be a constant motion, and Regular enough, of a great Part of it: Since (bating some Anomali's, that Shores, Winds, and some other Extrinsick things, occasion,) there is a Regular Ebbing and Flowing twice a Day, and also Spring-Tides twice a Month, of that vast Aggregate of Waters, the Ocean; which perhaps is not inferior in Bulk to the whole Body of the Moon, and whereof also vast Tracts are sometimes observed to Shine.

And Lastly, Whereas a great Proof of the Divinity of the Stars is taken from their Light; though I grant it to be the noblest of Sensible Qualities, yet I cannot think it a good proof of the Divine, or very Excellent, Nature of Bodies endow'd with it, whether they be Coelestial or not. For whereas the Zabians and Chaldeans Consider'd and Ador'd the Planets, as the Chief Gods, our Telescopes discover to us, that, except the Sun, (if he be one, rather than a Fix'd Star) they Shine but by a borrow'd Light; in so much that Venus, as vividly Luminous as it appears to the naked Eye, is sometimes seen (as I have beheld it) Horn'd like the Moon in no long time after her Change. And at this rate also the Earth, whether it be a Planet or no, is a Luminous Body, being enlightned by the Sun: And possibly, as a Body forty times bigger, communicates more Light to the Moon, than it receives from Her, as is probably Argued from the Light seen on the Surface of the Moon in some of Her Eclipses. And, though in the Night, when the darkness hath widened the Pupils of our Eyes, and the Moon Shines with an unrival'd Lustre, she seems exceeding Bright, yet she may be, for ought I know, more Opacous than the solid Part of the Terrestrial Globe. For I remember, that I have more than once heedfully observ'd a small Cloud in the West, where the Moon then was, about Sun-set; and comparing them together, the little Cloud, as Opacous and Loose a Body as it was, reflected the Light as strongly to my Eye, as did the Moon, that seem'd perhaps to be not far from It, both of them appearing like little whitish Clouds, though afterwards, as the Sun descended lower and lower beneath the Horizon, the Moon grew more and more Luminous. And, speaking of Light Indfienitely, 'tis so far from Arguing a Divine Nature in the Bodies that are endow'd with it, whether, as the Planets, by participation from an External Illuminant, or as the Sun, from an Internal Principle; that a burn'd Stone, witness that of Bolonia, will afford, in proportion to its Bulk, incomparably more borrow'd Light than one of the Planets. And a Light from its Internal Constitution may be found, not only in such abject Creatures as Insects, whether winged, as the Cucupias of Hispaniola, or creeping, as our Glow-worms; but also in Bodies Inanimate and Corrupted, as in rotten Wood, in stinking Whitings, and divers other putrify'd Fishes. I cannot now stay to Enquire, how the Zabians, and such Idolaters as they, could make out the Connexion, Symmetry, and Subordination or Dependance of the several Parts of the World, compos'd of so many different and distant Beings, endowed not only with Animal Souls, but with their Distinct and Peculiar Understandings and Wills, and many of them also with Divine Nature. Nor shall I consider, how strange a Monster, rather than an Animal and a Deity, those many Heathen Philosophers and their Adherents must make of the Universe, who held it to be but one; and yet were of the Paradoxical Opinion, that (as hath been elsewhere noted) is roundly profess'd by Stobaeus, at the very beginning of his Physical Eclogues, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , &c. i. e. Iupiter (quidem) totus Mundus est: Animal ex Animalibus; Numen ex Numinibus compositum.

These, I say, and the like Objections against the Pagan Doctrine, I must not now insist on, because I perceive that I have slipp'd into a somewhat long Digression, which yet perhaps may not be altogether unseasonable or useless,) which therefore I shall here break off, to resume and conclude the Discourse, that this Section was allotted to, which I might easily have enlarg'd, but I presume there is enough said in it already, to let you see, that 'tis a dangerous thing to Believe other Creatures, than Angels and Men, to be Intelligent and Rational; especially to afcribe to any of them an Architectonick, Provident and Governing Power. And though I readily acknowledge, that that there is no great danger, that well Instructed Christians should, like some Heathens, Worship Nature as a Goddess; yet the things I formerly alledg'd, to shew it unsafe to cherish Opinions, of kin to those that mis-led a Multitude even of Philosophers, make me fear too many, and not a few of the Learned themselves, may have a Veneration for what they call Nature, much greater than belongs to a meer Creature: If they do not, to use a Scripture Expresssion,Rom. 1. 25. Worship the Creature, above or besides the Creator, who, and not the World, nor the Soul of It, is the True God. And though I should grant, that the received Notion of Nature doth neither subvert, nor much endanger any Principle of Religion: Yet that is not enough for the purpose of those Naturists I Reason with, since they are here supposed to make it a fault in others, not to ascribe to the Nature they Venerate, as much as themselves do: And they represent their own Notion of it, not only as Innocent, but as very Useful, if not necessary to Religion.]

SECT. V.

IV. I Come now, Eleutherius, to acquaint you with some of the Reasons, that have made me backward to entertain such a Notion of Nature, as I have hitherto Discours'd of. And I shall at present comprise them under the following five.

I. The first whereof, is, That such a Nature, as we are speaking of, seems to me to be either asserted, or assum'd without sufficient Proof. And this single Reason, if it be well made out, may, I think, suffice for my turn. For, in matters of Philosophy, where we ought not to take up any thing upon Trust, or believe it without Proof, 'tis enough to keep us from believing a thing, That we have no positive Argument to induce us to assent to it, though we have no particular Arguments against it. And, if this Rule be to take place in lesser Cases, sure it ought to hold in this, where we are to entertain the belief of so Catholick an Agent, that all the others are look'd upon but as its Instruments, that act in subordination to it; and which, being said to have an immediate Agency in many of the Phaenomena of the World, cannot but be suppos'd to be Demonstrable by divers of them. I have yet met with no Physical Arguments, either Demonstrative, or so much as considerably Probable, to evince the Existence of the Nature, we examin. And, though I should admit the use, that some Divines contend for, of the Holy Scriptures in Philosophical Controversies, yet I should not be persuaded of the Existence of the Nature, we Dispute of. For, I do not remember, that the Scripture any where declares to us, that there is such a thing, (in the sense by me question'd) though (as I formerly noted more fully in the IV. Section,) in Genesis and some other places, where the Corporeal Works of God are expresly treated of, (though in order to Spiritual ends) one might probably enough expect to find some mention of God's Grand Vicegerent in the Universe of Bodies, if he had establish'd any such. But, whatever be the true cause of the Scriptur's silence about this matter, the silence itself is sufficient to justifie me, for examining freely, by Reason, a thing that is not impos'd on my belief by Revelation. And, as for the Physical Arguments that may be brought in favour of the question'd Notion of Nature, I shall, e're long, examine the Principal of them, and shew that they are not Convincing. To these things may be added, as to the Proof drawn from the General Opinion about Nature, That, being a Popular, not a Physical Argument, it may indeed pass for currant with the Vulgar, but ought not to do so with Philosophers.

II. The second Reason is taken from the Unnecessariness of such a Nature, as is pretended. For, since a great part of the Work of true Philosophers has been, to reduce the Principles of things to the smallest Number they can, without making them insufficient; I see not, why we should take in a Principle, of which we have no need. For, supposing the common Matter of all Bodies to have been at first divided into innumerable minute Parts, by the Wise Author of Nature, and these Parts to have been so dispos'd of, as to form the World, constituted as it now is; and especially, supposing that the Vniversal Laws of Motion, among the Parts of the Matter, have been establish'd, and several Conventions of Particles contrived into the Seminal Principles of various things; all which may be effected by the meer Local Motion of Matter, (not left to itself, but skilfully guided at the beginning of the World) if (I say) we suppose these things, together with God's ordinary and general Concourse, which we very reasonably may: I see not, why the same Phaenomena, that we now observe in the World, should not be produc'd, without taking in any such Powerful and Intelligent Being, distinct from God, as Nature is represented to be. And, 'till I see some Instance produc'd to the contrary, I am like to continue of this mind, and to think that the Phaenomena, we observe, will genuinely follow from the meer Fabrick and Constitution of the World. As, supposing the Sun and Moon to have been put, at first, into such Motions about the Earth, as Experience shews they have; the determinate Celerity of these Motions, and the Lines, wherein they are performed, will make it necessary, that the Moon should be sometimes Full, sometimes scarce Illuminated at all to us-ward, sometimes Horned, and, in a word, should exhibit such several Phases as every Month she doth, and that at some times She and the Sun should have a Trine, or a Quadrate Aspect, &c. and that now one, and now the other of them, should at set times suffer an Eclipse: Though these Eclipses were by the Romans and others of old, and are by many Unlearn'd Nations at this day, look'd upon as Supernatural things; and though also Aristotle, and a multitude of his Followers, fancy'd, that such Regular Motions could not be maintain'd without an Assistent Intelligence, which He and They therefore Assign'd to each of the Heavenly Orbs. And indeed the difficulty, we find, to conceive, how so great a Fabrick, as the World, can be preserved in Order, and kept from running again to a Chaos, seems to arise from hence, that Men do not sufficiently consider the unsearchable Wisdom of the Divine Architect or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (as the Scripture styles him) of the World,Heb. xi. 10. whose piercing Eyes were able to look at once quite through the Universe, and take into his Prospect both the beginning and end of Time: So that perfectly fore-knowing, what would be the Consequences of all the possible Conjunctures of Circumstances, into which Matter, divided and mov'd according to such Laws, could, in an Automaton so Constituted as the Present World is, happen to be put; there can nothing fall out, unless when a Miracle is wrought, that shall be able to alter the Course of things, or prejudice the Constitution of them, any further, than He did from the Beginning foresee, and think fit to allow.

Nor am I sure, that the received Notion of Nature, though it be not necessary, is at least very useful, to explicate Physical Phaenomena. For, besides that, I shall shew e're long, that several Explications, where recourse to it is presum'd to be the most advantagious, are not to be allow'd: To give the Nature of a Things for the Cause of this or that particular Quality, or Operation of it, is to leave Men as ignorant as they were before; or, at least, is to acknowledg, that a Philosopher can, in such Cases, assign no better particular and immediate Causes of Things, than a Shepherd or a Tradesman, that never learnt Natural Philosophy, can assign of the same things, and of a Thousand others. And though it be true, (as I formerly also intimated) that, in many Cases, Philosophers themselves can answer no otherwise, to such Questions as may be Propos'd to them, than by having recourse to the Nature of the Thing; yet such Answerers do not declare the proper Cause of a Dark Phaenomenon, but only that he, who imploys them, does not yet know it: And so this indefinite Notion of Nature, which is equally applicable to the resolving of all difficulties, is not useful to disclose the thing, but to delude the Maker of the Question, or hide the ignorance of the Answerer.

III. My third Argument is, That the Nature, I question, is so dark and odd a thing, that 'tis hard to know what to make of it, it being scarce, if at all, intelligibly propos'd, by them that lay most weight upon it. For it appears not clearly, whether they will have it to be a Corporeal Substance, or an Immaterial One, or some such thing, as may seem to be betwixt both; such as many Peripateticks do represent substantial Forms, and what they call real Qualities, which divers School-men hold to be (at least by Miracle) separable from all Matter whatsoever. If it be merely Corporeal, I confess, I understand not, how it can be so Wise, and almost Omniscient an Agent, as they would have it pass for. Besides that, if it be a Body, I would gladly know, what kind of Body it is, and how, since, among Bodies, there can be no Penetration of Dimensions, this Body can so intimately pervade, as they pretend Nature does, all the other Bodies of the World? And to this I would add divers other Questions, that would not be easily answered. (But I shall resume this Third Argument in another place.) If it be said, that Nature is a Semi-substantia, as some of the Modernest Schoolmen are pleas'd to call substantial Forms, and real Qualities; I roundly answer, that I acknowledge no such Chymerical and Unintelligible Beings, and shall only desire you to apply to them a good part of the Discourse, made in certain Papers, occasion'd by a Chymico-Physical Essay about Salt-petre, against the pretended Origine, and inexplicable Nature, of the imaginary substantial Forms of the Peripateticks. It remains therefore, that this Nature, we speak of, if it be any thing positive, should be an Immaterial Substance. But to have Recourse to such an one, as a Physical Agent, and not only a Determiner, but the Grand Author, of the Motion of Bodies, and that, especially in such familiar Phaenomena, as the Ascension of Water in Pumps, the Suspension of it in Watering-Pots for Gardens, the running of it through Siphons, and I know not how many others) and to Explain its Casuality, as they speak, will, I think, prove a Work exceeding difficult: Though I shall not here spend time to shew you the farther inconveniences of such a Supposition, being to do that hereafter; and, in the mean-while, contenting myself to observe, as to many of the Naturists, That, though their Doctrine may favour it, they seem rather content to talk darkly, and uncertainly, of what they call Nature, than by clearly-Defining it, expose it to Objections not easie to be answered, and who foresee the advantage, that the unsetledness of the Notion gives them, to pretend Knowledg, or disguise Ignorance.

IV. Since many of the most Learned amongst the Naturists are Christians, and not few of them Divines too, it may not be improper (which else I should, perhaps, think it would be,) to add, in this place, that the next thing, for which I dislike the Vulgar Notion (or Idea) of Nature, is, That I think it dangerous to Religion in general, and consequently to the Christian.

For this Erroneous Conceit defrauds the True God of divers Acts of Veneration and Gratitude, that are due to Him from Men, upon the account of the Visible World, and diverts them to that Imaginary Being they call Nature, which has no Title to them; for, whilst Nature is suppos'd to be an Intelligent Thing, that wisely and benignly Administers all that is done among Bodies, 'tis no wonder that the generality of Philosophers, and, after their Example, of other Men, should admire and praise Her, for the wonderful, and for the useful things that they observe in the World. And, in effect, though Nature, in that sense of the Word I am speaking of, be never (that I remember) to be found in the Sacred Writings; yet, nothing is to be more frequently met with (and that adorn'd with Titles and Encomiums) in the Books of Philosophers, than Nature and Her Effects. And, if we consider, that, whatever has been said, by some, in excuse of Aristotle himself, yet the generality of the Peripateticks, from whom the Vulgar Notion of Nature is chiefly receiv'd, made the World to be Eternal, and referr'd all the Transactions among the Bodies it contains, to what they call'd Nature. Whence, 'twill not be difficult to perceive, that, if they do not quite exclude God, yet, as they leave him no Interest in the first Formation of the Universe; so they leave him but very little in the Administration of the Parts it consists of, especially the Sublunary Ones. So that, instead of the True God, they have substituted, for us, a kind of a Goddess, with the Title of Nature: Which, as they look upon as the immediate Agent and Director in all excellent Productions, so they ascribe to Her the Praise and Glory of Them.

Whether this great Error, in a Point of such Importance, may not Undermine the Foundation of Religion, I think it may not irrationally be suspected. For, since the most General and Efficacious Argument, that has persuaded Philosophers, and other Men, that there is a God and a consideration of the Providence, is afforded by the visible World, wherein so many Operations and other Things are observ'd, that are manag'd (or perform'd) with such Conduct and Benignity, as cannot justly be ascrib'd but to the Wisdom and Goodness of a Deity: They that ascribe these Things to mere Nature, do much weaken the force of that Argument, if they do not quite take away the necessity of acknowledging a Deity, by shewing, that, without any need of having Recourse to Him, of the Administration of the World and of what is perform'd among Things Corporeal, an Account may be given. Though, when Men are put upon considering the matter, and press'd to declare themselves more clearly, they are asham'd to affirm, that God and Nature are the same Thing, and, will confess, that She is but his Vicegerent; yet, in Practise, their Admiration and their Praises are frequently given to Nature, not to God: In like manner, as, though the Sun be the Fountain of Light, and the Moon derives all Hers from the Sun; yet the Sea, in Its grand Motions of Ebbing and Flowing, appears to respect the Moon, and not the Sun: For thus, the generality of Men, though they will acknowledg that Nature is inferior and subordinate to God, do yet appear to regard Her more than Him.

To be short, Nature uses to be so frequently recurr'd to, and is so magnifi'd in the Writings of Physiologers, that the excessive Veneration Men have for Nature, as it has made some Philosophers (as the Epicureans) deny God, so, 'tis to be fear'd, that it makes many forget Him: And, perhaps, a suspicious Person would venture to add, That, if other Principles hindred not (as, I know, that in many, and, think, that in most, of the Christian Naturists they do,) the Erroneous Idea of Nature would, too often, be found to have a strong tendency to shake, if not to subvert, the very Foundations of all Religion; mis-leading those that are inclin'd to be its Enemies, from overlooking the Necessity of a God, to the Questioning, if not to the denyal, of his Existence.

V. My Fifth and Last Argument is taken from hence; That I observe divers Phaenomena, which do not agree with the Notion or Representation of Nature, that I Question. For, if indeed there were such an Intelligent, Powerful and Vigilant Being, as Philosophers are wont to Describe Nature to be, divers things would not be done, which Experience assures us are done.

And here I shall once for all give an Advertisement, which I desire may be call'd to mind, whenever there shall be Occasion, in the following part of this Tract, which is this; That, because Inanimate Bodies are usually more simple, or less compounded, and of a slighter and less complicated or curious Contrivance, than Animals or Plants, I thought fit to chuse most of the Instances I employ, rather among lifeless Bodies, whose Structure and Qualities are more easy to be Intelligibly and with Brevity Discours'd of, than among living Creatures, whose Textures, being Organical, are much more intricate and subtil. And this Course I did not scruple to take, because the Celebraters of Nature give her a Province, or rather an Empire, as large as the World, and will have her Care and Jurisdiction reach, as well to Inanimate as to Living Bodies; and accordingly most of the conspicuous Instances they Alledge, of her Providence and Power, are taken from Bodies destitute of Life; as when they tell us, That the Ascension of Water in Sucking-Pumps, and the Sustentation of it in Gardeners Watering-Pots, are caus'd by Nature's abhorrence of a Vacuum: That heavy Bodies (unhinder'd) fall to the Ground in a Perpendicular Line, because Nature directs them the shortest way to the Centre of the Earth; and that Bubbles Rise thro' the Water, and Flames Ascend in the Air, because Nature directs these Bodies to re-join themselves to their respective Elements; to omit other Instances of this sort, that there will be occasion to mention hereafter: Till when, these may suffice to warrant my taking most of my Instances from Inanimate Bodies; though I shall not confine my self to these, especially when I shall come to Answer Objections that are taken from living Creatures.

The foregoing Advertisement will be, I hope, found conducive to clear the way for my Fifth Argument, lately propos'd, which concludes, that, if indeed there were such a Being, as Nature is usually Represented to be, several things would be otherwise Administred in the Universe, than Experience shews they are.

To enumerate all the Particulars that may be propos'd to make this good, would swell this Discourse much beyond the Bulk to which my Haste obliges me to confine it. But, to make you amends for the Paucity of Instances, I shall now name, by the kind of them, I shall propose such as, for the most part, are taken from those very things, whence the Wisdom and Vigilancy of Nature is wont to be confidently Argued, which I the rather do, that by such I may make way for, and shorten the Answers I am to give to the Arguments e're-long to be Examined.

First then, Whereas the great Care and Vigilancy of Nature, for the common Good of the Universe, is wont to be Demonstrated from the watchful Care she takes, to prevent or replenish a Vacuum, which would be very Prejudicial to the Fabrick of the World: I Argue the quite contrary from the Phaenomena, that occur about a Vacuum. For whereas 'tis Alledg'd, that Nature, in great Pumps, and in the like Cases, lifts up the heavy Body of Water in spight of its tendency towards the Centre of the Earth, to obviate, or fill up a Vacuity; and that out of a Gardener's Pot, or Inverted Pipe, stopp'd at one end, neither the Water, nor even Quick-Silver, that is near fourteen times as heavy, will fall down, lest it should leave a Vacuum behind it; I demand how it comes to pass, that, if a Glass-Pipe be but a Foot longer than 34 or 35 Feet; or an Inverted Tube, fill'd with Quick-silver, be but a Finger's breadth longer than 30 Inches, the Water in the one, and the Quick-silver in the other, will subside, though the one will leave but about a Foot, and the other but about an Inch, of deserted Space, which they call Vacuum, at the top of the Glass. Is it possible, that Nature, that in Pumps is said to raise up every Day so many Hundred Ton of Water, and, if you will believe the Schools, would raise it to any height, (left there should be a Vacuum) should not have the Discretion, or the Power, to lift up, or sustain, as much Water as would serve to fill one Foot in a Glass-Tube, or as much Quick-silver as an Inch of a slender Pipe will contain, to obviate or replenish the Vacuum, she is said so much to abhor? sure, at this rate, she must either have very little Power, or very little Knowledge of the Power she has. So likewise, when a Glass-Bubble is blown very thin at the Flame of a Lamp, and Hermetically seal'd whilst 'tis very hot, the Cause, that is rendered, why 'tis apt to break, when it grows cold, is, that the inward Air, which was before rarefied by the Heat, coming to be Condens'd by the Cold, left the space deserted by the Air, that thus Contracts itself, should be left void, Nature, with violence, breaks the Glass in pieces. But, by these Learned Mens favour, if the Glass be blown but a little stronger than ordinary, though at the Flame of a Lamp, the Bubble, as I have often tryed, will continue unbroken, in spight of Natures pretended abhorrency of a Vacuum: Which needs not at all to be recurr'd to in the Case. For the Reason, why the thin Glass-Bubble broke not when 'twas hot, and did when it grew cold, is plainly this; That, in the former state, the Agitation of the Included Air, by the Heat, did so strengthen the Spring of it, that the Glass was thereby assisted and enabled to resist the weight of the Incumbent Air: Whereas, upon the Cessation of that Heat, the Debilitated Spring of the Internal, being unable to assist the Glass, as formerly, to resist the Pressure of the External Air, the Glass itself being too thin becomes unable to support the Weight or Pressure of the Incumbent Air, the Atmosphaerical Pillar, that leans upon a Bubble of about two Inches Diameter, amounting to above one Hundred Pound Weight; as may be manifestly concluded from a late Experiment that I have try'd, and you may meet with in another Paper. And the Reason, why, if the Bubble be blown of a due thickness, it will continue whole after it is Cold, is, that the thickness of it, though but faintly assisted by the weakned Spring of the Included Air, is sufficient to support the Weight of the Incumbent Air, though, several times, I have observed, the Pressure of the Atmosphaere, and the resistence of the Bubble, to have been, by Accident, so near the aequipollent, that a much less outward Force, than one would imagine, applyed to the Glass, as, perhaps, a Pound, or a less Weight, gently laid on it, would enable the outward Air to break it, with Noise, into a Multitude of pieces. And, now give me leave to consider, how ill this Experiment, and the above-mentioned Phaenomena, that happen in Glass-Pipes, wherein Water and Quick-silver subside, agree with the Vulgar Apprehension, Men have of Nature. For, if in case She did not hinder the falling down of the Water, or the Quicksilver, there would be no such Vacuum produced, as She is said to abhor; Why does She seem so solicitious to hinder it? And why does She keep three or four and thirty Foot of Water in Perpendicular height, contrary to the nature of all heavy Bodies, suspended in the Tube? And, Why does she furiously break in pieces a thin seal'd Bubble, such as I come from speaking of, to hinder a Vacuum? if in case She did not break it, no Vacuum would ensue. And, on the other side, if we admit her Endeavours, to hinder a Vacuum, not to have been superfluous, and consequently foolish, we must confess, that, where these endeavours succeed not, there is really produc'd such a Vacuum, as She is said to abhor. So that, as I was saying, either She must be very indiscreet to trouble Herself, and to transgress Her own ordinary Laws, to prevent a danger She need not fear; or Her strength must be very small, that is not able to fill a Vacuity, that half a Pint of Water, or an Ounce of Quick-silver, may replenish; or break a tender Glass-Bubble, which, perhaps, a Pound Weight on it, would, with the help of so light a Body as the Incumbent Air, crush in pieces.

The other Grand Instance, that is given of the Wisdom of Nature, and Her watchfulness for the Good of the whole World, is, the Appetite She has Implanted in all heavy Bodies, to descend to the Centre of the Earth, and in all light Ones, to ascend towards Heaven; or, as some would have it, towards the Element of Fire, contiguous to the Orb of the Moon. But, for positive Levity, 'till I see it better prov'd, than it hath hitherto been, I allow no such thing Implanted in Sublunary Bodies; the praepollent Gravity of some, sufficing to give others a Comparative or Respective Lightness. As a piece of Oak, or the like Wood, being let go in the Air, falls down by its own Gravity, or rather by virtue of the Efficient of that Gravity; but if it be let go under Water, it will, though it be never so great a Log or piece of Timber, ascend, with a considerable force, to the top of the Water; which, I hope, will not be ascribed to a positive Levity, since, when it descended in the Air, 'twas by its Gravity that it did so. But not to insist on this, nor to take notice, how wisely Nature has Implanted into all heavy Bodies an Appetite to Descend to the Centre of the Earth, which, being but a Point, is not able to contain any one of Them; not to urge these things, I say, I will only invite you to consider one of the most familiar things that occur among heavy Bodies.

For, if, for Example, you let fall a Ball upon the Ground, it will Rebound to a good height, proportionable to that from whence you let it fall, or, perhaps, will make several lesser Rebounds, before it come to rest. It it be now ask'd, Why the Ball, being let out of your Hand, does not fall on this or that side, or move upwards, but falls directly toward the Centre of the Earth, by that shortest Line, (which Mechanitians call Linea Directionis) which is the Diameter of the Earth prolong'd to the Centre of Gravity of the Ball? 'Twill be readily Answer'd, That this proceeds from the Balls Gravity, i. e. an Innate Appetite, whereby it tends to the Centre of the Earth the nearest way. But then I demand, Whence comes this Rebound, i. e. this Motion upwards? For, 'tis plain, 'tis the Genuine Consequence of the Motion downwards, and therefore is encreas'd according as that Motion in the Ball was encreas'd, by falling from a greater height: So that it seems, that Nature does, in such Cases, play a very odd Game, since She forces a Ball, against the Laws of heavy Bodies, to ascend divers times upwards, upon the Account of that very Gravity, whose Office it is to carry it downwards the directest way: And, at least, She seems, in spight of the Wisdom ascribed to Her, to take Her M • asures very ill, in making the Ball move downwards with so much violence, as makes it, divers times, fly back from the place She intended it should go to. As if a Ball which a Child can play with, and direct as he pleases, were so unweildy a Thing, that Nature cannot manage it, without letting it be hurried on with far greater violence, than her Design requires.

The Reflection, I have been making on a Ball, may (mutatis mutandis, as they speak) be applyed to a Pendulum. For, since 'tis unanimously affirm'd, by all that have written of it, that it falls to the Perpendicular, upon the Account of its Gravity: It must not be deny'd, that 'tis from a Motion proceeding from the same Gravity, that the swinging Weight passes beyond the Perpendicular, and consequently ascends, and oftentimes makes a multitude of Diadroms, or Vibrations; and consequently, does very frequently ascend, before it comes to rest in the Perpendicular: Which is the Position wherein its Gravity is best comply'd with, and which therefore it had been best setled in at first.

I shall not here mention those Grand Anomalies, or Exorbitances, even in the vaster Bodies of the Universe; such as Earth-quakes, that reach some Hundreds of Leagues, Deluges, Destructive Eruptions of Fire, Famines of a large spread, Raging Pestilences, Coelestial Comets, Spots in the Sun, that are recorded to have obscured it for many Months; the sudden Appearing, the Dis-appearing, and the Re-appearing of Stars, that have been judg'd to be as high, as the Region of the fix'd Ones. I will not, I say, enquire how far these Anomalies agree to the Character wont to be given of Natures Watchfulness and Vigilancy, because, probably, I may have hereafter a fit opportunity to do it, and must now proceed to the remaining Instances I promis'd you, which are taken from what happens to Animals: As soon as I shall have dispatch'd some Considerations and Advertisements, that seem necessary to be premis'd, to what I have to offer about that difficult Subject.

If the past Discourse give rise to a Question, Whether the World, and the Creatures that compose it, are as perfect as they could be made? The Question seems to me, because of the Ambiguity of the Terms, too intricate to be resolv'd by a single Answer. But yet, because the Problem is not wont to be discuss'd, and is, in my Opinion, of Moment, in reference to Natural Theology; I shall venture briefly to intimate some of the Thoughts that occurr'd to me about it: Having first declar'd, that I am, with reason, very backward to be positive in a matter of this Nature, the Extent of the Divine Power and Wisdom being such, that its Bounds, in case it have any, are not known to me.

This premis'd, I consider, that the sense of the Question may be, Whether God could make the Material World, and the Corporeal Creatures It consists of, better and more perfect that they are? speaking in a general way and absolute sense: Or else, Whether the particular Kinds or Orders of the Creatures, in the World, could any of them be made more perfect or better, than they have been made?

To Answer the Question in the first-nam'd sense of it, I think it very unsafe to deny, that God, who is Almighty and Omniscient, and an Owner of Perfections, which, for ought we know, are participable in more different manners and degrees than we can comprehend, could not Display, if it be not fitter to say Adumbrate, them, by Creating a Work more excellent than this World. And, his Immense Power and Unexhausted Wisdom considered, it will not follow, either, that because this World of Ours is an admirable piece of Workmanship, the Divine Architect could not have better'd It; or, because God himself is able to make a greater Master-piece, this exquisitely contriv'd System is not admirably Excellent.

But the propos'd Question, in the other sense of it, will require some more words to resolve it. For, if we look upon the several Species of Visible Creatures, under a more absolute Consideration, without respect to the Great System of the Universe, of which they are Parts, or to the more particular Designs of the Creator; it seems manifest, that many sorts of Creatures might have been more perfect than they are, since they want many compleating things, that others are indow'd with; as an Oyster, that can neither hear, nor see, nor walk, nor swim, nor fly, &c. is not so perfect a Creature, as an Eagle, or an Elephant, that have both those Senses that the Oyster wants, and a far more active Faculty of changing places: And, of this inequality of perfection in Creatures of differing kinds, the Examples are too obvious to need to be enumerated. But if the Question be better propos'd, and it be inquir'd, not whether God could have made more perfect Creatures, than many of those he has made, for that, 'tis plain, He could do, because He has done it; but, Whether the Creatures were not so curiously and skilfully made, that 'twas scarce possibly they could have been better made, with due regard to all the wise Ends He may be suppos'd to have had in making them, it will be hard to prove a Negative Answer.

This I shall indeavour to illustrate by a Supposition. If one should come into the well-furnish'd Shop of an excellent Watch-maker, and should there see a plain Watch, design'd barely to shew the Hour of the Day; another, that strikes the Hours; a third that is also furnish'd with an Alarm; a fourth, that, besides these, shews the Month Current, and the Day of it; and lastly, a fifth, that, over and above all these, shews the Motions of the Sun, Moon and Planets, the Tydes, and other Things, which may be seen in some Curious Watches. In this Case, I say, the Spectator, supposing him judicious, would, indeed, think one of these Watches far more Excellent and Compleat than another; but yet he would conclude each of them to be perfect in its own own kind, and the Plain Watch to answer the Artificer's Idea and Design in making it, as well as the more Compounded and Elaborate one did. The same thing may, in some Circumstances, be further Illustrated, by considering the Copy of some excellent Writing-Master, for, though there we may find some Leaves written in an Italian Hand, others in a Secretary, and, in others, Hands of other Denominations; though one of these Patterns may be much Fairer, and more Curious than another, if they be compar'd together; yet, if we consider their equal Conformity to the respective Idea's of the Author, and the suitableness to the Design he had of making each Copy, not as Curious, Sightly and Flourishing as he could, but as Conformable to the true Idea of the sort of Hand he meant to exhibit, and the Design he had to shew the Variety, Number and Justness of his Skill, by that of the Patterns he made Compleat in the respective Kinds; we shall not think, that any of them could have been better'd by him: And if he should have made a Text-Hand as fair as a Roman-Hand, by giving it more Beauty and Ornament, he would not have made it better in its Kind, but spoil'd it, and, by a Flourish of his Skill, might have given a Proof of his want of Judgment.

But, to return thither whence I began to make this Excursion, perhaps, Eleutherius, you will object against the Examples I have produc'd before it, that the Exceptions, I have taken at some of the Proceedings of Nature, may be as well urg'd against Providence, and exclude the One as well as the Other, from the Government of the World.

But to this I Answer, that this Objection is Foreign to the Question, which is about Mens Notion of Nature, not God's Providence; which, if it were here my Task to Assert, I should establish It upon Its proper and solid Grounds: such, as the Infinite Perfections of the Divine Nature, which both engage and enable Him to Administer His Dominion over all things; His being the Author and Supporter of the World; The exquisite Contrivance of the Bodies of Animals, which could not proceed but from a stupendious Wisdom; The supernatural Revelations and Discoveries He has made of Himself, and of His particular care of His Creatures, by Prophecies, Apparitions, true Miracles, and other ways, that transcend the Power, or overthrow, or, at least, over-rule the Physical Laws of Motion in Matter: By these, I say, and the like proper Means, I would evince Divine Providence. But being not now oblig'd to make an Attempt, which deserves to be made very solemnly, and not in such haste as I now write in. I shall, at present, only observe to you, that the Case is very differing between Providence and Nature, and therefore there is no necessity, that the Objections, I have made against the Later, should hold against the Former. As, (to give you a few Instances of the Disparity) in the first place, it appears not, nor is it likely, that 'tis the Design of Providence to hinder those Anomalies and Defects, I have been mentioning: Whereas, 'tis said, to be the Duty and Design of Nature, and Her only Task, to keep the Universe in Order, and procure, in all the Bodies that compose it, that things be carried on, in the best and most regular way that may be, for their Advantage. Secondly, Nature is confess'd to be a Thing inferior to God, and so but a subordinate Agent, and therefore cannot, without disparagement to Her Power, or Wisdom, or Vigilancy, suffer divers things to be done, which may, without Degradation to God, be permitted by Him; who is not only a self-existent and Independent Being, but the Supream and Absolute Lord, and, if I may so speak, the Proprietor of the whole Creation: Whence both Melchizedec and Abram style Him, (Gen. xiv. 19, 23.) not only the most High God, but, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Koneh, Possessing (or, as our Version has it, Possessor of) Heaven and Earth: And Who, when He made the World, and established the Laws of Motion, gave them to Matter, not to Himself. And so, being obliged to none, either as His Superior, or Benefactor, He was not bound to Make, or Administer, Corporeal Things after the best manner, that He could, for the good of the things themselves: Among which, those that are capable of Gratitude, ought to Praise and Thank Him, for having vouchsafed them so much as they have, and have no Right to except against His having granted them no more. And, as being thus oblig'd to none of his Works, He has a Sovereign Right to dispose of them; so, He has other Attributes, which He may justly Exercise, and both intend And expect to be Glorified for, besides his Goodness to Inferior Creatures: and His Wisdom may be better set off to Men, and perhaps to Angels or Intelligences, by the great Variety of His Contrivances in His Works, than by making them all of the excellentest Kind: As Shadows in Pictures, and Discords in Musick, skilfully Plac'd and Order'd, do much recommend the Painter, and the Musician. Perhaps it may be added, That the permitting the Course of Things to be somewhat violated, shews, by the Mischief such Exorbitances do, how good God has been in setling and preserving the orderly Course of Things. Thirdly, As God is a most Absolute and Free, so He is an Omniscient, Being; and, as, by His Supream Dominion over the Works of His Hands, He has a Right to dispose of them, as He thinks best for His own Glory, so upon the score of His unfathomable Wisdom, He may have Designs, and, if I may so speak, Reaches, in the Anomalies that happen in the World, which we Men are too short-sighted to discern; and may exercise as much Wisdom, nay, and as much Providence (in reference to Man, the Noblest Visible Object of His Providence) in sometimes (as in Divine Miracles) receding from what Men call the Laws of Nature, as He did at first in establishing them: Whereas the Office of Nature, being but to preserve the Universe in General, and Particular Bodies in It, after the best manner that their respective Conditions will permit; we know, what 'tis She aims at, and, consequently, can better discern, when She misses of Her Aims, by not well Acting what is presum'd to be Her Part. Fourthly, We must consider, that, as God is an Independent, Free and Wise, so He is also a Just Agent; and therefore may very well be suppos'd to cause many Irregularities and Exorbitances in the World, to punish those, that Men have been guilty of. And, whereas Nature is but a Nursing-Mother to the Creatures, and looks e'ne upon wicked Men, not in their Moral but in their Physical capacities, God expresly declares, in the Sacred Scriptures, that, upon Adam's Fall, He Curs'd the Ground, or Earth, for Man's sake, Gen. iii. 17, 18. and that there is no penal evil in the City that is not deriv'd from Him, Amos iii. 6. He is not over-rul'd, as Men are fain to say of Erring Nature, by the head-strong Motions of the Matter, but sometimes purposely over-rules the regular Ones, to execute His Justice; & therefore Plagues, Earth-quakes, Inundations, and the like destructive Calamities, though they are sometimes Irregularities in Nature, yet, for that very Reason, they are design'd by Providence; which intends, by them, to deprive wicked Men of that Life, or of those blessings of Life, whereof their Sins have render'd them unworthy. But, whil'st I mention Designs, I must not forget, that Mine was only to give you a Tast of the Considerations, by which one may shew, that such things, as manifest Nature to act unsuitably to the Representation that is made of Her, may yet, when attributed to Divine Providence, be made out to have nothing inconsistent with It.

And yet, somewhat further to clear this weighty matter, and particularly some things, but briefly hinted in what I have been lately Discoursing, I think it fit, before I descend to the Particulars, that I am to employ against the Vulgar Notion of Nature, to premise somewhat by way of Caution, that I may do some Right (though I can never do enough,) to Divine Providence; and take care betimes, that no Use, Injurious to It, may be made of any thing that my Argument hath oblig'd me, or will oblige me, to say about that Imaginary Thing, Vulgarly call'd Nature, either in This or the VI. Section, or any other Part of our present Enquiry.

I conceive then, that the Divine Author of Things, in making the World, and the particular Creatures that compose it, had respect to several Ends; some of them knowable by us Men, and others hid in the Abyss of the Divine Wisdom and Counsels. And that of those Ends, which are either manifest enough to us, or, at least, discoverable by Human Sagacity and Industry, some of the Principal are, The manifestation of the Glory of God, The Utility of Man, and The maintenance of the System of the World; under which is comprised, the Conservation of particular Creatures, and, also, the Propagation of some Kinds of them.

But this General Design of God, for the welfare of Man and other Creatures, is not (as I conceive) to be understood, but with a twofold Limitation.

For, First, though Men, and other Animals, be furnish'd with Faculties or Powers, and other Requisites, to enable them to preserve themselves, and procure what is necessary for their own welfare, yet this Provision, that God has been pleas'd to make for them, is made with reference to what regularly, or what most usually, happens to Beings of that Species or Sort that they belong to; but not with regard to such things as may happen to them irregularly, contingently, and (in comparison of the others,) unfrequently. Thus it is, in General, far better for Mankind, that Women, when they are brought to Bed, should have their Breasts fill'd with Milk, to give Suck to the new-born Babe, than that they should not; though sometimes, as, if the Child die in the Delivery, or presently after, and in some other Cases also, the plentiful recourse of Milk to the Mothers Breasts proves troublesome and inconvenient, and sometimes also dangerous, to her. Thus a Head of Hair is, for the most part, useful to the Person, whether Man or Woman, that Nature has furnish'd with it, though, in some Cases (as of Consumptions, and in a few other Circumstances) it happens to be prejudicial to the Wearer; and therefore Physicians do often, with good success, prescribe, that it be shaven off. Thus the Instinct, that Hens have to Hatch their Eggs and take care of their Young, is, in General, very useful, if not necessary, for the Conservation of that Species of Birds; and yet it sometimes mis-guides and deludes them, when it makes them take a great deal of pains to Brood upon those Duck-eggs, that Housewives, (having taken a way the Birds own Eggs) lay in her Nest, which makes her very solicitous to Hatch and take care of Ducklings, instead of Chickens. Thus 'tis an Institution that ordinarily is profitable for Man, that his Stomach should nauseate or reject things that have a loathsome taste or smell, because the generality of those things, that are provided for his Nourishment, are well, or, at least, not ill-tasted; and yet, on some occasions of Sickness, that disposition of the Stomach to refuse, or vomit up, nauseous Purges, and other dis-tastful Medicines, (as such Remedies are usually loathsom enough) proves very prejudicial, by being a great impediment to the Recovery of Health. And thus (to be short) the Passions of the Mind, such as Fear, Joy and Grief, are given to Man, for his Good; and, when rightly us'd, are very advantageous, if not absolutely necessary, to him: Though, when they grow unruly, or are ill-manag'd, as it but too often happens, they frequently prove the Causes of Diseases, and of great Mischief, as well to the passionate Man himself, as to Others.

The second Limitation (which has a natural Connexion with the former,) is this, That the Omniscient Author of Things, who, in His Vast and Boundless Understanding, comprehended, at once, the whole System of His Works, and every Part of it, did not mainly intend the Welfare of such or such particular Creatures, but subordinated His Care of their Preservation and Welfare, to His Care of maintaining the Universal System and Primitive Scheme or Contrivance of His Works, and especially those Catholick Rules of Motion, and other Grand Laws, which He at first establish'd among the Portions of the Mundane Matter. So that, when there happens such a Concourse of Circumstances, that particular Bodies, fewer or more, must suffer, or else the setled Frame, or the usual Course of Things, must be alter'd, or some general Law of Motion must be hinder'd from taking place: In such Cases, I say, the Welfare and Interest of Man himself (as an Animal) and much more That of inferior Animals, and of other Particular Creatures, must give way to the Care, that Providence takes of Things of a more General and Important Nature or Condition.

Thus (as I formerly noted) God establish'd the Lines of Motion, which the Sun and the Moon observe, tho' he foresaw, that, from thence, there would necessarily, from time to time, ensue Eclipses of those Luminaries; which he chose rather to permit, than to alter that Course, which, on several accounts, was the most convenient. Thus a blown Bladder, or a Foot-Ball, falling from a considerable height upon the Ground, rebounds upwards, and so, contrary to the Nature of Heavy Bodies, moves from the Centre of the Earth, lest the Catholick Laws of Motion, whereby the Springyness and Reflection of Bodies, in such Circumstances, are established, should be violated or intrench'd upon.

Thus, He thought not fit to furnish Sheep with Paws, or Tusks, or Swiftness, or Animosity, or Craft, to defend or preserve themselves from Wolves and Foxes, and other Beasts of Prey. And tame and fearful Birds, such as Hens, are so ill provided for defence, that they seem designed to be the food of Hawks, Kites, and other rapacious Ones. Thus Oysters, having neither Eyes nor Ears, are not near so well provided for, as the generality of Beasts and Birds, and even most other Fishes. And thus Silk-Worms (to name no other Catterpillars,) usually (at least in these Countries,) live not much above half a Year, being less furnish'd with the Requisites of longaevity, than the generality of Birds, and Beasts, and Fishes.

I have thought fit to lay down the two foregoing Limitations, partly, because they will be of use to me hereafter, and, partly, because they contain something, that may be added to what hath been lately Represented on behalf of the Divine Providence (as it falls under the Naturalist's Consideration.) For, by these Limitations, we may perceive, that 'tis not just, presently to deny, or censure the Providence of God, when-ever we see some Creatures less compleatly furnish'd to maintain themselves; or some Cases less provided for, than we think they might be; or seeming Anomalies permitted, which we look upon as mischievous Irregularities. For the Welfare of Men, or of this or that other Particular sort of Creatures, being not the Only, nor, in likelihood, the Principal End of God, in making the World; it is neither to be admir'd nor reprehended, that He has not provided for the safety and conveniency of Particular Beings, any further, than well consists with the Welfare of Beings of a more considerable Order, and, also, will comport with his Higher Ends, and with the maintenance of the more General Laws and Customs, setled by Him among Things Corporeal: So that divers seeming Anomalies and Incongruities, whence some take occasion to Question the Administration of Things, and to deny the Agency of Providence, do not only comport with it, but serve to accomplish the Designs of It.

I have the more expresly declar'd my Mind on this occasion, because, indeed, of the two main Reasons, which put me upon so difficult a Work, as I foresaw this Treatise would be, as one was, the Love I bear to Truth and Philosophical Freedom; so the other was, a just Concern for Religion. For thinking it very probable, that, in so Inquisitive an Age as This, some Observations, like Mine, about Nature itself, might come into the minds of Persons ill-affected to Divine Providence, who would be glad and forward to wrest them, and make a perverse use of them; I thought it better, that such Notions should be candidly propos'd, by One that would take care to accompany them with those Cautions, that may keep them from being injurious to Religion.

Having premis'd the two foregoing Advertisements, to obviate Misconstructions; I hope, I may now safely proceed to Particulars; whereof, for Brevity's sake, I shall here mention but a few, leaving you to add to them those others, that occur in other parts of this Treatise.

In the first place then, I shall take notice, that there are several Instances of Persons that have been choak'd with a Hair, which they were unable, either to cough up, or swallow down. The reason of this fatal Accident, is, probably, said to be the Irritation that is made, by the stay of so unusual a thing, as a Hair, in the Throat; which Irritation occasions very violent and disorderly, or convulsive, Motions to expel it, in the Organs of Respiration, by which Means the continual Circulation of the Blood, necessary to the Life of Man, is hinder'd, the Consequence whereof is speedy Death. But this agrees very ill with the Vulgar Supposition of such a Kind and Provident Being, as they represent Nature, which is always at hand to preserve the Life of Animals, and succour them in their (Physical) dangers and distresses, as occasion requires. For since a Hair is so slender a Body, that it cannot stop the Throat, so as to hinder, either, the free passage of Meat and Drink into the Stomach, or, that of the Air to or from the Lungs; (as may be argued from divers no-way Mortal Excrescences and Ulcers in the Throat,) were it not a great deal better for Nature, to let the Hair alone, and stay, 'till the Juices of the Body have resolv'd or consum'd it, or some favourable Accident have remov'd it, than like a passionate and transported Thing, oppose it, like a Fury, with such blind violence, as, instead of ejecting the Hair, expels the Life of him, that was troubled with it?

How the Care and Wisdom of Nature will be reconcil'd to so improper and disorderly a Proceeding, I leave Her Admirers to consider. But it will appear very reconcileable to Providence, if we reflect back upon the lately given Advertisement. For, in regard of the use and necessity of Deglutition, and in many Cases of Coughing and Vomiting, it was, in the General, most convenient, that the Parts that minister to these Motions, should be irritated by the sudden Sense of things that are unusual, though, perhaps, they would not be otherwise dangerous or offensive, because (as we formerly noted,) 'twas fit, that the Providence of God should, in making Provision for the Welfare of Animals, have more regard to that, which usually and regularly befalls them, than to extraordinary Cases or unfrequent Accidents.

Though most Women are offended with the Stink of the smoaking Wick of a Candle, which is no more than Men also are, yet it has been frequently observ'd, that Big-bellied Women have been made to Miscarry, by the smell of an extinguish'd Candle, which would before have indeed displeas'd, but not endanger'd, the same Persons: So that it seems, Nature is, in these Cases, very far from being so prudent and careful, as Men are wont to fancy Her, since, by an Odour, (which, if calmly receiv'd, would have done no harm to the Teeming Woman,) She is put into such unruly Transports: And, instead of watching for the Welfare of the Teeming Woman, whose Condition needed a more than ordinary measure of Her care and tenderness, She violently precipitates her poor Charge into a danger, that oftentimes proves fatal, not only to the Mother, but the Child also.

The improper, and oftentimes hurtful, Courses that Nature takes, in Persons that are sick, some of one Disease, some of another, will be, hereafter, taken notice of in opportune places; and therefore, for the present, I shall only observe, that Nature seems to do Her Work very weakly, or bunglingly, in the Production of Monsters, whose Variety and Numerousness is almost as great as their Deformity, or their Irregularity; insomuch that several Volums have been written, and many more might have been, to give the Description of them. How these gross Aberrations will agree with that great Uniformity, and exquisite Skill, that is ascrib'd to Nature, in her seminal Productions, I leave the Naturists to make out. I know, that some of them lay the fault upon the stubbornness of the Matter, that would not be obsequious to the Plastick Power of Nature, but I can hardly admit of this Account from Men of such Principles, as they are that give it: for 'tis strange to me, they should pretend, that Nature, which they make a kind of Semi-Deity, should not be able to mould and fashion so small, and soft, and tractable, a Portion of Matter, as that wherein the first Model and Efformation of the Embrio is made; when, at the same time, they tell us, That 'tis able, in Sucking-Pumps, to raise, and, if need be, sustain, whole Tons of Water, to prevent a Vacuum: And can, in Mines, toss up into the Air, Houses, Walls, and Castles, and, perhaps, the Rocks they are built on, to give the kindled Gun-powder the Expansion, that its New state requires.

Other Arguments, that, by a light Change and easie Application, may be made use of and added to these, against the Vulgar Notion of Nature, may be met with in divers Parts of this Treatise, and especially in the VII. Section; for which Reason (among others) I decline lengthning this Part of my Discourse with the mention of them.

I foresee it may be said, that, unless we admit such a Being as Nature, to contrive and manage Things Corporeal, and, in a Regular and Methodical way, direct them to their respective Ends, there will appear no visible Footsteps or Proof of a Divine Wisdom in the Corporeal World. And this Argument, I confess, is so specious, that 'twas one of the things that made me the longest hesitate, what I should think of the Receiv'd Notion of Nature. But having further consider'd the matter, I saw it might be answer'd, that the curious Contrivance of the Universe, and many of Its Parts, and the orderly Course of Things Corporeal, with a manifest Tendency to determinate Ends, are Matters of Fact, and do not depend upon the Supposition of such a Being, as they call Nature; but, setting aside this or that Hypothesis, may be known by Inspection, if those that make the Inspection be Attentive and Impartial: As, when a Man sees a Humane Body skilfully Dissected by a dexterous Anatomist, he cannot, if he be intelligent and unprejudic'd, but acknowledg, that there is a most curious and exquisite Contrivance in that Incomparable Engine, and in the various Parts of it, that are admirably fitted for distinct and determinate Functions or Uses. So that I do not at all, nor indeed can, suppress the manifest Tokens of Wisdom and Design, that are to be observed in the wonderful Construction and orderly Operations of the World and Its Parts: But I endeavour to refer these Indications of Wisdom to the true and proper Cause. And whereas, in the Hypothesis of the Objectors, there may be three Causes assign'd of these Specimens or Foot-steps of Wisdom, namely, God, Nature, and Chance; if, according to the Doctrine by me propos'd, Nature be laid aside, the Competition will remain only between God and Chance: And sure he must be very dull, or very strongly prejudic'd, that shall think it reasonable to attribute such admirable Contrivances and such regular Conducts, as are observable in the Corporeal World, rather to Chance, (which is a blind and senseless Cause, or indeed no proper Cause at all, but a kind of Ens rationis) than to a most Intelligent Being, from which the curiousest Productions may with Congruity be expected: Whereas, if such a Celebrated Thing, as Nature is commonly thought, be admitted, 'twill not be near so easie to prove the Wisdom (and consequently the Existence) of God by His Works, since they may have another Cause, namely, that most watchful and provident Being, which Men call Nature. And this will be especially difficult in the Peripatetick Hypothesis of the Eternity (not of Matter only, for in that the Atomists and others agreed with them, but) of the World. For, according to this Account of the Universe, there appears no necessity, that God should have any thing to do with it, since he did not make this Automaton, but it was always Self-existent, not only as to Matter, but to Form too: And as for the Government or Administration of the Bodies it consists of, that is the proper business of Nature. And if it be Objected, that this Being is by its Assertors acknowledg'd to be subordinate to God; I shall answer, That, as, upon the Reasons and Authorities I elsewhere deliver,See the IV. Section. it may justly be question'd, Whether many Philosophers, and perhaps some Sects of them who are Adorers of Nature, confess'd Her to be but the Substitute of a Superior and Divine Being? So, this distinction and subordination is not so easie to be prov'd against those that side with those other Ancient Philosophers, who either acknowledg'd no such thing, or expresly deny'd it. Besides that, this Objection supposes the Existence and Superiority of a Deity, which therefore needs to be prov'd by other ways; whereas in the Hypothesis I propose, the same Phaenomena that discover admirable Wisdom and manifest Designs in the Corporeal World, do themselves afford a solid Argument, both of the Existence and of some of the grand Attributes of God, with which the rest, that properly belong to Him, have a necessary Connexion.

SECT. VI.

V. HAving, in the foregoing Section, propos'd some of the Considerations, that have dissatisfied me with the Receiv'd Notion of Nature, it may now be justly expected, that I should also consider, what I foresee will be alledg'd in Its behalf, by the more Intelligent of Its Favourers. And I shall not deny the Objections, I am going to name against my Opinion, to be considerable, especially for this Reason, that I am very unwilling to seem to put such an Affront upon the generality as well of Learned Men as of Others, as to maintain, that they have built a Notion of so great weight and importance upon slight and inconsiderable Grounds.

The Reasons, that I conceive may have induced Philosophers to take up, and rely on, the Receiv'd Notion of Nature, are such as these that follow.

And the first Argument, as one of the most obvious, may be taken from the general Belief, or, as Men suppose, Observation, that divers Bodies, as particularly Earth, Water, and other Elements, have each of them its natural Place assign'd it in the Universe; from which Place, if any portion of the Element, or any mixt Body, wherein that Element predominates, happens to be remov'd, it has a strong incessant Appetite to return to it; because, when 'tis there, it ceases either to gravitate, or (as some School-men speak) to levitate, and is now in a place, which Nature has qualifi'd to preserve it, according to the Axiom, that Locus conservat locatum.

To this Argument I answer, that I readily grant, that, there being such a Quantity of very bulky Bodies in the World, 'twas necessary they should have Places adequate to their bigness; and 'twas thought fit by the wise Architect of the Universe, that they should not be all blended together, but that a great Portion of each of them should, at the beginning of things, be dispos'd of and lodg'd in a distinct and convenient Place. But when I have granted this, I see not any necessity of granting likewise, what is asserted in the Argument above-propos'd. For Inanimate Bodies having no Sense or Perception, (which is the Prerogative of Animadversive Beings) it must be all one to them in what Place they are, because they cannot be concern'd to be in one Place rather than in another, since such a preference would require a knowledg, that Inanimate things are destitute of. And, for the same reason, a Portion of an Element, remov'd, by force or chance, from what they call its proper Place, can have no real Appetite to return thither: For, who tells it 'tis in an undue Place, and that it may better its Condition by removing into another? And who informs it, whether that Place lies on this hand of it, or that hand of it, or above it, or beneath it? Some Philosophers indeed have been somewhat aware of the weakness of the Argument, drawn from the vulgarly propos'd Instance (which yet is the best that is wont to be imploy'd,) of Earthy Bodies, which being let fall from the top of an House, or thrown into the Air, do of themselves fall, in a direct Line, towards the Centre of the Earth; and therefore they have strengthned this Argument, as far as might be, by pretending, that these Bodies have not indeed, as former Philosophers were wont to think, an Appetite to descend to the Centre of the Earth, but to the great Mass of their Connatural Bodies. I I will not therefore accuse these Philosophers of the inconsiderate Opinion of their Predecessors, who would have Nature make all heavy Things affect to lodg themselves in the Centre of the Earth, which (as was formerly noted,) being but a Point, cannot contain any one of them, (how little soever it be;) but yet the Hypothesis of these Moderns is liable, though not to that, yet, to other weighty Objections.

For the First Argument, I lately imploy'd, will hold good against these Philosophers too, it not being conceivable, how an Inanimate Body should have an Appetite to re-joyn Homogeneous Bodies, neither whose situation, nor whose distance from it, it does at all know.

Secondly, It does not appear that all Bodies have such an Appetite, as is presum'd, of joyning themselves to greater Masses of Connatural Bodies; as, if you File the end of an Ingot or Bar of Silver or of Gold, the Filings will not stick to their own Mass, though it be approach'd never so near, or made to touch them, and much less will they leap to it, when 'tis at a distance from them. The like may be said almost of all Consistent Bodies we are acquainted with, except the Loadstone and Iron, and Bodies that participate of one of those two.

Thirdly, 'Tis obvious to them that will observe, that, that which makes Lumps of Earth, or Terrestrial Matter, fall through the Air to the Earth, is some general Agent, whatever that be, which, according to the wise disposition of the Author of the Universe, determines the Motion of those Bodies, we call heavy, by the shortest ways that are permitted them, towards the Central part of the Terraqueous Globe; Whether the Body, put into Motion downwards, be of the same, or a like, or a quite differing nature, from the greater Mass of Matter, to which, when 'tis aggregated, it rests there? If, from the side of a Ship, you let fall a Chip of Wood out of your Hand, when your Arm is so stretch'd out, that the Perpendicular, or shortest Line, between that and the Water, lies never so little without the Ship, that Chip will fall into the Sea, which is a fluid Body, and quite of another Nature than itself, rather than swerve in the least from the Line of Direction, as Mechanicians call it, to rejoyn itself to the great bulk of Wood, whereof the Ship, though never so big, consists. And, on the other side, if a Man, standing upon the Shore just by the Sea, shall pour out a Glass of Water, holding the Glass just over his Feet, that Water will fall into the Sand, where 'twill be immediately soak'd up and dispersed, rather than deviate a little, to joyn itself to so great a Mass of Connatural Body, as the Ocean is.

And as to what is generally believ'd, and made part of the Argument that I am answering, That Water does not weigh in Water, because it is in its own natural Place, and Elementa in proprio loco non gravitant. I deny the matter of Fact, and have convinc'd divers curious Persons by Experiment, See the Appendix to the Hydrostat. Paradoxes. that Water does gravitate in Water, as well as out of it, though indeed it does not praegravitate, because 'tis Counter-ballanc'd by an equal weight of Collateral Water, which keeps it from descending.

And Lastly, For the Maxim, that Locus conservat locatum; besides that, it has been prooflesly asserted, and therefore, unless it be cautiously explain'd, I do not think my self bound to admit it; besides this, I say, I think, that either the proper Place of a Body cannot be inferr'd, as my Adversaries would have it, from the Natural tendency of a Body to it; or else it will not hold true in general, that Locus conservat locatum; as when, for Instance, a poor unluky Seaman falls, from the Mainyard of a Ship, into the Water, does the Sea, to which he makes such hast, preserve him or destroy him? And when in a foul Chimney, a lump of Soot falls into the Hearth, and presently burns up there, can we think that the Wisdom of Nature gave the Soot an Appetite to hasten to the Fire, as a greater Bulk of its Connatural Body, or a Place provided by Nature for its Conservation.

And now I speak of such an Innate Appetite of Conjunction between Bodies; I remember, what I lately forgot to mention in a fitter place; That Bubbles themselves may overthrow the Argument, I was Answering. For if a Bubble happens to arise from the bottom of a Vessel to the upper Part of it, we are told, that the Haste, wherewith the Air moves thorow Water, proceeds from the Appetite it has to quit that Preternatural Place, and re-joyn the Element, or great Mass of Air, detain'd at the very Surface of the Water by a very thin skin of that Liquor, together with which it constitutes a Bubble. Now I demand, how it comes to pass, that this Appetite of the Air, which, when it was at the bottom of the Water, and also in its passage upwards, is suppos'd to have enabled it to Ascend with so much eagerness and force, as to make its way thorow all the incumbent Water, (which possibly was very deep,) should not be able, when the Air is arriv'd at the very top of the Water, to break thorow so thin a Membrane of Water, as usually serves to make a Bubble, and which suffices to keep it from the beloved Conjunction with the great Mass of the External Air? especially since they tell us, that Natural Motion grows more quick, the nearer it comes to the End or Place of rest; the Appetites of Bodies encreasing, with their approaches to the Good they aspire to; upon which account, Falling Bodies, as Stones, &c. are said (though falsesly) to encrease their swiftness, the nearer they come to the Earth. But if, setting aside the Imaginary Appetite of the Air, we attribute the Ascension of Bubbles to the Gravity and Pressure upwards of the Water, 'tis easie Hydrostatically to Explicate, why Bubbles often move slower when they come near the Surface of the Water, and why they are detain'd there; which last Phaenomenon proceeds from this, that the Pressure of the Water being There incosiderable, 'tis not able to make the Air quite Surmount the Resistence made by the Tenacity of the Superficial Part of the Water. And therefore in good Spirit of Wine, whose Tenacity and Glutinousness is far less than that of Water, Bubbles rarely continue upon the Surface of the Liquor, but are presently broken and vanish.

And to make this presum'd Appetite, of the smaller Portions of the Air to unite with the great Mass of it, appear the less probable; I shall add that I have often observ'd, that Water, in that state which is usually call'd its Natural State, is wont to have store of Aerial Particles mingled with it, notwithstanding the Neighbourhood of the External Air, that is incumbent on the Water, as may appear by putting a Glass full of Water into the Receiver of the new Pneumatical Engine. For the Pressure of the External Air being by the Pump taken off, there will, from time to time, disclose themselves in the Water, a multitude of Bubbles, made by the Aerial Particles, that lay conceal'd in that Liquor.

And I have further try'd, as I doubt not but some others also have done, that, by exactly inclosing, in a conveniently shap'd Glass, some Water, thus freed from the Air, and leaving a little Air at the top of the Vessel, which was afterwards set by in a quiet place; the Corpuscles of that incumbent Air did, one after another, insinuate themselves into the Water, and remain'd lodg'd in it; so little Appetite has Air, in general, to flee all Association with Water, and make its escape out of that Liquor; though, when sensible Portions of it happen to be under Water, the great inequality in Gravity, between those two Fluids, makes the Water press up the Air. But, though 'twere easie to give a Mechanical Account of the Phaenomena of mingled Air and Water, yet, because it cannot be done in few Words, I shall not here undertake it; the Phaenomena themselves being sufficient, to render the Supposition of my Adversaries improbable.

Another Argument, in favour of the Received Opinion of Nature, may be drawn from the strong Appetite, that Bodies have to recover their Natural state, when by any means they are put out of it, and thereby forced into a State that is called Preternatural; as we see, that Air being violently compress'd in a blown Bladder, as soon as the force is remov'd, will return to its first Dimensions: And the Blade of a Sword being bent by being thrust against the Floor; as soon as the force ceases, restores itself, by its innate power, to its former straightness: And Water, being made Hot by the fire, when 'tis removed thence, hastens to recover its former Coldness.

But though I take this Argument to have much more weight in it, than the foregoing; because it seems to be grounded upon such real Phaenomena of Nature, as those newly recited, yet I do not look upon it as Cogent.

In Answer to it therefore, I shall represent, that it appears by the Instances lately mention'd, that the Proposers of the Argument ground it on the affections of Inanimate Bodies. Now, an Inanimate Portion of Matter being confessedly devoid of Knowledge and Sense, I see no Reason, why we should not think it uncapable of being concern'd to be in One state or constitution, rather than Another, since it has no knowledge of that, which it is in at present, nor remembrance of that, from which it was forc'd; and consequently, no Appetite to forsake the Former, that it may return to the Latter. But every Inanimate Body, (to say nothing now of Plants and Bruit Animals, because I want time to launch into an ample Discourse) being of itself indifferent to all Places and States, continues in in that Place or State to which the action and resistence of Other Bodies, and especially Contiguous Ones, effectually determine it.

As to the Instance afforded by Water, I consider, that before it be asserted, That Water, being Heated, returns of itself to its Natural Coldness, it were fit, that the Assertors should determine, what degree or measure of Coldness is Natural to that Liquor; and this, if I mistake not, will be no easie Task. 'Tis true indeed, that, in reference to us Men, Water is usually Cold, because its minute Parts are not so briskly agitated, as those of the Blood and Juices, that are to be found in our Hands, or other Organs of Feeling. But, that Water is actually cold in reference to Frogs, and those Fishes that live in it, whose Blood is cold as to our Sense, has not, that I know of, been prov'd, nor is easie to be so. And I think it yet more difficult to determine, what degree of Coldness is natural to Water, since this Liquor perpetually varies its Temperature, as to Cold and Heat, according to the temper of the Contiguous or the Neighbouring Bodies, especially the Ambient Air. And therefore the Water of an unshaded Pond, for Instance, though it rests in its proper and natural Place, as they speak, yet in Autumn, if the Weather be fair, the Temperature of it will much vary in the compass of the same Day, and the Liquor will be much hotter at Noon, than early in the Morning, or at Midnight; though this great diversity be the Effect only of a Natural Agent, the Sun, acting according to its regular Course. And, in the depth of Winter, 'tis generally confess'd, that Water is much colder than in the Heat of Summer; which seems to be the Reason of what is observ'd by Watermen, as a wonderful thing, namely, that in Rivers, Boats equally Laden will not sink so deep in Winter as in Summer, the cold Condensing the Water, and consequently making it heavier in specie, than it is in Summer, when the Heat of the Ambient Air makes it more thin. In divers parts of Africk, that Temperature is thought natural to the Water, because 'tis that which it usually has, which is far hotter than that which is thought natural to the same Liquor in the frigid Zone. And, I remember, on this occasion, what perhaps I have elsewhere mention'd upon another, that the Russian Czars chief Physician inform'd me, that in some Parts of Siberia, (one of the more Northern Provinces of that Monarch's Empire, Water is so much more Cold, not only than in the Torrid Zone, but than in England, that two or three foot beneath the surface of the Ground, all the Year long (even in Summer itself,) it continues Concreted in the form of Ice, so Intense is the Degree of Cold that there seems natural to it. This odd Phaenomenon much confirms what I lately intimated, of the Power of Contiguous Bodies, and especially of the Air, to vary the Degree of the coldness of Water. I particularly mention the Air, because, as far as I have try'd, it has more Power to bring Water to its own Temperature, than is commonly suppos'd. For though, if, in Summer-time, a Man puts his Hand into Water, that has lain expos'd to the Sun, he will usually feel it Cold, and so conclude it much colder, than the Ambient Air; yet, that may often happen upon another Account, namely, that the Water being many Hundred times a more Dense Fluid than the Air, and consisting of Particles more apt to insinuate themselves into the Pores of the Skin, a greater Part of the Agitation of the Blood and Spirits, contained in the Hand, is communicated to the Water, and thereby lost by the Fluids that part with it. And the Minute Particles of the Water, which are, perhaps, more Supple and Flexible, insinuating themselves into the Pores of the Skin, which the Aerial Particles, by Reason of their Stifness, and perhaps Length, cannot do; they come to affect the somewhat more Internal Parts of the Hand, which, being much Hotter than the Cuticula or Scarf-skin, makes us feel them very Cold; as, when a Sweating Hand is plung'd into Luke-warm Water, the Liquor will be judg'd Cold by Him, who, if his Other Hand be very Cold, will with it feel the same Water Hot. To confirm which Conjecture, I shall add, that, having sometimes purposely taken a Seal'd Weather-glass, whose included Liquor was brought to the Temperature of the Ambient Air, and thrust the Ball of it under Water, kept in the same Air, there would be discover'd no such Coldness in the Water, as One would have expected; the former Reason of the sensible Cold the Hand feels, when thrust into that Liquor, having here no Place. To which I shall add, that having, for Tryal's sake, made Water very Cold, by dissolving Sal-armoniac in it, in Summer time, it would, after a while, return to its usual degree of Warmth. And, having made the same Experiment in Winter, it would return to such a Coldness, as belong'd to it in that Season: So that it did not return to any Determinate degree of Coldness, as Natural to it, but to that Greater or Lesser, that had been Accidentally given it by the Ambient Air, before the Sal-armoniac had Refrigerated It.

As to the Motion of Restitution, observable upon the Removal or Ceasing of the Force in Air violently compress'd, and in the Blade of a Sword forcibly bent; I confess it seems to me a very difficult Thing, to assign the true Mechanical Cause of It. But yet, I think it far more likely, that the Cause should be Mechanical, than, that the Effect proceeds from such a Watchfulness of Nature, as is pretended. For First, I question, Whether we have any Air here Below, that is in Other than a Preternatural or Violent State; the Lower Parts of our Atmospherical Air being constantly compress'd by the weight of the Upper Parts of the same Air, that lean upon them.

As for the Restitution of the bent Blade of a Sword, and such like Springy Bodies, when the force that bent them is remov'd; my Thoughts about the Theory of Springynes belong to another Paper. And therefore, I shall here only, by way of Argument ad Hominem, consider, in Answer to the Objection; That if, for Example, you take a somewhat long and narrow Plate of Silver, that has not been hammer'd, or compress'd, or, which is surer, has been made red-hot in the Fire, and suffer'd to cool leasurely, you may bend it which way you will, and it will constantly retain the last curve Figure, that you gave It. But if, having again streightned this Plate, you give it some smart stroaks of a Hammer, it will, by that meerly Mechanical Change, become a Springy Body: So that, if with your Hand you force it a little from its Rectitude, as soon as you remove your Hand, it will endeavour to regain its former Streightness. The like may be observ'd in Copper, but nothing near so much, or scarce at all, in Lead. Now upon these Phaenomena, I demand, Why, if Nature be so careful to restore Bodies to their former State, She does not restore the Silver Blade or Plate to its Rectitude, when it is bent this way or that way, before it be Hammer'd? And why a few stroaks of a Hammer (which, acting violently, seems likely to have put the Metal into a Preternatural State,) should entitle the Blade to Nature's peculiar Care, and make Her solicitous to restore it to its Rectitude, when it is forc'd from It? And Why, if the Springy Plate be again Ignited and Refrigerated of itself, Nature abandons Her former Care of It, and suffers it quietly to continue in what crooked Posture, One pleases to put it into? Not, now, to demand a Reason of Nature's greater Partiality to Silver, and Copper and Iron, than to Lead and Gold itself, in Reference to the Motion of Restitution; I shall add to what I was just now saying, that even in Sword-Blades it has been often observ'd, That though, if soon after they are bent, the force that bent them be withdrawn, they will nimbly return to their former straightness; yet, if they (which are not the only Springy Bodies, of which this has been observ'd,) be kept too long bent, they will lose the Power of recovering their former streightness, and continue in that crooked Posture, though the force that put them into it cease to act: So that, it seems, Nature easily forgets the care She was presum'd to take of it, at first.

There is an Axiom that passes for current among Learned Men, viz. Nullum violentum durabile, that seems much to favour the Opinion of the Naturists, since 'tis grounded upon a Supposition, that what is violent, is, as such, contrary to Nature, and, for that Reason, cannot last long. And this trite Sentence is, by the Schools and even some Modern Philosophers, so particularly apply'd to Local Motion, that some of them have, not improbably, made it the Characteristick token, whereby to distinguish Natural Motions from those that are not so; that the Former are perpetual, or at least very durable, whereas the Later, being continually check'd more and more by the Renitency of Nature, do continually decay, and within no long time are suppress'd or extinguish'd: But, on this occasion, I must crave leave to make the following Reflections.

1. It may be justly Question'd, upon Grounds laid down in another Part of this Essay, Whether there be any Motion, among Inanimate Bodies, that deserves to be call'd Violent, in Contradistinction to Natural; since among such, all Motions, where no Intelligent Spirit intervenes, are made according to Catholick, and almost, if not more than almost, Mechanical Laws.

2. Methinks, the Peripateticks, who are wont to be the most forward to imploy this Axiom, should find but little Reason to do so, if they consider how unsuitable it is to their Doctrine, That the vast Body of the Firmament and all the Planetary Orbs are, by the Primum Mobile, with a stupendious swiftness, whirl'd about, from East to West, in four and twenty Hours, contrary to their Natural tendency; and, That this violent and rapid Motion, of the incomparably greater Part of the Universe, has lasted as long as the World itself, that is, according to Aristotle, for innumerable Ages.

3. We may observe here below, that the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea, which is generally suppos'd to proceed either from the Motion of the Moon, or that of the Terrestrial Globe, or some other External Cause, has lasted for some Thousands of Years, and probably will do so, as long as the present System of our Vortex shall continue. I consider also, that the other great Ocean, the Atmosphere, consists of numberless Myriads of Corpuscles, that are here below continually kept in a violent State; since they are Elastical Bodies, whereof the Lower are still compress'd by the weight of the Higher. And, to make a Spring of a Body, it is requisite that it be forcibly bent or stretch'd, and have such a perpetual endeavour to fly open, or to shrink in, that it will not fail to do so, as soon as the External Force, that hinder'd it, is remov'd. And, as for the States of Inanimate Bodies, I do not see, that their being or not being Natural can be, with any certainty, concluded, from their being or not being very Durable. For, not to mention, that Leaves that wither in a few Months, and even Blossoms that often fade and fall off in few Days, are as well Natural Bodies, as the solid and durable Trees that bear them; 'tis obvious, that, whether we make the State of Fluidity, or that of Congelation, to be that which is Natural to Water, and the other that which is Violent; Its change from one of those States into another, and even its return to its former State, is oftentimes, at some Seasons, and in some Places, made very speedily, perhaps in an Hour or less, by Causes that are acknowledg'd to be Natural. And Mists, Hail, Whirlwinds, Lightning, Falling-Stars, to name no more, notwithstanding their being Natural Bodies, are far from being lasting, especially in comparison of Glass, wherein the Ingredients, Sand and Fixt Salt, are brought together by great violence of Fire. And the Motion that a thin Plate, or slender Wire, of this Glass can exercise, to restore itself to its former Position, when forcibly bent, is (in great part) a lasting Effect of the same violence of the Fire. And so is the most durable perseverance of the Indissolubleness of the Alcalisate Salt, that is one of the two Ingredients of Glass, notwithstanding its being very easily dissoluble in Water and other Liquors, and not uneasily e'ne in the moist Air itself.

There is a distinction of Local Motion, into Natural and Violent, that is so generally receiv'd and us'd, both by Philosophers and Physicians, that, I think, it deserves to have special Notice taken of it in this Section; since it implicitely contains an Argument for the Existence of the Thing call'd Nature, by supposing it so manifest a Thing, as that an Important Distinction may justly be grounded on It.

This imply'd Objection, I confess, is somewhat difficult to clear; not for any great Force, that is contained in It, but because of the Ambiguity of the Terms, wherein the Distinction is wont to be imploy'd: For most Men speak of the propos'd Distinction of Motion, in so obscure, or so uncertain a way, that 'tis not easie to know what they mean by either of the Members of It. But yet some there are, who endeavour to speak Intelligibly, (and for that are to be commended) and define Natural Motion to be That, whose Principle is within the Moving Body itself; and Violent Motion, That which Bodies are put into by an External Agent or Cause. And, in in regard these speak more clearly than, the rest, I shall here principally consider the lately mention'd Distinction, In the Sense They give It. I say then, that, even according to this Explication, I am not satisfied with the Distinction: For, whereas 'tis a Principle received, and frequently employ'd, by Aristotle and his Followers, Quicquid movetur ab alio movetur; it seems, that, according to this Axiom, all Motion may be called Violent, since it proceedes from an External Agent; and indeed, according to the School Philosophers, the Motion of far the greatest Part of the Visible World, though this Motion be most Regular and Lasting, must, according to the propos'd Distinction, be reputed Violent; since they assert, that the Immense Firmament itself, and all the Planetary Orbs, (in comparison of which vast Coelestial Part of the World, the Sublunary Part is little more than a Physical Point,) is perpetually (and against its Native Tendency,) hurry'd about the the Centre of the World, once in Twenty four Hours, by an External, though Invisible, Agent, which they therefore call the Primum Mobile. And as for the Criterion of Natural Motion, that, Its Principle is within the Moving Body, it may be said, that all Bodies, once in the State of Actual Motion, whatever Cause first brought them to It, are mov'd by an Internal Principle: As, for Instance, an Arrow, that actually flies in the Air towards a Mark, moves by some Principle or other residing within itself; for, it does not depend on the Bow 'twas shot out of, since 'twould continue, tho' That were Broken, or even annihilated; nor does it depend upon the Medium, which more resists than assists its Progress, as might be easily shewn, if it were needful; and, if we should suppose the Ambient Air either to be annihilated, or (which in our Case would be Aequialent,) render'd uncapable of either furthering or hindring its Progress, I see not why the Motion of the Arrow must necessarily cease, since in this Case there remains no Medium to be penetrated, and on that account oppose its Progress. When in a Watch that is wound up, the Spring endeavours to unbend or display itself; and when the String of a drawn Bow is broken or let go, the Spring of the former, and the woo • y Part of the later, does each return to a less crooked Line. And though these Motions be occasioned by the forcible Acts of External Agents, yet the Watch, Spring, and the Bow, have in themselves (for ought appears to those I Reason with,) an inward Principle, by which they are mov'd till they have attain'd their Position. Some, perhaps, would add, that a Squib, or a Rocket, though an artificial Body, seems, as well as a falling Star, to move from an Internal Principle: But I shall rather observe, that, on the other side, External Agents are requisite to many Motions, that are acknowledg'd to be Natural, as, to omit the Germination and Flourishing of divers Plants, as Onions, Leeks, Potato's, &c. though hung up in the Air, by the heat of the Sun in the Spring; to pass by this, I say, if in the Pneumatical Engine or Air-Pump, you place divers Insects, as Bees, Flies, Catterpillars, &c. and withdraw the Common Air from the Receiver, they will lye moveless, as if they were dead, though it be for several hours, whilst they are kept from enjoying the presence of the Air: But, when the External Air is permitted again to return upon them, they will presently be reviv'd, (as I have with pleasure try'd,) and be brought to move again, according to their respective Kinds; as if a Fly, for Instance, resembled a little Windmill in this, that being Moveless of itself, it required the Action of the Air to put its Wings and other Parts into Motion. But, to insist no farther on these Arguments ad Hominem, we may consider, that, since Motion does not essentially belong to Matter, as Divisibility and Impenetrableness are believ'd to do; the Motions of all Bodies, at least at the beginning of Things, and the Motions of most Bodies, the Causes of whose Motions we can discern, were impress'd on them, either by an External Immaterial Agent, God; or by other Portions of Matter (which are also Extrinsecal Impellers) acting on them.

And this occasion invites me to observe, that, though Motion be deservedly made one of the Principal Parts of Aristotle's Definition of Nature, Natura est Principium quoddam & Causa, cur id moveatur & quiescat, in quo inest, &c. Aristot. Auscult. lib. II. cap. 1. yet Men are wont to call such Motions Natural, as are very hard to distinguish from those, they call Violent. Thus, when Water falls down to the Ground, they tell us, that this Motion is Natural to that Liquor, as 'tis a heavy Body; but when a Man spurts up Water out of his Mouth into the Air, they pronounce that Motion, because of its tendency upwards, to be contrary to Nature. And yet when he draws Water into his Mouth, by sucking it through a long Pipe held Perpendicularly, they will have this Motion of the Water, though directly upwards, to be not Violent, but Natural. So when a Foot-Ball, or Blown Bladder, being let fall upon a hard Floor, rebounds up to a good height, the Descent and Ascent are both said to be Natural Motions, though the former tends towards the Centre of the Earth, and the later recedes as far as it can do from it. And so if from a considerable height you let fall a Ball of some close Wood, that yet is not too heavy, as Oak or the like, into a deep Vessel of Water, it will descend a great way in that Liquor, by a Natural Motion; and yet its contrary Motion upwards ought not to be esteem'd Violent, since, according to the Schools, being lighter in Specie than Water, 'tis Natural to it to affect its proper Place, for which purpose it must ascend to the top of the Liquor, and lye afloat there; and yet 'tis from these tendencies to opposite Points, (as the Zenith and the Nadir) that Men are wont to judg many Motions of Bodies to be Natural or Violent.

And indeed, since it must be indifferent to a Lifeless and Insensible Body, to what place 'tis made to move, all its Motions may, in some respect, be said to be Natural, and in another, Violent: For as very many Bodies of visible Bulk are set a moving by External Impellents, and, on that score, their Motions may be said to be Violent; so the generality of Impell'd Bodies do move either upwards, downwards, &c. toward any Part of the World, in what Line or Way soever they find their Motion least resisted; which Impulse and Tendency, being given by vertue of what they call the general Laws of Nature, the Motion may be said to be Natural.

I might here take notice, that, according to the Epicurean Hypothesis, it need not at all be admitted, that Motion must be produc'd by such a Principle, as the Schoolmens Nature. For, according to that great and ancient Sect of Philosophers, the Atomists, every indivisible Corpuscle has actual Motion, or an incessant endeavour to change Place, essentially belonging to it, as 'tis an Atom: Insomuch that in no case it can be depriv'd of this Property or Power. And all sensible Bodies being, according to these Physiologers, but casual Concretions or Coalitions of Atoms; each of them needs no other Principle of Motion, than that unloseable endeavour of the Atoms that compose it; and happen, on the account of Circumstance, to have the Tendency of the more numerous, or at least the predominant, Corpuscles, determin'd one way. And to these I might add some other such Reflections. But I shall, in this place, say no more concerning Motion, not only because, even after having consider'd the differing Definitions, that Aristotle, Cartesius, and some other Philosophers, have given of it, I take it to be too difficult a Subject, to be clearly explicated in few words; but because the only occasion I had to mention it here, was, to shew that the vulgar Distinction of it into Natural and Violent is not so clear and wellgrounded, as to oblige us to admit (what it supposes,) that there is such a Being, as the Naturists assert.

I come now to consider the Argument, that may be drawn in favour of the Receiv'd Notion of Nature, from the Critical Evacuations which happen at certain times in Diseases, and the strange Shifts that Nature sometimes makes use of in them, to free Herself from the Noxious Humours that oppress'd Her.

This Argument I willingly acknowledg to be very considerable. For we really see, that in Continual Feavers, especially in hotter Climates, there do usually happen, at certain times of the Diseases, Notable and Critical Commotions or Conflicts, after which the Morbifick Matter is dispos'd of and discharg'd by Ways strange and surprising, to the great and speedy Relief of the Patient, if not to his perfect Cure; as may appear by many Instances, to be met with in the Observations of Physcians about Feavers, Pleurisies, &c. Upon this Account, I take the Argument drawn from Crises's to be much the weightiest, that can be urg'd for the Opinion from which I Dissent, and therefore I shall employ the more words in clearing this important Difficulty.

In order to this, I desire it may be kept in mind, that I do not only acknowledge, but teach, that the Body of a Man is an incomparable Engine, which the most wise Author of Things has so skilfully fram'd, for lasting very many Years, that, if there were in it an Intelligent Principle of Self-preservation, (as the Naturists suppose there is) Things would not, in most Cases, be better or otherwise manag'd, for the Conservation of the Animals Life, than they generally are. So that the Question is not, Whether there is a great deal of Providence and Wisdom exercis'd, in the Crises's of Diseases, but upon what Account it is, that these apposite Things are perform'd? The Universal Opinion of Physcians is, that 'tis that Intelligent Principle they call Nature, which, being solicitous for the Welfare of the Patient, and distress'd by the quantity or hurtfulness of the Morbifick Matter, watches Her opportunity (especially when 'tis concocted) to expel it hastily out of the Body, by the most safe and convenient Ways, which, in the present condition of the Patient, can be taken. And I, on the other side, attribute Crises's to the Wisdom and ordinary Providence of God, exerting Itself by the Mechanism, partly of that great Machine, the World, and partly of that smaller Engine, the Human Body, as 'tis constituted in the Patients present Circumstance. And the Reasons that hinder me, from acquiescing in the general Opinion of Physicians about Crises's, are principally these.

First, I observe that Crises's, properly so call'd, do very seldom happen in other than Feavers, and the like acute Diseases; where, according to the common Course of Things, the Malady is terminated, in no long time, either by Recovery, or Death, or a change into some other Disease: But Chronical-sicknesses, such as Coughs, Dropsies, Gouts, &c. unless they happen to be accompany'd with Feaverish Distempers, are not wont to have Crises's; which argues, that Nature doth not make Critical Evacuations, upon the account of such Care and Watchfulness, as Physicians ascribe them to: Since She neglects to employ so Salutary an Expedient in Diseases, that are oftentimes no less Dangerous and Mortal, than divers acute Diseases, which She attempts to Cure by Crises's.

Next I consider, that Critical Evacuations may be procur'd by the bare Mechanism of the Body. For, by vertue of That, it will often happen, that the Fibres, or motive Organs of the Stomach, Bowels, and other Parts, being Distended or Vellicated by the Plenty or Acrimony of the Peccant Matter, will, by that Irritation, be brought to contract themselves vigorously, and to throw out the Matter that offends the Parts, either by the Emunctories or Common-Shores of the Body, or by whatever Passages the proscrib'd Matter can be, with most ease, discharg'd. Thus, when some Men find their Stomachs burden'd with a Clog of Meat or Drink, they use to thrust their Fingers into their Throats, and, by that Mechanical way, provoke the Stomach to disburden itself of its offensive Load, without being beholden to Natures Watchfulness for a Crisis, which probably She would not (at least so seasonably) attempt. And thus, whereas 'tis usual enough, for Crises's to be made in Feavers by large Haemorrhagi's at the Nose, and sometimes at other Parts, which is ascrib'd to Natures Watchful Solicitude for the Patients Recovery; I must take leave to add, that it hath been divers times observ'd, that, even after Death, large Bleedings have succeeded, at the Nose and other Parts of the Body: Which shews, that such Excretions may be made by vertue of the Structure of it, and the Turgescence and Acrimony of the Humours, without any Design of Nature, to save the Life of the Patient, already Dead.

Indeed, if it did appear by Experience, that all, or almost all, the Crises's of Diseases, did either expel the Morbifick Matter, or at least notably relieve the Patient, the Critical Attempts of Nature would much favour the Opinion Men have conceiv'd of her Vigilance and Conduct: But unwelcome Instances daily shew, that, as some Crises's are Salutary, (as they call them) so others prove Mortal. And among those that do not directly or presently kill the Patient, there are divers that leave him in a worse Condition, than he was before. And therefore, I wonder not, that Physicians have thought themselves oblig'd to lay down several Circumstances, as necessary Requisites of a laudable Crisis, if any of which be wanting, 'tis not thought of the best kind; and if the contrary to some of them happen, 'tis to be judg'd either pernicious, or at least hurtful. For, whereas there are two general Ways, suppos'd to be employ'd by Nature in making Crises's, the one by expulsion of the Peccant Matter out of the Body, and the other by the setling of the Matter somewhere within it: Neither of these two Ways is constantly successful.

And therefore Experience hath oblig'd Physicians to divide Crises's, not only into perfect, that fully determine the event of the Disease, and imperfect, that do but alter it for the better or the worse; but into Salutary, that quite deliver the Patient, and Mortal, that destroy him. And to a Perfect and Salutary Crisis, some Learned Men require no less than six Conditions; namely, that it be preceded by Signs of Coction of the Peccant Matter; that it be made by a manifest and sufficiently copious Excretion or Translation; that it be made upon a Critical Day, as the seventh, fourteenth, twentieth, &c. that it leave no Relicks behind it, that may indanger a Relapse; that it be made safely, that is, without dangerous Symptoms: And lastly, that it be suitable to the Nature of the Disease, and the Patient. By this it may appear, that 'tis no common thing to meet with a Perfect and Salutary Crisis, so many laudable Conditions must concur in it; and indeed Nature doth usually take up with but imperfectly good Ones, and it were happy if She made not better, provided She made no worse. But 'tis found, by sad Experience, that She rouses Herself up to make a Crisis, not only upon improper, and, as Physicians call them, Intercident Days, such as the Third, Fifth, Ninth, &c. or upon those they call Empty or Medicinal Days, which seldom afford any Crisis, and much seldomer a good One, but also when there appear not any signs of Coction, or at least of due Coction, and by these unseasonable Attempts weaken the Patient, and encrease the Malady, or perhaps make it speedily Mortal. Nor will it justifie Nature, to say, with some Learned Physicians, that these Attempts are Accidentally brought on by the Acrimony or Importunity of the Morbifick Matter, by which She is provok'd, before the time, to endeavour an Expulsion of it. For if Nature be indeed so Prudent and Watchful a Guardian, as She is thought, She ought not to suffer Herself to be provok'd to act Preposterously, and make furious Attempts, that lavish to no purpose, or worse than no purpose, that little strength the Patient hath so much need of. And therefore Physicians do oftentimes very well, when, to act agreeably to the Dictates of Prudence, they forget, how much Wisdom they are wont to ascribe to Nature, and employ their best Skill and Remedies to suppress or moderate the inordinate Motions, or the improper and profuse Evacuations, that irritated Nature rashly begins to make. And though the Crises's that are made by a Metastasis of the Peccant Matter, or by lodging it in some particular Part of the Body, whether External or Internal, be oftentimes, when they are not Salutary, somewhat less Hurtful, than those that are made by Excretion; yet these do frequently, though perhaps more slowly, prove Dangerous enough, producing sometimes inward Imposthumes, and sometimes External Tumors, in Parts that are either Noble by their Functions, or by their Situation, or Connexion, or Sympathy with others, that are not to be without Hazard or great Inconvenience oppress'd.

I know that Physicians make it a great Argument of Nature's Providence and Skill, that She watches for the Concoction of the Peccant Matter, before She rouses Herself up to expel it by a Crisis. What is to be meant by this Coction of Humours, (for it ought not to be confounded with the Coction of the Aliments) they are not wont so clearly to declare. But, as I understand it, when they say that a Portion of Peccant Matter is brought to Coction, they mean, that it has acquir'd such a Disposition, as makes it more fit, than before, to be separated from the sounder Portion of the Mass of Blood, or from the consistent Parts, to which it perhaps formerly adhered, and to be afterwards expell'd out of the Body. This may be partly exemplifi'd by what happens in some recent Colds, where the Lungs are affected, in which we see, that, after a few days, the Phlegm is made more fluid; and that which is lodg'd in the Lungs, (not sticking so fast to the inside of the Aspera Arteria) is easily brought up by Coughing, which could not dislodg it before. And in Feavers, that separation in the Urine, formerly Cloudless, that Physicians look upon as a good sign of Coction, seems to be produc'd by some part of the Peccant Matter, that, beginning to be separated from the Blood, mingles with the Urine, and is not usually distinguish'd from it, whilst this Liquor is warm; but when it is grown cold, does, on the score of its Weight or Texture, somewhat recede, and appear in a distinct Form, as of a Cloud, a Sediment, &c. But whatever they mean by Coction, 'tis plain enough, by what hath been lately noted, that, on many occasions, Nature doth not wait for it, but unseasonably, and oftentimes dangerously, attempts to proscribe the Matter that offends Her, before it be duly prepar'd for Expulsion.

I come now to that Circumstance of Crises's, that is thought the most Wonderful, which is, that Nature does oftentimes by very unusual Ways, and at unexpected Places, discharge the Matter that offends Her, and thereby either Cures, or notably Relieves, the Patient. And it must not be deny'd, that, in some cases, the Critical Evacuations have somewhat of Suprising in them; and I shall also readily grant, that, N. B. [Divine Providence may expressly interpose, not only in the infliction of Diseases by way of Punishment, but in the removal of them in the way of Mercy.] But, setting aside these extraordinary Cases, I think it not absurd to conjecture, that the performances of Nature, in common Crises's, may be probably referr'd, partly to the particular condition of the Matter to be expell'd, and partly (and indeed principally) to some peculiar Disposition in the Primitive Fabrick of some Parts of the Patients Body, or some unusual change made in the Construction of these Parts by the Disease itself, or other Accidents; which Original or Adventitious disposition, of the Sick Man's Body, not being visible to us, at least whilst he is alive, we are apt to ascribe the unexpected Accidents of a Crisis, if it prove Salutary, to the wonderful Providence of Nature. And, if it happen to be other than Salutary, we are wont to overlook them. To illustrate this Matter, we may consider, that plentiful Evacuations, procured by Medicines, are a kind of Artificial Crises's: We see, that some Bodies are so constituted, that, although the peccant Humour, wrought on by the Medicine, ought, as the Physitian thinks, to be expell'd by Siege, and indeed is wont to be so, in the Generality of those that take that kind of Medicine, as, for Instance, Rhubarb or Senna; yet the peculiar disposition of the Patient's Stomach will make that an Emetick, which was intended to be, and regularly should be, a Cathartick. Nor does this Constitution of the Stomach equally regard all Purging Medicines; for the same Stomach, that will reject them in the Form, for Instance, of a Potion, will quietly entertain them, being in the Form of Pills. And to this let me add what we observe of the Operation of Mercury; which though, if it be duly prepared, it is usually given to procure Salivation, especially to Succulent Bodies; yet there are some Patients, wherein, instead of Salivating, 'twill violently and dangerously work downwards, like a Purge, or make some other unexpected Evacuation. And I have seen a Patient, who, though Young and very Fat, could not be brought to Salivate, neither by the Gentler ways, nor by Turbith-Mineral and Other harsher Medicines, though administred by very skilful Physitians and Chyrurgeons. And this Peculiarity may be as well Contracted, as Native. For some Persons, especially after Surfeits, having been rufly dealt with, or at least tyr'd out with a Medicine of this or that kind of Form, will afterwards Nauseate and Vomit up the like Medicine, tho' in other Bodies it be never so far from •• ing Emetick. We see also, that sometimes Sudorifick Medicines, instead of procuring Sweat, prove briskly Diuretick, and sometimes either Purging or Vomitive. From all this we may Argue, that the qualities of the irritating Matter, and much more the particular disposition of the Patients Body, may procure Evacuations at unexpected Places. I remember too, that, among the Observations I have met with of famous Physitians, there are Instances of Periodical and Critical Evacuations, at very inconvenient, as well as unusual, Vents; as some Women are Recorded to have had their Menses, sometimes at the Eyes, sometimes at the Navil, and sometimes at the Mouth; of which there seems no cause so probable, as some peculiar Structure, whether Native or Adventitious, of the Internal Parts concern'd in that discharge; and of such unusual Structures, Anatomists must have seen Many, since I my self have observ'd more than One or Two. If these uncommon Ways of disposing of the Morbifick Matter were always Salutary to the Patient, the Argument grounded on them would have more weight: But though most Men take notice of this sort of Crises's, but when they are Lucky, yet an Impartial Observer shall often find, that ill-condition'd and hurtful Crises's may be made by unusual and unexpected ways. And, in some Translations of the Morbifick Matter to distant and nobler Parts, perhaps it will be as difficult to shew, by what Channels or known Ways the Matter pass'd from one to another, as 'tis to determine, how it was conducted to those Parts, at which it was the most happily Vented.

In the foregoing Discourse about Crises's, there is, I confess, much of Paradox; and 'twas unwillingly enough; that I made an Excursion, or In-road, into a Subject that has been look'd upon as the Physitians peculiar Province. And, you may remember, that not far from the beginning of this little Book, I told you, that I was willing to decline medling with Other, than Inanimate Bodies: Living Ones being, as of a less simple Sort, so of a more intricate Speculation; which Reflexion will, I hope, excuse me to you, if you find, that my propos'd Brevity, or the difficulty of the Subject, has had any great Influence on what I write, about Health, Diseases and Crises's. And, as for the Sons of Aesculapius, it may be represented to them, in my favour, that, besides that I have treated of Sickness and Crises's, rather as a Physiologer than a Physician, I could not leave them unconsider'd, without being thought, if not to betray, at least to be wanting to, the Cause I was to plead for.

If it should be dislik'd, that I make the Phaenomena of the merely Corporeal Part of the World, under which I comprize the Bodies of Animals, though not the Rational Souls of Men, to be too generally referr'd to Laws Mechanical; I hope you will remember, for me, several things dispers'd in this Treatise, that may, when laid together, afford a sufficient Answer to this Surmize; and particularly, that almost all the Modern Philosophers, and among Them divers eminent Divines, scruple not to forsake the spread Opinion, That the Coelestial Orbs were mov'd and guided by Intelligences; and to explicate, by Physical Causes, the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, the Production or Apparition and Phaenomena of Comets, and other Things, that the Romans, as well as other Heathens, both Ancient and Modern, have ascrib'd to the immediate Agency of Divine Causes. This allows me to observe to you, that, since these Modern Naturalists and Divines are wont to explicate the Phaenomena of the vast Coelestial Bodies, by their Local Motions and the Consequences of Them; They do, as well as I, endeavour to account for what happens in the incomparably greatest Part of the Vniverse, by Physico-Mechanical Principles and Laws. And, even in the Terrestrial Part of the World, which we Men inhabit, most of the Moderns, that have freed themselves from the Prejudices of the Schools, do not stick to give Statical, Hydro-Statical, and other Mechanical Explications of the Ascension of Water in Pumps, the Detention of it in Watering-Pots, whose upper Orifices are clos'd, and of other various Phaenomena, which were formerly unanimously ascrib'd to Nature's wonderful Providence, express'd in Her care to hinder a Vacuum.

But perhaps you will think it fitter for me to provide against their Censure, who will dislike what I have written about Crises's, not because I have ascrib'd too much to merely Physical Causes, but (on the contrary,) because I do not strictly confine my self to Them. For I doubt, that if you should shew these Papers to some of your Friends, that affect to be strict Naturalists, they will think it strange, that in one of the Clauses in the foregoing Discourse about Crises's, (I mean, that to which this Mark N. B. is prefix'd,) I admit that their Events may sometimes be vary'd by some peculiar Interposition of God. But yet I own to you, that the Clause, 'tis like they would take Exceptions at, did not unawares slip from my Pen. For 'tis my setled Opinion, that Divine Prudence is often, at least, conversant in a peculiar manner about the Actions of Men, and the things that happen to Them, or have a necessary Connexion with the One, or the Other, or Both. And tho' I think it probable, that in the Conduct of that far greatest Part of the Universe, which is merely Corporeal, the Wise Author of it does seldom manifestly procure a Recession from the settled Course of the Universe, and especially from the most Catholick Laws of Motion: Yet, where Men, who are Creatures, that He is pleas'd to indow with Free Wills, (at least in reference to things not Spiritual,) are nearly and highly concern'd; I think he has, not only sometimes by those signal and manifest Interpositions we call Miracles, acted by a Supernatural way, but, as the Sovereign Lord and Governor of the World, doth divers times, (and perhaps oftner than mere Philosophers imagine) give by the Intervention of Rational Minds, as well united, as not united, to human Bodies, divers such determinations to the Motion of Parts in those Bodies, and of Others, which may be affected by Them, as by Laws merely Mechanical, those Parts of Matter would not have had: By which Motions, so determin'd, either Salutary or Fatal Crises's, and many other Things, conducive to the Welfare or Detriment of Men, are produc'd.

The Interposition of Divine Providences, in cases of Life and Death, might be easily shewn to Christians out of divers Passages of Scripture, which expresly propos'd long Life as a Reward to Obedient Children,The Fifth Commandment, in Exodus xx. and to other Righteous Persons among the Iews, and threatens bloody and deceitful Men, Psalm v. 6. that they shall not live out half their days; Psalm lv. 23. and which relates, that a King of Israel had his Disease made Mortal by his Impious recourse to the false God of Eckron; and that,2 Kings i. 16. upon Hezekiah's Prayers and Tears, God was pleased to add fifteen Years to his Life,Isa. xxxviii. and grant a special Benediction to an outward Medicine, apply'd to his threatning Sore. To which Passages divers may be added out of the New-Testament also, and especially that of St. Iames, James v. 25. who exhorts the Sick to seek for Recovery by Prayer; and that of St. Paul, where, speaking to the Corinthians of the unworthy Receivers of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, he tells them, that, For that cause, divers were become sick and weak among them,1 Cor. xi. 30. and many also died. But though the nature of this Discourse dissuades me from imploying here the Authority of Scripture, yet it allows me to observe, (what is considerable on this occasion) that Natural Theology and Right Reason comport very well with our propos'd Doctrine. For, as I lately intimated, and do more fully shew in another Paper,A Discourse relating to Miracles. God has left to the Will of Man the direction of many Local Motions in the Parts of his own Body, and thereby of some others; though the Mechanical Laws, on which the ordinary Course of Things mainly depends, do not only regulate the Motions of Bodies, but the Determinations too: And since Man himself is vouchsaf'd a Power, to alter, in several Cases, the usual Course of Things, it should not seem incredible, that the latent Interposition of Men, or perhaps Angels, or other Causes unthought of by Us, should sometimes be imploy'd to the like purposes by God, who is not only the All-wise Maker, but the Absolute, and yet most Just and Benign, Rector of the Universe, and of Men.

To conclude the Excursion, which I hope will not appear useless, that has been occasion'd by the Discourse of Crises's, I think it becomes a Christian Philosopher, to admit, in general, that God doth sometimes in a peculiar, though hidden way, interpose in the ordinary Phaenomena and events of Crises's; but yet, that this is done so seldom, at least in a way that we can certainly discern, that we are not hastily to have recourse to an extraordinary Providence, and much less to the strange care and skill of that question'd Being call'd Nature, in this or that particular Case, though perhaps unexpected, if it may be probably accounted for by Mechanical Laws, and the ordinary Course of Things.

And here, though in a place less proper than I might have chosen, if I had timely remembred it, I shall, both in reference to the extraordinary Accidents that sometimes happen in Crises's, and more generally to the seemingly irregular Phaenomena of the Universe, venture to offer you a Notion, that perhaps you will not dislike. I think then, that, when we consider the World, and the Physical Changes that happen in It, with reference to the Divine Wisdom and Providence; the Arguments for the Affirmative ought, in their kind, to have more force than those for the Negative. For it seems more allowable, to argue a Providence from the exquisite Structure and Symmetry of the Mundane Bodies, and the apt Subordination and Train of Causes, than to infer from some Physical Anomalies, that Things are not fram'd and administred by a wise Author and Rector. For the Characters and Impressions of Wisdom, that are Conspicuous in the curious Fabrick and orderly Train of Things, can, with no probability, be referr'd to blind Chance, but must be to a most Intelligent and Designing Agent. Whereas, on the other hand, besides that the Anomalies, we speak of, are incomparably fewer, than those Things which are regular, and are produc'd in an orderly Way; besides this, I say, the Divine Maker of the Universe being a most free Agent, and having an Intellect infinitely Superior to Ours, may, in the Production of seemingly irregular Phaenomena, have Ends unknown to us, which even the Anomalies may be very fit to compass.

Thus, when a Man, not vers'd in the Mathematicks, looks upon a curious Geographical Globe, though, as soon as he perceives that the differing Bignesses, and particular Confines of Kingdoms and Provinces, and the apt Situations, true Distances and Bearings of the Cities and Towns he knows by Sight or Fame, be rightly set down; he cannot but conclude, from these Impresses of Art or Skill, that this was the Work of a designing Artificer. But though he also sees on the same Globe several Circles, as the Tropicks, the Zodiack, the Meridians, &c. if he be a sober Man, he will not think that these were made by Chance only, because he knows not the Reasons or Uses of Them, or because some of the Lines, as those Curve-Lines the Seamen call Rumbs, are not, like the other, Circular, but do odly, and with a seeming Irregularity, intersect them: But will rather think, that the Artist, that had knowledg enough to represent the Globe of the Earth and Waters, in a Body not two foot in Diameter, had also skill enough to draw those Lines, with some Design worthy of the same Skill, though not obvious to those that are unacquainted with his Art.

I did not incogitantly speak of Irregularities, as if they might sometimes be but seeming Ones. For I think it very possible, that an Artificer of so vast a Comprehension, and so piercing a Sight, as is the Maker of the World, might, in this great Automaton of His, have so order'd Things, that divers of Them may appear to us, and as it were break out, abruptly and unexpectedly, and at great distances of Time or Place from one another, and on such accounts be thought Irregular; which yet really have, both in his Preordination, and in the Connection of their Genuine Causes, a reference that would, if we discern'd it, keep us from imputing it either to Chance, or to Nature's Aberrations. To illustrate this a little, let us consider, that if, when the Jesuits, that first came into China, presented a curious striking Watch to the King, he that look'd to it had wound up the Alarm, so as to strike a little after One; if, I say, this had been done, and that these Chineses, that look'd upon it as a living Creature, or some European Animal, would think, that when the Index, pointing at two of the Clock, likewise struck the same Hour, and so three, four, and onward, they would judg that these Noises were regularly produc'd, because they (at equal Intervals of time) heard them, and whensoever the Index pointed at an Hour, and never but then; but when the Alarm came unexpectedly to make a loud, confus'd, and more lasting Noise, they could scarce avoid thinking, that the Animal was sick, or exceedingly disorder'd: And yet the Alarming noise did as properly flow from the Structure of the little Engine, and was as much design'd by the Manager of it, as those Sounds of the Clock, that appear'd manifestly Regular.

SECT. VII.

I proceed now to the Sixth and Difficultest part of my Task, which is to shew, That the most general and current Effata and Axioms concerning Nature, that are wont to be imploy'd in the Writings of Philosophers, may have a fair Account given of them, agreeably to the Doctrine I have hitherto propos'd, tho' these Axioms do some of them suppose, and others seem strongly to support, the receiv'd Notion of Nature.

To clear the way for the ensuing Explications, I must desire you to recall to mind the two Cautions I have formerly offer'd you (in the Fifth Section,) wherewith I would have the common Doctrine, about the Ends or Designs of Nature, to be understood or limited. And therefore I shall not here repeat, what I there said, but only add in two words, that if those, and some few other such things, had been observ'd and duly consider'd, they might perhaps have prevented much of the Obscurity, and some of the Errors, that relate to the Notion of Nature.

I hope you have not forgot, that the design of this Paper was, to examine the Vulgar Notion of Nature, not to establish a new One of my own. And indeed the Ambiguity of the Word is so great, (as hath in the Second Section been made appear) and 'tis, even by Learned Men, frequently imploy'd to signifie such different Things; that, without Enumerating and Distinguishing its various Acceptions, it were very unsafe to venture a giving a Definition of it, and perhaps it were very impossible to give any, that would not be liable to censure. I shall not therefore here presume to define a Thing, of which I have not found a stated and setled Notion so far agreed on amongst Men, but that I was oblig'd, out of Aristotle and Others, to compile, in the Fourth Section, a Collective Representation of the vulgarly receiv'd Idea, or Notion of Nature: And afterwards to draw up, as well as I could, instead of an accurate Definition, tolerable Descriptions of what, on most occasions, may be intelligibly meant by It. Wherefore, desiring and presuming, that you will retain in your Mind, and, as occasion shall require, apply, in the following Part of this Essay, the Things already delivered in the Fourth Section, I will not trouble you with the Repetition of Them.

But before I descend to treat of the particular Effata or Sentences, that are Receiv'd concerning Nature's Actings, it may not be improper, nor unuseful, to try if we can clear the way, by considering in what sense Nature may, or may not, be said to act at all, or to do this or that. For, for ought I can clearly discern, whatsoever is perform'd in the merely Material World, is really done by particular Bodies, acting according to the Laws of Motion, Rest, &c. that are setled and maintain'd by God among Things Corporeal. In which Hypothesis, Nature seems rather a Notional Thing, than a true Physical, and distinct or separate, Efficient; such as would be, in case Aristotles Doctrine were true, one of those Intelligences, that he presum'd to be the Movers of the Coelestial Orbs. But Men do oftentimes express themselves so very ambiguously or intricately, when they say, that Nature does this and that, or, that She acts thus and thus; that 'tis scarce (if at all) possible to translate their Expressions into any Forms of Speech, adequate to the Original and yet Intelligible. For which Reason, though I have in the Section said something to the same purpose with what I am now to propose, yet the difficulty and weight of the Subject makes me think it may be expedient, if not necessary, in this place somewhat more fully to declare what Men do, or should, mean, when they speak of Nature's acting, or of a Thing's being Naturally done or performed, by giving their Words and Phrases sometimes one Interpretation, and sometimes another.

I. Sometimes when 'tis said, that Nature does this or that; 'tis less proper to say, that 'tis done by Nature, than, that it is done according to Nature. So that, Nature is not here to be look'd on, as a distinct or separate Agent, but as a Rule, or rather a Systeme of Rules, according to which, those Agents, and the Bodies they work on, are, by the Great Author of Things, determin'd to act and suffer.

Thus, when Water is rais'd in a Sucking-Pump, 'tis said, that Nature makes the Water ascend after the Sucker, to prevent a Vacuum; though in reality this Ascension is made, not by such a separate Agent, as Nature is fancied to be, but by the Pressure of the Atmosphere, acting upon the Water, according to Statical Rules, or the Laws or the Aequilibrium of Liquors, settled by God among Fluids, whether Visible or Pneumatical. So, when the strict Peripateticks tell us, that all the Visible Coelestial Orbs, being by a Motion, that they call Violent, hurried about the Earth every four and twenty Hours from East to West; each of the Planetary Orbs has a Natural Motion, that is quite contrary, tending from the West to the East: If they will speak congruously to their Master's Doctrine, they must use the term Natural in the sense our Observation gives It: Since Aristotle will have the Coelestial Orbs to be moved by external or separate Agents namely, Spiritual Intelligences. Our Observation may be also illustrated by other forms of Speech, that are in use; as when 'tis said, that the Law takes care of Infants and Lunaticks, that their indiscreet Actions or Omissions should not damnifie their Inheritances; and, that the Law Hangs Men for Murther, but only Burns them in the Hand for some lesser Faults; of which Phrases the Meaning is, that Magistrates and other Ministers of Justice, acting according to the Law of the Land, do the things mention'd. And it tends yet more directly to our purpose to take Notice, that 'tis common to ascribe to Art those things that are really perform'd by Artificers, according to the Prescriptions of the Art, as when 'tis said, that Geometry (as the Name imports,) measures Lands, Astrology foretels Changes of Weather and other future Accidents, Architecture makes Buildings, and Chymistry prepares Medicines.

II. Sometimes, when divers Things, such as the Growth of Trees, the Maturations of Fruits, &c. are said to be perform'd by the course of Nature, the Meaning ought to be, that such things will be brought to pass by their proper and immediate Causes, according to the wonted Manner and Series or Order of their Actings. Thus 'tis said, that, by the course of Nature the Summer days are longer than those of the Winter: That, when the Moon is in Opposition to the Sun, (that is in the Full Moon,) that Part of Her Body which respects the Earth, is more Enlightned than at the New Moon, or at either of the Quadratures: And lastly, That when She enters more or less into the Conical Shadow of the Earth, She suffers a total or a partial Eclipse. And yet these and other Illustrious Phaenomena may be clearly explicated without recourse to any such Being as the Aristotelians Nature, barely by considering the Situations and wonted Motions of the Sun or Earth, and the Moon, with reference to each other, and to the Terrestrial Globe.

And here it may not be amiss to take notice, that we may sometimes usefully distinguish between the Laws of Nature, more properly so call'd, and the Custom of Nature, or, if you please, between the Fundamental and General Constitutions among Bodily Things, and the Municipal Laws, (if I may so call them,) that belong to this or that particular sort of Bodies. As, to resume and somewhat vary our Instance drawn ftom Water; when this falls to the Ground, it may be said to do so by virtue of the Custom of Nature, it being almost constantly usual for that Liquor to tend downwards, and actually to fall down, if it be not externally hinder'd. But when Water ascends by Suction in a Pump, or other Instrument, that Motion, being contrary to that which is wonted, is made in virtue of a more Catholick Law of Nature, by which 'tis provided, that a greater Pressure, which in our case the Water suffers from the weight of the Incumbent Air, should surmount a lesser, such as is here the Gravity of the Water, that ascends in the Pump or Pipe.

The two foregoing Observations may be farther illustrated, by considering, in what sense Men speak of things which they call Praeter-natural, or else Contrary to Nature. For divers, if not most, of their Expressions of this kind, argue, that Nature is in Them taken for the Particular and Subordinate, or, as it were, the Municipal Laws establish'd among Bodies. Thus Water, when 'tis intensly Hot, is said to be in a Praeter-natural State, because it is in One that 'tis not usual to It, and, Men think, doth not regularly belong to It; though the Fire or Sun, that thus agitates It and puts it into this State, is confess'd to be a Natural Agent, and is not thought to act otherwise than according to Nature. Thus, when a Spring, forcibly bent, is conceiv'd to be in a State contrary to its Nature, as is argued from its incessant Endeavour to remove the compressing Body; this State, whether Praeter-natural, or contrary to Nature, should be thought such, but in reference to the Springy Body. For otherwise 'tis as agreeable to the grand Laws, that obtain among Things Corporeal, that such a Spring should remain bent by the degree of Force, that actually keeps it so, as that it should display itself in spight of a less, or incompetent, Degree of Force. And to omit the Six Non-natural Things, so much spoken of by Physitians, I must here take notice, that though a Disease be generally reckon'd as a Praeter-natural Thing, or, as Others carry the Notion further, a State contrary to Nature; yet, that must be understood only with reference to what customarily happens to a human Body: Since excessively cold Winds, and immoderate Rains, and sultry Air, and other Usual Causes of Diseases, are as Natural Agents, and act as agreeably to the Catholick Laws of the Universe, when they produce Diseases, as when they condense the Clouds into Rain or Snow, blow Ships into their Harbour, make Rivers overflow, ripen Corn and Fruit, and do such other Things, whether they be hurtful or beneficial to Men. And, upon a like Account, when Monsters are said to be Praeternatural Things; the Expression is to be understood with regard to that particular Species of Bodies, from which the Monster does enormously deviate, though the Causes, that produce that Deviation, act but according to the general Laws, whereby Things Corporeal are guided.

3. I doubt, whether I should add as a Third Remark, or as somewhat that is referrable to one or both of the Two foregoing, that sometimes, when 'tis said, that Nature performs this or that Thing, we are not to conceive, that this Thing is an Effect really produc'd by other than by proper Physical Causes or Agents; but, in such Expressions, we are rather to look upon Nature, either as a Relative Thing, or as a Term imployed to denote a Notional Thing, with reference whereunto Physical Causes are consider'd, as acting after some peculiar manner, whereby we may distinguish their Operations from those that are produc'd by other Agents, or perhaps by the same, consider'd as acting in another Way. This, I think, may be Illustrated by some other receiv'd Expressions, or Forms of Speech. As, when many of the Ancient, and some of the Modern, Philosophers, have said, that Things are brought Fatally to pass; they did not mean, that Fate was a distinct and separate Agent, but only, that the Physical Causes perform'd the Effect, as, in their Actings, they had a necessary Dependance upon one another, or an inviolable Connexion that link'd them together. And on the other side, when Men say, as they too frequently do, that Fortune or Chance, Differunt autem Fortuna & Casus, quia Casus latius patet. Quod enim à Fortuna est, Casu est: hoc autem non omne est à Fortuna. Arist. Auscult. lib. ii. cap. 4. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (for Aristotle and his Followers distinguish Them, ascribing to the former, what unexpectedly happens to Deliberating or Designing, and to the later, what happens to Inanimate or Undesigning Beings,) has done this or that: Considerate Philosophers do not look upon Fortune or Chance as a true and distinct Physical Cause, but as a Notional Thing, that denotes, that the proper Agents produc'd the Effect without an Intention to do so, (as I have more fully declar'd in the Fourth Section.)

One may, for ought I know, without Impertinence, refer to this our Third Observation, That many Things are wont to be attributed to Time; as, when we say, that Time ripens some Fruits that are too early gather'd; that it makes many things moulder and decay, (Tempus edax rerum;) that 'tis the Mother of Truth; that it produces great Alterations, both in the Affairs of Men, and in their Dispositions and their Bodies: To omit many other Vulgar Expressions, which represent Time as the Cause of several Things, whereof really it is but an Adjunct or a Concomitant of the Effects, (however Coincident with the successive Parts of Time, and so, some way, related to It) being indeed produc'd by other Agents, that are their true and proper Efficients.

Sometimes likewise, when it is said, that Nature does this or that, we ought not to suppose, that the Effect is produc'd by a distinct or separate Being; but, on such Occasions, the Word Nature is to be concei •• d to signifie a Complex or Convention of all the Essential Properties, or necessary Qualities, that belong to a Body of that Species whereof the real Agent is, or to more Bodies respectively, if more must concur to the Production of the Effect. To this sense we are to expound many of those Forms of Speech, that are wont to be imploy'd, when Physicians, or others, speak of what Nature does in reference to Diseases, or the Cure of them. And, to give a right sense to such Expressions, I consider Nature, not as a Principal and Distinct Agent, but a kind of Compounded Accident, that is (as it were) made up of, or results from, the divers Properties and Qualities that belong to the true Agents. And, that the Name of a Compounded Accident may not be startled at, I shall, to explain what I mean by it, observe, that, as there are some Qualities or Accidents, that, at least in comparison of others, may be call'd Simple, as Roundness, Streightness, Heat, Gravi •• , &c. so there are others, that may be conceiv'd as Compounded, or made up of several Qualities united in one Subject: As, in divers Pigments, Greenness is made up of Blew and Yellow, exquisitely mix'd; Beauty is made up of fit Colours, taking Features, just Stature, fine Shape, graceful Motions, and some other Accidents of the Human Body and its Parts. And, of this sort of Compounded Accidents, I am apt to think, there are far more, than, at the first mention of them, one would imagine. And to this kind of Beings, the Expressions, that Naturists do on divers occasions imploy, incline me to think, that, what is call'd Nature has a great Affinity, at least in reference to those Occasions. On which Supposition, one may conceive, that, as when 'tis said, that Health makes a Man Eat well, Digest well, Sleep well, &c. Considering Men do not look upon Health as a Distinct and Separate Cause of these Effects; but, as what we lately call'd a Compounded Accident, that is, a Complex of all the Real and Genuine Causes of good Appetite, Digestion, Sleep, &c. insomuch that Health is not so properly the Cause of these, as their Effect or Result: So in divers Things that Nature is said to do, we need conceive no more, than that the Effects are produc'd by Physical Bodies and Qualities, or other proper Causes; which, when we consider as conspiring, or rather concurring, to produce the same Effect, by a Compendious Term we call Nature.

By these and the like ways of Interpretation, I thought fit to try, whether I could give an Intelligible and Commodious sense to divers of the Maxims or Sentences; and other Forms of Speech, that are imploy'd by those, that, on many Occasions, and in differing Expressions, say, That Nature does this or that, and acts thus and thus. But I confess, that to clear all those ambiguous and unskilfully fram'd Axioms and Phrases, I found to be so intricate and difficult a Task, that, for want of Time, and perhaps too of Patience, I grew weary before I had prosecuted it to the utmost. For which Reason, though 'tis not improbable, that some Light may be given in this dark Subject, by what I have been now saying, (as immature and unfinish'd, as it is) especially if it be reflected on in Conjunction with what hath been formerly deliver'd (in the Fourth Section) about Nature, General and Particular; yet I shall, at present, make but very little use of the Things that have been now said, in expounding the Axioms I am particularly to consider in this Seventh Section; hoping, that I may, by the help of other Mediums, dispatch my Work without them. And, to do it the more easily; I shall, without tying myself to the Order wherein they are marshall'd after the beginning of the Fourth Section, treat of them in the Order wherein I think their Explications may give most Light to one another, or in That, wherein the Papers that belong'd to them were retriev'd.

The first of the receiv'd Axioms I shall consider, is, that which pronounces, that Omnis Natura est conservatrix sui; where, by the Word Nature, I suppose, they understand a Natural Body, for otherwise I know not what they meant: Now this Axiom easily admits of a twofold Interpretation. For, either it may signifie no more, than that no one Body does tend to its own Destruction, that is, to destroy Itself: Or else, that in every Body there is a Principle call'd Nature, upon whose Score, the Body is vigilant and industrious to preserve Its Natural State, and to defend Itself from the Violence and Attempts of all other Bodies that oppugn It, or endeavour to destroy or harm It.

In the former of these two Senses, the Axiom may be admitted, without any prejudice to our Doctrine. For since according to our Hypothesis, Inanimate Bodies can have neither Appetites, nor Hatreds, nor Designs, which are all of them Affections, not of Bruit Matter but of Intelligent Beings; I, that think Inanimate Bodies have no Appetites at all, may easily grant, that they have not any to destroy themselves.

But, according to the other Sense of the propos'd Axiom, 'twill import, that every Body has within itself a Principle, whereby it does desire, and with all its Power endeavour, to compass its own Preservation: And both to do those things, that tend thereunto, and oppose all endeavours, that outward Agents, or internal Distempers, may use in order to the Destruction of It.

And as this is the most Vulgar Sense of this Axiom, so 'tis chiefly in this Sense, that I am concern'd to Examine It.

I conceive then, that the most Wise Creator of Things did at first so frame the World, and settle such Laws of Motion between the Bodies, that, as Parts, compose It; that by the Assistence of his General Concourse, the Parts of the Universe, especially those that are the Greater and the more Noble, are lodg'd in such Places, and furnish'd with such Powers, that, by the help of his general Providence, they may have their Beings continued and maintained, as long and as far forth, as the Course he thought fit to establish, amongst Things Corporeal, requires.

Upon this Supposition, which is but a reasonable one, there will appear no necessity to have any recourse, for the Preservation of particular Bodies, to such an Internal Appetite and Inbred Knowledg in each of them, as our Adversaries presume. Since, by virtue of the Original Frame of Things, and established Laws of Motion, Bodies are necessarily determined to act on such Occasions, after the Manner they would do, if they had really an Aim at Self-preservation: As you see, that, if a blown Bladder be compress'd, and thereby the included Air be forc'd out of its wonted Dimensions and Figure, it will uncessantly endeavour to throw off, and repel, that which offers Violence unto It; and first displace that Part of the compressing Body, that it finds Weakest; though in all this, there be no Appetite in the Air, (as I elswhere shew;) no more than in the Bladder, to that particular Figure, to maintain itself in which it seems so concern'd.

Thus, 'tis all one to a • lump of Dough, whether you make it into a round Loaf, or a long Rowl, or a flat Cake, or give it any other Form: For whatever Figure your Hands or your Instruments leave in It, that it will retain, without having any Appetite to return to that, which it last had. So, 'tis all one to a piece of Wax, whether your Seal Imprints on It the Figure of a Wolf, or that of a Lamb. And, for Brevity's sake, to pass by the Instances that might be drawn from what happens to Wood, and Marble, and Metals, as they are differently shap'd by the Statuaries Art and Tools; I will only observe, that the Mariner's Needle, before it is excited, may have no particular Propensity to have respect to one Part of Heaven, more than another; but when it has been duly touch'd upon a Load-stone, the Flwer-de-Luce will be determin'd to regard the North, and the opposite Extream the South. So that, if the Lilly be drawn aside, towards the East or towards the West, as soon as the Force, that detain'd it, is remov'd, it will return to its former Position, and never rest, 'till it regard the North. But, in spight of this seeming Affection of the Lilly to that Point of the Horizon, yet, if the Needle be duly touch'd upon the contrary Pole of the same or another vigorous Load-stone, the Lilly will presently forget its former Inclination, and regard the Southern Part of Heaven; to which Position it will, as it were, spontaneously return, having been forc'd aside towards the East, or towards the West, if it be again left to its Liberty. So that, though it formerly seem'd so much to affect one Point of Heaven, yet it may, in a trice, be brought to have a strong Propensity for the Opposite: The Lilly having, indeed, no Inclination for one Point of Heaven, more than another, but resting in that Position, to which it was last determin'd by the prevalence of Magnetical Effluvia. And this Example may serve to illustrate and confirm, what we have been lately saying in General.

II. Another Received Axiom concerning Nature, is, That She never fails or misses of Her End, Natura sine suo nunquam excidit. This is a Proposition, whose Ambiguity makes it uneasie for me to deliver my Sense of It. But yet, to say somewhat, if by Nature we here understand that Being, that the School-men Style Natura Naturans, I grant, or rather assert, that Nature never misseth its End. For the Omniscient and Almighty Author of Things, having once fram'd the Word, and establish'd in It the Laws of Motion, which he constantly maintains, there can no Irregularity, or Anomaly, happen, especially among the greater Mundane Bodies, that he did not from the Beginning foresee and think fit to permit, since they are but genuine Consequences of that Order of Things, that, at the Beginning, he most wisely Instituted. As I have formerly declar'd in Instances of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon; to which I could add Others, as the Inundations of Nilus, so necessary to the Health and Plenty of Aegypt. And though, on some special Occasions, this Instituted Order, either seemingly or really, has been violated, as when the Sun is said to have Stood still in the days of Ioshua, and the Red Sea to have Divided itself to give free Passage to the Israelites, led by Moses; yet these things having been rarely done, for weighty Ends and Purposes, by the peculiar Intervention of the first Cause, either guiding or over-ruling the Propensities and Motions of Secundary Agents; it cannot be said, that God is frustrated of his Ends by these design'd, though seeming, Exorbitances, by which he most Wisely and Effectually accomplishes Them. But, if by Nature be meant such a Subordinate Principle, as Men are wont to understand by that Name, I doubt the Axiom is in many Cases false; for though it it be true, as I have often said, that the Material World is so constituted, that, for the most part, Things are brought to pass by Corporeal Agents, as regularly, as if they designed the Effects they produce, yet there are several Cases, wherein Things happen quite otherwise.

Thus 'tis confess'd, that when a Woman is with Child, the Aim of Nature is, to produce a Perfect or Genuine human Foetus; and yet we often see, that Nature widely missing Her Mark, instead of That, produces a Monster. And of This we have such frequent Instances, that whole Volumes have been publish'd, to recount and describe these gross and deform'd Aberrations of Nature. We many times see, (and have formerly noted,) that in Feavers, and other acute Diseases, She makes Critical Attempts upon improper Days, and in these unseasonable Attempts does not only, for the most part, miss of her End, which is to Cure the Patient, but often brings him to a far worse Condition, than he was in, before She us'd those miscarrying Endeavours. To this may may be referr'd the Cheats Men put upon Nature; as when, by Grafting, the Sap, that Nature raises with Intention to feed the Fruit of a white Thorn. (for Instance,) is by the Gardener brought to nourish a Fruit of quite another Kind. So, when Maulsters make Barley to sprout, that Germination, whereby Nature intended to produce Stalks and Ears, is perverted to a far differing Purpose, and She deluded. And now, to annex some Arguments ad Hominem, we are told, that Nature makes every Agent aim at assimulating the Patient to itself, and that upon this account, the Fire aims at converting Wood, and the other Bodies it works on, into Fire: But, if this be so, Nature must often miss of Her End in Chymical Furnaces, where the Flame does never turn the Bricks, that it makes red-hot, into Fire; nor the Crucibles, nor the Cuples, nor yet the Gold and Silver, that it throughly pervades, and brings to be of a Colour, the same, or very near the same, with its own, and keeps in a very intense Degree of Heat, and in actual Fusion. And, even when Fire acts upon Wood, there is but one Part of it turn'd into Fire, since, to say nothing of the Soot and concreted Smoke, the Ashes remain fix'd and incombustible. And so, to add another Instance ad Hominem, when we are told, that Nature makes Water ascend in Sucking-Pumps, ob fugam Vacui, She must needs (as I formerly noted to another Purpose,) miss of Her Aim, when the Pump exceeds Five and Thirty, or Forty, Foot in Height; for then, though you Pump never so much, and withdraw the Air from the upper Part of the Engine, the Water will not ascend to the Top; and consequently, will leave a Cavity, for whole replenishing She was suppos'd to have rais'd that Liquor Two or Three and Thirty Foot.

III. Another of the celebrated Axioms concerning Nature, is, that She always acts by the shortest or most compendious Ways, Natura semper agit per vias brevissimas. But this Rule, as well as divers Others, does, I think, require to be somewhat explained and limited, before it be admitted. For, 'tis true, • hat, as I have frequently occasion to inculcate, the Omniscient Author of the Universe has so Fram'd It, that most of the Parts of it act as regularly in order to the Ends of It, as if they did it with Design. But, since Inanimate Bodies, at least, have no Knowledge, it cannot reasonably be suppos'd, that they moderate and vary their own Actions, according to the Exigency of particular Circumstances, wherewith they must of necessity be unacquainted, and therefore it were strange, if there were not divers Occurrences, wherein they are determin'd to Act by Other, than the shortest, Ways that lead to particular Ends, if those Other Ways be more congruous to the General Laws or Customs, established among Things Corporeal. This I prove by Instances taken from Gravity itself, which is, perhaps, that Quality, which of all others is most probably referr'd to an inbred Power and Propension. For 'tis true, that if a Stone, or another heavy Body, be let fall into the free Air, 'twill take its Course directly towards the Centre of the Earth; and, if it meet with an inclining Plane, which puts it out of its Way, it will not for all that loss its Tendency towards the Centre, but run along that Plane, by which Means its Tendency downwards is prosecuted, though not, as before, in a perpendicular Line, yet in the shortest Way it is permitted to take. These obvious Phaenomena, I confess, agree very well with the Vulgar Axiom, and possibly were the chief Things that induc'd Men to frame it. But now let us suppose, that a small Bullet of Marble or Steel, after having for a pretty space fallen through the Air, lights upon a Pavement of Marble, or some such hard Stone, that lies, as Floors are wont to do, Horizontal; in this Case, Experience shews, (as was formerly noted on another occasion) that the falling Stone will rebound to a considerable Height, (in Proportion to That it fell from) and falling down again rebound the second time, tho' not so high as before; and, in short, rebound several times, before, by setling upon the Floor, it approaches, as near as is permitted it, to the Centre of heavy Bodies. Whereas, if Nature did in all Cases act by the most Compendious ways, this Bullet ought not to rebound at all; but, as soon as it found, by the hardness of the Floor, it could descend no lower, it ought to have rested there, as in the nearest place it could obtain to the Centre of the Earth, whence every Rebound must necessarily remove it to a greater Distance. And so likewise, when a Pendulum, or Bullet fasten'd to the end of a String, is so held, that the String is (praeter propter) Perpendicular to the Horizon, if it be thence let fall, it will not stop at the Perpendicular Line, or Line of Direction, which is suppos'd to reach from the Nail or other Prop, through the Centre of the Bullet, to the Centre of the Earth, but will pass beyond it, and vibrate or swing to and fro, 'till it have pass'd again and again the Line of Direction, for a great while, before the Bullet come to settle in it, though, whenever it removes out of it, towards either hand, it must really ascend or move upwards, and so go further off from the Centre of the Earth, to which, 'tis pretended, its innate Propensity determines it to approach, as much and as soon as is possible. But this Instance having been formerly touch'd upon, I shall now observe, to the same purpose, that having taken a good Sea-Compass, [and the Experiment succeeded with a naked, yet nicely pois'd, Needle] and suffer'd the Magnetick Needle to rest North and South; if I held the proper Pole of a good Loadstone at a convenient Distance, on the right or left hand of the Lilly, this would be drawn aside from the North Point towards the East or West, as I pleas'd; and then the Loadstone being remov'd quite away, the Lilly of the Needle would indeed return Northward, but would not stop in the Magnetick Meridian, but pass on divers Degrees beyond it, and would thence return without stopping at the Meridian Line: And so would, by its Vibrations, describe many Arches still shorter and shorter, 'till at length it came to settle on it, and recover that Position, which, if Nature always acted by the most Compendious Ways, it should have rested at the first time, that by the removal of the Loadstone it had regain'd it. But the Truth is, that, at least, Inanimate Bodies, acting without knowledg or design of their own, cannot stop or moderate their own Action, but must necessarily move as they are determin'd by the Catholick Laws of Motion, according to which, in one Case, the Impetus, that the Bullet acquires by falling, is more powerful to carry it on beyond the Line of Direction, than the Action of the Causes of Gravity is to stop it, assoon as it comes to the nearest place they can give it to the Centre of the Earth. And something like this happens in Levity, as well as Gravity; for if you take an oblong and conveniently shap'd piece of light Wood, as Firr or Deal, and, having thrust or sunk it to the Bottom of a somewhat deep stagnant Water, give it Liberty to ascend, it will not only regain the Surface of the Water, where, by the Laws of Gravity, it ought to rest, and did rest before it was forc'd down, but it will pass far beyond that Surface, and in part as it were shoot itself up into the Incumbent Air, and then fall down again, and rise a second time, and perhaps much oftner, and fall again, before it come to settle in its due place, in which it is in an aequilibrium with the Water, that endeavours to press it upwards.

Another of the Sentences that are generally receiv'd concerning Nature, is, that She always does what is best to be done: Natura semper quod optimum est facit. Natura semper id facit quod est optimum eorum quae fieri possunt. Arist. de Coelo. lib. ii. C. 4. See also Arist. de Gen. lib. ii. cap. 10. §. 22. But of this it will not be safe for me to deliver my Opinion, 'till I have endeavour'd to remove the ambiguity of the Words; for they easily admit of two different Senses, since they may signifie, that Nature in the whole Universe does always that which is best, for the conservation of It in its present State; or, that in reference to each Body in particular, Nature does still what is best, that is, what most conduces to the Preservation and Welfare of that Body. If the first of these Senses be pitch'd upon, the Axiom will be less liable to Exception. But then, I fear, it will be difficult to be positively made out, by such Instances as will prove, that Nature acts otherwise than necessarily according to Laws Mechanical; and therefore, 'till I meet with such Proofs, I shall proceed to the other Sense that may be given our Axiom, which, though it be the most usual, yet, I confess, I cannot admit, without it be both explain'd and limited. I readily grant, that the All-wise Author of Things Corporeal has so fram'd the World, that most things happen in it, as if the particular Bodies that compose it, were watchful both for their Own Welfare, and That of the Universe. But, I think, withall, that particular Bodies, at least Those that are Inanimate, acting without either Knowledg or Design, their Actions do not tend to what is best for them in their private Capacities, any further than will comport with the general Laws of Motion, and the important Customs establish'd among Things Corporeal: So that to conform to these, divers Things are done that are neither the Best, nor so much as Good, in reference to the welfare of particular Bodies.

These Sentiments I am induc'd to take up, not only by the more Speculative Considerations, that have been formerly discours'd of and therefore shall not here be repeated, but by daily Observations and obvious Experience.

We see oftentimes, that Fruit-Trees, especially when they grow old, will for one Season be so overcharg'd with Fruit, that soon after they decay and die; and even whilst they flourish, the excessive Weight of the too numerous Fruits does not seldom break off the Branches they grow upon, and thereby both hinders the Maturity of the Fruit, and hastens the Death of the Tree: Whereas, this fatal Profuseness would have been prevented, if a wise Nature, harbour'd in the Plant, did, as is presum'd, solicitously intend its Welfare.

We see also in divers Diseases, and in the unseasonable and hurtful Crises's of Feavers, how far, what Men call, Nature oftentimes is, from doing that, which is best for the Sick Man's Preservation. And indeed, (as hath been formerly noted on another Ocsicaon,) in many Diseases, as Bleedings, Convulsions, Cholera's, &c. a great Part of the Physicians Work is, to appease the Fury, and to correct the Errors, of Nature, which being, as 'twere, transported with a blind and impetuous Passion unseasonably produces those dangerous Disorders in the Body, that, if She were wise and watchful of its Welfare, She would have been as careful to prevent, as the Physicians to remedy Them.

Add to all this, that, if Nature be so Provident and Watchful for the Good of Men and other Animals, and of that Part of the World, wherein they live; How comes it to pass, that from time to time, She destroys such Multitudes of Men and Beasts, by Earthquakes, Pestilences, Famine, and other Anomalies? And, How comes it so often to pass in Teeming Women, that, perhaps by a Fright, or a longing Desire, or the bare Sight of any outward Object, Nature suffers Herself to be so disordered, and is brought to forget Her Plastick Skill so much, as, instead of well-form'd Infants, to produce hideous Monsters, and those oftentimes so mishapen and ill-contriv'd, that not only Themselves are unfit to live one Day, or perhaps one Hour, but cannot come into the World without killing the Mother that bare Them. These and such other Anomalies, though (as I have elsewhere shewn,) they be not repugnant to the Catholick Laws of the Universe, and may be accounted for in the Doctrine of God's General Providence; yet they would seem to be Aberrations, incongruous enough to the Idaea the Schools give of Nature, as of a Being, that, according to the Axiom hitherto consider'd, does always that which is best. But 'tis time that we pass from that, to the Examen of another.

Though I have had occasion to treat of Vacuum in the Fifth Section, yet I must also say something about it in This, because I there consider'd it, but as it is imploy'd by the Peripateticks and others, to shew the Necessity of the Principle they call Nature. But now I am to treat of it, not so much as an Argument to be confuted, as on the score of its belonging to a (very plausible) Axiom to be consider'd; although I fear, that, by reason of the Identity of the Subiect, (though consider'd in the Fifth Sect. and here, to differing purposes) I shall scarce avoid saying something or other, co-incident with what has been said already.

V. The Word Vacuum being ambiguous, and us'd in differing Senses, I think it requisite, before I declare my Opinion about the generally receiv'd Axiom of the Schools, that Natura Vacuum horret, (or, as some express it, abhorret à Vacuo) to premise the chief Acceptions in which, I have observ'd, the Term Vacuum to be made use of. For it has sometimes a Vulgar, and sometimes a Philosophical or strict, Signification. In common Speech, To be empty, usually denotes, not to be devoid of all Body whatsoever, but of that Body that Men suppose should be in the Thing spoken of, or of That which it was fram'd or design'd to contain; as when Men say that a Purse is empty, if there be no Mony in it; or a Bladder, when the Air is squeez'd out; or a Barrel, when either it has not been yet fill'd with Liquor, or has had the Wine or other Drink drawn out of it. The Word Vacuum is also taken in another sense by Philosophers that speak strictly, when they mean by it, a Space within the World, (for I here meddle not with the Imaginary Spaces of the School-men, beyond the bounds of the Universe,) wherein there is not contain'd any Body whatsoever. This Distinction being premis'd, I shall inform you, that taking the Word Vacuum in the strict Sense, though many, and, among them, some of my best Friends, press'd me to a Declaration of my Sense about that famous Controversie, An detur Vacuum, because, they were pleas'd to suppose, I had made more Tryals than others had done about it, yet I have refus'd to declare myself, either Pro or Contra, in that Dispute. Since the decision of the Question seems to depend upon the stating of the true Notion of a Body, whose Essence the Cartesians affirm, and most other Philosophers deny, to consist only in Extension, according to the three Dimensions, Length, Breadth, and Depth or Thickness: For, if Mr. Des Cartes's Notion be admitted, 'twill be irrational to admit a Vacuum, since any Space, that is pretended to be empty, must be acknowledg'd to have the three Dimensions, and consequently all that is necessary to Essentiate a Body. And all the Experiments, that can be made with Quicksilver, or the Machina Boyliana (as they call it,) or other Instruments contriv'd for the like Uses, will be eluded by the Cartesians, who will say, that the space deserted by the Mercury, or the Air, is not empty, since it has Length, Breadth, and Depth, but is fill'd by their Materia Subtilis, that is fine enough to get freely in and out of the Pores of the Glasses, as the Effluvia of the Loadstone can do. But though, for these and other Reasons, I still forbear (as I lately said I have formerly done,) to declare either way in the Controversie about Vacuum, yet I shall not stick to acknowledg, that I do not acquiesce in the Axiom of the Schools, that Nature abhors a Vacuum.

For, First, I consider, that the chief, if not the only, Reason, that moves the Generality of Philosophers to believe, that Nature abhors a Vacrum, is, that in some Cases, as the Ascension of Water in Sucking-Pumps, &c. they observe, that there is an unusual endeavour, and perhaps a forcible Motion in Water and other Bodies, to oppose a Vacuum. But I, that see nothing to be manifest here, save that some Bodies, not devoid of Weight, have a Motion upwards, or otherwise differing from their usual Motions, (as in Determination, Swiftness, &c.) am not apt, without absolute necessity, to ascribe to Inanimate and Senseless Bodies, such as Water, Air, &c. the Appetites and Hatreds that belong to Rational, or or least to Sensitive, Beings; and therefore, think it a sufficient Reason, to decline imploying such improper Causes, if without them, the Motions, wont to be ascrib'd to Them, can be accounted for.

2. If the Cartesian Notion of the Essence of a Body be admitted by us, as 'tis by many Modern Philosophers and Mathematicians, it can scarce be deny'd, but that Nature does not produce these oftentimes Great, and oftner Irregular, Efforts to hinder a Vacuum; since, it being impossible there should be any, 'twere a fond thing to suppose that Nature, who is represented to us as a most wise Agent, should bestir Herself, and do Extravagant Feats, to prevent an impossible Mischief.

3. If the Atomical Hypothesis be admitted, it must be granted, not only that Nature does not abhor a Vacuum, but that a great Part of the Things She does require it, since they are brought to pass by Local Motion; and yet there are very many Cases, wherein, according to these Philosophers, the necessary Motions of Bodies cannot be perform'd, unless the Corpuscles, that lie in their way, have little empty Spaces to retire, or be impell'd into, when the Body, that pushes them, endeavours to displace them. So that the Effatum, That Nature abhors a Vacuum, agrees with neither of the two great Sects of the Modern Philosophers.

But, without insisting on the Authority of either of them, I consider, that, for ought appears by the Phaenomena imploy'd to demonstrate Nature's abhorrency of a Vacuum, it may be rational enough to think, either that Nature does not abhor a Vacuum, even when She seems solicitous to hinder It; or, that She has but a very moderate Hatred of It, in that Sense wherein the Vulgar Philosophers take the Word Vacuum.

For if we consider, that, in almost all visible Bodies here below, and even in the Atmospherical Air Itself, there is more or less of Gravity, or Tendency towards the Centre of our Terraqueous Globe, we may perceive, that there is no need that Nature should disquiet Herself, and act irregularly, to hinder a Vacuum: Since, without Her abhorrence of It, it may be prevented or replenish'd, by Her affecting to place all heavy Bodies as near the Centre of the Earth, as heavier than they will permit. And even without any Design of Hers, not to say without Her Existence, a Vacuity will be as much oppos'd, as we really find it to be, by the Gravity of most, if not of all, Bodies here below, and the Confluxibility of Liquors, and other Fluids. For, by vertue of their Gravity, and the Minuteness of their Parts, they will be determin'd to insinuate themselves into and fill all the Spaces, that they do not find already possess'd by other Bodies, either more ponderous in Specie than themselves, or, by reason of their firmness of Structure, capable of resisting or hindring their Descent. Agreeably to which Notion we may observe, that, where there is no danger of a Vacuum, Bodies may move, as they do, when they are said to endeavour its Prevention. As, if you would thrust your Fist deep into a Pail full of Sand, and afterwards draw it out again; there will need nothing but the Gravity of the Sand to make it fill up the greatest Part of the space deserted by your Fist. And if the Pail be replenish'd, instead of Sand, with an Aggregate of Corpuscles more Minute and Glib than the Grains of Sand, as for Instance, with Quicksilver or with Water, then the Space, deserted by your Hand, will be, at least as to Sense, compleatly fill'd up by the Corpuscles of the Liquor, which, by their Gravity, Minuteness, and the Fluidity of the Body, they compose, are determin'd to replenish the Space deserted by the Hand, that was plung'd into either of those Liquors. And I elsewhere shew, that, if you take a Pipe of Glass, whose Cavity is too narrow to let Water and Quick-silver pass by one another in It; if, I say, you take such a Pipe, and having (by the help of Suction,) lodg'd a small Cylinder of Mercury of about half an Inch long in the lower Part of It, you carefully stop the upper Orifice with the Pulp of your Finger, the Quick-silver will remain suspended in the Pipe. And, if then you thrust the Quick-silver directly downwards into a somewhat deep Glass, or other Vessel, full of Water, till the Quick-silver be depress'd about a Foot or more beneath the Surface of the Water; if then you take off your Finger from the Orifice of the Pipe which it stopt before, you shall immediately see the Quick-silver ascend swiftly five or six Inches, and remain suspended at this new Station. Which Experiment seems manifestly to prove, what I did long ago devise and do now alledge it for: Since here we have a sudden Ascent of so heavy a Body as is Quick-silver, and a Suspension of It in the Glass, not produc'd to prevent or fill a Vacuum, for the Pipe was open at both Ends, the Phaenomena being but genuine Consequences of the Laws of the Aequilibrium of Liquors, as I elsewhere clearly and particularly declare.

When I consider, how great a Power the School-Philosophers ascribe to Nature, I am the less inclin'd to think, that Her abhorrence of a Vacuum is so great, as they believ'd. For I have shewn in the Fifth Section, that Her aversion from It, and Her watchfulness against It, are not so great, but that, in the sense of the Peripateticks, She can quietly enough admit it in some Cases, where, with a very small Endeavour, She might prevent or replenish It, as I have particularly manifested in the fore-cited Section. I just now mention'd a Vacuum in the Sense of the Peripateticks, because when the Torricellian Experiment is made, though it cannot, perhaps, be cogently prov'd, either against the Cartesians, or some other Plenists, that, in the upper Part of the Tube, deserted by the Quick-Silver, there is a Vacuum in the strict Philosophical Sense of the Word; yet, as the Peripateticks declare their Sense, by divers of their Reasonings against a Vacuum, mention'd in that Section, 'twill to a heedful Peruser appear very hard for them to shew, that there is not One in that Tube. And, as by the School-mens Way of Arguing Nature's hatred of a Vacuum, from the Suspension of Water and other Liquors in Tubes and Conical Watring-Pots, it appears, that they thought that any Space here below, deserted by a visible Body, not succeeded by another Visible Body, or at least by common Air, may be reputed Empty. So, by the Space deserted by the Quick-silver at the top of the Pipe of a Baroscope Thirty One Inches long, One may be Invited to doubt, Whether a Vacuum ought to be thought so formidable a Thing to Nature, as they imagine She does, and ought to, think It? For what Mischief do we see insue to the Universe upon the producing or continuance of such a Vacuum, though the deserted Space were many time greater than an Inch, and continued many Years, as has divers times happen'd in the taller sort of Mercurial Baroscopes? And those Peripateticks that tell us, that, if there were a Vacuum, the Influences of the Coelestial Bodies, that are absolutely necessary to the Preservation of Sublunary Ones, would be Intercepted, since Motion cannot be made in Vacuo, would do well to prove, not suppose, such a Necessity; and also to consider, that in our Case the top of the Quick-silver, to which the Vacuum reaches, does usually appear Protuberant; which shews, that the Beams of Light (which they think of great Affinity to Influences, if not the Vehicle,) are able to traverse that Vacuum, being in spight of It reflected from the Mercury to the Beholder's Eye. And in such a Vacuum, as to common Air, I have try'd that a Load-stone will emit his Effluvia and move Iron or Steel plac'd in It. In short, it is not Evident, that here below Nature so much strains Herself to hinder or fill up a Vacuum, as to manifest an Abhorrence of It. And, without much peculiar Solicitude, a Vacuum, at least a Philosophical One, is as much provided against, as the Welfare of the Universe requires, by Gravity and Confluxibility of the Liquors and other Bodies, that are placed here below. And as for those that tell us, that Nature abhors and prevents a Vacuum, as well in the Upper Part of the World as the Lower, I think we need not trouble ourselves to answer the Allegation till they have prov'd It. Which I think will be very hard for Them to do; not to mention, that a Cartesian may tell Them, that 'twere as needless for Nature to oppose a Vacuum in Heaven as in Earth, since the Production of It is every where alike Impossible.

VI. I come now to the celebrated Saying, that Natura est Morborum Medicatrix, taken from Hippocrat. Hippocrat. Epidem. lib. 6. §. 5. t. 1. who expresses it in the plural, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . And because this Axiom is generally Receiv'd among Physicians and Philosophers, and seems to be one of the principal Things, that has made them introduce such a Being as they call Nature, I think it may be Time well employ'd, to consider somewhat attentively, in what Sense, and how far, this famous Sentence, may, or should not, be admitted.

First then, I conceive it may be taken in a Negative Sense, so as to import, that Diseases cannot be cur'd in such Persons, in whom the Aggregate of the Vital Powers or Faculties of the Body is so far weaken'd or deprav'd, as to be utterly unable to perform the Functions necessary to Life, or at least to actuate and assist the Remedies employ'd by the Physitian to preserve or recover the Patient. This I take to be the Meaning of such usual Phrases, as, that Physick comes too late, and, that Nature is quite spent. And in this Sense I readily acknowledge the Axiom to be true. For, where the Engine has some necessary Parts, whether Fluid or Solid, so far deprav'd or weakn'd, as to render it altogether unable to co-operate with the Medicine, it cannot be rationally expected, that the Administration of that Medicine should be effectual. But in this, I presume, there is no Difficulty worthy to detain us. I proceed therefore to the positive Sense, whereof our Axiom is capable, and wherein it is the most usually imploy'd. For Men are wont to believe, that there resides, in the Body of a sick Person, a certain Provident or Watchful Being, that still industriously employs itself, by its own Endeavours, as well as by any occasional Assistence that may be afforded it by the Physitian, to rectifie whatever is amiss, and restore the distemper'd Body to its Pristine state of Health. What I think of this Doctrine, I shall leave you to gather from the following Discourse.

I conceive then in the first Place, that the Wise and Beneficent Maker of the World and of Man, intending that Men should, for the most part, live a considerable number of Years, in a Condition to act their Parts on the Mundane Stage; He was pleas'd to frame those Living Automata, Human Bodies, that, with the ordinary succours of Reason, making use of their exquisite Structure fitted for Durableness, and of the friendly, though undesign'd▪ Assistence of the various Bodies among which they are plac'd, they may in many Cases recover a State of Health, if they chance to be put out of it by lesser Accidents than those, that God, in compliance with the great Ends of his General Providence, did not think fit to secure them from, or enable them to surmount. Many things therefore, that are commonly ascrib'd to Nature, I think, may be better ascrib'd to the Mechanisms of the Macrocosm and Microcosm, I mean, of the Universe and the Human Body. And, to illustrate a little my Meaning by a gross Example or two, I desire you will consider with me a Sea-compass, wherein the excited Magnetick Needle, and the Box that holds It, are duly pois'd by Means of a competent number of opposite Pivats: For though, if you give this Instrument a somewhat rude Shake, you will make the Box totter, and encline this way and that way, and at the same time drive the Points of the Magnetick Needle many Degrees to the East, or to the West; yet, the Construction of the Instrument and the Magnetism of one main Part of It, are such, that, if the Force, that first put it into a disorderly Motion, cease from acting on It, the Box will, after some Reciprocations, return to its Horizontal Situation; and the Needle, that was forc'd to deviate, will, after a few irregular▪ Motions to this and to that side of the Magnetical Meridian, settle itself again in a Position, wherein the Flower-de-Luce stedfastly regards the North. And yet this recovery to its former State is effected in a factitious Body, by the bare Mechanism of the Instrument itself, and of the Earth, and other Bodies, within whose Sphere of Activity it is plac'd. But, because Many have not seen a Mariner's Compass, I will add a less apposite but more obvious and familiar Example: For, if when an empty Ballance is duly counterpois'd, you shall, by your Breath or Hand, depress one of the Scales, and thereby, for the time, destroy the Aequilibrium; yet, when the Force is once remov'd, the depress'd Ballance will presently ascend, and the Opposite will descend; and, after a few Motions up and down, they will both of them, of their own accord, settle again in an exact Aequilibrium, without the help of any such Provident Internal Principle, 〈◊〉 Nature: The absence of whose Agency may be confirm'd by This, that the depress'd Scale does not at first stop at the Horizontal Line, beneath which it was first depress'd, (as it ought to do, if it were rais'd by an Intelligent Being,) but rises far above It. If it be here objected, that these Examples are drawn from Factitious, not from merely Physical, Bodies; I shall return this brief Answer, and desire that it be apply'd not only to the Two freshly mention'd Examples, but to All of the like Kind, that may be met with in this whole Treatise. I say then, in short, that divers of the Instances, we are speaking of, are intended but for Illustrations; and that Others may be useful Instances, if they should be no more than Analogous Ones: Since Examples, drawn from Artificial Bodies and Things, may have both the Advantage of being more clearly conceiv'd by ordinary Understandings, and That of being less obnox •• s to be question'd in that Pa •••• ar in which the Comparison or Correspondence consists. And I the less scruple to employ such Examples, because Aristotle himself and some of his more learned Followers make use of divers Comparisons drawn from the Figures and other Accidents of Artificial Things, to give an account of Physical Subjects, and even of the Generation, Corruption and Forms of Natural Bodies. This Advertisement premis'd, I persue this Discourse, it interrupted, by adding, Thus in a human Body, the Causes that disorder it are oftentimes but Transient, whereas the Structure of the Body itself and the Causes that conduce to the Preservation of that Structure, are more stable and durable, and on that account may enable the Engine to out-last many Things, that are Hostile to It. This may be somewhat illustrated, by considering, that Sleep, though it be not properly a Disease, easily becomes One, when it frequently transgresseth its due Bounds; and even whilst it keeps within them, it does, for the time it lasts, hinder the exercise of many Functions of the Body, more than several Diseases do; and yet, according to the common course of Things, the Matter that lock't up the Senses being spent, the Man of himself recovers that sensible and active State, on whose score he is said to be awake. But to come somewhat closer to the Point; We see, that many Persons, who get a Praeter natural Thirst with over-much Drinking, get rid of it again in a few days by forbearing such Excesses; and many, that by too plentiful Meals are brought to a want of Appetite, Recover, as it were, of course, by a spare Diet, in a few days; the renewed Ferment, or Menstruum of the Stomach, being able in that time to concoct by little and little, or expell the indigested Aliments or peccant Humours that offended the Stomach, and caus'd the want of Appetite.

And here I desire to have it taken Notice of, as a thing that may be considerable to our present Purpose, that I look not on a Human Body, as on a Watch or a Hand-mill, i. e. as a Machine made up only of Solid, or at least Consistent, Parts; but as an Hydraulical, or rather Hydraulopneumatical Engine, that consists not only of Solid and Stable Parts, but of Fuids, and those in Organical Motion. And not only so, but I consider, that these Fluids, the Liquors and Spirits, are in a living Man so constituted, that in eertain Circumstances the Liquors are dispos'd to be put into a Fermentation or Commotion, whereby either some Depuration of Themselves, or some Discharge of hurtful Matter by Excretion, or both, are produc'd, so as, for the most part, to conduce to the Recovery or Welfare of the Body.

And, that even Consistent Parts may be so fram'd, and so connected with other Parts, as to act, as it were, pro re nata, varying their Motions, as differing Circumstances make it convenient they should be varied, I purposely shew in another Paper. To this I might altogether refer you; but, in regard the Thing is a Paradox, and lays a Foundation for Another not Inferior to itself, I shall here borrow thence one Instance, not mention'd that I know of by Others to this purpose, that may both declare my Meaning, and confirm the Thing itself: I consider then, that what is call'd the Pupil or Apple of the Eye, is not (as 'tis known,) a substantial Part of the Organ, but only a round Hole or Window made in the Vvea, at which the Modify'd Beams of Light enter, to fall upon the Chrystalline Humour, and thence be refracted to the bottom of the Eye, or seat of Vision, to make there an Impression, that is usually a kind of Picture (for 'tis not always a neat One,) of the Object. Now the Wise and All-foreseeing Author of Things has so admirably contriv'd this Instrument of Sight, that, as it happens to be employ'd in differing Lights, so the Bigness or Area of the Pupil varies. For when the Light is vivid, and would be too gteat if all the Beams were let in, that might enter at an Aperture as large as the usual, the Curtain is every way drawn towards the Middle, and thereby the round Window made Narrower. And, on the other side, when the Light is but faint, and the Object but dimly illustrated, there being more Light requisite to make a sufficient Impression at the bottom of the Eye, the Curtain is every way drawn open, to let in more Light: And when the Eye is well constituted, this is regularly done, according as the Organ has need of more or less Light. Of this, some late Masters of Opticks have well Treated, and I have spoken about it more fully in another place. And the truth of the Observation you may easily find, if you look upon the Eyes of a Boy or a Girl, (for in young Persons the change is the most notable) when the Eyes are turn'd from looking on dark Objects towards bright or more illuminated Ones. And I have found the Variation yet more conspicuous in the Eyes of a young Cat, as I elsewhere particularly relate. So that, referring you to the Writings already pointed at, I shall only add in this place, that these various Motions in the Eye are produc'd by mere Mechanism, without the Direction, or so much as Knowledg or Perception, of the Rational Soul. And, upon the like Account it is, that other Motions, in several Parts belonging to the Eye, are produc'd, as 'twere spontaneously, as occasion requires. And so, as to the Fluid Parts of the Body, we find, that, according to the Institution of the Author of Things, when healthy Women are of a fit Age, there is a Monthly Fermentation or Commotion made in the Blood, which usually produces a kind of Separation, and then an Excretion, advantagious to the Body.

And, that you may the better make out what I meant by the Disposition, or Tendency, of the Parts, to return to their former Constitution, I shall desire you to consider, with me, a thin and narrow Plate of good Steel, or refined Silver; for, if one End of it be forcibly drawn aside, the changed Texture of the Parts becomes such, or the Congruity and Incongruity of the Pores, in reference to the ambient Aether, that endeavours to permeate them, is made such, that, as soon as the Force that bent it is remov'd, the Plate does, as it were, spontaneously return to its former Position. And yet here is no internal watchful Principle, that is solicitous to make this Restitution, for otherwise it is indifferent to the Plate what Figure it settle in; for, if the Springy Body stand long Bent, then, as if Nature forgot her Office, or were unable to execute it, though the Force that held the Spring bent be remov'd, it will not endeavour to regain its former streightness: And, I have tryed, in a Silver Plate, that, if you only heat it red-hot, and let it cool, if you put it into a crooked Posture, it will retain it; but barely with two or three stroaks of a Hammer, which can only make an invisible change of Texture, the Plate will acquire a manifest and considerable Springyness, which you may again deprive it of, by sufficiently heating it in the Fire, without so much as melting it.

But, to return to the Discourse, formerly begun, about Distempers wont to be harmless by being Transient, we may observe, that the third or fourth day after Women are brought to Bed, there is commonly a kind of Feaver produc'd, upon the plentiful resort of the Milk to the Breasts; for which cause, this Distemper is, by many, call'd the Feaver of Milk. And this is wont, in a short time, to pass away of itself, as depending upon Causes far less durable, than the Oeconomy of the Womans Body. And, if it be objected, that these are not Diseases, because they happen according to the Instituted Course of Nature; I will not now dispute the validity of the Consequence, though I could represent, that the Labour of Teeming Woemen, and the breeding of Teeth in Children, happen as much according to the Institution of Nature, and yet are usually very painful, and oftentimes dangerous: But I will rather answer, that, if the troublesome Accidents, I have alledg'd, cannot serve to prove, they may at least to illustrate, what I aim at. And I shall proceed to take notice of a Distemper, that Physicians generally reckon among Diseases, I mean, the flowing of Blood at the Haemorrhoidal Veins: For, though oftentimes this Flux of Blood is excessive, and so becomes very dangerous, and therefore must be check'd by the Physician, (which is no great Argument, that a Being, wise and watchful, manages this Evacuation,) yet frequently, if not for the most part, the Constitution of the Body is such, that the superfluous or vitiated Blood goes off, before it has been able to do any considerable mischief, or perhaps any at all, to the Body. And so we see, that many Coughs, and Hoarsenesses, and Coryzas are said to be cur'd, that is, do cease to trouble Men, though no Medicine be us'd against them, the Structure of the Body being durable enough to out-last the Peccant Matters, or the Operation of those other Causes, that pro-duce these Distempers.

It is a known thing, that most Persons, the first time they go to Sea, especially if the Weather be any thing Stormy, are, by the unwonted Agitations, which those of the Ship produce in them, (assisted perhaps by the Sea-Air, and Smells of the Ship) cast into that Disease, that, from the Cause of it, is call'd the Sea-sickness, which is sometimes dangerous, and always very troublesome, usually causing a loss of Appetite, and almost continual Faintness, a pain in the Head, and almost constant Nauseousness, accompany'd with frequent, and oftentimes violent, Vomitings; which Symptoms make many complain, that, for the time, they never felt so troublesome a Sickness; and yet usually, after not many days, this Distemper, by degrees, is master'd by the Powers of the Body, tending still to persevere in their orderly and friendly Course, and suppressing the adventitious Motions that oppose it, and the sick Person recovers without other help. And so, though Persons unaccustom'd to the Sea, whether they be sick or no, are, by the inconvenient Motions of the Ship, usually brought to a kind of habitual Giddiness, which disposes them to reel and falter, when they walk upon firm ground: Yet, when they come a Shore, they are wont in no long time to be freed from this uneasie Giddiness, without the help of any Medicine: The usual and regular Motions of the Parts of the Body obliterating by degrees in a few days (I us'd to be free from it within some hours,) that adventitious Impression, that caus'd the Discomposure. To the same purpose, we may take notice of that which happens to many Persons, who riding backwards in a Coach are not only much distemper'd in their Heads, but are made very sick in their Stomachs, and forced to Vomit, as violently and frequently, as if they had taken an Emetick: And yet all this Disorder is wont quickly to cease, when the Patient leaves the Coach, without the continuance of whose Motion, (that continues a preposterous One in some Parts of the Patient) the Distemper will quickly yield to the more ordinary and regular Motions of the Blood, and other Fluids of the Body. So, when in a Coach, or elsewhere, a Man happens to be brought to Faintness, or cast into a Swoon, by the closeness of the Place, or the over-charging of the Air with the fuliginous Reeks of Mens Bodies; tho' the Disease be formidable, yet, if the Patient be seasonably brought into the free Air, the friendly Operation of That External Body, assisting the usual Endeavours or Tendency of the Parts of the Patients Body to maintain his Life and Heath, is wont quickly to restore him to the State he was in, before this sudden Sickness invaded him. Divers things, that happen in some Diseases, may be grosly illustrated, by supposing, that into a Vial of fair Water some Mud be put, and then the Vial be well shaken, for the Water will be troubled and dirty, and will lose its Transparency, upon a double Account; that of the Mud, whose opacous Particles are confounded with It; and that of the newly generated Bubbles, that swim at the top of it; and yet to clarifie this Water, and and make it recover its former Limpidness, there needs no particular Care or Design of Nature, but according to the common Course of Things, after some time the Bubbles will break and vanish at the top, and the earthy Particles, that compose the Mud, will, by their Gravity, subside to the bottom, and settle there, and so the Water will become clear again. Thus also Must, which is the lately express'd Juice of Grapes, will for a good while continue a troubled Liquor; but though there be no Substantial Form to guide the Motions of this factitious Body, yet, according to the Course of Things, a Fermentation is excited, and some Corpuscles are driven away, in the Form of Exhalations or Vapours, others are thrown against the sides of the Cask, and harden'd there into Tartar, and others again subside to the bottom, and settle there in the Form of Lees; and by this means leave the Liquor clear, and, as to Sense, uniform. And why may not some Depurations and Proscriptions of Heterogeneous Parts be made in the Blood, as well as they are usually in Must, without any peculiar and solicitous Direction of Nature.

There is indeed one Thing, to which the Sentence of Nature's being the Curer of Diseases may be very speciously apply'd, and that is the healing of Cuts and Wounds, which, if they be but in the Flesh, may oftentimes be cured without Plaisters, Salves, or other Medicines; but, not to mention Haemorrhagies and some other Symptoms, wherein the Chriurgeon is fain to curb or remedy the Exorbitancies of Nature; this Healing of the Solutio continui seems to be but an Effect or Consequent of that Fabrick of the Body, on which Nutrition depends. For the Alimental Juice, being, by the Circulation of the Blood and Chile, carried to all Parts of the Body to be nourish'd, if it meets any where, either with preternatural Concretions, or with a Gap made by a Cut or Wound, its Particles do there concrete into a kind of Bastard-flesh, or some such other Body, which that Juice, in the Place and other Circumstances 'tis in, is fitted to constitute. Thus we see, that not only Wens and Scrophulous Tumors are nourish'd in the Body, but mis-shapen Mola's do by Nutriment grow in the Womb, as well as Embryo's feed there. And, to come closer to the present Argument, we see, that, in Wounds, Proud-Flesh, and perhaps Fungus's, are as well produc'd and entertain'd by the Aliment brought to the wounded Part, as the true and genuine Flesh; so that either Nature seems much mistaken, if She designs the Production and Maintenance of such superfluous and inconvenient Bodies; or the Chirurgeon is much to blame, who is industrious to destroy them, though oftentimes he cannot do it, without using painful Corrosives. But, for ought appears, Nature is not so shy and reserv'd in Her Bounty, but that She sends Nourishment, to repair as well Things that do not belong to the Body, as genuine Parts of It, as to restore Flesh to wounded Parts, as may appear by Warts and Corns, that grow again after they are skilfully cut. And, I remember, I have seen a Woman, in whose Forehead Nature was careful to nourish a Horn, about an Inch and more in length, which I fully examin'd, whilst it was yet growing upon Her Head, to avoid being impos'd upon.

But, besides the Diseases hither to discours'd, there are many Others, as well Acute as Chronical, wherein, 'tis confess'd, that Nature alone does not work the Cure, so that as to these, (which are more numerous, than the former) I may well pretend, that the Aphorism, that makes Nature the Curer of Diseases, is not true, otherwise than in a limited Sense. But, because I know 'tis pretended, that even in these Diseases Nature is the principal Agent, by whose Direction the Physician acts in subserviency to her Designs; and Physicians themselves (whether out of Modesty or Inadvertence, I now enquire not,) are wont to acknowledg, that they are but Nature's Ministers, I think it necessary to consider briefly, what Sense is fit, according to our Doctrine, to be given to these Assertions, to make them receivable by us.

But, to make way for what we are to say on this Occasion, it may be fit to observe, that one great Cause of the common Mistakes about this Matter, is, as hath been partly intimated already, That the Body of a Man is look'd upon, rather as a System of Parts, whereof Most are gross and consistent, and not a Few hard and solid too, than as, what indeed it is, a very compounded Engine; that, besides these Consistent Parts, does consist of the Blood, Chyle, Gall, and other Liquors; also of more subtil Fluids, as Spirits and Air; all which Liquors and Fluids are almost incessantly and variously moving, and thereby put divers of the Solid Parts, as the Heart and Lungs, the Diaphragma, the Hands, Feet, &c. into frequent and differing Motions. So that, as, when the Constitution or the Motions, that in a sound Body do regularly belong to the Fluid Parts, happens the former to be Deprav'd, or the later to grow Anomalous, the Engine is immediately out of Order, though the gross solid Parts were not primarily affected: So, when by proper Remedies (whether Visible or not,) the vitiated Texture or Crasis of the Blood or other Juices is corrected, and the inordinate Motions, that They and the Spirits are put into, or, that they also put the consistent Parts into, are calm'd and rectify'd, the grosser and more solid Parts of the Body, and so the whole Animal Oeconomy, if I may so call It, will be restored to a more convenient State. Thus we see, that in many Hysterical Women, by the fragrant Effluvia of a Spanish Glove, or some Other strong Perfume, the Spirits and Genus Nervosum being affected, several disorderly Symptoms are produc'd, and oftentimes the Motion of the Blood is so stopt or abated, that any Pulse at all is scarcely to be felt, nor Respiration discern'd, and the whole Engine, unable to sustain itself, falls to the Ground, and lies moveless on It; and yet we have often, by barely holding to the Patient's Nostrils a Vial full of very strong Spirit, or Volatile Salt, or Sal-armoniack, or of Harts-horn, in less than a quarter of an Hour, sometimes in a few Minutes, restor'd Women in that Condition to their Senses, Speech and Motion.

We are also here to consider, what I have formerly inculcated, that the Oeconomy of the human Body is so constituted by the Divine Author of It, that it is usually fitted to last many Years, if the more General Laws, setled by the same Author of the Universe, will permit it. And therefore 'tis not to be wonder'd at, that in many Cases, the Automaton should be in a Condition to concur, though not with Knowledge and Design, to its own Preservation, when, though it had been put somewhat out of Order, 'tis assisted by the Physicians Hands or Medicines to recover a convenient State.

And if it be objected, that the Examples, that have been in this past Discourse frequently drawn from Automata, are not adequate, and do not fully reach the Difficulties we have been speaking of, I shall readily grant it, provided it be consider'd, that I avowedly and deservedly suppose the Bodies of living Animals to be, Originally, Engins of God's own framing, and consequently Effects of an Omniscient and Almighty Artificer. So that, 'tis not Rational to expect, that in the incomparably inferior Productions of human Skill, there should be found Engins fit to be compar'd with These, which, in their Protoplasts, had God for their Author. Not to mention, (what yet may be considerable in reference to the Lastingness of human Life,) that a Man is not a mere Mechanical Thing, where nothing is perform'd for the Preservation of the Engine, or its Recovery to a good State, but by its own Parts, or by other Agents, acting according to Mechanical Laws without Counsel or Design; since, though the Body of a Man be indeed an Engine, yet there is united to It an Intelligent Being, (the Rational Soul or Mind,) which is capable, especially if instructed by the Physitians Art, to discern, in many Cases, what may hurt It, and what may conduce to the Welfare of It, and is also able (by the Power it has to govern the Muscles and other Instruments of voluntary Motion,) to do many of those Things it judges most conducive to the Safety and the Welfare of the Body, 'tis join'd with. So that, a Man is not like a Watch, or an Empty Boat, where there is nothing but what is purely Mechanical; but like a Mann'd Boat, where, besides the Machinal Part, (if I may so speak) there is an Intelligent Being that takes Care of It, and both steers It, or otherwise guides It, and, when need requires, trimms It; and, in a word, as Occasion serves, does what he can to preserve It, and keep It fit for the Purposes, 'tis design'd for.

These Things being premis'd, I think the Physitian (here suppos'd to be free from Prejudices and Mistakes,) is to look upon his Patients Body, as an Engine that is out of Order, but yet is so constituted, that, by his Concurrence with the Endeavours, or rather Tendencies, of the Parts of the Automaton itself, it may be brought to a better State. If therefore he find, that, in the present Disposition of the Body, there is a Propensity or Tendency to throw off the Matter that offends It, and (which ought to be some way or other expell'd,) in a convenient Way, and at commodious Places; he will then act so, as to comply with, and further, that Way of Discharge, rather than Another. As, if there be a great Appearance, that a Disease will quickly have a Crisis by Sweat; he will rather further It by covering the Patient with warm Cloaths and giving Sudorifick Medicines, than, by endeavouring to carry off the peccant Matter by Purging or Vomiting, unseasonably hinder a Discharge, that probably will be beneficial: And in this Sense Men may say, if they please, that the Physicians are Ministers or Servants of Nature; as Sea-Men, when the Ship goes before a good Wind, will not shift their Sails, nor alter the Ships Motion, because they need not. But to shew, that 'tis as 'twere by Accident, that the Physitian does, in the fore-mention'd Case, obey Nature, (to speak in the Language of the Naturists, I reason with,) I need but represent, that there are many other Cases, wherein the Physitian, if he be skilful, will be so far from taking Nature for his Mistress, to direct him by Her Example, what should be done; that a great Part of his Care and Skill is imploy'd, to hinder Her from doing what She seems to Design, and to bring to pass Other Things very differing from, if not contrary to, what She Endeavours.

Thus, though Nature in Dropsies inportunately crave store of Drink, the Physician thinks himself oblig'd to deny It; as he does what they greedily desire, to his Patients of the Green-Sickness, or that Distemper they call Pica: Though the absurd and hurtful Things, as very unripe Fruit, Lime, Coals, and other incongruous Things, be earnestly long'd for. Thus also the Chirurgeon does often hinder Nature from closing up the Lips of a Wound, as She would unskilfully do, before it be well and securely heal'd at the bottom. So the Physician does often, by Purging or Phlebotomy, carry off that Matter, that Nature would more dangerously throw into the Lungs, and expel by frequent and violent Coughs.

And so, if a Nerve or Tendon be prick'd, the Chirurgeon is fain, with Anodynes, and other convenient Medicines, to prevent or appease the unreasonable Transports of Nature, when, being in a Fury, by violent and threatning Convulsions, She not only much disorders, but endangers, the Patient. And so likewise, when in those Evacuations that are peculiar to Women, Nature affects, in some Individuals, to make them by undue and inconvenient Places, as the Nipples, the Mouth, or the Eyes, whereof we have divers Instances, among the Observations collected by Schenckius, Schenk. Obser. l. IV. pag. m. 633. & seq. or related by other good Authors. The Physitian is careful by Bleeding the Patient in the Foot and by using other Means, to oblige Nature to alter Her Purpose, and make the intended Evacuations by the proper Uterine Vessels. And, tho' according to the Institution of Nature, as they speak, there ought to be a Monthly discharge of these Superfluities, and therefore, whilst this is moderately made, the Physician does rather further than suppress It: Yet if, as it often happens in other Patients, Nature overlashes in making those Evacuations, to the great weakning or endangering the Sick Person, the Physitian is careful by contemperating Medicines and other Ways to correct Nature's exorbitancy and check Her profuseness of so necessary a Liquor, as the Blood. Other Instances, more considerable, than some of these hitherto mention'd, might be given to the same purpose; but I forbear to do it, because, there being some, though perhaps very needless, Controversies about Them, I could not make out their fitness to be here alledg'd without more Words, than I am now willing to employ about unnecessary Proofs, fearing it might be thought, I have dwelt too long already upon the Explication of One Aphorism. I shall therefore only observe in short, that I look upon a good Physician, not so properly as a Servant to Nature, as One that is a Counsellor and a Friendly Assistant, who, in his Patient's Body, furthers these Motions and other Things, that he judges conducive to the Welfare and Recovery of It; but as to Those, that he perceives likely to be hurtful, either by encreasing the Disease, or otherwise endangering the Patient, he think it is his Part to oppose or hinder, though Nature do manifestly enough seem to endeavour the exercising or carrying on those hurtful Motions.

On this occasion, I shall take notice of the Practice of the more Prudent among Physicians themselves, who, being call'd to a Patient, subject to the Flux of the Haemorrhoids, if they find the Evacuation to be moderate, and likely either to benefit the Patient on another account, (as in some Cases 'tis,) or at least to end well, they do, as some of them speak, commit the whole business to Nature; that is, to speak intelligibly, they suffer It to take its Course, being incouraged to do so, in some Cases, by the Doctrine of Hippocrates, Hippocrat. Lib. vi. Aphorism. xi. and in others by Experience. But, if the Evacuation prove to be too lasting, or too copious, they then are careful to hinder Nature from proceeding in it, and think themselves oblig'd to imploy both inward and outward Means, to put a stop to an Evacuation, which may bring on a Dropsie, or some other formidable Disease And if it be said, that Nature makes this Profusion of so necessary a Liquor as Blood, only because She is irritated by the Acrimony of some Humour mix'd with it; I say, that this Answer, which, for Substance, is the same that Naturists may be compell'd to fly to, on many Occasions, is in effect a Confession, that Nature is no such wise Being as they pretend; since She is so often provok'd to act, as it were, in a Fury, and do those things in the Body, that would be very mischievous to It, if the Physitian, more calm and wise than She, did not hinder Her. So that, notwithstanding the reverence I pay the great Hippocrates, it is not without due Caution and some Limitations, that I admit that notable Sentence of his, where he thus speaks;Hippocrat. Epidem. l. 6. § 5. text. 2. 4. Invenit Natura ipsa sibi-ipsi aggressiones. And after three or four lines, Non edocta Natura & nullo Magistro usa, ea quibus opus est facit. Which, I fear, makes many Physitians less couragious and careful than they should, or perhaps would be, to employ their own Skill on divers Occasions, that much require It.

I shall now add, that, as in some Cases, the Physitian relieves his Patient in a Negative Way, by opposing Nature in her unseasonable or disorderly Attempts: So in other Cases, he may do it in a Positive Way, by employing Medicines that either strengthen the Parts, as well Fluid as Stable, or make sensible Evacuations of Matters necessary to be proscrib'd by Them; or (he may do it,) by using Remedies, that by their manifest Qualities oppugn those of the Morbifick Matter or Causes; as when by Alcaly's or absorbing Medicaments he mortify's Praeter-natural Acids, or disables Them to do Mischief. And, perhaps, One may venture to say, that, in some Cases, the Physitian may▪ in a Positive Way, contribute more to the Cure even of an inward Disease, than Nature Herself seems able to do: For, if there be any such Medicine preparable by Art, as Helmont affirms may be made of Paracelsus's Ludus, by the Liquor Alkahest; or, as Cardan relates, that an Empirick had in his Time, who, travell'd up and down Italy, curing Those whereever he came, that were tormented with the Stone of the Bladder; If, I say, there be any such Medicines, the Physitian may, by such Instruments, perform that, which, for ought appears, is not to be done by Nature Herself, since we never find, that She dissolves a confirm'd Stone in the Bladder. Nay, sometimes the Physician does, even without the help of a Medicine, controle and over-rule Nature, to the great and sudden Advantage of the Patient. For, when a Person, otherwise not very weak, happens by a Fright, or some surprising ill News, to be so discompos'd, that the Spirits hastily and disorderly thronging to some inward Part, especially the Heart, hinder the regular and wonted Motion of It, by which disorder the Circulation of the Blood is hinder'd, or made very imperfect: In this Case, I say, the Patient is by Nature's great Care of the Heart, (as is commonly suppos'd even by Physitians,) cast into a Swoon; whence the Physitian sometimes quickly frees him, by rubbing and pinching the Limbs, the Ears and the Nose, that the Spirits may be speedily brought to the External Parts of the Body; which must be done by a Motion to the Circumference, (as they call It,) quite opposite to That towards the Centre or Heart, which Nature had given Them before. But as to the Theory of Swoonings, I shall not now examine its Truth, it being sufficient to warrant my drawing from thence an Argument ad Hominem, that the Theory is made Use of by Those I reason with.

By what has been discours'd One may perceive, that, as there are some Phaenomena, that seem to favour the Doctrine of the Naturists about the Cure of Diseases, so there are Others, that appear more manifestly favourable to the Hypothesis we propose. And both these sorts of Phaenomena, being consider'd together, may well suggest a Suspition, that the most Wise and yet most Free Author of Things, having fram'd the first Individuals of Mankin'd, so as to be fit to last many Years, and endow'd those Protoplasts with the Power of propagating their Species; it thereupon comes to pass, that in the subsequent Hydraulico-pneumatical Engines we call Human Bodies, when neither particular Providence, nor the Rational Soul, nor over-ruling Impediments interpose, Things are generally perform'd according to Mechanical Laws and Courses; whether the Effects and Events of these prove to be conducive to the welfare of the Engine itself, or else cherish and foment Extraneous Bodies or Causes, whose Preservation and Prospering are hurtful to It. On which Supposition it may be said, That the happy things, referr'd to Nature's prudent Care of the Recovery and Welfare of sick Persons, are usually genuine Consequences of the Mechanism of the World, and the Patients Body; which Effects luckily happen to be co-incident with his Recovery, rather than to have been purposely and wisely produced in order to It; since, I observe, that Nature seems to be careful to produce, preserve, and cherish Things hurtful to the Body, as well as Things beneficial to It. For we see in the Stone of the Kidneys and Bladder, that out of Vegetable or Animal Substances of a slighter Texture, such as are the Alimental Juices, which, in Sucking Children (who are observ'd to be frequently subject to the Stone in the Bladder) are afforded by so mild a Liquor as Milk; Nature skilfully frames a hard Body of so firm a Texture, that it puzzles Physicians and Chymists to tell, how such a Coagulation can be made of such Substances: And I have found more than one Calculus to resist both Spirit of Salt, that readily dissolves Iron and Steel, and that highly Corrosive Menstruum, Oyl of Vitriol itself. We see also, that, divers times, the Seeds or Seminal Principles of Worms, that lye conceal'd in unwholesome Fruits, and other ill-qualifi'd Aliments, are preserv'd and cherish'd in the Body, so, as in spight of the Menstruum's ferments, &c. they meet with there, they grow to be perfect Worms, (of their respective kinds) that are often very troublesome, and sometimes very dangerous, to the Body that harbours them: Producing, though perhaps not immediately, both more and more various Distempers (especially here in England) than every Physician is aware of. This Reflection may very well be applied to those Instances we meet with in good Schenck. Observ. Lib. 3. Pag. mihi 337. & seq. Authors, of Frogs, and even Toads, whose Spawn, being taken in with corrupted Water, hath been cherished in the Stomach 'till the Eggs being grown to be compleat Animals, they produc'd horrid Symptoms in the Body, that had lodg'd and fed them. And if, according to the receiv'd Opinion of Physicians, stubborn Quartans are produc'd by a Melancholy Humour seated in the Spleen; it may be said, that Nature seems to busie Herself to convert some Parts of the Fluid Chile into so tenacious and hardly dissipable a Juice, that in many Patients, notwithstanding the Neighbourhood of the Spleen and Stomach, neither strong Emeticks, nor Purges, nor other usual Remedies, are able, in a long time, to dislodg it, or resolve it, or correct it. But that is yet more conducive to my present purpose, that is afforded me by the Consideration of the Poyson of a Mad-dog, which Nature sometimes seems industriously and solicitously to preserve: Since we have Instances, in approved Authors, that a little Foam convey'd into the Blood by a slight hurt, (perhaps quickly heal'd up,) is, notwithstanding the constant Heat and perspirable Frame of the Human Body, and the dissipable Texture of the Foam, so preserved, and that sometimes for many Years, that, at the end of that long time, it breaks out, and displays its fatal Efficacy with as much vigour and fury, as if it had but newly been receiv'd into the Body.

To this agrees That which is well known in Italy, about the biting of the Tarantula. For, though the Quantity of Poyson can scarce be visible, since 'tis communicated by the Tooth of so small an Animal as a Spider, yet, in many Patients, 'tis preserved during a great part of of their Lives, and manifests its Continuance in the Body by Annual Paroxysms. And, I know a Person of great Quality, who complain'd to me, that, being in the East, the biting or stinging of a Creature, whose offensive Arms were so small, that the Eye could very hardly discern the Hurt, had so lasting an Effect upon him, that, for about twelve Years after, he was reminded of his Mischance, by a Pain he felt in the hurt Place, about the same time of the Year that the Mischief was first done him. And, in some Hereditary Diseases, as the Gout, Falling-sickness, and some kinds of Madness, Nature seems to act as if She did, with Care as well as Skill, transmit to the unhappy Child such Morbifick Seeds or Impressions of the Parents Disease, that, in spight of all the various Alterations the younger Body passes through, during the Course of many Years, this constantly protected Enemy is able to exert its Power and Malice, after forty, or perhaps fifty, Years concealment. Such Reflections as these, to which may be added, that the Naturists make no scruple to style That Death, which Men are brought to by Diseases, a Natural Death, make me backward to admit the fam'd Sentence of Hippocrates hitherto consider'd, Morborum Naturae Medici, without limitations, especially those two that are deliver'd in the Fifth Section:See Pag. 164. to Pag. 173. To which I refer you the rather, because they may help you to discern, that divers Phaenomena, that favour not the receiv'd Notion of a kind and prudent Being, as Nature is thought to be, are yet very consistent with Divine Providence.

SECT. VIII.

I have now gone through so many of the celebrated Axioms, concerning Nature, that, I hope, I may reasonably presume, that the other Sentences of this kind, that my Haste makes me leave unmention'd, will be thought capable of being fairly explicated, and with Congruity to our Hypothesis, by the help of the Grounds already laid, since, with light Variations, they may be easily enough improv'd, and apply'd to those other Particulars, to which they are the most Analogous.

But this Intimation ought not to hinder me to make a Reflection, that not only is pertinent to this place, but which I desire may have Retrospect upon a great part of the whole precedent Discourse. And it is This, that, though we could not Intelligibly explicate all the particular Axioms about Nature, and the Phaenomena of Inanimate Bodies, that are thought, but not by me granted, to favour them by Mechanical Principles; it would not follow, that we must therefore yield up the whole Cause to the Naturists. For we have already shewn, and may do so yet further ere long, that the Supposition of such a Being, as they call Nature, is far from enabling Her Partizans to give intelligible Accounts of these and other Phaenomena of the Universe. And though our Doctrine sh •• ld be granted to be, as well as that generally receiv'd about Nature, insufficient to give good Accounts of Things Corporeal: Yet I shall have this Advantage in this Case, that a less degree of Probability may serve, in Arguments imploy'd but to justifie a Doubt, than is requir'd in Those that are to demonstrate an Assertion.

'Tis true, that the Naturists tell us, that the Nature they assert is the Principle of all Motions and Operations in Bodies; which infers, that in explicating Them, we must have recourse to Her. But before we acquiesce in, or confidently employ, this Principle, it were very fit we knew what it is. This Question I have discours'd of in the Section: But having there intimated a Reference to another Place, the Importance, as well as Difficulty of the Subject, invites me to resume in this Place the Consideration of It; and both vary and add to what I formerly noted, that I may as well inculcate as clear my T • oughts about It. I demand then o • Those, that assert such a Nature as is vulgarly describ'd, whether it be a Substance or an Accident? If it be the later, it should be declar'd, what kind of Accident it is; how a Solitary Accident can have Right to all those Attributes, and can produce those numerous, manifold, and wonderful Effects, that they ascribe to Nature; and why a complex of such Accidents, as are the Mechanical affections of Matter, (as Figure, Bulk, Motion, &c.) may not altogether, as probably as that Accident they call Nature, be conceived to have been Instituted by the perfectly Wise Author of the Universe, to produce those Changes among Bodies, which are (at least for the most part,) intelligibly referable to Them? And if Things be not brought to pass by their Intervention, 'twere very fit, as well as desirable, that we should be Inform'd, by what other Particular and Intelligible Means Nature can effect them better, than they may be by that Complex.

But if it be said, as by Most it is, that the Principle, call'd Nature, is a Substance, I shall next demand, Whether it be a Corporeal, or an Immaterial One? If it be said to be an Immaterial Substance, I shall further ask, Whether it be a Created One, or not? If it be not, then we have God under another Name, and our Dispute is at an End, by the removal of its Object or Subject, which is said by the Schools to be God's Vicegerent, not God Himself. But if Nature be affirm'd (as She is, at least by all Christian Philosophers,) to be a Created Being, I then demand, Whether or no She be endowed with understanding, so as to know what she does, and for what Ends, and by what Laws She ought to Act? If the Answer be Negative, the Supposition of Nature will be of very little Use to afford an intelligible Account of Things; an unintelligent Nature being liable to the Objections, that will a little below be met with against the usefulness of Nature, in case She be suppos'd a Corporeal Being. And though it should be said, that Nature is endowed with Understanding, and performs such Functions as divers of the Antients ascribe to the Soul of the World; besides, that this Hypothesis is near of kin to Heathenism, I do not think, that they who shall with many Grecian, and other Philosophers, who preceded Christianism, suppose a kind of Soul of the Universe, will find this Principle sufficient to explicate the Phaenomena of It. For if we may compare the Macrocosm and Microcosm in This, as well as many are wont to do in other Things; we may conceive, that, though Nature be admitted to be indowed with Reason, yet a multitude of Phaenomena may be Mechanically produc'd, winhout Her immediate Intervention; as we see that in Man, though the Rational Soul has so narrow a Province to take care of, as the Human Body, and is suppos'd to be intimately united to all the Parts of It; yet, abundance of things are done in the Body by the Mechanism of it, without being produc'd by that Soul. Of this we may alledge, as an Instance, that, in Sleep, the Circulation of the Blood, the regular Beating of the Heart, Digestion, Nutrition, Respiration, &c. are perform'd without the immediate. Agency, or so much as the actual Knowledge, of the Mind. And, when a Man is awake, many things are done in his Body, not only without the Direction, but against the Bent of his Mind; as often happens in Cramps and other Convulsions, Coughing, Yawnings, &c. Nay, though some Brutes, as particularly Apes, have the Structure of many Parts of their Bodies very like that of the Analogous Ones of Human Bodies: Yet, that admirable Work of the Formation and Organization of the Foetus, or little Animal, in the Womb, is granted by Philosophers to be made by the Soul of the Brute (that is therefore said to be the Architect of his own Mansion,) which yet is neither an Incorporeal, nor a Rational Substance. And, even in a Human Foetus, if we will admit the general Opinion of Philosophers, Physitians, Divines and Lawyers, I may be allowed to observe, that the Human Body, as exquisite an Engine as 'tis justly esteem'd, is form'd without the Intervention of the rational Soul, which is not infus'd into the Body, 'till This hath obtain'd an Organization, that fits it to receive such a Guest; which is commonly reputed to happen about the end of the Sixth Week, or before that of the Seventh. And this Consideration leads me a little further, and prompts me to ask, How much, by the Supposition or Knowledge of the Mind, (at the newly mention'd time,) we are enabled to explicate the Manner, How the foremention'd Functions of an Embryo are perform'd, when at the end of six or seven Week the Rational Soul supervenes and comes to be united to this living Engine?

And, if it be urg'd, that Nature being the Principle of Motion in Bodies, their various Motions, at least, which amount to a considerable Part of their Phaenomena, must be explainid by having recourse to Her: I answer, that 'tis very difficult to conceive, how a Created Substance, that is Immaterial, can by a Physical Power or Action move a Body: The Agent having no impenetrable Part, wherewith to impell the Corporeal Mobile. I know, that God, who is an mmaterial Spirit, ought to be acknowledg'd the Primary Cause of Motion in Matter, because (as we may justly with Monsieur Des Cartes infer,) Motion not belonging to Corporeal Substance, as such; This must owe That to an Incorporeal One. But then, I consider, that there is that infinite Distance between the Incomprehensible Creator, and the least imperfect Order of his Creatures, that we ought to be very Cautious, how we make Parallels between Him and Them, and draw Inferences from His Power & manner of Acting to Theirs. Since He, for Instance, can immediately act upon Human Souls, as having Created Them, but they are not able so to act upon one another. And I think it the more difficult to conceive and admit, that, if Nature be an Incorporeal Substance, She should be the greater Mover of the Mundane Matter, because we see, that, in a Human Body, the Rational Soul, (which the School-Philosophers assert to be an Immaterial Spirit,) tho' vitally united to it, can only determin the Motion of some of the Parts, but not give Motion to any, or so much as Regulate it in most. And, if Nature be said to move Bodies in another than a Physical Way, I doubt, whether the Supposition of such a Principle will be of much Use to Physiologers in explicating Phaenomena; since I shall scarce think him an Inquisitive or a Judicious Doctor, who should imagine, that he explains, that it gives an intelligible and particular Account of the astonishing Symptoms of those strange Diseases, that divers very Learned and Sober Physitians impute to Witchcraft, when he says, that those strange Distortions and convulsive Motions, for Instance, and other Prodigious Effects, were produc'd by a wicked immaterial Spirit, call'd a Devil. But having to this purpose said more in another Paper, which you may command the Sight of, I shall not trouble you with it here.

The past Discourse opposes their Opinion, who assert Nature to be an Immaterial Creature. But because 'tis thought, that a greater Number of Philosophers, at least among the Moderns, take Her to be Corporeal, I shall now address my Discourse to their Hypothesis. And though I might object, that, if Nature be a Body, it may be demanded, How She can produce, in Men, Rational Souls, that are Immaterial Beings, and not capable to be produc'd by any Subtiliation or other Change of Matter whatsoever? Yet, waving this Objection, I shall first demand, Whether Those, I reason with, believe Nature, though Corporeal, to act Knowingly, i. e. with Consciousness of what She does, and for pre-designed Ends; or else to be blindly and necessarily moved and directed by a Superior Agent, indow'd with (what She wants,) an excellent Understanding; and then I shall represent a few things, appliable some to one or the other of the two Answers, that may be made, and some to both.

And first, the Cartesians would ask, How, if Nature be a Corporeal Substance, we can conceive Her capable of Thinking; and, which is more, of being a most Wise and Provident Director of all the Motions that are made in the Corporeal World?

Secondly, A Philosophizer may justly ask, How a Corporeal Being can so pervade, and, as it were, com-penetrate the Universe, as to be intimately present with all its Minute Parts, whereof yet 'tis said to be the Principle of Motion?

Thirdly, He may also demand, Whence Nature, being a Material Substance, comes itself to have Motion, whereof 'tis said to be the Principle? Since Motion does not belong to Matter in itself, and a Body is as truly a Body when it rests, as when it moves. And, if it be answer'd, that the First Cause, that is, God, did at first put it into Motion; I reply, that the same Cause may, at least as probably, be suppos'd to have put the unquestion'd Mundane Matter into Motion, without the Intervention of another Corporeal Being, in whose Conception, (i. e. as 'tis Matter,) Motion is not involv'd.

Fourthly, It may likewise be ask'd, How the Laws of Motion come to be observ'd or maintain'd by a Corporeal Being? which, as merely such, is either uncapable of understanding them, or of acting with respect to them, or at least is not necessarily endow'd with any knowledge of them, or power to conform to them, & to make all the Parts of the unquestion'd Mundane Matter do so too.

Fifthly, And I do not see, how the taking in such an unintelligent & undesigning Principle will free our Understandings from great Difficulties, when we come to explicate the Phaenomena of Bodies. For, as is elsewhere noted, if Nature be a Bodily Creature, and acts necessarily, and (if I may so speak,) fatally, I see no Cause to look upon It but as a kind of Engine; and the Difficulty may be as great, to conceive how all the several Parts of this supposed Engine, call'd Nature, are themselves fram'd and mov'd by the Great Author of Things, and how they act upon one another, as well as upon the undoubted Mundane Bodies; as 'tis to conceive how, in the World itself, which is manifestly an admirably contriv'd Automaton, the Phaenomena may, by the same Author, (who was able to endow Bodies themselves with Active Powers, as well as he could, on other scores, make them Causes,) be produc'd by Vertue, and in consequence of the Primitive Construction and Motions that He gave it (and still maintains in it,) without the Intervention of such a thing, as they call Nature. For This, as well as the World, being a Corporeal Creature, we cannot conceive, that either of them act otherwise than Mechanically. And it seems very suitable to the Divine Wisdom, that is so excellently display'd in the Fabrick and Conduct of the Universe, to imploy in the World, already fram'd and compleated, the fewest and most simple Means, by which the Phaenomena, design'd to be exhibited in the World, could be produc'd. Nor need we be much mov'd by hearing some Naturists say, that Nature, though not an Incorporeal Being, is of an Order Superior to mere Matter; as divers of the School-men teach the Things, they call Material Forms to be. For, who can clearly conceive an Order or Kind of Beings, that shall be Real Substances, and yet neither Corporeal nor Immaterial? Nor do I see, how the Supposition of this Unintelligible, or at least Unintelligent Being, though we should grant it to have a kind of Life or Soul, will much assist us to explicate the Phaenomena; as if a Man be acquainted with the Construction of Mills, he he may as well conceive, how Corn is ground by a Mill, driven by the Wind or by a Stream of Water, which are Brute and Senseless Beings, as he can by knowing, that 'tis kept at Work by a Horse, who, though an Animated Being, acts in our Case but as a Part of an Engine that is determin'd to go round, and who does neither intend to grind the Corn, nor know that he grinds It.

And in this Place (though perhaps not the very fittest,) I may Question, With what Congruity to their Master's Doctrine, the SchoolPhilosophers teach, that Nature is the Principle of Motion in all the Bodies, they call Natural. For, not to urge, that those great Masses of Sublunary Matter, to which they give the Name of Elements, and the Mixt Bodies, that consist of them, are, by divers learned Men, said to be mov'd to or from the Centre of the Earth, by distinct Internal Principles, which they call Gravity in the Earth and Water, and Levity in the Fire and Air; and that there is ascrib'd also to every compounded Body, that Quality of the Two, which belongs to the Element that predominates in It. Not to urge this, I say, consider, that the Coelestial Part of the World does so far exceed the Sub-Coelestial in Vastness, that there is scarce any Comparison between them; and yet the Generality of the Peripateticks, after Aristotle, tell us, that the Coelestial Globes of Light, and the vast Orbs they suppose them to be fix'd in, are mov'd from West to East by Intelligences, that is, Rational and Separate Beings, without whose Conduct they presume, that the Motions of the Heavens could not be so Regular and Durable, as we see they are. So that, in that Part of the Universe, which is incompararably vaster than the Sublunary is, Intelligences being the Causes of Motion, there is no Recourse to be had to Nature, as the true and internal Principle of It.

And here it may not, perhaps, be improper to declare somewhat more fully a Point already touch'd upon, namely, that, if to know what is the general Efficient Cause of Motion, can much contribute to the Explication of particular Phaenomena; the Hypothesis of those Naturists I now reason with, will have no considerable Advantage, if any at all of Ours; which derives them from the Primitive Impulse given by God to Matter, and from the Mechanical Affections of the greater and lesser Portions of It. For 'tis all one to Him, that would declare by what particular Motion, as Swift, Slow, Uniform, Accelerated, Direct, Circular, Parabolical, &c. this or that Phaenomenon is produc'd; to know, whether the Motions of the Parts of Matter were Originally impress'd on them by Nature, or immediately by God; unless it be, that He, being of infinitely Perfect Knowledge, may be, more probably than a Creature, suppos'd to have at first produc'd in Matter Motions best accommodated to the Phaenomena, that were to be exhibited in the World. Nor do I see sufficient Cause to grant, that Nature Herself (whatever She be,) produces any Motion de Novo, but only, that She transfers and regulates That, which was communicated to Matter at the beginning of Things: (As we formerly noted, that in the Human Body, the Rational Soul or Mind has no Power to make new Motions, but only to direct those of the Spirits and of the grosser Organs and Instruments of voluntary Motion.) For, besides that many of the Modern Naturalists approve of the Cartesian Opinion, That the same Quantity of Motion is always preserv'd in the whole Mass of of the Mundane Matter, that was communicated to it at first, though it be perpetually transferring it from one Part to another: Besides this, I say, I consider, that, if Nature produces in these & those Bodies Motion, that were never before in Beings; (unless much Motion be annihilated, which is a thing as yet unprov'd,) the Quantity of Motion in the Universe must have for some Thousands of Years perpetually increas'd, and must continue to do so; which is a Concession, that would much disorder the whole Theory of Local Motion, and much perplex Philosophers, instead of assisting Them, in explicating the Phaenomena of Bodies.

And as for the Effects of Local Motion in the Parts of the Universal Matter, which Effects make a great Part of the Phaenomena of the World: After what I have formerly declar'd, you will not wonder to hear me confess, that, to me, the Supposition of Nature, whether Men will have Her an Immaterial or Corporeal Substance, and either without Knowledge or else indowed with Understanding, doth not seem absolutely Necessary, nor perhaps very Useful, to make us comprehend, how they are produc'd. The Bodies of Animals, are divers of them little less curiously fram'd than Mens, and most of them more exquisitely, than, for ought we know, the great Inanimate Mass of the Corporeal World is: And yet, in the Judgment of no mean Naturalists, some of the Mechanical Philosophers, that deny Cogitation, and even Sense properly so call'd, to Beasts, do, at least as Intelligibly and Plausibly, as those that ascribe to them Souls indow'd with such Faculties as make them scarce more than gradually different from Human Ones, explicate the Phaenomena that are observ'd in them. And I know not, whether I may not on this Occasion add, that the Peripateticks themselves, especially the Moderns, teach some things, whence One may argue, that the Necessity of recurring to Nature does not reach to so many things by far, as is by them suppos'd. For the Efformation (or Framing) of the Bodies of Plants and Animals, which are by great odds the finest pieces of Workmanship to be met with among Bodies, is ascrib'd not immediately to Nature, but to the Soul itself, which they will have to be the Author of the Organization of the Body, and therefore call it the Architect of its own Mansion; which, they say, that it frames by an Innate Power and Skill, that some call Plastick, and to which others give other Names. And unto the same Soul, operating by Her several Functions, they attribute the Concoction of Aliments, the Expulsion of Excrements, the Production of Milk, Semen, &c. the Appetitive, Loco-motive, and I know not how many other Faculties, ascrib'd to Living Bodies. And, even in many Inanimate Ones, the noblest Properties and Operations are, by the same School-Philosophers, attributed to what they call their Substantial Forms; since from These they derive the wonderful Properties of the Load-stone, the attractive Faculty of Amber and other Electricks, and the Medical Vertues of Gems and other Mineral Bodies, whether Consistent or Fluid.

But not to insist on this Argument, because 'tis but ad Hominem, (as they speak,) if we consider the Thing itself, by a free Examen of the pretended Explanations, that the Vulgar Philosophers are wont, by recurring to Nature, to give of the Phaenomena of the Universe; we shall not easily look on those Accounts, as meriting the Name of Explications. For to explicate a Phaenomenon, 'tis not enough to ascribe it to one general Efficient, but we must intelligibly shew the particular manner, how that general Cause produces the propos'd Effect. He must be a very dull Enquirer, who, demanding an Account of the Phaenomena of a Watch, shall rest satisfied with being told, that 'tis an Engine made by a Watch-Maker; though nothing be thereby declar'd of the Structure and Co-aptation of the Spring, Wheels, Ballance, and other Parts of the Engine; and the manner, how they act on one another, so as to cooperate to make the Needle point out the true Hour of the Day. And (to improve to my present purpose an Example formerly touch'd upon,) as he that knows the Structure and other Mechanical Affections of a Watch, will be able by Them to explicate the Phaenomena of It, without supposing, that it has a Soul or Life to be the internal Principle of its Motions or Operations; so he, that does not understand the Mechanism of a Watch, will never be enabled to give a rational Account of the Operations of It, by supposing, as those of Chiness did, when the Jesuits first brought Watches thither, that a Watch is an European Animal, or Living Body, and indow'd with a Soul. This Comparison seems not ill to befit the Occasion of propounding It; but to second It by another, that is more purely Physical; when a Person, unacquainted with the Mathematicks, admires to see, That the Sun rises and sets in Winter in some Parts of the Horizon, and in Summer in Others, distant enough from them; that the Day, in the former Season, is by great odds shorter than in the Later, and sometimes (as some days before the Middle of March and of Sept.) the Days are equal to the Night; that the Moon is sometimes seen in Conjunction with the Sun, and sometimes in Opposition to Him; and, between those two States, is every Day variously illuminated; and, that sometimes one of those Planets, and sometimes another, suffers an Eclipse; this Person, I say, will be much assisted to understand, how these things are brought to pass, if he be taught the clear Mathematical Elements of Astronomy. But, if he be of a Temper to reject these Explications, as too defective, 'tis not like, that it will satisfie him, to tell him after Aristotle and the School-Men, That the Orbs of the Sun and Moon, and other Coelestial Spheres, are mov'd by Angels or Intelligences; since to refer him to such general and undetermin'd Causes, will little, or not at all, assist him to understand, how the recited Phaenomena are produc'd.

If it be here objected, That these Examples are drawn from Factitious, not from merely Physical, Bodies; I shall return this brief Answer, and desire that it be apply'd not only to the Two freshly mention'd Examples, but to All of the like Kind, that may be met with in this whole Treatise, (near the Beginning of which, had I remember'd it, something to the same purpose should have had Place.) I say then in short, that divers of the Instances we are speaking of are intended but for Illustrations; and that others may be useful Instances, if they should be no more than Analogous Ones: Since Examples, drawn from Artificial Bodies and Things, may have both the Advantage of being more clearly conceiv'd by ordinary Understandings, and That of being less obnoxious to be Question'd in that Particular, in which the Comparison or Correspondence consists. And I the less scruple to imploy such Examples, because Aristotle himself, and some of his more learned Followers, make Use of divers Comparisons, drawn from the Figures and other Accidents of Artificial Things, to give an Account of Physical Subjects, and even of the Generation, Corruption and Forms of Natural Bodies.

This Advertisement premis'd, I persue the Discourse it interrupted, by adding, That thus we see That confirm'd, which was formerly observ'd, namely, that though Mechanical Principles could not be satisfactorily imploy'd for explaining the Phaenomena of our World; we must not therefore necessarily recur to, and acquiesce in, that Principle, that Men call Nature, since neither will That intelligibly explain Them: But in that Case, we should ingeniously confess, That we are yet at a loss, how they are perform'd; and that this Ignorance proceeds, rather from the Natural Imperfection of our Understandings, than from our not preferring Nature (in the Vulgar Notion of It,) to the Mechanical Principles, in the Explication of the Phaenomena of the Universe. For whereas Monsieur Des Cartes, and other acute Men, confidently teach, that there are scarce any of these Phaenomena, that have been truly and intelligibly deduc'd from the Principles peculiar to the Aristotelians and School-Philosophers; it will scarce be deny'd by any that is acquainted with Physico-Mathematical Disciplines, such as Opticks, Astronomy, Hydrostaticks, and Mechanicks, more strictly so call'd, but that very many Effects (whereof Some have been handled in this present Tract,) are clearly explicable by Mechanical Principles; which, for that Reason, Aristotle himself often imploys in his Quaestiones Mechanicae and elswhere. So that, if because the Corpuscularian Principles, cannot be satisfactorily made Use of to account for all that happens among Things Corporeal, we must refuse to acquiesce in them: It is but just, that, since a Recourse to what is call'd Nature is yet more dark and insufficient, at least, we must reject as well the Later as the Former Hypothesis, and endeavour to find some Other preferrable to Both.

And now, if it be demanded, what Benefit may redound to a Reader from the Explications given in the foregoing Seventh Section? and in general, from the Troublesome, as well as Free, Enquiry, whereof they make a considerable Part? I shall Answer, That I am not quite out of Hope, that the Things hitherto discours'd may do some Services both to Natural Philophy and to Religion.

And as to the first of these; this Tract may be of Use to the cultivaters of that Science, by dissuading them from employing often, and without great need, in their Philosophical Discourses and Writings, a Term, (I mean Nature,) which, by reason of its great Ambiguity, and the little or no Care, which Those that use It are wont to take, to distinguish its different Acceptions, occasions both a great deal of Darkness and Confusedness in what Men say and write about Things Corporeal; and a multitude of Controversies, wherein really Men do but wrangle about Words, whilst they think they dispute of Things; and perhaps would not differ at all, if they had the Skill or Luck to express themselves clearly. Besides which Service, the past Discourse may do this Other, to wean Many from the fond Conceit they cherish, that they understand or explicate a Corporeal Subject or a Phaenomenon, when they ascribe it to Nature. For to do That, One needs not be a Philosopher, since a Country Swain may easily do the same Thing.

On this Occasion, I must not forbear to take notice, that the unskilful Use of Terms of far less Extent and Importance, and also less Ambiguous, than the word Nature is, has been, and still is, no small Impediment to the Progress of Sound Philosophy. For not only the greatest Part both of Physitians (though otherwise learned Men,) and of Chymists; but the Generality of Physiologers too, have thought, that they have done their Part, though not on all Occasions yet on very Many, when they have referr'd an Effect or a Phaenomenon to some such Things as those, that are presum'd to be Real Qualities; or are by some styl'd Natural Powers; or are by others, by a more comprehensive and more usual Name, (which therefore here chiefly imploy,) call'd Faculties; for each of which they are wont to form a Name, fit for Their purpose: Though they do not intelligibly declare, what this Faculty is, and in what manner the Operations they ascribe to It, are perform'd by It. Thus the attractive Faculty ascrib'd to a Man, that is enabled by Nature's (presum'd) abhorrence of a Vacuum, to suck up Drink through a Straw or Pipe, has been for many Ages acquiesced in, as the true Cause of the Ascension of that Liquor in Suction; of which nevertheless the Modern Philosophers, that have slighted Explications deriv'd merely from Faculties, have assign'd (as has been already declar'd,) Intelligible, and even Mechanical Causes. The Power that a Load-stone has with one Pole to attract (as they speak,) the Northern Point of the Mariner's Needle, and with the Other to drive it away, is look'd upon as one of the Noblest and most proper Faculties of that admirable Stone. And yet I elsewhere shew, how in a very small, indeed, but true and natural Magnet, I have, by a bare, and sometimes invisible, Change of Texture, given that Extream of the Magnet, that before drew the Southern Point of the Needle, the Power to draw the Northern, and to the opposite Extream, the Power to drive it away: So much does even this wonderful attractive Faculty, as 'tis call'd, depend upon the Mechanical Structure of the Mineral, and its Relation to other Bodies, among which 'tis plac'd, especially the Globe of the Earth, and its Magnetical Effluvia.

But because in another Paper, I purposely discourse of what Naturists call Faculties, I shall here content my self to note in general, that the Term Faculty may, indeed, be allowed of, if. It be applied as a compendious Form of Speech, but not as denoting a real and distinct Agent; since in reality the Power or Faculty of a Thing is (at least) oftentimes but the Matter of It, made Operative by some of its Mechanical Modifications; [I say, some, because the Complex of all makes up its Particular Nature.] And with how little Scruple soever, Men commonly speak of Faculties, as supposing Them to be distinct and active Principles; yet this Condition does not necessarily belong to them. For sometimes, if not frequently, the Effect, of what is reputed a Natural Power of Faculty, is produc'd by the Texture, Figure, and, in a word, Mechanical Disposition of the Agent; whereby it determines the Action of a remoter Agent to the produc'd Effect. Thus in a Clock, to make the Ballance vibrate, to point at the Hour, to make, at set times, the Hammer strike upon the Bell, are but different Effects of the Weight or Spring, that sets and keeps the Engine in Motion. And so a Key may either acquire or lose its Power of opening a Door (which, perhaps, some School-Men would call its aperitive Faculty,) by a Change, not made in itself, but in the Locks it is apply'd to, or in the Motion of the Hand that manages It. And least it should be objected, that these Instances are taken wholly from Artificial Bodies, I shall add, that, when a clear Piece of Native Chrystal has obtain'd, as it often does, a good Prismatical Shape, and is, in a due Position, expos'd to the Sun-beams; its Figuration, by inabling it to refract and reflect those Beams after a certain Manner, gives it a Colorifick Faculty, whereby it is inabled to exhibit that wonderful and pleasing variety of Colours, that emulate, if not surpass, those of the Rain-bow. And so in a Concave Metalline Looking-glass, though there seem to be many distinct Faculties, such as that of Reflecting, Inverting, Magnifying divers Objects, and Melting, Burning, &c. several Bodies; yet all these Powers are but the genuine Consequences of the Figure, Capacity and Smoothness, which are Mechanical Affections of the Matter of the Speculum. And, indeed, if I judge aright, (though what I am going to say will seem a Paradox,) yet many Qualities of very many Bodies are but lasting Dispositions to be thus or thus wrought upon by the Action of External Agents, and also (perchance) to modifie that Action; as we see, that the Power of making an Eccho, that is observ'd in divers hollow Places, is nothing but the Mechanical Disposition, their Figure and Resistence gives them to reflect a Sound. And, to resume the lately mention'd Instance of a Key, we may add, that, by bare Position, either End of it, especially if the Key be long, may be made to acquire or lose a Transient Magnetick Faculty from the Effluvia of that great Magnet, the Earth; and that also the same Key may, in a few Moments, acquire a durable Magnetism, by a Mechanical Change receiv'd from the Load-stone, as is known to Those, that are any thing vers'd in the Philosophy of that wonderful Mineral.

And to me it seems likely, that one main Reason, why learned Men have ascrib'd such inherent and active Powers, as they call Faculties, to so many Bodies, is, because that, not being conversant enough with Natural and Artificial Things, they did not duly perpend, how great a Difference there may be between a Body consider'd absolutely, or by itself, and the same Body consider'd in such Circumstances, as it may be found in. For in some Cases a Physical Body many have strange Things justly ascrib'd to It, though not as 'tis such a Body consider'd simply, or unassociated with other Bodies; but as 'tis plac'd among congruous Ones, and makes the Principal or most Operative Part of a compounded Body, or of the Complex of Bodies it is joyn'd with, and which are of such determinate Structures, as are convenient for the Phaenomena, to be exhibited. This may be Analogically seen in what happens to a Spring. For if, being bent, 'tis held in Ones Hand, or crouded into a Box, 'tis but a Simple thing, that does only, by its Expansive Endeavour, strive to remove the Bodies that keep it compress'd. But in a curious Watch, it may, by virtue of the Structure of that Engine, become the Principle of I know not how many differing, and perhaps contrary, Motions, among the Parts of It; and of many notable Phaenomena and Effects exhibited or produc'd thereby. This Reflection may, perhaps, be improv'd, if I here add, that, in many Bodies, a Fluid Substance, determin'd to convenient Motions, may be equivalent to an Internal Spring; especially if it be assisted by friendly External Agents. This may be illustrated by considering, that if One that plays skilfully on a Flute, blow out of his Mouth into the open Air, he will but turn it into a vapid Aereal Stream: But if this Wind duly pass into the Instrument, and be modify'd there by the Musician's Fingers and Skill, the simple Stream of Air may be form'd into very various and melodious Tunes. Thus Gunpowder artificially temper'd, tho', if it be fir'd in the open Air, it will give only a rude and sudden Flash, that presently vanishes; yet, if it be skilfully dispos'd of in Rockets and other well-contriv'd Instruments, and then kindled, it will exhibit a great and pleasing variety of Shining Bodies and Phaenomena, that are justly admir'd in the best sort of Artificial Fire-works. A Physical Instance also, in favour of our Analogical or Vicarious Springs (if I may so call them,) is afforded me by the Bulbs of Onions, and the Roots of Aloes, commonly call'd Semper-vive, and some other Vegetables, which in the Spring being expos'd to the Air, the Juices and Spirits, contain'd in them, will be so agitated by the Warmth of that Season, and so modify'd by the particular Structure of the more firm Parts, that, though neither Earth nor Rain co-operate, they will shoot forth green Stalks or Leaves for many Weeks together, as if they were planted in a good Soil; (though the Matter of these green Productions be furnish'd by the radical Parts themselves, as may be argued both from the manifest Diminution of the Bulb in Bigness, and the great and gradual Decrement in Weight, that I observ'd in making Experiments of this King. And so also the Air, which is an External Fluid, concurring with the Juices and Spirits of divers Insects and other cold Animals, may both be put into Motion, and have that Motion so determin'd by their Organization, as to recover in the Spring or Summer, as it were, a new Life, after they have lain moveless and like dead Things, all the Winter; as we see in Flies, that, in a hot Air, quickly recover Motion and Sense, after having lost Both, for perhaps many Months. And the like Change may be far more suddenly observ'd in Them, in the warmer Seasons of the Year, when the Air is drawn from Them by the Pneumatick Pump, and afterwards permitted to enliven Them again. And to give another Instance, that may possibly please better, (because, as 'tis purely Physical, so 'tis Simple and very Conspicuous,) tho' that which the Sun-beams are wont primarily to produce be but Light and, perhaps, Heat; yet falling in a due Manner upon a rorid Cloud, they form there the Figure of a vast Bow, and, being variously reflected and, refracted, adorn it with the several Colours, Men admire in the Rain-Bow.

But I must not farther prosecute an Observation, that I mention'd but occasionally, as an Instance whereby to shew, that the advancement of solid Philosophy may be much hinder'd by Mens Custom of assigning, as true causes of Physical Effects, Imaginary Things or perhaps Arbitrary Names; among which none seems to have had a more malevolent Influence upon Physiology than the Term Nature, none having been so frequently and confidently us'd, or imploy'd to so many differing Purposes. And therefore, though I would not totally forbid the Use of the word Nature, nor of Expressions of Kin to It, in Popular Discourses or even in some Philosophical Ones, where Accurateness is not requir'd or Ambiguity is prevented by the Context; nor (to dispatch) whereit may be imploy'd as a compendious form of speech, without danger to Truth, or Prejudice to Sound Philosophy, (in which Cases I myself forbear not the Use of It;) yet, I hope, our Free Enquiry may (somewhat at least,) conduce to the more skilful Indagation, and happy Discovery, of Physical Truths, if it can perswade Men to make Use less frequently, and with more Circumspection, of so ambiguous, and so often abus'd, a Term as Nature; and cease to presume, that a Man has well perform'd the part of a true Physiologer, till he have circumstantially or particularly deduc'd the Phaenomenon he considers, by Intelligible Ways, from Intelligible Principles. Which he will be constantly put in Mind of doing, or discover that he hath not done it; if, by forbearing general and ambiguous Terms and Words, he endeavours to explain Things by Expressions, that are clear to all attentive Readers, furnish'd with an ordinary measure of Understanding and Reason. And this perspicuous Way of Philosophizing should be not a little recommended to ingenious Men, by the valuable Discoveries, which Those that have imploy'd it, in their Researches and Explications of difficult Things, have in this Inquisitive Age happily made, not only about the various Phaenomena, commonly referr'd to the Fuga Vacui; but in the Hydrostaticks, Opticks, Anatomy, Botanicks, and divers other Parts of real Learning, that I cannot now stay to enumerate. And thus much it may possibly be sufficient to have said, about the Service our Doctrine may do Natural Philosophy.

As for Religion, if what I have formerly said in favour of it be duly consider'd and apply'd, the past Discourse will not appear unfriendly, nor perhaps useless, to It. And therefore, if I do here abridge what I have there said, and add to it some Considerations, that were fit to be reserv'd for this Place; I hope the Doctrine, we have propos'd, may appear fit to do it a threefold Service.

I. And in the First Place, Our Doctrine may keep Many, that were wont, or are inclin'd, to have an excessive Veneration for what they call Nature, from running, or being seduc'd, into those Extravagant and Sacrilegious Errors, that have been upon plausible Pretences imbrac'd not only by many of the old Heathen Philosophers but, by divers Modern Professors of Christianity, who have of late reviv'd, under new Names and Dresses, the impious Errors of the Gentiles. This I venture to say, because many of the Heathen Writers, as hath been shewn in the Fourth Section, ackonwledg'd indeed a God (as these also own they do,) but meant such a God, as they often too little discriminated from Matter, and even from the Thus the Stoicks, in Laertius, describe the World thus, Mundus est qui constat ex Coelo & Terra atque ex illorum Naturis; sive, Qui constat ex Diis & Hominibus, iisque Rebus quae Horum gratia conditae sunt. And of Chrysippus, one of the Patriarchs of that Sect, the same. Diog. Laertius l. 7. in Vita Zenon. Historian in the same Book says, Purissimum dixit ac liquidissimum Aethera, quem etiam primum asserunt Stoici esse Deum, sensibiliter veluti infusum esse, per ea quae sunt in Aere, per cunctas Animantes & Arbores, per Terram autem ipsam secundum Halitum. To which agrees not only that noted Passage of Virgil, Principio Coelum, &c.—But another, which I somewhat wonder Learned Men should read with no more Reflexion: Since he there gives the Sky the very Title of the High God: Tum Pater Omnipotens foecundis imbribus Aether, &c. World; and as is very differing from the true One, ador'd by Christians and Jews: For Ours is a God, first, infinitely Perfect; and then secondly, by consequence, both Incorporeal and too Excellent to be so united to Matter, as to animate it like the Heathens Mundane Soul; or to become to any Body a Soul properly so call'd; and thirdly, Uncapable of being divided, & having either Human Souls or other Beings, as it were, torn or carv'd out, or otherwise separated from him, so as to be truly Parts or Portions of his own Substance.

The Error here rejected, was the Opinion of many of the Heathen Philosophers, and particularly of the Stoical Sect; of whose Author,In Vita Zenonis. Laertius says, De Divina Substantia Zeno ait Mundum totum atque Coelum. And several Ethnick Philosophers, even after the Light of the Gospel began to shine in the World, adopted the Argument of the Elder Stoicks, who inferr'd the World to be Animated and Rational from the Nature of the Human Soul, which they thought a Portion of the Intelligent Part of the World, that some of them confounded with the Deity. For the Soicks (in Laertius) affirm,De Vitis Phil. l. 7. Mundum esse Animale & Rationale & Animatum ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) & Intelligibile. And 'tis added, Mundum animatum esse, inde manifestum est, quod Anima nostra inde veluti avulsa sit. Thus Seneca,Epist. 92. Quid est autem cur non existimes, in eo divini aliquid existere, quae Dei pars est? Plutarch in Quaest. Plut. So Plutarch, speaking of the Soul, Non opus Solum Dei, sed & pars est; neque ab ipso, sed ex ipso nata est. And Epictetus,Dissert. 1. caip. 14. Animae ita alligatae & conjunctae Deo sunt, ut particulae ejus sint. Whereas, the Idolaters and Infidels I speak of, conceiv'd, under the Name of God, a Being, about which they dogmatically entertained Conceptions, which, tho' different from one another, are much more so from the Truth.

For first, Most of Them thought Their God to be purely Corporeal, as, besides what Diogenes Laertius and Others relate, I remember Origen doth in several Places affirm. If you will believe Praepar. lib. 3. cap. 4. Eusebius, the Ancient Aegyptian Theologers not only affirm'd the Sun, Moon and Stars to be Gods, but deny'd Incorporeal Substances, or Invisible Nature's, to have fram'd the World, but only the Sun, that is discoverable to our Eyes. And this Corporiety of God seems manifestly to be the Opinion of Mr. Hobbs and his genuine Disciples, to divers of whose Principles and Dogmas it is as congruous, as 'tis repugnant to Religion. But secondly, There are Others, that allow'd a Soul of the world, which was a Rational and Provident Being, together with the Corporeal Part of the Universe, especially Heaven, (which, I remember, Aristotle himself styles a De Coelo l. 2. c. 3. Divine Body, (or, as some render his Expressions, the Body of God:) But withal, They held, that this Being did properly Inform this great Mass of the Universe, and so was, indeed, a Mundane Soul. And though some of our late Infidels (formerly pointed at in this Treatise,) pretend to be great Discoverers of new Light in this Affair, yet, as 〈◊〉 • s I am inform'd of their Doctrine, it has much Affinity with, and is little or not at all better than That which I formerly noted out of Lactantius to have been asserted by the Stoicks, and the Doctrine which is express'd by Maximus (a Pagan) to St. Austin. Equidem Vnicum esse Deum summum atque magnificum, quis tam demens, tam mente captus, ut neg • t esse certissimum? Hujus nos virtutes per Mundanum opus diffusas, multis vocabulis invocamus, quoniam Nomen ejus Cuncti proprium ignoremus. Or by that Famous and Learned Roman, Varro, who is cited by St. Austin, De Civit Dei lib. 7. cap. 6. to have said, Deum se arbitrari Animam Mundi, & hunc ipsum Mundum esse Deum: Sed sicut Hominem Sapientem, cum sit ex Animo & Corpore, tamen ab animo dicimus Sapientem; ita Mundum Deum dici ab Animo, cum sit ex Animo & Corpore.

The Doctrine, by us propos'd, may ('tis hop'd,) much conduce to justifie some Remarkable Proceedings of Divine Providence, against those Cavillers, that boldly censure It, upon the account of some Things, that they judge to be Physical Irregularities, (for Moral Ones concern not this Discourse,) such as Monsters, Earth-quakes, Floods, Eruptions of Volcanos, Famines, &c. For, according to our Doctrine,—

1. God is a most Free Agent, and Created the World, not out of necessity, but voluntarily, having fram'd It, as he pleas'd and thought fit, at the beginning of Things, when there was no Substance but Himself, and consequently no Creature, to which He could be oblig'd, or by which he could be limited.

2. God having an Understanding infinitely Superior to that of Man, in Extent, Clearness, and other Excellencies, He may rationally be suppos'd to have fram'd so Great and Admirable an Automaton as the World, and the subordinate Engines compriz'd in it for several Ends and Purposes, some of them relating chiefly to His Corporeal, and others to His Rational Creatures; of which Ends, he hath vouchsafed to make Some discoverable by our dim Reason, but Others are probably not to be penetrated by it, but lye conceal'd in the deep Abyss of His Unfathomable Wisdom.

3. It seems not Incongruous to conceive, that this most Excellent and Glorious Being thought fit to order Things so, that both His Works and Actions might bear some Signatures, and as it were Badges of His Attributes, and especially to stamp upon His Corporeal Works some Tokens or Impresses, discernable by Human Intellects, of His Divine Wisdom; an Attribute that may advantagiously disclose Itself to us Men, by producing a vast Multitude of Things, from as few, and as simple, Principles, and in as Vniform a Way, as, with Congruity to His other Attributes, is possible.

4. According to this Supposition, it seems, that it became the Divine Author of the Vniverse to give It such a Structure, and such Powers, and to establish among its Parts such general and constant Laws, as best suited with His purposes in Creating the World; and, to give these Catholick Laws, and particular Parts or Bodies, such Subordinations to one another, and such References to the Original Fabrick of the Grand System of the World, that, on all particular occasions, the Welfare of inferior or private Portions of It, should be only so far provided for, as their Welfare is consistent with the general Laws setled by God in the Vniverse, and with Such of those Ends, that he propos'd to himself in framing It, as are more Considerable, than the Welfare of those particular Creatures.

Upon these Grounds, if we set aside the Consideration of Miracles, as Things supernatural, and of those Instances, wherein the Providence of the great Rector of the Universe, and Human Affairs, is pleas'd peculiarly to interpose; it may be rationally said, That God having an Infinite Understanding, to which all Things are at once in a manner Present, did, by vertue of it, clearly discern, what would happen, in consequence of the Laws by Him establish'd, in all the possible Combinations of Them, and in all the Junctures of Circumstances, wherein the Creatures concern'd in Them may be found. And, that having, when all these things were in His Prospect, setled among His Corporeal Works, general and standing Laws of Motion suited to His most Wise Ends, it seems very congruous to His Wisdom, to prefer (unless in the newly excepted Cases) Catholick Laws, and higher Ends, before subordinate Ones, and Uniformity in His Conduct before making changes in It according to every sort of particular Emergencies: And consequently, not to recede from the general Laws He at first most Wisely establish'd, to comply with the Appetites or the Needs of particular Creatures, or to prevent some seeming Irregularities (such as Earth-quakes, Floods, Famins, &c.) incommodious to Them, which are no other than such as He fore saw would happen (as the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon from time to time, the falling of Showers upon the Sea and Sandy Desarts, and the like must do, by vertue of the Original Disposition of Things,) and thought fit to ordain, or to permit, as not unsuitable to some or other of those Wise Ends, which He may have in His All-pervading View, who either as the Maker and Upholder of the Universe, or as the Sovereign Rector of His Rational Creatures, may have Ends, whether Physical, Moral, or Political; (if I may be allowed so to distinguish and name Them,) divers of which, for ought we can tell, or should presume, are known only to Himself, whence we may argue, that several Phaenomena, which seem to us Anomalous, may be very Congruous or Conducive to those secret Ends, and therefore are unfit to be censur'd by us, dim-sighted Mortals.

And indeed, the admirable Wisdom and Skill, that, in some conspicuous Instances, the Divine Opificer has display'd in the fitting of Things for such Ends and Uses, for which (among other purposes) He may rationally be suppos'd to have design'd Them, may justly persuade us, that His Skill would not appear Infeferiour in reference to the rest also of His Corporeal Works, if we could as well in These, as in Those, discern their particular final Causes. As if we suppose an excellent Letter about several Subjects, and to different Purposes, whereof some Parts were written in plain Characters, others in Cyphers, besides a third sort of Clauses, wherein both Kinds of Writing were variously mix'd, to be heedfully perus'd by a very intelligent Person, if he finds that those Passages, that he can understand, are excellently suited to the scopes that appear to be intended in them, it is Rational as well as Equitable in Him to conclude, that the Passages or Clauses of the third sort, if any of them seem to be insignificant, or even to make an Incongruous Sense, do it but because of the illegible Words; and that both these Passages, and Those written altogether in Cyphers, would be found no less worthy of the excellent See the Discourse of Final Causes. Writer, than the plainest Parts of the Epistle, if the particular purposes, they were design'd for, were as clearly discernable by the Reader. And perhaps you will allow me to add, that by this way of ordering Things so, that, in some of God's Works, the Ends or Uses may be manifest, and the exquisite fitness of the Means may be conspicuous; [as the Eye is manifestly made for seeing, and the Parts it consists of admirably fitted to make it an excellent Organ of Vision] and in others, the ends design'd seem to be beyond our reach: By this way, (I say) of managing Things, the most Wise Author of them does both gratifie our Understandings, and make us sensible of the Imperfection of Them.

If the Representation now made of Providence serve (as I hope it may,) to resolve some scruples about it; I know you will not think it useless to Religion. And though I should miss of my aim in it, yet since I do not dogmatize in what I propose about it, but freely submit my thoughts to better Judgments; I hope my well meant Endeavours will be, as well as the unsuccessful ones of abler Pens have been, excus'd by the scarce superable difficulty of the Subject. However, what I have propos'd about Providence, being written, rather to do a service to Theology, than as necessary to justifie a dissatisfaction with the Receiv'd Notion of Nature, that was grounded mainly upon Philosophical Objections; I hope our Free Enquiry may, though this Second Use of it should be quite laid aside, be thought not unserviceable to Religion, since the First Use of it, (above deliver'd) does not depend on my Notions about Providence, no more than the Third, which my Prolixity about the former makes it fit I should in few words dispatch.

III. The last then, but not the least, service, I hope our Doctrine may do Religion, is, that it may induce Men to pay their Admiration, their Praises, and their Thanks, directly to God Himself; who is the True and Only Creator of the Sun, Moon, Earth, and those other Creatures that Men are wont to call the Works of Nature. And in this way of expressing their Veneration of the True God, (who, in the Holy Scripture styles Himself a Iealous God, Exod. xx. 5.) and their gratitude to Him, they are warranted by the Examples of the ancient People of God, the Israelites, and not only by the Inspir'd Persons of the Old Testament, but by the Promulgators of the New Testament, and even by the Coelestial Spirits; who, in the last Book of It, are introduc'd,Rev. iv. 2. Praising and Thanking God himself for His Mundane Works, without taking any notice of His pretended Vice-gerent, Nature.

THE CONCLUSION.

AND now, dear Eleutherius, you have the whole Bundle of those Papers that I found and tack'd together, (for they are not all that I have written) touching my Free Enquiry into the Receiv'd Notion of Nature: At the Close of which Essay, I must crave leave to represent two or three things about It.

1. Since this Treatise pretends to be but an Enquiry, I hope that any Discourses or Expressions that you may have found Dogmatically deliver'd, about Questions of great moment or difficulty, will be interpretated with congruity to the Title and avow'd Scope of this Treatise; and that so favourable a Reader, as Eleutherius, will consider, that 'twas very difficult in the heat of Discourse, never to forget the Reserves, that the Title might suggest, especially since, on divers occasions, I could not have spoken, with those Reserves, without much enervating my Discourse, and being, by Restrictions and other cautious Expressions, tedious or troublesome to you. But this, as I lately intimated, is to be understood of Things of great moment or difficulty. For otherwise, there are divers Notions, Suppositions, and Explanations, in the Vulgarly Receiv'd Doctrine of Nature, and Her Phaenomena; which I take to be either so precarious, or so unintelligible, or so incongruous, or so insufficient, that I scruple not to own, that I am dissatisfied with them, and reject them.

2. Though, upon a transient view of these Papers, I find that several Parcels, that came first into my hands, having been laid and fasten'd together, (to keep them from being lost, as others had already been) before the others were lighted on, some of them will not be met with in Places that are not the most proper for them; yet Haste and Sickness made me rather venture on your good Nature, for the Pardon of a venial Fault, than put myself to the trouble of altering the Order of these Papers, and substituting new Transitions and Connections, in the room of those, with which I formerly made up the Chasms and Incoherency of the Tract, you now receive. And if the Notions and Reasonings be themselves solid, they will not need the Assistence of an exact Method to obtain the Assent of so discerning a Reader, as they are presented to: Upon the score of whose Benignity, 'tis hop'd, that the former Advertisement may likewise pass for an Excuse, if the same things, for substance, be found more than once in a Tract written at very distant Times, and in differing Circumstances. For, besides that such seeming Repetitions will not (if I be not mistaken) frequently occur, and will, for the most part, be found, by being variously express'd, to elucidate or strengthen the Thought or Argument, they belong to: And besides, that the Novelty and Difficulty of some Points may have made it needful, not only to display, but to inculcate them; besides these things, (I say) 'tis very possible that the same Notion may serve to explicate or prove several Truths; and therefore may, without Impertinency, be made use of in more than one Part of our Treatise. And if our Enquiry shall be thought worthy to be Transcrib'd, and presented to you a second time, after I shall have review'd it, and heard Objections against it, and consider'd the Things, that either you, or I myself, may find fault with in it; 'tis very possible, that (if God grant me Life and Leisure,) this Tract, which, in its present Dress, I desire you would look on but as an Apparatus (towards a more full and orderly Treatise,) may appear before you in a less unaccurate Method: And that my Second Thoughts may prove more Correct, more Mature, or better Back'd and fortifi'd, than my First.

3. The Subject of my Enquiry being of great Extent, as well as Consequence, it oblig'd me to consider, and treat of many Things, (as Philosophical, Medical, Theological, &c.) and, among them, of divers that are not at all of easie Speculation. And I found it the more difficult to handle them well, because the Attempt I have ventur'd upon being new, and to be prosecuted by Discourse, many of them opposite to the general Sentiments of Mankind, I was not to expect much Assistence from any thing, but Truth and Reason. And therefore, as I cannot presume not to need your Indulgence, so I cannot despair of obtaining it, if in this my first Essay, upon a variety of difficult Points, I have not always hit the Mark, and as happily found the Truth as sincerely sought it. But if you shall (which 'tis very probable you will) find that I have fallen into some Errors, 'twill be but one Trouble for you, to make me discern them, and forsake them, (especially any, wherein Religion may be concern'd) which I have, by way of Praevision, made it the more easie for myself to do; because (if my Style have not wrong'd my Intentions,) I have written this Discourse, rather like a doubting Seeker of Truth, than a Man confident that he has found It.

FINIS.