speculative habits and fits and moulds and accommodates a man to a conformity to the End of his being And these be the Reasons that have especially put me upon the search and enquiry into this Subject MAN I am not without excellent helps and patterns in this Inquiry nor without the due fruits and effects that it hath had upon the Minds of them that have been exercised in it Galen though he spoke darkly and doubtfully of the Soul being destitute of much of that light which we now have yet upon the bare contemplation of the structure of the Body and the parts thereof in that excellent Book of his De Usu Partium resolves the whole Oeconomy thereof into the Power Wisdom Goodness and Efficiency of the Glorious God and is transported both with the admiration of the Divine Wisdom appearing therein and with indignation against the perversness and stupidity of Epicurus and his disciples which would attribute this one Phaenomenon to Chance And had he or should any else apply himself to the search of that Intellectual Principle in Man his Soul he will find a greater evidence of the Divine Wisdom Goodness and Power as will easily appear in a little consideration thereof CAP. II. Touching the Excellency of the Humane Nature in general ALthough I intend a more distinct Consideration of the Humane Nature and the Faculties of the Humane Soul and the Parts of the Humane Body yet it may be necessary before we come to the discussion of the origination of Mankind to premise something concerning the Nature of Mankind and its preheminence and excellence above all other sublunary Creatures that we may have a little tast touching that Being whose origination we inquire This Consideration will be of use to us in the enquiry touching the origination of Man to evidence that neither Chance nor surd or inanimate Nature could be the Efficient of such a Being but a most Wise Powerful and Excellent Author thereof I shall not at large discuss those Faculties and Organs which he hath in common with Vegetables and Brutes but those only that belong to him specifically as Man and those also but briefly The Corporeal Beings of this lower World are divided into these two ranks or kinds such as are Inanimate or not living and such as are Animate or living Life according to Aristotle in 1. De Anima cap. 1. is described by its effects viz. Nutritio auctio diminutio quae per seipsum fit and the lowest rank of such things as have life are Vegetables for though Minerals have a kind of analogical nutrition and augmentation yet it is such as ordinarily non fit per seipsa but rather by accession and digestion from external Principles and coagmentation The Principle from whence this Life flows in all Corporeal Natures that have it is that which they call Anima or at least vis Animastica The Faculties or Operations of this Anima vegetabilis are these 1. Attractio alimenti 2. Fermentatio assimilatio nutrimenti sic attracti in succum sibi congenerem 3. Digestio vel dispersio alimenti sic assimilati in diversas partes individui vegetabilis 4. Augmentatio individui vegetabilis ex unione consolidatione succi vegetabilis diversis partibus individui 5. Conformatio hujusmodi particularum unitarum specificae naturae ejusdem individui cujus est augmentatio ut in trunco ramis cortice fibris foliis fructu c. 6. Seminificatio propagatio ex semine vel partibus seminalibus 1. Attraction of aliment 2. Fermentation and assimilation of the nourishment so attracted into a juice of the same kind with it self 3. Digestion or dispersion of the aliment so assimilated into the divers parts of the vegetable individual 4. Augmentation of the vegetable individual from the union and consolidation of the vegetable juice to the divers parts of the individual 5. The conformation of these united particles to the specifical nature of the same Individual which is augmentation as in the trunk of a Tree the bark fibres leaves and fruit 6. Seminification and propagation from the seed or seminal parts These seem to be the process of the Vegetable Nature Soul and Life 2. The next rank of living Creatures is that which hath not only a vegetable life and a vegetable principle of life but hath also superadded a life of sense and a sensitive Soul or Principle of that life of Sense which nevertheless as one specifical Principle exerts the acts as well of the vegetable as sensitive life And this nature 1. Includes all those powers and faculties of the Vegetable Nature as Attraction Assimilation Digestion Augmentation Conformation and Propagation or Seminification 2. It includes them in a far more curious elegant and perfect manner at least in the more perfect Animals As for instance the first assimilation of the attracted nourishment in Vegetables converts it into a watry humor or juice but the assimilation thereof in Animals rectifies this alimental juice into Chyle and then into Blood The propagation of Vegetables is without distinction of Sexes but that of Animals usually with distinction of Sexes and many more such advances hath the animal nature above the vegetable in those faculties or operations which for the main are common to both 3. It superadds a greater and higher perfection to the animal nature by communicating to it certain essential Faculties and Powers that the vegetable nature hath not And those are these 1. Sense It is true that Campanella in his Book De Senfu rerum and some others that have written de Perceptione substantiae attribute a kind of Sense to all created Beings and therefore much more to those that have a vegetable life And in some Vegetables we see something that carries a kind of analogy to Sense they contract their leaves against the cold they open them to the favourable heat they provide teguments for themselves and their seeds against the injury of the weather as their cortices shells and membranes they seem to be carried with a complacency in the propagation of their kinds as well as Brutes and therefore many of them being impeded therein they germinate again though later in the year And some Plants seem to have the sense of Touch as in the Sensitive Plant and some others which seems to be an advance of the Vegetable Nature to the very confines or a kind of contiguity to the lowest degree of those Animals that are reckoned in the rank of Sensibles But this notwithstanding we deny a real and true sense to Vegetables indeed they have a kind of umbra Sensus a shadow of Sense as we shall hereafter observe that Sensibles have a kind of umbra Rationis a shadow of Reason but it is only a shadow thereof 2. There are also in their natures by the wise God of Nature implanted even in their vegetable natures certain passive Strictures or Signatures of that Wisdom which hath made and ordered all things with the highest reason even
MATHE HALE Miles Capitalis Iustic de Banco Regis Ano 1677 For W. Shrowsbery at The Sign of The Bible In Duck Lane F. H. van Hâ—ue Sculp THE Primitive Origination OF MANKIND CONSIDERED AND EXAMINED According to The Light of Nature WRITTEN By the Honourable Sir MATTHEW HALE KNIGHT Late CHIEF JUSTICE of His MAJESTIES Court of KING'S BENCH LONDON Printed by WILLIAM GODBID for WILLIAM SHROWSBERY at the Sign of the Bible in Duke-Lane MDCLXXVII TO THE READER THE subject Matter of this Book is a free Disquisition according to the Light of Nature and Natural Reason touching the Primitive Origination of Mankind consisting principally of these Parts and Assertions I. That according to the Light of Nature and Natural Reason the Mundus aspectabilis was not Eternal but had a Beginning II. That if there could be any imaginable doubt thereof yet by the necessary Evidence of Natural Light it doth appear that Mankind had a beginning and that the successive Generations of Men were in their Original Ex non genitis III. That this Truth is evident by Reason and Arguments demonstrative or at least little less than apodeictical IV. That there are Moral Evidences of the truth of this Assertion which are herein particularly expended and examined and how far forth they are concludent and how far not which I have impartially delivered V. That those great Philosophers that asserted this Origination of Mankind Ex non genitis both ancient and modern that rendred it by Hypotheses different from that of Moses were mistaken Wherein the several Hypotheses of Aristotle Plato Empedocles Epicurus Avicen Cardanus Cisalpinus Beregardus and others are examined and the absurdity and impossibility thereof detected VI. That the Mosaical System as well of the Creation of Man as of the World in general abstractively considered without relation to the Divine Inspiration of the Writer is highly consonant to Reason and upon a bare rational account highly preferrible before the Sentiments of those Philosphers that either thought Mankind Eternal or substituted Hypotheses of his first Production different from the Mosaical VII I have concluded the whole with certain Corollaries and Deductions necessarily flowing from the things thus asserted as well touching the Existence the Wisdom Power Providence of Almighty God as touching both the Duty and Happiness of Mankind Though this may seem a laborious Work to little purpose since the generality of Christians among whom I write do generally believe this Truth of the Origination of the World and Mankind as it is delivered in the Holy Scriptures and thus to write in proof of a Truth generally received doth rather create Doubts in Mens Minds of what they already believe than any way advantage or confirm their belief I Answer 1. That for my part I think Atheism so unreasonable a thing so abhorrent to the Light of Nature and Sentiments of Conscience that I cannot think there is so much speculative Atheism abroad in the World as many good Men fear and suspect But if there be but one quarter of that Atheism in the World I do not know any better Cure of it or Preservative against it next to the Grace of God than the due Consideration of the Origination of Mankind 2. Again though the Creation of Man be generally acknowledged by Jews and Christians yet we must likewise consider that many take it up only as a part of their Education and not upon any serious deep Conviction of the truth of it and had such Men but an Education in such a Place or Country where it is not believed or where it is doubted they would be at least sceptical and doubtful in the belief of it 3. The best of Men and soundest believers of Divine Revelations may be better confirmed by the accession and suffrage even of Natural Evidences of the Verities they already believe but howsoever it better enables them to convince such Gainsayers as will be governed in their Judgments by no other Light than the Light of Nature and Reason and many such there may be met withal in the World And upon that account my whole Discourse is bottomed upon Natural and Moral Evidences suited to these Mens Principles or Motives by which they are guided and governed yea when I make use of the Sacred and Infallible Scriptures I do use them abstractively from their Divine and Infallible Authority and only as Moral Evidences of the Truth I assert for any Man may easily foresee that an Atheistical Spirit that denies or questions the truth of the Fact therein delivered will not be convinced by the Infallibility of that Scripture which delivers that for a Truth which he denies or questions This whole Book as thou now seest it was written by me some Years since and hath lain ever since in my Chest and surely therein should have lain still but only for Three Reasons 1. Because that some Writings of mine have without my privity come abroad in Print which I never intended and this might have had the same fate if not in my Life time yet after my Death 2. Because possibly there hath some more care been used by me in the Digesting and Writing hereof than of some others that have gone abroad in publick 3. That although I could never be brought to value the Writings of mine that are published as worthy of the publick view yet I find them well accepted by many which encouraged me to let this Book come abroad under my own Name wherein I used more care than in those lesser Tractates although I have not yet confidence enough to say that this may deserve any great acceptation though there be many things in it which may not please yet I do think there be many things useful and such as will not displease Judicious Readers If there be any Faults or Mistakes in Quotations in Syntax in Translations in Transcriptions or if there by any Errours as possibly there may be in my Deductives Inferences or Applications or if the Language be in some places either improper or obscure or if the Expressions or Words which we sometimes use be not so full so significant or proper or delivered from Amphibologies yet I must desire the Reader to take this Apology for it 1. It was written at leisure and broken times and with great intervals and many times hastily as my busie and important Employment of another nature known to the World would give me leave which must needs make such Breaks and Chasms and Incoherences that possibly a continued uninterrupted series of writing would have prevented and carried on the Discourse with a more equal Thred 2. A long indisposition of Health hath much hindred and interrupted me in a strict revising and amending of what possibly might have been requisite to be done 3. A Man whose scope and intent and drift is at some one thing and hath his Eye and Design fixed upon it many times is not so solicitous nor so curious nor so exact in the choice of
his Words especially in Expressions of collateral things not being the principal Subject of the Discourse which though they may lye in his way yet are not much under his strict advertence but he thinks it is enough if he dresseth his Discourse so that it tend to what it principally aims and drives at And hence it is that in Chronological Computations which I sometimes make use of I content my self with a more lax and common Computation without any great curiosity or exactness because it equally serves my purpose as if my Computations were more critical and exact even usque ad minutias Chronologicas and so in some other mentions of Names and Times of Authors and the like and likewise in the choice of Words or Expressions wherein possibly I may sometimes be too lax and free using such as come next into my Mind without a curious or critical choice which is more excusable in a Discourse of this nature than in some Polemical and Controversial Discourses of other natures where Men usually catch at Words and Expressions and it is the greatest part of their Business 4. I must also desire my Readers pardon in that in my Transcripts of some entire Texts out of Aristotle Plato Plutarch and others I use the Latin Translation and not the Original Greek wherein the Authors wrote I was a better Grecian in the 16 th than in the 66 th Year of my Life and my application to another Study and Profession rendred my skill in that Language of little use to me and so I wore it out by degrees And thus thou hast this Book presented to thy view I wish thee as much Contentment in Reading as I had in Writing it If there be any thing therein that may be useful to thee as I suppose there may be there is matter for my Contentment and thy Benefit if all be not answerable thereunto and to thy expectation the former Considerations give thee reasonable Motives of Charity to excuse it The Contents SECT I. CAP. I. THE Introduction declaring the Reason of the Choice of this Subject and the Method of the intended Discourse CAP. II. Touching the Excellency of the Humane Nature in General CAP. III. A brief Consideration of the Hypotheses that concern the Eternity of the World CAP. IV. Concerning the Origination of Mankind and whether the same were Eternal or had a Beginning CAP. V. Concerning the Supposition of the first Eternal Existence of the common Parents of Mankind and the production of the succeeding Individuals from them CAP. VI. Certain Objections against the Truths formerly delivered and against the Reasons given in proof thereof with their Solutions SECT II. CAP. I. The Proofs of Fact that seem with the greatest Moral Evidence to evince the Inception of Mankind and first touching the Antiquity or Novity of History CAP. II. Concerning the first Evidence the Antiquity of History and the Chronological Account of Times CAP. III. The Second Evidence of Fact namely the apparent Evidences of the first Foundation of the Greatest and Ancient Kingdoms and Empires CAP. IV. The Third Instance of Fact proving the Origination of Mankind namely the Invention of Arts. CAP. V. The Fourth Instance of Fact seeming to evince the Novity of Mankind namely the Inceptions of the Religions and Deities of the Heathens and the deficiency of this Instance CAP. VI. A Fifth Consideration concerning the Decays especially of the Humane Nature and whether there be any such Decays and what may be collected concerning the Origination of Man upon that Supposition CAP. VII The Sixth Evidence of Fact proving Novitatem generis humani namely the History of the Patres familiarum and the original Plantation of the Continents and Islands of the World CAP. VIII The Seventh Evidence of Fact proving the Origination of Man namely the Gradual Increase of Mankind CAP. IX Concerning those Correctives of the Evils of Mankind which may be thought to be sufficient to reduce it to a greater Equability CAP. X. The farther Examination of the precedent Objection CAP. XI The Consequence and Illation upon the premisses against the Eternity of Mankind CAP. XII The Eighth Evidence of Fact proving the Origination of Mankind namely the Consent of Mankind SECT III. CAP. I. The Opinions of the more Learned part of Mankind Philosphers and other Writers touching Man's Origination CAP. II. Touching the various Methods of the Origination of Mankind CAP. III. Touching the Second Opinion of those that assert the Natural Production of Mankind ex non genitis or the possibility thereof CAP. IV. Concerning Vegetables and especially Insecta Animalia whether any of them are sponte orta or arise not rather ex praeexistente semine CAP. V. If it be supposed that any of those Insects at this day have their Original ex non genitis or spontaneè whether yet the same may be said a Natural or Fortuitous Production CAP. VI. Supposing the Production of Insects were totally spontaneous equivocal and ex putrido whether any Consequence be thence deducible for the like Production of Perfect Animals but especially of Men. CAP. VII Touching the Matter of Fact it self whether de facto there hath been any such Origination of Mankind or of any Perfect Animal either Natural or Casual SECT IV. CAP. I. Concerning the last Opinion attributing the Origination of Mankind to the immediate Power and Will of Almighty God CAP. II. The Mosaical History touching the Production of the World and of Mankind and the Congruity and Reasonableness of the Mosaical Hypothesis CAP. III. Concerning the Production and Formation of Man CAP. IV. The Reasonableness of this Hypothesis of the Origination of the World and particularly of the Humane Nature and the great Advantages it hath above all other Hypotheses touching the same CAP. V. Concerning the Nature of that Intelligent Agent that first formed the Humane Nature and some Objections against the Inferences above made and their Answer CAP. VI. The Reasonableness of the Divine Hypothesis touching the Origination of the World and particularly of Man and the preference thereof before all the other precedent Suppositions CAP. VII A Collection of certain evident and profitable Consequences from this Consideration that the first Individuals of Humane Nature had their Original from a Great Powerful Wise Intelligent Being CAP. VIII A farther Enquiry touching the End of the Formation of Man so far as the same may be collected by Natural Light and Ratiocination DE HOMINE CAP. I. The Introduction declaring the reason of the choice of this Subject and the Method of the intended Discourse IT is an admirable evidence of the Divine Wisdom and Providence that there is that sutable accommodation and adaptation of all things in Nature both to their own convenience and exigence and to the convenience use and exigence of one another which evidenceth 1. That all things are made governed and disposed by a most intelligent and wise and powerful Being 2. That that governing Being is but one and that all this
whom Bochart upon very probable reasons supposeth to be Gedeon called Jerubbaal and having set up an Ephod in his City might be supposed a Priest and from the intercourse between them the Idol Baal-berith was brought from Berith the City of Sancuniathon into Judea Touching the Egyptians they pretended to the greatest antiquity both of Government and Learning the latter they principally derived from Hermes stiled by some Mercurius Trismegistus and by the Egyptians Thoth the Phenicians made claim to this man as theirs attributed to him the Invention of Letters of Navigation of the Virtues of Herbs Euseb lib. 1. Praeparat sect 10. de Phoenicum Theologia he is supposed more ancient than Moses but we have nothing authentick existing which he wrote The ancientest Historian of the Affairs of Egypt was Manethes the Egyptian Priest who lived about or as some think before the time of Alexander he carries up the Res Aegyptiacas to an excessive Antiquity and yet with great particularity and pretended certainty some account him fabulous because he carries up the Egyptian Dynasties before the Flood yea and long before the Creation others assert the probability of the Egyptian Dynasties to over-reach the universal Flood but salve that prodigious excess of their numerous Years by reducing them to Months or Anni Lunares which were anciently so accounted among the Egyptians The Egyptians have had other Writers of their Histories but of a later date as Ptolemeus Mendesius mentioned sometimes by Eusebius and those Arabick Historians mentioned by Kircher in that Book that delivers the History of the succession of their Dynasties Lastly I come to the Jewish History begun by Moses and continued down in a clear succession and series of times till their return from the Babylonish Captivity and this History hath a just prelation above all the Writings of other Historians in these ensuing respects 1. It hath the greatest and most particular certainty and far beyond any of the Historians before mentioned it contains the certain Periods of Times Names Men Places Actions and all Circumstances requirable in a History to inform it is not involved in Mystical expressions or Mythologies but is plain familiar and intelligible 2. It hath the greatest evidence of Truth that can be expected by a reasonable man namely Evidence from it self the particularity and circumstances of the things it relates Evidence from the ancientest Heathen Authors especially Sancuniathon Berosus and Abydenus before mentioned Evidence from the several parts thereof the Book of one Age bearing witness to another as the Books of Joshua to those of Moses the Books of Kings to those of Moses and Joshua though written in several Ages Evidentia rei or facti there cannot be greater Evidence than the Regiment of a People for so many Ages according to the Laws given and recorded by their first Historian Moses and the enjoyment of their Possessions according to the distribution of their next Historian Joshua 3. It is no broken Piece or Historical Fragment but it is carried down from the beginning of Time to all the ensuing Ages of the Jewish State without any chasma or interval 4. It hath the evidence of the highest credibility that any thing of that nature is capable of That the Books of Moses especially which are the Caput Historiae Judaicae were written by that Man Moses and that he lived in that Age wherein he is supposed to write 1. The constant uninterrupted Tradition of that Kingdom and Nation from it first coalition even to this day 2. The attestation of all the succeding Writers of that Historical Series of the Jewish Affairs 3. The inviolable Observation of those Laws given by Moses and recorded in that History as of the Laws given by him 4. The Suffrage of all Heathen Authors both modern and ancient that have occasion to mention the concerns of that People 5. It is a History that contains matters of far greater moment and antiquity than any other Writers but such as in probability made their Collections out of it namely of the Transactions from the first Creation of the World until the Universal Flood and from thence to the time of him that first wrote it namely Moses 6. It is a History that was really written by Moses who was far more ancient than all the Heathen Writers above mentioned excepting only Trismegistus of whose Writings we have nothing extant and more ancient than most of those Things or Notes recorded by those most ancient Heathen Writers which for the most part filled their Books He wrote 540 years before Homer 200 years before Sancuniathon according to Bochart's account 300 years before the Expedition of the Argonauts 350 years before the Trojan War and a considerable time before the Apotheoses or Inaugurations of many of the Heathenish Deities So that as the Matter of his History so the Time of his writing is far more ancient than the writing of the most ancient Heathen Historians that are at all extent Much of this I shall have occasion to resume and enlarge in the ensuing Chapters yet this was necessary in this place The Inference that is made from hence is That probably if the World of Mankind had been Eternal or if it had any such vast distance from its Beginning as some suppose we should have had Historical Monuments and Writings long before the Age of Moses But for all this I must needs say this Consideration singly I say singly taken and weighed maketh not much against an eternal or at least a vaster Epocha of the first Origination of Man than is ordinarily supposed I shall therefore set down those allays that make against the strength of the consequence drawn from this Topick 1. It is evident that the use of Letters and Writing were far more ancient than the time of Moses the Egyptians and Phenicians carry up the original of the invention thereof to Mercurius Trismegistus which is supposed long before Moses And although Cadmus is supposed to have brought the use of Letters out of Phoenicia into Greece some time after the Age of Moses according to Polydore Virgil lib. 1. cap. 6. out of Pliny Herodotus and others yet it appears by what is before mentioned that there were in Phoenicia very ancient written Volumes called Volumina Ammonaeorum long before the time of Sancuniathon And if we believe the Tradition of Josephus the Pillars of Seth were extant in his time and according to Tertullian some Fragments of the Writings of Enoch were traditionally extant in his time But howsoever Moses if he be the Author of the History of Job whom some think to be contemporary at least with Jacob mentions Books and Writings to have been common things in the time of Job Job 19.23 Josephus lib. 1. cap. 3. Tertull. de Habitu Mulierum 2. Surely if Writing were so ancient it is probable that many Histories might be before the time of Moses which were lost in succession of time as it must be agreed that most of
those ancient Monuments that in the granted Period of the World were extant before Moses time are since lost and many millions of Books that have been written since Moses time have by the injury of Time and Men been lost much more those Books which were written antecedent to Moses time And the truth is the preservation of the Books of Moses entire unto this day when so many of a far later date are lost is to be attributed to the special Providence of Almighty God 2. Again they that assign the shortest time between the Origination of Mankind and the Writings of Moses allow it to be somewhat above 2460 years So that although Moses were admitted the first Historian that ever wrote it would very near as strongly conclude against the antiquity of 2460 years before his writing as against an eternal existence of Mankind if it should be an Argument against the latter it would be such also against the former 3. Considering the many mutations and casualties of Wars Transmigrations especially that of the General Flood there might probably be an obliteration of all those Monuments of Antiquity that immense Ages precedent at some time have yielded Cecrops was contemporary with Moses and Belus and Ninus were before him yet we have no Monuments extant of the Assyrians so ancient as Belus or of the Athenians so ancient as Cecrops but such as are Traditions and written long after their times So that although I have mentioned this concerning the known Periods of Historical Writers yet I think we are to be careful not to lay too great a stress singly on it and it is the least of all that follow in weight or evidence And yet this was fit to be mentioned because it is necessary for the more clear discovery and application of that which follows CAP. III. The second Evidences of Fact namely the apparent Evidences of the first Foundation of the greatest and ancient Kingdoms and Empires I Come to my Second Evidence of Fact which is the subject Matter of Histories and principally concerning the Evidence arising from them of the first Original of the most considerable Monarchies in the World Touching the great Monarchies of the World their Original is so well known and delivered down to us from Authors of unquestionable truth that there need little be said touching them for they have their confessed Epochae within certain and known Periods As the beginning of the Roman Monarchy under Romulus which gives the Epocha Urbis conditae in the 7 th Olympiad the beginning of the Grecian Monarchy which hath its Epocha in Alexander about the 111 th Olympiad the beginning of the Persian Monarchy which had its Epocha in Cyrus about the 55 th Olympiad though the same were not established in the beginning of Cyrus but completed in Cambyses his Son about the 62 d Olympiad And the like might be observed concerning several smaller Kingdoms whose originals are delivered over to us in Histories And although it is true that these Beginnings of these several Monarchies and Kingdoms do not so begin as if those Men that founded these Monarchies were the natural Fathers of all those Persons that did coalescere in Regnum vel Monarchiam or as if those Monarchies were derived from the Heads or Roots that gave them this denomination as all Men are derived from the common Parent of Mankind or as possibly some other of the ancient Monarchies which we shall have occasion hereafter to mention were derived For many times the beginning of Monarchies and Kingdoms was by the coalition of many Persons it may be of several Nations into an Army as they did under Cyrus or into a City as they did under Romulus or by transmigration of Persons from one Countrey to another as the Israelites did And therefore we are not to take it that these Originations of Monarchies were the Origination of all the People that were joyned in it for they had their existence oftentimes before and took their denomination from the Dux Exercitùs or the Rector Civitatis under which they were as it were listed in their Civil or Military coalition And therefore the Argument is not thus necessarily that the Roman Monarchy or the Grecian Monarchy had not its beginning before such a time therefore those Men that were the constituent parts thereof had no existence before that time but that the Civil Society under the Prince Rector or form of Government then began to be formally such in such a special Constitution But those Monarchies that pretend to the greatest Antiquity are principally 1. The Assyrian or Babylonian Monarchy 2. The Egyptians and their Dynasties 3. The Grecians 4. The Chineses These I shall examin in order 1. Touching the Assyrian or Babylonian Monarchy we do with the best authority both of Sacred and Prophane Writers suppose 1. That it had its beginning since the Universal Deluge from Ham the youngest Son of Noah 2. That the Reasons and Authorities against that Supposition are not of weight enough to evince the contrary Before I come to my Reasons for this Assertion something I shall premise touching the Assyrian Empire and how it stood in relation to that of the Babylonian It seems that Babylon was at first the Seat of the Assyrian Empire the building whereof some attribute to Belus some to Ninus his Son some to Semiramis his Wife and some to others but afterwards the Caput Imperti of the Assyrians was Ninive built upon the River Tigris It also seems that in process of time the Assyrians either new built or repaired Babylon that had lain long neglected and the same was peopled with those People on the South of Assyria called Caldeans That which gives me light of it and indeed of the whole History of the Babylonian Monarchy is Isaiah 23.13 Behold the land of the Caldeans this people was not till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness They set up the towers thereof they raised up the palaces thereof It seems therefore that Babylon formerly neglected by this favour of the King of Assyria prospered into a petty Kingdom and growing powerful did set up for themselves in the time of Ahaz the King of Judah who was contemporary with Tiglah Pileser 2 Kings 16.10 And possibly the first divided King of Babylon was that Nabonassar that gave the original of the Aera Nabonassaris that began about the beginning of King Ahaz in the beginning of the 8 th Olympiad about four years after the Building of Rome It seems that either the same Tiglah Pileser or his next Successor Salmanassar King of Assyria that carried away the People of Israel in the ninth year of Hoseah about four years after the death of Ahaz 2 Kings 17.6 did afterwards re-take Babylon for certainly he was possessed of it at or shortly after the deportation of Israel for he brought Men from Babylon from Cutha from Ava Hamath and Sepharvaim to put into Samaria 2 Kings 17.24 It seems that most
before they were born and many other Historians for a much longer time and we give them credit and certainly such an Occurrence of such remark as the Universal Flood and the Re-peopling of the World must needs be fresh in memory for such a Period of about 800 Years especially considering that the Peopling of the World was a gradual and successive business that must needs preserve its Memory even upon its own account for it was still current and many were concerned in it in the preservation of the laying the first Foundations of their States and Republicks 3. As the Period or distance of time was not great so if we consider the longevity of Mens Lives in those times the Period was not much longer than three Generations and so the Tradition of things might be preserved fresh and certain unto the time of Moses without any great difficulty For Shem that was an Eye-witness of the Flood was contemporary with Abraham Abraham was contemporary with Jacob Cohath the Son of Levi was contemporary with Jacob and with Amram the Father of Moses and Son of Cohath So that the Tradition of the Flood and all that succeeded might be handed from Shem to Abraham from Abraham to Jacob from Jacob to Cohath from him to Amram and from him to Moses 4. Besides all this without any more Hands in the delivery of it over it appears that Abraham Isaac Jacob were great Men had great Families and Wealth were Men of great Note and Observation for their Learning and Knowledge Men that had great Expectations having a Promise of that Land to be given to their Posterity and although they kept Sheep and Cattel according to the custom of those Eastern Countries yet they were great Princes and Men of excellent Education doubtless Abraham instructed his Son in all the Knowledge that he had received by Tradition from his Ancestors the like did Isaac and after him Jacob. And therefore it might very reasonably be thought that the Traditions of former things were kept fresh and pure in this Line of Men. And though we have no Writings extant ancienter than Moses yet probably in his time there might be Books or at least Monuments and Inscriptions of things done before his time which might preserve the Memory of things past as well as our Books do now For it is not to be doubted but Writing was much ancienter than Moses his time Job speaks of Writing as a thing in use in his time Job 19.23 24. and Josephus tells us of certain Pillars erected by Seth wherein the Monuments of Learning and History were preserved Joseph l. 1. Antiquitat cap. 2. and Moses mentions Books written by others either before or in his time I very well know that Moses had a greater means to know all those things that to a Jew or a Christian are of greater weight than all these namely the Infallible Conduct Revelation and Inspiration of the Divine Spirit But the truth is we are faln into an Age of many Christians in Name and Profession that yet think it below them to believe upon that account without some farther Evidence that may satisfie their Reason I have therefore subjoyned these and the following Considerations to make it appear That upon the bare account of Moral Evidence more is to be said for the truth of the History of Moses than may be said for the truth of any other History of things transacted before the life of the Historiographer 2. Again we usually allow such an Historian to be worthy of belief even in those things whereof we have no other Evidence than the Credit of the Historian if we find many things delivered by him to have so great an Evidence of Truth that they cannot well be doubted by any reasonable Man I will admit that Moses delivers many things that were antecedent to him and can have now no other Evidence than the Credit Prudence and Fidelity of the Historian himself as touching the Derivation of the Nations of the Earth from the several Sons of Noah and though possibly when he wrote there was a vigorous and authentical Tradition or other authentick Evidence of the Truth of them which it may be is now so lost that we have no other Evidence thereof but the bare Relation of Moses this I do for the present admit though in the sequel it will appear that there are other concurrent or collateral Evidences that assert and attest it yet it is plain that the same Moses writes many things that have so undoubted and so solid a Tradition asserting it that no Man can doubt it that will not first deny his own Reason As for instance Can there be any doubt but that the Family of the Israelites were derived from Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the 12 Patriarchs that they were brought out of Egypt under the Conduct of Moses that they lived in the Wilderness forty Years and were there miraculously fed by Quails and Manna since this was written in that very Time and Age that could and would have contradicted it if false Can there be any doubt but the History of his making the Ark and the Tabernacle were true since both continued for many hundred Years after Can there be any doubt of the History of the Fiery Serpents and the Cure of their Biting by the Brazen Serpent which continued in the Wilderness until the time of Hezekiah which was many hundred Years after with an unquestionable Tradition of the reason of its Making Can there be any doubt whether he divided the Land of Canaan in such manner as is set down in his life time namely to the two Tribes and a half on the farther side of Jordan and his Prescripts for the future dividing of the rest since it was enjoyed according to those Prescripts for many hundreds of Years after and part of it until the coming of Christ Can there be any doubt that he gave those Laws Moral Judicial and Ceremonial recorded by him since those very Laws have been for the space of near two thousand Years the very Rule and Model by which the Sacred and Civil Concerns of that People were always ruled and governed and that in contemplation of the same Law that was given by the Hand of Moses and so recorded in his Books of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy I say we have not greater Evidence that there was such a Man as Alfred Edward the Confessor or William the Conqueror or that there were such Laws of the Confessor such a Survey of England called Doomsday made by William the Conqueror such an Abbey founded by him in Memory of his Victory in Sussex called Abbatia de Bello such Laws made by H. 1. as are transcribed in the Red Book of the Exchequer under that name such a Charter of King John made at Reningmead or such a Charter as Magna Charta made by King H. 3. than we have that there were such Laws such Distributions of the Land of Canaan and such
exhaust the numbers of Men than Woman Therefore we will allow to Productions of five Couples about 16 Males and 14 Females which though not exactly answering either of those proportions yet comes near to them namely 16 Males to 14 Females And because partly through the weakness of Infancy and those Diseases that happen to Youth either by reason of intemperance indiscretion want of of care and the ebullition and fermentation of Blood more dye before 20 Years than between that age and 50 we will suppose of those six Procreations only two attain to the state of future Nuptials and procreation of succeeding Generations therefore we will allott only two of these six to attain to the state of Men and Women and consequently in an ordinary course of Nature live to the common age of Mankind And although the common age of Mankind when they are passed the danger of Childhood and Youth is 70 Years yet because I would have my Supposition as easie and general as may be I shall allow 60 to be that ordinary Age abating great Casualties and Epidemical Diseases And upon this account we may justly suppose these things 1. That these two Children may be coexisting with their Parents for near 30 Years for if the eldest be born at 27 Years of the age of the Father and the other at 30 Years of his age and live till the Father be 60 Years old the youngest is 30 Years old at the extremity of his Father's age which we suppose 60 Years and 2. These two Children by Intermarriage may have likewise two three or more Children by that time the Father attains 60 Years So that in the compass of about 34 Years the number of two namely the Father and Mother is increased to the number of eight namely the Father and Mother their two Children and four Grand-children so that in 34 Years they become increased in a quadruple proportion and all coexisting and although by that time we suppose the Father and Mother dye yet in the like Period of thirty four by a Geometrical Proportion their Increase is multiplied proportionnable to the Excess of their number above Two But if we shall suppose that the Technogonia began sooner as at 17 or 18 Years and continued longer viz. until 65 and that the Ages of Mens Lives were protracted generally to 70 Years the Increase would be very much greater And upon this account it is that considering the long Lives of the Ancients shortly after the Flood and the long continuance of their strength of Procreation Petavius in his 9 th Book De doctrina Temporum cap. 14. and before him Temporarius in his Chronology gives us a plain Demonstration That within the compass of 215 Years after the Flood the Sons of Noah and their Descendents might without a Miracle increase to prodigious and incredible multitudes The number of coexisting Individuals is by one of these Authors with very clear evidence computed to 1219133512 descended from one of the Sons of Noah And therefore that allowing the beginning of the Syrian Monarchy to have been about 153 Years after the Flood it might shortly after the beginning of Ninus his Empire which is supposed to have been about 215 Years after the Flood have grown to that greatness that might easily render credible the mighty Cities that were built by him and the great Armies that he raised and the Battles that he fought and vast Slaughters that he made and suffered But if we should follow the Account of the Septuagint which gives us a far greater Period of Time from the Flood to Abraham the advantage of the Increase would be signally greater although the common Account of the Jews render the Increase easily credible without the help of a Miracle And because that there can be no greater evidence of this Truth of the Increase of Mankind than Experience and Observation neither can there be any Observation or Experience of greater certainty than the strict and vigilant Observance of the Calculations and Registers of the Bills of Births and Deaths and because I do not know any one thing rendred clearer to the view than this Gradual Increase of Mankind by the curious and strict Observations of a little Pamphlet entitled Observations upon the Bills of Mortality lately printed I shall not decline that light or evidence that this little Book affords in this matter wherein he plainly evinceth 1. That the number of Males to Females is regularly as 14 to 13 or as 16 to 15. Cap. 8. 2. That supposing the number of breeding Couples to be 48000 in about the space of 7 Years in a healthy time or in 8 Years if there be Plagues the great City of London which is not so healthy as the Countrey will double without the help of the access of Foreiners and therefore Adam and Eve doubling themselves every 64 Years would in the Period of 5610 Years the supposed distance from the Creation of Man produce a far greater number of Mankind than are now in the World Cap. 11. 3. That in the Countrey which is generally more healthy than London upon a medium of Observation of 90 Years there are five Births for four Burials sometimes three to two and seldom in any Year these Burials equalled or exceeded the Births or if they did yet the succeeding Years ballanced it to that proportion of 5 to 4 for in the space of 90 Years 1059 were Born in one Parish more than were Buried Cap. 12. 4. That this Redundance did not much increase the place or Parish it self because by transmigrations to London to Forein Plantations and other places of Trade they disburthened the proportion of their increase and added to the greatness and amplitude of other places especially London 5. That considering the small excess of the number of Males above the number of Females and considering the redundancy of the number of Males is only sufficient to make good that decay of Males above Females by Wars and Navigation and other Accidents more incident to Males than Females there is very near a parity of Males and Females in the World to keep it in a consonancy and congruity to the first institution of Matrimonial society between one Man and one Woman 6. That consequently Polygamy doth not in the general conduce to the Increase of Mankind because the natural or ordinary proportion between the number of each is equal But in as much as by reason of the great Consumption of Males among the Turks by divers Accidents especially that of their great Wars between them and the Persians Tartars Christians and Moors whereby there is or at least in some Ages was a great redundance of the number of Woman above the number of Men The use of Polygamy allowed among them gives a greater increase of People than otherwise would be because of the excess of the number of Women above the number of Men by such Accidents These are some of those plain and evident Observations of the seemingly inconsiderable
terrae tractus eosdem hos Mare illos Continentem non esse sed tempore cuncta permutari I have mentioned these places of these Masters of Learning and Reason the more at large not only because they herein give the sharpest Objections against the necessity of a Temporary Beginning of Mankind by applying these Suppositions as Correctives or Reductions of the excess of the Generation of Men and Animals but also they do discover herein some things that are useful in this Inquiry For Instance 1. It appears hereby that the Inventions of Arts Sciences and Laws might be far more ancient than those times that Historians gave for their Invention for they might be in other Places or Ages and either by a successive rotation brought from one place to another or if they were lost yet succession of Ages might retrive new Discoveries of them again 2. We have a plain detection of the means whereby possibly the American People might have their deduction from the Europeans or Asiaticks because it is not impossible but the Continents might be in some Ages or other contiguous though now disjoyned by the mutations of the situations of Seas though the certain times of those Changes are not transmitted by History to our Age. 3. That the ancient Histories of things by Depopulations Wars Famines Inundations Transmigrations of People and other Accidents may be lost in after Ages which possibly in former Ages might be known and some Monuments thereof than extant which are now obliterated and forgotten Thus far concerning these Reductives by Inundations and Conflagrations out of the Princes of the Academical and Peripatetical Philosophers We shall find the like Suppositions frequently among the Stoicks Seneca may be an Instance for all that Sect only these vary from the former for although they do with the former admit and instance in temporary and partial Inundations by Earthquakes and other Accidents de quibus vide Senecam l. 3. Nat. Quaest de Terrae motu yet these go farther and suppose Universal Deluges and Conflagarations which will quite alter the whole Frame of this lower World and the whole Face thereof See the Rhetorical Description thereof Senec. in sine lib. 3. Nat. Quaest. Qua ratione inquis Eadem qua conflagratio futura est utrumque fit cum Deo visum ordiri meliora vetera finire Aqua ignis terrenis dominatur ex his ortus ex his interitus And out of Berosus assigns the Times and Periods of these Universal Deluges and Conflagrations Arsura enim terrena quando omnia sidera quae nunc diversos agunt cursus in Cancrum convenerint sic sub eodem posita vestigio ut recta linea exire per omnes omnium possit Inundationem futuram cum eadem siderum turba in Capricornum convenerit illìc solstitium hîc bruma confinitur But yet he supposeth a Restitution of the World after these Destructions Nec ea semper licentia undis erit sed peracto exitio humani generis extinctÃsque pariter feris in quarum homines ingenia transierant iterum aquas terra sorbebit natura pelagus stare aut intra terminos furere coget rejectus è nostris sedibus in sua secreta pelletur Oceanus antiquus ordo revocabitur omne ex integro animal generabitur dabitúrque terris homo inscius scelerum melioribus auspiciis natus sed illis quoque innocentia non durabit nisi dum novi sunt citò nequitia subrepit virtus difficilis inventu est rectorem ducémque desiderat etiam sine magistro vitia discuntur I shall spare mentioning any more to this purpose though many more Instances may be given out of the Philosophers of all Sects and Poets as Ovid and others Only I shall subjoyn these two Inquiries and so conclude this Objection 1. Whence it is that these Ancients had these Conjectures touching these Floods and Conflagarations so as to frame them into an Hypothesis either for the Castigation of the Excesses of Generation as Aristotle and Plato or to the total Dissolution thereof as the Stoicks and the means that wrought this Perswasion seem to be these 1. The things that seem to prevail with the Academicks and Peripateticks for these Partial Floods and Conflagrations seem to be those dark and obscure Histories of the things of that nature which had twice before happened in Greece Namely for Floods the Tradition of the Diluvium Ogygium or Diluvium antiquius which is supposed by Chronology to be under Ogyges King of Attica about 1000 Years before the first Olympiad about 248 Years before the Flood of Deucalion in Thessaly about 532 after the General Flood in the time of Noah and about the 2951 Year of the Julian Period and of the World 2187 though there is some variation among the Computations of Chronologers This was a Partial Flood as it seems in Attica part of Greece 2. Diluvium Deucalionis which was also Partial and about 248 Years after the former in the time of Cecrops first King of Athens or as others in the time of Cranaus his Son This is that mentioned by Plato and Aristotle that drowned a great part of Greece only some saved by Deucalion by bringing them to the top of Parnassus And out of the History of Moses touching the Universal Flood and the History of Deucalion Ovid made up his first Book attracting in a great measure to the latter what was written of the former by Moses And for Conflagrations they had two traditional Conflagrations in and near Greece which might give some countenance to this Perswasion namely 1. That of Phaeton Incendium Phaetontis which seems not to be long after the Flood of Deucalion though much of the Relation thereof as the Grecians and Ovid after them made was a Poetical Fiction yet it seems it had something of reality in it as is observed by Plato ubi supra 2. Idae Incendium which was no great business but an Eruption of Fire out of the Hill Ida as now in Etna this was about 73 Years after the Flood of Deucalion 2. As to the Stoicks who held Universal Inundations and Conflagrations possibly they might have the former of these from the Traditional Relation of the Universal Flood of Noah which Relation they believed and upon that founded their Supposition of the like Inundations being acquainted with the History of the Flood but not with the Covenant that God made never to bring a Flood again 2. As to that of the Universal Conflagration of the World it seems it was a known ancient and received Tradition among the Jews before our Saviour's time reinforced by him and his Disciples This seems to be implied in that Prophecy of Enoch Jude 14. and by ancient Tradition either from Noah or the ancient Jews this Perswasion might be Traditionally derived to the Gentiles and believed by the Stoicks 2. It appears by what hath been before transcribed That these Philosophers supposed those Inundations and Conflagrations to be at great distances
proportionate to their being nature and capacity 2. And as thus the contemplation of the Efficient and his Beneficence to other created Beings induceth us to conclude an end of fruition designed to Man so the contemplation of the Work it self concludes the same Man hath in the peculiarity of his nature these two great Powers and receptive Faculties whereby he is rendred amply capable of a great enjoyment namely his Understanding whose proper Object is Truth and the noblest Truth that is and its proper action is directed to that Object namely Intellection and Will whose proper Object is Good and the greater and more sovereign the Good is the more suitable it is to this power and the proper act of this power is to reach after and desire and embrace and delight in its Object and the filling of these two receptive powers with the chiefest intellectual Truth and with the chiefest and intellectual Good is that which perfects advanceth and enableth these Faculties or Powers And this doth lead us to a just discovery of what that end of fruition is for which Man was designed by his beneficent Creator namely such as is suitable answerable and proportionate to those Powers or Faculties in Man whereby he excells all inferior Animals his Understanding and his Will and herein consists his happiness his end of fruition or enjoyment 1. As to his Understanding the great and general fruition of Good therein is Knowledge Now I shall distinguish these Objects of Knowledge or Scibilia into two kinds 1. The Scibilia subordinata which being united to the intellective Power by that act or habit which we call Knowledge do advance and perfect this Power or Faculty in a subordinate way measure or degree such is the knowledge of Natural Causes and Effects of Arts Liberal or Manual of Rules of justum and decorum of Moral Truths and the like this gives a subordinate perfection and fruition to this Power varied and diversified according to the worth of the Objects and the perfection or clearness of their perception 2. The Scibile supremum which is the ever-glorious God his Perfection Attributes Wisdom Power Goodness his Will and Commands so far forth as that infinitely perfect Being is cognoscible by our finite Understanding This is the supreme Truth the highest fruition of the intellective Power and the greatest perfection of an intellective Nature as such 2. Again as to the power of the Will it hath likewise Objects of Good answerable to the former distribution 1. The subordinate Good of Moral Virtues Honesty Sobriety Justice Temperance and all the train of Moral Virtues these being united to the Will in their acts and constant habits the Will enjoys a great Moral Good tranquillity of Mind complacency and delight 2. The Sovereign Good which is the glorious God reached after by the Will as the chiefest Good and enjoyed in the manifestations of his Love Favour Presence Influence and Beneficence this fills the vastest motions of the Will fills it with Peace Contentation and Glory and keeps it nevertheless in a perpetual motion by returns of Gratitude humble Love Obedience and all imaginable extension of it self for the Service Honour and Glory of that God that hath thus bountifully given to the Soul a power in some measure receptive of his Infinite Self and fitted that power with a proportionate Good even the Goodness and Bounty of the ever-glorious God And now because Man hath a double state namely a state in this Life in conjunction of the Soul with the Body naturally dissolvible and a state of Immortality after this Life either in the Soul alone or in the Soul in conjunction with an immortal Body as shall be shewn in its due time therefore proportionable to this double state is that fruition which Almighty God designed for his End 1. In this Life the proportionable fruition of Man is that which is compatible to the state he hath here namely the knowledge of God and his Works in a measure suitable to the intellectual Capacity in this Life the sense of the Divine Love Favour Goodness and Protection the sense of his own Duty to God to Man to himself with a cheerful endeavour to observe it And from these arise dominion over his Passions and inferior Faculties and the due placing ordering and moderation of them a resignation of his Will to the Divine Will and a dependance upon his Goodness Power and All-sufficiency and from all these arise peace of Conscience contentation and tranquillity of Mind in which even the wisest of Heathens placed the greatest Happiness acquirable in this Life 2. After this Life an immutable state of everlasting Rest and Happiness in the Beatifical Vision of God and fruition of so much of his Goodness and Beneficence as a glorified Soul is capable of for it is reasonable that the end of fruition of an Immortal Nature should be an everlasting Good commensurate in its intention and duration to such an Immortal Nature And now if any Man shall enquire if this be the End of Almighty God in the Creation of Man How comes it to pass that all Men attain not this End or how comes it to pass that Almighty God comes to be frustrated of the End which he thus designed as well in relation to his own Glory as the Good of Mankind I Answer first in general That this Enquiry belongs to another way of Examination namely herein we must have the assistance of Divine Revelation both to answer this Enquiry and to guide us in it which in this place is not designed to be prosecuted 2. Yet more particularly thus much I shall say 1. That the wise God hath as it were twisted his own Honour and Glory with Man's Felicity and Happiness if Man decline to honour glorifie love and obey his Maker and casts off the primary and chief End of his Being it is just and necessary that he be deprived of the End of his own Fruition and Happiness which is the Reward of his Duty 2. The Liberty of the Will was the great Prerogative of the Humane Nature and Almighty God having furnished that Nature with all conducibles to enable him to obey and to continue him in that Obedience Man by the abuse of his own liberty deprived himself of his own felicity When we speak therefore of the End of Man we speak of it as God made him not as Man made or rather unmade himself But of this End of the means of his Restitution by Christ and the admirable System and Connexion of the Divine Providence in relation to Man in his Redemption belongs to another Discourse We are in this preceding Discourse but in the outward Court of the Temple where the Gentiles came or might come by natural Light or Ratiocination Therefore to conclude all Almighty God out of his abundant Wisdom Goodness and Beneficence as he hath made Mankind so he hath fitted him for a double End namely to glorifie his Maker and everlastingly to enjoy him and in order hereunto hath given him a double station and in each of these a differing kind of fruition of his Maker viz. a station in this lower World and a station in the glorious Heavens His station in this lower World is during the time of his mortal Life here below and in this station the glorious God hath furnished Mankind with all conveniencics and accommodations suitable to it as the comfortable Accommodations of his sensible Life the Comforts of humane Society the Use and Dominion of his Creatures the admirable Faculties of his Mind the Books and Instructions of his Word and Will the goodly Works of Creation and Providence the Tenders and Ayders of his Grace and Guidance the Effluxes and Manifestations of his Favours and Love the Anticipations and Hopes of Eternal Happiness these and many more such as these the Bountiful God affords to Mankind even in this state of Mortality which may and do render it in a great measure very comfortable But withall he lets us know and we must know That these are but as so many Bounties to render our passage through this Life the more easie and convenient to our selves and the more serviceable to our great Lord and Master This is not to be the place of our rest or final happiness but a place of exercise and probation a place of preparation for our future and more durable state we are here as it were but put to School to learn our Duty and our Lessons we are but as young Plants planted in a Nursery till we come to a convenient size and fitness to be removed and then we are to be transplanted into another and a richer Soil In this World we are as it were Seeds ripening upon the Trees or Stalks till they are fully digested and ripe and then as the Seeds drop into the Ground and become the Seminary of a new Plantation so by Death we drop into Eternity and become the Children the Embryones of the Resurrection and then we come into that second and blessed station the Country of our Rest and Happiness our Home and the End of our Being where we shall ever behold the Glory of the Glorious God and glorifie him for ever where we shall have the perpetual sensible vigorous satisfactory Manifestation and Influences of his Love to all Eternity and enjoy that Blessedness which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath entred into the Heart of Man to conceive And this is the great End of the Glorious God in making this great goodly Creature called Man whose Body is but the Husk the Shell of that vital immortal Beam of Light Life and Immortality that Seminal Principle of Eternal Life the Soul irradiated and influenced by the Sacred Spirit of Life and Love and if God lend me Life and Strength shall in my next be handled FINIS A