or who gave that Magnetical Virtue to that Cause And we must be forced to walk from one Natural Cause to another till at last we must come to a Supreme Infinite Efficient that hath no Limits or Bound of his Power Wisdom or Being even the Great and Infinite and Glorious God I confess this way of Argumentation is applicable to any other Effect or Motion in Nature and concludes the necessary Existence of a Being absolutely Perfect as it doth in this Instance of the Magnet and is no more peculiar to this Effect in Nature than to any other But yet it may be usefully and with great Evidence of Reason and Plainness deduc'd from the Consideration of the Magnetism of the Earth though it exclude not the like Improvement of any other appearance in Nature to the same Conclusion CHAP. III. The Evidence of the Existence of the Glorious GOD from the Supposition of a Self-moving Principle in Nature THAT there are such Beings in Nature that exert their Motions and Effects from an Internal Principle we have sufficient Evidence which way soever we look in the World and I shall further instance from the Subject in hand Now a Being that hath the Principle of his Actions and Motion in himself I suppose to be of Two Kinds I. That Being which is absolutely Independent the Original of all other Beings and Powers Infinite in Essence and Power the Great and Glorious GOD in the virtue of whose Presence Influence and Activity all other Active Powers have their Being and Operations whose Existence is not demonstrable à Priori or from his Causes for he is the Soveraign Primitive Cause of All Things but is demonstrable by his Effects Works and Operations And this is that which I am endeavouring to evince even by this little portion of Nature which I have in hand II. Again There are other Beings that although they have the principal Motions and Operations within themselves yet 1 st Have it not from themselves but either mediately or immediately from that Great Sovereign Fountain of Being and Power above-mention'd 2 dly Nor have it independently For as in their Original they have it from God so they still have it dependently upon Him If the Soveraign Influence should not uncessantly be communicated to their Beings and Operations both would cease And consequently although when they are once setled they have the Root of their Motions and Operations within themselves so that no other Created Cause doth Physically contribute to them yet the Sovereign Cause and his Influence hath still a most Intimate Co-efficiency with them in all their Motions and Operations and such an Efficiency that is far greater and more intimate to them than those Self-moving Principles themselves For though these Principles as in relation to the Effects these Self-moving Principles produce habent se per modum primariorum efficientium yet in relation to Almighty God habent se per modum Instrumenti vel Causae subordinatae Now these Self-moving Intrinsick Principles are not unfitly called Essential Virtues or Essential Forms and in respect of their Production are of Two kinds First Such as were lodged primarily in some Nature or Body without any Traduction from any other Created Being such were the Virtutes Essentiales or Forms of the First Animals such is also the Magnetical Form or Essential Virtue of the Earth which could no otherwise be derived to it but from the Efficiency Ordination and Institution of the Sovereign Creator and Architect of the World And this hath been the Business of the former Chapter Secondly Such Forms or Essential Virtues as have their immediate Origination by some other Productive Cause either by way of Ordinary Generation as is done in the Production of Animals and Vegetables ex Semine or by way of Irradiation as Fire produceth Fire or as the Magnet is produced in the Bowels of the Earth Now although these Productions of Essential Virtues Forms or Self-moving Principles recognize another Natural Immediate Efficient in their first Production yet being once produced and perfected they act and move and operate immediately from themselves and independently upon the Immediate Cause of their Production The Egg of a Hen would be hatch'd into a Chicken and the Form or Essential Virtue of this Chicken would exert its own Operations proper to its Species though the Hen were dead And I make as little doubt that a Magnet once fully perfected in the Earth would have its Magnetical Attraction though we could suppose the Earth it self annihilated or its Magnetism extinct For though there could be no Union of a Vis or Forma Magnetica to a Magnet but by the Irradiation of the Earth yet when it is once perfected into a compleat Magnetical Nature and the Magnetical Virtue once radicated in it it would then act many of its Motions independently as in relation to the Earth from which it had its first Production though possibly some of its Motions which are relative to the Earth would be lost Now the due consideration of these Essentiales Virtutes or Forms that have in themselves a Principle of their Operations are in their kind as effectual a demonstration of the Existence of Almighty God as the series and connexion and dependence and subordination of Efficients or Efficient Causes And therefore in this place I shall not make use of that way of Argumentation namely the necessary reduction of all Powers or Essential Virtues either mediately or immediately to their First Efficient which was the method of the former Chapter but shall consider them barely as active self-moving Vertues or Forms or Powers and shall thereupon examine what Evidence that naked Consideration affords us of an Existence of a Sovereign and most perfect Being 1. In the pursuit of the Effects and Appearances of Nature when we come to a self-moving Principle we are come to the uttermost term and limits of our bare Physical enquiry into the Cause of any such Motions and Effects When I see the Index of a Clock point to the Hour of the Day I can trace that motion to the next Wheel that moves it and so to the next and then to the Rundle that is moved by the Spring and then to the weight of Lead that from an inward self-moving principle moves downward and there I am at a stand I can carry my Series of Physical Causes no farther for if I enquire why this Weight moves downward I get no higher but only to the Ordination of the Sovereign of the World that had impressed that intrinsick self-moving Power into this as all other heavy Bodies And therefore Aristotle after he had established that Principle that quicquid movet movetur ab alio when he comes to the Motion of heavy Bodies wherein he could find no other impulsive Physical Cause of their Motion without them but in their very own intrinsick Nature hath only this solution for it quod movetur à generante But this Solution of his solves not
the business without recourse to the Sovereign Cause of all things for although the Generans was that which convey'd the Principle it self into the heavy Body to move it self yet when that Principle is once settled namely a heavy Body once constituted it moves now independantly upon its generative immediate Natural Cause which it may be is corrupted and dissolved yet that active and self-moving Principle exerts its Motion from its own intrinsick Nature If it be said that the Spring of the Watch doth the like and yet it is performed but mechanically for the Spring of Steel made strait at first and then rolled up into a spiral consistence endeavouring its own restitution gives as effectual and regular Motion to the Wheels and so to the Index as the weight of Lead doth I Answer It is true it doth so but yet it doth not avoid nor answer the Instance 1. Even that disposition of the Spring requires an Intelligent Agent to bring it about and order it and certainly no less is requir'd even to the impression of this Motive Power to a heavy Body 2. Again in that disposition of the Spring we can and must necessarily arrive to a Natural Cause of that Motive Principle of the Spring namely the conversion of that Body into a Consistence contrary to its Nature whereby it endeavours its restitution to its natural state and so Evolves it self and by that Evolution moves the String and that the Fusee and that the Wheel But the Motion of heavy Bodies to the Center hath not any assignable mechanical Cause of its Motion but it s own intrinsick Propension 3. And this Propension is not to be annexed unto it by any humane power no nor by any other assignable Cause but from the impression and signature of the Supreme Lawgiver whose Law and Constitution which we call Nature or the Law of Nature has implanted in heavy Bodies that habitude between them and the Center of the Earth to move thither But this descensus Gravium is but one single Motion if we look upon the Magnetical Body of the Earth which is the Primum Magneticum or that which is the natural issue of the Earth namely the Magnet we shall see a greater variety of Motions as that of direction attraction and other Magnetical Motions and all these proceeding from a self-moving principle in these Magnetical Bodies and higher than that we cannot go in the Assignation of Natural Causes Let any Man living of the greatest Perspicacity use all the diligence imaginable he shall never be able to assign any mechanical or other Natural Cause of these Motions but must fix only in an internal self-moving Principle lodged in the Magnet or Earth it self and all the reason he shall give is only this Ita fert vis naturalis ipsius Magnetis And although it is true the common Hypothesis allows an actual Motion to the Earth yet the composing of it self in its Polar Position arising immediately from its Magnetical Nature and the production of Magnetical Virtues in Magnets and other things is not unfitly call'd a self-moving or at least a self-disposing or ordering Principle But yet this is much more evident in the Perception Appetite and Motions of the Sentient Nature and yet still much more in the Intellectual or Rational Nature Whither or to what else than to an internal self-moving Principle can we attribute the sentient Perception of Animals their Instincts their Memory their Appetites And when we come to that admirable Creature Man to what other immediate Cause can we attribute those more admirable Instances of Intellection Ratiocination Freedom of Will than to an internal self-moving Principle that excites and exerts these admirable Operations And if any one shall say that these Faculties and their Operations are moved extrinsically by their Objects It is true they are so but these are not Physical Movers but only Moral or Objective Movers the Physical Motions are still performed by that internal Vis or Virtus movens When a Child sees an Apple it is the Apple that he sees and either by the beautifulness thereof or the former experience that he hath had of the like Object he remembers it is good and pleasant to the Taste he thereupon desires it and then reacheth and moveth after it and tastes it It is indeed the Apple that excites all these Motions of Sight Perception Memory Appetite Local Motion but still the Apple only moves objectively and morally not physically but still the Perception Memory Appetite Local Motion is performed by the inward Principle that moves it physically and actively in and from it self But yet further there are certain Motions that are exerted by Inanimate things and much more by things Animate that have not so much as an Objective Motion from without but are wholly and entirely exerted from this inward Principle without any previous Excitation or any external Document Custom or Instruction such as are the Motions of heavy Bodies to the Center of the Earth the Magnetical directions and motions of the Magnet and especially the great Magnet of the Earth the specifical Vertues of Vegetables the admirable Instincts of Animals which they obtain and according to them move and dispose themselves without any previous Instruction or objective Excitation but barely and primitively from that implanted Inclination Form intrinsick Principle the very Signature and Character implanted in their very Natures and we can carry their Operations no higher in a Series of Physical Causes than that Internal self-moving Principle And if we attempt to carry them further we must at last rest and fix in that Sovereign most Perfect Being the Glorious God that imprinted this active Signature upon their Natures as I shall further in the next place evidence Therefore 2. Upon the Consideration that there are these active self-moving Principles in many if not all Beings that we are acquainted with in the World let us but now consider where we can fasten the Origination of them and what or who it was that imprinted these admirable active Characters at first upon things in Nature It is impossible they should have them from themselves and their own activity For 1 st That were to suppose them to be before they were Again 2 dly Since it is apparent they are determined in their Being and Operations it is necessary they should have a Cause of such their Determination as I have shewed in the former Chapter 3 dly Again since it is apparent there is an admirable variety of these self-moving Principles specifically differing one from another and yet all observing and containing themselves within their several specifical Bounds and Limits of their Kinds and Natures it must needs follow that they have their several Species and are contained within them by a superiour Disponent and not from themselves otherwise what should hinder but that that which disposed its specifical Power in the rank of a Vegetable should not as well dispose of it self into the rank of
Page 13 The Evidence of the Existence of a Deity from the Excellent Ordination of these Powers to their several Ends and Uses Page 30 The Evidences of the Wisdom Power and Goodness of GOD resulting from the Consideration of the Parts of the Universe and particularly of the Magnetical Parts The First Instance Page 37 The Wonderful Wisdom and Power of God appearing in the admirable and various Motions of the Magnet Page 52 Touching the Reason and Method of the ensuing Discourse Page 64 Concerning Divine Magnetism Page 68 Concerning the several Instances and Means of the Conversion of the Soul to God Page 74 Concerning the Natural Means of the Soul's Conversion to Almighty God Page 77 Concerning the Reasonable or Intellectual Means of Converting the Soul to God Page 83 Touching the Rational Instances and Motives of the Conversion of the Soul to God upon the Account of the Works of Nature and Providence Page 88 Touching the Second Means of Conversion of the Soul to God namely Divine Revelation Page 101 Touching the Reasonableness of the Christian Religion and the sutableness thereof to the Reduction of the Soul to its due State Position and Happiness Page 120 Concerning the Supernatural Means of retaining the Soul in its due Respect and Position to Almighty God and of the Reduction thereof unto it Page 131 The Conclusion Page 141 Upon Psal 86.8 Neither are there any Works like thy Works 151 Magnetismus Magnus OR Metaphysical and Divine CONTEMPLATIONS Upon the Consideration of the MAGNET CHAP. I. The Reason and Order of this Tract WHEN I look into the Writings of the Ancient and some Modern Philosophers that have written touching the Works of Nature I find in them very many and excellent Enquiries into Causes and Effects and excellent Natural Discoveries touching them And I need go no further for the Evidence thereof than the Books of Aristotle de Naturali Auditu de Meteoris de Anima de Generatione Corruptione de Generatione Animalium de Partibus Animalium and the rest of his Physical Discourses But in most of their Discourses that which is short in them is indeed the best and truest and noblest part of true Philosophy namely the carrying up of the admirable Works of Nature and their Regiment to the Supreme Cause of all Things and the Glorifying of that God that hath instituted and still continues that Law and Order which we call the Law of Nature but is in truth no other than the wise Institution of the Supreme Legislator fitted to every Being in their Creation in the greatest Beauty and Convenience and to several excellent Ends. The Universe and all the Parts thereof as they had their Origination from God so they are all of them full of admirable Order and Usefulness and do all proclaim as well as they can the Power Wisdom and Goodness of their Author It is a goodly and glorious Temple which in every particular and in the whole Compagination of it shews forth the Excellence of the Architect But because all these Works though made with admirable Order and Wisdom yet every Integral thereof hath not Understanding to consider their Own or the World's Beauty and Order nor actively to carry up the Praise and Glory of their Being and Beauty to their Author the Glorious God hath placed in this goodly Temple certain Intelligent Beings Angels and Men for these great Uses First To behold the goodly Frame of the World and intellectively to consider it Secondly To carry up these Works of God to their proper Cause and Author Thirdly To Admire and Magnifie the Power the Wisdom and Goodness of God in all his Works Man therefore is indued not only with a Sentient Nature to behold the Works of Nature but also with an Intelligent Inquisitive Reasonable Soul to observe and consider them and the admirable Wisdom and Order that appears in them and to carry them up to their Wise and Bountiful Author and is placed in the Temple of this Lower World as the Priest of that part of the Creation for himself and in the behalf of the rest of the Creatures to Magnifie and Glorifie the Great Creator and to carry up to him their common Tribute of Praise and Glory And indeed this is the best Part and truest Use of all Philosophy And although a due Attention unto the Works of Nature will readily prompt any considerate Man to this part of Philosophy yet herein the Excellency of the Holy Scriptures and the true Philosophy that we may learn therein exceeds all other Philosophical Discourses of the Ancient Philosophers It carries up all the Works which we usually call Works of Nature and their admirable Order Laws and Regiment to the Great Creator and Governor of them and teacheth Mankind their Duty thereupon and to present the Glory and Praise of the whole Creation and all the Creatures therein to the Sovereign Lord of all Things Psal 104.24 O Lord how wonderful are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches Psal 107. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men Psal 111.2 The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein Psal 92.5 O Lord how great are all thy works and thy thoughts are very deep It is a True and Wise Saying of that Excellent Person Sir Francis Bacon That though a little Philosophy may make a Man an Atheist yet a deep Search into it will bring a Man to the Acknowledgment and Veneration of God He therefore that rests in the bare Search and Prospect of the Phaenomena of Nature without running of them up to the Author and Law-giver of Nature is not gone half way in true Philosophy nor hath attained that End that ought principally to be minded in his Natural Enquiries Some of those that have gone before me in Magnetical Philosophy as Grandamicus Kircherus and Mr. Ward have left me an Example of improving this little Portion of Natural Philosophy into Divine Speculations I shall therefore take the liberty to close my Magnetical Observation with something of the like nature though I shall not go altogether in the same Path that they have gone as will appear in the several succeeding Chapters and their Contents There is not the least Rivulet but if I follow it downward in its course it will bring me either mediately or immediately to the Ocean as the Term of its Motion And yet if I follow it upward first to its apparent Fountain and then thorough those Anfractus Terrestres that feed that Fountain it will bring me by necessary consequence to the Ocean as its Original Eccles 1.7 All the rivers run into the sea yet the sea is not full into the place from whence the rivers came thither they return again As all Secondary Beings are directed to the Honour and Glory of Almighty God and of his Goodness Wisdom and Power as
the chief End of their Being so they all recognize him as the Original of their Being And therefore he that duly considers the least Work in Nature as he shall find in it the Footsteps and Indications of an admirable Wisdom and Goodness so if he follow it upward and trace it through the various Meanders of Causes he shall be constrain'd to fix and terminate the Original of that Being and of that Goodness and Wisdom that is discovered in it into the Efficiency of the Infinite Glorious and Eternal God Every spire of Grass every the most inconsiderable Molecula Seminalis in Nature will teach us this Lesson And I shall therefore apply my self to this petty Particle of Nature the MAGNET and see whether by the unwinding of this little Bottom I can arrrive at the same Discoveries And first I shall begin with the Manuduction that this small Clue lends me to bring me to the Acknowledgment of a Deity a Deity of most admirable Wisdom Power and Goodness as its Cause CHAP. II. The Magnetical Manuduction unto the Sovereign Being in Ordine Causarum Efficientium WHEN I take into my Hand a small Versorium that turns its Cuspis always to the North where-ever I put it and I have another of the like Metal and Make that stands at whatsoever Position I put it I presently think with my self that there is some Cause which makes the Difference in the Motions of these Versoria that in Matter and Figure are entirely the same And upon a further Enquiry I find the former was touched with the South Pole of a Magnet which gave it this North Verticity I then enquire how the Magnet came by this Virtue not only to convert it self to a Polar Position but to infuse the same Quality though with a different Termination into the Versorium by its Touch. And upon further search I find that this Magnet was taken out of the Earth and by several other Instances I find that the Earth hath not only a Polar Direction of its own to the North and South but is effective of the same in the Magnet and in some other Bodies that are receptive of such a Virtue and Disposition And therefore I do without any great difficulty conclude That the Earth is surely a Magnetical Body endued with a Magnetical Virtue which gives it self a Polar Direction and gives the like to my Magnet Hitherto now I have made a fair progressive Discovery of Efficients The Versorium receives its Magnetism from the Magnet and the Magnet from the Earth But now from whence hath this vast Body of the Earth acquired this Magnetical Vigour To say it hath it barely from the Modification of its Matter as its Figure Texture of Parts Site Position is utterly unsatisfactory to any Man unprejudic'd by Fancy For 1 st Virtue and Power is a thing quite of another nature from Matter Matter is a dull unactive Thing if it have Motion it must be put into Motion by somewhat else or it will everlastingly rest 2 dly Again since the Motions of the Particles of Matter when put into Motion must needs be tumultuous and various it is impossible that they should produce such a regular stable and fixed determinate Direction in the Earth it self much less produce such regular yet various Motions and Inclinations in the Magnet It remains therefore that either the Earth hath this Virtue primitively and simply from it self or it must be impressed upon it by some other Powerful Effective Agent It is impossible that the Earth should be primarily Effective of its own Magnetism for these Reasons 1 st It is apparent That as the Earth it self is determinated in its Moles and Figure and Position so its Magnetism is determined to these and these Directions Dispositions and Inclinations It must needs be that whatsoever is determined in its Existence or Operations must be determined by somewhat else than by it self 2 dly Which is an Inforcement of the former Reason That which can from it self communicate to it self an intrinsick Virtue of this kind what hinders but that it may communicate to it self an Intrinsick Power of any other kind and so in effect to be Infinite in Power For why should it rest in this or that particular Modification or Extent of the Power it gives it self And it will be all one as to this whether we should suppose the Earth were it possible to be Eternal or made up in some determinate portion of Time For whatsoever hath Limits of its Being or Power must have a Cause of his Being that must give it its Determination and Limitation If any thing that is finite and limited in Extent Figure Virtue Vigour though it were possible to be Eternal must yet be an Eternal Effect and have an Eternal Cause that must give it its bound and circumscription And therefore Aristotle though he erroneously held the Eternity of the World in the same consistence as now it is yet always concluded it to be but an Effect of an Efficient though a necessary Effect of an Efficient necessarily productive of it It remains therefore that if the Earth had this Intrinsick Virtue Vigour or Magnetism it must have it from some other Efficient Its Motions are indeed the Effect of its Vertue but its Virtue is the Effect of something else And if it had it from an Efficient 1 st It had it from an Intelligent Efficient for it is a Power or Virtue ordinata ad Finem as we shall see hereafter and consequently whatever Being it was that gave the Earth its Intrinsick Magnetism it must be such an Efficient or Agent as acts ex Intelligentia Intentione Though Irrational Agents are directed to an End yet the Prime Agent is that which directs to that End 2 dly It must be an Agent of a strange and admirable Power and Strength that could dart such an Activity or Virtue into the vast Body of the Earth of above Twenty two thousand Miles circumference And if it be said Tho' we know not what that Agent might be that might impress this Vigor Magneticus upon the Earth yet it may be some Natural Agent without having recourse to a Deity though we know not what this Cause is possibly it may be an Effect of the Sun possibly it may be some Polar Influence from the Heavens possibly a kind of Irradiation from the common Axis of the Universe possibly some Magnetical Points in the Heaven that may influence the Earth with this Magnetism I answer Though such things as these may be supposed yet they are not proved and therefore we cannot easily assent to any of these Suppositions without Proof but still it must remain as an unshaken Truth That the Earth is Primum Magneticum that its Magnetism is implanted in it as part of its Nature or Formal Being But suppose there were any of these Causes assign'd or any other Cause of its Magnetism though unknown to us yet still the same Enquiry will hold What
an Animal or Humane Principle For it were as well effective of the one as of the other if it disposed it self and probably would take up the most perfect Form or Vis Essentialis It remains therefore that those Forms or Essentiales Vires aut Virtutes were primitively and in their original are à Disponente from some Superiour Power that at first imprinted this Character upon them with great Wisdom and Goodness Therefore it remains that this Vis or Virtus thus specify'd and determined hath its Origination and Determination from some other Being And if we shall suppose that this Vis or Virtus Essentialis Specifica hath its Origination from Matter it self and its various Modifications we are still besides the Mark 1 st Because that Vis or Virtus Essentialis is a distinct Entity from Matter and though it resides in it it is a differing Entity from it 2 dly It is a Nature or Entity above the power of Matter and therefore the Eductio Formarum è potentia Materia is an unconceptible Hypothesis If it were in the Body of Matter before how came it thither If it were not there before it is impossible that it should be educible out of it by the force of any bare natural Agent Indeed the Agent may modifie and dispose the Matter so as to be a convenient Instrument for the Vis or Virtus that before resided in it to act and exert its Activity but it can never give it a Being but either it must find it there or bring it thither for dull unactive Matter that seems to be purely Passive can never yield it 3 dly But suppose that the various Modification of Matter were sufficient so as from thence that active Principle which we call the Form or Essential Virtue might emerge yet still it leaves us in the dark without the Supposition of such an Agent of that admirable Wisdom Knowledge and Power that could and did at first so dextrously modifie that Matter that it could produce those Exquisite Exertions of Motions Propensions and Appearances so uniformly regularly and unerringly as we see in Vegetables Animals and this little Particle of Nature the Magnet Let us search within the whole compass of Nature What Man or Counsel of Men can or ever could effect it The Dove of Architas and the Clock of Strasburgh are poor inconsiderable Automata in comparison of a Fly or a Flea But the truth is it is neither the Modification of Matter nor any other Natural Agent that upon the score of its own Strength or the single Activity of any Natural Agent can alone produce this self-moving Principle which I call the Vis Essentialis others call Form It is an Entity of another Nature from Matter And although the Origination of Matter it self and the moulding of it into those admirable Orders Positions and goodly Structures which we daily behold in the great Integrals of the Universe are evident Indications of the Power and Wisdom of the Great Architect of the World yet these are not to be compared to most of those self-moving Powers that the God of Nature hath disseminated and sent abroad into these and most other of the Particles of Nature And this Vis or Virtus these Principia Motiva I look upon as the most Glorious and Wonderful part of the Creation Neither is it possible by any means to deduce their first Original but from the Divine Power and Efficiency Let all the Men in the World put their Heads and their Wits and their Skill and their Hands together they can never originally imprint upon any Matter the Magnetical Motions of a poor inconsiderable Loadstone much less those self-moving Principles of a higher Nature as those of Life Sense or Reason which we daily behold in the Vegetables Sentient and Rational Province What a stir have the Chymists made to make Gold though it have none of those self-moving Principles in it that we see in a Magnet and yet how pitifully therein they delude themselves and others But who ever could de novo frame a Magnet with all its Magnetical Motions unless it were by putting together some Particles of the same Stone that had a prior Magnetical Virtue infus'd in them by Nature or by the Earth the primum magneticum And if any Man shall tell me that we need not go so high as Almighty God in the Production of Natural Automata for Vegetables and Animals daily propagate their Kinds which when propagated have within them their self-moving Principles which yet they had à generantibus and the Magnet it self hath its Production by the Earth I have prevented this Objection in the beginning of this Chapter wherein I have taken notice that some Natural Automata have their Origination independent upon any other Natural Cause as the Magnetism of the Earth and the Primogenial Productions of Animals and Vegetables Others have their Origination by Propagation c. as Magnets and things produced ex Semine But in all those the illation of a Sovereign Cause of them is equally necessary in respect of the Nature of the self-moving Principles themselves which in their primitive Constitution require no less than the Sovereign Cause of all things And in their mediate Production still the Producents are but his Instruments and are productive of them in the vigour of that Law and Institution that the God of Nature hath given and established for them All the Communications of these Vires or Virtutes Essentiales either ex semine or by propagation as in Vegetables and Animals or by contact or irradiation as of Fire or Magnets are but a continuation of the first primitive Virtutes Essentiales that were at first lodged in the primitives or first Individuals of their Species by the immediate Power of Almighty God yea the very Vis Productiva of them was but a part of that primitive Essential Virtue that was lodged by the Finger of God in their primitive Natures and first Individuals And therefore in all the successive Specifical and Essential Vertues and self-moving Principles that now are or ever have been in the World by Seminal Propagation Contact or Irradiation we must have the same recourse to the Supreme Cause no less than in the first Individuals or Subjects in which they were at first lodged CHAP. IV. The Evidence of the Existence of a Deity from the Excellent Ordination of these Powers to their several Ends and Uses HE that attentively considers all the Works of Nature will find Four Kinds of Adaptations in them I. An Adaptation of their Organs to their several and respective Essential Powers or Faculties or Inclinations and Motions II. An Adaptation both of their Organs and Faculties to their own Good and usefulness of their Being III. In many of them an Adaptation not only to the Convenience of their Individuals but to the Preservation of their Kinds or Species IV. An Adaptation and Accommodation of their Organs Powers and Motions to other parts of the Universe
Powerful and Beneficent Being that hath institued and settled those admirable Powers Habitudes and Respects in those Integrals of the Universe whereby that admirable Order is kept between the several parts thereof for the Beauty of the World the Mutual Good of all its parts the due Compagination of them each to other and for the Glory of the Great Architect and Lord of the Universe CHAP. V. The Evidences of the Wisdom Power and Goodness of GOD resulting from the Consideration of the Parts of the Universe and particularly of the Magnetical Parts The First Instance AS the due Contemplation of the Works of Nature and particularly of this in Hand carries us necessarily to the acknowledgment of a Supreme Cause and the Existence of that most Perfect Being which we call GOD so the like observation will give us some Strictures of the Nature of that most Sovereign Being namely his Wisdom Goodness and Power It is a vast and goodly Portion of the Universe that is every day objected to our Sight and View and yet in all probability even that which we daily see and view is but a small Portion of the vast Continent of the Universe The Ancient and Modern Astronomers have calculated the number of those Stars and Asterisms that are ordinarily seen yet if a Man doth but consider with himself what an Immense number of Stars do at some times appear in clear Nights over what do ordinarily appear if a Man doth consider what Multitudes of Stars are discovered by Telescopes as in the Milky-way the Pleiades and other Asterisms which without such helps are not discoverable to our Sight if a Man considers that possibly those Stars which seem of the least Magnitude may yet have that appearance in respect of their vast distance from us and possibly there may be such which are not Conspicuous to our Sight in respect of their distance which may yet be greater and more in number than those that by reason of their greater Vicinity to us are ordinarily seen I say he that considers these things may have reason to think that Maxima pars eorum quae videmus est minima pars eorum quae non videmus But again let us consider those Parts of the Universe which we see the Sun the Moon the Planets the visible Stars c. yet God knows we see but a little part of that we see We know not their Natures their Furnitures their Motions their Ends their Uses how many complicated Ends and Uses there may be and are of their Motions Influxes and Dispositions There is not a Star in Heaven but may have thousands of Uses and Ends which we can never by all our observation discover If a Man should be supposed to be rapt up into a Star as soon as he were born and should from thence behold the Earth on which we live he would indeed have the view of this Massy Globe of the Earth as we from hence do behold the great Planetary Bodies of Saturn or Mars but he could never know the huge variety of Rational Animal Vegetable Mineral Elementary Bodies that are in it nor that Excellent and Useful Disposition of the Parts thereof of the Meteors of all kinds that are subservient to it and infinite more that we that inhabit it do daily observe And it is not impossible no nor unlikely that in those great distant Planetary and Heavenly Bodies there may be Concrements of infinite more Excellencies than this Lower World affords our daily view and observation But yet in that narrow Prospect that we have of these vast distant Coelestial and Planetary Bodies we cannot choose but observe 1 st Admirable Beauty 2 dly Singular Order in their Motions which they constantly observe 3 dly Admirable Accommodation of one part thereof to another and of all of them to the Beauty Order and Convenience of the Universe and all its Parts I confess I never was of that narrow Thought that the Sun Moon and Stars and Planets were made singly for the Use of this Lower World wherein we live muchless for the single and sole use of Man The infinitely Wise God hath the Prerogative in all his Works to have various Complicated Ends in all his Works which we can never attain to the full Comprehension of yet thus much I must ever acknowledge to the Glory of the Wisdom and Goodness of that Sovereign Being that all things are so ordered to the good of every thing in the Universe that it could not possibly be better and all things are so appositly framed for the use of each other as could not possibly be better if no other end but that end had been singly aimed at by him that made them What a Condition were Mankind in if he were destituted of all the Influences of the Heavens the Light Heat and Motion of the Sun the Accommodations of Fire Air Water Earth Vegetables Animals Minerals Meteors and infinite more If we come down to the Consideration of this Lower World which is more within our view and prospect it is admirable to consider the singular Subserviency of all the Inferiour sort of Creatures to the more Noble and Superiour how the Elementary Bodies and Meteors and Minerals are subservient to the Vegetable Province and how the same Bodies and also Vegetables are subservient to the Use of the Animal Province and how both Minerals Elementary Bodies Meteors Vegetables and Animals are subservient to the Humane Nature If a Man consider how some are for his Food some for his Clothing some for his Habitation some for his Defence some for his Delight some for his Medicine and Physick how adequately some Animals are in all respects fitted for Portage the Bunches of Camels the Foot and Swiftness of the Horse the Strength of the Ox for Draught nay what admirable Efficacies pitiful little inconsiderable Vegetables Insects parts of Living Creatures have for the Health and Preservation and Restitution of the Humane Nature from Sickness and Hurts and Pains I say if a Man consider distinctly these little things he must acknowledge an admirable Wisdom and Goodness that thus accommodates the Works of Nature each to other especially to that Noblest of the Visible Creatures of this Lower World Man These admirable Accommodations could never happen by Chance or blind Fortune One single Occurrence or Consistence may have some pretence to an Origination by Chance but a Connexion of several Accommodations could no more come by Chance than to use Tully's Expression the casual Coincidence of the several Letters of the Alphabet could make up one of Ennius his Poems This Order therefore and Accommodation of things of several Natures one to another do invincibly Evidence 1 st A Supreme Goodness and Wisdom that hath thus established every thing in the Best Order and for the Best Uses 2 dly An Infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness that concerns not it self singly in the greater and nobler Concerns of the Universe the Regiment and Order of the Bodies and
full clear distinct discovery of it Therefore as the Apostle elsewhere in another Case told the Athenians that that God whom they ignorantly worshipped him declare I unto you Acts 17.23 so with some variation I may with humility say that secret unseen and spiritual Power which these ancient Philosophers did not distinctly understand but groped after it and celebrated by the Name of Intellectus Agens I am now endeavouring to declare Almighty God as he is every where by his Essential Presence so he is every where by his Powerful Influence and as he is the Universal Productive and Conserving Cause of all things in the World so he is more intimate unto and effective of every thing in the World by his Efficacious Influence than any second created Cause in the World for they are all but his Instruments and therefore their Causality is still but in and from the virtue and influence of the first Cause And this Influx of the First Cause the prime Efficient Almighty God is by him ordinarily communicated effused and proportioned according to the several Natures of Created Beings though according to his wise good Pleasure he sometimes is pleased to doe it in a different manner for excellent Ends pro imperio voluntatis And therefore in Matters that are simply natural this ordinary Efflux of the Divine Influence is suited to that common Law of Nature that he hath settled in the World and governs such things according to those instituted regular natural Laws But unto an Intellectual Nature such as is that of Man endued with Understanding and Will this Divine Efflux is communicated in a kind proportionable to those Faculties of the humane Soul and therefore these Effluxes of the Divine Influence are communicated in two kinds 1. By way of Illumination in relation to the Understanding Faculty 2. By way of Persuasion Inclination and Incitation in relation to the Will and Affections although there are many other kind of Effluxes of the Divine Spirit and Influence as the Gift of bodily strength as that of Sampson Judges 16.20 the Gift of curious Workmanship as that of Aholiab and Besaliel Exod. 36.1 the Spirit of Majesty and Government as that of Saul 1 Sam. 10.9 the Gifts of Prophesying Tongues Miracles 1 Cor. 12.4.9 for these were extraordinary Effluxes given out upon special Occasions and for special Ends though even in most of them and other extraordinary Gifts of the like nature the Understanding and Will were much concerned and wrought upon 1. As to the Illumination of the Vnderstanding certainly what the Sun is to the sentient Eye that and much more is Almighty God to the Mind of Man Psal 36.9 In thy Light shall we see Light John 1. 9. This is the true Light that enlightneth every man that cometh into the world 2. As to the Inclination and Bending of the Will it is true the Will is naturally free but yet it is essentially Subject unto the God that made it and the operation of the Divine Influence upon the Will ordinarily is but persuasive and therefore ordinarily resistable thus the old World resisted the merciful striving of the Divine Influence Gen. 6.3 My spirit shall not always strive with Man Acts 7.51 Ye always resist the holy Ghost but the Powerful God hath so great an Efficacy and hath so intimate an Access into the Minds of Men that he can when he pleaseth and doubtless sometimes doth irresistibly bend and incline the Will unto himself according to his good Pleasure Psal 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power It is an excellent Expression Prov. 21.1 The heart of the King is in the hands of the Lord as the rivers of water he turneth it whither soever he will A good Artist will guide a stream of water to what place and in what manner he pleaseth in the same Level and yet without any violence offered to the natural Motion of the Water which in all those Motions is kept entirely sutable to its Nature And with the same and much greater facility the God of Heaven can and often doth infallibly Guide the Hearts of Men yea of Kings and yet without Force or Violation of its natural Liberty There was never any Age nor People in the World that was wholly destitute of this Divine Efflux upon their Understandings and Wills it is as Universal and Common as the Light and Influence of the Heavens only upon some in all Ages it was more special and effectual than upon others even in the Gentile World I have always esteemed those Excellent Men among the Heathen famous for Wisdom Justice Piety and Knowledge as Men illuminated and guided by this Divine Influence though possibly communicated to them in a more signal manner than to other Men Such were Socrates Plato Zeno Citticus Solon Lycurgus Pythagoras Tully Seneca Aristotle and divers other excellent Philosophers Moralists and Law-givers among the Gentiles who were by the Influence of the Divine Spirit excited illuminated and instructed for the Benefit of themselves and the rest of Mankind and to prepare the Heathen World for the Reception of greater Light When it pleased God to select unto himself and his special Government the Family of Abraham and his Descendants the Jewish Nation he sets them in the middle of the Habitable World like a Beacon upon a Hill to be a kind of Common Instruction to the rest of Mankind and for that purpose made them signal to all the World by his special Government over them by Miracles Signs and Wonders by giving them Laws from Heaven in great Majesty and Terrour by committing to them the Divine Oracles by raising up Prophets and Men specially inspired by an Extraordinary Spirit and by effusing among them a greater Measure of the Influence of his Sacred Spirit For that I may say it once for all it hath been always the Method of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness when he sends out the greater Measure of this Influx whereof I speak the Divine Providence accompanies that Efflux with sutable external Means to render it the more effectual and the more agreeable to the manner of the Reception of the humane Understanding But when the Messias came into the World with the Message of the Glorious Gospel the Sun was as it were in its Meridian and as the means of Illumination and Conversion of the World unto God was more effectual and universal so was also the Efflux and Irradiation of the Divine Influence upon the Souls of Men more vigorous diffusive and universal And as the miraculous Gifts of the Spirit of God appeared in the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles the Gifts of Tongues of Healing Diseases of Prophecy and the like to confirm and establish Mens Minds in the Faith Belief and Obedience of the Gospel so neither was this all but the secret and effectual Influence of the same Blessed Spirit appeared in Illumination of the Minds of Men in persuading and mightily subduing their Wills to