be united he saw that it must necessarily be some Body like to these Bodies having length and breadth and thickness and that it was either hot or cold as one of these other Bodies which are destitute of sense and uncapable of nourishment but that it differ'd from them in such Actions as proceeded from it in regard of the Organical Parts which belong to Plants and Animals but not otherwise And perhaps such Actions were not essential to that Body but derived to it from some other Cause that was extrinsecal thereto so that if they were in like manner communicated to other Bodies they would be like unto this When he therefore considered that Body in its Essence as stript naked of all these Operations which at the first sight seemed to proceed from thence he saw that it was no other thing than a Body of the same kind with these Upon which Contemplation it appeared unto him that all Bodies taken in general were but one as well those which had life as those which had none as well those which moved as those which rested in their natural places Only it appeared that actions proceeded from some of them by means of their organical Parts concerning which he as yet knew not whether they were Essential to them or derived to them from without Now whilst he was in this state of Mind he extended not his Thoughts beyond bodily Substances and thereby he saw that the whole Frame of the Creatures was but one Thing which formerly he had looked upon and esteemed as many without number or end In this Opinion and state of Mind § 33 he continued for some time But afterwards upon a view of all Bodies as well Animate as Inanimate which sometimes seemed to be but one thing to him but otherwhiles many and innumerable he saw that one of these Motions was natural and necessary to them viz. upward or downward upward as in Smoke Flame and Air when detained under Water downward as in Water Earth and its Parts all Earthy Bodies with the Parts of Animals and Plants Also that not one of all these Bodies was void of both these Motions neither ever rested but when some other Body came it its way and interrupted its motion as when a Stone in its descension meets with the solid Surface of the Earth which it cannot pierce through whereas if it could it would move downwards still as every Body knows And therefore if one do but lift it up from the Earth he will find it to resist that motion by pressing down his Hand out of a propension it hath to descend again unto the same place In like manner Smoke in its mounting upward is not beat back again unless it meet by the way with some solid arched Body which stops it in its Course and then it will turn aside to the right Hand or to the left but as soon as it hath got out and freed it self from that Body which hindered its motion it mounts up again and makes its way through the Air without any interruption He observed also that if a Leather Bag be filled with Air then tied hard together and plunged into the Water it will strive to get upward and struggle under the Water that detains it nor ever cease to do so until it hath got forth and returned unto the Air but then it is quiet all that reluctancy and strong inclination to move upwards which it had before ceasing altogether He also made a diligent search to § 34 see whether he could find any Body which was at any time destitute of both these motions or a propension to them but he could find none such among all those Bodies which he had at hand to view And this be sought after out of a desire he had to find out what was the Nature of a Body in general and abstractedly considered without any of those Qualities which cause a multiplicity and diversity of Kinds But when he found this too difficult a Task for him and that having considered all those Bodies which among the rest were least subject to these qualities yet could he see none of them in any wise void of one of the two viz. either of Heaviness or Lightness he farther considered with himself whether these two qualities belonged to the Body as it was a Body or to some other Notion superadded to the Body Now upon this Consideration it seemed to him that they agreed to some Notion superadded unto the Body because that if they belonged to the Body as it was a Body no one Body could be found wherein both of them were not whereas we find some heavy Bodies which are void of all Lightness and some light Bodies which are void of all Heaviness and these two are doubtless two distinct Bodies to either of which belongs some Notion superadded to its bodily Nature whereby it is distinguished from the other which Notion is that whereby the one of them becomes diverse from the other seeing if this were away they both would be the same thing in every Respect It appeared therefore very plainly to him that the Nature or Essence of both these Bodies was compounded of two Notions the one wherein they both agreed and this was the Notion of Corporeity or bodily Substance the other whereby the Essence of the one was diversified from the Essence of the other and this was the Notion of Heaviness in the one and of Lightness in the other whereby the one moved upwards and the other downwards both which were adjoyned and superadded to the Notion of Corporeity or bodily Substance In like manner he contemplated § 35 also the Bodies of other Creatures whether they were Animate or Inanimate Whereupon he saw that the Essence of every one of them consisted in this that they were all compounded of a double Notion namely that of Corporeity and of some other thing superadded thereto whether the thing were one or manifold And thus the Forms of Bodies came to be known unto him according to their diversity which were the first Notions that he had relating to the Spiritual World to wit the Notions of these Forms which are not perceiveable by Sense but apprehended only after a certain manner of intellectual Speculation And among the rest of this kind which were thus made known unto him it appeared also to him that his own Animal Spirit which was seated in his Heart as hath been afore declared must needs superadd another distinct Notion to his Corporeity as that whereby he was inabled to perform such wonderful Operations as appeared in the various manners of Sensation and ways of Apprehension with the diversity of Motions which it caused in the Body as also that this Notion was his proper Form or Difference whereby he was distinguished from other Bodies viz. the same which the Philosophers call the Animal that is the Sensitive Soul So likewise that the Principle which in Plants supplies the place of that Radical Heat which is in Animals
separated therefrom became thickned and congealed and that this clotted Blood which he found in the right Ventricle of the Heart was like unto all other so separated from the Body I see also said he that the same kind of Blood is found also in other Parts of the Body and that it is not appropriated to one Part more than to another But that which I seek for is no such thing for that is somewhat whereof this place is the peculiar Seat and such a thing as I am sensible that I cannot subsist without one Moment Now that is it which I have been seeking after all this while But as for this Bloud as oft as I have lost some considerable quantity of it when at any time I chanced to be wounded by some wild Beast that fought with me yet I found no considerable harm thereby seeing it hindered me not from performing any Action of Life as I formerly did Therefore that which I seek after is not in this Ventricle And as sor the left one I find it indeed empty yet I cannot think that it was made altogether in vain For I see that every other Part of the Body is designed for the exercise of some Office or other and for that operation which is proper to it How then can this Ventricle of the Heart which is of so excellent a Frame as I see serve to no use at all I cannot then imagine but that the thing I seek after had its Seat herein but is now departed from it and left its Seat empty and that by this means that Cessation hath hapned whereby the whole Body is now deprived of all Sense and Motion But then when he saw that it left that House wherein it formerly dwelt before it fell to ruine and to have forsaken it whenas as yet it continued sound whole and entire he thought it very improbable that it would ever return again to its former Habitation after it had been thus torn and mangled and destroyed by him In the mean time the whole Body § 15 of the Roe which he had in this manner dissected and searched into the inner Parts thereof seemed to him a very contemptible thing and of no value at all in respect of that which he was perswaded had formerly dwelt therein and now forsaken it He applied his Mind therefore to meditate on that only and to find out if it might be what it was how it came to be conjoyned unto the Body and what so conjoyned it whither it was gone and through what Door it made its Passage when it left the Body and what it was that caused it to depart thence whether it were forced to leave its Mansion or left the Body of its own accord and in case it went forth voluntarily what was the Cause which made the Body so odious and loathsome to it that it departed quite from it Now whilst his Thoughts were much distracted with such variety of Doubts he laid aside all Solicitude about the Body of the Roe and threw it away from him whenas he perceived that this Nurse of his which had been so kind and indulgent to him and fed him with her Milk was that thing properly which was now departed and that from it had proceeded all those Actions whereby she shewed her Love to him and Care of him not from that dull and senseless Body which was not able to help it self but had served only as an Instrument which she made use of in performing those Actions or like that Staff which he had taken to him wherewith to fight with the wild Beasts So that now his Care and Study was quite taken off from the Body and transferred to that which had moved and governed it But whilst his Mind was thus busied § 16 about that which had left the Body of the Roe the dead Body it self began to putrifie and to exhale stinking Vapours which made him the more to loath it and unwilling to look upon it But a little after this it hapned that he beheld two Ravens fighting together till at last the one of them overthrew the other and struck it down dead when the surviving Conquerour began to scrape the Earth with its Claws and never ceased scratching till it had digged up an Hole wherein it laid the Carcass of its Adversary and cover'd it over Then said he within himself How well hath this Raven done in covering the Body of his Fellow-Combatant though in killing of him he did ill How much rather should I have begun to perform this good Office for my Mother and Nurse Whereupon he digged a deep Hole in the Ground and having put the Body into it threw Earth upon it Then he proceeded to meditate on that thing which had governed the Body whilst it was alive but could not apprehend what kind of thing it was Only when he severally beheld all the other Roes he saw them all to have the same Figure and Form with his Dam. Whence his Mind gave him that every one was moved and governed by somewhat like unto that which had moved and governed her He therefore still followed them and loved to keep with them for that Likeness's sake In this state he continued for a while contemplating the divers kinds of Animals and Plants walking round the Shore of the Island and seeking every where whether he could meet with any other Creature like unto himself as he had observed many of every other sort of Animals and Plants yea every single Individual to be like to each other if it were of the same kind But when he had thus considered them in Order one after another after all his search he could find none like himself And when as he walked this Round he saw that the Island was compassed about with the Sea he supposed that there was no other Land besides But upon a time it hapned that in a § 17 certain dry Wood Fire chanced to be kindled by the mutual knocking and dashing together of the Boughs of some Trees which consisted of a gummy or rosiny Substance Which when he perceived he saw somewhat that affrighted him being a thing which he had never seen before so that he stood a good while much wondering at it Yet he ventured to draw nearer and nearer to it by degrees still observing its glittering Light and that wondrous great Force whereby it seized on every thing that it touched and converted it into its own Nature Then to satisfie his Wonder yet farther and being incited also by that innate Courage and Boldness which God had planted in his Nature he was induced to put his Hand to it and had a mind to lay hold thereon But when he felt that it burnt his Hand and that he was not able to lay hold on it he attempted to take a Stick from the burning Tree which the Fire had not as yet wholly seized upon and laying hold on that part which was yet untouch'd the Fire having possessed the other
Consideration he perceived that besides this Extension there was another Notion of that wherein the Extension did exist seeing that it could not exist of it self as neither that Body which was extended could exist of it self alone without Extension Then he farther considered the Nature of this Extension in some of those sensible Bodies which were indued with Forms as for Example in Clay and he observed that when it was moulded into any Figure as for Instance a Globous one it had Length Breadth and Thickness according to a certain Proportion Then if afterwards this Globous Body of Clay were changed into a four-square or oval Figure that the Length Breadth and Thickness were changed and had another Proportion than before they had but that the Clay was the same still and remain'd unchanged only it had that which it must necessarily have Length Breadth and Thickness in some Proportion or other seeing it could not be wholly deprived of them Then he farther discerned by this § 41 successive change of Figures in the same Body of Clay that this diversity of Figures was a distinct Notion from that Body as also in that he saw the Body of the Clay could not be altogether without them it plainly appeared to him that they belonged to its Essence And from this Contemplation it was apparent to him that a Body consider'd as a Body was indeed compounded of two Notions As for Example the Body of the Clay as consider'd under a Globous Figure and the same consider'd as having only the threefold Extension of Length Breadth and Thickness whether in a Globous or a Square or any other Figure He saw also that it was impossible to conceive any Body which was not made up of these two Notions and that the one of them could not possibly subsist without the other Withall he saw that the one Notion namely that of Extension which could be changed and successively put on diversity of Figures did represent the Form in all those Bodies which were indued with Forms or Figures but that the other which still abode in the same state as for Example the substantial Body of the Clay did represent the Notion of Corporeity which belonged to all Bodies of what Forms soever Now that which we call Clay in the precedent instance is the same which the Philosophers call materia prima the first matter and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is wholly void of all sort of forms Now when his Contemplation § 42 had proceeded thus far and had withdrawn it self from the Objects of Sense so that he now drew near to the Confines of the Intellectual World he began to be somewhat amazed and thereupon bending his thoughts again downwards he returned more seriously to consider and more throughly to examine That in the sensible World whereunto he he had been accustomed Wherefore he retired back a little and forbearing to meditate on the nature of the Body in general it being a thing which he could not take hold of by his sense nor as yet comprehend in his mind he undertook to consider the most simple of those sensible Bodies which he had seen namely those four about which his contemplation had before exercised it self And first of all he considered the Water as to which he saw that when it abode in that state which its form required there appeared therein a sensible Cold and a propension to move downwards but that when it was heated by the Fire or the warm Beams of the Sun the Cold first withdrew it self and departed the Propension to move downwards still remaining but that afterwards when it became more vehemently heated its Propension to move downwards then likewise forsook it so that it strove to move upwards and evaporated into the Air so that both of these qualities wholly left it which before had always issued from its Nature and Form Neither knew he any thing farther concerning its Form but that these two actions proceeded thence and that when they both forsook it the Nature or State of the form was wholly taken away so that the watery form departed out of that Body seeing that actions proceeded therefrom which properly belonged to another form and that another form in its place arose which before was not in the Water seeing that actions proceeded from it which could not naturally proceed thence whilst it retained its former form Now he well knew that when § 43 any thing was a-new produced it must needs have some Producer And from this Contemplation there was wrought in his mind a kind of a general and confused impression of the Effector of that form Then he farther directed his speculation to the considering of those forms to the knowledge whereof he had before attained contemplating them one after another Whereupon he saw that they all had their Existence anew and so necessarily required some efficient Cause Then he examined and diligently considered the Essences of forms and saw that they were nothing else but such or such a disposition of the Body from which those actions proceeded For instance in water when that is vehemently heated it is disposed to move upwards and made apt thereto and that disposition is its form seeing there is nothing present in this motion but the Body of the Water and some accidents proceeding thence which existed not before and are the objects of Sense such as qualities and motion and the Efficient which produced them whereas those accidents had no Existence before so that the aptitude of the Body to some motions before others is its disposition and form And the same truth appeared to him as to all other forms He also clearly saw that the actions which proceeded from these Bodies were not properly theirs but belonged to that Efficient which by those actions produced those Attributes that are ascribed to them And this notion which thus appeared to him is the same thing which was said by the messenger of God viz. Mahomet I am his hearing whereby he hears and his sight whereby he sees And in the Text of the Alcoran Cap. Al Anphali You have not slain them but God hath slain them And thou hast not cast them away but God hath cast them away Now whenas he was certainly § 44 assured of this Efficient the which appeared to him in general and confusedly a vehement desire seized on him to get a distinct knowledge thereof But because he had not as yet withdrawn and sequestred himself from the sensible World he began to seek this voluntary Agent amongst things sensible neither as yet knew he whether it were one Agent or many Wherefore he took a view of all the Bodies that were near him those namely which his thoughts had been continually fixed upon all which he saw were successively liable to Generation and Corruption if not in the whole at least in their parts As for example he saw that the parts both of Water and Earth were corrupted by Fire He saw likewise that the Air was
long to set down the manner and degrees of that Progress which he made in this Science and besides it is published in many Books Neither is it requisite as to our present Design to say any more thereof than what we have already discoursed Now when he had proceeded thus § 48 far in the Astronomical Science he found that the whole Orbe of the Heavens and whatsoever it contained within its Compass was as it were one entire thing composed of Parts mutually conjoyned to each other and that all the Bodies which he had before considered as Earth Water Air Plants Animals and all the rest in like manner were comprehended in it so that none of them went beyond its bounds He found also that the whole Body or Frame of the World very near resembled some one single Animal so that the Stars which shined therein answered to the Senses the diversity of the Spheres which were contiguous to each other resembled the variety of Limbs and that all those Bodies therein which were liable to Generation and Corruption resembled those things which are contained in the Belly of an Animal such as various Excrements and Humours whence Animals also are often generated as they are in the greater World Now whenas he was thus well § 49 assured that all these things made up as it were one compleat Substance which stood in need of a voluntary Agent viz. to produce settle and order it and that its manifold Parts appeared to him to be but one thing in like manner as the Bodies in this lower World which is subject to Generation and Corruption seemed but one he proposed to his Consideration the World in general and debated with himself whether it were a thing which arose a-new whereas before it had not a Being and so came forth of nothing to obtain an Existence or whether it were a thing which had always existed and never wanted a Being Concerning this matter he had very many and great Doubts within himself so that neither of these two Opinions did oversway the probability of the other For when he proposed to himself the belief of Eternity many Objections came in his way touching the impossibility of an infinite Being in like manner as the Existence of an infinite Body had seemed impossible to him He saw likewise that whatsoever Substance was not void of Accidents a-new produced but always indued with them must also necessarily be produced together with them because it cannot be said to be produced before them Seeing then such a Substance cannot be said to be existent before such Accidents produced a-new it must also be said to have its existence a-new On the other side when he proposed to himself the belief of its being produced a-new some other Objections thwarted him Especially this that the Notion of its production a-new after non existence could not be understood unless some time were supposed which was precedent to its Existence whereas Time was in the number of those things which belonged to the World and was inseparable from it so that it could not be said to be later than time or to have its Being after it He also thus reasoned with himself If the World were produced a-new it must needs have some Cause that produced it And if so why did that Cause produce it now and not before Was it because some Motive supervened which it had not before But it is supposed that there was nothing then existent besides the Cause it self Was it then by reason of some change which befell the Effence of this Cause If so what caused this change Thus he ceased not for some Years to ponder these things in his Mind and to argue with himself Pro and Con. For many Arguments offer'd themselves to him on either side so that neither of these two Opinions in his Judgment overpoized the other Whereas therefore this seemed to § 50 him very difficult to resolve He began to think with himself what would be the necessary Consequence of either Opinion for perhaps thought he there would be the same Consequence of both Whereupon he saw that if he supposed the World to have been created a-new and so to have had its Existence out of nothing it would necessarily follow thence that it could not have risen to this Existence by any Power of its own but contrariwise required some efficient Cause which gave it an actual Being Withall he saw that this Efficient could not be apprehended by any of the Senses for then it would be a bodily Substance which if it were it would be one of those things that belong to the World and so would have had its existence a-new and withall would have stood in need of some other Cause which should have produced it a-new And if this second Efficient also were a Body it would have needed a third to produce it and that a fourth and so there would have been a Progress in infinitum without fixing in any first Cause which to suppose is absurd and irrational The World therefore must necessarily have such an efficient Cause which is not a bodily Substance and seeing it is not a Body there is no reason that it should be apprehended by any of the Senses for the five Senses apprehend nothing but Bodies or such Accidents as adhere to Bodies And seeing it cannot be apprehended by Sense neither can it be comprehended by the Imagination For the Imagination is nothing else but the Representation of the Forms or Images of those things which were apprehended by Sense when the bodily Objects themselves are removed Seeing then that it is not a Body neither can any Properties of the Body be attributed ot it Now the first and chief Property of a Body is the threefold Extension viz. towards Length Breadth and Thickness Wherefore he is far from having any such Extension or any Accidents of Bodies which are consequent to this Property And seeing that he is the maker of the World doubtless he knows what it is and whatsoever is in it and withall hath the Sovereign Command and Ordering thereof Shall not he know it who created it For he is most eminent in Knowledge and omniscient He saw also that if he believed § 51 the Eternity of the World and that it hath been always as it is now and that it came not out of nothing it would necessarily sollow from thence that its Motion also was from Eternity and so without a Beginning whenas no Rest preceded it whence it should take its Rise and begin its Course Now every Motion necessarily requires some Mover or Cause of Motion And that must be either some Power diffused in a certain Body viz. either in the Body of the thing which is moved or in some other Body which is without it or else it is some Power which is not diffused and spread throughout any certain Body Now every Power which is diffused in any certain Body and dispersed throughout it is also divided together with that
Body and multiplied with it As for Example Heaviness in a Stone which causeth it to move downwards For if the Stone be divided into two Parts so will the Heaviness also and if some other Stone of an equal Weight be added thereto another like Heaviness will be likewise added And if it were possible that the Stone should grow still bigger till it reached to an infinite Extension the weightiness would increase also in the same Proportion And on the other side if the Stone should attain to a certain size of bigness and there stop the weightiness also thereof would arise unto the same Bound and increase no farther But it hath been already demonstrated that every Body must needs be finite and therefore every Power which is inherent in that Body must needs be finite too On the other side if we meet with any Power which produceth an infinite Effect it must needs be such a Power as is not inherent in any Body Now we find that the Heaven is moved about with a perpetual Motion without any set Bound or End or Cessation at all Therefore if we affirm that its Motion had no Beginning it will necessarily follow from thence that the Power which moves it is neither inherent in the Body of the Heaven so moved nor in any other Body that is without it and therefore it must be somewhat which is abstracted separate and wholly diverse from all Bodies such a thing also which cannot be described nor have its Nature set forth by any corporeal Adjuncts Besides it was evident to him from his former Contemplation of this lower World which is liable to Generation and Corruption that the true Notion of the Existence of any Body agrees to it in respect of its Form the Nature whereof consists in a Disposition to variety of Motions but as for that Existence which it hath in respect of its Matter it is very poor weak and worthless and such as can hardly be conceived Therefore the Existence of the whole World consists in respect to its disposition to the Motion effected by this first mover who is void of all Matter and of all Adjuncts belonging to the Body abstracted and separate from every thing which Sense can apprehend or which our Imagination can find a way to approach unto And seeing that he is the efficient Cause of the Heavenly Motions though there be diverse kinds of them which considered singly are free from any difference or deformity alteration or cessation doubtless he hath Power over them all and a perfect knowledge of them By this means his Speculation § 52 reached up to the same pitch of Knowledge whereto it had arrived by the same steps before Neither did this lie like a stumbling-block in his way that he as yet doubted whether the World were existent from all Antiquity or created a-new in Time For whether the one or the other were true this was evident to him that the Maker of the World had an incorporeal Existence not conjoyned with any Body nor separated from any Body as being neither within such nor without it For Conjunction and Separation to be within and without are the Adjuncts of Bodies from all which the Maker of the World is free And because the Matter of every Body stands in need of some Form seeing it cannot subsist but by that nor indeed exist without it and that the Form hath really no Existence but from this voluntary Agent it appeared to him that all things which had a Being in Nature stood in need of this Agent for their Existence and that none of them could subsist without it and that therefore this Agent was the Cause of them all and they all made by it whether they had received their Existence a-new and came out of nothing or else had no Beginning in respect of Time without any Privation foregoing it For upon either of these two Supposals it would follow that their Being was caused and consequently that they necessarily required some efficient Cause from which they depended for their Being insomuch that they could neither continue unless that continued nor exist unless that existed nor have their Being from Eternity unless that were eternal But as for the efficient Cause it self it stood not in need of any of them nor any way depended upon them For how could it be otherwise seeing it hath been demonstrated that its Vertue and Power is infinite whereas all Bodies are finite and bounded and therefore that the whole World and whatsoever is in it whether Heaven or Earth or Stars and whatsoever belongs to them either above or beneath is his Work and Creation and consequently posteriour to him in Nature although not in Time As if thou hold any Body in thine Hand and then move thine Hand with it that Body also must be necessarily moved consequently to the motion of thy Hand viz. with a motion which is in Nature posteriour to the motion of thy Hand though not in Time seeing both Motions begin together In like manner the whole World is made and created by this Efficient without time whose command it is when he would have any thing made or done that he say to it Let it be and it is Alc. c. Gapher Now when he saw that all things § 53 which had a Being were his Work he again considered them in his mind with relation to the power of the Efficient In which Contemplation he much admired the rareness of the Workmanship proceeding from such accurate wisdom and the most subtle knowledge imaginable so that from his considering but a very few of the Creatures and much more from many there appeared unto him those footsteps of Wisdom and Wonders of the work of Creation which affected his mind with an excessive admiration And he became assured hereby that all these things must proceed from such a voluntary Agent as was infinitely perfect yea above all Perfection such an one to whom the weight of the least Atom was not unknown whether in Heaven or Earth no nor any other thing whether lesser or greater than it Then he considered all the kinds § 54 of Animals and how this Agent had given such a Fabrick of Body to every one of them and then taught them severally how to use it For if he had not taught them all to use those Members which he had given them and to find out those services and imployments for which they were appointed the Animal would not have received any benefit or advantage from them but they would rather have been a burden to it Hence therefore he knew that the Maker of the World was supereminently Bountiful and exceedingly Gracious to all his Creatures Moreover when upon his viewing of the Creatures he found any of them which had any thing above the rest of Shape Beauty Comeliness Power and Strength Perfection or whatsoever Excellency in any kind he cast in his mind and then concluded that whatsoever it were it must needs proceed from the
Heat discomposed him or he had need to rise for the easing Nature of her Excrementitious Burdens So that his meditations were ever and anon interrupted and he himself was forced to retire from the enjoyment of that state of mind wherein he was so exceedingly delighted and so fully satisfied forasmuch as he could not but very hardly and after a difficult strugling with himself return to that state of Vision wherein he was before ingaged Whereupon he feared lest being prevented by suddain Death whilst he was in that state of Aversion he should fall unawares into Eternal Misery and the grief of being everlastingly separated from the Beatifical sight of that Object wherein he solely delighted Whenas therefore he was thus afflicted § 62 with the consideration of his present State nor was able to find out any remedy for it he began to examine and consider in his mind all sorts of brute Creatures to take notice of all their Actions and what they imployed themselves about if so be he could perceive that any of them had any knowledge of this supream and self-existent Being and made shew of any inclination or tendency thereto that so he might learn of them what was the true cause and means of that happiness which he sought after But he soon perceived that they were imployed in getting their food and in satisfying their desires of Meat Drink and propagating their Kind that they betook themselves to the shade in hot scorching Weather and took care to keep themselves warm in the cold of Winter and the Night season and that they diligently applyed themselves to these imployments both Night and Day until the very time of their Death and departure out of this Life Neither saw he any one of them which diverted its course of living from this ordinary way or was at any time solicitous in the pursuit of any other design Whence it clearly appeared to him that these brute Creatures understood not any thing of the supream Being nor were affected with any desire of him nor were in the way or in any manner of capacity of obtaining the knowledge of him but that on the contrary they all tended to nothing or to a state near of kin thereunto And whenas he had concluded thus far concerning brute Animals he quickly saw that it was more rational to judge the same of Plants and Vegetables which had but few of those sensible apprehensions or operations that brute Animals had For seeing those Creatures which were of a more perfect apprehension could not arrive to this knowledge much less could they obtain it whose faculties were less perfect when he saw withall that all the operations of Plants extended not beyond nourishment and the propagation of kind After this he considered with himself § 63 the Stars and the Spheres of Heaven and observed that they all moved in a set constant Order and were all carried about in a regular Course He saw also that they were bright and shining Bodies and far from being subject to any alteration or corruption Whereupon he strongly guessed that besides their Bodies they had Essences or Forms which knew the necessarily existent Being and that these intelligent Forms or Essences were like unto his and so neither Bodies nor inherent in Bodies For how should these heavenly Bodies want such forms or Essences as are free from any bodily mixture whenas he had the like who notwithstanding was so weak and frail and stood in need of so many sensible and bodily things to maintain his life For seeing he who was ranked in the number of corruptible Bodies yet notwithstanding all his defects was not thereby hindred from having such an Essence within him as was incorporeal and incorruptible much more then concluded he the same of the heavenly Bodies and thereby assured himself that they knew that necessarily existent Being and enjoyed a perpetual Vision thereof because there was no obstacle found in or about them arising from sensible Objects which could hinder them from the continual enjoyment of this Vision as they ever and anon interrupted him Then he began to consult with § 64 himself wherefore he alone among all the sorts of living Creatures should be endued with that Essence or form whereby he was made to resemble the heavenly Bodies For it had been manifestly made appear to him before what was the nature and condition of the Elements and that some of them were changed into others that whatsoever was found upon the surface of the Earth did in no wise continue in the same form but that Generation and Corruption perpetually succeeded each other as also that most of these Bodies were mixt and compounded of contrary ingredients and therefore tended to Corruption that there was nothing to be found amongst them which was absolutely pure but that which was nearest to Purity and Simplicity and farthest removed from mixture among these earthly Bodies was also farthest removed from Corruption as the Body of the Gold and of the Hyacinth But as for the heavenly Bodies they were Simple and Pure and for that cause farther distant from Corruption so that they were not liable to any succession of Forms Here also it appeared to him that as to the Bodies which are found in this lower World and are subject to Generation and Corruption some of them were such whose Essence consisted of one Form alone superadded to their Corporeity as the four Elements others whose Essential State or Nature consisted of more than one as Plants and Animals It appeared also to him that the nature of those Bodies which consisted of fewer forms had fewer operations and were farther distant from Life and that if there were any Body to be found which was destitute of a Form it had no Capacity of obtaining Life or exercising vital actions but was in a state like to privation or nothing but that the Body whose Essential subsistence consisted of more Forms withal exercised more Actions and had a more easie and ready entrance to the state of Life and if the Form were so disposed that there was no way of separating it from the matter whereto it properly belonged then was the Life thereof very manifest firm and vigorous but on the contrary whatsoever Body was wholly destitute of a Form was nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or matter having no Life at all in it so that it was near of kin to nothing Furthermore he saw that the Bodies which subsisted in one Form were the four Elements which had the first and lowest degree of Existence in this lower World which is subject to Generation and Corruption and that all other Bodies which had more Forms were compounded of these but that these Elements had a very weak kind of Life or Principle of Action seeing they were moved but one kind of way and every one of them had some contrary which manifestly opposed it resisting it in that whereunto its Nature tended and endeavouring to deprive it of its Form
nothing nor conjoyned to his better Part for no good End or Purpose and that therefore it behoved him to take care of it and have a due regard of its preservation which care he could not shew and make good as he ought but by performing such Actions which were correspondent to the Actions of other Animals Now the Actions which seemed necessary for him to perform had a threefold Respect being either such whereby he resembled and acted alike to the brute Animals or such wherein he resembled the heavenly Bodies or such wherein he resembled the necessarily existent Being The first sort of Actions were necessary for him in regard of his dark vile and gross Body consisting of distinct Members endued with several Faculties and acted with diverse kinds of Motion The second Resemblance was necessary for him in regard of the Animal Spirit the Seat whereof was his Heart which was the prime Part of the whole Body and the Fountain whence all its Faculties and their Operations issued Lastly his third Resemblance was necessary for him as he was himself that is as he was that Being whereby he knew the necessarily existent Being And before this he was well assured that his Felicity and freedom from Misery consisted in the perpetual Vision of that necessarily existent Being whereby he should be placed and continued in that state wherein he might not divert the Eye of his Mind from beholding him no not for a Moment Then he considered those ways and § 69 means whereby he might acquire the continuation of this Vision in contemplating whereof he at length determined that it was necessary for him to exercise himself in the foremention'd three kinds of Resemblance And as to the first of them he saw that he could not get from thence any thing pertaining to this Vision but that it rather withdrew his Thoughts another way and hindred him seeing it was conversant altogether in sensible things all which were a kind of Vail which interposed it self between him and this Vision Notwithstanding he saw that he had need of this Resemblance to preserve his Animal Spirit whereby the second Resemblance which he had with the heavenly Bodies was acquired and that in this regard he had need of it although it was not wholly void of Hurt and Damage But as to the second Conformity he saw indeed that an ample Portiou of that continued Vision was thereby acquired but such a Vision withall as had some mixture in it seeing that whosoever contemplates the Vision after this manner together with it contemplates his own Essence and casts a look upon it as shall be shewn hereafter But then as for the third Conformity he saw that an entire Vision of the self-existent Being was thereby acquired and such a sincere Attention thereto as had no way any Respect to any other Object but that alone so that whosoever thus contemplated it was wholly abstracted even from his own Essence which then quite vanished out of his Sight and became as nothing as all other Beings in like manner whether more or fewer except the Essence of the one true necessarily Existent great high and powerful Being Now when he was thus manifestly § 70 assured that the Summ and Perfection of his Desires consisted in this third Conformity and that this could not be acquired but after the exercise of and long applying of himself to the second Conformity and that he could not continue in applying himself thereto but by a precedent attending of the first Conformity which although it was necessary yet he knew was an Impediment in it self though an Help by Accident he so restrained his Mind and bridled his Appetite that he allowed it no part of that first Conformity but such as Necessity required and that was such a Proportion as less than it could not suffice to the Conservation of his Animal Spirit He saw also that there were two things necessarily required to the Conservation of this Spirit the one to continue it within the Body and make a constant supply of that Nourishment which continually wasted the other to preserve it from without and to repell the various kinds of Adversaries which were still at hand to hurt and indamage it as Cold Heat Rain the scorching of the Sun harmful Beasts and the like He saw also that if he took of that which was necessary unadvisedly and at adventure it might so happen that he fell into excess by taking more of it than was expedient for him and so by his rash endeavour after Self-preservation might before he was well aware prejudice his Health He conceived therefore that he should act most advisedly if he set such Bounds to himself as he would not in any wise transgress and certain Measures which he would not exceed And it appeared very clearly to him that he ought to set this Rule to himself concerning the kinds of Meat which he was to feed on both in regard of their Quality and Quantity and the set times of feeding on them And first of all he considered the § 71 several kinds of those Meats which he used to feed upon and found that there were three sorts of them viz. either Plants that were not full ripe nor had yet attained to their highest perfection such as were the several kinds of new-sprung green Herbs and fit for Food or the Fruits of such Plants which were grown to perfection and ripe and had brought forth their Seed whence others of the same kind might be produced and such were the kinds of Fruits that were newly gathered and dry or some Animal that was fit for Food whether living on Land or in the Sea Now he was well assured within himself that all these Creatures were made by the necessarily existent Being in drawing near to which he saw that his Felicity consisted and to whom therefore he desired to be made like He was certain too that his feeding on these Creatures did hinder them from attaining their Perfection and interposed it self between them and that end which they naturally aimed at and endeavoured to obtain in doing whereof he should by that means oppose himself to and resist the Work and Design of the supream Agent which Opposition would be contrary to that nearness and Conformity thereto which he so earnestly sought after He thought therefore that it would be best for him in case it were possible to abstain wholly from all manner of Food But seeing this could not be done and that he saw that a total abstinence from Food manifestly tended to the destruction of his Body which would be a greater Repugnancy to his Creator than the Former seeing he was a nobler Creature than any or all of those whose destruction was the Cause of preserving his Life he judged it best of two Evils to choose the least and to allow himself the lesser of the two Repugnancies It seemed good therefore to him in § 72 case other Food was not to be had to take of the