Light the Rules of Motion the Doctrine of Refraction and Reflexion without which the Eye had been no Eye nor Vision ever effectuated To secure this necessary Organ from danger it is lodged in a well adapted bony Orbite and because only a Body of a Spherical Figure can move easily within another especially when the whole space is to be filled up therefore the Eye is Spherical which is the only Figure capable of those many Motions which are necessary for discerning the various Objects which surround us and both to facilitate these Motions and for performing them rightly it is tied by various Muscles interwoven with many Nerves by the means of which it moves up and down and to either side easily These Muscles are also so situate that one is a kind of curb to the motion of the other lest the Eye should be in hazard of being renversed Moreover they serve to keep the Eye fixed upon Objects as long as there is occasion to look at them The Eye-lids are not only for a cover when we are asleep but also they serve to clean and clear it by their Motions which could not be so safely done by the Hand As the Eye giveth Life and Beauty to the Countenance and discovers the inward Thoughts and hidden Temper both of Body and Mind so nothing could have been more admirably contrived for Vision being composed of various humours contained in different Coats The Cornea or White is convex and receiveth different degrees of Convexity according as the Objects are far or near and to render it capable of changing its Figure thus the humour next to it is thin liquid and pliable which is therefore called Aqueous The Pupilla or Sight doth dilate and contract it self as there is more or less Light And because various distances of Objects require different Positions of the Cristalline humour through which the Rays of Light pass to the Retina where they form the Image of the external Object For Rays from a nearer Object unite at a greater distance than those which come from an Object more remote therefore the Cristalline humour is pressed upon the Retina by what Anatomists call Ligamentum Ciliare and yet it is kept by the Vitrious humour at such a due distance as is necessary for uniting the Rays exactly upon it And that the Image of the Object which is formed upon the Retina may not be disordered by a Reflexion of the Rays which pass through it therefore the Choroides or coat which surrounds it is tinctured black which colour doth not reflect any Rays for if it were of another colour it would and so hinder a distinct Vision of external Objects The Retina upon which the Image of all external Objects is formed is not above an inch and a half and yet without Calculation or consulting Experience or Arithmetical Tables of Proportion we are made to perceive all Objects distinctly in their just and real Proportions and at their true Distances which is a most wonderful Contrivance altogether impossible without infinite Power and Wisdom as both this and some other particulars of Vision are inexplicable by humane Reason Nor is the Ear less curious than the Eye Some offer to prove it more Artificial but Comparisons here as in other things are to no purpose Certainly there are as many if not more distinct Parts in the Fabrick of the Ear than Eye But it not being my design to give an Anatomical Discourse I will not offer to dissect it Notice of all external Sound is given by a delicate Membrane which is guarded by a viscous Substance lest rude and violent Percussions should break it There are wonderful Cavities for receiving the impressions and beatings upon this Membrane for reverberating them for modifying and distinguishing them that they may be clearly understood All which can be ascribed to nothing less than infinite Wisdom which contrived the Eye to give us the most delightful Prospect of the most pleasant Scenes of the Divine Opera and which formed the Ear to entertain us with the sweet Notes which the most Melodious feathered Chorus Sing to the Praises of their Creator and especially that by these means our Souls tho' strictly chained to and closely detained in the Body may be capable of communicating their Thoughts to one another 4. Which leads me to the internal and intellectual Faculties the vast Capacity of the Mind the quick and lively force of the Imagination the incomprehensible Store-house of the Memory where Myriads of things are laid up without any Confusion but ranged in that good order as a very Thought can produce them in a Moment This is a large Subject I dare not attempt it lest I be carried too far or should utter things not so obvious or which might occasion debate I only mark the excellency and usefulness of these Faculties which every one can understand It is by the means of these that we think reason discourse arrive at Wisdom and Knowledge by comparing things together considering their mutual Relations by Judging the present from what is past by running the Effects up to their Cause and by taking measures both of Natural and Moral Events and Productions from the Nature and Conjunction of Causes By all which method and manner of reasoning we constantly find that every thing must have a Cause for nothing can produce nothing nor can any thing give to another the perfection which it self wants Motion must have a Mover Life must proceed from something that Lives and Art and Contrivance from one or other that understands the same and consequently the whole System of our Reason must be overturned the first Principles of Knowledge rejected and the clearest Perception denied if he who planted the Ear did not hear if he who formed the Eye did not see if he who teacheth man Knowledge doth not know In a word if the Author of our Being be not infinitely Wise and Powerful to which all Mankind have given their consent for as the Latin Orator and some others have observed there was never yet found any Nation or People who did not acknowledge a God I crave leave to add some few Thoughts more for evincing this 5. One is taken from the wonderful Contrivance of nourishing the Body and supplying all its Parts Many rare Inventions have been ruined because they could not be sustained or repaired When the secret Springs broke they perished and what a trouble is it to uphold the Machines of Humane Contrivance or to keep them a going But as the Author of our Being did foresee that our Bodies were liable to decay and did waste themselves by acting and moving so he has most wisely provided against that Evil and has laid down a wonderful easie Method of sending Recruits to all the Parts far and near nay even to these which are wrap'd up in the Heart of others without doing prejudice to the surrounding Vessels which is by receiving a little proper Food into the Mouth from whence after
and not also conclude the Valves of the Heart Veins and Arteries such another Contrivance Is there more Art in the various ways of joining the different pieces of any Frame or Machine than there is in the different joinings of the Bones of the Body which makes them move differently and very usefully As for Example The upper part of the Bone of the Arm is convex and that Bone of the Shoulder which receives it is concave by which Means we can trun our Arm round whereas at the Elbow there is another Kind of Articulation which only suffers that part of the Arm to turn upwards towards the Shoulder And because neither of these joinings were proper for the divers Motions of the Hand and Fore-Arm therefore its Bones are joined so as to make it capable of turning round and of moving backwards and forwards up and down and almost every way The Teeth are the only Bones of the Body except those of the Ear which are not covered with a most sensible Membrane And if they had been covered with it we had been liable to continual Pain Now this Difference between the Teeth and the rest of the Bones could not be Chance but a wise Contrivance I might also make out this further by considering the different Contrivance betwixt the Teeth of Men and other Animals and those of other Animals according to their different Natures and by many other Instances But what hath been said is sufficient to prove That the Ends and Uses of natural things are real and not fansied by Men that the Universal Frame and the Nature of particular things do evidently and demonstrably prove a wise Contrivance and consequently that all things are the Effects of a wise and intelligent Agent And who would be further cleared and perswaded of this Matter let them read the Treatise which the Honoured and Worthy Master Boyle has written of Final Causes 5. But 2dly 't is objected That if it be reasonable to conclude the Existence of a Deity or some supreme and intelligent powerful Being from the seeming Order and Contrivance of some things it is as reasonable to conclude that there is no such being from the manifest Irregularity and Vselessness of other things for if there was a God or any Wise Almighty Being as is pretended all his Works would bear Prints of his Wisdom But we see many things which have no manner of Contrivance in them which are of no Vse but rather prejudicial and therefore we have Reason to believe that the rest happened by Chance and not by Design Thus say they the Spleen is the Occasion of much Pain and Trouble and is of it self of no Vse for several Animals have been known to live without it Mountains are irregular and ill contrived Heaps which spoil the Surface of the Earth and render it less beautiful and are very inconvenient for Travelling and Commerce If this Terraqueous Globe had been the Work of a wise Agent there would not have been more Water than dry Land which is the only proper Habitation for Man and Terrestrial Animals which are by much preferrable to Fishes Nor would there have been so much Ground laid wast which cannot be inhabited as the Desarts of Arabia the Lybian Sands and about the Two Poles c. 6. To all this I answer First That tho' it should be granted that there are many thing without Contrivance and which show no Design yet it would be unreasonable to deny the necessary Consequences of what doth manifestly show both a Contrivance and Design and therefore whether there be more or fewer Instances which do so it still follows that there is a Wise Intelligent Being capable to produce them 2 dly We cannot without Rashness conclude That a things is without Contrivance because we cannot find it out nor is intended for any use because we cannot perceive it Our Knowledge is very much limited and it is impossible for us to comprehend all that God doth and it is great Presumption to condemn what we do not understand No wise Man will slight the Works of any famous Mechanick or Artist tho' he doth not presently conceive what he intended by it for his known Art and Skill in other things makes it reasonable to believe that what is not yet declared or understood was nevertherless well designed and artificially contrived Even so seeing the general Frame of the World doth show so much Wisdom and that there appears so much Art and Contrivance in the Nature and Structure of particular Beings we ought from hence to conclude that all things are wisely and well contrived for excellent Ends and Purposes tho' we be ignorant of many of them 3 dly In passing a Censure and Judgment upon particular things we ought not to consider them separately only but also with a Respect to other things to which they have a Relation and with which they are conjoined Having premised these things in general I answer next to these particular Instances proposed First That tho' the Use of the Spleen is not yet well known nor can it be certainly determined nevertheless we have no Reason to think it useless seeing the Structure of it is as curious as that of the Liver Lungs and other Parts The Use and Function of several other Vessels were not known till of late and after Ages may discover the Use of this too which certainly was never placed in the Body without some special End or Use nor must it be reckoned altogether useless because some Animals have been found to live without it For so both Men and other Animals do live without some Parts which are of a known Use and of a special Contrivance besides tho' the Loss of the Spleen did not instantly put an end to Life it might have shortned it or rendred it painful and uneasie marring the Oeconomy of the Body 2. As to the Mountains they are very far from being useless for they serve to collect and condense the Vapours which feedeth Springs and Fountains They determine the Winds in some measure They nourish divers Plants which will not grow upon the Valleys They are proper for Metals and Minerals and are so far from spoiling the Beauty of the Earth that they make it much more pleasant by casting it into divers Shapes and Figures 3. There is as much dry Land as is necessarry either for Man or Terrestrial Animals nay as much as could contain many Millions more than there are so that there is no Reason to complain of being straitned by want of Room And it was necessary that there should be more Sea than dry Land partly for the Conveniency of Navigation and partly for furnishing sufficient Rain to water the Earth The Ground requires all the Rain which falleth which by Computation is reckoned in one Year to be Five times the Quantity of Water in the Sea If therefore there had been less Water either the Earth should have been without sufficient Rain or when it rained the
Sea should have been too much emptied which would have been very inconvenient both for those Creatures who live in it and also for the Ships that sail upon it The Libyan Sands and barren Desarts of Arabia c. cast no Reflection upon the wise Contrivance of the Earth for it is not reasonable to think that all Parts should be alike good and excellent Diversity is both useful and pleasant What is wanting in these barren Places is supplied by the Richness of others which are also rendred more delightful by the Contemplation of such frightful Desolateness even as Shadows contribute to the Beauty of a Picture and the Brightness of the other Colours Besides other Uses which we yet know not they may be designed also to make us sensible how much we owe to the Bounty of the wise Author of all things who hath made so much of the Earth a convenient Habitation for the Children of Men. Lastly The same may be said in Reference to the Countries about the Two Poles which are not very considerable if we compare them with the rest of the habitable World And besides they show the wise Contrivance of the Spheroidical Figure of the Earth and of making the Axis so much shorter than the Diameter of the Equator for if it had been otherwise the frigid Zones should have been much more large and much less habitable There is no way to Remedy that Inconvenience of the Country about the Poles at least in our Conception except there were Two Suns or that this Sun was made to move without and beyond the Tropicks neither of which would be so convenient as the present Contrivance 7. 3 dly It is said That the World and all things in it were eternal which if true in their Opinion will cut off all Pretext of Contrivance and Design For if nothing was ever made then nothing also was ever contrived there being no Occasion for contriving what was already existent 8. But this Opinion of the Eternity of the World is taken up without any Shadow of Reason or Probability It is a precarious Assertion which being denied can never be proved 2. It contradicts the Universal Tradition of Mankind which hath always attested that the World had a Beginning 3. It is against the current Testimony of all History which traceth the Origin of Nations and People the Inventions of Arts and Sciences and which sheweth that all have happened within the Space of less than Six Thousand Years according to the most probable if not certain Calculation which could not be if the World and Man had been Eternal Therefore Lucretius reasoneth very well in his Fifth Book But grant the World Eternal grant it knew No Infancy and grant it never New Why then no Wars our Poets Songs imploy Beyond the Siege of Thebes or that of Troy Why former Heroes fell without a Name Why not their Battles told by lasting Fame But 't is as I declare and thoughtful Man Not long ago and all the World began And therefore Arts that lay but rude before Are publish'd now we now Increase the Store We perfect all the Old and find out more Shippings improv'd we add New Oars and Wings And Musick now is found and speaking Strings These Truths this Rise of things we lately know 4 thly Tho' we may fansie that these greater and permanent Bodies of the Planets and Stars may have been Eternal because they have lasted so many Thousand Years without any visible Change as is acknowledged by all yet we cannot bring our Imagination to conceive the Eternity of successive Beings possible for a great many Contradictions and Absurdities do follow it If Mankind had never any other Production than what is now then there was never any Man who had not a Beginning And if all had a Beginning then Mankind cannot be Eternal therefore we must of Necessity acknowledge the Production of some one or more from whom the rest have descended in a manner different from the present And there is no Account of the first Production of Mankind so reasonable or so probable not to say now certain as that which declares the immediate Creation of one Man and one Woman by the Hand of God The like may be said of all other succesive Beings But 5 thly and Lastly Tho' we should force our selves to grant the Eternity of the World and all particular Beings yet it could not be reasonably inferred from thence that there is no God for they who desire this large Concession must grant to us too which cannot possibly be denied that there have been from all Eternity Instances of great Power and Wisdom from which it necessarily follows that there is an Eternal Wise and Mighty Being for Power and Wisdom must proceed from something that is wise and powerful Therefore the Old Philosophers who did hold the Eternity of the World did believe it a necessary Emanation from the Being of God and thought not that it did or could subsist without him 9. It is 4 thly Objected against the Being of a God That if it was it would render the Being of other things impossible for if he was he would be infinite and if infinite there could be no Room for the Existence of other things But this Argument proceeds upon a mistaken Notion of the Infinite Nature of God as if he was some gross material Substance vastly extended whereas he is a Spirit that is a Substance altogether different from Matter or Body who hath not the Properties of it and consequently we cannot draw just or true Conclusions about him from what is observable in them God's Infinity is not infinite Extension and tho' his Omnipresence hath some Resemblance to it yet the Spirituality of his Nature makes his Ubiquity and Omnipresence in no wise incompatible with the Existence of Material Beings of Corporeal Substances Nay they are only sustained by the Infinity of his Essence and therefore the Existence of so many finite things which have no Self-Sufficiency to exist of themselves doth evidently demonstrate the Existence of an Infinite Essence as the Cause and Upholder of them It would be tedious to consider all the little Cavils and Objections of Atheists against a Deity The most material are reducible to those we have now proposed and may be refuted by the Answers which we have now given for they proceed either from wrong Apprehensions of the Nature and Attributes of God or from Ignorance of the Nature and Relation of other things or from an obstinate Resistance of what is de facto evident and all of them demonstrate their Unreasonableness and Absurdity which doth further appear by the absurd and unreasonable Consequences of not acknowledging a Deity which is a second Way of proving it 10. For if there be no God then it necessarily follows That either every thing made it self or that all things came from nothing and that there are Effects which have no Cause for there is Life Sense and Reason without any
being capable to produce them And there are artificial Contrivances regular Proceedings and wise Adaptation of things to Ends and Purposes far above the Power and Capacity of any thing which is existent These and many such things follow the Denial of a God which are not only great Difficulties but such gross and senseless Absurdities as no thinking Person can either swallow or digest As therefore Deformity sheweth Shape and Proportion beautiful so the Belief of a Deity appears more reasonable by the Absurdity and Unreasonableness of Atheism which contradicts common Sense overturns the agreed Principles of Knowledge and Reason confound Chance and Contrivance Accident and Design and which has its Recourse to Wild Romantick and most precarious Hypotheses for they cannot shun the owning an Infinity and the Existence of something from Eternity and they are forced to acknowledge that things are framed according to the Rules of Art and Proportion Now is it not more reasonable to ascribe the constant Observance of these Rules to an Intelligent Being than to Chance or no Cause For there is no middle thing betwixt them to be fixed on either the one or the other must take place Nature which they talk so much of is an Obscure Word for concealing their Thoughts and Sentiments If by this they mean something distinct from Matter which moves and directs it their Nature is God in Disguise and if they must flee to this for a rational Account of the Production of things why do they quarrel at the Word God which carries a clearer Idea and in the Sense of which all the World is agreed Tho' this Nature of theirs be equivalent yet it is more mysterious and therefore it smells of some designed Perverseness as if by the Use of this Word and the Disuse of the other they would turn Peoples Thoughts from God and God from the Honour of being the Creator of all things But if by Nature they only understand certain Laws and I know not what Ordinances by which things must move is this sufficient to explain the first Productions of things For tho' it should be true that Matter cannot move but according to these Laws and that moving by them in process of Time the Work could have been produced as it is at present after that Romantick Manner of Cartesius yet there was no Necessity that Matter should move at all nor could it move of it self Wherefore whether they will or not they must own the Existence of something prior to Matter it self or the Motion of it which Cartesius was sensible of and therefore he could not build his airy and fanciful System without supposing the Existence of a Deity And if he had kept his Eye upon this infinitely perfect Being and considered the World and all particular things as his Work if instead of a vain curious Enquiry how things should have been if Matter once moved had been left to it self he had shewed how things are and explained the admirable Contrivance of them if he had given us a History of Nature and described the Wisdom of God in the Make Order Place and Relation of particular things I say If Cartesius had done this as he seems to have been able for it the World would have been more obliged to him his Philosophy should have been more rational and satisfactory more useful to others and of more lasting Fame to himself Whereas now by turning his Thoughts from the Ends and Uses of things and the Wisdom of the Author and Contriver he has turn'd his Back upon the only true Light that was to have guided him he has grop'd in the Dark and produced nothing but useless Conjectures and the extravagant Ravings of his Brain which tickled Men at first as all Novelties use to do but which wise inquisitive and thinking Men will and must disgust because there wants Solidity As God is the first Cause and Author of all things so the Belief of a Deity is the Foundation of all solid Reason what is not built on this is Nonsense and Absurdity I know the Atheists arrogate to themselves Wit and Judgment and Knowledge above others and do think that it is the Ignorance and Credulity of the Bulk of Mankind as one lately Words it which make them to be of another Belief But I pray you must they carry away Sense and Understanding from others because they are so vain as to think it Do not those in Bedlam think themselves wiser than others All the rest of the World are Fools in their Eyes and those who keep them there not only Fools but Oppressors and most unjust And yet Atheism is a more extravagant and pernicious Madness which it is the Interest of Mankind to keep from spreading But alas it has been suffered to take Root and spread nay it is cherished and encouraged Men walk the Streets and publickly act this Madness In every Corner they throw their Squibbs of Scoffs and Drollery against the Almighty Author of their Being They meet in Companies to concert how they may most wittily expose him and what is the readiest way to render him ridiculous in the Eyes of others A Clinch or Jest or puny Witticism is received and entertained as an useful Discovery and carried about with all Diligence Tho' there be no Reason why the Atheist should be a Zealot there being no Obligation on him to propagate his Opinions and because the less they are entertained by others he is the more secure yet no Sect is become more zealous of late than Atheists and their Fraternity who maintain their Cause by an affronted Impudence by the Exercise of a froathy Wit more than Reason and by Jesting and Drollery rather than serious Argument And is this a reasonable or commendable way of handling a Matter so serious and important Should Impudence run down Evidence Should a Jest or a Witticism be of more Weight than the Dictates of common Sense and sober Reason If these Men were capable of Counsel I would ask them whether they are absolutely sure that they are in the right Are they able to demonstrate that there is no God This is more than any ever yet pretended to and if they cannot pretend to this ought they not to walk very cautiously If there be a God as there may for any Assurance they have to the contrary what then have they to expect for these bold Insults and that wicked Opposition to him A modest Enquiry into Truth even into the Existence of God himself is reasonable and cannot offend either God or Man But Spite and Insolency cannot by any Means be justified It shews a Desire that there should be no God more than Doubts and Scruples about his Existence which must needs provoke the most hight God and draw down his Judgments both on those who are guilty and on the Land which cherisheth them The CONCLUSION THO' the Existence of God be most evident yet I thought my self obliged to insist the longer upon proving it because it is of such Importance for it is the Foundation of all Knowledge and Certainty as well as of all Morality and Religion The Belief of a Deity is the first Article of the Christian Creed upon which the Truth and Certainty of the rest depend And therefore 't was necessary to shew that this is no vain Hypothesis or imaginary Supposition but a Truth loudly proclaimed and strongly confirmed not only by Reason but every part of the World So that whatever the Atheist may arrogate to himself and whatever Esteem may be paid to him unjustly in this corrupt Age yet he is so far from being wiser than others that by the universal Voice of Nature as well as Scripture he will be declared a Fool who saith that there is no God When I have proved that this God doth rule the World which is also included in this first Faith I shall then consider what it is to live by it and shall shew how necessary it is to the being just and righteous And I hope that there is such Satisfaction given in these Essays that who shall read them will be desirous of the other that are promised ERRATA PAge 1. line 2. read is p. 3. l. 7. r. Scripture p. 7. l. 29. r. Principle p. 12. l. 12. r. so well p. 13. l. 17. for touchos r. touch p. 19. l. 8. f. Squares r. Square p. 23. l. ult for is r. are p. 40 l. 31. r. as well ibid. l. 33 r. a part p. 42 l. 25. r. the f. their p. 43. l. 22. r. exceedingly p. 45. l. 13. f. be r. is p. 46. l. 21. f. should r. would p. 47. l. 14. r. conjoined p. 57. l. 20. r. there FINIS * By the latest and exactest Calculation of the Modern Mathematicians there goes 69 Miles and a Tenth Part to a Degree so that the Periphery or Circumference of the Earth is 24876 English Miles It s Diameter is 7915 and the whole Solidity may be reckoned Two Hundred Fifty Nine Thousand Five Hundred Seventy and Eight Million Nine Hundred Thrity Three Thousand Four Hundred and Five Cubical Miles The Earth is greater than Mercury or Mars for the First bears only the Proportion to it which an 100 hath to 347 and the other of an 100 to 334 That is the Earth is more than three times greater than any of these But then it is much less than the rest of the Planets for in respect of Venus the Earth has only the Proportion of 43 to an 100 to Jupiter as 121 to 10000 to Saturn as 296 to 10000 and to the Sun as 1 to 1367631. The Magnitude of the fixed Stars cannot be conjectured but there are Demonstrations offered to prove them greater than any of the Planets seeing they shine so bright at amost stupendius Distance For a Telescope which multiplieth 200 times doth not shew them bigger than they appear to the naked Eye but rather less Whence it follows That this planetary Orb is but as a Point in respect of the Distance of the fixed Stars and consequently That the Vniverse which comprehends the Planets and all the Stars visible and invisible each of which has a particular Orb must be Immense beyond all Imagination and Apprehension