Nihil est enim quod non Alicubi esse cogatur The Stoicks divided Nature into Two Things as the First Principles One whereof is the Efficient or Artificer the Other that which offers it self to him for things to be made out of it In the Efficienti Principle they took notice of Active Force in the Patient of Matter but so as that in each of these were both together forasmuch as neither the Matter could cohere together unless it were contained by some Active Force nor the Active Force subsist of it self without Matter because that is Nothing which is not somewhere But besides these Stoicks there were other Philosophers who admitting of Incorporeal Substance did suppose Two First Principles as Substances really distinct from one another that were Coexistent from Eternity an Incorporeal Deity and Matter as for Example Anaxagoras Archelaus Atticus and many more insomuch that Pythagoras himself was reckoned amongst those by Numenius and Plato by Plutarch and Laertius And we find it commonly taken for granted that Aristotle also was of this Perswasion though it cannot be certainly concluded from thence as some seem to suppose because he asserted the Eternity of the World Plotinus Porphyrius Jamblichus Proclus and Simplicius doing the like and yet notwithstanding maintaining that God was the Sole Principle of all things and that Matter also was derived from him Neither will that Passage of Aristotle's in his Metaphysicks necessarily evince the Contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God seems to be a Cause to all things and a certain Principle because this might be understood only of the Forms of things But it is plain that Plutarch was a Maintainer of this Doctrine from his Discourse upon the Platonick Psychogonia besides other Places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is therefore better for us to follow Plato than Heraclitus and loudly to declare that the World was made by God For as the world is the Best of all Works so is God the Best of all Causes Nevertheless the Substance or Matter out of which the World was made was not it self made but always ready at hand and subject to the Artificer to be ordered and disposed by him For the making of the World was not the Production of it out of Nothing but out of an antecedent Bad and Disorderly State like the Making of an House Garment or Statue It is also well known that Hermogenes and other ancient Pretenders to Christianity did in like manner assert the Self-existence and Improduction of the Matter for which Cause they were commonly called Materiarii or the Materiarian Hereticks they pretending by this means to give an account as the Stoicks had done before them of the Original of Evils and to free God from the Imputation of them Their Ratiocination to which purpose is thus set down by Tertullian God made all things either out of Himself or out of Nothing or out of Matter He could not make all things out of Himself because himself being always Vnmade he should then really have been the Maker of Nothing And he did not make all out of Nothing because being Essentially good he would have made Nihil non optimum every thing in the Best manner and so there could have been no Evil in the World But since there are Evils and these could not procede from the Will of God they must needs arise from the Fault of something and therefore of the Matter out of which things were made Lastly it is sufficiently known likewise that some Modern Sects of the Christian Profession at this day do also assert the Vncreatedness of the Matter But these suppose in like manner as the Stoicks did Body to be the Onely Substance VII Now of all these whosoever they were who thus maintained Two Self-existent Principles God and the Matter we may pronounce Universally that they were neither Better nor Worse than a kind of Imperfect Theists They had a certain Notion or Idea of God such as it was which seems to be the very same with that expressed in Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Animal the Best Eternal and represented also by Epicurus in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Animal that hath all Happiness with Incorruptibility Wherein it was acknowledged by them that besides Sensless Matter there was also an Animalish and Conscious or Perceptive Nature Self-existent from Eternity in opposition to Atheists who made Matter either devoid of all manner of Life or at least of such as is Animalish and Conscious to be the Sole Principle of All things For it hath been often observed that some Atheists attributed a kind of Plastick Life or Nature to that Matter which they made to be the Only Principle of the Universe And these Two sorts of Atheisms were long since taken notice of by Seneca in these words Vniversum in quo nos quoque sumus expers esse Consilii aut ferri Temeritate quadam aut Naturâ Nesciente quid faciat The Atheists make the Vniverse whereof our selves are part to be devoid of Counsel and therefore either to be carried on Temerariously and Fortuitously or else by such a Nature as which though it be Orderly Regular and Methodical yet is notwithstanding Nescient of what it doth But no Atheist ever acknowledged Conscious Animality to be a First Principle in the Universe nor that the Whole was governed by any Animalish Sentient and Vnderstanding Nature presiding over it as the Head of it but as it was before declared they Concluded all Animals and Animality all Conscious Sentient and Self-perceptive Life to be Generated and Corrupted or Educed out of Nothing and Reduced to Nothing again Wherefore they who on the Contrary asserted Animality and Conscious Life to be a First Principle or Vnmade thing in the Universe are to be accounted Theists Thus Balbus in Cicero declares that to be a Theist is to assert Ab Animantibus Principiis Mundum esse Generatum That the World was Generated or Produced at first from Animant Principles and that it is also still governed by such a Nature Res omnes subjectas esse Naturae Sentienti That all things are subject to a Sentient and Conscious Nature steering and guiding of them But to distinguish this Divine Animal from all others these Desiners added that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Best and most Happy Animal and accordingly this Difference is added to that Generical Nature of Animality by Balbus the Stoick to make up the Idea or Definition of God complete Talem esse Deum certâ Notione animi praesentimus Primùm ut sit Animans Deinde ut in omni Natura nihil Illo sit Praestantius We presage concerning God by a certain Notion of our Mind First that he is an Animans or Consciously Living Being and then Secondly that he is such an Animans as that there is nothing in the Whole Vniverse or Nature of things more Excellent than Him Wherefore these
Life is the Soul Concord contains Houses and Cities the cause of which Concord is Law and Harmony contains the whole World the cause of which Mundane Harmony is God And to the same purpose Aristaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the Artificer is to Art so is God to the Harmony of the world There is also this passage in the same Stobaeus cited out of an anonymous Pythagorean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is the Principle and the First thing and the World though it be not the Supreme God yet is it Divine Timaeus Locrus a Pythagorean Senior to Plato in his Book concerning Nature or the Soul of the World upon which Plato's Timaeus was but a kind of Commentary plainly acknowledgeth both One Supreme God the Maker and Governour of the whole World and also Many other Gods his Creatures and subordinate Ministers in the close thereof writing thus concerning the punishment of wickedmen after this life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All these things hath Nemesis decreed to be executed in the second Circuit by the Ministry of Vindictive Terrestrial Demons that are Overseers of humane affairs to which Demons that Supreme God the Ruler over all hath committed the Government and Administration of the World Which world is compleated and made up of Gods Men and other Animals all Created according to the best Pattern of the Eternal and Vnmade Idea In which words of Timaeus there are these Three several Points of the Pagan Theology contained First that there is One Supreme God Eternal and Unmade the Creator and Governour of the whole World and who made it according to the Best Pattern or Exemplar of his own Idea's and Eternal Wisdom Secondly that this World Created by God is compounded and made up of other Inferiour Gods Men and Brute Animals Thirdly that the Supreme God hath committed the Administration of our Humane Affairs to Demons and Inferiour Gods who are constant inspectors over us some of which he also makes use of for the punishment of wicked men after this life Moreover in this Book of Timaeus Locrus the Supreme God is often called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in way of eminency sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Very Good sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Principle of the Best things sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Maker of the Better Evil being supposed not to proceed from him sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Best and most Powerful Cause sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Prince and Parent of all things Which God according to him is not the Soul of the World neither but the Creator thereof he having made the World an Animal and a Secondary Generated God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God willing to make the world the Best that it was capable of made it a Generated God such as should never be destroyed by any other Cause but only by that God himself who framed it if he should ever will to dissolve it But since it is not the part of that which is good to destroy the Best of Works the World will doubtless ever remain Incorruptible and Happy the best of all Generated things made by the Best Cause looking not at Patterns Artificially framed without him but the Idea and Intelligible Essence as the Paradigms which whatsoever is made conformable to must needs be the Best and such as shall never need to be mended Moreover he plainly declares that this Generated God of his the World was produced in Time so as to have a Beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before the Heaven was made existed the Idea Matter and God the Opifex of the Best Wherefore whatever Ocellus and Philolaus might do yet this Timaeus held not the Worlds Eternity wherein he followed not only Pythagoras himself as we have already shewed but also the generality of the first Pythagoreans of whom Aristotle pronounces without exception 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they Generated the World Timaeus indeed in this Book seems to assert the Pre-eternity of the Matter as if it were a Self-existent Principle together with God and yet Clemens Alexandrinus cites a passage out of him looking another way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Would you hear of one only Principle of all things amongst the Greeks Timaeus Locrus in his Book of Nature will bear me witness thereof he there in express words writing thus There is One Principle of All Things Vnmade for if it were made it would not be a Principle but that would be the Principle from whence it was made Thus we see that Timaeus Locrus asserted One Eternal and Vnmade God the maker of the whole World and besides this another Generated God the World it self Animated with its several Parts the difference betwixt both which Gods is thus declared by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Eternal God who is the Prince Original and Parent of all these things is seen only by the Mind but the other Generated God is visible to our eyes viz. this world and those parts of it which are Heavenly that is the Stars as so many particular Gods contained in it But here it is to be observed that that Eternal God is not only so called by Timaeus as being without beginning but also as having a distinct kind of duration from that of Time which is properly called Aeon or Eternity he therein following Parmenides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Time is but an Image of that Vnmade Duration which we call Eternity wherefore as this sensible World was made according to that Eternal Exemplar or Pattern of the Intelligible World so was Time made together with the World as an Imitation of Eternity It hath been already observed that Onatus another Pythagorean took notice of an Opinion of some in his time that there was One only God who comprehended the whole World and no other Gods besides or at least none such as was to be religiously worshipped himself in the mean time asserting That there was both One God and Many Gods or besides One Supreme and Vniversal Numen Many other Inferiour and Particular Deities to whom also men ought to pay Religious Worship Now his further account of both these Assertions is contained in these following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They who maintain that there is only One God and not Many Gods are very much mistaken as not considering aright what the Dignity and Majesty of the Divine Transcendency chiefly consisteth in namely in Ruling and Governing those which are like to it that is Gods and in excelling or surmounting Others and being Superiour to them But all those other Gods which we contend for are to that First and Intelligible God but as the Dancers to the Coryphaeus or Choragus as the Inferior Common Soldiers to the Captain or General to whom it properly belongeth to follow and comply with their Leader and Commander The work indeed
Greatest Wisdom in him And Lastly to be able to effect and bring to pass all those things which he had thus decreed argues an insuperable Power Maximus Tyrius in the close of his first Dissertation gives us this short Representation of his own Theology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will now more plainly declare my sence by this similitude Imagine in your mind a great and powerful Kingdom or Principality in which all the rest freely and with one consent conspire to direct their actions agreeably to the will and command of one Supreme King the Oldest and the best And then suppose the bounds and limits of this Empire not to be the River Halys nor the Hellespont nor the Meotian Lake nor the Shores of the Ocean but Heaven above and the Earth beneath Here then let that great King sit Immovable prescribing Laws to all his subjects in which consists their safety and security the Consorts of his Empire being many both Visible and Invisible Gods some of which that are nearest to him and immediately attending on him are in the highest Royal dignity feasting as it were at the same table with him others again are their Ministers Attendants and a Third Sort inferiour to them both And thus you see how the order and chain of this government descends down by steps and degrees from the Supreme God to the Earth and Men. In which Resemblance we have a plain acknowledgment of One Supreme God the Monarch of the whole World and Three subordinate ranks of Inferiour Gods as his Ministers in the Government of the World whom that Writer there also calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods the Sons and Friends of God Aristides the famous Adrianean Sophist and Orator in his first Oration or Hymn vowed to Jupiter after he had escaped a great tempest is so full to the purpose that nothing can be more he after his Proeme beginning thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Jupiter made all things and all things whatsoever exist are the works of Jupiter Rivers and Earth and Sea and Heaven and what are between these and Gods and Men and all Animals whatsoever is perceivable either by sense or by the mind But Jupiter first of all made himself for he was not Educated in the flowery and odoriferous Caves of Crete neither was Saturn ever about to devour him nor instead of him did he swallow down a stone For Jupiter was never in danger nor will he be ever in danger of any thing Neither is there any thing older than Jupiter no more than there are sons older than their parents or works than their Opificers But he is the First and the Oldest and the Prince of all things he being made from himself nor can it be declared when he was made for he was from the beginning and ever will be his own Father and greater than to have been begotten from another As he produced Minerva from his brain and needed no wedlock in order thereunto so before this did he produce himself from himself needing not the help of any other thing for his being But on the contrary all things began to be from him and no man can tell the time since there was not then any time when there was nothing else besides and no work can be older than the maker of it Thus was Jupiter the beginning of all things and all things were from Jupiter who is better than Time which had its beginning together with the World And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All the several kinds of Gods are but a Defluxion and Derivation from Jupiter and according to Homer 's Chain all things are connected with him and depend upon him He amongst the first produced Love and Necessity Two the most powerful Holders of things together that they might make all things firmly to cohere He made Gods to be the Curators of men and he made men to be the Worshippers and Servers of those Gods All things are every where full of Jupiter and the Benefits of all the other Gods are his work and to be attributed to him they being done in compliance with that order which he had prescribed them It is certain that all the Latter Philosophers after Christianity whether Platonists or Peripateticks though for the most part they asserted the Eternity of the World yet Universally agreed in the acknowledgment of One Supreme Deity the Cause of the whole World and of all the other Gods And as Numenius Plotinus Amelius Porphyrius Proclus Damascius and others held also a Trinity of Divine Hypostases so had some of those Philosophers excellent Speculations concerning the Deity as particularly Plotinus who notwithstanding that he derived Matter and All things from One Divine Principle yet was a Contender for Many Gods Thus in his Book inscribed against the Gnosticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every man ought to endeavour with all his might to become as Good as may be but yet not to think himself to be the only thing that is good but that there are also other Good men in the World and Good Demons but much more Gods who though inhabiting this inferiour world yet look up to that Superiour and most of all the Prince of this Vniverse that most Happy Soul From whence he ought to ascend yet higher and to praise those Intelligible Gods but above all that great King and Monarch declaring his Greatness and Majesty by the Multitude of Gods which are under him For this is not the part of them who know the power of God to contract all into one but to shew forth all that Divinity which himself hath displayed who remaining One makes Many depending on him which are by him and from him For this whole World is by him and looks up perpetually to him as also doth every one of the Gods in it And Themistius the Peripatetick who was so far from being a Christian that as Petavius probably conjectures he perstringes our Saviour Christ under the Name of Empedocles for making himself a God doth not only affirm that one and the same Supreme God was worshipped by Pagans and the Christians and all Nations though in different manners but also that God was delighted with this Variety of Religions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Author and Prince of the Vniverse seems to be delighted with this Variety of Worship He would have the Syrians worship him One way the Greeks another and the Egyptians another neither do the Syrians or Christians themselves all agree they being subdivided into many Sects We shall conclude therefore with this full Testimony of St. Cyril in his First Book against Julian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is manifest to all that amongst those who Philosophize in the Greek way it is Vniversally acknowledged that there is One God the Maker of the Vniverse and who is by Nature
several parts of Matter distant from one another acting alone by themselves without any common Directrix being not able to confer together nor communicate with each other could never possibly conspire to make up one such uniform and Orderly System or Compages as the Body of every Animal is The same is to be said likewise concerning the Plastick Nature of the whole Corporeal Universe in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things are ordered together conspiringly into One. It must be one and the same thing which formeth the whole or else it could never have fallen into such an Uniform Order and Harmony Now that which is One and the Same acting upon several distant parts of Matter cannot be Corporeal Indeed Aristotle is severely censured by some learned men for this that though he talk every where of such a Nature as acts Regularly Artificially and Methodically in order to the Best yet he does no where positively declare whether this Nature of his be Corporeal or Incorporeal Substantial or Accidental which yet is the less to be wondred at in him because he does not clearly determine these same points concerning the Rational Soul neither but seems to stagger uncertainly about them In the mean time it cannot be denied but that Aristotle's Followers do for the most part conclude this Nature of his to be Corporeal whereas notwithstanding according to the Principles of this Philosophy it cannot possibly be such For there is nothing else attributed to Body in it besides these three Matter Form and Accidents neither of which can be the Aristotelick Nature First it cannot be Matter because Nature according to Aristotle is supposed to be the Principle of Motion and Activity which Matter in it self is devoid of Moreover Aristotle concludes that they who assign only a Material Cause assign no Cause at all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of well and fit of that Regular and Artificial Frame of things which is ascribed to Nature upon both which accompts it is determined by that Philosopher that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is more a Principle and Cause than Matter and therefore it cannot be one and the same thing with it Again it is as plain that Aristotle's Nature cannot be the Forms of particular Bodies neither as Vulgar Peripateticks seem to conceive these being all Generated and Produced by Nature and as well Corruptible as Generable Whereas Nature is such a thing as is neither Generated nor Corrupted it being the Principle and Cause of all Generation and Corruption To make Nature and the Material Forms of Bodies to be one and the self-same thing is all one as if one should make the Seal with the Stamper too to be one and the same thing with the Signature upon the Wax And Lastly Aristotle's Nature can least of all be the Accidents or Qualities of Bodies because these act only in Vertue of their Substance neither can they exercise any Active Power over the Substance it self in which they are whereas the Plastick Nature is a thing that Domineers over the Substance of the whole Corporeal Vniverse and which Subordinately to the Deity put both Heaven and Earth into this Frame in which now it is Wherefore since Aristotle's Nature can be neither the Matter nor the Forms nor the Accidents of Bodies it is plain that according to his own Principles it must be Incorporeal 21. Now if the Plastick Nature be Incorporeal then it must of necessity be either an Inferiour Power or Faculty of some Soul which is also Conscious Sensitive or Rational or else a lower Substantial Life by it self devoid of Animal Consciousness The Platonists seem to affirm both these together namely that there is a Plastick Nature lodged in all particular Souls of Animals Brutes and Men and also that there is a General Plastick or Spermatick Principle of the whole Vniverse distinct from their Higher Mundane Soul though subordinate to it and dependent upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is called Nature is the Off-spring of an higher Soul which hath a more Powerful Life in it And though Aristotle do not so clearly acknowledge the Incorporeity and Substantiality of Souls yet he concurrs very much with this Platonick Doctrine that Nature is either a Lower Power or Faculty of some Conscious Soul or else an Inferiour kind of Life by it self depending upon a Superiour Soul And this we shall make to appear from his Book De Partibus Animalium after we have taken notice of some considerable Preliminary Passages in it in order thereunto For having first declared that besides the Material Cause there are other Causes also of Natural Generations namely these two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that for whose sake or the Final Cause and that from which the Principle of Motion is or the Efficient Cause he determines that the former of these Two is the principal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The chiefest of these two Causes seems to be the Final or the Intending Cause for this is Reason and Reason is alike a Principle in Artificial and in Natural things Nay the Philosopher adds excellently that there is more of Reason and Art in the things of Nature than there is in those things that are Artificially made by men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is more of Final or Intending Causality and of the reason of Good in the works of Nature than in those of Humane Art After which he greatly complains of the first and most Ancient Physiologers meaning thereby Anaximander and those other Ionicks before Anaxagoras that they considered only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Material Principle and Cause of things without attending to those Two other Causes the Principle of Motion and that which aims at Ends they talking only of Fire Water Air and Earth and generating the whole World from the Frotuitous Concourse of these Sensless Bodies But at length Aristotle falls upon Democritus who being Junior to those others before mentioned Philosophised after the same Atheistical manner but in a new way of his own by Atoms acknowledging no other Nature neither in the Universe nor in the Bodies of Animals than that of Fortuitous Mechanism and supposing all things to arise from the different Compositions of Magnitudes Figures Sites and Motions Of which Democritick Philosophy he gives his Censure in these following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If Animals and their several parts did consist of nothing but Figure and Colour then indeed Democritus would be in the right But a Dead man hath the same Form and Figure of Body that he had before and yet for all that he is not a Man neither is a Brazen or Wooden Hand a Hand but only Equivocally as a Painted Physician or Pipes made of Stone are so called No member of a Dead Mans Body is that which it was before when he was alive neither Eye nor Hand nor Foot Wherefore this is but a rude way of Philosophizing and just as if a Carpenter should talk
Relaxation and there-not Mechanical but Vital We might also add amongst many others the Intersection of the Plains of the Equator and Ecliptick or the Earth's Diurnal Motion upon an Axis not Parallel with that of the Ecliptick nor Perpendicular to the Plain thereof For though Carâ—esius would needs imagine this Earth of ours once to have been a Sun and so it self the Centre of a lesser Vortex whose Axis was then Directed after this manner and which therefore still kept the same Site or Posture by reason of the Striate Particles finding no fit Pores or Traces for their passage thorough it but only in this Direction yet does he himself confess that because these Two Motions of the Earth the Annual and Diurnal would be much more conveniently made upon Parallel Axes therefore according to the Laws of Mechanism they should perpetually be brought nearer and nearer together till at length the Equator and the Ecliptick come to have their Axes Parallel to one another Which as it hath not yet come to pass so neither hath there been for these last two Thousand years according to the best Observations and Judgments of Astronomers any nearer approach made of them to one another Wherefore the Continuation of these â—wo Motions of the Earth the Annual and Diurnal upon Axes differâ—nt or not Parallel is resolvable into nothing but a Final and Mental Cause or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it was Best it should be so the Variety of the Seasons of the year depending hereupon But the greatest of all the particular Phaenomena is the Organization and Formation of the Bodies of Animals consisting of such Variety and Curiosity which these Mechanick Philosophers being no way able to give an account of from the Necessary Motion of Matter Vnguided by Mind for Ends prudently therefore break off their System there when they should come to Animals and so leave it altogether untouch'd We acknowledge indeed that there is a Posthumous Piece extant imputed to Cartesius and entituled De la Formation du Foetus wherein there is some Pretence made to salve all this by Fortuitous Mechanism But as the Theory thereof is wholly built upon a False Supposition sufficiently confuted by the Learned Harvey in his Book of Generation That the Seed doth Materially enter into the Composition of the Egg so is it all along Precarious and Exceptionable nor does it extend at all to the Differences that are in several Animals or offer the least Reason why an Animal of one Species or Kind might not be Formed out of the Seed of another It is here indeed Pretended by these Mechanick Theists that Final Causes therefore ought not to be of any Regard to a Philosopher because we should not arrogate to Our selves to be as Wise as God Almighty is or to be Privy to his Secrets Thus in the Metaphysical Meditations Atque ob hanc Vnicam Rationem totum illud Causarum genus quod à Fine peti solet in Rebus Physicis nullum Vsum habere existimo non enim absque Temeritate me puto investigare posse Fines Dei And again likewise in the Principles of Philosophy Nullas unquam Rationes circa Res Naturales à Fine quem Deus aut Natura in iis faciendis sibi proposuit admittimus quia non tantum nobis debemus arrogare ut ejus Consiliorum participes esse possimus But the Question is not Whether we can always reach to the Ends of God Almighty and know what is Absolutely Best in every case and accordingly make Conclusions that therefore the thing is or ought to be so but Whether any thing at all were made by God for Ends and Good otherwise than would of it self have resulted from the Fortuitous Motion of Matter Nevertheless we see no Reason at all why it should be thought Presumption or Intrusion into the Secrets of God Almighty to affirm that Eyes were made by him for the End of Seeing and accordingly so contrived as might best conduce thereunto and Ears for the End of Hearing and the like This being so plain that nothing but Sottish Stupidity or Atheistick Incredulity masked perhaps under an Hypocritical Veil of Humility can make any doubt thereof And therefore Aristotle justly reprehended Anaxagoras for that Absurd Aphorism of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Man was therefore the Wisest or most Solert of all Animals because he Chanced to have hands He not doubting to affirm on the Contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it was far more reasonable to think that because Man was the Wisest or most Solert and Active of all Animals therefore he had Hands given him For Nature saith he distributeth as a Wise man doth what is suitable to every one and it is more Proper to give Pipes to one that hath Musical Skill than upon him that hath Pipes to bestow Musical Skill Wherefore these Mechanick Theists would further alledge and that wiâ—h some more Colour of Reason That it is below the Dignity of God Almighty to condescend to all those mean and trivial Offices and to do the Things of Nature himself immediatly as also that it would be but a Botch in Nature if the Defects thereof were every where to be supplied by Miracle But to this also the Reply is easie That though the Divine Wisdom it self contrived the System of the whole World for Ends and Good yet Nature as an Inferiour Minister immediately Executes the same I say not a Dead Fortuiâ—â—us and meerly Mechanichal but a Vital Orderly and Artificial Nature Which Nature asserted by most of the Ancient Philosophers who were Theists is thus described by Proclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is the Last of all those Causes that Fabricate this Corporeal and Sensible world and the utmost bound of Incorporeal Substances Which being full of Reasons and Powers Orders and Presides over all Mundane affairs It proceeding according to the Magic Oracles from that Supreme Goddess the Divine Wisdom which is the Fountain of all Life as well Intellectual as that which is Concrete with Matter Which Wisdom this Nature always essentially depending upon passes through all things unhinderably by means whereof even Inanimate things partake of a kind of Life and things Corruptible remain Eternal in their Species they being contained by its Standing Forms or Ideas as their Causes And thus does the Oracle describe Nature as presiding over the whole Corporeal Word and perpetually turning round the Heavens Here have we a Description of One Vniversal Substantial Life Soul or Spirit of Nature Subordinate to the Deity besides which the same Proclus elsewhere supposeth other Particular Natures or Spermatick Reasons in those Words of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After the first Soul are there particular Souls and after the Vniversal Nature Particular Natures Where it may be
Greek or Latine this also would be to us a Miracle or Effect Supernatural for so is the Apostles speaking with Tounges accounted and yet in Demoniacks is this sometimes done by Evil Demons God only Permitting Such also amongst the Pagans was that Miraculum Cotis as Apuleius calls it that Miracle of the Whetstone done by Accius Navius when at his command it was divided into Two with a Razor But Secondly there is another sort of Miracles or Effects Supernatural such as are above the Power of all Second Causes or any Natural Created Being whatsoever and so can be attributed to none but God Almighty himself the Author of Nature who therefore can Controul it at pleasure As for that late Theological Politician who writing against Miracles denies as well those of the Former as of this Latter Kind contending that a Miracle is nothing but a Name which the Ignorant Vulgar gives to Opus Naturae Insolitum any Vnwonted work of Nature or to what themselves can assign no Cause off as also that if there were any such thing done Contrary to Nature or Above it it would rather Weaken than Confirm Our Belief of the Divine Existence We find his Discourse every way so Weak Groundless and Inconsiderable that we could not think it here to deserve a Confutation But of the Former Sort of those Miracles is that to be understood Deuter. the 13. If there arise among you a Prophet or dreamer of Dreams and giveth thee a Sign or a Wonder and the Sign or Wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other Gods and serve them thou shalt not hearken to the words of that Prophet or Dreamer of Dreams for the Lord your God Proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your Soul For it cannot be Supposed that God Almighty would himself purposely Inspire any man to exhort others to Idolatry and immediatly assist such a one with his own Supernatural Power of doing Miracles in Confirmation of such Doctrine But the meaning is that by the suggestion of Evil Spirits some False Prophets might be raised up to tempt the Jews to Idolatry or at least that by Assistance of them such Miracles might be wrought in Confirmation thereof as those sometimes done by the Egyptian Sorcerers or Magicians God himself not interposing in this case to hinder them for this reason that he might hereby Prove and Try their Faithfulness towards him For as much as both by the Pure Light of Nature and God's Revealed Will before confirmed by Miracles Idolatry or the Religious Worship of any but God Almighty had been sufficiently condemned From whence it is evident that Miracles alone at least such Miracles as these are no sufficient Confirmation of a True Prophet without consideration had of the Doctrine taught by him For though a man should have done never so many true and real Miracles amongst the Jews and yet should perswade to Idolatry he was by them confidently to be condemned to death for a false Prophet Accordingly in the New Testament do we read that our Saviour Christ forewarned his Disciples That False Prophets and False Christs should arise and show great Signs or Wonders in so much that if it were possible they should seduce the very Elect. And St. Paul foretelleth concerning the Man of Sin or Anti-Christ That his coming should be after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and Wonders or Miracles of a Lye For we conceive that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place are not properly meant Feigned and Counterfeit Miracles that is meer Cheating and Jugling tricks but True Wonders and Real Miracles viz. of the Former Sort mentioned done for the Confirmation of a Lye as the Doctrine of this Man of Sin is there afterwards called For otherwise how could his coming be said to be According to the Working of Satan with all Power In like manner also in St. John's Apocalypse where the coming of the same Man of Sin and the Mystery of Iniquity is again described we read Chapter 13. of a Two Horned Beast like a Lamb That he shall do great wonders and deceive those that dwell on the Earth by means of those Miracles which he hath power to do in the sight of the Beast And again Chapter 16. Of certain unclean Spirits like Frogs coming out of the mouth of the Dragon and of the Beast and of the False Prophet which are the Spirits of Devils working Miracles that go forth to the Kings of the Earth And Lastly Chapter 19. Of the False Prophet that wrought Miracles before the Beast All which seem to be understood not of Feigned and Counterfeit Miracles only but of True and Real also Effected by the Working of Satan in Confirmation of a Lye that is of Idolatry False Religion and Imposture God Almighty permitting it partly in way of Probation or Tryal of the faithfulness of his own servants and partly in way of Just Judgment and Punishment upon those who receive not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved as the Apostle declareth Wherefore those Miracles pretended for divers Ages past to have been done before the Relicks of Saints and Images c. were they all True could by no means justifie or warrant that Religious Worship by many given to them because True and Real Miracles done in order to the promoting of Idolatry are so far from Justifying that Idolatry that they are themselves Condemned by it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Miracles of a Lye done by the Working of Satan But as for the Miracles of our Saviour Christ had they been all of them only of the Former Kind such as might have been done God permitting by the Natural Power of Created Spirits and their Assistance yet for as much as he came in the Name of the Lord teaching neither Idolatry nor any thing contrary to the clear Light and Law of Nature therefore ought he by reason of those Miracles to have been received by the Jews themselves and owned for a True Prophet according to the Doctrine of Moses himself Who both in the 13. and 18. Chapter of Deuter. plainly supposeth that God would in no other Case permit any False Prophet to do Miracles by the assistance of Evil Spirits save only in that of Idolatry and which is always understood of what is plainly Discoverable by the Light of Nature to be False or Evil. The reason whereof is manifest because if he should this would be an Invincible Temptation which it is inconsistent with the Divine Goodness to expose men unto And our Saviour Christ was unquestionably that One Eximious Prophet which God Almighty by Moses promised to send unto the Israelites upon occasion of their own desire made to him at Horeb Let me not hear again the voyce of the Lord my God nor let me see this great Fire any more that I die not Whereupon the Lord