A DISCOURSE Written to a LEARNED FRIER BY M. DES FOVRNEILLIS SHEWING That the SYSTEME of M. DES CARTES and particularly his Opinion concerning BRUTES does contain nothing dangerous and that all he hath written of both seems to have been taken out of the First Chapter of GENESIS To which is annexed the SYSTEME GENERAL Of the same CARTESIAN PHILOSOPHY By Francis Bayle Dr. of Physick at Tholose Englished out of French LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Moses Pitt at the White Hart in Little Britain 1670. A DISCOURSE Written to a Learned Frier shewing that the Systeme of M. Des Cartes and particularly his Opinion concerning Brutes does contain nothing dangerous and that all he hath written of both seems to have been taken out of the First Chapter of GENESIS My Reverend Father I Know very well that Moses hath not written his Genesis with a design to explain to men the Secrets of Nature but I do also know that being inspired by God as he was he could say nothing about the production of the World which is not true And therefore I esteem that to find the Principles of Natural Philosophy infallible they are not to be sought but in that History which He hath given us of the Creation of the World or at least that we ought to esteem false whatever is said of Nature when it cannot be reconciled with all the Circumstances of this History Do not wonder therefore that I so often refer you to Genesis and that I lay so much weight upon the Principles of Monsieur Des Cartes Most of his Tenets are so conform to what Moses hath said that it seems he became a Philosopher only by the Reading of this Prophet But that you may the more easily apprehend how great an agreement there is between that Sacred Writing and his Philosophy I intend to expound unto you the first Chapter of Genesis literally and you 'l see that in doing so I shall discourse to you almost the same things which I told you last when I explained to you the Principles of M. Des Cartes The only difference you 'l find is that M. Des Cartes writeth things more particularly and with a design to make them known what they are in themselves whereas Moses writeth like an Historian who discourseth of Nature only so far as was needful to make us admire the power of the Author thereof Thus the one speaketh only of the principal things and the other dives more into particulars and yet all these particulars are clearly nothing else but a more ample explication and a Sequel of those main things which Moses hath recited in so concise so bold and so true a manner I told you the other day that M. Des Cartes in the beginning of his Principles useth much reasoning to shew That there is a God That all what is is only by him That he begun this great piece of Workmanship which we call the World by creating Bodies That from that time he moved them and that he still continues to move them I also told you that among so many differences which the Figures may make between Bodies M. Des Cartes takes notice of three principal ones that he shews there is a very great Number of such as are round like little Balls others subtil enough to fill the spaces left by these Balls between themselves and others again whose irregular Figures do so entangle them one with another that they may compose the greater Masses I added that examining the several changes which the Matter or the Aggregate of all these Bodies may have suffered successively M. Des Cartes sheweth that there may have been formed many Masses of different bignesses of a figure approaching to that of the Earth above which he sheweth that there was to remain a number of particles some like those which compose the Water and others like those which compose the Fire That this Aggregate of Earth Water and Air was to be mixed and surrounded with an almost infinite number of those little Bodies made in the form of Globules and with these other subtiler ones that were to fill up their Intervalls And that lastly M. Des Cartes repeats often that God entertains in a continual motion this subtile matter which else could not be moved Now all this if you mark it is nothing else than to describe Philosophically and exactly for the making out of the least circumstances of it the same wonders which Moses hath described Historically in these few Lines God created in the beginning Heaven and Earth Now the Earth was void and brought forth nothing because it was covered with deep waters Darkness was upon the face of this Abyss and the Lord moved a subtil matter upon the Waters He that shall well examine what the Prophet hath said will find that 't is the same thing which the Philosopher hath endeavoured to explain The FIRST DAY IF we shall follow the one in the progress of his Reasonings and the other in the progress of his History we may judge that it is of Moses that Des Cartes hath learned that the Light was made before the Sun at least it will appear that this place of Genesis which for so many ages hath perplexed mens spirits is found happily cleared according to the Letter by the Principles of M. Des Cartes Moses having shewed that the Earth was infertile because of the Waters encompassing it and the Celestial matter useless because the motions of it were not regulated he goes on to shew that God who does nothing in vain began for the ordering of all these things with the Creation of Light He expresseth himself magnificently as he is wont to do and maketh the Almighty speak on this occasion in such a manner which is capable all alone to perswade that it is the Lord himself that made him speak thus Behold his Expressions And God said Let there be Light and there was Light He adds That God saw his work was good that he divided the Light from the Darkness and that he gave the name of Day to the Light and the name of Night to Darkness There is no man of good sense who sees not that Moses having declared that in the beginning God created Heaven Earth that certain Bodies subtil enough to be called Spirits were carried to and fro does signifie that all the Bodies were already created and that God did maintain from that time in the whole mass of matter as much motion as he conserves in it now and that what he hath made in all the following six dayes was only to put those Bodies in order and to regulate all their motions So that if speaking like an Historian Moses hath marked out the first day of this admirable Contrivance by the formation of Light this signifies only to us that God disposed the Bodies as they ought to be to produce this wonderful effect which was sufficient for an Historian but the Philosopher was to make it out how these Bodies
enough to say that God would have it so to let men know that it was so This Place teaching us that if it may be said that Fish and the other Brute Animals have Souls these Souls are produced by the Waters and the Earth M. Des Cartes had reason to believe that what is here called Soul is nothing else but little Bodies so adjusted to the Organs of Fishes and other Brutes that they make them live move and grow He hath admirably explained upon this Subject the Circulation of the Bloud the manner how it is heated in the Heart how it runs into the Arteries whose different pores let out the particles which their figure maketh fit for the nourishment of the Members and how the finest parts of all extricate themselves from the rest to go to the Brain whence they are distributed into Muscles where they serve for the motion of the whole Body He doth give such an accurate accompt of all these things only by the figure and the motion of the little Bodies and the disposition of the Organs that there can remain no doubt of them And that it may not seem a wonder what he saith of the heat of the Bloud which he maketh the chief Spring of all those Functions commonly called Vital and Animal he proves that they must necessarily be performed by Bodies without the need of any Soul adding to his Reasons the example of certain Liquors which are cold to the touch when they are asunder but grow presently hot even to a degree of ebullition when they are blended together As this effervescence happens to Liquors which are not so much as suspected to have Souls M. Des Cartes hath me thinks advanced nothing but what is rational when he saith That the heat of the Bloud joined to the disposition and the dependance of the Organs is able without a Soul to cause the nutrition and motion of Brutes Me thinks also that he had reason since what the Vulgar Translation calls a Living Soul was produced by the Waters and the Earth to believe that this kind of Souls were only Bodies And indeed there are so many places whereby we may know that this was the meaning of Moses that 't is a wonder to me to find men still doubting thereof I should tire you to recite them all to you let me only desire you to reflect a little on Lev. 17. 11. where you will plainly find what it is that enlivens Flesh and Beasts The Soul of all Flesh is in the Bloud The same saith M. Des Cartes But Deut. 12. 23. Moses expresseth himself yet more clearly to make us understand that Beasts have no other Souls than the Bloud Only be sure that thou eat not the Bloud for the Bloud is the Soul And that it might be yet more understood he adds And therefore thou maist not eat the Soul but shalt pour it upon the Earth as water Is there not then all the reason in the world that those Souls which the earth produceth which may be eaten and poured out upon the earth as water should be counted among Bodies I grant indeed that the bloud when it is heated is exhaled in very subtil parts and that these fine parts are those which do nourish and move But how subtil soever they be they are Bodies and they have nothing more of spiritual in them than flame composed of parts yet more subtil which yet never any man was so unadvised as to call spiritual I wonder for my part that those who have given Souls to all that is nourish'd have given none to a Flame which converts into it all the bodies it lays hold on And what is more I wonder how men could come to attribute to Souls the cause of Nutrition and Motion whereas we see nothing but Body that is capable to be moved and that Nutrition is nothing else but an addition of Bodies to Bodies But without insisting so much upon Ratiocination is it not visible that Moses who certainly ought to be believed acknowledges no other thing for the cause of the motion and nutrition of Beasts but the bloud I think not that any man who considers it will contend about it any longer But that you may the better know the force of all these passages which hitherto I have only taken according to the Vulgar Translation and which according to this version leave no difficulty although the word Soul have been there employed I shall now make use of a means which wil prevail upon your spirit and better perswade you than any other You know more than one Language and among others you know the Hebrew which I understand not I shall tell you then that a while ago reflecting on that place of Scripture where is described the work of the Fifth and that of the Sixth Day there appeared to me so great a difference betwixt the manner in which the formation of Brutes and that of Man was made that I believed what word soever was used in the Vulgar there must be used very differing Expressions in the Hebrew I saw that the Vulgar said that the Beasts have a Living Soul and that the same Translation used the same word to signifie the Life of Man But I found withal that besides that living Soul which the Vulgar gives to Man as it doth to Brutes 't is added that Man was made to the Image of his Maker whom I knew to be a pure Spirit Whence I concluded that since this Resemblance could not be drawn from the Body the Creator having none it must needs be taken from something of a superiour order and in a word from the Spirit To this I added what the Vulgar expresseth speaking of Man in the Second Chap. of Gen. Where I saw that the Lord who had made him a living Creature as the Beasts had breathed into him something which Beasts had not and which me thought should be in him the Principle of a Life altogether different from theirs and the cause of that advantageous resemblance which he was to have with his Maker All these things did already sway much with me for the advantage of Man but believing that I might yet better discover the sense of those places by getting the Interpretation of the Hebrew I consulted Monsieur de Compiegne who is known to be the ablest we have in this Language I prayed him to give me the Version of the first and second Chapter of Genesis and in this Version I found the full proof of what I always thought and of what M. Des Cartes had written on this Subject For I saw that in the place which speaks of the Production of Fishes and other Brutes where the Vulgar saith Let the Waters and the Earth bring forth Living Souls my Interpreter said Let the Earth and the Water produce Living Individuals which carrieth with it a very good sense and expresseth the thing in a far more conceivable manner For it is very intelligible that the Earth and Waters have
which maketh some appear lighter and others heavier It cannot be doubted but that the Systeme in which we are is such as hath bin declared since of so many which Philosophers have fancied there is none but this which agrees perfectly with that delivered by Moses Besides that therein we find in a very natural and very simple motion not only the Causes of the general Phaenomena as are the Direction Station and Retrogradation of the Planets of the Motion of the Spots of the Sun of the Motion of the Planets about their Center of the Vicissitudes of Days and Nights and of the Diversity of the Seasons but also of the Flux and Reflux of the Sea of all the Proprieties observed in the Magnet and in short of all the Appearances in the particular Bodies Of all the Systemes there is none that deserveth so much to be rejected as that of Ptolomy For besides that from the Aggregate of all the parts thereof there results a Whole that is monstrous it is not able to give an accompt why Venus appears sometimes increasing and sometimes full why Mars Jupiter Saturn are alwaies in the lower part of their Epicycle at the time when they are retrograde why the Moon respects us alwayes from the same side why Saturn appears to us under different Shapes now round then oval nor give a reason of many Appearances more Of the PRODUCTIONS made in the Bowels of the Earth THE Diversity of the Pores of the Earth is the Cause that the Matter of the first Element passing through them taketh the Form of so many several Juices Salts and Oyles of which are afterwards formed all the Metals and Minerals which are found in the Bowels of the same The Magnet hath the propriety to draw Iron or Iron to draw the Magnet only from this Cause that the Pores of them are so disposed that the striate or channell'd Matter as the Philosopher calls it which comes from the Poles of the Elementary Mass and continues its way thorow the Pores which are parallel to the Axe of the Earth pasing more easily through the pores of the Loadstone and of Iron than through those of all the other Bodies drives away by this means all the Air met with between both And because this Air finds no place to pass into because all is full but into that which the one or the other of these two Bodies quitteth there is a necessity that the Iron should be thrust towards the Loadstone or the Loadstone towards the Iron The Sea furnishes Water to all Fountains those that are on the tops of Mountains are formed of Waters that are reduced into Vapours by the heat which is found in the Entrails of the Earth The subterraneous Fires differ nothing at all from those that are kindled in our Chimneys They come from this that where there are Mines of Sulphur or Bitumen there are raised Exhalations which lighting upon subterraneous Cavities fasten to the Roofs as Soot does to the inside of our Chimneys and there make a kind of Crust which hath a great disposition to take Fire and which taketh flame actually either by the attrition of its parts which their weight loosens from one another or by the fall of some great Stone which tumbling down from the top of the Vault sets it on fire as the Pestle doth Gunpowder when being very dry 't is too violently stamped Of METEORS VVInds do principally come from nothing but the dilatation of Vapours And this dilatation depends from the presence of the Sun or from the heat he hath left in the Earth or in the Waters When the Sun riseth we feel an Easterly wind when he setteth a Westerly about Noon a Northerly and about Midnight a Southerly Men seldom fail to find these four sorts of Wind every day upon the great Seas but they are not in the same order observ'd upon Land by reason of the Mountains and of the variety of Climates which hinder it Mists and Clouds are nothing else but the same Vapours that made the Winds which having lost their agitation stop in great number in certain places and thereby hinder the action of the Rays of Light Rain is nothing else but the same Vapours that made the Clouds which are converted into many little drops of Water by the action of the Air which a wind hath carried upwards after it had been considerably heated near the Earth The parts of the Clouds which meet only with cold Air to pass through after that they are loosned do come unto us in the same state and by this means do make that Substance we call Snow Hail is nothing else but some portions of a Cloud which having been melted in part do meet with a cold Air that congealeth them afresh Thunder depends from this that in the Air there are divers Stories of Clouds of which the higher fall upon the lower the Air driven out from between them being determined to produce a sound for the same reason that another Air produces one in Musical Organs Lightning proceeds ordinarily from this that the Exhalations which are between two Clouds whereof the one falls upon the other are so pressed that there is some part of those Exhalations which swims but in the sole Matter of the first Element and consequently taketh the form of Fire A Thunderbolt is nothing else but a portion of these kindled Exhalations which moveth down to the Earth where it must needs strike high Bodies rather than lower ones and produce so many different and wondrous Effects as we see according to the Nature of the Exhalations of which this Thunder-bolt is formed A Rain-bow is nothing else but many drops of Rain which receiving the Rayes of the Sun break them many different ways and which after they have thus broken them return them to our Eyes with the modifications requisite to excite in us all the sentiments of the Colours we perceive in this Meteor Of SENSIBLE QUALITIES HArd Bodies are those all whose parts are at rest one by another Liquid Bodies are such as have all their parts moving separately whence it comes that these latter have the propriety of dissolving the former And if a Liquid is unable to dissolve an Hard Body or if it have the force to dissolve one rather than another that proceeds from hence that its parts are more or less gross or agitated and from this that the configuration of the Pores of the Bodies which are to be dissolved is different All the diversities of Liquors consist in the different sizes and shapes of their parts Those that have irregular and entangling figures do compose Liquors that are called Fat and those whose figures are very well polish'd and very smooth make those we call Lean. All Liquors are kept in motion by the matter of the first and second Element which slides into their Pores and moveth alwayes of it self ever since it was first put in motion in the beginning of the World The constrained Figure
were to be disposed for that purpose Wherefore chusing from among all the Figures those which might be most proper for the little Bodies which cause Light and seeing that those which he had described as Globules being moved in a certain manner would be satisfactory to all that is known of the Rayes which are made by the Light M. Des Cartes hath supposed that there were formed divers Vortexes or Whirl-pools of these little round Bodies and that many of them turning round about one and the same Center a part of the matter which fills up their Intervalls was gathered towards the Center whence it did propel the Globules which surrounded it so that this pressure of the Globules made Light in all those places where was found a sufficient conflux and heap of subtile matter But he adds that as in this beginning there was not yet a great plenty of these more subtil parts in the Centers of the Whirlpools the action which pressed the Globules did not reach far so that the places which its effect could not reach to remained in darkness whilst the other were already enlightned which agreeth admirably with the effect which Moses ascribeth to the first Word of the Lord which did separate the Light from the Darkness from the time it began to form it From thence also we may say according to Genesis that the Night was where the Darkness had remained and the Day where the Light had begun You will observe that by the Word Light we are here to understand nothing else but that which is the cause that the Bodies called Luminous excite in us the sentiment which makes us perceive them and not the sentiment it self Men do often confound these two things and 't is certainly from thence that all the doubts proceed that are met with on this Subject But me thinks that in what Moses hath written of Light 't is evident that he would only speak of what is found on the part of the Bodies and not of the Effect which it produceth in such Subjects as are capable to have the sense of it since it is certain according to Moses that when that which is called Light was created there was yet none of the other Creatures which are esteemed capable to perceive it I desire you to observe by the by another thing which is That this sentiment which we have from Luminous Bodies is in such a manner on the part of our Soul and hath such a necessary respect to the motion of certain parts of our Brain that very often without the excitation of the nerves of our Eyes by any Luminous body we have the sense of Light Thus in Dreams the fortuitous course of the Spirits moving those parts of our Brain the agitation whereof is designed to excite in us that sentiment maketh us clearly see Objects that are not present And by the same reason those who marching in a very obscure place hurt their head against the Wall are subject to see a thousand Fires whence we are to conclude that those motions of the Brain which have nothing that resembleth the thoughts which arise in the Soul on their occasion may be excited by other Bodies than those we call Luminous But it was very proper not to give this name but to Bodies whose figure and motion were so proportionate to the fineness and tenderness of our Eyes that their nerves might be moved by them without pain and without danger to the other parts of our Body Wherein me thinks M. Des Cartes hath succeeded admirably well it being not possible to assign to Luminous Bodies a fitter Figure than that which he hath given them nor a motion more convenient than that which he hath ascribed to them The SECOND DAY MOses relating what passed the Second Day for the formation of the Firmament expresseth himself in these terms God said let the Firmament be in the midst of the Waters and let it separate the one from the other He adds that the Firmament was presently made and the Waters were separated from the Waters so that there were some of them above and some under the Firmament which he called Heaven To understand how the Waters were separated one from the other by the formation of the Firmament according to the sentiment of M. Des Cartes we shall need only to relate what he teacheth of the Waters and of the Firmament Those who have read what he hath written thereof do know that after he had considered all the effects of Water he conceived that the particles which compose it must be smooth long and pliant and that by this supposition alone he hath rendred a reason of all what is observed in Water whether it be running or whether it enlarge it self in a Vessel or whether we see it in drops or in the form of a Scum or whether it rise in Vapours or whether remaining without motion it appear in Ice or Snow We know also that he supposeth that there hath been a great number of these particles very smooth and very pliant mingled with other bodies a great part of which had figures so embarassing that their Aggregate could form no other but hard Masses Lastly We know that he supposeth these last particles have been the matter of many Masses almost like the Earth and forasmuch as these Masses could not be very solid very hard but by an extream pressing of the Branchy particles which compose them it is evident that the particles of water which were mixed therewith were driven out of it and that so the surfaces of those great Masses were to be altogether covered with it This being supposed it is now to be observed that according to M. Des Cartes the formation of the Firmament is nothing else but a perfect disposition and ranging of all the Whirlpools of which I have already spoken in the Subject of Light Their number is so great and the space they fill so vast that the word Firmament according to the truest interpretation signifieth a vast extension There is nothing that deserveth more this name than their Aggregate But as we ought to mark the time of the formation of every thing only from the moment which giveth it its perfection M. Des Cartes having supposed that the Aggregate of all the whirlpools was not yet well ordered when the Light began nor their motion very free doth mark the time of the formation of the Firmament then only when they were so well adjusted that the Ecliptick of the one answering to the Poles of the other they began to move among themselves with a motion altogether free and so proportioned that not any one received a Let from all those which encompassed it 'T is at this instant that according to Des Cartes's Hypothesis the Masses which were in the same Vortex where the Earth was began to be separated from it by the matter of that Vortex which insinuated it self betwixt them and which kept them more or less distant from the Center
according to the difference of their grossness or solidity Now as we have noted that they were all covered with their Waters and that the matter of the Vortexes which according to this Doctrine is the matter of the Firmament separated them from the Earth it was true to say following the same Doctrine as well as that of Genesis that the Waters were severed from the Waters by the formation of the Firmament Thus M. Des Cartes who seems always to follow Moses disposeth the Waters so that they are some above and some under the Firmament For we know that what the Prophet calls in this place Vnder is the Earth we inhabit and all that is severed from it by the Celestial matter may be said in respect of us to be above the Firmament I do not explain this more at large nor do I examine how well these different Conservatories of Waters which M. Des Cartes placeth in several parts of Heaven do represent those Cataracts whence the Lord drew forth at the time of his wrath what served to overwhelm the Earth Neither do I make reflection upon the Changes which have happened to the Earth by this super-abundance of Waters This is perhaps the cause of the Clouds Rains and the first apparition of that admirable Phaenomenon which the Lord made use of to secure Noah against the apprehensions of a new Deluge when he promised him to shut up for ever those Cataracts which he had opened for his vengeance but this would carry us too far The THIRD DAY THe Third Day Moses observeth that the Waters covering the Globe of the Earth it was convenient to gather them together into certain places to the end that the other parts thereof remaining discovered the Earth might produce Herbs Plants and Trees of all kinds He saith that the same word which had operated the wonders of the precedent days wrought that also To which he adds that what appeared dry was called Earth and the collection of the Waters Sea Now it is evident that if the Earth had remained perfectly round the waters could not have been gathered into places to leave others dry We must therefore believe that the same day which saw the separation of the Waters from the Earth saw also the formation of the Hills and that certain parts of the Earth being raised above others left Vallies betwixt them for Beds to the waters and Cavities under their Elevations to receive a quantity of water approaching to that which should appear no more 'T is thus that M. Des Cartes explicateth the matter He declareth also how the Earth was enabled to produce herbs plants and trees and how the different Juices which run within the bosom of the Earth insinuate themselves into several Seeds whose pores are adapted to their figure I desire you in this place to observe that Moses saith not that God made any Soul for Plants he only saith that the Earth rendred fertile by the word of the Lord did produce them But those Philosophers who have alwaies had recourse to Souls when they would explicate the effects of certain Organical Bodies of which they could not discover the Springs have given one to every Plant. They have believed that it was impossible to give an accompt of Vegetation without it But M. Des Cartes without adding any thing to the Scripture where Moses speaketh of Plants of their Seeds of their increase and fruit without speaking of any Soul hath believed there needed none to be supposed to give a reason of their Nutrition and he hath so clearly shewed that Vegetation is performed by the local motion of the parts which come in afresh and by the fitness of their figure to the pores of that plant which they are proper to increase that I think I may assure that there is none how little soever accustomed to Ratiocination but will acknowledge after he hath examined what he saith on this Subject that there remains not the least probability to maintain that Plants have Souls Yet you know that there are yet some who will defend that there are Vegetative Souls But what I pray can authorize them Not Reason surely That tells us all that things ought not to be multiplied without necessity and since we do manifestly see that Figure and Motion may be the entire cause of Vegetation we ought not to no purpose have recourse to Souls Nor can it be the Authority either of Man or of the H. Scripture for that of Man cannot be considerable against the evidence of natural Notions and against the Experiments by which this Errour is convinced As to that of Sacred Writ it is manifest that that is not on their side and nothing appears there that may come near to what they would attribute to Plants viz. a Vegetative Soul The FOURTH DAY THe Fourth Word did form two great Luminaries in the Firmament to divide perfectly the Day from the Night and to mark the difference of Dayes Seasons and Years The same Word formed also the Stars according to the History of Moses M. Des Cartes explaining this as a Naturalist saith that the several Vortexes which had been formed of all the Celestial matter having been adapted to one another as was most convenient for the continuation of their motions there flowed so much of the most subtil matter towards the Center of each of them by the pressure of the Globules which tended to recede from it that at length each of the Whirlpools came to have in his middle so great a quantity of this matter that it was able to propel the globules to the extremities ' of the Whirlpool and by this action to form such Rays as those are whose force makes us see the shining Sun He adds that this subtil matter gathered at the Center of each Vortex may have force enough to thrust the Globules of the Neighbouring Vortexes and to make there its action sensible So that according to this Author the shining collection of subtil matter which was made in the Center of this Vortex wherein was the Earth was in respect of it the greatest Luminary that is the Sun Those that were made in the other Vortexes were Stars and that of all the great Masses which was found nearest and most disposed to propel towards it the Light of the Sun was the lesser Luminary that is the Moon I shall say no more of it and 't is so well known that the difference of Dayes Nights and Seasons comes from the different situation wherein the Earth the Sun other Stars are found that I should be tedious to repeat here what M. Des Cartes hath written on this Subject The FIFTH SIXTH DAY THe Fifth Day God said Let the Waters produce the Moving Creature that hath a living Soul and Fowl that fly above the Earth And the Sixth Day he said Let the Earth bring forth the Living Creature after its kind Cattel and creeping things and Beasts of the Earth I do not add the rest for it is
Design of the Prophet and also that of the Philosopher you will confess that this difference ought not to make us say that they have receded from one another Moses hath delivered the thing as 't was done He saith that God created the Earth the Waters the Celestial Parts then the Light and the rest so that when the Sun was created the Earth was already inriched with Fruits and adorned with Flowers Whereas M. Des Cartes maketh the Sun the Cause not only of the Fruits and Flowers but also of the gathering together of many inward parts of the Earth The same also maketh the Earth to have been formed a long time after the Sun although the Scripture noteth that it was created before But here we are to take notice of 2 things The one is that M. Des Cartes hath said himself that his Hypothesis was false in this that he supposeth that the formation of each Being is made successivly assuring that this way not being so proper for God we are to believe that his Omnipotency hath put every thing in the most perfect condition it could be in from the first moment of its production The other is that M. Des Cartes was like a Philosopher to explicate only the reason why things are conserved as they are and the different effects we now admire in Nature Now as 't is certain that things are naturally conserved by the same means which hath produced them so it was necessary for to find whether the Laws which he supposeth Nature follows to conserve her self are true that he should examine whether the same Laws could have disposed it as now it is And finding that according to the History of Moses it self although the Sun was formed after the Earth it is yet by the Sun that God conserveth the Earth as now it is the heat thereof being cause of all the Productions and Changes therein M. Des Cartes was to shew that this same Sun could have put it into that state we now find it in if the great Creator had not put it there in an instant by his Omnipotent power 'T is true indeed that the manner in which M. Des Cartes describeth that the Sun hath disposed the Earth is successive which he acknowledgeth as I have already noted to be not so sutable to God in producing things But however as that which God doth in conserving the World is successive and must be so that every thing may have a certain duration it was proper for our Philosopher to examine whether the Principles which he laid down to give an accompt of the duration of all Natural Beings could have produced them by succession of time which he hath done with an exactness which seems to me incomparable And so M. Des Cartes hath therein done nothing contrary to the Design of Moses Moses knew that 't is by the Sun that God conserveth the Earth and the Natural Beings those at least which are nearest unto us but lest it should be thought that that Luminary was the cause of all he would have us know that Light which depends most of all from the Sun was made before the Sun And this was necessary to give notice of to those who were to know these Wonders that God hath wrought them all by his sole will and if he conserveth them now with a kind of mutual Dependency yet they do not owe their Being nor their Conservation to one another but to God alone M. Des Cartes on his part being to explain that correspondence which God hath put between the things of Nature and being to give an accompt by the Sun of all that is done in that part of the World which is most known to men could not better declare to us how well the Sun is fitted and disposed by the First Power to maintain the natural state of all we see than by shewing that following this same disposition the Sun could have in progress of time put our World into the condition 't is in if it had not been more proper to form all the Creatures in an Order altogether contrary to that which was required by the dependance that now is between them and to produce each Being in a way which might shew that as the Author of the World had need of nothing to make all things so he needed no time to bring forth any of the things we admire Lastly If you consider that that Wisdom which put the first Man into his most perfect state from the first moment of his Production did subject his Conservation to the same Laws from which he hath made to depend the formation of those that are born of him and that for the right knowledge of the Nature of Man it would be much more proper to examine the different Changes which happen in the Seed from the time of Conception unto the Birth of those that are generated than to examine the miraculous formation of him whom Omnipotency finish'd in beginning him you will doubtless find that for the well knowing whether what is taught of the Laws which conserve the order of Nature be true there is no better way than to consider whether those Laws could have produced the same I will not examine here whether what is commonly believed of the stability of the Earth is better explicated by the Hypothesis of M. Des Cartes than by those which have preceded him Neither shall I examine whether it be more true than others himself hath said as I have already noted that it may be false And certainly among an Infinity of ways which God may use to make one and the same thing it is difficult to assure which that is he hath taken actually But me thinks that Men have reason to be content when they have found one of them which can give an accompt of all the Phaenomena and is not contrary to what the H. Scripture and the Church propose to us M. Des Cartes hath been so shy to advance any thing not conform to what they declare to us that he hath expresly submitted to the one what he seems to have wholly taken out of the other Thus whosoever shall read his Writings with the same Spirit wherein he wrote them will not be in any danger of being deceived and will be alwayes ready to acknowledge his Errors as soon as those that are to direct his Belief shall make him understand them As for me I am perswaded that if we should condemn what M. Des Cartes hath written touching the manner in which the several Aspects of the Sun the Earth are made and that upon judging it would not be a sufficient stability for the Earth to remain always at rest in the midst of all the Celestial matter which is found between the Body of the Moon and it we should come to determine that the Circle which M. Des Cartes makes all that matter run through in 1. year about the Sun is contrary to what we ought to believe of the rest of the Earth
produced living Individuals that is that they have been so fitted and disposed by the Almighty hand of the Lord as to form Organical Bodies which being fit for Nutrition and Motion in which consists all the Life of Bodies were to be called Living but forasmuch as they could not be divided without being quite destroyed were to be called Individuals Secondly I see in the place which speaks of the formation of Man that not only he was formed out of the Earth by the hands of the Lord and that thereby he was become a Living Individual as Beasts are but above that I see that besides this Individual or Body Organick which maketh him feed move like Beasts he hath received another thing which my Interpreter calls Mens and which I call Spirit or Thought So that as there is nothing spoken of a Soul for Plants in the Vulgar as I have already observed so there is neither in the Hebrew for Brutes Neither is it said that Brutes have Sense which I also desire you to note but this only is said that they have Life and Motion And because this Life and this Motion do depend upon the disposition and correspondence of many Organs the Division of which would hinder the effect Moses to signifie this Aggregate by one word useth that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Individual But that which we ought to consider above all is what the same sacred Writer so well declareth That Man hath a Body organized as Brutes have and that this Body liveth by the same Principles which give life to Brutes that having said that the Individuum of every Beast was produced by the Waters and the Earth he saith that that of Man was also produced of the Earth And to make us understand that this dust of the earth which before was divisible without danger was so disposed that it became an Individual as every one of the other living bodies he expresseth himself by the same word he used speaking of Beasts and at the same time adds that the Lord inspired into this living Individual of which he would make a man that which he expresseth by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Spirit or Thought This seems to me so strong that I think there can remain no more scruple about this point viz. what we are to believe henceforth of Brutes and of Man Moses hath given us clearly to understand that Brutes live and move because the Bloud and the contrivance of their Organs maketh of each of them an Individual Body which remains fit for those two effects as long as that contrivance lasts And why should we attribute any other thing to them but this individual body by which an accompt can be given of their Life and Motion But then Moses saith not that they have Sense Why should we devise that they have any Or at least what danger is there to assert that they have none Lastly this Man inspired by God teacheth us that the Brutes have nothing but what a Body may have and that we have a body as they But he adds that we have besides a Spirit or if you will a Soul which we know is alone capable of having sense of judging of willing and of all the other wayes of thinking Why then should we not assert that the brute Animals have nothing but Body and that they have no sentiment And why should we not affirm that besides a body like unto that which they have which maketh us not resemble our Maker we have a Soul which giveth us that admirable advantage to resemble him as much as a Creature is capable to do If after all this you shall still tell me that the opinion of M. Des Cartes is dangerous in that it maketh Brutes live and move without a soul I shall answer you that then the History of Moses is dangerous forasmuch as it teacheth us the same thing But if after you have seen how well Moses doth separate that in Man which maketh him live and move from that which maketh him think you shall examine how the Creed of S. Athanasius which we read every day as the Symbol of our Faith defineth Man you 'l see that he saith that the Flesh and the Rational Soul make all what he is To which he adds that as these two substances how different soever they be constitute but one man so God and Man make but one and the same Christ But as in our Lord Jesus Christ it is not allowed whatever the Union of his two Natures be to confound them so as to attribute to the one what comes from the other so there is alwayes great danger to confound in Man the two Substances which do compose him and the Functions which depend from each of them Those that give to the Body sentiment or other perceptions which cannot belong but to the Soul are subject to believe that Man as a Beast hath nothing but Body On the other hand those who think that the Soul is that which causeth Nutrition and Motion in Man are liable to believe that the Beasts which feed and move have a Soul as Man hath and when there is no other difference betwixt Souls than that of more or less there is an Axiom which saying That more or less changeth not the Essence maketh that Men will soon accustom themselves to believe that if all perisheth in Beasts by death there remains also nothing in Man when he hath lost his Life As for me I doubt not at all but what hath been said of Vegetative and Sensitive Souls which are attributed to Plants and to Beasts hath made impious men believe that those which are given to men may be of the same nature If my Discourse were not too prolix already I could explain to you the most wonderful operations of Brutes by the sole Construction of their Organs as all the operations of a Watch are made out to you by the contrivance of its parts and shew you that there is no difference betwixt Artificial and Natural Engines but in this that the Author of Nature is a far more excellent Artist than Men are and that he hath known to apply such parts to one another as are much subtiler and much nimbler than those are of which we commonly compose our Machines I could alse demonstrate to you that there is nothing known to us in Brutes even in the Ape it self which may not be explicated from Bodies and that in Man there are Thoughts which all the diversities imaginable in Figures and Motions cannot give an accompt of But I should exceed the Bounds I have prescribed to my self and it sufficeth me to have shewed you that M. Des Cartes hath alwayes followed Moses to make you aver that his Philosophy contains nothing dangerous Mean time I shall acknowledge that the formation of the World according to M. Des Cartes seems to have something different from that of Moses But when you shall have considered the