and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel Hos 2. 21 22. Where we have a Summary Description of the great Order of Nature as things are cast into a State of Relation and Correspondence set forth as if they cried to each other and heard each other to denote their mutual Subserviency and Dependance Thus the Stars by their attractive Beams prepare and enrich the Clouds the Clouds drop down fatness that fatness moistens the Surface and supplies the Bowels of the Earth that Moisture increaseth and invigorates those active Particles within which are the Principles of Vegetation those Principles carry the spiritous vital Juice to every Tree and Plant that Juice passing through many Nervous Ducts and Conveyances produce Germination those Germations cover Mountain and Valley with a fresh Verdure and by these various means the Earth receives yearly a kind of new Life every Species upon it is propagated every living Individual is sed and cherish'd and Man and Beast are abundantly provided for a-new after all the vast Consumptions and Expences of Nature the year before There is a Series and Connexion of Causes which act upon each other the superior Cause still having a respect to the Powers of that which is the next in Subordination and all shew the wonderful Wisdom and Goodness of the Supreme Cause in thus suiting and adapting the Operations of his Creatures according to the necessities of the several Branches of his Creation And as there is this extrinsecal Reference born by one Creature to another so is there in every one of them an intrinsick Faculty and Disposition which bears respect to the Operations and Productions of those external Causes In all Animals there are eager Appetites as Hunger and Thirst which stimulate and excite them every day to Eat and Drink of Natures Bounty In all Vegetables there are spreading Roots fibrous Receptacles with open greedy capacious Orifices to entertain digest and send up that animating Sap which is ministred by the restless Principles of Vegetation In the Bowels of the Earth are hid the multifarious Seeds of Life prepared for a new assistance of Salts Nitre and the like Supplies to quicken actuate and render them Prolisick Those quickning Recruits wait for Distillations from above to convey them down into their Apartments and those Distillations are various according to the Quality and Temper of the Seasons and as the Sun and Stars act by their Influences in the Air where the great Treasures are annually made ready by various Motions and Secretions and then shed plenteously abroad in variety of Forms and Modifications as Hail Snow Rains or Dews Thus each Cause bears a Correspondence and Relation to the Faculties and Dispositions of that which is Subordinate and those Faculties bear a Reciprocal Correspondence to the Power and Agency of the next Superior One. There is such an orderly Connection such a close harmonious Confederacy between the several Parts of the World as they are placed and situate that as they all severally depend upon each other for their respective Operations so all jointly conspire to the Preservation and Maintenance of the whole which evidently shews That it could not be blind Fate or Fortune that linked together the Parts of the Universe into such an admirable League such an amicable State of Subserviency and Assistance but a most Wise and Beneficent Agent that from the beginning consulted and provided for the Good of all his Creatures and accordingly sitted their Powers to that great end For those Irrational Beings the glittering Lamps of Heaven the Air and Earth Vegetables and Creatures that are meerly sensitive cannot be suppos'd to understand the Ends and Scope the Reasons and Purposes of their Operations They are not the effects of any Deliberaration or choice of their own but the consequents of Necessity and therefore must be brought about by the directing Hand and Will of a God of Incomprehensive Power of Wisdom that they might bear witness of his Being and Providence and excite all Mankind to praise and glorigy the adorable Perfections of his Nature 3. The excellent Order of Creatures is seen in the Permanency of them in that State and Condition in which they have been placed This Permanency consisteth in two things 1. First In the entire continuance of their Natures The constituent principal Substances of the Universe are still the same they ever were since their first Formation in Number Measure and Weight Nothing of their Beauty is saded by Age nothing of Matter worn away by Motion no Parts lost quite by Accident nor any one Species annihilated by outward Violence or inward Insirmity and Decay Though Individuals upon the Terraqueous Globe dye daily or are cut off lest the Earth we inhabit and live upon and have our Food by should be over-stock'd yet all sorts and kinds of Beings remain from the glorious Furniture of the Firmament to the meanest Species of Flies and Worms All Vegetables propagate as in the beginning the diversity of Sexes Male and Female in all Animals continues on Men and Beasts increase and multiply and perform all their Natural Offices ever since the primordial Benediction But lest these things should be look'd upon as Productions of Course springing meerly from the Principles and Energy of Plastick Nature what think we of the Permanent Concinnity and State of the Air whose Salubrious Blasts Transparency proper Motions and all other uses it was intended for do still hold on notwithstanding all Nusances and Infections all Vicislitudes and Alterations and all those Disturbances Conflicts and Wars from contrary jarring Qualities which have been in it since its first Expansion What can we think of the Caelestial Host that for these Six thousand Years have been every minute casting and dispersing their enlivening Beams over the whole World What can we think of the Sun in particular that during such a long Tract and Succession of Ages has been every moment at so vast an Expence of Light and Heat its Body still continuing unimpaired and its Powers neither wasted nor disabled How could all this Conservation be without the help of an Almighty provident Hand that does by a sort of new Creation sustain and supply daily the several Branches of the Universe and did at first from them all so perfect in their Kinds and in order to their particular Ends and for the general Good of the whole that there is no mending the Creation no altering the Figure Posture Number or Frame of the Integral Parts of it no adding any new Species or destroying any old ones without disorder and detriment to the great Compages Secondly The permanent state of things is discernable as by the continuance of their Natures so by the constant tenor of their Operations and Motions witness for all those bright radiant Bodies over our heads whose circular Travels are so exactly periodical and their Influences so constant that they plainly shew there is a God above
Accident or Insirmity dasht and dissolved then they bring Death which in their Opinion is only the unclutching of Matter void of a spiritual intellectual distinct Substance that is said to return to a God to give an Account of its Actions at a Judgment-day Notions which these great Wits of the world as they take themselves to be believe to be nothing but the Inventions of Priests and Politicians to keep Mankind in slavery and to fright people out of their Senses Thus instead of believing in a God they believe in Matter and Motion in Space and Atoms in Chance and Fortune For according to them as things fall apieces by chance so it was by meer chance that they fell at first together not by the Hand and Directions of a Wise Omnipotent Agent that gave them their being by Lucky Hits by Casual Concurrences but by the succesful motions of Blind Senseless Atoms accidentally and fortuitously jumping together into great variety of Combinations and Figures and so continuing till Fortune that joined them makes them fly asunder again and till by some new Comical Motions they sorm themselves into new Shapes Now though the exposing of these Conceits be Consutation enough yet I would gravely ask these Wise Sages How it can consist with common Reason to imagine that the Fortuitous Motion of Stupid Unthinking Matter could compose all things into such excellent order as the most Intelligent Prudent Mind could not have made more apt and proper How could Blind and consequently Erroneous Chance without any deliberation pitch upon such Places to dispose every thing into as our common Senses shew to be most sit and commodious We see the Earth is Situate in the Center of the Universe to receive kindly and seasonable Influences Heat and Cold Drought and Moisture from all the Ambient Parts of this visible World The Firmament is expanded at such a convenient distance as that it can communicate its sweet Influences without exposing us and the things round about us to those Extremities of Heat or Cold whereby a greater Propinquity or Longinquity would cause Living Creatures to languish and dye Those Lucid Globes which enamel the Firmament are so appositely fix'd up and down every-where from Pole to Pole that the remotest Regions participate of their Virtues and Powers The Sun is determined to such a Fitting Course and to such Convenient Limits that by its Alternate Accesses and Recesses those Comforting Rays are dispersed over all the Earth which at proper Seasons produce Grass for the Cattle Bread to strengthen man's heart and Oil to make him a chearful Countenance and generous Wines to refresh and exhilerate his Spirits Under the Opposite Poles there are the great Treasures of Snow which yield to the Hotter Climates plenty of Rain and Refreshing Gales of Wind. Not to speak of the Commodious Position of the several Parts in Men Beasts and Plants which could not be alter'd I do not say without apparent Deformity but without insupportable Inconvenience and Prejudice to the whole Frame This is enough to shew that the several Branches of the Universe are so agreeably dispos'd and placed that without betraying our Reason and the use of our Faculties we cannot impute those Positions to the casual motion of blind senseless undeliberating Atoms but must look upon them as the Results of Design and Choice and as Arguments of an Intellectual Provident Being over all who worketh all things according to the counsel of his will or according to the Best and Wisest Reasons Ephes 1. 11. Again Let me ask our pretending Philosophers How can it consist with common Reason to conceive That those Congruities and Relations which these several parts of the world bare to each other those Aptitudes and Concinnities which are between the Disposition of some things and the Faculties of others so that this thing is for the use of that and that thing reciprocally fitted for this how I say can these mutual Correspondences be rationally ascribed to nothing but mere Fortune and Chance Is not the Eye fitted for the seeing of Light and Light fitted for the use of the Eye Are not all the Senses adapted to their proper Objects and those Objects adapted to gratify the Senses Is not the Air a proper vehicle for Volatile Creatures and the Frame of those Creatures suited to the Contexture of the Air Are not the Waters agreeable to Fish and the Nature of Fish so adapted to the Waters that they cannot subsist in a thinner Element In short Are not the parts of Nature's great Fabrick so congruously fitted to each other like so many Springs and Wheels in the most curious piece of Art that there is no taking away a part without disordering and disjoynting the whole And how can all this be thought to proceed from Chance any more than the Frame of a Watch or a Clock These things shew that they were intended for Ends and where Ends are to be served there must be Knowledge Counsel and Forecast how to make choice of proper Means and how to fit those Means together for due application And when we see the Parts of the whole World so admirably fitted suited and adapted to each other in such exquisite Order What extreme sottishness is it not to attribute those Congruities to stupid blundering Fortune which are so many Sculptures of a Divine Hand so many plain Evidences of the Wisest Mind and the Highest Reason Once more let me ask How it can consist with Reason to believe that this vast Compages could hold and continue in the same excellent Order for so many Thousand years together if it fell into it at the first by mere Accident Or how it could come to pass that the Parts of it have not been as yet Disunited and Scatter'd by Motion if nothing but Fortuitous Motion joined them All Motion serveth especially if it be violent and swift either to Wear away Matter by degrees or to Dissolve and Dissipate the Particles on a sudden and to make all about it fly as we see clearly by the rapid Revolutions of every Wheel about its Axis Supposing then one or other of these Three things which are the principal accounts either that the Earth alone whirls about upon an Axis of its own or that the Heavens turn round upon the great Axis of the Universe the Earth lying quiet and the Sun moving both forward and retrograde perpetually or thirdly That the motion is divided the Earth doing the Diurnal part and the Sun absolving that part which is Annual which of these Opinions soever men are pleased to follow they must grant on all hands that the motions are performed with the greatest velocity and quickness And how then can so many Combinations of Atoms be rationally supposed able to have still held it out against the utmost Rapidity and that all along during the Succession of so many Years and Ages so that in all this time neither the Parts of any one moving Body have been impaired nor
a distinct People there being no Instance like this in any Story as if they were intended for a standing Memorial and Example to the world of the Divine Power and Vengeance To me it seemeth among Rational Arguments one of the plainest not only for the Proof of a Deity and a Just Providence in pursuing that Nation with such Exemplary Vengeance but likewise for the Authority of Scripture and the Truth of the Christian Religion CHAP. VI. HItherto I have shewed the Existence of a Supreme Being that is Eternal Independent Self-existing the Author of our common Nature Omnipotent Omniscient all which Characters are included in the general Notion of a Deity or a Being that is Eminently and Absolutely Perfect I proceed next to some other Considerations which argue a Being that is infinite in Wisdom Goodness Benignity as well as Power In order thereunto let us now begin to take a view of that which was proposed as the Fourth great Head of this Discourse I mean the Admirable Frame and State of the Universe For whoever will seriously reflect upon those various appearances which are in this visible world must be the most sensless and stupid thing in it if after all the bright manifestations of a Deity that are every where discoverable he can at last permit himself to say in his heart There is no God God hath not left himself without witness saith St. Paul Acts 14. 17. No that which may be known of God is manifest to us for God hath shewed it unto us For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead Rom. 1. 19. 20. Here then we meet with Eight Observable which are very fit in their turns to fall under our contemplation 1. The excellent Order into which the several parts of the Universe are digested 2. The great Beauty that appears throughout the world 3. The wonderful Usefulness that is in all the branches of the Creation 4. The curious and exquisite Structure of them for the Uses and Ends to which they serve 5. The constant Regularity of them in their respective Operations 6. The ample Provision that is made for the good of Creatures especially Mankind 7. The Resemblances of Knowledge and Wisdom in the Operations of things Irrational 8. The Divine Frame of our own Rational Nature O Lord how glorious are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth and heavens are full of thy riches the various testimonies of thy greatness and inexhaustible benignity 1. First We may observe the excellent Order into which the several parts of the Universe are digested This Order is seen 1. In the commodious Situation and Position to which they are determined 2. In the near Relation of them to each other and Dependance on each other 3. In the Permanency of them in that State and condition wherein they have been placed 1. As there are several Ranks and Classes of Creatures so is every Rank determined to its due and proper place That part of the world we stand in immediate need of is the Earth and that is placed in the middle of the world that it may receive influence from all the ambient parts of the Universe to help its Fertility and the distance of it from the Coelestial Bodies is so commodious that its Productions are not apt to be destroyed by excesses of Heat or Cold which otherwise would unavoidably follow were the distance nearer or more remote It is the proper place for man in this life For 't is the Theatre we are to Act on and the Magazine that yields us the Stores we live by and therefore 't is near at hand hard by all our Necessities and richly furnish'd with Plants Fruits Meats Entertainments of all sorts so that 't is but going out of doors and industrious People may gather their Provision and whatever they can modestly desire either to supply their Wants or to afford them Pleasures And lest we should drop down suddenly for want of Breath with our Meats between our Teeth the Air which serves for Digestion and Respiration is I cannot so well say in our Neighbourhood as in our Nostrils An Atmosphere so appositely plac'd and so adapted to the gross contexture of our outward Senses that it is infinitely more proper for sensitive Creatures than the Fine Unmixt Aether that is at such a distance from us Those fluid Bodies the Waters are in their proper place too treasured up in concave Receptacles and Chanels and there ready at hand to quench the Thirst of every Animal and if Men will be wanton to serve their Sensualities also without endangering their safety by inordinate sweeping Inundations The Heavens are to give light and warmth to all Sublunary Creatures and therefore the provident Hand which formed them hath set them very remote that those great and glorious Luminaries may cast their Influences over all the World and withal secure all things living from those Scorchings and Deaths to which their Vicinity would otherwise have unavoidably exposed them In short all things are situate where they should be nor could the wisest Counsel have placed them better supposing the wisest Being to have had the disposal and ordering of them 2. The excellent Order of Creatures is seen in the near Relation of them to each other and Dependance on each other Where I shall speak only of that general and common Reference which the several kinds of Creatures thus situated and disposed do bear to one another As for the usefulness of particular Branches of the Creation it will fall under our eye in its due place At present I am to take notice of that Relation and Connection that Respect and Cognation which is between the Species and Sorts of things which make up this great Frame and System of Nature For in the great Volume of the Creation there is a noble Design carried on this Creature having a respect to that and that hanging upon the other like Premises and Consequents in a well-compos'd Book so that if one part be taken away not only the Beauty but the Purpose of the whole is lost Were all Sensitive Creatures destroyed what would the Light of the Sun be to a blind World Were the Earth annihilated what would the sweet Influences of the Pleiades signify Or were but the Fowls the Cattel the Fruits of the Earth removed what would become of Man that pretends to be the little Lord of all and yet is fain to be a Dependant upon these poor Creatures to afford him Provision daily and to furnish out his Table Some conceive that the only great Design of Nature is to support Man which though I think is too great a Vanity to imagine yet supposing it were so how many Creatures are there to be served before it can come to his turn I will hear the heavens saith the Divine Being and the heavens shall hear the earth