therefore succeed in their several Seasons The Industry of Man hath not been able to discover whether the Leaves Flowers and Fruits of Plants be Parts of the Plants on which they grow or whether they be different Plants having their own Seeds which can only pass by the peculiar Passages of the several Plants and grow from their own Seeds seeing after they are compleat they fall off without Violence and it is hard to apprehend how the grosser Passages of the principal Plants can by straining the Aliment through them figure it in so admirable a Variety whence such rare Colours and Proportions do arise however it be there must be the Contrivance of so much Wisdom as hath given and shall give all the Generations of Mankind a pleasant Exercise to discover more and more yet leaving ever more undiscovered This might and ought to check the Pride of Man in his Knowledg and make him admire and adore the Wisdom of God in this so low a Step of his Works of Nature 6. It is said Let the Earth bring forth Grass c. as if it were a Command to the stupid and unsensible Earth to work all these wonderful Things far exceeding its own Perfection tho all the Efficacy of the Sun of the Stars and of Fire were adjoined which has puzled the most piercing Witts how these things could come to pass and many have been forced to attribute all to the omnipotent Power of God alone wherein they derogate highly from the Wisdom of his Contrivance and are contrary to Revelation Why should he say to the Earth Bring forth Grass Herbs and Trees if nothing of the Earth had a casuality in them How could it be said that on the seventh Day God ended that which he had made and he rested from all his Works if there be no Efficacy in Creatures but only that he creates not new Matter It might as well be said the first Minute when he created the Chaos that he had rested from all his Works as that he rested on the seventh Day if that were the meaning But I am perswaded that on this third Day God created the Seeds of all Plants with all their Parts and Passages and disseminated them near the Surface of the whole Earth as they might be most useful for his Ends and that they do alwise necessarily grow when and where their proper Aliment entereth in their Passages and proceedeth by them 7. The wonderful Wisdom and Goodness of God appears not only in the Pleasure but in the Profit of all these Plants as the several Kinds of them are the Food of the different Species of Animals for which the several Animals have their Instincts by which they have Pleasure in them Appetite to them and Aversion to others and yet more as they are the Physick of Animals by their several Parts solid or fluid chiefly by their Juices and Spirits The Brutes have their Instincts to know their Physick which are not given to Man that he might not be idle but improve Sense Reason and Experience to know what parts or preparations of Plants served to prevent or cure all the Diseases that his Irregularity hath brought upon himself or even upon the Beasts which Virtues were discovered to Adam whereby he was enabled to give Names to Beasts fitted to express their peculiar and prime Perfections which hath been communicated by Tradition and increased by Experience without such Tradition there can hardly be any rational Account given of the Medicinal Skill which hath been so much propagated in the World tho the Causes thereof be very little known so that they could not be known by general Principles and none were ever so industrious as by hap-hazard to apply to every Disease all things applicable to find out what would work which might not warrantably be practised upon Man lest thereby more might be killed than cured Botanists have ranked Plants as they are congenerous by their agreeing in Shape Colour Taste and Smell and of late they have observed Marks in them as different Signatures more exactly to show their physical Operations all which comes far short of the Virtues of Plants which are already discovered much more of all the Virtues which are in them Upon the fourth Day of the Creation God created the Sun the Moon and the Stars the Sun to rule the Day and the Moon to rule the Night for Signs and Seasons and for Days and Years which do not only give light through the whole visible World but do also much enlighten the Minds of rational Creatures with the Knowledg of the Wisdom and Glory of the great Creator 1. In the Sun which is nothing else but a vast Globe of Fire which was first dispersed in the one Hemisphere of Heaven whereby Light and Darkness Day and Night were divided by equal Durations for the first three Days the Sun having been created but the fourth Day yet it was an Act of Creation by the sole Power of God and not a Production by a natural Cause there was also then formed a Globe of AEther rolling continually about the Sun to keep it perpetually in a globular Figure shunning that irregular Shape which necessarily follows the interfering of the Particles of Fire Recent Observations of Astronomers have demonstrated that the Sun is rolled about its own Center in the same time that the Moon is moved about the Earth which they observe from the Motion of some more regular Spots in the Sun The Sun is the far most glorious Creature in this visible World as the Agitation of Fire gives Light by the continual Vibration of its Parts so this glorious Globe of Fire which no natural Cause can ever dissipate suppress or extinguish by the interfering of its Particles outward it thrusts upon and darts out the Rays of the AEther by streight Lines so far as ever these can reach till the Rays be stopped reverberated and reflected back into it self again by the Earth the Moon or other dark Planets which have no Light of their own but do reflect the Sun-Beams a great Part whereof fall upon the Earth and illuminate it The Sun illuminates more than one Hemisphere of the Earth because it is a far greater Body than the Earth The Sun hath its Motion about the Earth in a Year from West to East under twelve Constellations commonly known which are called the twelve Signs of the Zodiack still moving obliquely whereby it crosseth the diurnal Motion from South-West to North-East in one half of its Course and from North-East to South-West in the other whereby the whole Earth hath equal length of Light and Darkness every Year when the Days are reckoned together those Parts of the Earth that are equally distant from the North and South Poles have their Days and Nights always equal and those Parts of the Earth that are near both Poles have but one Day and one Night in the Year each being an half Year in length The remanent Parts have their
Times the Periods from which they begin their Calculations are different and the Length of their Years the Equation and Conciliation whereof have been very difficult but much helped by the Eclipses observed by Astronomers in several Ages which being sure the Priority or Posteriority of great Occurrences are thereby adjusted So far hath God expressed of the Creation of things inanimate being all visible and obvious to Man at the first without expressing any thing specially concerning the five dark Planets or the little Planets which move about them neither of the variety of these things which were contained in the Bowels of the Earth as Stones Minerals and Metals neither is there any thing revealed concerning that variety of Motions that are in inanimate Creatures such as the circular Motion of the AEther and therewith of the Sun Moon and Stars which do so exactly keep their Course nor of the Motion of Fire nor Weight nor Lightness whereby things move downward to and upward from the Earth nor the peculiar Virtues and Efficacies of the Stars of the Elements and their Concretes of Plants Stones Minerals Metals or of the Causes thereof all which in the Wisdom and Goodness of God were reserved for the Exercise and Industry of Man whom God would not have idle tho he had continued in Innocency for he put innocent Adam in the Paradise to dress it Much of the stupendous and unsearchable Wisdom of God hath been in every Generation discovered since the beginning of the World and thence great Profit and Pleasure have arisen to Mankind and matter of Admiration and Adoration of the inscrutable Wisdom and Goodness of God who hath also given Man a great Pleasure in the search of all hidden things and of the Causes of these which appear and a great Delight in them when they are found out above all other to the Inventers for their Encouragement and as a Reward of their Industry For instance How great Profit and Pleasure hath arisen to Mankind by the Invention of Writing God infused in our first Parents the Knowledg of Speaking whereby without their own Invention or Agreement they did express their Thoughts and Things But we have no ground to infer that he taught them writing that not only by the Ear but by the Eye they could communicate Thoughts and Things not only to those who were present and near them but to the absent whereby Men spoke after their Death to many Generations and their more noble Conceptions and Inventions have been collected and continued and communicated through the World for many thousands of Years By Writing we have preserved and propagated that infinite Treasure of Wisdom and Righteousness the Holy Scriptures How great Addition to Writing hath been by the recent Invention of Printing How much Profit and Pleasure hath arisen to Mankind by the Invention of Glass and how strange Improvements have been made of it Before Men could not have the access of Light unto their Houses but by open Windows which behoved also to give access to Moisture and Cold What variety of Vessels of Glass containing and conserving all Liquors without Effusion or Evaporation and without any Tincture so pleasantly that they are seen as if they were pendent in the open Air God hath blessed these last Times with new and strange Inventions of Glass for whereas before old People losed the benefit of Writing and Printing and of the distinct sight of minute Objects whereby they were exceedingly hindered to communicate their Thoughts in that Age when they were most fit to do it by their long Experience by the allaying of their Passions by the increases of their Graces and Vertues Yea by Magnifying Glasses in this searching Century there is a whole new World discovered of innumerable Creatures which were never so much as dream'd of or imagined before By Microscropes whereby the Parts Shapes and Colours of the little Animals Plants and Seeds which were seen before but these Shapes and Colours were unperceiveable by the sharpest Eye Now the wonderful Wisdom of God is seen in the Beauty and Variety of both the Vessels and Conduits in Plants and Animals which were known to be necessary from their Effects are now distinctly and clearly seen by the Eye whence the Anatomick Skill is so much improved in this Century By Telescopes the Sun the Moon the Planets the Comets the Stars and their several and variable Parts are so distinctly seen as if they were near the Ends of these Tubes Whereby Men have made a Selenography of the Moon like to the Geography of the Earth and have observed fixed Signatures and Varieties in Saturn Jupiter Mars Venus and Mercury and more lasting Spots in the Sun whereby they clearly see that all of them are turned about their own Centers and have calculated their exact Revolutions They have also found four little Planets which move about Jupiter as the Moon doth about the Earth and make variety of little Eclipses they have also found the Periods of their several Revolutions and that the nearer they are the sooner are their Revolutions perfected and two such about Saturn with a Belt or Ring which makes a continual Variety in the view of that Planet thence there are few but great Bodies discovered and there is no doubt there will be many more but by the Microscopes there are innumerable Kinds as well as Individuals of Animals Plants and Seeds discovered of which neither whole nor part was ever known before I shall but add the Invention of Trigonometry by Quadrants Astronomers Cross-staffs and other Instruments and even by the Shadow the exact Distance and Dimensions of Bodies the Height the Breadth the Length the Depth of Bodies are exactly measured at distance and all by the Proportions of a large and little Triangle whose Angles are homologous that is intercept equal Degrees of a Circle whose Center is in their Angles whereby there is the same Proportion of Length between the Sides and Basis of any of the Angles of the little Triangle and between the Sides and Basis of the Angles of the large Triangle about the Angles of the same Capacity and Wideness It might multiply many more such but I shall content my self with the mention of the Loadstone its attractive and directive Motions not long since discovered by the directive Motions of that Stone whereby it is always turned towards the North and South Poles Men are enabled to direct their Course by Navigation through the vast Ocean to any Coast of the Earth Navigation before was but Coasting no Man durst enter upon the vast Ocean tho some without their Intention were forced by Storms and Winds whither they would not and so fell upon undiscovered Countries But now by the Mariner's Compass or Needle Commerce is so increased that all things are communicated from place to place through the whole Earth that if it were not for their Perversness tho whole Race of Mankind might become one great Common-wealth God having given an inbred
Days and Nights unequal except in the two Equinoctial Days and Nights all which is performed by two uniform circular Motions of the AEther the one by the Zodiack and the other by the Equator The Sun doth so far exceed in Light all the other Stars as to the illumination of the Earth that when it shines bright their shining tho it ceases not is yet unperceivable The Sun is not only the chief Luminary and Fountain of Light but likewise of Heat which increaseth and decreaseth not only every Day as the Sun comes nearer to or goes farthest from the Meridian or Southermost Places of the Earth but also as it proceedeth toward the North and the South and so the Heat is always equal about the middle of the Earth but elsewhere unequal whereby it makes the different Seasons of the Spring when all Plants do sprout and become green of the Summer when the Flowers appear and the Fruits begin of the Harvest when the Fruits come to Maturity and of Winter when the Fruits Leaves and Herbs fall whereby in the Wisdom and Prudence of God there is a Ballance of Enjoyment through the whole Earth the variety of the Seasons where the Days are unequal compensing the Pleasure where the Days are equal because what is ordinary and doth not change is little noticed We would be little sensible of the glorious Light of the Day if we had not the Vicissitude of the Darkness of the Night and albeit the Places near both Poles be far short of the Enjoyment of the rest yet most part there is Sea and not Land There is also great conveniency of the Night for Man in the State of Mortality whereby the Curtains of Heaven are drawn that he may sleep The Earth also doth require a perpetual Vicissitude of the rising and falling of the Vapours by which the Dews and Rains do water the Earth Another Sun opposite to this would have made a perpetual Day but with great Detriment to the Earth The Wisdom of God is also seen in the Instincts of the ravenous Creatures whereby they have no Inclination to go abroad in the Day-time but in the Night thereby Men and the tame and harmless Creatures are free of their Trouble for which the Psalmist praiseth the Wisdom and Goodness of God Thou makest Darkness and it is Night wherein all the Beasts of the Forest do creep forth the Sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their Dens Man goeth forth to his Work and to his Labour until the evening O Lord how manifold are thy Works in Wisdom dom hast thou made them all The Glory of the Sun is also well expressed by the Psalmist which is as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber rejoiceth as a strong Man to run a Race his going out is from the End of the Heaven and his Circuit unto the Ends of it and there is nothing hid from the Heat thereof The Wisdom of God is also seen in the usefulness of the Moon which was appointed to rule over the Night and to give a faint Light for those that might have necessity to travel in the Night but God having ordained the Night for Man to rest in he has not given the Light of the Moon to be so constant as the Light of Sun and therefore it doth not derogate from his Wisdom and Goodness that he did not make more Moons by which there might always have been Light in the Night and besides the brightest Glory and Majesty of God is in this visible World the starry Heaven which in number and variety of the Stars exceed the comprehension of Men and Angels they are the Lamps and Flame-beaus making some resemblance of the Magnificence of the Palace of the King of Glory and yet they are no more than the Ornaments of his Outter-Court or the enamelling of the Pavement of his Inner-Court the third Heaven or the Heaven of Heavens When God doth most favourably condescend to Abraham he bids him look unto the starry Sky and asks if he could number them and doth the like with Job when he was first to humble him for his boldness and then to exalt him for his faithfulness The starry Heaven is never so glorious as when neither Sun nor Moon doth appear therefore it was fit that the Light of the Moon should have Intervals Little is known of the Influence of the Stars tho many Astrologers make unsolid and unwarrantable Conclusions on pretence of their Experience It is true God said to Job Knowest thou the Ordinance of Heaven canst thou set the Dominions thereof in the Earth canst thou bind the Influences of Pleiades or loose the Bonds of Orion Which imports a great Influence of the Stars upon the Earth but the Astrologers infer most from the Planets and their Aspects which are opake and unactive Bodies doubtless the Sun and Moon have great Influence on the Earth not only by their Light and Heat but that correspondence betwixt the Tides of the Sea and the Course of the Moon giveth strong ground to infer that the Moon hath much Influence thereon I cannot certainly know whether the sweet Influence of the Pleiades doth import any more than that when the Sun is under the Pleiades or seven Stars the Spring is in its Prime when all things revive and it is called the Time of Life or whether the Bonds of Orion being near to the North Pole implieth more than the Rigour of Cold and Frost when the Sun is nearest them and farthest Northward God in his Wisdom hath said little of the dark Planets Saturn Jupiter and Mars Venus and Mercury but hath left them to Man's Exercise and Industry who hath found by their Eclipses that they have no Light of their own but do only reflect the Light of the Sun as doth the Moon and tho of old they were thought to be wandring Stars yet now their regular and certain Courses are found and known and more little Planets moving about Saturn and Jupiter since the Invention of Telescopes whereby their Courses are also known and calculated and the Usefulness thereof for finding out the Longitude is known which is of so great Use for Navigation and it is very probable that more will yet be found The Comets or blazing Stars are yet looked upon as prodigious or irregular yet it is not without Hope that their regular Course may be also found The Eclipses of the Sun and Moon gave great Astonishment and Terror at first to all and still to the less knowing Nations but they give still Matter of Admiration and incite us to consider the wonderful Works of God Their Recourses are now certainly known and calculated for many Years to come for the Predictions of these that have past have always held since the Course of the Planets have been exactly known from whence the Eclipses do necessarily follow The Eclipses have also great Use for the Calculation of Time for in divers Nations and at divers