Idea the Mesentery as it 's called by Anatomists meaning a most curious Net-work of innumerable porous Strings which fasten the Entrails together in a Circle and with their gaping Orifices devour and drink up the spirituous Chyle throughout its Passage Thence being convey'd through those somenting Parts and spungy Kernels the Clandules the Supplement of Life is by the constant Motions of the Diaphragm forced and drawn upwards again but in a new way some into the Liver some into other Vessels but mostly into a common Receptacle like a little Lake whence it is carried on still further upwards Wâ—â—eus Ibid. towards the Neck there to be discharged into a great Vein or Canal of Blood This constant course of the Chyle prepared in the Stomach and conducted through so many Vessels was not discovered so exactly and particularly till some late Criticks in Anatomy made the strictest search And though it may seem to lie out of a Divines way yet because the Speculation is so useful and important in the Consequence as well as diverting in it self I shall for once venture upon it a little further That milky Substance the Chyle being now commixt and swimming with the Blood is instantly transmitted into the Right-Ventricle of the Heart there as some have thought to be turned into perfect Blood of the form of its Vehicle Thence it runs through a Chanel into the Lungs there to be enriched by impregnating Particles from the Air whence it takes a circuit back again into the Left-Ventricle of the Heart where being instantly Sublimated and made highly Spirituous it is ejected thence up into a great Artery which by innumerable Branches conveys it speedily over the whole Body there by the assistance and supply of more Spirits from the Nerves to warm and comfort to enliven and invigorate to feed and nourish the several Parts and so the remainder returns to be supplied with fresh Chyle to the Heart again through Veins which though they be numberless yet is the Circulation so quick that the Blood goes through the Heart as a very learned Physician hath Dr. Lower de Cordc computed it no less than thirty times within the compass of and Hour This I take to be the short account of Nutrition especially in Man wherein if there be any slight mistake I submit to the Judgment of those of the noble Faculty and Profession whose business it is to understand it much better And now considering the admirable usefulness of all those Parts which serve to these vital Purposes I would ask any reasonable Person Whether meer Chance or blind Matter or any thing else without the Skill and Providence of a most wise Being could contrive such artificial and wonderful Methods Conveyances Instruments and Vessels of such various Sorts and all so curiously Formed so orderly Disposed and so exquisitely Connected and Fitted to bring about such necessary and excellent Ends If it be said That all these things are done by Common Animal Nature 't is easily answered That Nature of its self is without all Understanding utterly uncapable of Forecast or Cogitation and therefore shews that there is an intelligent Being over it that erected and ordered the business of Nutrition which common Nature never knew either how to perfect and finish or how to begin nor indeed doth humane Reason it self help to carry it on As for instance A Man deliberates indeed what he shall eat and what he shall drink for these are Objects which fall under Consultation or at least Fancy But when once his Nutriment is cast down into the Stomach there is an end of all deliberation as to the manner of Digestion and of turning the digested Matter into Blood and Spirits In the whole Oeconomy of this Affair Reason hath not the least Hand nor did any Man ever yet consider how he should convert his Food into Chyle or convey it from the Stomach to the Mesentery or how he should there separate it and so carry it to the Heart The greatest Politician in the World never yet thought of managing this Intrigue Nature indeed does the thing to his Hand But because that Principle of Life which we call Nature is utterly void of all Policy and Thought we must rationally conclude that there is a Being of excellent Knowledge and Wisdom that is a Deity which hath contrived these Operations for Nature and hath directed and fixt the Methods of them If it be said again that Nature operates thus in a Mechanical way by forcing and thrusting on the Chyle and Blood like the Art and Method used in Water-works it may be very reasonably demanded Who invented this Art for Nature Who at first put that unintelligent and blind thing upon it And what Hand prepared that stupendious Course and Instruments it was to use in order to the Animal's Nutrition Nay who contrived the Animal it self and designed the Nourishment of it Or if these Questions be not enough we may very well ask the great Pretenders to Reason one more viz. How the Circulation of the Blood which is so Demonstrable is so constantly performed and so quickly finish'd in its periodical Course For here the greatest Artists are divided Disp de Deo p. 462. in their Opinions whether the reduction of the Blood to the Heart through the Veins be by the inosculation of the Veins and Arteries an Opinion which seems to be out of Doors or by the porosities of the fleshy Parts or by the systaltick Motion as some call it in the Veins themselves As to this Men of the best Skill are yet to seek how to give a clear and satisfactory Account of the manner of the Circulation of the Blood though the Circulation it self be apparent which to me is an Argument that the whole Method of Nutrition in us was instituted and is still carried on by a Divine Being which hath made some things undiscoverable by humane Art that by the Mysteries we find in Nature we may be the more easily prevailed on to believe the sublimest Truths in Religion 2. Having thus observed the First thing which tends to the preservation of that Nature which is common to Man and Beast the work of Nutrition that is performed in the Bowels Let us in the next place consider briefly the Second thing or the Business of Sensation that is performed in the Head both inwardly in the Fancy and outwardly by the Instruments of Sensation as the Eye the Ear and the like which convey to the Fancy all sensible Objects from abroad And here I must not be so vain as to pretend to give a distinct accurate and full account of all the operations of Nature and of its hidden means and manner of Working No it is enough for one of my Profession to take such a summary notice of those things which serve for Sensation as may satisfie any reasonable Person that the whole Work of Sensation argues wonderful Wisdom and Contrivance and consequently the Existence of a God
stretch or shrink so does the whole Heart open or shut and so does that Vehicle of Life the Blood run Without these Fibres or Heart-strings 't were impossible for the Punctum Sanguineum or that first Rudiment of an Animal like to a drop of Blood to vibrate or move or exert its Faculty much less to fashion an Auricle which is a Fibrous Part also that opens and shuts to let in and force out the Blood as the Heart it self does which immediately receives the Blood from it And now to argue hence a little What do these artificial beginnings of Nature shew but the wonderful Wisdom Skill and Power of a Divine Mind and consequently the Existence of a God that does order all the least Tendencies to Life after such an exact exquisite and stupendious manner For though in all this Nature be the immediate Agent yet that is of it self a blind unthinking inartificial Thing Though it be an active vivisick formative Principle whatever the Substance of it be whether material or not yet it is without all Consciousness all Sagacity all Forecast and Knowledge and therefore cannot be supposed to contrive or project or to act by any Wisdom of its own And yet so wise are those Contrivances which are the Origen of every Animal's Life so admirably Designed so sitly and appositely Formed in order to their Ends that the whole Fabrication shews it to come from the Counsel Will and Direction of a most intelligent Being in whose Hand Nature is and under whom it Operates It requires no little Art to dissect an Heart after a proper manner to expose these Rudiments of Life to your view to shew you their Dependencies upon Tendons their Figures Positions and Intertextures and after all this Curiosity to delineate them upon Paper and to give you with a Pen a little Resemblance and Idea of them this is enough to exercise and shew the Skill of the wisest Artist upon Earth And then How great must the Wisdom and Skill of that intelligent Agent be who so admirably contrived the Original Formation and Structure of them 2. As to subsequent Operations of Nature for the perfecting of the Heart with all its Parts and meer Appendages we are told that by the first Pulsations of the springing Heart the Parts of an Animal being now laid out and formed gradually that prime Vessel of Life increaseth and comes to discharge its Office to the full being now well furnished with all Necessaries for it so that as one Ear receives the Blood out of a great Vein and then by its Constriction sends it out into the Right-Bosom of the Heart so that Heart by its own Constriction forceth it thence into the Lungs whence it is agitated round into the Left and so transmitted into the other Bosom thence to cast by a new constriction into an Artery they call the Aorta which like a great Pipe laid into a Fountain conveys it into many others by which means every Particle over the whole Body is fed irrigated and refreshed All which wonderful Works of Nature are perfomed immediately by the Fibres those Instruments of Motion I spake of before which the Heart being now grown corpulent act with violence and are strong and visible some lying in direct Lines from the tip of the Heart to the Crown others cross wise in the form of a Circle others in Oblique or winding Lines All meeting within the tip as in a knot or center and fastned above to round Tendons like Strings tied to an Hoop So that the Heart being full of Blood as the tip makes its efforts upwards so all the Fibres conspire from every Part by a joynt Compressure to throw the Blood out and then dilate themselves again for the Reception of a new Supplement and by this alternate Motion of these Fibres every Minute is the Life of Man preserved I cannot well omit one very material Observation more concerning these artificial Contrivances which argue the Existence of a most wise Being the Author and Director of Nature and it is this That in all the innumerable Canals of Blood which transmit it to and from the Heart there are as indeed in the several Conveyances of the Chyle muscular Membranes or Valves provided I cannot compare them better than to Sluce-doors which open always before the Current to let it pass forward but upon occasion shut to hinder it from returning the same way And this is especially observable in those Vessels which are in and about the Heart where the Constrictions and Pulsations being so violent would cause the vital Stream to slow back did not the shutting of these Valves prevent it before every Pulsation Hence it is that the Blood is forced onwards and is circulating every Moment these Sluce-doors stopping all Reflux and a Flood behind them still pressing on till the Heart by its Constrictions evacuates it self and drives the Current forward still somewhat like an Engine in Water works which together with the other remarkable effects of Nature shews that every the least Part within us is most wisely sitted for its proper Use and that the whole Structure is so congruously ordered that nothing is vain impertinent or superfluous nothing that can be spared without disturbance damage and danger to the Fabrick and consequently that there is nothing but what is an Evidence of Counsel Foresight and astonishing Skill in a superior Agent framing and directing Nature after a most excellent manner that is a Deity I have taken the Liberty to venture upon these Anatomical Speculations though some may think them a little too much out of my way partly to raise in Peoples Minds the greater Sense of God by the stupendious Operations of his Hands which they carry about with them and which they find at home in their own Bodies partly to excite them to all Acts of Praise and Thankfulness for such Miracles of God's Providence and partly to move them to all Sobricty and Regularity of Life Intemperance and Debaucheries are quite distant from the Ends of our Formation and utterly inconsistent with the Reasons of it nay destructive of them And therefore People should be very careful not to abuse so excellent a piece of Workmanship on which such Elegance of Art and Care has been bestowed especially considering how weak the Stamina Vitoe all the Threads are on which our Lives depend how frail as well as curious the whole Web of Nature is and how soon we may be forced away to the Divine Tribunal should but a few Fibres break But to evade the force of this whole Argument for the Existence of a God lewd Scepticks are ready to tell us from that old Epicurean and Atheist Lucretius That though many good Uses of things have been sound out and the things are sitly apply'd to those uses yet these uses were never design'd but fell out casually and consequently are no proof of an understanding intending Cause or a Deity And to this purpose a learned Writer gives
The Fancy then is the highest and most perfect Faculty of the Animal Soul as the Understanding is of the Rational An imagining directing Power in every sensitive Creature carrying in its Acts some faint resemblances of humane Reason though it be quite destitute of it and much inferiour to it It s Seat is in the Brain and its Uses are so great and necessary that without it no Animal can answer the Inclinations and Purposes of its Nature By this Faculty the Creature receives within it the Idea's and Representations of exteriour Objects perceives so much of their Qualities as exerts its Appetites and in some sort after an obscure imperfect manner and in an unreflecting way judgeth of things whether they be Pleasant or Painful Convenient or Disagreeable Beneficial or Destructive in short whether they be for its Enjoyment or for its Hurt And according as those Impressions are which are thus made upon the Fancy so does the Creature act either craving for the Object or declining it either embracing or abhorring either pursuing or avoiding it and either gratified with the Fruition or grieving under the Pain which the Object affords So that as the Heart is the Spring of all vital Motion so is the Fancy the Spring of all animal Motions both inward and external Now Can any reasonable Man believe that this so useful a Faculty came accidentally into the Soul meerly by nonsensical Combination of undesigning Atoms Does it not rather shew that the Animal was endued with it by a wise Agent that constituted and aimed at its Preservation Especially if it be considered that as it is a distinguishing Faculty in every Individual whereby it perceives the difference between what is Good for it or Injurious to it so in every Species of Animals it is various and yet notwithstanding that variety works in every one of the same kind after an uniform Manner For that Object which is delightful to one sort of Animals another is averse to and whether it be desired or refused by one Individual it is alike desired or refused by all of the same Species which is a plain Argument that it was not Chance but Divine Reason which formed that Internal Sense the Fancy In the next place let us take some though it be but a transient view of the Instruments which are assistant and ministerial to transmit Impressions from without to that Organ of the Soul where this distinguishing Power the Fancy is plac'd Those Instruments are of two sorts Nerves and Spirits The Nerves or Sinews resemble so many hollow winding Pipes thro' which all Idea's and Notions of things abroad are convey'd to the Sense within The original Complication and Bed of the Nerves is in the interiour Fabrick of the Brain dividing there that soft artificial Structure of Nature into divers Cells or Apartments whence the great Branches of those Instruments of Sensation are extended outwardly thro' the Head by Pairs That in each Ear serves to open a Passage to the Fancy for all sorts of Sounds according to the various Motions and Modifications of the Air. That Nerve in each Eye serves to let in the Idea's and Shapes of all visible Objects Those which extend toward the lower parts of the Face are to admit all kinds of Smells and by variety of Ramifications to govern the Taste to move the Tongue in all its Vibrations to assist the Lips the Jaw and all the Organs there which help towards Nutrition Others Divarications are into the Lungs and Wind-pipe to preserve Respiration to modulate the Voice and to serve for the Ejection of whatsoever is offensive to that sensible Fabricature Others strike down into the Stomach and Heart to promote all Motions and Operations there Others run lower to be serviceable to the Bowels and Mesentery that they may discharge their Functions Others to the Liver to the Reins and to all the parts in their Neighbourhood And others down the Neck to the exteriour parts of the Body so that by innumerable streight circular and oblique Branches all over the Body to the very Soul of the Foot they are insinuated into all the Muscular Formations which serve to move every Limb Member Joynt and Particle And yet all this wonderful Plexure of Nerves would be of no real use without the help of active lively Spirits to invigorate all And for the Extraction of these out of the Blood provident Nature hath prepar'd tho' not by any Providence of its own peculiar Elaboratories in the Brain As those Spirits which serve directly for the Ends and Uses of Life and are therefore call'd Vital are produced in the Region below so are those Spirits which serve for Sense and Motion and are therefore call'd Animal Spirits chymically prepar'd in that Supreme Region which is the Seat of Sensation the great Organ and Original of all those Motions which are in the several parts of the Body There those Ministers of Nature are continually imployed in their various Ranks and Functions nay in their several Cells too that they may not disturb or interfere with one another in their respective Operations And there like Centinels about a Garison they are upon the Watch to give the Fancy notice from their several Divisions and Districts of whatever may prove either grateful or offensive to Nature Those in the Optick Tubes in the Eyes convey all lucid Idea's to the Fancy Those in the Hollow and about the Drum of the Ear all sorts of Sounds Those in the Palate and Nostrils every Taste and Odour and those dispersed about in Nerves and Fibres over all the Body serve to convey the Sense of all Pain or Pleasure besides the manifold stupendendious and unaccountable Office they do both for the exterior parts in order to all Muscular and local Motion and for all the inward Vessels in order to vitality And here I cannot well omit what an inquisitive Author hath observed Disput de Deo P. 479. touching that mutual Relation and necessary Commerce which is between the Brain and those inferiour parts which are for the Ends and Operations of Life For though every Part by it self be form'd with most exquisite Art for the Offices and Functions it is to perform yet no part can answer its Ends without the subservient Ministery and Assistance of others Thus unless the Heart supply the Head with Blood it is impossible for the Brain either to produce Animal Spirits or to sustain it self Again If the Brain did not pay a Tribute of Spirits to the Heart 't were impossible for the Heart to prepare that Blood Again Neither can the one prepare Blood nor the other Spirits unless the Stomach provides Chyle and the Lungs Nitre Nor again can either Lungs or Stomach perform their Offices unless both parts receive from Heart and Brain Blood and Spirits Since therefore in the whole Labyrinth of this Contexture there is such admirable Excellence and Curiosity of Contrivance each part so exquisitely form'd in it self and all so
an Dr Cudworth Intel Syst p. 690 691. Account of these Men's Principles or Shifts viz. That nothing in Man's Body was made out of design for any use but that all the several parts thereof happening to be so made as they are their uses were consequent thereupon The former Teeth say they were made by material and mechanical Necessity thin and sharp by means whereof they became sit for cutting and the Jaw-Teeth thick and broad whereby they became useful for the grinding of Food But neither of them were intended to be such for the sake of their uses but hapned by Chance only And the like they affirm concerning all the other Parts of the Body which seem to be made for Ends. To which that learned Person replies That though a thing that happens accidentally to be so or so made may afterwards notwithstanding prove often serviceable for some use or other yet when any thing consisteth of many Parts that are all artificially proportionated together and with much Curiosity accommodated one to another any one of which Parts having been wanting or otherwise in the least placed or disposed of would have rendred the whole altogether inept for such a use then may we well conclude it not to have been made by Chance but by Counsel and Design and intentionally for such uses As for Example the Eye whose Structure and Fabrick consisting of many Parts Humours and Membranes is so artificially compos'd that no reasonable Person who considers the whole Anatomy thereof and the Curiosity of its Structure can think otherwise of it but that it was made out of Design for the Use of Seeing and did not happen accidentally to be so made and then the use of Seeing follow And for a Man to think that not only Eyes happened to be so made and the use of Seeing unintended followed but also that in all the same Animals Ears happened to be made so too and the use of Hearing followed them and a Mouth and Tongue happened to be made so likewise and the use of Eating and in Men of Speaking was also accidentally consequent thereupon and that Feet were in the same Animals made by Chance too and the use of walking followed and Hands made in them by Chance also upon which so many necessary Uses depend Besides innumerable other Parts of the Body both Similar and Organical none of which could have been wanting without rendring the whole inept or useless I say to think all these things should happen by Chance to be thus made in every one and the same Animal and not design'd by Mind or Counsel that they might joyntly concur and contribute to the good of the whole this argues the greatest insensibility of Mind imaginable But this absurd and ridiculous Conceit hath been long since so industriously confuted by that larned Pagan Philosopher and Physician Galen in his Book of the Use of Parts that it would be altogether superfluous to insist any more upon it I shall only add for the Confirmation of all this that in the several Species of Animals both Men and Beasts many Parts are totally wanting in some Individuals where they would have been neither necessary nor useful which are not wanting in others where they are so which shews that those Parts were intended for uses and for their proper uses only they were therefore formed not by Chance but by the greatest Counsel and Wisdom that is by the wise Contrivance of a Divine Mind Nay in some whole Species there is a manifest difference where there is good reason for that difference a plain Argument that it was Divine Reason which ordered all things so very exactly for the sake of Ends and with an intention to have those Ends and purposes answer'd As for instance many Sensitive Creatures nay a very strict Enquirer into Nature Harvey de motu Cord. c. 6. tells us the greater number of Animals have no Lungs at all as various sorts of Fishes The reason is because Lungs would be of no use to them for their manner of Respiration is performed by the opening and shutting of their Gills Again some sorts of Animals as several kinds of Worms have no Heart neither The reason is because a Heart also would be of no use to those Creatures for as they gather so they dispose of their Nourishment by Contracting and Relaxing their little Bodies and consequently there is in them no Circulation of the Blood nor indeed any need of it and so they have no need of a Heart to throw it about into their extreme Parts Again though many sensitive Creatures as Fish and others which have no Lungs have an Heart notwithstanding yet the same learned Author observes that in all such Creatures the Heart hath but one Ventricle or Bosom whereas in Men and in some other Animals it hath two The reason is because where there are two the Right Ventricle serves to transmit the Blood into the Lungs as they send it about again to the Left Ventricle But where Lungs are wanting there a Right Ventricle would lie idle and unserviceable to any good End or Purpose and therefore Nature forms it not in those Animals one Cavity being enough for the Reception and Distribution of the Blood Again as the Heart of Man is connected to the Lungs so does it lie cover'd over in a soft Membrane like a Case or Purse 't is call'd the Pericardium wherein is a Watery Substance as 't is generally thought to moisten and temper the Heart that it may not be parch'd or render'd unfit for its Office by inordinate Heats But 't is observ'd that the Heart of a Brute is without Disp de Deo p. 458 such a Case and the reason perhaps is twofold partly because the Nourishment of a common Animal is not so strong nor the Blood so inflaming as to need Refrigeration there partly because the Heart of such a Creature lying not in an exact Posture as in Man but lengthwise according to the Figure of the Body and pressing somewhat upon the Diaphragm were a Pericardium added it might hinder the Diaphragm from moving freely especially in its Constrictions To all which I shall subjoin but two Observations more and the one is this that in Animals which chew the Cud there is wanting an upper Range of Teeth The reason is because it wou'd be useless for those Animals fetching up again by the Peristaltick reciprocal Motion of the Stomach their unconcocted unmacerated Food do by a continued and gentle Rumination as well prepare their Nourishment for Digestion as other Creatures do theirs by a double Row of Grinders The other I borrow of a Pious and Critical Naturalist who speaking of the Artificial Mr. Ray's Wisdom c. p. 46. and Wonderful Conformation of the Wind-pipe observes that lest the asperity or hardness of its Cartilages should hurt the Oesophagus or Gullet which is tender and of a skinny Substance or hinder the swallowing down of Meat therefore its annulary
the Gnosticks and especially Appollonius Tyanaeus that they might draw People off from the Profession of Christianity upon the same Motives which had induced them to embrace it Those times abounded with Magicians and Sorceres who though they could not deny the Works which Jesus Christ had done yet used all their Arts to lessen and disparage them by pretending to do the like Our Saviour had foretold his Disciples That false Christs and false Prophets would arise and would shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect Matth. 24. 24. Accordingly St. Paul speaking of that set of Seducers in the Singular Number as the Man of Sin saith That his coming was after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders that is with wonders that served to confirm and give testimony to false Doctrines 2 Thess 2. 9. All these Appearances were so many Imitations of the Works of Jesus intended by those men to deceive who try'd to counterfeit things which they durst not contradict for fear of being contradicted themselves by all the World Nor did those bitter Adversaries to Christianity in after-times Celsus and Julian presume to disown the Miracles of Christ for they acknowledg'd as other Heathens did that he cured the Blind and the Lame but to keep the force of this Argument from working upon mens minds they reviled his Actions as though they were done not by any Divine Power but by Arts of Magick after his return out of Egypt where they pretended he had learned his Skill Briefly Orig. cont Cels lib. 1. p. 30. In the Ages which were nearest to our Saviour's all sorts of knowing Men acknowledg'd the Miraculous things that had been wrought by Him and his Followers And had some Scepticks of our days lived then even Jews and Pagans would in that point have accused their Infidelity from notoriety of fact which was unquestionable 4. And yet there is one Consideration more that gives further Evidence of the truth of those Miracles which Moses and Jesus Christ did viz. That things of great and publick concernment were the consequents of them than which no stronger evidence can be given or desired of any matter of fact that ever was done in the world There cannot possibly be a better proof that there were formerly Wise and Good Men in England than the Government they established and the Laws they have left us Our whole Constitution is founded upon their Actions and the Polity we are under shews what Kings and Parliaments they were and what they have done though the Men are long ago dead So doth the state of Judaism and the frame of Christianity shew what Moses and what Christ did All on each hand is built upon the Miracles which were done by the one and the other and to say at last there were no such things is to accuse all their Disciples of the highest madness for following their Institutions without Grounds or Reason a censure that is too hard to be given of so great a part of Mankind who think they have the greatest Reason in the world for their Profession Moses his business was to form the whole Nation of the Jews into a Commonwealth distinct from all other Societies of Men to give them peculiar Laws to prescribe them a peculiar Form of Religion to bring their Necks under an heavy yoke under a sort of discipline that was the most strict the most cumbersome and laborious And how can we think that a froward People just delivered out of one Bondage would presently have submitted to another nay a Bondage which they thought was to last for ever had they not seen such signs and wonders done before their eyes as plainly argued that their Lawgiver came to them by immediate Commission from God Or how can we conceive that their Posterity who groan'd so often under the Curses which Moses had left them would have endured the severities of such a Taskmaster had they not well known that his Authority over them was attested from Heaven Nay How is it imaginable that the Jews at this day should not yet depart from Moses but stick to him to death and will undergo any sufferings rather than leave him though their Religion as distinct from Christianity hath no inward natural Goodness to commend it no human Power without to support it and though they themselves be the most ignominious hated People in the world The Reasons of all this must be drawn from those strong assurances the Jews have always had That to erect their Polity and to establish their Religion Moses did such Works as wore out of the Power of all Art and Nature and plain tokens that he acted in the Name of God and by the Authority of God And then as for the Christian Institution it hath been long ago Received and Professed up and down in the world though it met with and indeed carried in its nature such vast and manifest discouragements as could never have been conquer'd had not Christ shewed the Necessity and Divinity thereof by Miracles A Religion whose Author died a most reproachful Death A Religion that layeth hard Restraints upon mens natural Desires and binds them to acts of Self-denial and Mortification A Religion that makes People prefer future Expectations before all present Enjoyments and wait till the day of Judgment for their full Reward A Religion that is attended with Sorrows and Sufferings and exposeth its Professors to Death it self for the sake of a good Conscience In short a Religion that brings with it all the seeming disadvantages and discouragements that can be offered to Flesh and Blood And yet notwithstanding all inconveniences this Religion where-ever it hath been Preach'd hath continually prevailed over the hearts of all Teachable Men in the world of which no other rational account can be given but this That the Author and Finisher of our Faith proved his Authority and confirmed all his Laws and Doctrines by working Miracles by the finger of God The works that he did in his Father's name they bore witness of him Joh. 10. 25. For all people knew that he was a Teacher come from God because no man could have done those Miracles that he did except God had been with him Joh. 2. 3. So that Miracles were the foundation of every man's Faith and Obedience the great Reasons which Congregated all people into that Body which we call the Church and which still holds them firm together against all the Hardships and Storms that can be brought upon them The Christian Church is a standing visible Monument of our Saviour's Miracles as the Jewish State was of the Miracles wrought by Moses and both of them are Monuments of such vast and publick consequence as could never have been erected without them much less could they have stood against all Winds and Weather And after all to imagine as some do that no such Divine Supernatural Effects were ever done is
Hand every way as occasion requires the fitness of the Flesh Skin and the very Nails for their respective Offices and upon the whole they conclude that no Art could possibly have contrived this Member better or more appositely for its Uses and that great Inconveniencies must have followed had any thing in it been otherwise than just as every thing is If now with this Hand you dissect the Lungs of an Animal you may see the stupendious Wisdom and Skill that is shewn in the contrivance of that whole pendulous Fabrick for the drawing in and digesting the nitrous Particles of the Air for the dispersing of it into every Lobe and lesser Receptacle for respiration by the alternate shrinking and stretching of the Fibres there for conveying Blood out of the Heart and back again into it for governing and modulating the Voice for keeping the Wind-pipe continually open by circular Cartilages or Grisles and for defending it by a muscular Membrane at the Roots of the Tongue which upon occasion shuts down like a Clap-door to keep every thing but Air from descending into the Lungs To your Fingers ends you feel the pulsations of the Heart on which depends the Circulation of the Blood that is the immediate Spring and Prop of Life And did you distinstly perceive the manner of its quick course from the Heart round to the Heart again Did you see the texture of the Arteries which serve to carry it off the intricate passages of it even through the little Cavities of the Bones the Force whereby it is propelled and driven on forward upon every new pulsation the watery Particles which drop into it by the way to thin it and thereby to assist its Motion Those Vessels they call the Glandules and Lymphaeducts out of which those watery Particles are derived the conveyances by which it runs out of the Arteries into innumerable Veins and little branches of Veins the Valves in them which keep it from flowing back the frame and windings of those Canals which lead it on to the Heart the opening of the Heart to receive it when 't is come to the Door of the Right-Ventricle and those muscular Membranes the Valves which are so artificially provided to open forward into that Ventricle to let the Blood in and then shut to like Trap-doors to hinder the Blood from Recoyling the same way Did you I say distinctly perceive all this mysterious Process and Structure no more would be needful to make you sensible of the great Reasons which the holy Psalmist had for those Expressions Psal 139. 14. O Lord I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well Besides these Miracles of Divine Wisdom Bish Wilkin's Nat. Rel. p. 81. within us I might lead you on to a further view of the various Fortifications of Nature which are more outward A Structure of Six hundred several Muscles in each whereof are at least Ten several Intentions or due Qualifications to be observed proper Figures just Magnitude right Disposition of its several Ends upper and lower position of the Whole the insertion of its proper Nerves Veins and Arteries which are each of them to be duly placed so that about the Muscles alone no less then Six thousand several Ends or Aims are to be attended to The Bones are reckoned to be Two hundred eighty four The distinct Scopes or Intentions in each of these are above Forty in all about an Hundred thousand And thus is it in some proportion with all the other Parts the Skin Ligaments Vessels Glandules Humours but more especially with the several Members of the Body which do in regard of the great Variety and Multitude of those several Intentions required to them very much exceed the homogeneous Parts And the failing of any one in these would cause an irregularity in the Body and in many of them such as would be very notorious But because I have just mentioned the pulsations of the Heart I shall close up this Speculation by observing a little the amazing Works of Nature there As the Sun is Cor principium vitae Sol microcosmi ut proportionabiliter Sol cor Mundi appellari meretur cujus virtute pulsu Sanguis movetur perficitur vegetatur à corruptione grumefactione vindicatur suumque Officium nutriendo fovendo vegetando toti corpori praestat Lar ille famaliaris fundamentum viâ—ae auctor omnium Harv de Mortu Cordis Exerc. 1. Cap. 8. to this lower World so is the Heart to every sensitive Creature a Fountain of Life by the Vertue and Motion whereof the Blood is moved perfected invigorated preserved from Corruption and performs its Office by nourishing cherishing and invigogorating the whole Body After the opening of the Heart to let the Blood in on the Right-side there follows a strong Constriction or Shutting up of the Heart to throw it out on the Left And that vibration or beating which we feel then is usually called the Pulse whereby the Blood is cast and forced into all Parts for Nutrition every where and to cause its return round about to the Heart again when all Parts have been fed with some Portions of it Now let any reasonable Man view distinctly the contexture and frame of an Animal's Heart and then let him lay his Hand upon his own and ask his Conscience seriously whether any thing but the highest Reason and Wisdom could contrive that little but most necessary Member for its respective Uses For the clearing of this let us consider a little the artificial Works of Nature both at the first formation and motions and of the Heart and in its subsequent Operations 1. And First As to the primordial Rudiments of this great Prop of Life Suppose the Original Principle of Life to be inclosed within a round muscular Substance like a little Bladder which in time becomes a full perfect Heart Suppose what a most Learned Harv de Motu Cordis Exer. 1. cap. 4. cap. 17. Anatomist tells us this small muscular Substance like a drop of Blood or a Red Point to palpitate stir and beat and by that Motion to form directly those Side Vessels above upon the Basis of the Heart which they call the Auricles or Ears and which are the next Parts that move Suppose all this as plain Matter of Fact we must conclude hence That this Motion thus exerted communicated and carried on is performed by those contrivances of Nature which are the necessary Instruments of Motion and consequently that those Instruments are already in being And what think you are those Contrivances Why they go under the name of Fibres and are in every Heart that is fully formed like the finest Threads and therefore may be well supposed to be at the first formation hardly so big as the finest Hairs On these small exquisite Instruments of Motion the Lives of Men and other Animals originally and constantly depend And as they either