is an Infinite difference between Divine Attributes and Natural Properties wherefore to similize our Reason Will Understanding Faculties Pasions and Figures c. to God is too high a presumption and in some manner a blasphemy Nevertheless although our natural reason and faculties are not like to divine attributes yet our natural rational perceptions are not always delusions and therefore it is certain that Natures knowing parts both sensitive and rational do believe a God that is some Being above Nature But many Writers endeavour rather to make divisions in Religion then promote the honour and worship of God by a mutual and united agreement which I confess is an irregularity and imperfection in some parts of Nature and argues that Nature is not so perfect but she has some faults and infirmities otherwise she would be a God which she is not 11. Of a General Knowledg and Worship of God given him by all Natural Creatures IT is not the sight of the beauteous frame of this world as some do conceive that makes men believe and admire God but the knowledg of the existence of God is natural and there 's no part of Nature but believes a God for certainly were there not any optick sense in Nature yet God would be the God of Nature and be worshiped and adored by her Creatures which are her parts for it is irreligious to say God should want admiration and adoration for want of an eye or any other of the animal or humane organs surely Nature has more ways then five to express and declare God's Omnipotency It is Infinite sense and reason that doth worship and adore God and the several perceptions of this sense and reason know there is a God that ought to be worshipped and adored and not onely Ears or Eyes or the like exterior organs of man Neither is it man alone but all Creatures that do acknowledg God for although God cannot be perfectly known what he is in his Essence yet he may be known in as much as Nature can know of him But since Nature is dividable in her parts each part has but a particular knowledg of God which is the cause of several Religions and several opinions in those Religions and Nature being also composeable it causes a conformity and union of those Opinions and Religions in the fundamental knowledg which is the existence of God Wherefore that which makes a general and united knowledg of the Existence of God is that Nature is intire in her self as having but one body and therefore all her parts which are of that body have also one knowledg of God for though the parts be different in the Worship of God yet they have not a different belief of the Existence of God not that God can be perfectly known either by Nature or any of her parts for God is Incomprehensible and above Nature but in as much as can be known to wit his Being and that he is All-powerful and that not any thing can be compared or likened to him for he is beyond all draught and likeness as being an Eternal Infinite Omnipotent Incorporeal Individual Immovable Being And thus it is not one part or creature viewing another that causes either the knowledg or admiration of God but the soul and life of Nature which are her sensitive and rational parts and Nature being the Eternal servant and Worshipper of God God hath been also eternally worshipped and adored for surely God's Adoration and Worship has no beginning in time neither could God be worshipped and adored by himself so as that one part of him should adore and worship another for God is an individual and simple Being not composed of parts and therefore as it is impossible for me to believe that there is no general Worship and Adoration of God so it is impossible also to believe that God has not been adored and worshipped from all Eternity and that Nature is not Eternal for although God is the Cause of Nature and Nature the Effect of God yet she may be Eternal however there being nothing impossible to be effected by God but he as an Eternal Cause is able to produce an Eternal Effect for although it is against the rules of Logick yet it is not above the power of God 12. Of a Particular Worship of God given him by those that are his chosen and elect People NAtural Philosophy is the chief of all sorts of knowledges for she is a Guide not onely to other Sciences and all sorts of Arts but even to divine knowledg it self for she teaches that there is a Being above Nature which is God the Author and Master of Nature whom all Creatures know and adore But to adore God after a particular manner according to his special Will and Command requires his Particular Grace and Divine Instructions in a supernatural manner or way which none but the chosen Creatures of God do know at least believe nor none but the sacred Church ought to explain and interpret And the proof that all men are not of the number of those elect and chosen people of God is that there can be but one True Religion and that yet there are so many several and different opinions in that Religion wherefore the Truth can onely be found in some which are those that serve God truly according to his special Will and Command both in believing and acting that which he has been pleased to reveal and command in his holy Word And I pray God of his infinite mercy to give me Grace that I may be one of them which I doubt not but I shall as long as I follow the Instruction of our blessed Church in which I have been educated 'T is true many persons are much troubled concerning Free-will and Predestination complaining that the Christian Church is so divided about this Article as they will never agree in one united belief concerning that point which is the cause of the trouble of so many Consciences nay in some even to despair But I do verily believe that if man do but love God from his soul and with all his power and pray for his saving Graces and offend not any Creature when offences can or may be avoided and follow the onely Instructions of the sacred Church not endeavouring to interpret the Word of God after his own fancy and vain imagination but praying zealously believing undoubtedly and living virtuously and piously he can hardly fall into despair unless he be disposed and inclined towards it through the irregularities of Nature so as he cannot avoid it But I most humbly thank the Omnipotent God that my Conscience is in peace and tranquility beseeching him of his mercy to give to all men the like 13. Of the Knowledg of Man SOme Philosophical Writers discourse much concerning the knowledg of Man and the ignorance of all other Creatures but I have sufficiently expressed my opinion hereof not onely in this but in my other Philosophical Works to wit that I believe other
Besides many of their Writings are but parcels taken from the ancient but such Writers are like those unconscionable men in Civil Wars which endeavour to pull down the hereditary Mansions of Noble-men and Gentlemen to build a Cottage of their own for so do they pull down the learning of Ancient Authors to render themselves famous in composing Books of their own But though this Age does ruine Palaces to make Cottages Churches to make Conventicles and Universities to make private Colledges and endeavour not onely to wound but to kill and bury the Fame of such meritorious Persons as the Ancient were yet I hope God of his mercy will preserve State Church and Schools from ruine and destruction Nor do I think their weak works will be able to overcome the strong wits of the Ancient for setting aside some few of our Moderns all the rest are but like dead and withered leaves in comparison to lovely and lively Plants and as for Arts I am confident that where there is one good Art found in these latter ages there are two better old Arts lost both of the AEgyptians Grecians Romans and many other ancient Nations when I say lost I mean in relation to our knowledg not in Nature for nothing can be lost in Nature Truly the Art of Augury was far more beneficial then the lately invented Art of Micrography for I cannot perceive any great advantage this Art doth bring us Also the Ecclipse of the Sun and Moon was not found out by Telescopes nor the motions of the Loadstone nor the Art of the Card nor the Art of Guns and Gun-powder nor the Art of Printing and the like by Microscopes nay if it be true that Telescopes make appear the spots in the Sun and Moon or discover some new Stars what benefit is that to us Or if Microscopes do truly represent the exterior parts and superficies of some minute Creatures what advantages it our knowledg For unless they could discover their interior corporeal figurative motions and the obscure actions of Nature or the causes which make such or such Creatures I see no great benefit or advantage they yield to man Or if they discover how reflected light makes loose and superficial Colours such as no sooner percieved but are again dissolved what benefit is that to man For neither Painters nor Dyers can inclose and mix that Atomical dust and those reflections of light to serve them for any use Wherefore in my opinion it is both time and labour lost for the inspection of the exterior parts of Vegetables doth not give us any knowledg how to Sow Set Plant and Graft so that a Gardener or Husbandman will gain no advantage at all by this Art The inspection of a Bee through a Microscope will bring him no more Honey nor the inspection of a grain more Corn neither will the inspection of dusty Atomes and reflections of light teach Painters how to make and mix Colours although it may perhaps be an advantage to a decayed Ladies face by placing her self in such or such a reflection of Light where the dusty Atomes may hide her wrinkles The truth is most of these Arts are Fallacies rather then discoveries of Truth for Sense deludes more then it gives a true Information and an exterior inspection through an Optick glass is so deceiving that it cannot be relied upon Wherefore Regular Reason is the best guide to all Arts as I shall make it appear in this following Treatise It may be the World will judg it a fault in me that I oppose so many eminent and ingenious Writers but I do it not out of a contradicting or wrangling nature but out of an endeavour to find out truth or at least the probability of truth according to that proportion of sense and reason Nature has bestowed upon me for as I have heard my Noble Lord say that in the Art of Riding and Fencing there is but one Truth but many Falshoods and Fallacies So it may be said of Natural Philophy and Divinity for there is but one Fundamental Truth in each and I am as ambitious of finding out the truth of Nature as an honourable Dueller is of gaining fame and repute for as he will fight with none but an honourable and valiant opposite so am I resolved to argue with none but those which have the renown of being famous and subtil Philosophers and therefore as I have had the courage to argue heretofore with some famous and eminent Writers in Speculative Philosophy so have I taken upon me in this present work to make some reflections also upon some of our Modern Experimental and Dioptrical Writers They will perhaps think my self an inconsiderable opposite because I am not of their Sex and therefore strive to hit my Opinions with a side stroke rather covertly then openly and directly but if this should chance the impartial World I hope will grant me so much Justice as to consider my honesty and their fallacy and pass such a judgment as will declare them to be Patrons not onely to Truth but also to Justice and Equity for which Heaven will grant them their reward and time will record their noble and worthy Actions in the Register of Fame to be kept in everlasting Memory TO THE READER Curteous Reader I Do ingeniously confess that both for want of learning and reading Philosophical Authors I have not expressed my self in my Philosophical Works especially in my Philosophical and Physical Opinions so clearly and plainly as I might have done had I had the assistance of Art and the practice of reading other Authors But though my Conceptions seem not so perspicuous in the mentioned Book of Philosophical Opinions yet my Philosophical Letters and these present Observations will I hope render it more intelligible which I have writ not out of an ambitious humour to fill the World with useless Books but to explain and illustrate my own Opinions For what benefit would it be to me if I should put forth a work which by reason of its obscure and hard notious could not be understood especially it is knowil that Natural Philosophy is the hardest of all humane learning by reason it consists onely in Contemplation and to make the Philosophical Conceptions of ones mind known to others is more difffcult then to make them believe that if A. B. be equal to C. D. then E. F. is equal to A. B. because it is equal to C. D. But as for Learning that I am not versed in it no body I hope will blame me for it since it is sufficiently known that our Sex is not bread up to it as being not suffer'd to be instructed in Schools and Vniversities I will not say but many of our Sex may have as much wit and be capable of Learning as well as Men but since they want Instructions it is not possible they should attain to it for Learning is Artificial but Wit is Natural Wherefore when I began to read the Philosophical Works
and subtil in their corporeal actions then the sensitive by reason they were of a purer and finer degree of Matter and free from labouring on the inanimate parts but withal they told them that the several different and opposite actions of Nature hindred each other from running into extreams And as for the degrees of Matter there could not possibly be more then Animate and Inanimate neither could any degree go beyond Matter so as to become immaterial The truth is said they to balance the actions of Nature it cannot be otherwise but there must be a Passive degree of Matter opposite to the active which passive part is that we call Inanimate for though they are so closely intermixt in the body of Nature that they cannot be separated from each other but by the power of God nevertheless sense and reason may perceive that they are distinct degrees by their distinct and different actions and may distinguish them so far that one part is not another part and that the actions of one degree are not the actions of the other Wherefore as several self-moving parts may be joined in one composed body and may either act differently without hinderance and obstruction to each other or may act jointly and agreeably to one effect so may the sensitive parts carry or bear along with them the inanimate parts without either transferring and communicating motion to them or without any co-operation or self-action of the inanimate parts and as for Matter as there can be no fewer degrees then Animate and Inanimate sensitive and rational so neither can there be more for as we mentioned heretofore were there nothing but animate or self-moving Matter in Nature the parts of Nature would be too active and quick in their several productions alterations and dissolutions and all things would be as soon made as thoughts Again were there no Inanimate degree of Matter the sensitive corporeal motions would retain the figures or patterns of exterior objects as the rational do which yet we perceive otherwise for so soon as the object is removed the sensitive perception is altered and though the sensitive parts can work by rote as in dreams and some distempers yet their voluntary actions are not so exact as their Exterior perceptive actions nor altogether and always so regular as the rational and the reason is that they are bound to bear the inanimate parts along with them in all their actions Also were there no degree of Inanimate Matter Natures actions would run into extreams but because all her actions are ballanced by opposites they hinder both extreams in Nature and produce all that Harmonious variety that is found in Natures parts But said my later Thoughts wheresoever is such an opposition and crossing of actions there can be no harmony concord or agreement and consequently no orderly productions dissolutions changes and alterations as in Nature we perceive there be The former answered That though the actions of Nature were different and opposite to each other yet they did cause no disturbance in Nature but they were ruled and governed by Natures wisdom for Nature being peaceable in her self would not suffer her actions to disturb her Government wherefore although particulars were crossing and opposing each other yet she did govern them with such wisdom and moderation that they were necessitated to obey her and move according as she would have them but sometimes they would prove extravagant and refractory and hence came that we call Irregularities The truth is said they contrary and opposite actions are not always at war for example two men may meet each other contrary ways and one may not onely stop the other from going forward but even draw him back again the same way he came and this may be done with love and kindness and with his good will and not violently by power and force The like may be in some actions of Nature Nevertheless we do not deny but there is many times force and power used between particular parts of Nature so that some do over-power others but this causes no disturbance in Nature for if we look upon a well-ordered Government we find that the particulars are often at strife and difference with each other when as yet the Government is as orderly and peaceable as can be My later thoughts replied That although the several and contrary actions in Nature did not disturb her Government yet they moving severally in one composed figure at one and the same time proved that Motion Figure and Body could not be one and the same thing The former answered That they had sufficiently declared heretofore that Matter was either moving or moved viz. That the Animate part was self-moving and the Inanimate moved or carried along with and by the Animate and these degrees or parts of Matter were so closely intermixt in the body of Nature that they could not be separated from each other but did constitute but one body not onely in general but also in every particular so that not the least part if least could be nay not that which some call an Atome was without this commixture for wheresoever was Inanimate there was also Animate Matter which Animate Matter was nothing else but corporeal self-motion and if any difference could be apprehended it was said they between these two degrees to wit the Animate and Inanimate part of Matter and not between the animate part and self-motion which was but one thing and could not so much as be conceived differently and since this Animate Matter or corporeal self-motion is thorowly intermixt with the Inanimate parts they are but as one body like as soul and body make but one man or else it were impossible that any Creature could be composed consist or be dissolved for if there were Matter without Motion there could be no composition or dissolution of such figures as are named Creatures nor any if there were Motion without Matter or which is the same an Immaterial Motion For can any part of reason that is regular believe that that which naturally is nothing should produce a natural something Besides said they Material and Immaterial are so quite opposite to each other as 't is impossible they should commix and work together or act one upon the other nay if they could they would make but a confusion being of contrary natures Wherefore it is most probable and can to the perception of Regular sense and reason be no otherwise but that self-moving Matter or corporeal figurative self-motion does act and govern wisely orderly and easily poising cr ballancing extreams with proper and fit oppositions which could not be done by immaterials they being not capable of natural compositions and divisions neither of dividing Matter nor of being divided In short although there are numerous corporeal figurative motions in one composed figure yet they are so far from disturbing each other that no Creature could be produced without them and as the actions of retention are different from the actions of
Animal tell what perception a Vegetable or Mineral has We may perceive that the Air which is an Element doth pattern out sound for it is not done by reverberation as pressure and reaction by reason there will be in some places not onely two several Ecchoes of one sound but in some three or four but surely one sound cannot be in several distant places at one time Also a Looking-glass we see does pattern out the figure of an object but yet we cannot be certainly affirmed that either the Glass or the Air have the same perceptions which Animals have for although their patterns are alike yet their perceptions may be different As for example the picture of a Man may be like its original but yet who knows what perception it has for though it represents the exterior figure of an Animal yet it is not of the nature of an Animal and therefore although a man may perceive his picture yet he knows not what perception the picture has of him for we can but judg by our selves of the perceptions of our own kind that is of Animal kind and not of the perceptions of other Creatures for example I observe that the perception of my exterior senses is made by an easie way of patterning out exterior objects and so conclude of the rest of my own kind to wit that the perception of their exterior sensitive organs is made after the same manner or way nay I perceive that also some perceptions of several other sorts of Creatures are made by way of patterning as in the forementioned examples of the Air and Glass and in Infectious Diseases where several Creatures will be infected by one object which certainly is not by an immediate propagation on so many numerous parts proceeding from the object but by imitation of the perceiving parts but yet I cannot infer from thence that all perceptions in Nature are made by imitation or patterning for some may and some may not and although our rational perception being more subtil then the sensitive may perceive somewhat more and judg better of outward objects then the sensitive yet it cannot be infallibly assured that it is onely so and not otherwise for we see that some animals are produced out of Vegetables whose off-spring is not any ways like their producer which proves that not all actions of Nature are made by imitation or patterning In short our reason does observe that all perception in general whatsoever is made by corporeal figurative self-motion but it cannot perceive the particular figurative motions that make every perception and though some Learned are of opinion that all perceptions are made by pressure and reaction yet it is not probable to sense and reason for this being but one sort of action would not make such variety of perceptions in the infinite parts of Nature as we may perceive there are Whensoever I say that outward objects work or cause such or such effects in the body sentient I do not mean that the object is the onely immediate cause of the changes of those parts in the sentient body but that it is onely an external or occasional cause and that the effects in the sentient proceed from its own inherent natural motions which upon the perception of the exterior object cause such effects in the sentient as are either agreeable to the motions of the object and that by way of imitation which is called Sympathy or disagreeable which is call'd Antipathy When I say That the several senses of Animals pattern out the several proprieties of one object as for example the Tongue patterns out the taste the Nostrils the smell the Ears the noise the Eyes the exterior figure shape colour c. and do prove by this that they are different things dividable from each other and yet in other places do affirm that colour place figure quantity or magnitude c. are one and the same with body and inseparable from each other 't is no contradiction for to be dividable from such or such parts and to be dividable from Matter are several things Smell and Taste although they be material or corporeal and cannot be divided from Matter yet there is no necessity that all parts of Nature must be subject to smell or taste or that such parts must have such smells and such tastes for though Colour Place Taste Smell c. are material and cannot be without body yet may they be conceived by our sense and reason to be different and several figures parts or actions for as there is no such thing as single parts or single divisions in Nature but all compositions divisions changes and alterations are within the body of Nature and yet there is such a variety and difference of natural figures and actions that one figure is not another nor one action another so it is likewise with the mentioned proprieties or what you 'l call them which although they cannot be separated from body or matter yet they may be altered changed composed and divided with their parts several ways and be perceived as various and different actions of Nature as they are for as one body may have several different motions at one and the same time so it may also have several proprieties though not dividable from Matter for all that is in Nature is material nor can there be any such thing as Immaterial accidents qualities properties and the like yet discernable by their different actions and changeable by the self-moving power of Nature But mistake me not when I say they are several different figures parts or actions for my meaning is not as if body and they were different things separable from each other or as if Colour Place Figure Magnitude c. were several parts of matter for then it would follow that some parts could be without place some without figure some without colour c. which is impossible for could there be a single Atome yet that Atome would have Colour Place Figure Magnitude c. onely there would be no motion for want of Parts and consequently no Perception But my meaning is That the several properties of a Body as for example Tast Touch Smell Sound being perceived by the several senses of Animals to wit the Tast by the Tongue the Smell by the Nose and Colour and Figure by the Eye c. it proves that they are several corporeal actions for the Tast is not the Smell nor Smell the Sound nor Sound the Colour Nevertheless they are all proprieties of the same body and no more dividable from body then motion is from body or body from matter onely they are made according to the several compositions and divisions of parts And as for Colour Place Magnitude Figure c. as I said before could there be an Atome it would have Colour Place Figure and though parts be changed millions of ways yet they cannot lose Colour Place and Figure The truth is as there are no single finite parts in Nature so there