of the thing produced As for instance Moses is said to have turned his Rod into a Serpent and then the Waters into Blood and then to have brought up Frogs out of the River and are not the Magicians said to have done so too Where then is the difference in the works And if there be no visible difference in them how doth it appear that there was a difference in the Powers which produced them And so why may not all be concluded an Imposture and consequently no substantial Evidence of the Existence of a God This now brings me to the second Enquiry How we may know and discern a true Miracle from a pretended one 1. For the clearing whereof it is First granted That they are not distinguishable by the visible quality of the works themselves unless it be in some particular Instances as the raising of the dead the giving Eyes to one that was born blind the multiplication of a few Loaves and the like In those cases the very Nature of the Works shew the singer of God for none but an Almighty Power could produce them nor could any created sinite Power pretend ever to have done the like But where one Wonder resembles another and seems to answer another there 2. Secondly The difference is discoverable chiesly from the Necessity and Tendency of the Operations Indeed their Circumstances and Manner of Production may go a great way to shew the singer of God or the working of Satan but I conceive a true Miracle may be most easily and best distinguish'd from a false one 1. By the Importance of the Reasons which make a Miracle necessary 2. By the End and Scope to which it tendeth 1. First When there is a true Necessity for Miracles As 1. When a man pretends to come from God with special Authority and Commission for some extraordinary Service in that case a Miracle is necessary to give evidence of his Commission and that he may be believed Such extraordinary Power must be back'd with extraordinary Works to attest it for otherwise people could not have sufficient Arguments to own it and 't is inconsistent with the Divine Nature to require mens Submission and not justify or set his Seal to that Authority which he binds them to submit unto but to leave them in a state of Guilt for rejecting that which he gave them not sufficient reasons to receive 2. Miracles are necessary when extraordinary Alterations are to be made in the world As when a solemn peculiar Form of Divine Worship is to be first set up or when a peculiar Form that was establish'd by Miracles is to be removed and taken down to make room for a different Form For these things are of such vast importance that in cases of this nature Men cannot be deceived without running the greatest hazards and nothing under a Miracle can keep them from being impos'd on Now when in these necessary cases Signs and Wonders are shew'd we may conclude them to be Divine Miracles but if there be no need at all of extraordinary Operations upon these accounts such as are pretended ought to pass for works Diabolical because God is not wont as they say to set his Seal to a Blank nor is it consistent with his Majesty and Wisdom to use his Omnipotence in vain 2. True Miracles may be distinguish'd from false ones by their scope and tendency The Works of God are Glorious not only for those signatures of Power they carry with them but also for that admirable Goodness and Wisdom which is discernable in them all because they always drive at the best and most important ends And so we must reckon such Miracles Divine as tend to confirm Truths which come by Divine Revelation For as such Truths cannot be consirmed but by the God of Truth that Reveals them so neither would they be attested by the Father of Lies the Devil did it lye in his Power to work a Miracle for the confirmation of them because nothing is more cross then Truth is to his interest in the world 2. Such Miracles are to be accounted Divine as tend to draw People off from the practice and love of Sin For as such Miracles are glorious manifestations of the Holiness of the Divine Nature so they serve to transform the Spirits of Men into the Divine Image and consequently can be wrought only by the Finger of God 3. Such Miracles as tend to preserve the true Worship of One God by acts of singular Love and Reverence and with an entire Resignation of Heart and Soul because this is the great end of God's whole Oeconomy and that which all Impostures hitherto have been intended to Defeat and Bassâ—le 4. In short Those are to be looked upon to be true Divine Miracles which tend to the utter destruction of the Devil's Power and Works These cannot possibly be thought Diabolical operations for if Satan rise up against himself and be divided he cannot stand but hath an end Mark 3. 26. All these things carry their own light with them and by that light we may very easily discern and distinguish true Miracles from those Impostures which have gone under that name in all times both Ancient and Modern Next after Moses Jesus Christ was the only Person publickly owned to have come from God upon an extraordinary Message to the world And in regard he intended to repeal the Mosaical Ordinances and instead thereof to enact more Spiritual Laws it was necessary for him to work Miracles to shew his Authority for the founding of his Church as Moses had shewed his for building of the Tabernacle And these were the noble ends of all Christ's Miracles to seal the Truth of his Doctrines that how Mysterious soever some of them might seem they might be believed for which reason he did no one Miracle before he began to Preach to reclaim Mankind from all manner of Vice and Immorality or whatever is contrary to God's Nature or reproachfel to their own to establish Piety and Honesty in the world to teach men to lead Sober Righteous and Godly Lives in this world to direct them how to Worship the only True God in Spirit and Truth and to deliver not only the Bodies but the Souls of all People from the Tyranny and Power of the Devil whose business was to Captivate all Mankind that they might walk on still in darkness and blindness of Heart which being the reasons and ends of the Lord Jesus his Miracles we may be sure that those reasons having been once answer'd and the ends sufficiently served by himself and his first Disciples there was no further need of Miracles And therefore whatever Signs and Wonders have been shewed supposing they were really effected either by some Pagans immediately following the time of Christ or by some Romanists in latter Ages they are not to be reckoned Divine Operations but so many Workings of Satan and his Instruments which are so far from justifying or giving credit to their Ways
they should not hearken to such a false Prophet but put him to Death though his Sign or Wonder came to pass Hence 't is easie to conclude That there are Miracles in appearance which are not true ones For God cannot act contrary to himself by working one Miracle to Establish his True Worship and another to Destroy it and therefore those Men are insinitely mistaken who pretend That if Miracles argue the Existence of a Deity they argue the truth of Idolatry also for it cannot be proved that any one Divine Miracle was ever yet done to confirm and give credit to Idolatry and therefore I deny that any Idolaters can with Truth or Reason pretend it Now here Two things may be demanded which I shall consider a little because they are pertinent to the point in hand and may be very useful if rightly understood 1. First What Natural Power Miracles in Appearance may be imputed unto supposing they have been actually done 2. And Secondly How we may be able to know and distinguish such Appearances from works which were strictly and properly Miraculous 1. First What Natural Power Miracles in Appearance may be imputed unto supposing they have been actually done This is no very difficult Proposal either to those Pagans who own the Existence of Demons or to us Christians who read of Angels Good and Bad all under the Government of a Supreme Glorious Being the Father of Spirits But to the Scepticks of our Age it will seem odd to speak of these things because they acknowledge not the Existence of any thing that is not Material and obvious to Sense and therefore explode the Belief of all Spiritual Beings both God and Angels These Men I must at present leave to be contradicted in this Point by all Mankind considering that it is a Subject too far out of my way and of so copious a nature as to admit of a large Discourse by it self for the clearing of it I take it for granted that there is another world besides this and that that other world is Inhabited by Invisible Beings which by God's Permission Interess themselves in the Affairs of this Which being suppos'd How can it seem to any Reasonable Men impossible for such Spirits what by the subtlety and active Faculties of their Nature and what by their great Knowledge of things in Nature and Art and what by their own long Experience in the world to do when God is not pleased to interpose or check them many things which may seem Miraculous to us though they be wrought by their own Natural Ordinary and Limited Power It is not hard for those Beings to shew Signs and Wonders by God's Permission though without the help of his immediate Hand They can by their Natural Agility and Power carry a Body from place to place as the Devil did our Saviour's own Body with God's leave They can modulate the Air so as to form a Voice in an Image as the Angel made Balaam's Ass to speak They can by the Natural Vigour of their Faculties as easily divide a stone as a man can cut off the Branch of a Tree By impressing a new Vigour upon the Animal Spirits they can help the defect of Sight when God pleaseth in one that is casualy blind though they cannot by any Natural Means help him to Eyes who was born without them By the use of many Natural Causes they may do Prodigies as the Magicians did by their help in Egypt In which instance two things are observable 1. That the Power of those Spirits was restrained For though they did some things extraordinary very like unto the Miracles which Moses had done with his Rod yet when the Miracle of Lice came the Magicians could not do it and therefore they confess That that was the finger of God Exod. 8. 18 19. 2. That though they brought some Plagues upon Egypt they could not remove any for which reason the King sought unto Moses all along a plain Sign that they were evil Angels with whom the Magicians were then in Confederacy Hence it appears That very wonderful Signs have been shew'd which look'd like true Miracles and were in imitation of true Miracles when they were not Works of an Almighty Hand but the ordinary Effects of that natural sinite Power that is in Daemons and Devils To which also we may rationally impute those Operations for which those Magicians presently after Christ and others after them were so famous among the Heathens and more especially those by which Apollonius Tyanaeus got himself such a Name in the World if the stories told of him be true which yet is very questionable nor doth Philostratus himself who relates them report them all as things certain though he wrote with a great deal of Partiality The like is to be said of those pretended Miracles we have been told so much of for several Ages past by Men of the Romish Communion Supposing some of those things were true I mean really done for he must have a most miraculous Faith that can believe all or but one half of them it will by no means follow that they were Miracles in a proper sense or Effects purely Supernatural above the power of all Second Causes For though no Natural Cause in this visible World could do them yet may they be very well imputed to the ordinary Power of created Beings that are invisible and so they are to be ranked among the workings of Satan whose coming is wont to be with Power and Signs and Lying Wonders which God hath many times permitted partly to prove and exercise the Faith of sincere Professors of Religion and partly to punish those who receive not the love of the Tâ—uth that they might be saved for which cause God doth send them strong delusions so that they believe a Lye 2 Thess 2 All this makes it evident that such preteâ—ded Miacles cannot possibly argue the Truth of Idolatry though actually done by Idolaters because they are suffer'd to be done in way of Judgment upon perverse and obstinate people However this advantage is hereby gained That those Miracles in appearance such as they are do argue the Existence of a God For if there are any invisible Beings permitted to shew Signs and Wonders vigorous in their Actings and limited in their Power it will follow that there is a Sovereign Being presiding over them that doth govern and command them suffer or controul chain or let them loose of his own pleasure and as the Reasons of Providence require it But it will be said That this distinction between Miracles in Reality and Miracles in Appearance is vain and to no purpose for who can see the difference of the one from the other by the nature of the things themselves because on each hand the works may be the same And it is not enough to say This was done by the Great Power of God and that by the Natural Power of Infernal Spirits when this doth not appear from the quality
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
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