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particular parts, efpecially thofe that are animated, of fuch exquifite con- PHYSICS. trivances, and fuch admirable co-ordinations, and fubordinations, in reference to each other, as lie hid from thofe who are not both attentive, and skilful. When our virtuofo contemplates the vastnefs, fcarce conceivable fwiftness, and yet conftant regularity, of the various motions of the fun, moon, and other celeftial lights; when he confiders how the magnetifm of the earth makes its poles conftantly point the fame way, notwithstanding its various motions; how, by daily turning about its own centre in four and twenty hours, it receives as much light, and benefit from the fun, and all the glorious conftellations of the firmament, as if they, with all the vaft heavenly region they belong to, mov'd about it in the fame time; how, by its fituation among them, it enjoys the regular viciffitudes of day and night, fummer and winter, &c. how the feveral parts of the fublunary world are mutually fubfervient to one another, and most of them ferviceable to man; how excellently the bodies of animals are contrived; what various, and fuitable provifion is made for different animals; how admirable, and astonishing a procefs is gone through in the formation of the fœtus; how various animals are endow'd with ftrange instincts, whose effects, sometimes, feem much to furpafs thofe of reafon itself: when, I fay, a philofopher duly reflects on these things, and many others of the like import, he will think it highly rational to infer from them thefe three conclufions.

First, that a machine immense, beautiful, well contrived, in a word, fo admirable as the world, cannot have been the effect of mere chance, or the tumultuous juftlings, and fortuitous concourfe of atoms; but muft have been produced by a caufe, exceedingly powerful, wife and beneficent.

Secondly, that this moft powerful author, and contriver of the world, hath not abandon'd a work fo worthy of him, but ftill maintains, and preferves it; fo regulating the ftupendously fwift motions of the great globes, and other vaft maffes of the mundane matter, that they do not, by any great irregularity, diforder the grand fyftem of the univerfe, and reduce it to a chaos, or confufed ftate of things.

Thirdly, that as it is not above the ability of the divine author, though a fingle Being, to preferve, and govern all his visible works, how great and numerous foever; fo he thinks it not below his dignity, and majefty, to extend his care, and beneficence to particular bodies, and even to the meaneft creatures; providing, not only for the nourishment, but for the propagation of fpiders, and ants themfelves. And, indeed, fince the truth of this affertion, that God governs the world he has made, would appear by the conftancy, and regularity, and aftonishingly rapid motions of the vaft celeftial bodies, and by the long trains of as admirable artifices employ'd in the propagation of various forts of animals; I fee not why it fhould be deny'd, that God's providence may reach to his particular works here below, efpecially to the nobleft of them, man; fince moft of those who deny this, as derogatory to God's majefty, and happiness, acknow

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ledge,

PHYSICS. ledge, that, at the firft formation of things, the great author of them muft not only have extended his care to the grand fyftem of the univerfe in general; but allow'd it to defcend fo low, as to contrive all the minute, and various parts, not only of greater, and more perfect animals, as elephants, whales, and men; but fuch small, and abject ones, as flies, ants, mites, &c. which being manifeftly propagated by eggs, laid by the female, cannot reafonably be thought the offspring of putrefaction. Whence I gather, as from matter of fact, that to be concern'd for the welfare, even of particular animals, as it is agreeable to God's wifdom, and exuberant beneficence; fo it is not truly derogatory to his adorable greatness, and majefty.

And, fince man is the nobleft of God's vifible works; fince very many of them feem made for his ufe; fince, even as an animal, he is wonderfully made, and curiously, or artificially wrought; and fince God has both given him a rational mind, and endow'd it with an intellect, whereby he can contemplate the works of nature, and by them acquire a conviction of the existence, and feveral attributes, of their fupremely perfect author; and, laftly, fince God hath planted notions, and principles in the mind of man, fit to make him fenfible, that he ought to adore his maker, as the moft perfect of Beings, the fupreme Lord, and governor of the world; natural reafon dictates to him, that he ought to exprefs the fentiments he has for this divine Being, by a veneration of his excellencies; by gratitude for his benefits; by humiliation, in view of his greatnefs, and majefty; by an awe of his juftice; by reliance on his power, and goodness; and, in fhort, by thofe feveral acts of natural religion, that reafon fhews to be fuitable, and, therefore, due to those several divine attributes. of his, which it has led us to acknowledge.

And here I shall add, that, from the Cartefian principles, a double argument may be drawn for divine providence.

For, firft, according to the Cartefians, local motion, which is the grand principle of all action among things corporeal, is adventitious to matter; and was, originally, produced in it, and is ftill every moment continu'd, and preferv'd, immediately by God: whence it may be inferr'd, that he concurs to the actions of each particular phyfical agent; and, confequently, that his providence reaches to all, and every one of them.

And, fecondly, the fame Cartefians believe the rational foul to be an immaterial fubftance, really diftinct, and feparable from the body. Whence I infer, that the divine providence extends to every particular man; fince, whenever an embryo, or little human body form'd in the womb, is, by being duly organized, fitted to receive a rational mind, God is pleas'd to create one, and unite it to that body. In which tranfaction, there seems to me a neceffity of a direct, and particular intervention of the divine power; fince I understand not, by what phyfical charm, or fpell, an immaterial fubftance can be allured into this or that particular embryo, of many that are, at the fame time, fitted to receive a human foul; nor by what merely mechanical ties, or bond, an immaterial fubftance can be

durably

durably join'd, and united, with a corporeal one, in which it finds no parts, that it has organs to take hold of, and to which it can furnish no parts to be faften'd upon by them. No better can I conceive, how a mere body can produce pain, pleasure, &c. by its own mere action, or endeavour to act on an immaterial fpirit. No will the force of all this reafoning be eluded, by faying, with fome deifts, that, after the firft formation of the univerfe, all things are brought to pafs by the fettled laws of nature. For tho' this be confidently, and, not without colour, pretended; yet, I confefs, it does not fatisfy me. For, not to mention the infuperable difficulty there is, to give an account of the first formation of things, which many deifts will not afcribe to God; nor that the laws of motion, without which the prefent ftate, and courfe of the world, could never be maintain'd, did not neceffarily fpring from the nature of matter, but depended upon the will of the divine author of things; I look upon a law, as a moral, not a phyfical caufe; as being, indeed, but a notional thing, according to which, an intelligent and free agent is bound to regulate its actions. But inanimate bodies are utterly incapable of understanding what a law is, or what it enjoins, or when they act conformably, or unconformably to it; and, therefore, the actions of inanimate bodies, which cannot incite, or moderate their own actions, are produced by real power, not by laws; tho' the agents, if intelligent, may regulate the exertions of their power by fettled rules.

4. I have taken notice of two other accounts, upon which the experimental knowledge of God's works may, in a well-difpofed mind, conduce to eftablish the belief of his providence.

And, firft, when our virtuofo fees with how many, and how various, and how admirable ftructures, inftincts, and other contrivances, the wife artificer hath furnished even brutes, and plants to acquire, and affimilate their food; to defend, or otherwife fecure themfelves from hoftile things; to maintain their lives, and propagate their fpecies; it will very much conduce to perfuade him, that fo wife an agent, who has at command fo many differing, and excellent methods, and inftruments, to accomplish what he defigns; and, often, actually employs them for the prefervation, and welfare of beafts, and even of plants, can never want means to compass his moft wife, and juft ends, with relation to mankind; being able, by ways that we should never dream of, to execute his purposes, and fulfil his promifes.

Secondly, when we duly confider the very different ends to which many of God's particular works, efpecially thofe that are animated, seem defign'd, with refpect both to their own welfare, and the utility of man; and how exquifitely the great creator has been pleafed to fupply them with means admirably fitted to attain thefe refpective ends; we cannot but think it highly probable, that fo wife, and fo bountiful a Being, has never left his nobleft vifible creature, man, unfurnished with means to procure his own welfare, and obtain his true end, if he be not wanting to himfelf. And, fince man is endow'd with reafon, which may convince

PHYSICS. him, what neither a plant, nor a brute animal is capable of knowing, that God is both his maker and continual benefactor; fince his reafon likewife teacheth him, that upon both thofe accounts, befides others, God may justly expect and require worfhip and obedience from him; fince alfo the fame rational faculty may perfuade him, that it well becomes the majesty and wifdom of God, as the fovereign governour of the world, to give a law to man, who is a rational creature, capable of underftanding and obeying it, and thereby glorifying the author of it; fince, finding in his own mind a principle, which tells him, he owes a veneration, and other fuitable fentiments, to the divine author of his being, and his continual and munificent benefactor; fince, on thefe accounts, his confcience will convince him of his obligation to all the effential duties of natural religion; and fince, laftly, his reafon may affure him, that his foul is immortal, and is therefore capable and defirous of being everlastingly happy, after it has left the body; he muft in reafon be ftrongly inclined to with for a fupernatural discovery of what God would have him believe and do. And therefore, if, being thus prepared, he fhall be very credibly inform'd, that God hath actually been pleafed to difcover, by fupernatural means, what kind of worship and obedience, which by reafon alone he could but guess at, will be moft acceptable to him; and to encourage man to both thefe, by exprefs promises of that felicity, which man, without them, can but faintly hope for; he would be ready, then, thankfully to acknowledge, that this way of proceeding becomes the tranfcendent goodness of God, without derogating from his majefty and wifdom. And by thefe and the like reflections, a philofopher, who takes notice of the wonderful providence, that God defcends to exercife for the welfare of inferior and irrational creatures, will have an advantage above men not vers'd in the works and courfe of nature, in believing, upon the hiftorical and other proofs which christianity offers, that God has actually vouchfafed to man, his nobleft, and only rational vifible creature, an explicite and pofitive law, enforced by fevere penalties denounced against the ftubborn tranfgreffors, and promifing to the fincere obfervers of it, rewards fuitable to his own greatnefs and goodnefs. And thus the confideration of God's providence, in the conduct of things corporeal, may convey a well-difpofed mind from natural to reveal'd religion.

Experimental philofophy draws the mind from fenfual things.

5. Another thing, that difpofes an experimental philofopher to embrace religion, is, that his genius and courfe of ftudies accuftom him to value and delight in abftract truths; by which term, I here mean fuch truths, as do not at all, or very little, gratify mens ambition, fenfuality, or other inferior paffions and appetites. For, as the generality of thofe who have an averfion to religion, are led to it by a contempt of all truths, that do not gratify their paffions or interefts; fo, he who is addicted to experimental knowledge, is accuftom'd both to purfue, efteem, and relifh many truths, that do not delight his fenfes, or gratify his paffions, or interefts; but only entertain his underftanding with that manly and rational fatisfaction, which is naturally afforded by the attainment of clear and noble truths,

its genuine objects and delight. And tho' the difcoveries made by the help PHYSICS. of phyfical or mechanical experiments, are not, for the most part, allied to revealed religion; yet, befides that fome of them manifeftly conduce to establish or illuftrate natural religion, we may argue à fortiori, that he who is accustomed to prize truths of an inferior kind, because they are truths, will be much more difpofed to value divine truths, which are of a vaftly higher and nobler order, and of an ineftimable and eternal advantage.

lity.

6. But farther, both the temper of mind, that qualifies a man for a vir- Gives it a docituofo, and the way of philofophizing he chiefly employs, greatly conduce to give him a fufficient, well-grounded, and duly-limited docility; which is a great difpofition to the entertainment of reveal'd religion. In the vulgar and fuperficial philofophy, wherein a man is allow'd to think that he has perform'd his part well, when he has afcribed things to a fubftantial form, or to nature, or to fome real quality, whether manifeft or occult, without proving that there are fuch caufes, or intelligibly declaring, how they produce the phenomena, or effects refer'd to them; 'tis eafy for a man to have a great opinion of his own knowledge, and be puff'd up by it. But a virtuofo, who cannot fatisfy himfelf, nor dares pretend to fatisfy others, till he can, by hypothefes that may be understood and prov'd, declare intelligibly the manner of the operation of the caufes he affigns, will often find it fo difficult a task to effect all this, that he muft eafily difcern, he needs further information, and therefore ought to feek for it where 'tis the most likely to be had. Befides, the litigious philofophy of the schools feldom furnishes its difciples with better than dialectical or probable arguments, which are not proper fully to fatisfy the perfon who employs them, or to leave his adverfary without an anfwer, as probable as the objection: upon which account, men who have more wit than a fincere love for truth, will be able to difpute fpeciously enough, as long as they pleafe. And as fuch flippery arguments are not able to convince even the perfon who uses them, if he be a man of judgment; fo, if he deals with a witty adverfary, they will leave him able to elude any arguments of the like nature, with which he fhall be prefs'd. And in effect, we fee, that in the Ariftotelian philofophy there are feveral eftablifh'd queftions; fuch as, Whether the elements retain their diftinct natures in a mix'd body? Whether the celeftial orbs are moved by intelligences? c. which have been difputed from age to age, and are like to continue queftions for many more, if that philofophy fhall laft fo long. But a virtuofo, who in his reafonings attends to the principles of mathematics, and found philofophy, and to the clear teftimonies of fenfe, or well verify'd experiments, acquires a habit of difcerning the cogency of an argument, or way of probation; and eafily perceives, that dialectical fubtilties, and fchool-tricks, cannot fhift off its force; but he finds more fatisfaction in embracing a demonftrated truth, than in the vain glory of fubtilly difputing against it.

7. Another thing that may, by means of experiments, difpofe a ftu- And a fitness for dious fearcher of truth for reveal'd religion, is, that his inquiries, and deep truths. fearching into course of studies, make him both willing and fit to fearch out and difcover

deep