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elfewhere, and of their fituation; of the Figure and Confiftency of all the Humours and Membranes of the Eye, all confpiring and exactly fitted to the ufe of Seeing? but I have touch'd upon that already, and fhall difcourfe of it largely afterward. You will ask me, who' or what is the Operator in the formation of the Bodies of Man and other Animals? I Anfwer, The fenfitive Soul it felf, if it be a fpiritual and immaterial Subftance, as I am inclinable to believe: But if it be material, and confequently the whole Animal but a meer Machine or Automaton, as I can hardly admit, then must we have recourse to a Plaftick Nature.

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That the Soul of Brutes is material, and the whole Animal, Soul and Body, but a meer Machine, is the Opinion publickly own'd and declar'd of Des Cartes, Gaffendus, Dr. Willis and others; the fame is alfo neceffarily confequent upon the Doctrine of the Peripeteticks, viz. that the fenfitive Soul is educed out of the Power of the Matter, for nothing can be educed out of the Matter, but what was there before, which must be either Matter or fome Modification of it, And therefore they cannot grant it to be a fpiritual Substance, unless they will af fert it to be educed out of nothing. This Opinion, I fay, I can hardly digeft. I fhould rather think Animals to be endu'd with a lower Degree of Reason, than that they are meer Machines. I could inftance in many Actions of Brutes that are hardly to be accounted for without Reafon and Argumentation; as that com

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monly noted of Dogs, that running before their Masters they will ftop at a divarication of the way, 'till they fee which hand their Masters will take; and that when they have gotten a Prey, which they fear theirMafters will take from them, they will run away and hide it, and afterwards return to it. What account can be given why a Dog being to leap upon a Table, which he fees to be too high for him to reach at once, if a Stool or Chair happens to stand near it, doth firft mount up that, and from thence the Table? If he were a Machine or Piece of Clockwork, and this motion caus❜d by the ftriking of a Spring,. there is no reafon imaginable why the Spring being fet on work, fhould not carry the Machine in a right line toward the Object that put it in motion, as well when the Table is high as when it is low: whereas I have often obferv'd the firft leap the Creature hath taken up the Stool, not to be directly toward the Table, but in a line oblique and much declining from the Object that mov'd it, or that part of the Table on which it ftood.

Many the like Actions there are, which I fhall not spend time to relate. Should this be true, that Beafts were Automata or Machines, they could have no fenfe or perception of Pleafure or Pain, and confequently no Cruelty could be exercis'd towards them; which is contrary to the doleful Significations they make when beaten or tormented, and contrary to the common Senfe of Mankind, all Men naturally pitying them, as apprehending them to have fuch

a fense and feeling of Pain and Mifery as themfelves have ; whereas no Man is troubled to fee a Plant torn, or cut, or ftampt, or mang led how you please; and at least seemingly contrary to the Scripture too. For it is faid, Prov. 12. 10. A righteous Man regardeth the life of his Beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. The former Claufe is ufually English'd, A good Man is merciful to his Beaft, which is the true Expofition of it, as appears by the oppofite Claufe, that the wicked are cruel. What lefs then can be inferr'd from this place, than that cruelty may be exercis'd towards Beafts, which were they meer Machines it could not be? To which I do not fee what can be answer'd, but that the Scripture accommodates it felf to the common, tho' falfe, Opinion of Mankind, who take these Animals to be endued with fense of pain, and think that cruelty may be exercis'd towards them; tho' in reality there is no fuch thing. Befides, having the fame Members and Organs of fenfe as we have, it is very probable they have the fame Senfations and Perceptions with us. To this Des Cartes anfwers, or indeed faith, he hath nothing to anfwer; but that if they think as well as we, they have an immmortal Soul as well as we: Which is not at all likely, because there is no reason to believe it of fome Animals without believing it of all, whereas there are many too imperfect to believe it of them, fuch as are Oysters and Sponges and the like. To which I anfwer, that there is no neceflity they fhould be immortal,

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because it is poffible they may be, destroy'd or annihilated. But I fhall not wade further into this Controverfie, because it is befide my Scope, and there hath been as much written of it already as I have to fay, by Dr. Moore, Dr. Cudivorth, Des Cartes, Dr. Willis and others, Pro and Cons

Of the vifible Works of God and their Divifion.

I come now to take a view of the Works of the Creation, and to obferve fomething of the Wifdom of God difcernible in the Formation of them, in their Order and Harmony, and in their Ends and Ufes. And firft I fhall run them over flightly, remarking chiefly what is obvious and expos'd to the Eyes and Notice of the more carelefs and incurious Obferver. Secondly, I fhall felect one or two particular Picces, and take a more exact furvey of them; ; tho even in these more will efcape our notice than can be discover'd by the moft diligent Scrutiny For our Eyes and Senfes, however arm'd or affifted, are too grofs to difcern the Curiofity of the Workmanship of Nature, or thofe minute Parts by which it acts, and of which Bodies are compos'd; and our Understanding too dark and infirm to discover and comprehend all the Ends and Ufes to which the infinitely wife Creator did defign them.

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But before I proceed, being put in mind thereof by the mention of the affiftance of our Eyes, I cannot omit one general Obfervation concerning the curiofity of the Works of Na

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ture in comparison of the Works of Art, which I fhall propofe in the late Bishop of Chefter's Words, Treatife of Natural Religion Lib. 1. C. 6. The Obfervations which have been made in thefe latter times by the help of the Microscope, fince we had the ⚫ use and improvement of it, difcover a vaft difference between Natural and Artificial Things. • Whatever is natural, beheld thro' that appears exquifitely form'd, and adorn'd with all imaginable Elegancy and Beauty. There are fuch inimitable gildings in the fmalleft Seeds of Plants, but especially in the Parts of Animals, in the Head or Eye of a fmall Fly; fuch Accuracy, Order and Symmetry in the frame of the most minute Creatures, a Loufe, for ex ample, or a Mite, as no Man were able to conceive without seeing of them, Whereas the • most curious Works of Art, the fharpeft and finest Needle doth appear as a blunt rough Bar of Iron, coming from the Furnace or the Forge: the most accurate Engravings or Em⚫ boffments feem fuch rude, bungling and de'form'd Work, as if they had been done with a Mattock or Trowel; fo vaft a difference is there betwixt the Skill of Nature, and the • Rudeness and Imperfection of Art. I might add, that the Works of Nature, the better Lights and Glaffes you ufe, the more clearer and exactly form'd they appear; whereas the effects of Human Art, the more curiously they are view'd and examin'd, the more of Defornity they difcover.

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