AN ESSAY ON REGIMEN. TOGETHER WITH FIVE DISCOURSES, Medical, Moral, and Philosophical: Serving to illustrate the PRINCIPLES and THEORY OF Philosophical Medicin, And point out Some of its MORAL CONSEQUENCES.
By GEO. CHEYNE, M.D. C.R.Ed .S. and F.R.S.
Felix, qui potuit rerum congnoscere causas.
VIRG.
Inque domus Superûm scandere cura fuit.
OVID.
1 Cor. xiii. 12.
LONDON:
Printed for C. RIVINGTON, in St.
Paul
's
Church-yard
; And J. LEAKE, Bookseller in
Bath.
M.DCC.XL.
TO THE Right HONOURABLE THE Earl of HUNTINGDON,
&c.
My LORD,
HAD I the
Honour
to be known to a
Person
of more Probity, Steadiness, Love to his Country, and Benevolence to the whole. Race of Mankind: Had I known a truer Friend to
Christianity
in General, or to the
Church
in Particular; your
Lordship
had not been troubled with this
Address,
nor with the Protection of this Work; which is design'd for the
Cure, Relief,
or
Entertainment,
of the Valetudinary, Weak and Diseas'd in
Body
or
Mind.
Your
Lordship
's natural and acquir'd
Endowments
enable You to judge
solidly,
how well it may be fitted for that
End. Good Lady
HUNTINGDON, I believe, has benefited by some of the Rules for Health laid down in this Treatise; as have some others of the Branches of your
Noble Family.
Lady
Betty
's eminent
Christian
Virtues are not only universally admir'd, but
felt.
These Considerations make this Work your
Lordship
's peculiar
Property
; and I am greatly pleased with an Opportunity, publickly to declare the
Honour
and
Esteem
I have for the Family of the HASTEINGS, and, in particular, how deeply I am,
My LORD,
Your Lordship's most faithful humble Servant, GEO. CHEYNE.
Bath,
Aug. 15. 1739.
THE PREFACE
1. THE following
Essay
was written to instruct all sober and serious Persons, how to preserve, or regain their Health; but chiefly to direct and relieve my
Fellow-sufferers,
the
Scorbutic, Gouty, Consumptive,
or
Nervous
Valetudinarian-low-livers; to make them pass their Lives the most comfortably, the
Degree
of their Distempers, the
Time
of Life, the
Nature
of Things, and the secret Orders of
Providence,
will permit. And since they must be deprived, in some Degree, of the
grosser
sensual Pleasures; since all sentient and
intelligent
Beings are made for Happiness, will by mere
Instinct,
seek it
some-how,
and some-where; since their necessary
Low-living
will naturally (in time at least) make them
high-spirited,
and their
intellectual Organs
more acute,
penetrating,
and
delicate
; I have endeavour'd, by the following
Discourses,
to supply them with some suitable
Entertainments
and
Amusements,
such as I have often agreeably diverted my leisure Hours with.
2.
True Philosophy
is the
Science
of living the most happily, through the whole
Period
of our Existence, the Nature of things will permit;
Physic
is but one Branch of this
Philosophy,
and regards but one part of our Composition, and but for a small
Period
of our Duration.
True Philosophy
takes in the whole Extent of our Being, from its most distant Beginning, to its most advanced Stages, possible or conceiveable. True Physic is that only which directs how the Body may be preserved the most
healthful,
the intellectual Organs depending on the Body the most acute, the
Senses
the most perfect, and the
Limbs
the most active; not for a while only, and by Fits and Starts, but uniformly, as long as
they
were made to last, and as the
original
Frame and Texture will permit: Any thing less than this, is but as a Part to the Whole; an imperfect and unfinish'd
Sketch
of such a
Philosophy,
and such a
Physic,
their Theory and
Principles,
was intended by the following
Essay
and
Discourses.
3. They were composed at different Times, and on different Occasions; but one general
Scheme,
and one manner of
free philosophizing,
and
easy Conjecturing,
runs through them all; one, to wit, where the fundamental
Truth,
or
Proposition
in general, is suppos'd either
allow'd, reveal'd,
or already
demonstrated.
But the
Why?
the
final Causes,
the
moral Consequences,
and the particular
Detail,
is only here conjectured about, from probable or
philosophic Principles.
This necessarily makes them more
loose, unguarded,
and
immethodical,
and the same things to be often repeated. But I had neither
Leisure, Relish,
nor
Strength of Application,
to remedy these Faults; it would have cost me more
Trouble
than the first
Composure.
All I could obtain of myself, was to make a short, more distinct
Abstract
of the whole, and join a few
Explications,
to prevent
Cavil,
and all
Mistakes
not wilful and disingenuous, if possible.
4. I am very sensible, by this Work, I shall make myself obnoxious to two very different kinds of Men, the
Stiff, Rigid,
and
Precise
; and the
Licentious, Unguarded, Spurious, Free-Thinkers.
The
first,
very probably, will censure my
Conjectures
and
Sentiments,
as
dangerous,
and
presumptuous,
and
myself,
as being
wise above what is written,
and arrogantly prying into the
Secrets
of infinit Wisdom. It is very possible I may have been
faulty,
in this particular. I am sensible, that some even undoubted
Truths,
that may hurt the
Weak,
ought to be concealed, or enjoy'd only in secret; the same Degrees of
Light
not being equally
luminous
and
perceptive
to all Eyes. But since
old Men,
and Valetudinarians especially, become, as it were,
Children
a second time, and, in their
second Childhood, those
must have their
Rattles
as well as these; I thought it safer, as I am sure it is much more entertaining, to play with
Ideas, philosophic Conjectures,
and such
Amusements,
how weakly soever founded, as tend to make
Virtue
and its
Source
amiable, justify the
Conduct of Providence,
and mend and rejoice the
Heart
without hurting the
Head,
than to dwell on the dark Side of Things, that lead to
Pyrrhonism, Fatalism, Infidelity,
and
Despair.
If I thought I had advanced any thing
derogatory
from the
Amiableness
of infinit Perfection,
contrary
to the Doctrine of the earliest and purest Times of
Christianity, contradictory
to the
Analogy
of Faith, and the
Form of sound Words,
I had committed these
Sheets
to the
Flames,
with the
Hand
of their
Author,
before I had published them. But, on the contrary, I hoped they might agreeably entertain my
Valetudinarian,
who being placed by his low Health, in the
middle State,
between both
Worlds,
the
old
and the
new,
must unavoidably, at some times,
figure
to himself some sort of a
Map
of the next World. I was therefore willing to try to
illuminat
it, the best I could, and to trace some of the
Out-lines
of the
Passages
from
this
to
that Mansion
; by endeavouring to
illustrat,
from not so common a Set of
Principles
and
Philosophy,
some great and fundamental
Truths,
establish'd on more
popular Proofs,
viz. that there is no Possibility of Happiness here or hereafter, without
Purity
of
Heart
and
Life
; and that the true
Reason
of the present
Darkness,
both in
Providence
and
Revelation,
is the Difficulty of recovering this
Purity of Heart and Life,
to its utmost Perfection, in free
lapsed
Intelligences, consistent with their
Liberty,
and the
Harmony
of the Divine Attributes, which infinit
Power
and
Wisdom
will not, I might say, cannot, counter act.
5. I apprehend less Quarter from the opposit
Set
of Men, who may honour me with
Enthusiasm, Romanceing,
and
Castle-building,
without any solid Foundation. All I have to say is, that perhaps my Manner of explaining some great and fundamental Truths, and a few of the Consequences I draw by my
Method,
may be defective: And perhaps, from some of the
Links
being dropt, and from Faults in the
wording,
the
Chain
of the Reasoning may not be always
clear
and
strong
; but I am sure the
Foundation
is
solid
and
just,
and allow'd to be such by all
true Philosophers
; and without it, all
general
and
abstracted
Reasoning (on these
imperceptible
Subjects) must be vain; I mean, without admitting
Analogy:
For without supposing the Evidence and Probability of it, (it being in
Things
only, what
Proportion
is in
Numbers,
and its
Progressions
being only like the higher and subsequent Terms of a
Series
in
Algebra,
from some of the first and simplest
Terms
being given) no
general Laws,
nor
universal Propositions,
can be found out, in
Mathematicks, Philosophy,
or
Morality.
For
Induction,
either in
Experiment, Observation,
or
Calculation,
must be always
particular
and limited. Perhaps the
Method,
when managed by a
clearer Head,
and a more
solid Judgment,
may become a noble
Source
of
divine Knowledge,
and a
sublime Philosophy. Mathematicians
well know, that there are several different
Methods
of investigating the same Propositions in
Algebra
and
Geometry
; and there is scarce a
Geometer,
but has his own
Method
of
Investigation.
The same Conclusions, drawn from different demonstrated
Truths,
give a sensible
Pleasure,
and a stronger
Conviction,
to an honest Heart, and a Lover of Truth; and I could not but be delighted with the
Universality, Simplicity,
and
Luminousness
of the
Method
of
Analogy,
and the other Principles I have laid down in the following
Discourses,
not having met with an
Objection, Difficulty,
or even a
Puzzle
almost, in
Nature, Providence,
or
Revelation,
which had not an easy, consequential or probable Solution from them, which is, at least, a Prejudice in their Favour. I had nothing to do, but to try the
Difficulty,
in its most simple and obvious Cases, (as I used to do in
Algebra,
to find out
universal Canons
) and attentively to observe the Conditions of the
Progression,
till the higher Terms involved the Complication.
6. There are some Persons made so by
Nature,
that they are
slow, dark, gloomy, joyless, puzzling,
and
perplexing,
and they pass for the wise, prudent, guarded Men of the
World:
They may attack
Error,
but seldom find out
Truth
by themselves; like the
Scuttle-fish,
they spout out their own
black Liquor
on the
pellucid Element.
If they are
honest
and
sincere,
they are much to be pitied, and are to be treated with
Humanity
and
Charity,
being in the State of those born
poor
and
blind,
and so destitute of the Necessaries and Conveniencies of Life. They must do the best they can, and be charitably supplied, and with Docility be willing to be led by others; and thus, tho' their Trial might be
hard
and
severe,
yet their Victory would be
meritorious
and
glorious.
But, on the contrary, it often happens, that
Licentiousness, Self-sufficiency,
and a supercilious Contempt of others, are the true Causes of their
Darkness
and
Indigence,
and that they have themselves, by wrong or no Culture, stunted the
Organs
of their Faculties, and by a perpetual
Mal-regimen
have distorted them.
7. I take
common Happiness,
in our natural State at present, to lie in the Pursuit of the general Measures of Thinking, Acting and Living, follow'd by the greatest part of the middling Rank of our
Species
(as it is in their Order in other
Animals
); and
common Sense
(as it is distinguished from cultivated and refin'd Sense) to lie in assenting and conforming to the
Truths
and
Manners,
agreed upon explicitly or implicitly, in the
Community
where Providence has placed us, without some
irresistible,
that is,
miraculous
Evidence, or a
peaceable, silent,
and not
intermeddling
Self-conviction to the contrary. And he who pretends to be
happy,
as to his outward Circumstances, out of
common Life,
or
wise
as to intellectual Endowments, out of
common Sense,
in Things on a Level with his
Occupation
and
Education
; I take him always to labour under some undiscover'd
chronical nervous
Distemper, be the other Appearances what they will, and have been seldom mistaken in a
particular Case.
For tho' a
sound Mind
be not the
only
sure Evidence of a
sound Body,
yet it will always shew, that none of the great
Organs
of Life is intirely spoilt, or greatly
damaged,
however tender and delicate they may be. It is more difficult, than perhaps most Men are aware of, to determin, with any Degree of Exactness, the
Limits
that separat
Wisdom
from
Folly, Wrong-headedness
from
intellectual Sanity
; the most perfect Man here has a
Mixture
of both:
Optimus ille, qui minimis urgetur.
Certain it is, that
true Wisdom,
and a
sound Mind,
consists in first
pondering,
and then
doing,
every thing as near as we can, with
Order, Number, Weight
and
Measure:
But since
Precision
is incompatible with
Finitude,
if we endeavour to be constantly
progressive
towards Perfection, tho' by gentle Steps, neither stopping nor turning aside, but doing the best we can without
Scrupulosity,
and generously hopeing and believeing, that infinit Wisdom and Goodness has, or will supply the
rest,
in his own Time and Manner,
we cannot fail.
8. Were I to
choose
for myself, considering the many certain
Miseries
and Temptations of this State of
Probation,
the
few
uncertain
Antidotes,
and much
fewer
sincere, durable, and real
Pleasures
; I had much rather have the weaker, than the stronger
System
of Nerves, within the
Extremes.
I had rather choose to be contented with the
slight
and
slender,
than covet the strong and
pungent
Pleasures. I had rather be happy in a
Dream,
than miserable
awake.
In a word, I had rather choose to be an innocent, benevolent, tho' weaker and more
credulous
Person, than a
malicious, critical, spurious Free-thinker,
even with regard to this Life only. They most certainly are,
comparatively, unhappy
and
joyless
in themseves, and are
unharmoniously
fram'd, in
Body
as well as
Mind,
who can delight, and employ their
Talents,
on throwing
Darkness
and
Doubts
even on the imaginary Happiness (suppose it such) of their
Fellow-Creatures:
Nothing but
Rancour,
and
acrid Juices,
could be pleased with tearing and destroying
Childrens
Play-things
; and the wisest Man here is comparatively but a
Child.
9. As to myself, I can
honestly affirm,
I have had but
one
uniform manner of thinking in
Philosophy, Physic,
and
Divinity,
in the main, ever since my Thoughts were
fix'd,
and my Principles
establish'd:
They may have had
Alternatives
of greater
Light
and
Darkness,
occasionally and transiently, according to the
State
of my
Spirits, Knowledge,
and
Experience
; but in the
Heart of my Soul
(so to speak) I have been uniform, and under the same
Convictions,
as to the
Fundamentals
of these
Sciences
; and always thought
spurious Free-Thinkers, active Latitudinarians,
and
Apostolic Infidels,
(it being a Contradiction they can be certain in their
Negative
Opinions, or by them when propagated, should do any Good to their Fellow-Creatures, but an infinit deal of Hurt) under some obstinat bodily Distemper, and much more proper Subjects for
Medicin
than
Argument
; and that a
low Diet,
long and obstinatly persisted in, would at last cure both their Body and their Mind, so far as it depends on the Body, especially where Vice and Infidelity have not become habitual, as they certainly have in old Sinners: As I firmly believe, and am as much convinced as I am of any natural Effect, that Water-drinking only will preserve all the Opulent healthy from every mortal Distemper, bateing Accidents, hereditary and epidemical Diseases; and that a Diet of Milk and Seeds, with Water-drinking only, duly continued, and prudently managed, with proper Evacuation, Air and Exercise, is the most infallible
Antidote
for all the obstinat Diseases of the Body, and Distemperature of the Mind, so far as it depends on the Body, the present State of Things will permit; and that it will cure every Disorder in the Body, cureable, and render the
Distemperature
of the Mind more tractable; and that, in all Events, it will make both more tolerable, than they can possibly be otherwise. This
Regimen
I have for these twenty Years, first and last, pursued, and shall, with the Divine Aid, persist in it to my last Moments; hitherto, I thank GOD, with as much Vivacity, Health and Activity, as can be expected at my time of Life, under such a gouty, scorbutic and nervous Habit. The State of my Intellectuals will be best known by the following Discourses, which were design'd to
illustrate
the
Principles, Theory,
and
moral
Uses of
philosophical Medicin.
The
practical Inferences,
and the
Conclusions
drawn from them in particular Cases and Diseases, confirm'd by forty Years Experience and Observation, will follow in due Time, in a Treatise intitled,
The natural Method of Cure in the Diseases of the Body, and Distempers of the Mind thereon depending
; if GOD shall see fit, by the Preservation of my
Health
and
Faculties.
THE General CONTENTS.
A Philosophical and Practical
Essay
on the general
Method
and
Medicins,
but particularly on the
Regimen
and
Diet,
its
Quantity, Quality, Order
and
Choice,
fittest to preserve
Health,
prolong
Life,
and produce equal good
Spirits,
in Persons of all Ages and Constitutions.
DISCOURSE I.
Philosophical Conjectures about the
Nature
and
Qualities
of the
original animal Body,
and of its
progressive State,
in its several
Stages
of
Existence.
DISCOURSE II.
Philosophical Conjectures about the
preference
of
vegetable
to
animal Food,
and of the
End
and
Design
of
Providence,
in
appointing
the
First,
and, on Trial,
permitting
the
Latter.
DISCOURSE III.
A Philosophical
Theory,
founded on
Experiments,
of the
Nature
and
Laws
of
minute inanimat Bodies,
and their
Systems
in general.
DISCOURSE IV.
Philosophical Conjectures on
spiritual Nature,
the
human Spirit,
in particular.
DISCOURSE V.
Philosophical Conjectures on
Natural Analogy,
its
Laws,
and some of their
Consequences.
An
Abstract,
or a brief, but distinct,
Representation
of the
Doctrines
and
Sentiments
contained in the precedeing
Discourses.
N. B.
This
Abstract
is designed as an
Index
of the
Contents
of each particular
Paragraph,
with the
Page
where it is to be readily found.
A Philosophical and Practical ESSAY ON THE GENERAL
Method
and
Medicins,
But particularly on the
REGIMEN
of
DIET,
ITS
Quantity, Quality, Order
and
Choice,
fittest to preserve
HEALTH,
prolong
LIFE,
and produce equal good
SPIRITS,
in persons of all Ages and Constitutions.
Vivere Naturoe, si convenienter, oportet.
HOR.
A Philosophical and Practical ESSAY ON THE General METHOD and MEDICINS;
But particularly on The
REGIMEN
of
DIET,
its
Quantity, Quality, Order
and
Choice,
fittest to preserve
HEALTH,
prolong
LIFE,
and produce equal good
SPIRITS,
in Persons of all Ages and Constitutions.
§. 1. THERE is not a more pernicious Error in
Physic,
or one more opposit to the Expectation of Patients, (
viz.
the Preservation or Recovery of their
Health
) than that very common and universally received Opinion, That there are
Bodies
in Nature, or in the
Materia Medica,
or such as may be found out by
Art,
by dividing, compounding, or altering them by the
Tortures
of the
Fire,
which will suddenly, or in any great Degree, change or destroy the
Malignity
of the morbid
Humors
of
animal Bodies
; or will intirely alter the Nature, Qualities, Figure, Size and Laws of
Cohesion
of the
Particles
that compose their
Fluids
and
Solids
; from an unsound and unhealthy State, to one of a
kindly
and benign Nature (a wild Notion, at first introduc'd and propagated by
enthusiastical Chymists, Quacks
and
Symptom-Doctors
). An
animal
Body is nothing but a
Compages
or Contexture of Pipes, an
hydraulic Machin,
fill'd with a Liquor of such a Nature as was transfus'd into it by its
Parents,
or is changed into by the
Nature
of the
Food
it is nourish'd with, and is ever afterwards good, bad, or indifferent, as these two Sources have sent it forth. The
Primae Viae,
or the
alimentary Tube,
is, as it were, a
Common Sewer,
may be foul'd or clean'd in various Manners, and with great Facility; it is wide, open, and reasonably strong, in most
Animals:
But from the
Intestines
into the
Habit,
(which only ought to be reckon'd the Body, or the
Vehicle
of the
Soul
) and into the
sanguiferous Tubes,
into the
Glands
and
Bowels,
the Passages from thence are so streight and narrow, that they are but
infinitesimal Pores,
rather than
Orifices, Strainers
and
Searches,
rather than
Mouths
of
Tubes,
and are scarce ever visible or perceptible in a healthy State; and the Supply and Nutriture of the
Fluids
and
Solids
must pass under the Form of a
Steam
or
Vapour
through them, and not in the Form of a
Liquor,
either for
Food
or
Physic,
either to increase the Quantity, or alter the Quality of the Blood and Juices; and the
Solids
(which
concentred, consolidated
and
condens'd
into their real or first
Formation Size,
would not equal a
Grain
of
Sand
) are permanent and dureable, and continue pretty much in that State of
Elasticity
and Firmness, they were first created with; and they are strong or weak, small or coarse,
firm
or
lax,
loose or
elastic,
blunt or sharp, as they were first made by the
supreme Artificer,
or are alter'd somewhat by the original
Dyscrasy
or Distempers of the Parents, (the
Mother
can only mend or spoil their Juices, which might be easily perfected by long Continuance in a
sweetening Diet,
during their younger Days; which if they survive, they generally grow stronger as they grow older, become the
Genii,
and the Governors of the World, because the
Solids,
thus purified, come from the
Father
alone) and continue much the same all the Time of their Duration on this
Globe,
except so far as the small
temporary
and
fugitive
Alteration that
Diet, Exercise,
or
Evacuation,
or mild ponderous Medicines long continued, may make on them; so small a Matter it really is, that
Physic,
or the
Materia Medica,
can perform on the Habit, on the
Solids
at least; and yet it is only in and by them, that
Health, long Life
and
Serenity
are to be had: The most that
Physic
or
Physicians
can do, is in and by the
Primae Viae,
or alimentary Tube, through these fine lacteal
Searches
into the
Habit.
§. 2. WHAT is it then, will it be said, that
Art, Physic
or a
philosophic Physician,
can truly do, to relieve the Miseries, Pains and Diseases of their
Fellow-Creatures?
A great deal, if judiciously and honestly directed, and obstinatly and exactly pursued,
viz.
by mending the
Juices
in the Manner Nature, the Distemper, the Age, and the Habitudes of the Patient point out.
These
(the Juices) are the only things in an animal Body, in the Power and under the Dominion of a
Physician.
If the
principal Intentions
of the
Physician
be to mend the Blood and Juices,
they
will in time, and by the wise
Mechanism
of Nature, rectify and confirm the
Solids
into their proper Situation and
Tone
; for it is out of, and by the Juices, that the
Solids
are nourish'd, figur'd and cloath'd.
Air
and
Exercise
will give them the proper Firmness and Degree of
Elasticity,
and then the
animal Functions
will be perform'd with Facility and Pleasure, and thereby the Person will enjoy
Health
and
Serenity. Art
can do nothing but remove Impediments, resolve Obstructions, cut off and tear away
Excrescences
and Superfluities, and reduce Nature to its primitive Order; and this only can be done by a proper and specific
Regimen
in Quantity and Quality, by Air and Exercise, and by welljudg'd and timeous Evacuation, and prepareing the morbid Juices for easier Elimination, by Means which, I fear, lie in a narrow Compass, and depend mostly on the mild mineral Medicins (which were never originally design'd by Nature to be introduc'd into an animal Body, and always rend, tear and wear them out faster, like
Spirits
and
chymical
Medicins, but in bad Cases are at first at least necessary) judiciously managed with proper
Dilution.
§. 3.
PHLEBOTOMY
will directly let out a Part of the bad and vicious
Juices,
to be immediatly supplied with good
ones,
from proper Regimen, by making the Vessels more
roomy,
and thereby enabling the
Circulation
to make her fuller Rounds; for when the Blood-Vessels are
too turgid
and full, or the Juices too thick, gross, and sizy, to tumify them, the natural
Secretions
and Discharges will be too small to admit into them new, fresh, sweet
Juices,
from Food or Physic, which well-tim'd, partial and frequent
Phlebotomy,
will much assist.
Vomits
drive forcibly out of the upper Part of the
chyliferous Tube,
not only its noxious Contents, but strongly squeeze all the
Glands
(which are infinit) of the
Abdomen,
dissolve and
fuse
by its
Convulsions,
and internal Compressure, their Contents, (and that of the universal Mass of the Fluids) and promote their
Expulsion
; and,
frequently repeated,
are of more Use and Efficacy than all the other Evacuations join'd together; for they not only truly reach the Habit, supply the Place of Exercise, cleanse the
internal Viscera
and
Glands,
(which can by no other means be reached) but compress, squecze and drive out the most distant Obstructions, by setting the whole
System,
and the most remote
Fibre,
in violent Action and Play; and where the Solids and natural Strength will admit, are, I think, the most
universal Remedy
known to
Art,
if obstinatly and long persisted in, in
chronical
and
obstinat
Cases especially; for most infallibly they bring out all the latent most remote
Morbosities
in the Habit, dissolve and fuse them, and mix them with the universal Mass of Fluids, in the Trunks of the great Vessels, to be more readily and easily thrown out of the Habit: but
they are a hard Work,
and few can bear them.
Purges
clean and empty the lower Part of the
chyliferous Tubes,
leave the
Glands
situated there, more Freedom to part with their
Obstructions
by subsequent Repetitions: but this
Evacuation,
tho' much easier, yet is a
great way about,
and of slow and small Efficacy in great Diseases, unless the
Malady
be situated in the lowermost Regions of the Body; and even then
Vomits
do it sooner and more effectually: and in weak Habits, and
nervous
Distempers, Purges ruffle extremely.
Diaphoretics,
I think, do little in these our
Northern Climats,
unless they be very gentle, and are useful only in
acute Cases,
where Nature tends towards a
Crise
; in chronical Cases, they heat and inflame, and only spend the thinnest and most
aqueous
Parts of the Fluids, which are generally most innocent.
Diuretics
scour and clean the
urinary
Passages, and carry off
scorbutic
and
nephritic Salts:
but to be innocent or efficacious, they ought to consist of the thinnest, softest and coolest of all Liquors, that is, the purest Water, just soften'd and
acuated
by the Meal or Salt of some proper Vegetable.
Blisters
are mostly
Topical,
they melt,
fuse,
and draw forth the viscid Serum from the
capillary
Vessels, and leave Room for a freer Circulation; and when promoted and effected by
Cantharides,
have a sensible Effect on the most distant Fluids and Solids; and in acute Cases, they are indeed the greatest and most effectual
Remedy.
These are most and chiefest of the Evacuations used in the Practice of
Physic,
and, judiciously and properly pursued, are of the greatest Consequence to lay a solid Foundation for a
Cure.
§. 4.
MERCURY
and
Antimony
alone, with their milder Preparations, judiciously managed, and united with the specific Juice of
Vegetables
that Experience has determin'd proper for the Distemper, upon all the Reasoning and Experience I have ever had, bids fairest for attenuating the Juices, and opening the Obstructions in the small Vessels and
Glands,
and so fitting the morbid Particles for Elimination; but they are a two-edged Sword, and destroy weak Persons in unskilful Hands; but I have Occasion to speak more explicitly of their Nature and Effects in another Place.
Nitre
and its Preparations, especially the
animal
Preparation of it, in
Wood-lice,
has been thought by all
Antiquity,
the most innocent and yet most effectual of all the
saline Tribe
of Medicins, to cool, deterge, and open Obstructions; and its sensible Effect in dividing the
Blood-Globules
in the
Lungs,
and giving it thereby its
Scarlet
Colour, and its Efficacy in propagating and quickening
Fire
and Light, (in both which Effects it has undoubtedly a great Power, if not the greatest) shew its
Energy
; and in
febrile
Exacerbations, especially of the
Symptomatic
kind from malignant Ulcers, and an
inflammatory
State of the Blood, when plentifully diluted with
pure
Water, and long continued, I think, and have found it the best, if not the only
Remedy,
sufficient to justify the great Encomium on the
Natron
of the Antients. When the Blood is sufficiently
fus'd,
and the
Glands
made sufficiently open and pervious, by
Evacuation
and
Diet,
then
Steel, Bark
and
Bitters,
judiciously prepared, and fitted to the original Strength of the
Solids
of the Patients, will be found the most effectual, to wind up the
Springs
of
Life,
and to give a
Tension,
due
Tone,
and proper Degree of
Elasticity
to the
Solids,
the
Fibres
and Nerves, but especially the
Membranes,
which, I think, are the true and only
Seats
of
Spring
and
Elasticity,
and the proper immediat Instruments of
Motion
and the
Functions
in an
animal Machin:
Long and great Evacuation, and a thin cool Diet, while they are pursued to
fuse,
thin, and attenuat the Juices, must of Necessity
relax
and let down the
Spring
of all the
Solids
; when the Juices are sufficiently thin'd and attenuated, (which
Blood-letting
will always discover) then, to give Strength, Vigour and Activity to the Patient, that all the
Secretions
may be duely made; the sole
Intention
to perfect the Cure, I say, is to wind up the
Solids
again, as far as
Art
can, which, I fear, is not far; at least, I have never found it much, nor very dureable; for all
Astringents
are of the Nature, act by the same Laws, and have the Effect that
Wine
and
spirituous Liquors
have, and are not unlike the buckling upon
Pipes
and boiling soft broken Hair; they will give them a new
Tension
and proper Figure for a short time, but their Efficacy and Relief is only
fugitive
and transient, and never dureable; and they effect at the same time a thickening, incrassating and sizeing on the Blood and Juices, while they are winding up, braceing and contracting the
Solids
; for the Effects of the Qualities and Powers of all Bodies, both
Liquids
and
Solids,
of Food and
Physic,
are always in a
duplicat
Proportion of the Distance from the
Centre
of their component
Particles.
There is indeed this Difference between
Bark, Bitters
and
Steel,
and that of
strong Liquors,
that the Sides of the Vessels, especially their fine close
membranous
Coats, imbibe, attract and preserve the
astringent
Virtue and Qualities of
Bark, Bitters
and
Steel,
and such Astringents and Bracers, longer, by reason of their innate
attractive
Virtue on the Particles of such Bodies, their greater
Solidity,
and closer
Texture,
than the
Blood Globules
and the circulating Fluids do, which are in a perpetual
Flux
; and
spirituous
Liquors mixing more immediatly, fully, and by closer and larger
Contacts
with the circulating Juices, spend their Efficacy on them, and thicken them faster. For these Causes and Reasons, I say,
strong
Liquors must have a more immediat and stronger Effect on the Blood and Juices, for condensing and thickening them, than
Steel, Bitters
and
Bark,
and such-like Astringents can have; and so spirituous Liquors much indulged, must necessarily have a much quicker, and more
deleterious
Effect on animal Fluids, than
Steel
and
Astringents
can: but still they both act in one
Tenor,
and by one
general Law
; and
Steel, Bitters
and Astringents, improperly and intemperatly us'd, and over-dos'd, will have the same kind of bad Effects, and produce the same
Symptoms
and Diseases that Intemperance in strong Liquors will; only they are sooner felt, are less grateful and bewitching, are much less or not at all craved, and consequently are sooner given over.
§. 5. IT is
Diet
alone, proper and specific
Diet,
in
Quantity, Quality
and
Order,
continued in till the Juices are sufficiently thinn'd, to make the Functions regular and easy, which is the sole
universal Remedy,
and the only Mean known to Art, or that an animal Machin, without being otherwise made than it is, can use with certain Benefit and Success, which can give
Health, long Life
and Serenity. There is an
innate
Degree of Strength and
Elasticity
in the
Solids,
to circulat the Liquors, and promote the
Secretions,
and carry on the
vital Functions,
with which one comes into the World, which they derive from their
Birth
and
Parents,
which is ever after but little alter'd even either by
Art
or
Diet: Growth,
Inlargement of the Body, and crusting over the original Solids, and
Maturation,
only fills the linear and infinitesimal original
Tubes
and Vessels with a proper Liquor, to stretch, extend, and plump them, as a Sack is fill'd with Grain, or a Bladder with Air or Water; from that Liquor, their
Coats,
the fleshy and nervous
Fibres
of the Muscles,
Tendons
and
Membrans,
and other Solids of the Body, is thicken'd, crusted over, and condens'd; the
Spring, Elasticity,
and motive Power, lies solely and intirely in the original, primary, divinely organis'd linear
Fibrils,
and the
Membrans
made of them. The Incrustration and Incrassation from the Fluids, in the
Tubes
superinduced on them, but weakens their original
Spring
and
Elasticity,
both by its Weight and
incommensurat Vibrations,
as we find by the
Elasticity
of Twigs, the
sharp Notes
of fine small Hairs, and the
Agility
of young Animals. The
Elasticity
consists mainly in the original Degree of
Attraction
in the component
elementary
Particles of the
linear Fibrils,
primarily fashion'd by the
Author
of
Nature
; and it is in this
Elasticity
alone, the Force, Power and Pleasure of Life, and of the
animal Functions,
consists. If the
Elasticity
of these Solids be such, as easily, readily and pleasantly to overcome and slide over all the
Rubs,
Impediments and
Letts
in the
Functions,
(whatever State the Fluids be in) then the Animal is healthy, active and gay; otherwise, if they are perform'd with Labour and Struggle, and from too great Efforts of the
self-motive
Principle on the primarily
divinely organis'd Vehicles,
and its Load of Crust which is laid on it, to defend it from the Injuries of this
Element,
and ruinous
Planet
we are now confin'd to: For as a
Surgeon
lays a Plaister on a Sore, to defend it from the
Air,
and the
Touch
of hard rough Bodies; if this
Plaister
itself should be hard, rough,
corrosive,
or stimulating, it would become a Pain and Incommodity, instead of a Pleasure or Defence. It is out of the Juices that circulat in the
Tubes,
that this
plaistering
is made on the
primitive
sensible
elastic Fibrils
; and it is therefore of the last Consequence, and indeed the
One
thing necessary, that these Juices be the sweetest, lightest and most
lenient
possible; and this we can only bring about by Diet,
soft, sweet, cool, mild Diet.
§. 6. SOME Persons have industriously and designedly spread it about, that I was of Opinion, that a
sole
strict Vegetable; or
Milk
and
Seed Diet,
was the best and fittest for all
Persons, Climats,
and Ages, without Exception or Limitation, and the
only one
proper, approv'd by the
Author
of
Nature,
and
specific
to cure all animal Distempers; advised my Patients no other, or pretended to cure them no other way, be their Distemper what it will. My Opinions are of little Consequence to the World, and I hope I have too little Value or Regard for them, as they are
mine,
to be any Degree
sanguin
or concern'd for their Reception. I have, and I hope have always express'd, so great a Regard for the
Wisdom, Fitness,
and Propriety of Things, as discover'd by
Revelation,
(from whence the Patent for
animal
Food is deriv'd) not to set up my Opinions or Ideas in Opposition to those of
holy Writ,
and the Divine
Spirit
speaking in it. The Wisdom of
Man,
even that of the highest
Cherubim,
is but
Foolishness,
when compared with the
Omniscience
of
God,
and his wise Providence. He that
made
us and sent us here, knows best what is fittest for us, to answer and bring about his own Designs of
Love
and
Mercy.
But I am thoroughly convinced, from
Reason, Experience, Philosophy
and
Revelation,
that in our
present State,
in this our
probatory
transitory Situation, on this ruinous
Globe,
(sensibly and evidently spoil'd a second time by the
Deluge
) on which we are now situated, that
animal Food,
their Juices, and
integral Particles,
are the fittest and most proper, to produce most quickly and more immediatly, the firmest hardest human Flesh, and warmest strongest Blood. There is a
Similarity
and
Homogeneity
between the
muscular Flesh
of tender sweet
Animals,
and that of the
human
Body; the
integral Particles
of the
Solids
of the
first,
and the component
Globules
of their Juices, are ready
form'd, figur'd
and adjusted to build up the
Flesh,
and cloath the Solids, and furnish out the Juices of the
latter:
they are at hand, adjusted by
Square
and
Compass,
directly to be laid together, to
rear
the
Solids
; and their Juices are inur'd and familiaris'd to perform the
Meanders
of the Circulation, and with Facility to perform all the
animal Functions,
with the least Labour or Struggle, less than those of
Vegetables
in general; as a
Mason
will sooner and more strongly build the Walls of a House, who has hewn plain
rectangular
Stones at hand, than one who has rough Stones only, Sand and Mortar, all which must be first figur'd or prepar'd for a solid dureable
Building.
All this, I think, is true, just and
philosophical
; and while Youth and tolerable Health continues, none ought to
alter
the common temperat Diet of the middling Rank of those among whom he lives, for a particular or
artificial
one, without a particular
Call,
and the best Advice: Nay, I think such a Change unnatural, out of the Order of
Providence,
and in some Degree
immoral.
When a Person is tolerably well, and not far advanced into Life, to change an
animal
for a
vegetable
Diet, to avoid mere Possibilities and future
Contingencies,
is arrogantly prying into the divine Decrees, and insolently
criticising
the Conduct of his Providence. If God's Design is to purify us by Pains and Penalties here, ours ought not to be only the mere enjoying the
Kingdoms of this World,
and the
Glories
thereof. If his be to shorten the Time of our Sufferings, by rendering them more
intense
; ours ought to be to bear them as long as by his Assistance we possibly can, in the common Course of Nature and Providence; for if we
cowardly
fly from them on one Side, He has Power and Skill enough to double them in another; in this Particular,
whatever is, is best:
But if we should find our Pains and Sufferings so intense, that they are no longer tolerable, but hinder, instead of promoting, what is our
Duty
and
Vocation,
and what we are convinced is best for us, then he has advised us,
when persecuted in one City, to flee to another:
Then, and only then, when
animal Food
will no longer do, we are to try what
Milk
and
Seeds
can do to ease our Pain. It is only the
Cross
of
God's Appointment,
and which he declares his, by natural Causes, and in the Course of his Providence,
unforeseen
and
unavoidable,
which we are to
take up daily,
and with all the Joy, Alacrity and Resignation, that the Meaning of a
Cross
can imply, that is,
the best we can,
with the Aid of his
Grace.
And if Suffering, Punishment, Pains and Penalties, and shortening the Duration of our Imprisonment here, be the very best for us in our present Situation and State; and if
animal
Food, and
fermented
Liquors, naturally, necessarily, and
mechanically
produce these Effects more readily than
Vegetables,
Milk and Seed Foods, and aqueous Liquors, then was it with infinit Wisdom, Kindness and Fitness, that the Holy Spirit permitted
animal
Food, and inlarged the
Materials
of our
Aliment,
even tho' his first Intention for Man had been Vegetables only (which could only be in a paradisaical State, or on a better unspoil'd
Planet
). But the real Truth is,
Nature,
our
Globe,
the various unkindly
Climats,
the different Ages, States, Conditions and Circumstances under which Man is at present, render it utterly
impossible
and
impracticable,
that Man should be advis'd, order'd or commanded, by infinit Wisdom, to live only on
Vegetables.
It is not, and it cannot be, by
Bread alone
that Man can live at present; it cannot answer the Ends, Uses and Occasions Men are now necessitated to pursue. Great and sudden Efforts of
Prowess
and Strength cannot be answer'd or executed by
Vegetables
and Water only; they are too thin, weak and poor.
Youth-hood,
Vigour, Robustness, and great Action, would be tortur'd, and languish under Bread and Water in ever so great Plenty:
Milk, Fruits, Seeds
and
Vegetables,
in any Perfection, are of much greater Expence and Labour to procure, than that the Poor and Necessitous now can afford them, especially in
Northern Climats
; they have lost their Vigour, Energy and Balsam, since the Deluge. Milk is appropriated for Children, and not grown Men, to answer the Ends of Providence. But to explain my Thoughts on this Matter as a
Physician
only, as clearly and precisely as I can, as they flow from natural Philosophy, the animal Oeconomy, and my own
Experience,
I say, 1. That after a
Fever,
or any
acute
Distemper is over, and had its perfect
Crise,
and the Person is not past the
Meridian
of Life, the Blood and Juices, by the strong and violent Labour of the Solids, being sufficiently
ground, effete
and
languid,
a
Milk, Seed,
or
vegetable Diet,
is by no means long and obstinatly to be continued in; it would continue the Party
too languid,
the
Juices too thin and vapid,
and the
Spirits
too low; and therefore he ought absolutely to be directed to an
animal
Diet, and
temperatly
strong Liquors of the lightest, most nourishing and
balsamic
Nature, to be gradually and cautiously enter'd upon; especially as he begins to be capable of
Air
and
Exercise.
2. If upon takeing away a few Ounces of Blood only out of a large
Orifice,
the
Curd
is found too thin, tender, watery, and too readily
fusible,
or dissolvible in warm Water, and the
Serum
too clear, whiteish, or in too great a Quantity; a
Milk, Seed
and
vegetable Diet,
is by no means to be longer continued in, but is to be altered gradually into light, sweet and young
animal
Food, and temperat fermented Liquors. 3. If after two, three, four or five Years, the Disorders for which a low cool Diet was advis'd and enter'd upon, with sufficient Strictness and Precision, is not cured, or greatly reliev'd, the Party may conclude, that a low cool Diet will not make a perfect Cure, and must with Patience, and a general Regularity, enter on common Life, and not be longer scrupulous, or anxious about
Regimen,
in the Quality, but in the Quantity, and submit to the Order of Providence, and use the Means that Experience or the best Advice suggests to alleviat the
Symptoms,
and do the best he can
taliter qualiter,
if he is under Fifty. 4. To such as have an original hereditary weakly
scorbutical
or
scrophulous
Habit, and are far advanced in Life; who have
mesenteric glandular
Obstructions, with feeble Solids, and little Strength and Vigour, a
Milk, Seed
and
vegetable Diet,
with
aqueous
Liquors, is by no means to be advis'd; for as the Case is absolutely incureable, it were in vain to torment and restrain them, more cruelly than their Distemper itself does; they must not be forbid, but rather indulged the common
Comforts
and
Gratifications
of Life. It is to such that St.
Paul
's Advice to
Timothy
is just, as well as kind,
to drink a little Wine for their Stomachs sake, and their often Infirmities:
A general Moderation, and an Observation of the
Juvantia
and
Laedentia,
is only to be advised, and the Use of these Means known to Art, to alleviat
Symptoms.
5. In all
eruptive
Cases, in all acute and
periodical
cutaneous Cases, in the actual Fits of the
Gout,
in the
second Fever
of the Small-Pox, in
Fevers
verging towards a
Crise,
to drive out from the Centre to the Circumference any changeable Disorder, and universally in all Cases where the
vital Indications
languish and labour, and Nature is in a Struggle to throw outward
Morbosity
; she is most certainly to be assisted by generous
cordial
and warmer Medicins, and higher
Diet,
to further the End Nature points at. These are some of the Cases where too low and cool a
Regimen
is by no means to be advised or pursued. 6. And
lastly,
Whenever the End of a low Diet is obtained,
viz.
the
sweetning
and
thinning
the Juices, and the
Symptoms
are abated or cured, the Diet is to be heighten'd, and gradually and cautiously rais'd, at least if the Party be under Fifty. I will now suggest as plainly, in what Cases I think it is to be advised and tried. As to the Healthy and Well, I have nothing here to say:
Sufficient for the Day is the Evil thereof.
§. 7. IT is only to those whose
Stomach
and Digestion is so weak and relax'd, that they cannot concoct without extreme Suffering, any such Proportion even of tender
animal
Food and
fermented
Liquors, as may be sufficient to nourish and support them: To
those
whose Blood and Juices are evidently so
thick, gross
and
viscid,
that it fills and obstructs the Vessels so
tumidly,
that they cannot receive a sufficient Quantity of either
Medicin
or
Food,
to cure or preserve them, the Circulation and Perspiration being intirely at a stand: To
those
who are subject to perpetual
Haemorrhages,
Inflammations, or constant small acute
Fevers:
To
those
who are after the great Meal towards Midnight,
hectical
or
consumptive:
To
those
labouring under a
scorbutico-nervose Atrophy
and wasting: To
those
labouring under hereditary, early, knotted, disabling and painful
Gouts
or
Stone:
To
those
who are highly, hereditarily and early
scrophulous
or
scorbutical:
To
those
who are
leprous
and universally crusted over with
cutaneous Blotches
and
Scabs:
To
those
who are
epileptical
early in Life, with a thin
cacochymic
Habit: To
those
who are constantly
hysterical
or
hypocondriacal,
with frequent
Fits
and
Convulsions,
under a weak thin Habit, which threaten a
Consumption
; for I have always observed these obstinat violent
hysteric
and
hypocondriac
Fits in young slender Persons, to be the first
Stage
of a real
Phthisis Pulmonum,
or at least of a
nervous Atrophy
; and if it was not cured or prevented in this its first Stage, by the same Means and Regimen commonly the Refuge of the subsequent Stages, they were not to be ever after remedied, they being sure Presages of
Tubercles
in the Lungs: To
those
that are plainly
cancerous
; in short, to
those
chiefly who after they have long and strictly follow'd the best Advice, and the most effectual Remedies, still labour under some atrocious, painful and dangerous Distemper; to such, and such only, have I ever advised a total rigid
Milk
and
vegetable Diet,
with
aqueous Liquors
; but no longer to be continued, than till the
Symptoms
were extremely mitigated, or intirely overcome; and then, if it was after the
Meridian
of Life, to be persisted in obstinatly; if long before it, to be gradually and cautiously alter'd into common Life with great Temperance; and I know all honest and experienced
Physicians, antient
and
modern,
are and must be of the same Mind.
§. 8. THE great and essential Difference between
animal
and
vegetable
Food, is much the same as between
Chemical
and
Galenical
Medicins.
Chemical
Medicins are the suppos'd (at least their most active) Virtues and Qualities of
Plants, Metals
and
Minerals,
contracted and concentred into a small Volume, by the Tortures of the Fire; their useless or destructive Parts separated and thrown away, and their useful and
sanative
Qualities compacted and united into an immediat
Contact
and condensed. They would be of admirable Use and Convenience, if these suppos'd
Facts,
and such mentioned Virtues, were just, solid and true, or if an
animal
Body could bear them without greater or more fatal future Injuries, than their present Benefit (how great soever) or Convenience can compensat. But it is most certain, that such
Medicins, Drugs
or Bodies, are the most destructive to animal Bodies, if long and in great Quantities thrown in, that Malice can invent, beyond Gunpowder itself and even spirituous Liquors; for not only Nature has provided none such, but as
Poisons
in venomous Creatures to kill their Enemies, or cook them for their Food: but that the Particles of Fire, the most destructive of any, are so closely impacted and
transubstantiated
in, as never to be afterwards separated from them, and that their component
Particles
are so minutely divided by the
Tortures
of the Fire, as to acquire such a Force of
Attraction
towards the Particles of animal Bodies; such a
Polarity,
(as Dr.
Lister
observed, in all Calcinations, both of
Vegetables
and
Minerals,
so constantly to answer the
Magnet
) that they become Iron,
Bristles,
Nails and Lancets, darting directly and perpendicularly into the Solids, so as quickly to tear, rend and destroy, or fix them, and so can never be proper for
Food
or
Physic
; whereas
Galenical
Medicins, consisting of the
integral Particles
of
Vegetables, Metals
or
Minerals,
dissolved only by gentle Heat and Moisture, in a watry
Menstruum,
have none of these
deleterious
Qualities on
animal
Bodies, but become their Food as well as Physic, and naturally take the Places of the morbid Particles of animal Habits, which Time and the natural
Functions mechanically
throw off. Just so
animal
Food, and
fermented
Liquors, are the smallest, most
elementary
and
attractive
Particles, united and concenter'd like the Rays of the Sun in the
Focus
of a Burning-glass. Their delicious Flavour and Savour consists in their greater abundance of
Oil
and
Salts,
which are the most active, and consequently the most destructive to animal Bodies. If they are sufficiently diluted, and their
Volume
and Quantity increas'd, by the more innocent and unactive Particles of fine Earth and Water, they may be safely used, approaching thereby very near to
Vegetables.
Juices and fermented Liquors, much diluted with Water, become the nearest Approximation to
pure Water,
the only
Beverage
designed and fitted by Nature for
long Life, Health
and
Serenity
; and the whole Study of the Patient, and Intention of the
Physician,
ought to be to find out this just
Mediocrity
of
animal
and vegetable Food, when combin'd, for
Aliment,
and of
fermented
and aqueous Liquors mix'd for
Beverage,
which is the most proper for preserving his Health, or curcing his Disorders; for there is very little in the
Specification
of the
Diet,
whether it be all
Vegetable,
or partly
Animal,
partly
Vegetable,
some Vegetables being more
deleterious
to
animal
Constitutions than some
animal
Substances; and there is but a very little Difference between pure
warm
Water, and cold Water
warm'd
with a very little Wine; the just Mixture and
Proportion
suited to the Constitution and Distempers of the Patient, is by far the greatest Affair; tho' in the Distempers by me just now
specified,
that are painful and dangerous, too great Exactness, both in Quantity and Quality, is never to be
slighted
; for in a true
statical
Balance, such as the Constitutions under the mentioned Diseases are, a few Grains or Spoonfuls thrown in, will destroy the
Equilibrium
of Health and Ease.
§. 9. THE Benefits a Person who desires nothing but a
clear Head
and
strong intellectual Faculties,
would reap by religiously drinking nothing but
Water,
(tepid or cold, as the Season is) while he is yet young, and tolerably healthy, well educated, and of a sober honest Disposition, are innumerable: As, 1. That he would live probably till towards an
hundred
Years of Age, that being the Term of Life appointed by the Design of the Creator, even after the
Deluge,
and after that eating of
animal
Food was permitted, before (as it is believ'd)
fermented
Liquors were invented; at least, if we have any regard for
Moses
's History, which yet cannot be denied to be one of the justest Accounts of these early Times. 2. That he would thereby constantly enjoy a
clear
Head,
calm,
at least
governable
Passions, a Facility in
intellectual
Applications, and in the Acquisition of Virtue; and so having a longer Duration secur'd to him, and all Impediments removed, he might make surprizing and wonderful Advances in
both.
3. He would thereby be secur'd against all the great
atrocious
and
frightful
Distempers, such as
Melancholy, Lowness
of
Spirits, Wrong-headedness, Lunacy
and
Madness
(the Bane of the finest, best and most penetrating Spirits in
Great Britain
). For I defy any Man to give an Instance of any furious
Madness,
or great and obstinat
Lunacy
or
Melancholy,
in any one who soon after Twenty, enter'd on Water drinking only, let him eat what he can; for it is
fermented
Liquors only that inflame the
Membrans
and
membranous Tubuli
(the
Nerves
), which are the bodily Organs of
intellectual
Operations. It is the
Fire, Sulphur
and
volatile Tartar
of
fermented
Liquors, that inflame, corrugat and stimulat these
Membranes,
and their linear Threads, into violent Succussions, that break and tear them, which are the immediat Cause of these frightful and overwhelming Distempers, as they are of the painful tortureing ones,
Gout, Stone, Cancer
and
Consumption:
For tho' Gluttony will thicken the
Curd
of the Blood, and thereby cause Obstructions in the
Glands
and
Capillaries,
from whence many and various Distempers may arise, yet will they be of the obtuse, slow, lingering Kind, and in which Nature will always give a timeous and early Warning, by
Inappetency, Nausea, Vomiting, Purging, Sweating, Spitting
or
Rheums,
which will opportunely stop the Progress; and while Water is plentifully then craved and given, it will carry on, distance in the Circulation, and dilute this too viscid
Curd,
to prevent an intire Obstruction of the
animal
Functions, or destroy Life, and hinder the Generation of
Gout, Stone, Cancer
and
Consumption,
which are solely produc'd by the hard salin Concretions of
fermented
Liquors. But, 4. The most signal Benefit a Man will reap from early Water-drinking solely, while as yet in tolerable Health, is being preserv'd from the
acute, sudden
and
mortal
Distempers, as
Apoplexies, Suffocations, Fevers
of all kinds,
Pestilences
and
Pleurisies.
It is to
fermented, strong,
or
spirituous
Liquors solely, that these quick and destructive Distempers owe their true Cause, which give no Warning, and admit of no Cure: At least, Water-drinking solely, is the only Preservative, I am certain, known or knowable to Art. Accidents,
epidemical
Causes, a constant Neglect, or a total Inability to guard against the Dangers of the other
Non-naturals,
absolutly necessary towards perfect Health and Life, may produce some Degrees of these mention'd grand Distempers; but then, under sole Water-drinking, they will neither be so painful nor dangerous: For it is certain, Water-drinking, Dilution, and
thin
Diet, is the only Mean known to Art and Experience, to cure them, when Persons are already seiz'd with these Distempers, join'd with strong and proper Evacuations; and whatever will cure, will prevent; as Water pour'd on will extinguish Fire, so it will prevent its being kindled or beginning. If these frightful, painful and mortal Distempers happen sometimes in
Eastern
or
Southern
Climats, where
fermented
Liquors are not much in Use, it is because they wallow and indulge in some things almost equally as pernicious and inflammatory as these
strong
Liquors, as high in
Aromaticks, eastern Gums
and
Juices
;
Opiats,
the
volatile cepacious Roots, Fruits
and
Seeds,
of the
poisonous, soporiferous
or
stimulating
kind, with which those Climats abound, which is the sole Cause of all their
inflammatory
Distempers, and unnatural and dissolveing Lust; for these are all but
dry Drams,
of a more dureable and adhesive Nature than some of the
liquid
ones; for Fire is still Fire, whether
Solar
or
Culinary, Natural
or
Chemical
; whether it is
transubstantiated
into
liquid
or
solider
Matter; and Water is its only Extinguisher.
§. 10. I HAVE said, that the
Quantity
of
Aliment
(Meats and Drinks) is of much greater Consequence in general, than the
Quality,
for the Preservation of Life, Health and Serenity. If a Man study the
least,
light or heavy will not so much incommode him. The great End and Use of a
low Diet,
or one of
Milk, Seeds
and
Vegetables,
is to mend the
Juices,
to cool, attenuat and sweeten the circulating
Fluids
; whatever
Diet
does this, must
mechanically
relax, unbend, and let down the
Spring
of the Solids. It is true, the Superiority of the
Force
or
Spring
of the Solids, must be always greater than the
Resistance
of the Fluids; else the Animal could not live at all; that is, the
animal Functions
could not be perform'd; and this
Superiority
must be continued in some Proportion, whatever
Regimen
the Animal uses, so long as it lives. But it is certain, a cool, thin, sweetning Diet, attenuats the
Fluids
in a greater
Proportion
than it relaxes and unbends the
Solids
; because, 1. All the
Secretions
are from the
Fluids,
and not from the
Solids
; and they spending and wasting
faster,
must be sooner supply'd and alter'd by the proper Food. 2. Because the immediat Action of
Food
and
Physic
is upon the
Fluids,
and they absorb and consume most of their Virtue and Efficacy; and the
Solids
are never acted upon by them, till the
Fluids
are fully saturated and
transubstantiated
into their Substance. And, 3. Because all Fluids by their Nature are sooner and more readily acted upon, and alter'd into foreign Qualities, than any Solids possibly can; and hence it comes to pass, that a Person on the immediat Change, and for some considerable Time after, in passing from a
high
to a
low Diet,
will find his Health wonderfully mended for the better, because the Resistance of the
Fluids
is immediatly lessen'd; which will again, even under the same
Diet
in Quantity and Quality, wonderfully, and, as it were, unaccountably totter, and alter for the worse; which happens on the
Despumation
of the
Glands, Capillaries
and
Solids,
while they are
spewing
out and
disgorgeing
their
morbid
Contents on the
Primae Viae
; but which, by proper and
specific
Evacuations, Exercise and
Astringents
afterwards, will generally be set to rights again, if the Person be at a
proper
Time of Life, that is, under Fifty; for after that, there is little Encouragement from any Mean, but gentle
Evacuation,
and a Perseverance in the
regulated Regimen:
Nay, even he must proceed, lessening it in
Quantity
at least, if not in
Quality,
by proper Degrees, and at proper Periods, descending out of
Life,
as one ascends into it,
viz.
by
Milk-Porridge, Water-Gruel, Panada,
and the like. But the great Benefit and Advantage a Man reaps from a
low, cool, thinning, sweetning Regimen,
of Milk, Seeds and Vegetables, above what he can have under any Diet of
animal
Food and
fermented
Liquors, is, that he can keep the
stretched
and extended Bowels, and Blood-Vessels, always fuller and plumper, and in their natural
Tension
and Situations; and consequently will make the
Secretions
more plentifully, and all the
Functions
will be more natural, and easier, than under a spare,
cautious
and anxiously
guarded
starving
Regimen
of so little
animal
Food as is absolutly necessary; as a weak Person will walk more easily in Stays than loose, some lame Persons in a
Boot
than a Stocking; and a
defensive Plaister
will keep a
Sore
easier, than when it is bare; and Excesses are neither so painful nor dangerous under the
first
as under the
second
Regimen; and the same Person may safely venture on at least
four times
as much
Vegetable,
Seed and Milk Food, as he dare of
animal
Food of any kind, at least of
dense, hard,
or full-grown
animal
Food.
§. 11. I THINK the natural Order and
Progression
in
Regimen,
for those who are ordain'd to, or for those whose
Vocation
and
Occupation
is
sedentary
and
studious,
who by the
Order
of
Providence,
and Situation of Life, have been
signatur'd
to intellectual Professions, and for all those who would cultivat and maintain
clear Heads
and quick
Senses
to the last, is from their Birth till Fifteen, to persevere in a gradually increasing temperat
Diet,
without fermented Liquors; from Fifteen to Fifty, to be only temperat in
animal
Foods and
fermented
Liquors; after Fifty to give up
animal Food Suppers,
and
fermented
Liquors; after Sixty to give up
all animal Food
; and then every ten Years after to lessen about a quarter of the Quantity of their
vegetable
Food; and thus gradually descend out of Life as they ascended into it. And that all Persons subject to
inflammatory Distempers, Gouts, Erisipelas's, hot Scurvies, Leprosies, Asthma's, Jaundices, Colicks, nervous Lownesses, violent Head-aches, Haemorrhages
and
Haemorrhoids, Anasarca's, Ruptures,
or
white Swellings,
tho' otherwise strong, hearty, hale, and of a seeming sound Constitution, ought to give up Meat Suppers, and all fermented Liquors; and that the Children of all Fathers (for Mothers are not here to be minded) who have died before Thirty-five, of any
natural Distemper
whatever, and all the Children begot of
Fathers
after Sixty, ought to live without
Meat Suppers,
or
fermented
Liquors; and that all Persons whatever, whatever Age they be of, or of whatever Nature their Complaints and Disorder may be, if, upon repeated small
Phlebotomies,
and without transient Accidents, (as
Colds, Damps, Blasts,
and
Bruises
) they constantly observe their Blood sizy,
viscous
and
glutinous,
ought directly to be put on a low Diet, either of Milk, Seeds and Vegetables only, or at least of one, without Meat Suppers, and fermented Liquors; and this
Regimen,
with proper attenuant, alterative and sweetning Medicines, (which, in the Nature of things, ought to be of the mild
ponderous
and
mineral
Tribe) to be continued till at least this Size and Glew be broken and dissolved; else they can never expect uniform and continued Health; for such a Regimen, and such Medicins, must do this in Time; else nothing in Nature possibly can.
§. 12.
UNPHILOSOPHICAL
and unexperienced Persons, tho' they know and observe the great
critical
Alteration that happens in the
Sex,
in or about Fifty, and that without a special Care, both in the
Regimen,
proper
Evacuation,
and
alterative
Medicins, they are in great Danger, either of their Lives, or of some
chronical
and obstinat Distempers, that make their Lives ever after miserable and uncomfortable, after that Period; yet think this
Misfortune
peculiar to
Females,
and that the
Males
have a Privilege and Security to be luxurious and sensual to the last; which is the
true Reason
why so few die
natural Deaths,
and that most pass as really and truly out of Life, in a violent untimely Manner, as a
Felon,
who suffers under
public Justice.
The
Matter
of
Fact
and Order of Nature is this: Fifty was design'd as the
Meridian
of Life, in this our
lapsed
; State and Duration, on this ruinous
Planet
; from this
solstitial
Point it is a Descent out of Life. From the
Birth
upwards to this Point, the Solids were developeing, expanding, crusting over, and hardening to their utmost Extension, Firmness and Density; and thereby their
Elasticity
beginning then at Fifty to weaken and unbend, and they to
ossify,
the
Digestions
become grosser and more imperfect, the
Secretions
lessen, and all the
animal Functions
labour; and then, if due Care is not taken to obviat these Effects, the
chronical
Distempers naturally arising out of these Causes, and that lurked in the
original Constitution,
begin to emerge and sprout out, the
Viscera
to
tumify
and
obstruct,
the
Glands
then swell and press on the circulating Blood-Vessels, the
Capillaries
to coalesce, become full and dense, and the
Nerves
and
Membranes
are interrupted in their
Play
and Vibrations, and all the
animal Machin
labours, and the Functions are perform'd heavily, with Pain and Struggle. This is the true Time and
Season
of Life, for Attention, Consideration and Care of a wise Man and a
Philosopher.
The
Hyperbolic Curve
of Life is at the Point of its Return
downwards
again; and if then proper Care be taken, by some few Evacuations, Alteratives, and a Regimen; to put a
Drag
on the Wheels of Life, that they may go down gently, calmly and serenely, these become more useful to themselves and others, than in the first ascending part of Life; and this happens equally to both the
Sexes:
for it is not from this Season being the common
Period
of the
Fertility
of the
Female Sex,
that these Appearances happen; but is a
general Law
of
Nature
to both
Sexes
from the Causes assign'd; for all the Difference of the
Sexes
lies in the different
Configuration
of the superinduc'd Crust or Shell laid over the primitive
aethereal
Body, which in both is probably pretty near of the same Figure, Size and Materials, originally.
§. 13. IT is not an unpleasant
Speculation,
to
contemplat
the Order of Nature in its
Progression
towards reducing this our Tabernacle of Clay, into its original Dust, from its Cradle to its Coffin, especially in those who live the whole Duration of the natural Life. The Diseases of
Infancy
are generally
Scabs, Blotches
and
Blains
over the Face, Head, Eyes and Ears; sometimes
Fits
and Convulsions, and such
Cephalic
and Head Distempers; and these are certainly
constitutional
and
parental
Disorders communicated by the morbid Juices of the
Parents
; the Colicks,
Vomitings
and
Diarrhoea's
succeeding, come from the improper Nourishment in
Quantity
or
Quality
of the
Mothers
or
Nurses
; the
Measles
and
Small-pox
are also original and parental Impurities convey'd to the Blood and Juices in the Birth, from too high and too much animal Food, and are most of them the Diseases of the upper Region of the Body. When Nature has struggled by these to purify the Juices by such
Despumations,
then come the Distempers of the
Breast
and
Lungs,
in
Coughs, Catarrhs, Consumptions, Asthma's, Pleurisies
or
Peripneumonies
; after these come Pains in the
Stomach, Heart-burnings,
Colicks, bilious Vomitings, Jaundice
and
Diarrhoea's
; then succeed
Gouts, Stone
and
Gravel, Palsies, Rheumatisms
and fixing of the Joints; and very often
Ruptures, Piles,
or
Mortifications
in the
Bowels, Feet,
or
Toes,
the Diseases of the
lower
Regions. All I would insinuat by this
Reflection,
is, that
Nature
seems to aim, and would certainly, if not interrupted by Accidents, obtain and pursue a kind of a
regular
and uniform
Progression,
in her Course of
dissolving
and
mouldering
into Dust, this
Adamical
Crust of
Clay,
by Distempers,
topical
and
local,
from the
Head,
through the
Viscera,
to the
Feet
and Joints, till, like a
dying Vegetable,
she has fix'd it in the Earth, from whence it sprung. This is certainly her
general Law,
if not interrupted by
original, parental
Diseases or Accidents hurting some of the
Organs
before it was born, or by
Accidents
proper and peculiar to the Party itself; or a general
bad Regimen,
which may quicken this
Progress,
or throw it out of its natural
Progression
on a weaken'd Part, that may discompose the
general Law
of
Nature.
§. 14. FOR Perspicuity and Brevity, I distinguish
four Orders
and Degrees of
Regimen of Diet,
that is, of Meat and Drink;
viz.
1. The
common Diet
of a reasonable Proportion of
animal Food
and
fermented Liquors,
common to the
middling Rank
of the Healthy, Temperat and Sober in every
Climat
or Country. 2. A Diet of plain fresh
animal
Food once a Day, without any
fermented
Liquor, only plain Water, or Toast and tepid Water for Beverage; or one of one Day Meat without
Wine,
and another Day a little
Wine
without
Meat,
which I would call the
trimming Diet.
3. A Diet without any
animal Food,
but one of
Milk, Seeds, Fruits
and
Vegetables,
any thing where the Life of no Animal is wanted to compose or dress such (as Eggs, Gravey, and the like). 4. A
total strict Milk
and
Seed Diet
only, without any other Materials. Of these I intend to say something in
general,
and in this Order, both as to their Times and Cookery. But first as to the
Order,
or Time of changeing any one of these different kinds of
Regimen
one for another.
§. 15. WHEN a Person is tolerably well, and is subject to no painful or dangerous Distemper, I think it his Duty, and the Order of
God
and
Providence,
to
let Well alone
; and with general Temperance, without Solicitude, Anxiety or Scrupulosity, to persevere in the
common Regimen
of the middling healthy temperat Order of Men, in the Country and
Climat
where he was born, or long habituated: To follow St.
Paul
's Advice in another Case, to ask no Questions about what he should
eat
for Health's sake; or rather our
Saviour
's Counsel, not to be
solicitous,
or take
anxious
Care,
about what he should eat, or what he should drink, or wherewithal he should be cloathed
; but without Curiosity or Nicety, take a Share of whatever is presented: For to live at such a Time, and in such a Circumstance,
medically,
is truly to live miserably, and
propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.
It is enough, for a
wise Man,
and a
Christian Philosopher,
to stop, and attend to
Diet
and
Regimen,
when, by the
Order
of
Providence,
his natural and providential Course of common
Regimen
is
barr'd
up, by some Disorder or Distemper; and then wise Nature will give him timeous Warning, by
Inappetency,
a
Nausea,
Reaching,
Vomiting,
a Flatulence, Fulness or Pain in the Stomach; for all Distempers begin first at the Stomach or Bowels, and then ascend to the
Head,
which is the Language of the
God
of
Nature,
saying to the Person,
Man, take Care
; and then, and only then, ought a
Christian Philosopher
mind his
Regimen,
and by
Evacuation,
moderat
Fasting
or
Exercise,
endeavour to relieve or remove the Grief, or apply to some honest experienced
Physician
for Advice.
§. 16. IF the Case is
acute,
the Party is not generally, at least for any Time, in a Condition to observe or direct for himself: But seldom any notable Errors are committed in
Regimen
then; for on the slightest Attempts to any great Excess, either in
Quantity
or
Quality,
Nature immediatly
revolts,
and the Party suffers to such an Extremity, by the
Exacerbations
of his
Symptoms,
that any notable Progress in such an unnatural
Regimen
cannot possibly be receiv'd or persisted in; and yet I have seen and felt, by the Indiscretion of
Friends,
or the officious Sedulity of
Nurses,
the poor Patient suffer to mortal
Agonies,
and sometimes to Death, in
acute
Cases, by improper Loads of
high Foods,
or liquid or solid
Drams
and
Cordials
; and many have suffer'd more from high and hot Drugs, than ever they could from the Distemper. In
acute Cases,
seldom any thing that is given either for
Food
or
Physic,
passes the
Primae Viae,
unless it be extremely
light
and
liquid.
In such, the wiser
Antients
scarce ever administred (besides proper Evacuation) any thing but tepid
Water,
simple
Oxymel,
or Water soften'd, or sharpned by the
Flour
or Meal of some proper or
specific Vegetable.
Long obstinat Fasting, continued even
ad Deliquium,
with plentiful
Dilution,
and the Evacuation indicated by the Nature of the Distemper, was their most
universal Remedy.
But it is not of Regimen in
acute Cases
that I here intend to speak; my sole Business is with
chronical
Cases.
§. 17. BUT since
chronical
Cases are only
acute
Cases diluted, and drawn out into a longer Time, with weaker
Paroxysins,
and a more protracted
Crise
; since Nature has a
general Law
and
Type,
by which she governs and
signatures
such
acute
Distempers, especially in those who follow
her Laws
and Simplicity, and not disturbed by
spurious Art
or Accidents; since
Fasting,
proper
Evacuation,
and
Dilution,
are the great Remedies indicated in
acute
Cases; it is natural and highly probable to suppose, that proper
Evacuation,
Abstinence, and thin cool soft
Regimen
longer persisted in, will be the single Intention pointed out, and the great and
cardinal
Remedies in chronical Cases; and therefore, when a Person, under common Life, is seized with a
chronical
Distemper, which by prudent Abstinence, and lessening the Quantity of this
common Diet,
is not remov'd, he ought to apply to the proper
Directors
of Health, and follow their Advice religiously, in the Use of Medicins and
Regimen
they order; and if in
three Months
time, in
chronical
Cases, by rigorously pursuing the order'd Medicins and Regimen, their Symptoms are not totally remov'd, or greatly reliev'd and mitigated, he may, I think, fairly conclude the
Regimen
was not low, cool and thin enough, for the End propos'd; and therefore ought to resolve to sink his
Regimen,
both in Quantity and Quality, and enter upon what I call the
trimming Diet.
§. 18. BUT before any Person resolves to sink or alter his
Regimen
of Diet, or any prudent
Physician
ought to advise such an Alteration, he ought always to premise a gentle partial
Phlebotomy
out at the
largest
Vein, and from the largest Orifice commonly open'd; for a small
Trunk
of a Vein will only send out such Blood as is much different from the
Crase
of the whole Mass; the Circulation being slower in the small
Branches,
the
Viscidity
is generally impacted into the smallest in a greater Proportion, and the
serous
Part by the Slowness is perspired or run off, by the
Lymphatics,
and lateral Branches; and a small
Orifice
either compresses and breaks the Texture of the
Curd
of the Blood, disunites and separates the
Globules,
so that the Observation cannot be fairly or with any Degree of
Accuracy
made; but by comparing the Blood so let out, with other sound healthy Blood, (for Example, that of a healthy Person, or of a Bullock or Sheep) if the Difference in
Taste, Colour, Cohesion
of the Globules, and
Curd,
and the Proportion thereof to the
Serum,
be in all or most of these Distinctions, greatly different from those of the
sound Blood,
it may fairly be concluded that the
Regimen
of Diet, both in
Quantity
and
Quality,
is to be sunk and lessen'd, and that proper and
specific
alterative Medicins, to thin and sweeten the Blood, are indicated, (especially those of the mild ponderous Nature at first, with the
Galenical
Vegetables, which universal Experience has assign'd as
specific
in a Distemper of such a Denomination) and the Evacuations of the
Primae Viae
by gentle
Vomits
and
domestic Cathartics,
as the Symptoms exasperat; for tho' a Person may still suffer, even when the Blood thus let out for Experiment's sake, mostly appears, on such gross Experiments, tolerably good, and not differing greatly from
sound Blood
in the Size, the bad Juices being confin'd to the
Capillaries, Glands
and great
Viscera
; yet these will never be open'd and render'd pervious, till the Blood in the great Trunks of the Vessels be first attenuated,
thin'd
and
sweeten'd:
And he will never be long or uniformly well, who has
bad Juices
circulating, in these greater Vessels; it is a certain
Symptom,
that it must be much worse and more
sizy
in the small
lateral Branches,
the
Capillaries,
and the
Glands
of the
Viscera
; and it is
Diet alone,
and it chiefly, join'd with mild ponderous Remedies at first,
Evacuation, Air
and
Exercise,
that can at last alter or
antidote
these morbific Symptoms. And if after three Months Use of the Medicins advis'd in
chronical Cases,
by an honest experienced Physician, the Blood on such a Trial continues bad, that is,
sizy, liverish,
with either too little
Serum
tho' clear, or too much but
muddy,
then, I think, the
trimming Diet
ought to be tried,
viz.
one of white Meat in a moderat Quantity once a Day, with
Milk, Seeds
and
Vegetables,
for the other Meals, and
aqueous Beverage
; or one Day a little plain Meat of any kind once a Day, with
aqueous Beverage
that Day, and the next Day only
Milk, Seeds
and
Vegetables,
with about a
Gill
of some sound old Wine, with or without Water; and this
Regimen,
with a due Care of the other
Non-naturals,
proper
Evacuation,
and due
Exercise,
I think, ought to be continued for one whole Year or two, in obstinat
hereditary chronical
Cases; for, I think, acquir'd ones will scarce require so long Time, or such Severity of
Regimen,
to be cured, or at least greatly alleviated, unless their Excesses have been violent, or that they are far advanced in Life.
§. 19. BUT since such Cases do daily happen, both in
hereditary
Distempers, and those acquir'd by an obstinat
Mal-regimen
long continued in; that after a full
Twelvemonth
or more of a
trimming
Regimen of Diet, with proper
Evacuation,
and
specific
Alteratives, the Blood, on makeing the Trial, as above described, continues still
bad
and
sizy,
then, I think, all Medicin (except domestic Evacuations or Alteratives) may be fairly cashier'd and laid aside, as of little or no Use, and the whole Stress and Hope laid on
Diet
and
Regimen
only, by sinking it in Quantity as well as Quality, and confineing one's self to
Milk, Seeds, Fruits
and
Vegetables,
well dress'd, or much dissolv'd by
culinary
Fire, to evaporat the Wind; and drinking only
tepid Water,
or some specific mineral Water, as the Case requires, and
Wine
only as other Persons use Spirits, on dangerous Symptoms, as a Cordial, and on Extremities; and this
Method
and
Regimen
ought to be continued for
two Years
more at least. And, I think, in Persons of a tolerable Constitution, and where some of the
great Viscera
are not intirely spoil'd and irremediably consumed, this Method and Diet cannot fail of having salutary Effects of a perfect Cure, or a very considerable Relief; and then if the Party is not past the
Meridian
of Life, the Person may without Fear or Danger, gradually and by slow Degrees, rise again to the
trimming
Diet, and from it return back again by the same Steps he descended into common Life; and only on
Exacerbations,
and stated Seasons, sink into his lower Regimen, for a Preservative.
§. 20. BUT after all this Care and Perseverance in a
milk, seed
and
vegetable Diet,
with
aqueous Beverage,
if on a Trial after the manner mentioned, the Blood be still sizy, as it often is in bad Constitutions, and obstinat Cases, and the
Symptoms,
still severe and depressing; the only thing remaining for such a Person with any Reason or Expectation of Success of a total Cure, or any notable Alleviation of his
Symptoms,
is, for the Person to enter on a
total rigid strict milk and seed Diet only,
without Butter, Eggs, or any other Vegetables, but Wheat, Barley, Rice, Oats, Sago, and the like seed Meats; and even to make his Milk the thinnest possible, skim'd Milk, sweet Buttermilk, sweet Whey, or the Whey made with a Mixture of sour Milk, or Orange-Whey, or Whey made with the Juice of some specific Vegetable, (especially in
scorbutic, gouty, pulmonic
and
icteric
Cases, which is the
Base
of most of the
chronical
Distempers in
England
) and Bread or Seeds dress'd made with Milk only; for Seeds are young Vegetables, and are neither so hard of Digestion, so windy, nor abound with the
essential
Salts of Plants, Roots and Fruits. And even the
Quantity
of the
Regimen
is to be minded; little at a time, but oftener, never either to load the Stomach, nor compress the
Nerves, Membranes
and
Fibres
; Fulness and Compression, even by such Foods, like
Stops
in
musical Chords,
will interrupt their easy, regular and
harmonious
Vibrations and Play, and so will sink the Spirits, and make the
Functions
labour. This Regimen ought at last to be tried, all other Methods not succeeding. One would not buy
Gold too dear
; but Health and free Spirits are more precious
than Gold,
and a wise Man would give up every thing else for them. This
Regimen
will infallibly have one of these two Effects; it will either totally cure him, if the great
Viscera
are not quite consumed; or make him
lie down
more easily, and will infallibly give him longer Time and better Spirits to settle his
temporal
Affairs, and give all the Attention to his
future State,
the Nature of Things will then admit.
§. 21. MOST People that enter on a
low Diet
for Health and Spirits, intirely
counter act
and
defeat
its beneficial Effects. I have known some
Men
of
Quality,
and
Gentlemen
of
Fortune,
who have been advis'd a
low Diet,
have their
Vegetables
of the
highest
and
rankest Flavour,
dress'd high with
burnt Butter, hot Spices, Aromatics, Onions, Eggs
and
Salt
; so that they were infinitly more deleterious and hurtful, than a moderat Quantity of plain
animal
Food once a Day could possibly be. The
meager
fasting and
Lent Times
among the
Catholicks,
in
French, Italian
and
Spanish Cookery,
with their high
Fish Sauces,
will much sooner inflame the Blood, produce
Gout, Stone
and
Fevers,
than a
Bit
of Chicken,
Veal, Lamb,
or any white Meat plainly dress'd possibly can. All the beneficial and salutary Effects of a
low
and
vegetable Diet,
I have ever observ'd, have been owing in atrocious, obstinat and painful Distempers, to
Milk
and
Seeds only,
and even these the
thinnest
and the
least
the Person could be tolerably easy under from the Pain of Hunger: And it is not easily to be credited what wonderful Effects, even in the most desperat and universally
condemn'd
to
Death
Distempers, I have seen perform'd by such a
Regimen
duly and obstinatly persisted in, especially in Persons under Fifty;
Epilepsies
totally cured,
hereditary Gouts
almost eradicated,
universal Lepers
made clean,
Stones
in the
Bladder
and
Kidnies
laid quiet,
Cancers
healed or palliated, ulcerated
Lungs
made sound, and
schirrous
Livers made pervious. But all this has been constantly brought about by a total, obstinat and continued milk and seed Diet only; but in all such
incurable
Cases, the Diet is to be persisted in to the last Day of Life; for I have always observed, when such return'd to a high or common Diet only, their Distempers always return'd with greater
Violence,
as in Reason and true
Philosophy
must have been expected: For the Solids being brought down and relax'd to a Level and
Equilibrium
with such a Diet, become infinitly sensible, delicat and tender; and such strong
Aliment
becomes an universal Stop and Obstacle to their Play and Vibrations, (like sticking down a
musical Chord
all along with
Pins
) and interrupts, marrs and confounds the whole
animal Functions
and
Oeconomy,
and brings on all the old Symptoms enraged.
§. 22. IT is true, to live thus poorly,
anxiously
and attentively, is a most
miserable
kind of Life, to which the
Brave,
the
Bold,
and the
Unbeliever
will brag he should prefer
Death
itself: But I, who give little Credit to such
Bounces,
know
Self-preservation
to be the great Law in Nature, never met one but the true practical and habitual
Christian
among my many Patients, and even scarce these, who was truly willing and pleas'd to
strip
and lie down; and only him who was always resign'd to the Order of Providence either in
Life
or
Death
; and even not
Him
at all Times, and in the dark Moments of
Trial,
or any but the extremely miserable in Life. But here the Case is not mere
dying,
but
living
a
dying Life,
perhaps for many Years: Here it is in two Evils, (
violent Pain,
or extreme Lowness and Languishing, or tolerable good Spirits, and sufferable Pain, at the Tax and Charge of a transient momentary sensual Gratification) choosing the least; on the other side, it is a voluntary and a resolute withdrawing from the Orders and future unknown Designs of
Providence
over us, when a very certain Mean (at least in due Time) of escaping, or at least greatly diminishing these Miseries is offer'd. In short, not to take up with a low Regimen here, is a plain Rebellion against the Orders and Designs of Providence manifested by Nature, the Relations of Things,
Philosophy
and Experience, for the mere Gratification of vitious morbid Appetites: In a word, it is deliberat
Suicide,
the greatest of all Rebellion and Sin.
§. 23. IN
Lowness of Spirits,
want of
natural Rest,
great
Anxiety,
involuntary dark and terrifying
Thoughts, Ideas
and Imaginations, there are but these
three
infallible immediat Reliefs or Remedies: 1. A
Vomit,
that can work briskly, quickly and safely, and Experience and Use can only determin what that one shall be; for it is not the
Evacuation
or Quantity of the Discharge, that is to be so much minded, as the
internal Action,
the strong
Convulsion,
the internal
Exercise,
and the
cleaning,
squeezeing and compressing the
knotted
and
tumified
Glands of the
Primae Viae,
warm Water,
Chamomile,
or Carduus
Tea
; and without drinking any thing, I have often effected a present perfect Relief, by mere urging and tickling the Throat and Glands with the Finger or a Feather, by bringing the Muscles of the
Abdomen
into repeated
Efforts
and
Kecks
; and so have frequently discharged Loads of
Phlegm
and thin
Rheum,
which always greatly reliev'd; and this Method frequently, nay sometimes daily repeated, and with greater Safety and less Trouble pursued, will answer the Ends, in tender and delicat Constitutions, under a Regimen, of formal and artificial Vomits; and I earnestly recommend the Trial and frequent Practice of it, to all tender low-living
Valetudinarians,
as what they will find infinit Benefit from, and much easier and safer than artificial Apothecary Vomits, when they have made the Practice of it easy and familiar: The Strong and
Robust,
whose
Fibres
are firm and
callous,
will require stronger for a present Relief, and they must be repeated whenever the Symptoms exasperat. 2. Great, frequent and continued
Exercise,
especially a
Horseback,
because this Exercise, by the frequent
Succussions,
opens all the
Glands
of the
Abdomen,
of the
Mesentery
and
Liver,
where the Evil generally lies. Walking, because of the universal Action of all the
Solids,
and its forceing the Perspiration, is the best Exercise to
preserve Health
and
good Spirits
; but
Riding
is best to recover them; to this the
Flesh-brush
for half an Hour, Morning and Night, ought to be join'd, to uncork the
Plugs,
and concreted Recrements that stop the Mouths of the
perspiratory Glands
; and then washing with
tepid Water
in
Winter,
and
cold Water
in
Summer,
the whole Skin, to scour off these
Impurities
; and drying well after: and having always a large broad soft
Girdle
of Leather, quilted with Cotton, to wear about the
Loins,
like a
Stay
or
Swaith,
to keep the
Viscera
in their natural Situations, the
Lacteals
and
Intestines
in their natural
Curvatures,
and the
Bowels
from being too
pendulous,
especially in thin and wasteing Persons. 3. Religiously to study and practice the
lightest
and the
least
of Food, they can be tolerably easy under: The least unnecessary Burthen,
compressive
Constriction or Ligature on the tender delicat
Fibres, Nerves
or
Membranes,
hinders their easy, pleasant and natural
Play
and
Vibrations,
which is the immediat Cause of
Lowness
and
Anxiety
; it is like
nailing
or sticking down with
Pins
or
Stops,
the
Play
of a
musical Chord,
whence
Discord
must necessarily ensue. In short, to preserve or obtain
good Spirits,
in very low Cases, a Man must be in a constant Course of
Self-denial
as to
Aliment,
and make, as it were,
Hunger
his greatest and only Pain; but nothing but Experience and constant Observation of the
Juvantia
and
Laedentia,
is sufficient to determin, to each Individual respectively, how far this is to be carried.
Prudence
is the first of all Natural as well as
Christian Virtues
;
Gold
may be bought too dear, but
wise Nature
always tells us how far this Method ought to be carried, by the Intenseness of our Cravings, when gone too far; and then a Person under no unnatural or vitious
Passion
or
Lunacy,
will obey her
Calls,
by giving her what she
craves,
so as to make her tolerably easy. But these are the most general certain
Antidotes
against extreme Lowness and Anxiety known to me; the Reliefs of
Art
and
Medicin
are not my Design at present here.
§. 24 SOME Persons have found great Relief on Lowness, a bad
Constitution,
and
nervous
Distempers, on Change to a
Southern
and warmer Climat, from a
Northern
and colder. But I never observ'd that Benefit dureable, or in any Degree perfect, unless the Party continued all the rest of his Days in that
Climat
and
Country
; and tho' proper Air and Warmth be a most
comfortable
and
cherishing
thing to
animal
Bodies, yet it is observing the Diet, liveing in the manner of the Country, that contributes most to the Cure or Relief; for it is well known, that in warm Countries, and
southern Climats,
the Diet there is not only exceeding spare and
light,
but almost altogether
Vegetables:
The Heat and Rarefaction of the Air, and constant Perspiration, make a full high
rank
Diet certain Pain or Death: And even the Materials of their Food there, the
Animals
and
Vegetables,
are lighter and less
rank
and destructive in their Nature, and more stimulating; the Natives scarce ever taste fermented or strong Liquors, and indulging in them is the sole notorious Cause of the
sudden Deaths
of all our
Soldiers, Seamen
and
Traders.
It is true,
eastern
and
southern
Nations use many and the highest
Aromatics,
with their Vegetables, and they are but
dry Drams
of as pernicious a Nature almost as our liquid ones; and this is the sole Cause of their
unnatural Lust
and
Leachery,
of their
acute Distempers,
and
short Lives.
But when a
valetudinary
Person goes to a
southern
Country for his Health, and lives as he used in his
northern
Country, he rather grows worse for the
Climat
; and if recover'd by the Air and Traveling, and observing the
Regimen
peculiar to the Healthy in that
Climat,
if he returns, and does not continue the Regimen of Diet by which he was recover'd, he falls back again, and the
second
Error is worse than the
first
; and, in Truth, to travel through, or live even a few Months or Years in, a
southern
Climat, and afterwards be obliged to pass his Life at Home in a
northern Climat,
is but only roasting at the Fire, or going strait out of a very hot Room into the cold Air, to freeze and chill the faster, and more intensely; for
Reaction
is always equal to
Action.
§. 25. As to the
Quantity
of Foods of any kind,
strong, middling
or
weak,
fittest to prolong Life, and prevent or cure Diseases; the most proper for each Individual, there is no possible way to determin it to any Precision; it must be different, according to the
Size, Strength, Age, Constitution, Habitude, acquir'd
or
hereditary
Distempers of each Particular, which are as various as their Faces.
Wise Nature
had so contriv'd us, had we follow'd her Simplicity and Order in our Diet, that our
Appetites
and
Craveings
should be a sufficient
Rule
; but having by long
Habitudes
and
Example,
spoil'd, corrupted and disorder'd her
Laws, Sensations
and
Order,
she is not
now,
in all Cases, sufficient to determin this Affair. The best
Rules,
I think, a wise Man can folfollow, are, 1. To use the plainest, most tender, least
poignant
and savoury Meats, fully dress'd, he can find, and to abate in
Quantity
what he is forced to increase in the
Quality
of his Food. 2. To take the
least
possible he can be tolerably easy under from the Pain of
Hunger.
3. To observe for some Time, and with some Care, what
Foods,
in Quantity and Quality, he is easiest under, and the natural
Rest,
the natural
Secretions,
and the animal Functions labour
least,
and are most pleasantly perform'd under. 4. To observe the
Quantity
after the great Meal, he can apply his
Head,
his
Attention,
and his
Body,
to their proper Offices, with the greatest Facility and Pleasure under. 5. To follow the Quantity and Quality of those Foods that give him regularly one figur'd
Stool
a Day only. 6. For
one Month
to try double the Quantity, or at least one
third,
or less, more than he us'd of the same kinds of Food, and observe what Difference this makes in his
Functions, Intellectual
or
Animal
; and by some repeated Trials of this kind, summing up the whole, and takeing the
half
of this Quantity, divided by the Number of Days, as the
Medium
between the least or greatest Quantity. 7. To try, by a
Sanctorian
Chair, the Quantity and Quality of those Foods that perspire the
most
and
soonest,
and reduce the Body to pretty near always the same Weight: Or, 8. Lastly, Without Care, Anxiety or Perplexity, to study and pursue the
lightest
and
least
of Food he can possibly be easy under; for, without all doubt, Nature will (to a Man of a sober Mind, and in his right Senses) by acute and intolerable Pains from
Hunger,
apprize him at least in some time, if he has underdos'd her. So far may suffice to an honest prudent Person, as to the Quantity of Food, or the Materials of the
Curd
of the Blood: As to the
Liquids,
or the Materials of the
Serum,
I am perfectly convinced, Nature never intended any thing but
pure Water
;
Water
being
signatur'd,
by its greatest
Fluidity
and
Insipidity,
for carrying
alimentary
Particles readily and pleasantly through all the strait
Meanders
of
animal
Life; and having design'd fermented Liquors, and the Juices of
Fruits
and
Vegetables,
for
Physic
only, and they are, when us'd with Intemperance, or as common Beverage, the sole universal and adequat
natural Cause
of most acquir'd Distempers; and Water-drinking only, the proper and adequat
Antidote
for such. But if a Man will drink vinous and fermented Liquors, then the best are those that are of a middling Strength, the
lightest, oldest
and
ripest,
which have spent or drop'd their
saline, tartarous
and grossest Particles by Age and Maturity; on which Account the old
Rhenish
or
Hock,
ripe
Claret
or
Burgundy,
neat old
Port
and
Madera,
will be preferable; and the rich, fat, fiery, oily and gross Wines are only to be us'd as
Cordials
and
Drams,
on Necessity and Extremity. But always the least is the very best of all fermented Liquors whatsoever.
§. 26. WHOEVER can resolve in
bad Spirits,
a bad Constitution, and in advanced Life, to go into a Regimen, may, I think, fairly be manumitted from
Drugs,
that is, from any kind of Alteratives, even the Preparations of
Mercury, Steel, Antimony, Sulphur,
and all those of the ponderous and mineral Kind, they will only tear and rend his tender Bowels and Vessels; and even from every sort of the
violent
and
active
kind; and trust simply to Nature and domestic
Evacuation,
as the
Symptoms
exasperat,
viz.
little
Bleedings,
gentle and weak
Emetics,
Stomach
Purges, mineral
Waters of a proper kind, gentle Air and Exercise, and a
Regimen
of the
lightest
and
least,
no regular Meals, but a little at a time and oftner; for as Nature will not, now on its
Decline,
bear the violent and
active
Remedies, without being torn to pieces, so there is not sufficient Time in Life remaining for strong Health; and they must consider what Nature can
bear
and
do,
and follow her by their
Feelings
rigidly, and treat themselves as
Children
the
second
time, by giving her barely the
lightest
and the
least
she can be tolerably easy under, and always endeavouring to lessen the Quantity and Quality of the Diet, as her
active
and
digestive
Powers weaken and decrease; for one Day tolerably easy by the Strength of
Nature
only, will be better than two such by the Help of Art, for her
Recovery,
and prolonging her Life.
§. 27. IN a
low Regimen,
even when upon Necessity, and under prudent
Counsel
and Advice, when a Person has enter'd upon it, and has continued in it for a long time, they may have many
Plunges, Discouragements
and
Exacerbations
; especially as the peccant Matter becomes collected from the Mass of Blood by the greater
Glands,
and is now soliciting to be
pumped
off, or driven out by the
Commonsewer
; besides Accidents, the
Inclemency
and Alterations of the
Seasons,
especially
Spring
and
Autumn,
when
animal
as well as
vegetable
Nature undergoes some notable Alterations; none ought to be so scrupulously nice, as not, at such a Time, to lay aside their
low
Milk and
Seed
or
vegetable
Diet, and take to a little
white
Meat, and fermented Liquors, upon
Nausea, Inappetency,
and transiently to
brace
the Solids, to get Strength to throw off the still remaining Load of
Morbosity
and
Viscosity
; this is but like standing to take a little Breath in ascending a
steep
Mountain: But then they ought, as soon as this periodical
Paroxysm
is remov'd, by proper Evacuation, and this temporary
braceing Regimen,
to return to their
cooling, soft, sweetning
and
thinning
Diet, in order to purify the Juices totally. This
Interruption
will only retard the
Cure
a short time, and will give Strength to perfect it at last, as far as the
Nature
of Things will permit: For it is to be believ'd as a
certain Truth,
without which no Patient will be encouraged to proceed, that it is to a low, cool, thin
Diet
alone, with proper and indicated Evacuation, that the Blood is to be at last mended, and the highest Health the Constitution will permit is to be obtain'd.
§. 28. To
conclude
this tedious Detail, of the two,
animal Food
or
fermented Liquors,
either of any kind, that is in Use, if my Opinion were to be
ask'd,
Which of the
two
is most pernicious to
animal
Bodies, or, in which of the
two,
Mistakes or
Excesses
are most pernicious, fatal, and most productive of the
severe
Distempers? I would not hesitate a Moment, to ascribe to
fermented
or
distill'd
Liquors of any kind, the whole Blame of all or most of the painful and
excruciating
Distempers that afflict Mankind: It is to it alone all our
Gouts, Stones, Cancers, Fevers,
high
Hysterics, Lunacy
and
Madness,
are principally owing: It is the true
Pandora
's Box. And he who would timeously give up, while he is tolerably well,
fermented
Liquors, and drink nothing but
pure tepid Water,
need never seek nor want any other
Cure
or
Medicin,
but gentle and proper
Evacuation
occasionally, be his Distemper what it will: He may then freely give up any Concern about what he should
eat
; let him, without Fear, follow Nature and his Appetite, in whatever plain Meat is presented, he can be in no Danger from any
fatal
or dangerous Distemper. Water-drinking to those that are already tolerably well, begun early, at least under Thirty-five, or after, when no
chronical, hereditary, mortal
Distemper is rooted, is the true and universal
Panacea,
and the
Philosopher
's
Stone. God
has not only
permitted,
but by a wife Appointment of his Providence, has, in many Cases, made
animal
Food absolutely necessary and indispensable; and for great
high Health
and
Spirits, warm
and strong Blood, bodily
Prowess
and great
Labour,
it is the only proper Food; but for
fermented
Liquors, I know no Command, Counsel, or Example. Certainly
wise Nature,
who has provided liberally Supplies for all our Wants, has furnish'd us none of it; it is the Invention of spurious and luxurious Art, and it is present Death to
many,
and the natural
Aversion
of all Animals who follow pure Nature: It certainly shortens the Duration of
Life
to all that use it even with
Moderation,
and is the alone
adequat
Cause of all the
mortal,
painful and atrocious Distempers. As a Medicin, present Relief, and as a
bitter Chalybeat Potion,
on Occasions and Extremities, it might be a tolerable
Medicin
; but as common Beverage, it is a slow but certain Poison.
FOR a
Conclusion,
I will, from the whole, set down a few
Aphorisms,
that may perhaps instruct and ease the Memory of the
Valetudinarian.
Aphorism
1. A CONSTANT Endeavour after the
lightest
and the
least
of Meat and Drink a Man can be tolerably easy under, is the
shortest
and most infallible
Mean
to preserve
Life, Health
and
Serenity.
Aph.
2. HE that would preserve a
clear Head,
and equal Spirits, must keep his
Stomach
clean, his
Bowels
moderatly empty and uncomprest.
Aph.
3. ON
bad Nights, Lowness, Flatulence
and Oppression of
Spirits,
of any Continuance, the only certain
Reliefs
are, a small
Phlebotomy,
a gentle
Vomit,
a
domestic Purge, rideing
a Horse-back, and a
Regimen
of the
lightest
and the
least
persisted in.
Aph.
4. SMALL frequent
Phlebotomies
are the quickest and most effectual Mean to mend the
Blood,
and to cure
Cacochymy,
if a
Regimen
of the lightest and least be joined.
Aph.
5. GENTLE and repeated Evacuation upwards and downwards, (especially, and perhaps only,
Vomits
) by the Medicins most familiar and experienced, (the
Action
and Exercise of Vomiting is its chief Use) are the
surest, quickest,
and most effectual Mean to prevent or remedy the ill Effects of Gluttony, Over-loading and Repletion, (that is, almost all chronical Distempers) provided the
lightest
and the
least
be join'd afterwards.
Aph.
6.
DISEASES
are always to be cured by their
Contraries,
the
high Diet
by the
low,
the
hot
by the
cool,
the
sapid
by the
insipid,
the
thick
and gross by the
thin
and poor,
Repletion
by
Fasting, Inactivity
by
Exercise.
Health acquir'd and possessed lies in the middle Regimen, between these two
Extremes.
Aph.
7.
PERFECT Health
and
good Spirits
depend chiefly, if not only, on the easy and pleasant Play or Performance of the
Animal Functions, viz.
the
Digestion, Circulation, Respiration, Perspiration, muscular Motion,
and the
Secretions.
Aph.
8. HE that would be soon
well,
must be long
sick,
that is, treat himself as a
Valetudinarian
in most things.
Aph.
9.
EXERCISE
and
gentle Evacuation
will supply the Place of
Abstinence,
and
Abstinence
will supply the Place of
Evacuation
; but the first two are still preferable, because they damage the
Solids
least.
Aph.
10.
QUANTITY
in Food will supply
Quality,
and
Quality
will supply the Place of
Quantity
; but in very bad Cases it is most secure to join
both.
Aph.
11. THERE is but little in a
specific Regimen
of
Diet
to remedy or antidot a
specific Distemper
;
Abstinence
in general, or a constant Endeavour after the
lightest
and the
least,
will constantly supply the Place of any
specific
particular
Regimen
of Diet: But in very bad Cases, a particular
Choice
of the most
specific Regimen
that
Art, Experience
and
Philosophy
shew to be most proper, is not to be neglected.
Aph.
12. THE
Regimen of Diet
by which one is cured of a particular Distemper, ought to be coninued, at least in some Degree, especially if the Person is not much under
Fifty,
else the Distemper will return with more severe and worse
Symptoms
than at first, as
Experience
has constantly shew'd.
Aph.
13. Every
wise
Man, after
Fifty,
ought to begin to lessen at least the
Quantity
of his
Aliment
; and if he would continue free of great and dangerous Distempers, and preserve his
Senses
and
Faculties
clear to the
last,
he ought every seven Years go on, abateing gradually and sensibly, and at last
descend
out of Life as he
ascended
into it, even into the Child's Diet.
Aph.
14. He that is
old
when he is young, that is, treats himself as a wise
old Man
does, or ought to do, by great
Temperance, Air
and
Exercise,
if he lives past Thirty-five, will be young when he grows old in Years.
Aph.
15. No Person of any Fortune ever died, or suffer'd
acute
Pains, or mortal Distempers, by the
too cool, too little,
or too
insipid
in Diet; all by the
too hot, high
and
savoury:
But Virtue and Health lie in the
golden Mean,
so difficult to be found, and only to be secur'd by the
lightest
and the
least
a Man can be tolerably easy under.
Aph.
16. THE eternal
Law
of Nature, by intense Pain in
Craveing
and
Hunger,
will never suffer a Person in his right Senses to go on long obstinatly, and to his Hurt, in the
too little.
Aph.
17.
WATER pure, clear and insipid,
is the sole
Beverage
that can procure or continue
Health,
and a
clear Head,
being the
sole
Fluid that will pass through the smallest animal
Tubes
without Resistance; next to it are
aqueous,
or weak fermented Liquors.
Aph.
18.
WATER tepid or cold,
or impregnated with the
specific Vegetables,
or
Minerals,
that Experience has found proper to
antidot
a given Distemper, is the true
Panacea
in both
acute
and
chronical Distempers:
Nature has prepared no other
Medicin
for us, but Water impregnated with
Vegetables
in their
Juices,
or natural
Mineral
Waters on the Surface of the Earth.
Aph.
19.
MILK
is the only
Food
prepared by Nature for young, that is, weak and tender
animal
Bodies; and there is no real Difference between a
young, tender, animal Body,
and a diseased grown
Animal,
but that, of the
two,
the
last
is the worst; but it will cost Labour and Patience to make
Milk
agree in
bilious
Cases.
Aph.
20.
MILK
and sweet sound Blood differ in nothing but in
Colour: Milk
is
Blood,
which almost directly comes from the Chyle into the Teats of the
Animal
; and
Blood
is
Milk
which has gone many Rounds in the
Circulation,
and is ground a little in the
Lungs,
where being mixt with the
Nitre
of the Air, it receives its
Scarlet
Colour; it is a Medium between
animal
and
vegetable
Food.
Aph.
21. WHEY sweet, or medicated with the Juice of any
specific
Plant, Sage, Balm, or Orange, or antiscorbutic, vulnerary, or pulmonic Plants, will supply the Place, and are preferable to most Decoctions, of Plants, Infusions,
Apozems
and
Diet-Drinks
whatsoever, except those of the strong Detergents, as
Horse-Radish, Mustard-Seed,
and the like, where necessary.
Aph.
22.
GOATS Whey
being a natural Infusion from gentle Heat, and gentle
Triture,
of the fine
aromatic
and
nitrous
Vegetables on which
Goats
feed only, is one of the very best Diluents, Detergents, Cleansers and Sweetners of
scorbutic
and
salin Cacochymies.
Aph.
23.
FRICTION
Morning and Night, and in Winter Washing with warm, and Drying before a Fire, and in Summer with cold Water, is an excellent
Mean
to facilitat and promote the Perspiration; to clean the
Cuticle,
and cure
cutaneous
Uncleanness and
Defedations, cold Batheing
is excellent, and preferable to every Washing in Cases where the Blood is sweet and thin, the Solids too lax only.
Aph.
24.
CINCTURE
with a broad quilted Belt about the Loins, to keep the
Bowels
in their natural Situations, and the
chylous Vessels
in their best
Locality,
and in flabby Constitutions, weak
Bowels
and
Atrophies,
is of great Benefit.
Aph. 25. RIDEING
is the best of all Exercises to get Health, and to promote the
Digestions,
especially in
nervous Distempers,
where the
Abdomen
and the
Meseraic Glands
are principally affected: But
Walking
is best to preserve Health already got, because it is the most natural and the most universal Promoter of all the Excretions.
Aph.
26. IN
Nature
or
Art
there is no such immediat Cure for low Spirits, Anxiety, and Want of Sleep, as rideing a Horse-back, long Journies with Fasting, or rather a very soft light Feeding with warm thin Liquors at Resting-Places, but that the least possible that actual
Fainting
will permit.
Aph.
27. NEXT to
Rideing,
is either a
Vomit,
or Fasting almost to Faintness, and then only a little spiced Wine and Water warm, and a Mouthful or two of
dry Bisket
every 5th or 6th Hour, with continued
Friction,
with a coarse Cloth, warm Flannel, or a Flesh-Brush, especially on the
Spine,
in
Faintings
and extreme
Lowness.
Aph.
28. TO procure
natural Rest,
nothing is like four or five middling Pills of true
Assafoetida,
with four or five Grains of pure succatrine Aloe, taken going to Bed.
Aph.
29. THE only Way to secure tolerable
Spirits
in very low Cases, is a constant Endeavour to make Hunger the greatest Pain, and to cheat the
Appetite
and Craveing with little, warm, light Liquors at large Intervals.
Aph. 30. GOOD Hours
will be always a most beneficial Mean to preserve Health and Spirits, to go to Bed by Ten, and rise by Six.
Aph.
31. WHOSOEVER would preserve his Health and Spirits to the last, even when he is in Possession of it, ought to pass through the great Operations of
Physick
in the
Spring, viz.
To
bleed, vomit
and
purge,
whether he have apparent Necessity or not; for
Seurvy,
or
scorbutick Juices,
is the great chronical and fundamental Distemper of
Britain
; all the rest are but Sprouts and Branches of it. And therefore,
Aph. 32. VOMITS
often repeated, at least as often as the Symptom of any Ail aggravats, increases or exasperats, are the sole
universal Antidot
and
Panacea
of
Britain:
an ailing Person cannot repeat
them
too often, they will always prove beneficial and
salutary.
Aph.
33. IN
cold Feet
nothing like batheing them in tepid Water a little before going to Bed.
Aph.
34. A
low Diet
seldom extirpats, or totally eradicats, any
hereditary chronical
Distemper, unless it be in the young, the middling-aged, or the strong and healthy, who have otherwise tolerable
Stamina
; in the very
puny,
delicat and
slender,
in the
old,
and far advanced in Life, even after Fifty, in the strongest, it only abates the Violence of their
Symptoms,
makes them less severe, and the Returns seldomer, and only prolongs the Duration of their Lives.
Aph.
35. THE natural Diseases of the
Poor
and
Necessitous
are generally owing to a
bad,
unwholesome, unsound Diet, and the Want of due Care of the other
Non-naturals,
Cleanness and Shelter; and are generally cured by their
Contraries, viz.
a good,
wholesome,
plain Diet, and a due Cleanness, Shelter from the Inclemency of Seasons, and an easy Mind.
Aph.
36. IF it happen that the
Poor,
and those having no Property of their
own,
by
Stealth, Robbery,
or
unlawful
Means, enter on and pursue the
Luxury
of the
Rich
and Opulent, not having the other Necessaries and Conveniencies of Life, neglecting, or not being able to afford, or being inured to want the necessary Care of the other
Non-naturals,
their Diseases are then the most
atrocious,
painful and miserable of any; which is the Reason that the
acute
and
contagious
Distempers begin first, spread faster, and are more
mortal
among
them,
than those of the better Sort.
Aph.
37.
DIET
; a proper well regulated and parsimonious, cool Diet, is the far greatest
Article
of long Life and Health; but the other
Non-naturals
are to be carefully attended to, and guarded against, else it will not avail alone, which is the Case in
Monasteries, Desarts,
and long
Sea Voyages.
DISCOURSE I. Philosophical CONJECTURES ABOUT THE NATURE and QUALITIES OF THE Original Animal Body, AND OF ITS PROGRESSIVE STATE IN ITS Several Stages of EXISTENCE.
1 Cor. xv. 44.
There is a natural Body, and there is a spiritual Body.
DISCOURSE I.
Philosophical CONJECTURES ABOUT THE NATURE and QUALITIES OF THE Original Animal Body, AND OF ITS PROGRESSIVE STATE IN ITS Several Stages of EXISTENCE.
§. 1. THERE are
Animalcules,
which being endued with Life and Motion, must consequently perform
Animal Functions,
that are less than any Object perceptible by our Senses.
THIS is beyond all Doubt from
Microscopical
Discoveries in
Pepper Water, Spring Water, Vinegar, Sperm,
the
Urine
and fluid Juices of almost all morbid Animals; and Mr.
Lewenhoeck
has shewn, that there are Animals, many Thousands of which would not equal a visible Grain of Sand; and that there are
Tubes
in Animals, of which several Hundreds would not equal a common Hair; and the smallest
Animals,
to carry on Life, must necessarily have all the chief
Organical
Parts of the greatest Animals, at least
analogically.
§. 2. An
organized
Animal Body could not possibly at first have been formed, nor can its
Functions
be now accounted for, or explained, by mere
Mechanism,
or the Laws of Motion which now obtain, without the Sagacity and Agency of a
primary self-existent
Cause; nor can the
Functions
be continued without the Superintendance and Influence of a
self-moving, self-acting secondary Agent,
informing and acting on it continually.
THIS is not only demonstrable from the
Inertia
and Passivity of Matter, from the obvious Contradiction of a
perpetual circular
Motion, which is the Case of all Animals (the Motion of the
Heart,
and the
Muscular
Force of the Blood-Vessels, being the Cause of the
Circulation,
and the
Circulation
being the Cause (efficient or occasional) of the Motion of the
Heart,
and of the
Muscular
Fibres;) But that mere
Mechanism
acts only according to the
Surfaces
of Bodies; and yet it is probable, that animated Bodies act according to their
Solidities,
and that every
Atom
of an animated Body is constantly in Action, for the Preservation and Well-being of the whole
Machin,
and also for exerting that particular
Animal Function,
which its Figure, Situation and Use in the Animal requires. Besides, natural and simple
Mechanism
can act only from One
Centre
of Motion or Impulse, in One single
Direction
only; whereas
Curvature
requires different Direction every Moment, and consequently various
Centres
of Motion or Impulse. Now, if we consider the Varieties of Motions and Directions in the Joints and Muscles of Animals, but especially the
infinite
Variety of
Curvatures
in the
Arteries, Veins,
and
Nerves,
and particularly in the
Glands,
we will readily perceive it to be utterly impossible, and a Contradiction, that an Animal Body could have been at first
formed
without a
Supra-mechanical Organisation
; or that it should continue to
live,
and perform
Animal Functions,
without the continual Agency and Superintendance of a
secondary
self-active, and selfmotive Principle.
§. 3. It is highly probable, that the first
Elements
of Bodies, or the
least
and
last
Particles of Matter, are
solid, hard,
and
indivisible,
by any
finite
Power, or Force whatever; because by
Friction, Collision,
and
Use,
they are not worn out, and lose not their
Original
Figure and Size; since they are still fit for the Ends and Purposes of their first Institution.
§. 4. GOD and
Nature
do nothing in vain; and since
Body
must necessarily be always endued with some Figure, being neither infinitely small, nor infinitely great (where Figure may possibly be thought to evanish) the three most simple Figures of all solid Bodies,
viz. Spheres, Cubes,
and
equilateral triangular Prisms,
might possibly at first have made all the Diversities of the primitive original Particles of
specific
Bodies. These Figures, with the particular Laws of
Attraction
and
Union
thence arising, together with different
Diameters,
and various
Combinations,
may have made all the Differences of Bodies.
§. 5. THE several
Elements,
or the several
Aggregats
or Masses of the different original Particles, now commonly called
Elements,
as
Water, Air, Light, Salt,
and
Earth,
have each some specifick Qualities, which distinguish them from each other, and which they never entirely lose in any State whatsoever; but which may be swallowed up, and rendered unactive, when blended and combined with other Particles, as they are in the
integral
Particles of natural Bodies, as these are constituted in this our
System.
WATER has its Incompressibility, the Rotundity, or at least the
Spheroidity
of its constituent Particles; its Transparency, or refractive Power, its Admission of
Salts
into its Substance without greatly increasing its Dimensions, at least in a certain Quantity and Proportion, nay sometimes lessening them.
AIR has its Elasticity, its
repulsive
Force, its
acid
and
nitrous
Spirit, and its
vivifying
Quality to Fire, and Animal Life.
LIGHT has its Activity, Velocity, Tenuity of its Particles, and its Fitts of easy
Transmission
and
Reflection,
and probably a greater Gravity or
Byas,
on one Side, than the other of its Particles.
SALT has its Solubility in Water only, its penetrating Virtue on Bodies, and its stimulating Quality on
animal Fibres
; A greater Degree, and particular Law of the
attractive
Force of its Particles on one another, whereby its
Clusters
are generally of regular, and nearly similar Figures terminated by plain Surfaces.
EARTH has its greater Gravity, loose Connexion, and less Attraction of its Particles; its Friability, and irregular Figure, being probably the
Ramenta
or
Abrasions
of the other
Elements.
PERHAPS the
primitive Animal Body
might consist of the
First
pure specific and sublimed
Elements,
harmoniously combined, and elegantly ranged in their Original Natures, of which our present patch'd gross Bodies, are only the confused dense Kind; as our present Globe of
Earth,
its
Water, Salt, Air, Light,
and
Earth,
are but probably the
putrified
Carcase of the primitive
Planet
; but both may continue to have some remote
Analogy
to one another, as a Carcase hath to a living Beauty, or an
Egyptian Mummy
to a living
Cleopatra.
ACCORDING to this
Analogy
then, may not the Matter and Substance of the original first-created
Vehicle
or Animal Body, be of such Elements of the original Kind? of a
celestial
and
spiritual
Nature (so to speak) infinitely more subtile and refined than the Matter of
Light,
more elastick than the finest
Aether
; and whose Particles might have had, as it were, an infinite Power of
Attraction
even at finite Distances, and consequently might pervade all gross Bodies of our
System
without Resistance or Pain.
§. 6. On such an
analogous
Supposition or Conjecture, the Fineness, Elasticity and Law of
Attraction
in the Particles of such a
spiritual Animal
Matter, might admit of Degrees (as all Finites must necessarily do) and the Degree might be in Proportion to the natural and moral Powers of the Spirit conjunctly.
IT seems highly probable, that all finite created
Spirits
have, and must have material
Vehicles,
of Purity and Fineness in Proportion to their natural and moral Powers conjunctly, not only to limit and direct their
Energy
and Efficiency, but to
commerciate
with other Animals, and inanimat created Natures; none but the Supreme Spirit,
the Father of Spirits,
being absolutely and entirely an infinitely pure
immaterial Spirit,
acting by his Power and Energy with equal Facility at all possible Distances. And the
Vehicles,
or original Bodies of all created Spirits might possibly be of some such Nature, as this described Matter, which may be called
spiritual Matter,
or
Element.
§. 7. This
spiritual animal Body,
at first divinely organized, may be rolled up, folded together and contracted in this present State of its Duration, into an infinitely small
Punctum Saliens,
into a
Miniature
of a
Miniature in infinitum,
lodg'd in the Loins of the Male of all Animals, (for it is highly probable the Female was but a
secondary
Intention, or a
Buttress
to a falling Edifice) and proceeding in a
diverging Series,
and progressive Gradation, that in due Time it may be fit to be nourished, and increased by the Juices of the proper Female, and thereby enabled to bear the Coarseness and Injuries of this
ruinous Globe,
and gross Element, to which it is to be condemned for a certain Period.
§. 8. IT would seem that this
spiritual Body,
of this refin'd subtile Matter divinely organized, by an infinite Degree of
Attraction
to its particular informing
Spirit,
and by an individual
Fitness
and
Congruity
to the specific immaterial Inhabitant, is so intimately united with it in its original
Creation,
that they are
never
after to be separated, whatever future State they may go into, by any finite Power whatsoever; no more than the Firmness and Solidity of the primitive original
Atoms
of of Matter can be broken or divided by any natural Power. So that in whatever Afterstates it may exist, or whatever
Plaister
or Vehicle of a denser and coarser Element may be superinduced, the
spiritual
Inhabitant and the
primitive
Creation-Body go inseparably together. And as this refined spiritual Body might have been the
Creation
primitive Body, so it may, purified, develop'd and mundify'd, become the last
Resurrection
and
glorify'd
Body.
§. 9. It seems highly probable,
analogous
to the other Appearances of Nature, and congruous to rational Agency (if we suppose the first Being
rational, intelligent
and
wise,
acting with Designs and Purposes) that the confining of
intelligent
or
sentient
Beings, for so long a Time, to so dark and strait a Prison, in the Origin, Seeds and Eggs of Animals, on this
ruinous Globe,
must have been for some wise and good End and Purpose, in God's
moral
Government of his int ligent and sentient Creatures; perhaps for
Punishment,
Correction, progressive Purification, and painful Sensation (
A Body hast thou given me,
was said of our
Saviour,
to make him passive);
Feeling and Experience
being the most effectual Mean to admonish and teach finite, wandering and heedless Beings; at least this seems one Part of the Design.
§. 10. THAT in our present Scene of Existence, our
natural Powers
are tied down, sopited, and fettered by the Manner of our
Origination,
and coming into rational Life, is self-evident: The wisest and best Man on the Earth, as to rational and intelligent Living, was first like a mere
Vegetable
or
Plant,
afterward a mere
Animal
or
Brute,
and but at last, very late, and only for a short Time, the rational and
complete Man
; and this Truth might be further illustrated, and even demonstrated, from the Qualities of
Matter,
which are contrary to and destructive of the Qualities of
Spirit.
Now this Progression must have some End and Purpose in the Intention of a wise and good Cause; and may suppose, that by the Abuse of Liberty, and idolatrising the Creatures, the
moral Powers
(
Justice, Goodness, and Truth
) being erased and cancell'd in the
Spirit,
the most effectual Mean and Expedient to restore them, was to tye down, contract and sopite the
natural Powers
of the Soul (
Living, Perceiving, and Willing
) to a
Level
and Equality with these defaced
moral Powers,
that by the Use of the proper Means, they might (without Letts or Obstacles from these
natural Powers
) gradually improve and grow up together, in the same Degree and Order; at least this may be One not improbable End and Design of Providence, in this
progressive
Growth of the natural Powers of the human Spirit; since it is evident in Fact, that where the
natural and moral Powers
of the Soul rise to any Degree, this Progression is observed.
§. 11. The
Works
of God are without Repentance, the true unbodied Spiritual Substance in intelligent and sentient Natures, being an
Emanation, Efflux, Ray,
or
Spark,
or (if I durst use such figurative Language) an
infinitesimal Miniature
of his
Substance,
(and of his
living, perceiving and willing,
or whole Nature) who is
Self-existent
; After flowing from him, can no more
perish,
or cease to
live, perceive
and
will,
than necessary Self-existence can cease to be; so that
Living, Perceiving and Willing,
(i. e.
Cogitation
) can never be totally extinct in any intelligent and sentient Being: Never in the
Root, Faculty
or
Power,
tho' they may be, and often are, in the
Acts
; like Fire in Ashes.
Annihilation
is contradictory to, and destructive of infinite Wisdom and Power, and unworthy of infinite Perfection, requiring the same
Omnipotence
that
Creation
does;
Reaction
being always equal to Action. And
Self-activity
being an
infinitesimal Miniature
of necessary Existence and Omnipotence. The
first Being
might as justly be supposed capable of destroying Himself, as his
Miniature
Images: Besides, it were neither wise nor good even in a
Man,
to suffer the
Heir Apparent
of a great Kingdom to destroy or annihilate himself, if it were possible by Correction, Restraints, Time, and due Culture, to fit him for the Possession; and sure every Thing that is wise and good is possible to the
best
of Beings. These
Natural Powers
may be sopited, contracted and hindred from issuing into Action, (as we see they are in sound Sleep, in some Diseases,
Syncope
's, and many other Cases) by Obstacles of, and Resistances from gross Matter, by Bonds, Fetters and Chains made of these our
Elements
; and the coarser and straiter these Fetters and Chains are, the straiter and closer the Prison may be, and the weaker and fewer may be the Acts of the natural Powers, till this Prison become almost dead Matter, and a
Dungeon,
or a mere Point. Now infinite Wisdom and Power, being, as it were, necessitated by the infinite
Benevolence
of his Nature, to lay out all the Energy of his Omnipotence and Omniscience, to recover and restore his Miniature Images, consistent with the
Harmony
of his own Attributes, and with the Usage of their natural Powers, (neither of which he could force, or offer Violence to,) seems to have contrived this wonderful Expedient,
viz.
to tye down, sopite and restrain the Acts and Exertion of the natural Powers, of laps'd,
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, for a determin'd Space of Time, by Chains and Fetters made of the
Elements
of this ruinous
Globe,
in order to punish and purify them, and so to vindicate his
Sovereignty,
to repair the Indignity done to his
Purity,
to warn and deter the other Orders of his standing
Hierarchies,
and at the same Time, by lessening the Strength and Activity of the natural Powers in their full Vigour, to allow Freedom and Uninterruption from them, for the Restoration and Advancement of the moral Powers.
§. 12. WERE the
natural Powers
of a free, laps'd and intelligent Being, greatly and eminently higher than the
moral Powers
in the present State, they must necessarily clash with, interrupt and greatly hinder the Acquisition of the moral Powers. For
Example,
unerring Evidence, irrefragable Demonstration, absolute Certainty, must necessarily interfere with
Humility, Dependence, Resignation, Faith
and
Trust,
and consequently with all Merit, Gratitude, and Love. What Faith? What Resignation? What Merit is there in believing the Propositions of
Euclid?
In this we are as much passive in our immaterial Principle, as in our Material. We trust our Lives and Fortunes to a Seaman, or Coachman, not on Demonstration and absolute Certainty, but because we believe them to be
honest
able Persons in their several Vocations. Faith and Hope must eternally exclude
Mathematical
Certainty. Perfect Demonstration and absolute Certainty, would exclude Choice, Election and Preference, in finite dependent Creatures. It is
Probability
alone,
Verisimilitude, Analogy,
and
final Causes,
or
Revelation,
that can be the proper Evidence to produce
Faith,
and to give Merit, Choice, Election and Preference to the Actions of finite, laps'd and dependent Creatures; and this whole present Scene of Providence, and the Darkness, Obscurity and seeming Deformity on the Face of Nature, and the Works of an All-wise, All-good Being, seem only contrived and calculated, to preserve the natural Powers of lapsed finite Intelligences
inviolate,
and at the same Time to
harmonise
with the Divine Attributes. For had the
natural
Powers continued in their Perfection and full Extent, while the
moral
Powers were cancell'd and extinguish'd, they could never have been restored consistent with the Harmony of the Divine Attributes, and the natural, unperishable and inviolable Powers of free Intelligences. Liberty to do Good or Evil,
Pre-Existence
abus'd, universal
Restoration,
and final
Confirmation,
consistent with the Harmony of the
Divine Attributes,
and the
natural Powers
of lapsed Intelligences, well explain'd, will remove all the possible Difficulties and Obscurity, in Nature, Providence, and Revelation.
§. 13. To comprehend, ascertain and demin with
Precision,
and
Mathematical
or
Metaphysical
Certainty, the real Nature, or Substance of any thing, small or great, is incompatible with
Finitude,
and the sole incommunicable Attribute of the
Deity
; and if lapsed finite Creatures, such as we of the human Race are supposed to be, could attain to it, it would destroy our Liberty to act, (whose very
Essence
consists in doing any thing or its contrary) and determin us infallibly to one
Tenour
of Action, as certainly as one Impulse, or one
Centre
of
Motion
in a Body, would determine it to one
Direction,
or in a Right Line, and consequently would counteract our
Recovery
and
Restoration,
and render it impossible. And the most perfect
Cherubim
in Heaven, to perpetuate and
eternise
its Happiness, must necessarily have made a surrendry and sacrifice of its
Will
to infinite Goodness, and its
Understanding
to infinite Wisdom; and tho' all that are admitted to the
Beatific Vision, see God Face to Face,
or
see as they are seen,
yet it can be only
pro Modulo suo
; and tho' the
Faith
and Trust necessary to us here in our uncertain lapsed probatory State, when we come to
Glory shall be done away,
yet
naked Faith,
or a
Faith
founded solely on the
Ipse Dixit
of infinite Perfection, as well as
pure Love,
or love of Infinite
Perfection
for itself, or for its own
Amiability,
is indispensibly necessary even in Heaven, to perpetuate and
eternise
the Felicity of the most perfect
Seraphim.
As our bodily Eyes are utterly incapable of perceiving the
real
and
positive
Magnitude, Dimensions and Distance of material Objects, nothing but their
relative
ones; so is the most sublime and perfect created Understanding for ever incapable to discover, and comprehend the
precise
Nature,
Essence
or Qualities of the
First
Being, or of any of his
lowest
Works.
Objects
are perceiv'd or comprehended not according to their own absolute
precise
and
positive
Nature, by created Understandings of any
Order
and
Degree,
but
respectively
and
relatively,
according to the
Degree
and
Extent
of
their
Faculties; and yet a
Miniature
may be truly a Picture, and as just an one in
small,
as one at
length,
and between the
First
Being, and the absolute Nature of his Works, as conceiv'd and comprehended by
creaturely
Faculties, there will be allways the Proportion of
Infinite
to
Finite.
And when
Jesus Christ
said he was the
Truth,
the
absolute Truth,
he as really affirm'd his
Divinity,
as when he said
he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father,
or
I and the Father are one
; for the absolute
precise Metaphysical Truth
of real positive Things is inseparable from the
Divine Nature
; and he could not be honest and sincere even as a
Creature,
if in such a
momentuous
and and fundamental
Point,
he could lead Creatures into a Mistake; an honest Person would have trembled to come so near plain
Blasphemy,
and yet he says his Words
are Spirit and Truth.
But I beg Pardon for this Digression out of the Sphere of Philosophy.
§. 14. THE subjecting
material
Bodies, the outward Creation, and, perhaps, spiritual Natures, to
general
and invariable Laws, (the continuing these under the
Lapse,
which were and must have been establish'd in the State of Innocence, I say, the Continuance of these) seems to be another Expedient of infinite Wisdom to preserve Liberty in the Recovery of the moral Powers of lapsed Intelligences, and to conciliate the
Harmony
of the Divine Attributes. Without these general Laws, (discoverable only to any Degree, by just
Observation, calm Attention, accurate Experiment,
extensive
Induction
and
Calculation
) there could be no Room for Correction, Amending, for
Choice
and
Election,
or for moral
Good
and
Evil
; but Things would happen in the intellectual and
moral System,
as they are supposed to happen in the
natural System
on the
Epicurean
Scheme, by
Chance, Casualty,
Fits and Starts, or fatal Necessity; which is absolutely to deny the
first Being
to be a rational, intelligent and free Agent; for infinite Wisdom can do nothing, but for
wise
Ends and Purposes; and must contrive Means, which have a natural and necessary Tendency and Fitness for these Ends. If these Means be not seen by us, or being in some measure seen, may seem not to attain their Ends, it is because, being finite
lapsed
Creatures, our narrow Capacities cannot reach them, or because all the
Conditions
requisite to make them effectual, were not present in a particular Case; for infinite Wisdom must act uniformly, with
Order, Number, Weight
and
Measure
; all which, nothing but general Laws and Canons can effect, as is well known to
Geometers,
and plainly exemplified in the universal
Canons
of
Algebra.
If these general Laws be duly investigated, cautiously guarded, and all the necessary
Conditions
be taken in, they can never fail of obtaining their End and Effect; unless infinite Wisdom and Power
suspend
them for a limited Time, to manifest his Power, or for moral Ends and Purposes; or unless they are kept from attaining their natural Ends directly, by the voluntary and free
Agency
of imperfect human Intelligences.
§. 14. THE only Thing worthy of a true
Philosopher
is, with Attention, to draw up and collect as many as he possibly can, of these
general Laws
of the Divine Agency in the natural, moral, and intellectual World, for his own Use, or that of his Fellow-Intelligences. For without all Doubt they must be some few of the most obvious of the Laws of infinite Wisdom, laid down as the
Plan,
by which all his
Works of Wonder
were at first form'd, and are still govern'd: And tho' in Him all this great Affair was but one single
Act
of Wisdom and Power, yet in regard to us his
infinitesimal Miniatures,
now in a lapsed State, they must be consider'd by Parts, in different Acts, and divided
Sections,
and view'd separately, in Proportion to our weak and limited Faculties: For certainly
general Laws,
and universal Rules, are the
Method
of Divine Agency, and of his wise Providence.
§. 15. THE general Laws of
Motion,
the Laws of simple
Mechanism,
the Laws of
Refraction
and
Reflection,
and many more such general Laws, both in natural
Philosophy,
civil Society, and human Policy, are pretty well known and adjusted, in all the polish'd Nations of the World; and it is not improbable such general Laws may obtain in other
Systems,
at least
analogically:
and they actually do so, as far as our Observation reaches. And it is very probable that similar and
analogous
general Laws, have place in the
moral, spiritual
and
intellectual
World. For
God
is the same
Yesterday, To-day, and for Ever
; his Nature, Attributes, and Agency, uniform: And since he acts by
general Laws
in material Agency, it is highly probable, and conformable to his infinite Wisdom, to act in the same uniform Manner in all his Operations,
ad extra
; and, as far as just Observations have been made, and well-grounded Conclusions drawn by
Analogy,
we shall find it so in all the
Systems, Moral, Spiritual
or
Divine
; tho' these last have been but little studied, and timorously applied to, by Persons of a proper Spirit and Genius, out of Dread of the odious Designation of
Enthusiasm
or Superstition: but future Ages may perhaps get over this
Terror
; for the Method has a solid Foundation in the Nature of Things.
§. 16. THESE
general
Laws of the Divine
Oeconomy
in Creation and Providence, or the Rules of consummate Wisdom and Fitness, which the
Supreme Being
has chalk'd out and laid down, are, without all Doubt, inexhaustible and incomprehensible to such an Order of Beings as we are in our present State, and undiscoverable to any Degree of Perfection;
for who can search out the Almighty to Perfection?
Perhaps the Discovery of them may be a Part of the Happiness and Perfection of another State of Existence, and some small Portion of the Employment of happy
contemplative
Spirits in other Regions; and there,
The Works of the Lord will appear wonderful to them that delight therein.
For if the First Being be rational, intelligent, wise and good, as doubtless he is infinitely so, there must of Necessity be in all his Works, Conduct and Actions
ad extra,
one perpetual
Analogy,
and one continued
Harmony
through the Whole, and in every single Part; each individual
Organ
and
Law
must be fitted to this great End,
viz.
the Perfection of the Whole, and of each Part; and he who considers the
Oeconomy
of Nature,
Providence,
and
Restoration,
with greatest Attention and Humility, will most clearly discern this Wisdom, Fitness, and Divine Order in them.
§. 17. SUPPOSE an infinitely wise, powerful and good Being, did intend to produce something new, that he had no Pattern or Model of before Him, (as the first intelligent Cause could not possibly have in
Creation
) as an Artificer; for Example, (to descend the lowest in a Similitude) he could only express, in sensible Images, the
Genius, Nature,
and
Ideas
of his own Mind, and fit the Parts and Organs of such a
Machine
to the End and Use for which it was designed, with
Number, Weight
and
Measure
; and so (to compare great Things with small)
Supreme Wisdom,
having nothing but Himself, his own beneficent Nature and Attributes before Creation, to copy forth and represent, could, in all his Works of Wonder, delineate nothing but his own Substance, Nature, Wisdom, Goodness, Justice and Truth. So that all Nature, all Creation, all the Worlds, the
Material, Moral
and
Spiritual,
can possibly be nothing else, but the supreme, immense and infinitely perfect Being,
display'd, pourtray'd,
and made
sensible
and perceptible.
Mundus universus nihil aliud est, quam Deus explicitus,
said a learned Man. To think otherwise, is a sort of
Blasphemy,
and degrading of infinite Wisdom and Perfection below finite lapsed human Intelligences. For there is no possible Work of any Man, but which in some Degree is a Picture of himself, of his own Idea, or of the Constitution and Complexion of his Mind at that Time.
§. 18. IF then there be a perpetual
Analogy
running through all the Works of God,
Natural, Moral
and
Spiritual
; if all his Workings
ad Extra,
be Representations, Pictures and
Hieroglyphicks,
stronger or weaker, more general or more particular, of his own Nature, Complexion and Attributes; if the
material inanimated System
of outward Things, being contrived with infinite Fitness, Justness, Propriety and Delicacy, do represent his infinite Wisdom and Power, in a more sensible, yet in a darker and weaker Manner: and if the
Oeconomy
of his universal and particular Providence, and the amazing
Oeconomy
of the
Restoration
of every individual lapsed Being, be stronger and more irresistible Evidences and Representations of his infinite
Penetration,
(so to speak)
Benevolence
and
Power
; then it must be acknowledged; that, through all his Works, there runs one perpetual
Progression,
one continual
Analogy,
and uninterrupted
Harmony,
of his own Nature, Wisdom and Power; and that as
Proportion
is the
Medium,
and true Logic of material Natures and Beings, so
Analogy
is the true
Key
and
Analysis
of
spiritual
Natures and Qualities; and as the
Data
of the
first
is in Sensation, or the Notices from our Senses, or accurate Experiment: so the
Data
of the
last
is in Attention and Reflexion upon our own spiritual Natures, and their Operations, and Experience of the Qualities, Sentiments and Passions of our own Hearts and Souls; and carrying these to as great a Height as possible. For I can conceive no clearer or more distinct Manner to give a Child or an ignorant Person an
Idea
(tho' low and imperfect) of the
first Being,
than to tell him He is like the
Soul
or
living Nature,
of the best and most amiable Person he ever knew, infinitely exalted, without his Imperfections; but who has
Life
and
Being
from Himself only: whereas all his Creatures are
Emanations
from Him, and the Works of his Power: And what is this, but a true
Analogy?
Just such a one, as when we give an Infant or ignorant Person an Idea of the
Sea,
by shewing him the nearest great
Lake,
and telling him that the Sea is of the same Nature, but vastly bigger.
§. 19. IT is plain from the natural, civil, and sacred History of the whole human Race, from the visible and perceptible State of our
Globe,
its surrounding
Atmosphere,
kindred
Planets,
and their Influences upon ours; that
Pain, Suffering
and
Misery,
is as natural and necessary to us here in this present State, as
Existence
is. It is utterly unavoidable but in
Degree
; none ever lived, but felt it it some Kind or Degree or other. The Extreme Tenderness and Delicacy of our
lumbaginous
and
spermatic
State, subject us to the Distempers and Sufferings arising from the Indiscretions and bodily Diseases of our Parents: The Weakness and Helplessness of
Childhood
and Infancy, expose us to innumerable Accidents and Distempers. The imprudent and improper Nourishment in Quantity or Quality, given us by our
Mothers
or
Nurses,
bring naturally on us Suffering and Misery: The Grossness, Coarseness, and Inclemency of the
Element
we live and breathe in,
mechanically
infects us with its noxious and deleterious Qualities: Ignorance, bad Example, contagious Custom, and popular Errors and Prejudices continue the Hazards and Dangers of
Childhood.
Strong Passions and Appetites, a wrong Turn of
Head
or
Heart,
a corrupt and degenerate Age, strengthen and confirm our Miseries and Misfortunes in
Youthhood:
Disappointments, Misfortunes, Cares, Want of, or the bad Usage of the Necessaries and Conveniencies of Life, Luxury or Intemperance, Famine or Scarcity,
Epidemical
Diseases, or unforeseen Accidents, one or other, or perhaps all together, make the Complexion of
Manhood:
And
old Age
(the
Cardinal
Disease of human Life) finishes the dark Scene of human Misery with perpetual Aches, Sores and Infirmities of Body and Mind; a more sensible Dotage and Childhood, a
Taedium Vitae,
with a Desire of Dissolution, which is yet accompanied with a terrible Dread of it; all these conclude this
Climax
and Progression of Misery; through which the very best and wisest, that lasts out the natural Duration of Life, must pass, for his
Punishment, Expiation,
and
Purification
; not to mention the Remorse and internal Crucifixion of those who feel a
Law in their Members warring against the Law of their Minds
in a perpetual Strife and Conflict. It is only in and through the
Oeconomy
of the Restoration, by the Knowledge of the
Gospel,
that these natural, necessary and unavoidable Pains, Punishments and Miseries, can be turned, may be reckoned, and are really
Mercies, Blessings, fatherly Corrections,
lose their Stings, and become
Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost.
§. 20. PAIN,
Punishment,
and
Suffering
then would seem to be a natural, necessary and (as it were) a
mechanical
Mean of Expiation, Purification and Perfection, to all sentient and intelligent Beings, in this present State of Existence: which Virtue, Attention and Care can only lessen, but which none can totally, but only in a small Degree, avoid, if not by and through the Means just now mentioned. As rubbing hard Bodies against one another, is the only Method to
polish
and
finish
them; and the harder and longer the
Friction,
the finer the Polish, and the more perfect the Figure; so Pain, in sentient and intelligent Beings, arises from
Resistance to Action,
or from
Re-action,
which in spiritual as well as material Agency, is always equal and contrary to
Action.
Sentient Beings naturally, necessarily, and, as it were,
mechanically,
recede from, and exert a Principle of
Resistance
and
Re-action
to the Cause of Pain; intelligent Beings,
caeteris paribus,
necessarily fly from it with greater Velocity, from the united Force of
Sensation
and
Reflection.
Sensation and Perception begin the Aversion and Reluctance to the Cause or Occasion of Pain, and Reflection turns it into an Abhorrence and Detestation.
§. 21. CONSCIOUSNESS of the Reasons and Effects, seems in no wise absolutely necessary towards
Purification
in general, at least towards the first Degrees of it, as we see in
Brutes, Children
and
Ideots.
Pain and Punishment in such a Degree, and often repeated, will naturally bring them to abstain from that, for which they suffer.
Consciousness
of the End and Design of it seems only necessary to accelerate, perfect and turn into a
Habit,
the Aversion and Abhorrence of what has caused Pain, and to strengthen that Habit into a second Nature; as Wood is made streight, first by softening it by Fire, and then keeping it by Cords and Weights in a Situation contrary to its
Curvature.
Pain and Punishment soften and melt down the Subject,
Consciousness
fixes and hardens it, and gives it an habitual contrary Nature.
Consciousness
attends single
Acts
only, and not
Habits
; when the Habit is perfected, Consciousness vanishes and dies away (as a perfect Musician, while playing on an Instrument, reflects not on single Strokes distinctly) so that
Consciousness
seems necessary as a
Check
or
Bar,
to prevent Relapses; and seldom takes place till the End and Design of Punishment is in some Degree obtained.
§. 22. FROM what has been said, it is evident that this our
Planet
and its Appendages, is really and literally a Prison or Gaol, a Place of Banishment, of Pains and Punishment for a certain Period of Time, to lapsed sentient and intelligent Beings: like
Siberia
among the
Ruffians,
the
Bastille
or the
Pierre incise
with the
French,
or the
Plantations
or
Newgate
among us. And the Inhabitants of both Kinds, sentient and intelligent, are, without a Figure: Prisoners, Slaves, and Felons, under a State of Expiation and Purification. Our whole
Creation,
our intire
System,
in regard to our defaced and spoilt
Planet,
labours like Slaves at the Oar, is in
Travail,
in a perpetual
Fermentation
and
Effervescence,
as in a malignant Fever, working for a
Crise
and Delivery. Some Individuals may be delivered sooner, some later, according as their Expiation and Purification is perfected; and at last the whole
System,
and all its Inhabitants, must naturally and necessarily, but
harmoniously
or
analogically,
and according to general Laws, undergo some great and violent
Crise,
and an universal
Gaol-Delivery
will be brought about; but when and how this will be accomplished, is beyond Conjecture;
a Thousand Years are but as a Day here,
and the Ways of the
Almighty
are past finding out. It would seem as if the only
Problem,
or Difficulty, (to speak so in regard to Omnipotence, where no real Difficulty can happen) worthy of infinite Wisdom to
solve,
were to recover, perfect and establish in perpetual and unrelapsing
Order
and
Purity,
free and lapsed intelligent Beings, consistent with the
Harmony
of his own Attributes, and the
natural Powers
with which he has endued them. How infinite Wisdom and Power will bring this about, we can only conjecture in a few general
Hints,
from such of his
general Laws
as are obvious, from
final Causes,
which are plain, and must include some Part of the Ends in rational Agency; and from dark Sketches of the
Analogy
of Things: not impossibly thus.
§. 23. AN infinitely wise, good and powerful Being having created this
System,
we cannot suppose, but it must have been as perfect and blissful, as its Nature could admit, and his sentient, intelligent Creatures as happy, as their Natures and Order could allow; and that he must have furnished them with Means and Power to perpetuate, if not increase, this Perfection and Happiness. But from the very Nature and Essence of
Liberty
; whoever has a Power to continue or increase in a State, must also have a Power to fall back or decrease; whatever is
finite,
must necessarily be
fallible.
Now suppose such finite fallible Beings actually lapsed: the same wise and good Being must have ordered Things so, not only that they should recover and rise again, but that their Fall and
Lapse
should at last be a Mean, not only to strengthen, confirm and fix them in Happiness ever after, (and this seems the only Mean, by which fallible free lapsed Creatures, once actually fallen, could be brought to an illapsing State of Stability) but even to increase the Degree of their Happiness and Perfection; and this, I think, would not only be the full and plenary Solution of this infinitely difficult
Problem,
but one worthy of its all-wise and all-powerful Author only; and this he has effected, I think, by these three Expedients or Means. 1. By continuing
general Laws
of Agency in material, moral and spiritual Actions, plainly intimating, that the Concurrence of the same Causes and Conditions will always produce the same Effects; and so leaving Room for Consideration, Amendment, Improvment, Choice, and the Discernment of moral Good and Evil, and thus securing
Liberty
and the other natural Powers of lapsed Intelligences. 2. By tying down, sopiting and suspending the
natural Powers
of the Soul for so long a Time, as is its Duration from the first original
Male,
till the Bonds and Chains, by which their Exertion is restrained, be broken and untyed by Death. That during this Time, the Benefit acquired by the progressive Parentage (if
they
happen to return to Order and Habits of Virtue, or have their moral Powers recovered) may operate on these
infinitesimal Miniatures
; by mending their Natures, that they themselves may have time given to recover into Order; and that the Interruption from the
natural Powers
arrived at their Perfection, might not prevent the Acquisition and Recovery of the
Moral Powers.
And, 3. By the
Oeconomy
of
Redemption
by a
Saviour,
which doubtless was projected before the Creation of the World, or this System, and when the proper Disposition to receive it, and to reap the Benefit of it, is acquired; and which may in some Time or Place,
explicitly
or
implicitly,
be revealed, to finish the Work of Restoration. But that not being my Province in a
Philosophical Disquisition,
I proceed.
§. 24. IT is the grossest Absurdity and Contradiction to suppose, that an infinitely wise and beneficent Being would make either
sentient
or
intelligent
Beings suffer, merely for Suffering's Sake. He must have had just, good and kind Reasons for this his
strange Work.
And since it is certain, that both
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings do and must unavoidably
suffer,
and are in a State of Punishment, Misery and Banishment here; it necessarily follows, that they are in a State of Expiation, Purification and progressive Perfection, in their respective Orders; and will at last be set free, made happy, and perfected, and confirmed in that State for ever.
Omnipotence
surely can, and
infinite Goodness,
I hope, will do all this.
§. 25. IF all is not Deceit and Illusion, it must be evident to a
Demonstration,
that nothing imperfect or unhappy in its Order can come out of the Hands of infinite Perfection; and yet it is Fact, that all
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings here, are universally more or less, miserable and imperfect; and that there never was any human Creature, in his right Senses, which in a whole Duration of human Life, felt not, and thought not himself unhappy, miserable and imperfect, at least, for some time, if not for the most of his rational Life: and wish'd not himself earnestly, better, wiser, more perfect, and happy. It is impossible, that infinite Wisdom and Goodness, can punish
sentient
and
intelligent
Creatures, or make them miserable, but for some wise and beneficent End and Purpose; from whence it will be evident to a rational Person, that of necessity there must have been a
State of Existence prior
to this present: wherein all those
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, while in a
collective Mass,
which have been, or shall be on this
Globe,
had misbehaved, rebell'd, and run into Disorder, probably, by idolatrising Creatures and
Self,
and preferring them to the
Creator.
And the Account of this Rebellion and Lapse in
Revelation,
may refer only to the last
Scene
or Act in the Tragedy, or the new modelling this
secondary State
or partially
lapsed System,
when the slightest Trial of Faith and Obedience was made; for certainly
Nemo repentè fit turpissimus
; finite Creatures can naturally acquire Habits of Virtue and Vice, or indeed of any kind, only by
Degrees,
or single Acts repeated. Certain
Consciousness,
or clear distinct Knowledge of this
pre-existent State,
would only feed idle Curiosity; and might hinder and counter-act that implicit Trust, Dependence and absolute Resignation in every Thing, so absolutely necessary to relative Perfection and Happiness. For the Point in View of infinite Perfection, is to bring all the finite sentient and intelligent Creatures to an absolute
voluntary Surrendry,
and
Trust
of themselves, and every Thing relating to them in Time and Eternity, to his Will and Pleasure
implicitly
; nothing less being sufficient to establish and perpetuate the Divine Sovereignty,
harmonise
his Attributes, and
eternise
the Peace, Happiness and relative Perfection of universal Nature; which different
Willing
would eternally confound and perplex anew, and bring on a
second,
or perpetuate the present
Lapse.
§. 26. IT is not impossible, that there are other
States, Mansions,
and
probatory Celestial Regions,
proper and peculiar to the several imperfect Degrees of the moral Faculties of spiritual Intelligences, with their
Creation-Bodies
or Vehicles, according to the several remaining
Degrees
of Imperfection, even almost
in infinitum,
in an ascending or descending
Progression.
Infinite Wisdom and Goodness may have appointed, in general, a certain limited Period, beyond which the Incrustation of their
Creation-Bodies
cannot last, things being in such a State: But the actual Approach may be quicker or slower, according to certain Terms and Conditions: which we know to be the Case of our present
mortal Tabernacles
; and according to the bad or good Usage of our Liberties in the Use of the Means afforded us for acquiring the
moral Virtues,
and affixing the
moral Powers
in confirm'd Habits; we may ascend into more pure, more happy, and more perfect
Regions,
or descend into more gross, miserable and dark
Dungeons,
almost
in infinitum.
But it would also seem, that
sentient
and
intelligent
Creatures could suffer Pain and Misery only to a certain finite and limited Degree, (tho' the Time may be eternal, all Spirits being immortal by Nature) all the
Activities
and
Passivities
of such Beings being necessarily
finite
and limited; and when they come to that
Point,
they must necessarily return, wish for Deliverance, cry for Mercy, Pity and Freedom, and endeavour it with the whole natural Powers of their Spirits; and to this
Point
only, it would seem, an infinitely
wise, beneficent
and
powerful
Being can intend to bring his lapsed, wandering
miniature
Creatures now under the
Gospel
; and that he should be ready to receive them into Mercy, and allow them the Means for restoring and recovering their lapsed
moral Powers.
But how long Time it may require to bring them to this absolutely necessary Point, no Reason or
Philosophy
(whether an
Indefinite,
that is, a
creaturely
or
relatively infinite
Time) can determine; and
Revelation
has not made it plain and explicit, but on the contrary has left it not only dubious, but seems to point otherwise; to be sure not before all are brought to this indispensable Point of
Returning.
The
Oeconomy, Satisfaction
and
Sufferings
of the
God-Man Jesus Christ,
could be only sufficient to render that Expiation, and Restoration of the moral Power in a finite Time, which, in its own Nature, and the Nature of
God
and of his Purity, must have been Infinite and Eternal. The repairing the
Indignity
and
Affront
done to his Sovereignty and Purity, and the deterring his other standing Creatures from
Lapse
and
Rebellion,
is not perhaps left in their Power to prevent; that may be done by the necessary and unavoidable Pains and Sufferings they must undergo, from the painful and leprous
Incrustation
of the several
Elements
they must pass through; their
returning
into Order, their Acquisition of the
moral Powers
of the Soul, and fixing them in these, and consequently in permanent Happiness, intirely depends on themselves, and the Use of the Means afforded.
§. 27. IT is no easy Matter to form any precise limited Idea or Notion of
Substance
either
Material
or
Spiritual
; all we certainly know of either, is, that they
exist,
are Realities, and are the
Base
or Subject of real Qualities. But we can no more penetrat into the
Substratum
or Support of these Qualities, by the natural Activity of our Spirits, than our Eyes can see Objects at a certain Distance; such is the Nature, Frame and Limitation of our Order and Rank of
natural Powers.
We certainly know that
material Substance
is the
Substratum
of
Extension, Impenetrability, Passivity
and
Figure
; and spiritual Substance, of
living, perceiving
and
willing,
that is, of
Cogitation
or
Thinking,
and also of
beginning
Motion in Bodies, and giving them a particular
Direction.
The Aggregate, or Sum of all these respective Qualities (most of which are contrary to the others) may be bound together or united by some
Bond of Union,
which we shall never have any direct or immediate Conception of, till we throw off this material
Incrustation,
that intangles and fetters the full Exercise and Penetration of our natural Powers. And therefore, if we dropt both Substances, as
unknown
and
unknowable
Things at present, or rather, if we suppos'd both only mere
Capacities, Recipients, Canals
or passive Subjects of contrary Qualities, as they flow, or are deriv'd from the primary Source and self-existent Cause of all
Activity, Qualities
and
Realities,
whose whole End and Use (of these
Capacities
) was to receive and contain these Qualities, limiting, contrary, and destructive of each other respectively; or, lastly, if, as
Geometers
use the Method, we make the one
Positive,
the other
Negative
; this way of considering this dark Subject might, perhaps, throw some Light on it: And then imagin'd that
Matter
or
Body
was
analogous
to (but yet no-wise the same with, but quite contrary, tho' not contradictory) to
Spirit
infinitely condens'd, concentred or incrassated: And that
spiritual
Substance was
analogous
to
Matter
infinitely rarefied, refin'd or
sublim'd:
Then, in the
Geometrical
Manner of considering such respective Qualities and their Subject,
Body
infinitely rarefied, refin'd and sublim'd, would at last terminat in limited
Space
or
Expansion
; and limited
Space
or
Expansion
infinitely condens'd, contracted and inspissated, would end in solid indivisible Points or
Monads,
the common Idea of the component Particles of Body. And yet that Body should be rarefied into
Space,
or
Space
condens'd into Body, is an absolute Contradiction and Impossibility; only this Manner in which Geometers consider infinitely
little,
or infinitely
great
Quantities, is here suggested, as an Illustration of material and spiritual Substance, so difficult to be explain'd. But we not being able to conceive or comprehend
Infinitude,
or infinite Agency, its Effects and Consequences, it may, perhaps, be said, that this is only explaining one
Obscurity
by a
greater.
It may be so: All then we are absolutely certain of is, that these essential Qualities of
Matter
and
Spirit
respectively,
viz.
in
Matter, Extension, Impenetrability, Divisibility, Mobility, Passivity
and
Figure
; and in Spirit,
Living, Perceiving, Willing, Self-activity, Self-mobility,
and the Power of
beginning
Motion, and giving
Direction
to Bodies; must necessarily be uniform, and always the same in Degree, whatever State or Circumstances they may be in. These respective Substances are always in their own Nature and Essence so
contrary
and destructive of one another in their Qualities, that they become a perpetual Bar, Obstruction and Obstacle to the Exertion of these their essential Qualities. They are not indeed
contradictory
or destructive of one another's Qualities in every Degree; they are not
incompatible
and
unallyable
(as we know by Fact); but they are
contrary
; and one Degree of the Qualities of the one, destroys a relative, equal or proportional Degree of the Qualities of the other; and the
Sum total
of these Qualities in the one, destroys the
Sum total
of the Qualities of the other, equally or proportionally, like
Light
and
Darkness
; and an infinite Degree of the one may sopite or totally obstruct the
sensible Actions
of the other, tho' not annihilat or absolutely destroy the other in its Root or Nature. But
Infinitude
being above our Capacities, we can only speak of the Effects of their Contrariety and Opposition in their finite Degrees, and pronounce nothing of the Effects of
infinite
Operations; only we are certain, that no less than an infinite Power and Operation in the one, can totally extinguish and annihilat the Nature and Operations of the other;
Reaction
being always contrary and equal to
Action.
We may have a fine
Illustration
and
analogous
Resemblance of this infinite contrarv Action, from the Nature of an infinite
converging Series
; in which from the next immediate Step in the Progression, by passing through
infinitely little
of that Order, the Terms from
positive
become
negative
; and likewise, from some
Particles
of Matter, which after having got without their
Sphere,
from
attractive
become
repulsive,
in respect to a particular
Centre
; these Hints are far from an affirming, or any Endeavour to prove, that
Matter
is only infinitely
condens'd Spirit,
and
Spirit
only infinitely
refin'd Matter,
as to their several Substances: For the
Fact
I think false, impossible and contradictory; for
Matter,
however refin'd and sublim'd, is still
Matter,
and has the opposite Qualities to
Spirit,
and have their essential Qualities in direct Contrariety; and were it otherwise, in this Manner of illustrating the Subject, the Proof were absolutely impossible; because the Effects of
infinite Power
and
Agency
are known and knowable by Him only, whose Attributes are infinite Power and Might. If the
Proposition
and Effect was true and real, no
finite
Agency could effect it, nor
finite
Understanding evince it: But these Instances are adduc'd only as an
Illustration,
to remove the seeming
shocking
Absurdity and Terror, in most good Persons Minds, from affirming any Resemblance or
Analogy
between
material
and
spiritual
Substances; for these evidently shew, that
similar
and
analogous
Effects are Realities in the Nature of Things, tho' their Manner and Process be inconceiveable to us finite Beings; and also, as much as in me lies, to take off any Mistakes and Misapprehension, as if I advanc'd any thing in the
Philosophic
Explication of these
Mysteries
of Nature, inconsistent with
Revelation
or
Religion,
as the Reverend Dr.
Brown
Bishop of
Cork
has done in his
Divine Analogy
; not fully having understood my Manner of explaining the Subject, or perhaps I had not made my Meaning sufficiently clear and plain; as the Subject is in itself almost inexplicable, and ought to be guarded with all possible Precision, if at all handled.
§. 28. IN my poor Way of conceiving and conjecturing, from the obvious
Appearances
in Nature subjected to Sense; from the
final Causes
the Supreme Rational Being may possibly have in such
external Operations
; from the
Analogy
carried from the Things that are seen, to those that are invisible, and only intelligible; the most probable and satisfactory Account that can be found of the
Oeconomy
and Plan of the Restoration of finite lapsed Intelligences, seems to be this, at least these may possibly be some of the
prominent Lines
of this
Plan:
Some finite free Intelligences of the several
Orders
in the living
Hierarchies
having by the Abuse of their
Liberty,
and committing
Idolatry,
by too inordinate Commerce with the Creatures, and habitually turning away from their Source the
Creator,
destroyed and cancell'd the
moral Powers
of their
spiritual
Natures:
Infinite Wisdom
and
Power,
by the Necessity of his
beneficent
Nature, employing the whole Force of his
Omnipotence
and
Omniscience,
to restore and recover them, without committing
Violence
on their
natural Powers,
or on the
Harmony
of his own
Attributes
; first ties down and contracts their
natural Powers
with Chains of gross Matter, from a (purposely, or mechanically) ruin'd and defac'd
Elementary Globe,
such as our present Habitation is; Chains, which the
natural Powers
of the
Spirit
are necessarily obliged to endeavour to be unloosing all the Time, from the
original Creation
of this gross Body; during which Time, Means, Opportunity and Leisure is allow'd, for the
Acquisition
and
Restoration
of the
moral Powers:
As Felons and Robbers are tam'd and mended by working in the Mines, and tugging at the Oar. By the Toil, Labour and Suffering, from this working off, and melting down the gross and leprous
Plaister,
superinduc'd on the primitive
Creation
-Body, by fileing, purifying and breaking these Chains which fetter the Activity and free Agency of the
natural Powers
of the Soul, on this
Creation-Body. First,
Reparation, and an
Amende honorable
is made to infinite Purity and Sovereignty; and the bad Example to other
Intelligences,
remov'd: And in the mean time, outward and inward Means may be offer'd and bestow'd, by external Providences,
suprahumane
and
imperceptible
Aid and
Grace,
and the Light and internal Operation of the
Divine Word
and
Reason,
the
Messiah,
for recovering the defac'd
moral Powers
of the Soul. Some are under this Operation a shorter, some a longer Time, according to the Wisdom and Designs of the Sovereign
Reason,
and the Mansion they are to fill in the new
Jerusalem,
even till the last
Scene,
which in the Nature of gross corruptible Matter can last but a
finite Time,
either in the Nature of the
Elementary Planet
itself, with its
Appendages,
or in the Incrustation on the primitive
Creation
-Bodies made of this elementary Matter; which must crumble and dissolve into Dust within certain Limits of Time, by the establish'd Law of Nature; the
first,
possibly, from the Expence and Fixation of
Water,
as Sir
Isaac Newton
insinuates, and the
other
necessary Fluids; the
others
for want of
Nutrition
and
Chylification,
and both by Natural and general Laws, but still within certain Limits less than real
infinite.
But both must at last be perfectly purified; the
Earth
and its
Appendages,
possibly, by an universal
Conflagration
; the particular gross Plaistering, by being dissolv'd into its
original Dust,
that the primitive
Creation
Body may be disincumber'd, and made supple and pliable to obey the Dictates of the informing immaterial
Spirit
; and the
Spirit,
by the Acquisition and habitual fixing of the Moral Powers. For there cannot be a more certain and indubitable Truth, than that nothing
imperfect
in its Order could come out of the Hands of infinite Perfection; and that nothing
impure
or imperfect in its Order, can return to live and commerciate with, or be united to God perfectly, finally and immutably.
§. 29. This
Infinitesimal
Particle of Celestial Matter, this
Miniature
of a
Miniature in infinitum,
decreasing in a continued
analogical
Progress, and stor'd up in the Seeds of all Animals and Vegetables, from the first to the last Animal and Vegetable; this divinely organis'd Vehicle or
Corpuscle,
in which the immaterial Principle was inspir'd in its Creation, and to which it is so intimately united by a particular Law of Union, and an individual
Fitness
and
Congruity,
is inseparable from it in all its future States and Circumstances of Duration, at least by any Degree of
Force
less than
infinite.
The
immaterial Spirit,
the Spiritual Inhabitant of this
Celestial Vehicle,
is in its own Nature immortal and imperishable, being an
infinitesimal Miniature
of the Divine Nature and Substance, which is
Self-existent.
I say then, the
Spirit,
the immaterial Substance, that informs this
aethereal Creation
Body, is of its own Nature
immortal
and
imperishable
; but the
material Vehicle,
tho' of a refin'd and
aethereal
Substance, is only eternal by the Divine Order and Appointment, and
comparatively
in respect of other grosser and more dense Compounds, of which Time and Use may alter the Form, tho' not destroy the Substance; and perhaps their Perpetuity may be continued by a divine primary, or secondary spiritual Influence, from both these immortal Principles. I am sensible, these strong Figures may be expos'd to
Ridicule,
and interpreted
profanely,
by light Persons; but when they understand, and can explain with
Precision,
what the Force of
Infinitude
(small or great) is, their Raillery and Levity may be tolerable; such, of Necessity, must be the Language, when we attempt to express perceptible only, and
spiritual
Things. I hope I have a due Sense of the Purity and Perfection of the Divine Nature and Spiritual Things, not to expose them maliciously and designedly to Contempt and Ridicule. My whole Design is to help honest and sincere Persons to some
Ideal
Knowledge, (which at best is but a poor Affair) that may possibly comfort and mend the
Heart,
without hurting the
Head.
§. 30. IF there is any
Verisimilitude
or Consistency in this
Sketch,
it will follow from it, that the lighter and thinner (while sweet and healthy) the
Crust
and
Plaister
from this
elementary System,
that is laid over this
Creation
Body, the more the natural Powers of the Spirit will be at Liberty to exert their Functions, and acquire the moral ones; the Sufferings and Miseries of the present State of our Existence will be fewer and less intense, and the total Disengagement of the
Spiritual
Inhabitant from its Prison and Load, will be more easy and perfect; and we shall shake off our
Chains
and Fetters, as we do our Cloaths to go to Bed. The universal Law of Nature, for every
sentient
and
intelligent
Being, that is brought on this
elementary Planet,
is,
first,
to have its spiritual and its celestial Body tied down, and concentred by Chains and Fetters of this Element, into a
Miniature
of a
Miniature,
then into a
Punctum Saliens,
and at last into a sensible elementary Body: During all this Time, the spiritual Nature is working, like a Slave in the Mines, or at the Oar, to extend this celestial Body to its original
analogous
Figure and Dimensions, by breaking all its elementary Fetters; while yet at the same time it is crusting over more densely the primitive
celestial
Body by Nutrition, and the animal Functions with a gross
leprous
Plaister; when the Creation Body is intirely develop'd, by giving a Facility to its Organs of all kinds, by
Culture
and
Use
in their several Ways, its intellectual Faculties get Power and Liberty to exert themselves; during which Time the Acquisition of the moral Powers may and ought to take Place, and by Degrees, and in a nearly determinable Period, this Plaister dries, hardens, and at last crumbles into Dust; and then the Spirit with the celestial Body, if but partially purified, passes into other
States, Elements,
and
Mansions,
as its Degree of moral Virtue, or Acquisition of moral Powers require.
§. 31. FROM this Representation of the State and Progress of
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings in Spirit and Body, during their Banishment to this
ruinous Planet
; it follows, that the
Root, Faculty
and
Capacity
of the Spirit, or its natural Powers, continue
potentially
and
radically
the same; or that
living, perceiving,
and
willing,
as to their Essence, Power and Capacity, are in all States radically and invariably the same; tho' their Exercise, Acts and Exertion be restrain'd and sopited by gross Matter. Whoever considers the invariable Nature of spirit, must be convinc'd, that its giving Motions, with their several Modifications, must always radically and potentially be the same, and uniform, however their Acts may be suspended, sopited, or destroyed by gross Matter, and the Im-mechanism of Bodies; and that all the
Functions
of the Body, all its voluntary and
involuntary
Motions, all its
living
and
vital
Actions, all its internal and external Operations, all its
Sensations, Passions
and
Willings,
that depend on the Body, are all but
Cogitation,
or
Thinking,
in some Degree or other, and its several
Modifications,
as really, as
intense,
fullgrown Thinking, with Reflexion, or Meditation, is; in a Word, that the
Soul, Spirit,
or living Principle, is really the true and only intelligent Being, and the Body only is its Organ, Instrument or Tool, and but a passive Adjunct of the living Intelligence; and consequently, that, 1. our acquir'd
Knowledge
is but
Remembrance
; 2. that a
moral Sense
and
Faculty
; 3. that
innate Ideas
of
God
and
Virtue,
of
moral Good
and
Evil
; That, 4.
spiritual Sensation
and
spiritual Senses
; and that, 5. the
Soul
uses material Organs (tho' not of gross Matter only) in all its Operations, all these are as much
Philosophical Realities
(however ridiculed and exposed by ignorant Persons) as the same Things are, when sensibly and outwardly transacted on our finish'd and perfect external Senses; and that, 6. All our
Culture, Study
and
Labour,
to acquire Sciences and Knowledge, or to perfect our natural Powers, terminat only in
fileing
off,
melting
away, and
scraping
down, those Chains, and Crust superinduced upon them; and are only removing
Superfluities,
reducing
Excrescences,
and rendering the gross
Patchwork
superinduced on our spiritual Body, pliant, supple and correspondent, with the least Resistance to it; that the
Creation
Body may be at Liberty to extend and disincumber itself: And,
Lastly,
That the shortest and readiest Way to true and solid
Knowledge,
is to endeavour with the utmost Vigour, and strongest Effects of our
spiritual
Nature, to recover and acquire the moral Powers of the Soul defac'd and cancelled by the
Lapse,
viz.
Justice, Goodness
and
Truth
; or, in the
Revelation
Language,
Faith, Hope,
and
Charity
; to which these will be found, when justly explained, intirely
analogous
and consonant; for it could only be to allow Time and Uninterruption from the
natural
Powers, had they been always in their full Extent and Force, that they have been thus ty'd down, and sopited; so that now they can only rise and extend in Proportion, as the
moral Powers
are acquired.
§. 32. THE
Activity, Sensibility
and
Penetration,
the voluntary and involuntary
Motions
of this our Elementary Body, the animal
Functions,
the more material Acts of
Thinking
and
Cogitation,
such as
Sensation, Memory, Imagination, Attention,
&c. are all radically and primarily perform'd, by the
Self-action
and
Self-motion
of the immaterial
Spirit,
on this
Creation-aethereal Body
principally; as
Sulphureous Inflammations
raise Mountains, and as
Springs,
and
Weights
move
Clock-works
; with this notable Difference, that the first has an internal, immortal Spring of
Self-action,
the other only a temporary and transitory one. Perhaps, for
Example,
towards
voluntary
and
involuntary Motion,
or towards the Exertion of the
animal Functions
; I say, perhaps, there may not be wanted any
foreign, independent
and
perplex'd subtile Fluid,
of whatever Nature; if the animal Appearances and Functions can be more simply, as clearly and fully explained, by the Action of a
self-active
and
self-motive
spiritual Substance, informing and influencing a fitly and
divinely organized aethereal Body,
and thereby immediately impressing its Action and Energy on the gross earthly Plaister laid over it. A true
spiritual Substance,
of the very lowest Order, must necessarily have in itself a
Spring
of Self-action, a
Principle
and Faculty of Self-motion, from its own
internal
Nature and Essence. I can have no Notion of a
spiritual
Substance, that has not a Power of beginning and impressing Motion on Matter or Body fitly disposed; there seems no Distinction so essential between
Spirit
and
Body,
as
Activity
and
Passivity
; 'tis true this Activity in created spiritual Substances is finite and limited, and may be further restrained by
gross Matter
to any Degree; but it will be always sufficient to begin and impress Motion on Body, so long as the
Inertia
of Body is not greater, than the
Self-activity
of such an
Order
of spiritual Substances, else it could not in any Sense be called
self-active.
And to produce
muscular Motion,
and the
animal Functions
and Appearances, there may be nothing more necessary, than
Self-activity,
and
Self-mobility,
in a greater or lesser Degree; and divine Organisation, Fitness, and not insuperable Resistance, or rather a ready
Facility,
in the primitive
aethereal
Vehicle, which may overcome the Load of Plaister and Rust laid over it: I say, perhaps, this may be sufficient to account fully for all the animal Appearances; a foreign
subtile
Fluid
may be necessary to explain the Appearances of
inanimated
Matter; but seems here
superfluous,
and looks perplex'd and operose, and unlike the Operations of the
God of Nature,
which are always from easy and simple
Causes,
and by one such Cause produce various and beautiful Effects. And I think there is scarce accounting for the infinitely different Degrees of Sensibility, the Degrees of Stature and Growth, and the Degrees of Penetration, and of quick and slow Thinking, Memory and Solidity, both in sentient and intelligent Animals, without allowing the Plaistering and Soder, on the
Creation
aethereal Body to sit lighter, thinner and less incumbring on some than on others, and the aethereal Organs to be more at Liberty in the vastly sensible and quick Thinkers and Feelers, than in the slow.
§. 33. IT would seem in this progressive State of Purification of lapsed
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, that when one
Crust
or
Plaister
from the Element to which they are confined, is worn off, another may grow on, of the Nature of the
Celestial
or
Terrestrial Mansion,
which they inhabit, fitted to the Degree of the acquired
moral Powers
; and this in a continual
Ascent
or
Descent,
till the moral Powers are perfected and confirmed into
Habits,
and the aethereal or spiritual Body is purified and refined from all the
Dross
and
Rust
it had contracted; and then will be accomplished their last permanent and eternal State, suited to their
Order.
§. 34. THE specific Law of
Attraction, Fitness
and Similarity of the
Element
or
Planet,
to the Degree of the moral Purity or Impurity in
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, may as naturally and necessarily determin and
attract
them to this their specific
Region
or
Mansion,
as the Eggs of Insects, and Seeds of Plants scattered and blown by the Wind, are directed, drawn and adhere, by
Electricity,
to the Leaves of those
Plants
and
Trees
only, which are fittest and have the most proper Juices for their
Adhesion, Incubation
and
Vivification,
and for crusting them over, to defend their Delicacy and Sensibility while young and tender, from such Injuries as would put an End to Life. For a Law of
Attraction, Fitness
and
Similarity
will be found to hold good, either simply or in some kind of Proportion, or
analogically,
through all Creation, as well in
Spirits,
as in
Bodies,
in the
natural, moral
and
celestial
Worlds, till the first and supreme Being become locally and finally
All in all,
and that All be in him with Perfection and
analogous
Similarity in their several Natures, as the
Fish,
or
Rivers
are in the Sea, and that he acts and influences, and gives Perfection and Happiness to all Things He has made.
CONCLUSION.
THIS
rude
and unfinished
Sketch
may possibly be thought by some, an
imaginary
and
enthusiastical Romance,
and so perhaps it may be. It is innocent, if a
Fable
; and if thought otherwise, by proper and competent Judges, I should renouce and disclaim it. But on the most intense, anxious and mature
Observations
and
Reflexions
on universal Nature, on allowing the Supreme Being to be a
wise, good, powerful
and
rational
Agent, admitting
final Causes
when they are obvious, and
Analogy
when plain and simple; the
Outlines,
and
Ground-work
of this System may be just and solid, however faulty the
Detail
and
Execution
may be. I can be answerable for nothing, but the Honesty of my Intention in it.
END of the FIRST DISCOURSE.
DISCOURSE II. Philisophical CONJECTURES ABOUT THE Preference of VEGETABLE TO ANIMAL FOOD: AND OF THE End and Design of PROVIDENCE, IN Appointing the FIRST, AND, ON TRIAL, Permitting the LATTER.
Gen. i. 29.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every Herb bearing Seed, which is upon the Face of all the Earth, and every Tree, in which is the Fruit of the Tree yielding Seed, to you it shall be given for Meat.
Gen. ix. 3.
Every living thing that moveth, shall be Meat for you; even as the green Herb have I given you all things.
Ver. 4.
But Flesh with the Life thereof, which is the Blood thereof, you shall not eat.
DISCOURSE II.
Philosophical CONJECTURES ABOUT THE Preference of VEGETABLE TO ANIMAL FOOD: AND OF THE End and Design of PROVIDENCE, in Appointing the
First,
and, on Trial, Permitting the
Latter.
§. 1. IT is certain that by our Make, by the Frame of our
Organs,
we are now fitted as for Vegetable, so for Animal Food. The Form of
some
of our Teeth, the
Liver,
the
Pancreas,
and many other of our internal Bowels and
conglomerate Glands,
seem primarily and chiefly designed and fitted to
antidote
the Mischiefs arising from
animal Food,
and
fermented Liquors,
at least for some Time, and in the Days of our Youth and Vigour: For certainly, a Part of the
Designs
of any intelligent Agent may be known by
Analogy
justly drawn, and by
final Causes,
and is the best Evidence finite and lapsed Creatures seem capable of receiving, in the Designs and Contrivances of the
Creator,
till they come to converse with him
Face to Face.
They may be mistaken in them, as well as in every other kind of
Evidence,
being finite, lapsed, and consequently
fallible
Creatures: But this seems to be the only
Evidence
they are capable of at present in such Matters; and may shew evidently the Design of the
Author of Nature,
as a
convex Screw
of any Number of Spires, shews, that it was design'd to fit some concave one of the same Number of
Spires
and
Diameter. Chance
is only a
technical
Word, to denote our Ignorance of the true and
physical
Cause of Order and Design; and yet admitting the Existence of
Chance,
that through the whole human Race there should have been, in the infinite Number of their Organs, a perfect Similarity by
Chance
only, and not Design, may, by a fair
Calculation,
be shewn to be as
infinite
to
finite,
that is mathematically impossible. But the
Question
I design to treat of here, is, Whether
Animal
or
Vegetable
Food was, in the original Design of the
Creator,
intended for the Food of Animals, and particularly of the
human Race?
And I am almost convinced it never was
intended,
but only
permitted,
as a
Curse
or Punishment, and a
Cure
for a
Malady,
or (as the
French
term it) a
pis-alle,
and because infinite Wisdom and Power could make no more of his corrupted rebellious free Creatures in their present State; and for this infinitely wise and paternal End, He seems to have permitted it; 1. To let them
feel
and experience the natural and necessary Effects of their own Lusts and Concupiscence, by painful and cruel Distempers:
Feeling
and Experience being the surest Means by which a finite lapsed Creature can know and learn. 2. To shorten the Duration of their natural Lives, that
Sin, Misery,
and
Rebellion,
might not increase infinitely. 3. To produce naturally, and in a Manner consistent with
Liberty,
and the other natural Powers of the Soul, (which being deriv'd from Him, and being his
Miniature
Images, He neither could nor would force or destroy) those Sufferings and Miseries, and Dislike of
inordinate Lusts
and Enjoyments, that might make them think, ponder, and return to
Order, Love of Virtue,
and its
source
and
Original.
And, 4. To sink and contract the
natural Powers
of the Soul, (viz.
Living, Understanding,
and
Will
), by means of such frail Bodies, into a
Level
with the decayed and lapsed
moral Ones,
(
viz. Justice, Goodness,
and
Truth
) which by this Rebellion were greatly corrupted and degraded. The Reasons that incline me to think in this Manner, are these following:
§. 2. 1. WHATEVER be the true,
primogenial,
and last Principle of Bodies, beyond which it is impossible to
analyse
or divide them, these are incontestably found in all
animal
and
vegetable
Bodies, as has been before observ'd: 1.
Sulphur,
Oil or material Heat, from whence Spirit and Activity. 2.
Salt,
or hard angular Particles highly attractive, and dissolvable in Water. 3.
Air,
or small elastic Particles. 4.
Water
or
Phlegm,
from whence alone Fluidity: And, lastly,
Earth,
the Base and
Substratum
of these others. In the due and proportional Union of these, do the Variety and Difference of animal Substances consist. Now it is past all Doubt in Philosophy, and in philosophical
Chemy,
that
animal Substances
of most kinds, possess in a much greater Proportion the
two first
of these Principles,
viz. Salts
and
Oils,
than
Vegetables,
which partake more of the last,
viz. Air, Water,
and
Earth.
But from many undeniable Experiments, the two first Principles are known to be the most active,
energic,
and
deleterious,
and tend more, by their Activity, to the Division, Dissolution and Destruction of the Subject, than those others, when they enter in any great Proportion. 2. The
Jelly,
the Juice or Chyle of
animal
Substances, is infinitely more tenacious and glewy
Vide
Memoirs of the Academy Royal for 1729 and 1730.
, and its last Particles more closely united, and separated with greater Difficulty, than those of
vegetable
Substances. This is evident from the Experiments made with them in joining of Wood, and is known to all
Artificers,
and may be made manifest to the Senses in the Difference between the Tenacity of
Camp-jelly,
or
Fish-glew,
and that of Paste made of Flower or Barley; or from the Strength of
Ropes
or
Cords
made of
Cat-gut
or
Leather,
and those made of
Tow
or
Hemp,
of the same
Diameter:
And therefore
animal Food
must much sooner, more strongly, and irremediably make Viscidities in
animal
Fluids, and more
schirrously
obstruct the
Capillaries
and
Glands,
than vegetable Substances. 3. But the far more pernicious and destructive Part, is the
Salts,
and
Oil,
abounding more in most
animal
than in
vegetable
Substances; of which there are so many and convincing Demonstrations, that none can have any Doubt of it, that has the least Acquaintance with natural
Philosophy:
For our Blood and Juices being nourish'd and supply'd by such
Substances,
as abound most with these active
elementary
Principles, must necessarily be stored and saturated with
Salts
and
Sulphurs
; and these, being always in a State of
Action,
are the true, original, and the most adequate Causes of the most excruciating Distempers. 4. When to these,
strong, fermented
and
spirituous
Liquors are added as a Vehicle, or diluting Mixture, and join to the
Salts
and
Sulphurs
of animal Substances, not only their
inflammable
Spirits and
tartarous
Salts, but their condensing and hardening Quality on the Food in the Stomach, the Digestion is by that means hindered and stopped, and the Food not being sufficiently divided and comminuted, but broken only into gross Particles, does more quickly and obstinately thicken the Juices, and obstruct the
Glands
and
Capillaries,
than
vegetable
Substances. 5. Animal Juices and Substances, before they were turned into Flesh, must have been strain'd through infinitely smaller and more numerous
Tubes,
such as the last and extreme
Capillaries
are (some of which are not bigger than the
six hundredth part
of an Hair); by which Means their Particles must be render'd extremely smaller and finer, and consequently have a much greater Degree of
Attraction,
than those of Vegetables, which pass through fewer
Strainers,
and have no other motive Powers but the
Heat
of the
Sun
; whereas those of animal Substances have, besides the
Sun,
the Force of
muscular
Digestion, and of the Motion of the Heart; the Flesh of Animals, I say, must, upon this Account, necessarily consist of smaller Particles, and so be united with a greater Force, and endow'd with a greater Degree of
Attraction,
and consequently must, with far greater Difficulty, be digested and separated, than
vegetable
Substances possibly can. And hence it is that
carnivorous
Animals are much more
deleterious
Food, being endow'd with much finer and more pungent
Salts
and
Sulphurs,
than those Animals that live on
Vegetables
only, as both the higher
Savour
and deleterious Effects of the first abundantly shew. From all which it is plain to a Demonstration, that animal Substances must naturally and necessarily
incrassate
the Juices, and produce
Obstructions
in the
Glands
and
Capillaries,
and consequently create Pains and Diseases, much more readily than vegetable Substances. 6. It is plain by Weight, that the Substance of most animal Food is specifically heavier than that of most
Vegetables
commonly used for Food, sometimes in the Proportion of three to two. The
Fibres
and Juices of animal Bodies are not only more compact and closely united, and have fewer
Vacuities
than those of Vegetables, whereby the digestive Powers have less Difficulty in concocting and grinding equal Quantities of
Vegetable
than
animal Food
; but by the less
Flavour
and
Savour
of vegetable than animal Food, the Appetite is sooner satisfied, and is under less Temptation to Excess in the first than in the latter; and it is consequently better and sooner digested, circulated and secreted, especially by tender and delicate digestive Powers, and so cannot so readily cause
Viscidities
and
Obstructions. Lastly,
Infinite
Experiment,
and the best
natural Philosophy,
confirm to a Demonstration, that those Substances, which have least of
Salt
and
Sulphur,
of
Spirit, Oil,
and hard pungent Particles, and most of soft Earth, Water and Air, are the fittest to circulate, and be secreted through animal Tubes, create least Resistance to the motive Powers, tear, rend, and wear out the
Tubes
themselves least, and form less obstinate and powerful Obstructions, in the smaller Vessels; and consequently, that
vegetable
Substances, which consist of a less Proportion of
Salts
and
Sulphurs, i. e.
of pungent and fiery Particles, and of a greater Proportion of Earth, Water and Air,
i. e.
of less active and cooler Particles, will be less ready to create Diseases, and shorten Life, than an equal Quantity of animal Substances, which have all these in an
inverted
Proportion. In a Word, vegetable Substances are more
rare,
less
compact,
less
coherent,
more easily dissolvable and digestible, turn into a lighter
Chyle,
have less
Salt, Oil,
and
Spirit,
and consequently are less heating and inflaming, than animal Substances, and so obstruct and tear animal Tubes less.
§. 3. IF this Account be just and
philosophical,
and if it be lawful at all to enquire into final Causes, (which, if the first Being be
rational
and
intelligent,
and acts with Design, and for some End, is not only lawful, but laudable, when done with Modesty and Humility) then certainly
one
Part of his Design in permitting
animal
Food, must of Necessity have been to shorten the
Duration
of human Life, to
create,
or at least to
permit
us by it, to multiply and enrage Diseases, Misery and Sufferings; since it is evident to a Demonstration, that it must always produce this Effect, and will always have it preferable to
vegetable
Food; and whatever
is,
naturally and necessarily
is,
and is permitted by the
first Being,
we may with the utmost Certainty conclude, was at least
one
Part of his Design; and if Suffering, Pain and Misery here be necessary for our
Purification
and
Recovery
out of this degenerate State, then very probably that might be his Design in this Permission.
This Phaenomenon
in Providence, (the Permission and Use of
animal
Food) and
Fact
in
Revelation,
is not accountable any otherwise, than that Pain, Suffering and Diseases, being a natural and necessary Mean of
Expiation
and
Purification,
in the Oeconomy of Restoration,
Infinite Wisdom
permitted it, tho' unwillingly, as his
strange Work,
against the Grain, as it were, for that End solely; as a kind
Father
suffers his unnatural and perverse Son to be carried to
Gaol,
to suffer Hunger, Cold, Pain and Confinement there, as the only Mean to make him sober, considerate, wiser and better. For that
animal Food
and
fermented
Liquors will more readily, certainly, and cruelly, create and exasperate Diseases, Pains, and Sufferings, and sooner cut off Life than
vegetable
Food will, there can be no more Doubt than in any Proposition of
Euclid,
if
Reason, Philosophy,
the
Natures
of Things, or
Experience,
have Evidence, or Force in them; and it is very observable, that this Indulgence for animal Food was not granted, till the
Aera
of
Longaevity
was expir'd, or at least they took place together; and not till the spiritual Corruptions of
Pride, Tyranny, Malice, Revenge, Murder,
and
brutal
Commerce, so universally raged, that infinite Wisdom, to begin a new World, was forced to destroy, by a
Deluge,
the whole Race of Mankind, except a few of the most innocent and least deprav'd
Individuals,
such as they were, far from perfect, but the least bad of the Race: this seems so, if any Credit be given to the
Jewish
History of Nature.
§. 4. IT will be no Difficulty to one acquainted with
Revelation,
to find the like Permissions in the divine
Oeconomy:
Nothing is more plain and demonstrable from
Nature,
and its
eternal Laws,
and from Justice and Equity, than that in the original Intention, one
Woman
was design'd for one
Man,
and no more; for there being no Difference between the
Sexes
but in their outward Frame, and the
Configuration
of the Shell or Tabernacle; (their essential Nature and
spiritual
permanent Form being of the same Degree, constant and invariable; different
Culture
and Form makeing all the real Difference); infinite Wisdom might then, with the same Wisdom and
Propriety,
have given the
Male,
more
Eyes, Stomachs
or
Heads,
as more
Wives
; and yet, for the
Hardness of their Hearts, God
permitted Plurality of Women to the
Jews.
This same People, tho' they had not only
God
's general and imperceptible
Providence,
as we now have, for their Government and Direction, but his
miraculous,
sensible and visible Presence, to instruct and guide them, yet they wanted a
King, as the other Nations had,
and he gave them one in his
Wrath.
Infinite Goodness, intending always, by the whole Power of his
Omnipotence
and
Omniscience,
to restore his lapsed and rebellious Creatures, consistent with their
Liberty,
and the
natural Powers
he had given them, and the
Harmony
of his own
Attributes,
descends below his first Intention, and drops the
primary
and
original
Perfection of his Commands to them, for a Time, to condescend to their Weakness and Infirmity, in order afterwards to bring them up to it again. As a kind
Father,
who to wean his rash and giddy Child from the Fire, holds his Finger near a Candle, till he begets a sensible Fear and Dread in him of being too familiar with that dangerous
Element.
§. 5. UPON the Foot of
natural Religion
only, and from the strict Rules of natural
Justice
and
Equity,
how any one can justify the taking away the Life of a
Fellow-Creature,
out of
Wantonness, Luxury
and
Riot,
and not from Necessity and Self-defence, so long as there may be found sufficient Store of
vegetable
Food to carry on the Expences of
Living,
and the more agreeable Performance of the
animal Functions
; to give a living Creature the greatest Pain it can possibly receive, and take from it the only Happiness it is capable of,
viz.
its
Life,
(which none can restore or recompense) merely to scratch
callous Organs
more sensibly; how, I say, to account for this barbarous and savage Wantonness on the foot of mere
natural Religion
and natural Equity only, without
Revelation,
I can by no means conceive. That the infinitely wise
Author
and
Lawgiver
of Nature, who sees through the whole
System
of
Intelligences
at once, and perfectly knows for what Ends and Purposes he has made them, and sent them here, and is the sole
Proprietor
of Life and Happiness, may dispose of them how he pleases, knows when they have finish'd their
probatory
and
expiatory
Course, and is able to recompense the Loss of a
lower
Life, by the Gift of a higher; for it is not impossible, the
Animals
may have been a lower Order of
rational Intelligences,
who,
lapsing
less, are sooner, and with less Suffering, recover'd; and since they suffer with us, they may be restor'd with us; the Apostle says,
the whole Creation travelleth together
; that is, probably, the whole
System
of
Saturn,
the Goal of God's Creation: For
Him,
I say, to give up the Lives of a lower Rank of Beings, for the
Expiation, Instruction,
or
Admonition,
or other Benefit of a higher, may be an Act of great
Justice, Wisdom
and
Goodness.
And, if it might be allow'd us to conjecture, one wise
End
and Purpose in this
Permission
of
animal
Food, might be to punish, admonish and correct us, by bodily Distempers, so as to bring us to reflect, repent and amend; or even, to shorten the Time of our Sufferings here, and by the Violence of our Diseases, and a nearer Prospect of
Death,
and a future
Reckoning,
to reclaim us sooner and more effectually; and at the same Time to advance these
Victims
to a higher State of Being and Happiness. Probably for these mention'd (but to be sure for wise and good) Ends and Purposes, has
God
by
Revelation
given us a Permission, or
Patent,
for the Use of
animal
Food: But for
fermented
Liquors,
He
has given us none, that I know of; neither are they natural, or proper; nor were they ever approv'd or recommended for common Use, or as proper and ordinary Drink; but only as
Physick,
or a
Cordial,
on
Festivals,
or at
Sacrifices,
on
Sickness,
or in Extremities. In the early and innocent Ages of
golden
Simplicity, no Hint supposes them commonly known or tried. And if fermented and spirituous Liquors were used only as
bitter Draughts, Cordials
and
chalybeat
Medicines, to brace and wind up the Stomach, and alimentary Tubes and Solids transiently, for a short Time; on Sickness, Lowness, Fainting, Fatigue, and
inclement
Seasons, as they seem to be intended by the
Author
of Nature; they might be Blessings, and great temporary and transient Reliefs; but as they are now used constantly at Meals, as common
Beverage
to dilute solid Food, and to make Persons easy under a Load of high rich animal Food, they become the efficient Causes of most Diseases; and upon the most
serious
Enquiry, I could never find an
adequate
natural Cause, for the Frequency of
nervous
and atrocious chronical Distempers now, from what they were formerly, nor of the
Stuntedness, Punyness
and Feebleness, so conspicuous among the
better Sort,
from what they were before the
Conquest,
and in our
Gallic
Wars; but the free and frequent Use of strong and
spirituous
Liquors, and rich and high Foods, with foreign
Cookery,
at that Time introduced first; and living in great Towns, and using only Coaches and Chairs, and sedentary Employments and Diversions. And drinking
Water
only, and living
low,
is the only
adequate Antidote
and Remedy for these Distempers thus produced; for no Axiom is so certain in Physick, as that
Diseases must be cured by their Contraries.
§. 6. THE Hurt and Damage all
fermented
Liquors do an
animal
Body, is evident from many Considerations; as, 1. That it hardens, constricts and binds up the Fibres, and strongly unites the Particles of
animal
Substances, so that they are with much greater Difficulty separated and divided,
i. e.
digested. A Piece of Meat will continue sweet and sound, for many Years in Wine or strong Beer, or in any strong fermented Liquor; the Liquor cementing and pinning together the Parts of the Meat; and the same happens when they are mixed in the Stomach; by which the
Digestibility
and easy Dissolution of it, is obstructed; so that in such a Mixture
Mutton
is turned into
Beef,
and
Beef
into
Shoe-Leather.
2. There is in strong Liquors a crisping, corrugating, or
caustic
Quality workt on the Fibres, which burns and dries them up, and destroys their
elastic
and
ductile
Virtue, and consequently renders them unfit to be broken and divided in the Stomach. This is evident from the Use commonly made of strong Beer, as the best Plaister for
Sprains, Relaxations
and
Strains
; and that Brandy will really stop
Haemorrhages
and Ruptures in the Blood-Vessels, by burning and wrinkling the tender Fibres and Capillaries, and so by this crisping Quality must keep Food from being readily and perfectly digested. 3. The Fire and Heat in strong Liquors, by stimulating and twitching the
Fibres
and Coats of the Blood-Vessels and Nerves, and consequently bringing them into quick and frequent
Vibrations,
and elastic Efforts, will break and tear the Fibres of the alimentary Tubes, and separate their Union and Continuity, so as at last to wear out these Organs, at least, much sooner, and with greater Pain and Suffering, than Water or aqueous Liquors possibly can.
Lastly,
It is a common and well-known Experiment, that to
stunt
the Growth of young Animals, as Dogs and Cats, they need only be frequently rubbed over with Brandy, Rum, or any Spirit. This stops the
Ductility
and Extension of the young animal
Fibres,
that they cannot be dilated and develop'd by the Force of the Circulation, and so
stunts
their Growth. From all which it is plain, that strong, but especially
spirituous
Liquors, are really
Poison
to an animal Constitution; and their ill Effects, not only in shortening the Lives, but in stunting the Growth and Stature of the lower Rank of People, from the late frequent Use of Gin, Punch, and other spirituous Liquors, have become so flagrant, as to call aloud for the just Indignation of the
Legislature
; and it is to be wished, that an effectual Remedy may be found out for so destructive an Evil. And I am fully convinced, that the primary and original Design of the
Author of Nature
for the solid Food of Animals, was nothing but earthy Particles mixed with Water and Air, finely divided and cemented only, with the least
Oil
and
Salt
possible, as they are found in Seeds, Fruits, young Vegetables, and
farinaceous
or
pulpous
Roots, with Water only for Drink; which alone would make the Animal last the longest, and with the fewest Pains and Diseases. But this Diet must be only tried and begun with the
Young,
while their Fibres are tender and sweet.
§. 7. THAT all sensitive, as well as intelligent Creatures, are in an
expiatory, purifying
and
progressive
State here, and going on to a greater Degree of Perfection, and a nobler State of Being in their several Orders, is demonstrable from the utter Contradiction and Impossibility there must be, that an infinitely wise and good Being could create sentient and intelligent Beings to
suffer,
for no other Reason but for the sake of
Suffering
; or that he should make Creatures to
suffer
for any other End or Purpose, but for
Expiation, Purification
and
progressive Perfection
of Being, and to establish and confirm them in their acquired State of Perfection:
Neque enim, sub justo Deo, miser esse quisquam, nisi mereatur, possit,
says St.
Augustin
most divinely. Most of the
Animals
are
Martyrs
for the human
Species
in Food or
Sacrifice:
Some of them are Food for one another; all of them are subject to
epidemical
Diseases and casual Misfortunes; a few of them pass their Time much more comfortably than others; all of them but unhappily at best, and go through Death at last. All this must be for some wise Purpose, and none can be nobler, than that of
Expiation, Purification
and
progressive Perfection
of Being; and silent
Admonition,
and teaching
us,
their superior
Order
of
Beings. Consciousness
of this End, either to them or us, might retard this Effect.
Childhood, Idiotism,
and many
cephalic
and
nervous
Distempers, can bring no
Consciousness
of the divine End and Design of this
Oeconomy
along with them, even to intelligent Beings; it is sufficient, that
Consciousness
come when the End is accomplished, or the designed
Perfection
attained. At what Time
animal
Food came first in Use, is not certainly known. He was a bold Man who made the first
Experiment
;
Illi robur et aes triplex circa pectus erat.
To see the Convulsions, Agonies and Tortures of a poor
Fellow-Creature,
whom they cannot restore nor recompense, dying to gratify
Luxury,
and scratch
callous
and rank
Organs,
must require a rocky Heart, and a great Degree of Cruelty and Ferocity. I cannot find any great Difference on the Foot of natural Reason and
Equity
only, between feeding on
human Flesh,
and feeding on brute animal Flesh, except
Custom
and
Example.
I believe some rational Creatures would suffer less in being fairly butcher'd, than a strong
Ox,
or
red Deer
; and in natural
Morality
and Justice, the Degrees of Pain here, make the
essential
Difference; for as to other Differences, they are relative only, and can be of no Weight with an
infinitely perfect Being.
Did not
Use
and
Example
weaken this Terror, and make the Difference, Reason alone could never do it. Perhaps it may be conjectur'd, that since
Sacrifices
were certainly an
original, reveal'd
or
traditional
Institution, and that no Nation under the Sun, hitherto known, was without them, they being, it would seem, a chief Part in the grand
Oeconomy
of the
Restoration
; Sacrifice, I say, might have been originally instituted, 1. To
admonish
and
inform the Sinner
silently, and without committing Violence on his
Liberty,
what he deserves; and implicitly to tell him, that he deserves the same
Death
he makes the poor Brute undergo. For the
Liberty
of Mankind seems so precious, being the Root of Intelligence, that it is wonderful in how many Shapes
infinite Wisdom
and
Goodness,
has put Himself, in the Conduct of
Providence
and Nature, to preserve it inviolate; and at the same time to instruct and admonish his free lapsed Intelligences. I believe a good natural
Philosopher
might shew with great Reason and Probability, that there is scarce
Beast, Bird, Reptile
nor
Insect,
that does not, in each particular
Climat,
instruct, and admonish Mankind of some necessary Truth, for their Happiness either in Body or Mind. And, 2. To continue the
Expectation
of all Ages, of some more noble and meritorious
Sacrifice,
some time or other to be celebrated. And it is not impossible, that the rude and untaught
Mob,
who were employed in the lower servile Offices about
Sacrifices,
might have been the first who ventured on
animal
Food, (if it was not instituted afore as a
Sacrament
with the same Intention as the
Eucharist
was afterwards) their Station habituating them to bear with less Pain, the Sufferings of their Fellow-Creatures while sacrificed; and they finding it
palatable
and
luscious,
might recommend the Use of it to Others. Perhaps, I say, this might have been the Original Institution of
animal
Food among all
Nations.
However, as this is only a remote Conjecture to account for the early Commencement of
animal
Food, so contrary to the original Nature of Man, and the Design of the
Creator,
and has no Regard to those concern'd in our unbloody Sacrifice; I proceed now to observe how cautiously, and with what an evident
Forbid,
the
Jewish
Law directs this
Permit
of animal Food,
viz.
absolutely and positively not to eat the
Blood
of the
Animal
(in which not only its Life, but its most delicious Savour and most
deleterious
Qualities chiefly consist, and because Blood
Globules,
by their Rotundity, Volubility, and Elasticity, resist
Trituration,
that is, Digestion). Now this in Reality, and by
Insinuation
and
Moral,
is to say, That since for the
Hardness
of your Hearts, and your present unconquerable Lustings, you cannot be brought to abstain altogether from
animal
Food; yet because in the
Blood
is the
Life thereof,
and all its deleterious, morbific and noxious Qualities, you are to drain it as much as possible of all its Moisture and Juice, (for the Serum as well as the Grume, mostly consists of
globular
Particles), and eat it plain, roasted or boiled, to drain it still more: By this Method,
animal
Food will be much less pernicious, and will approach very near to
Vegetables.
There is no understanding this
Permission
any other Way, nor is it otherwise to be reconciled to common Sense, or rational Conception, however both
Jews
and
Christians
have at present dwindled and diluted its true Import, out of Luxury.
§. 8. THIS Doctrine is further confirm'd by this surprising Circumstance in the Permission, that there is a very particular and otherwise unintelligible Distinction made between
clean
and
unclean
Beasts, either to be sacrificed, or eaten for Food; and a distinguishing
Mark
assign'd how to know the last. And since it comes from the same Source with the
Permission
of
animal
Food, these two must have some material Difference in the Nature of Things; and that can be none other but that the Flesh of these last cannot be so readily digested and squeezed from their Blood, but that it will have sufficient remaining, of a more deleterious Nature, to inflame and
mortify
the Juices of those who use it freely, and to enrage and
madden
their Passions; and he who is deeply acquainted with
natural Philosophy,
and the
History
of the unclean
Animals,
will be sensible of the Justness of this Prohibition and Observation. From whence it is natural to conclude, that tho' for the
Hardness
and Perverseness of Mens Hearts,
animal
Food was permitted and indulged, yet it was with such various
Clogs
and
Exceptions,
as might make it as little pernicious as possible. For the same Reason likewise was the
Fat
of the
Sacrifice
forbid to be eaten: And all this to shew that it was with great
Reluctancy,
and in mere Condescension, and contrary to the
original
Intention, it was thus permitted. And tho' under the new Dispensation, St.
Peter
was informed by a
miraculous Vision,
that nothing was now
common
or
unclean,
yet it was not till
Selfdenial, Poverty of Spirit
and
Mortification,
or abstaining from the Lusts of the Flesh, were established as the fundamental Doctrines of this new
System
; which when sincerely believed and strictly followed, would leave no room for Difference of Food, or
ceremonial
Distinctions, which served only as a
Schoolmaster,
to bring them to these purer and more universal Doctrines of
Christ.
It is certain, at the Creation there could be no such Thing as an Indulgence for
animal
Food, if only
Pairs
of each
Animal
were created at first.
§. 9. I MUST however own, that I think some
vegetable
Food, of much
Salt, Oil,
or luscious Juice and
Poignancy,
as much or more deleterious, inflaming, and incrassating, than some mild animal Substances: For Example,
Onions, Shallot, Mustard, Horse-radish,
all the
Nut-kinds, Eastern Gums, Balsams, Raisins, Pickles, Spices, Aromatics,
strong fermented
Sours,
rich and fat late Fruits, as dry yet
plump Grapes,
much
Sugar,
and the like; these are in some delicate Constitutions more poisonous and hurtful to an human Body, than a Bit of the
muscular
and lean Flesh of
Chicken, Veal, Lamb, Rabbit, Partridge, Turkey,
and the like white and young animal Foods; whose Whiteness and Tenderness shews there is little or no red
Blood Globules
in them, and are consequently more easily digestible, and less deleterious. These
Vegetables
may be allowed in small Quantities, as a
Sauce
or
Relish
to otherwise insipid and unpalatable vegetable Food, to sickly Appetites; but in great Quantities, and without Caution, they will hurt, heat and thicken the Blood and Juices of tender Constitutions; which is the sole Cause of the acute Distempers of all the
Eastern
and
Southern
Nations, who do not deal, or but very sparingly, in strong fermented Liquors. Without doubt, plain
Milk
(the genuine Soup prepar'd by the Author of Nature, and of a middle Nature between animal and vegetable Substances) boiled or raw, or prepared with Seeds, as
Rice, Sago, Barley, Wheat, Millet,
and the like, is the best and safest of all Foods for such tender Constitutions, as being in itself Blood, that has not as yet often passed through the Lungs, to give it its
scarlet Colour,
and deleterious Qualities, but is drawn almost directly from the Stomach and Lacteals, from an
Emulsion
made there, and Cookery of Nature, of Grass and Vegetables with pure Water, and designed by the
Author of Nature,
for the Cure and Nourishment of the Young, Tender and Delicate: And I can see no Difference between a young or tender and delicate Animal by Nature, and one made so by a Disease; but that such a Diet is still more necessary for the last than for the first. The mealy Roots and early Fruits are next to these; such as
Potatoes, Turnips, Carrots, Skirrets,
and the like,
Strawberries, Cherries, Currants, &c.
and only in the last Place and Degree is the
Saladin, Colworts,
and latter and richer Fruitkinds, and Winter Vegetables, as containing too much Air or Wind. And the
Author of Nature
has with such a Profusion of Kindness secured against Want or Famine, that in inclement Seasons, and bad Years, if the Earth cannot produce Plenty
above
Ground, it secures it
under
Ground in bulbous, knotted, or mealy Roots, even in Snow or Frost.
§. 10. AGAINST this Doctrine, that animal Food was permitted for a
Punishment,
and that fermented Liquors are not an Institution of Nature and its Author; those who have Regard for
Revelation,
whence the Patent for animal Food is drawn, may object, that our
blessed Saviour,
who was
without Sin,
eat and drank of what was set before him; that his first
Miracle
was supernaturally producing Wine, to celebrate the Marriage of
Cana
in
Galilee
; that he was accounted a Wine-biber; that he eat and drank with
Publicans
and
Sinners
; that he wrought other
Miracles
to produce
animal Food
to a Multitude; that St.
Peter
had a
miraculous Vision
to instruct him, that no sort of Food was unclean; that the
Eucharist
is celebrated in Wine; and that St.
Paul
advises
Timothy
to drink Wine for his Infirmities. To all which I answer, 1. That the Question is not what is, now, best and fittest in the
present
Ends of Providence, in order to restore and recover Man from his lapsed and fallen State; but what was probably the first Design of our
Creator,
in our primitive unlapsed State, before we and our Habitation (the
Earth
with its
Atmosphere
and Appendages) were thus spoilt and disordered. 2. One sort of Repair, Props, or Support, may be proper or necessary for a Habitation in one Degree of Ruin and Decay, that would by no Means be necessary or proper in another or lower Degree. 3. There is neither
Virtue
nor
Vice
in abstaining from one sort of Food more than another, but as it is commanded by lawful Superiors; all that is here considered, is, which of the two,
vegetable
or
animal
Food, in the Nature of Things, by the
animal Oeconomy,
and as human Creatures and their Food are now constituted, is
physically
and experimentally fittest to carry on and prolong Life, with the least Pain, fewest Diseases, and for the longest Time.
Virtue
and
Vice
are of quite another Consideration, and depend on the
internal Principle
and Disposition; the Quantity, Manner and Order in which these necessary Supports are taken, not on the Things themselves. But if it be asked, Which of the two
Diets
is most conducive to
Virtue
or
Vice?
Which of the two is most likely to facilitate the Acquisition of
Virtue?
What is abovesaid, plainly determines it in Favour of a
low Diet
; for by it the bodily Passions being made cooler and weaker, the Blood and Juices being sweetened, the intellectual
Organs
thereby render'd cleaner, more agile and penetrating,
Reason
and the
spiritual Nature
of Man has more Liberty to act, and meets with less Difficulty and Resistance in its Operations. 4. As to our blessed
Saviour,
he having come to seek and to save what was lost, was obliged to take the World as he found it, in order to raise it from that Degree of
Perdition
in which it was then plunged. He took upon him the Form of a
Servant
; he took not the Nature of
Angels,
but the Nature of the Seed of
Abraham
; he was in all things like unto us,
Sin only excepted.
Those to whom he came, and among whom he dwelt and convers'd, could at first neither receive nor understand his
sublime Doctrines
; he had many Things to say even to his Disciples, which they could not then
bear
; and yet this Doctrine of the Preference and greater Advantages of
vegetable
than of
animal
Food, is virtually and implicitly contain'd in the general Doctrine of
Self-denial
and
Poverty of Spirit,
(in the Sense of the
Evangelic Counsels,
that carry quickest into
Perfection,
where
Celibacy
is preferr'd to
Marriage
; for in the Kingdom of
Glory,
they are neither married nor given in Marriage, but are as the
Angels
of God) so strongly and pre-eminently inculcated in the Gospel, as any who reads and considers it, must plainly see. 5. I readily grant, and have given the Reasons and
Philosophy
of these Things, that in our present lapsed State, in the present Infertility, and insufficiently nutritive Qualities of the
Vegetables,
in the present Curse on the Earth, and the Necessity of Labour, Handicrafts,
mechanical
Force, and
martial
Prowess, while Wickedness is so powerful, and the Wicked so numerous, there is a Necessity for high
animal
Food, and
fermented
Liquors, in some Cases, and to some Persons, to secure against and remedy these Evils. But the sole
Question
here is, Whether this Diet will prevent Diseases, or lengthen Life so effectually as the other? Or whether Providence has not designed and appointed vegetable Food for the
Cure
and
Antidote
of the Pains and Diseases naturally and necessarily arising from animal Food, and fermented Liquors? Perhaps
God,
in his moral Government of the World, has design'd animal Food, more readily to punish those who will not be drawn by Love and Beauty;
i.e.
to purify some sorts of Men by Pains and Sufferings. 6. I willingly allow, that
fermented
and sometimes
spirituous
Liquors, are excellent Remedies, temporary Filips, Whips or Spurs, in Faintness, Sickness, Labour, or festival Occasions for
Joy,
and promoting of Friendship, and on Necessities and in Extremities: But I contend, then, and then only, they ought to be used; and that there is neither Precept, Example, nor Encouragement from
Reason, Experience,
or
Revelation,
to use them otherwise, or as they are now used for
common
Food, and daily
Beverage
; whence they become one Cause of all the great Diseases of the present Age. From these general Considerations, all the mention'd Difficulties have an easy
Solution
to the Candid and Ingenuous: I am not fighting
Prizes,
nor making Articles of a
Creed.
That infinite Wisdom foresaw, and laid in Provision and the necessary Precaution and
Antidote,
for the most deleterious Effects of animal Food and fermented Liquors, for a short time, seems to me evident for these Reasons, 1. In that He provided the
Liver,
(the
Pancreas,
and other internal
Glands
) in Animals, these vastly strong, complicated and elabour'd
Organs,
to draw out the most poisonous Parts of strong Meats and Drinks: the stronger the
Liver,
and the larger that
Organ
grows, the more
Bile
it throws out on the
Common-shoar,
the
Intestines,
to deprive the Chyle of its churlish Salts, and acrid
Sulphurs,
and thus makes the
Liver
an useful Medicine to promote the animal Functions,
Digestion, Chylification,
and the
peristaltic Motion,
and then throw its useless Parts out of the Habit. 2. By the createing mineral and ponderous Medicines, (
Mercury
chiefly) to open Obstructions, break saline Concretions, and dissolve the
Tenacity
of the
Globules
and
Serum.
And, 3. In providing
mineral
Waters of so various and complicated Natures, for the same Ends and Purposes, which they will, well-chosen, effect at last, as certainly as those formerly mentioned. Now it is plain to a
Demonstration,
that under a vegetable Diet, all those have little or no Use in Medicine; nay, any one who is acquainted with the Delicacy, Tenderness and Sensibility of the internal and infinitely minute Parts of an animal Machine, must know that they are not only in a great Degree useless, but hurtful, and tend to tear, dissolve and destroy the infinitely minute Fibrils, of which the Solids of an
animal Machin
are formed: So that their final End and Design in Providence must have been to
antidote
the ill Effects of
animal Food
and strong
fermented Liquors,
to a certain Degree, and for a certain Time,
probably
till some time after the Meridian of Life, while the Organs had attained their utmost Extension and Firmness; for it is not improbable, that none of the Mineral Waters existed under the
Form
and in the Manner they now appear, till after the
Deluge,
the
Aera
of
animal Food, fermented Liquors,
and the
shortness of Life.
§. 11. To the Appearance of the present State of Nature, that seems to clash with this Doctrine,
viz.
the vast, nay infinite Mass of
Life,
or
living Creatures,
generated by Heat and Moisture, the many
Millions
of
organiz'd
Seeds of
Plants
and
Animals
destroyed every Season, the Impossibility of having any Sort of
Food,
or even
pure
Water, without destroying and devouring
Millions
of
Animaculs
; that
here
almost each Animal devours and lives upon another; and that both in the
sentient
and
intelligent
Creation, there seems to be a natural and unconquerable Appetite and craveing Desire of
animal
Food, and an insatiable Thirst of Blood: To these and such-like Prejudices, (I cannot call them Objections) it may be answer'd, I. First, That these Facts are not denied, but are of no Weight against the Propositions here chiefly asserted,
viz.
1. That it is
Philosophically
certain, that
animal
Food is in its own Nature more ready to produce Distempers than vegetable Food. 2. That it is therefore highly probable, that an infinitely good and wise Being would not appoint in his first Intention,
animal
but
vegetable
Food, at least to his
intelligent
and rational Creation, and which accordingly is confirm'd from
Revelation:
And, 3. The chief Assertion here made, is, That in Consequence of these two
Propositions
it follows, that
vegetable
Food, Seeds especially, must be the proper
Antidote,
and Cure of the Diseases brought on by
animal
Food. But, II. It may be consider'd, as St.
Paul
asserts, that this whole
Creation,
the whole
System,
but chiefly this our
Globe,
with all its Inhabitants,
labours,
and is under a
mortal
Distemper, and in
Travail,
like a parturient Woman, to throw off this present
Load of Corruption, Deteriority,
and
Lapse,
that it may regain its original
Spirituality, Purity,
and
Liberty
; it is at present in a State of
Expiation, Purification,
and
progressive Perfection
; every Thing is out of its natural Order, the
System
is, as it were, in a Fever, and every Part and Particle is in Action, (like the Body of a Man in a
febrile Fermentation
), to throw off its peccant Humours, and to bring the whole Compound into
Order, Regularity,
and
perfect Health.
But, III. These very Appearances on which the Objection is founded, confirm to a
Demonstration,
what I assert,
viz.
That all
animal
Life here is in an
expiatory, purifying,
and
progressive
State, towards its original Perfection; for it would be the grossest Contradiction, to suppose that an
infinitely good
and
wise
Being, should give Pain to any of his Creatures, for any other End, but to reclaim and perfect them; that He alone knows when his
Justice, Purity,
and the
Amende Honorable,
and the Infection of Impurity, are perfectly answer'd and cancelled, in their present State of
Melioration,
and so knows when and how it is fittest to put an End to it by Death, that is, by the Rupture and Dissolution of their gross and earthy
Prison,
form'd out of this our ruinous
planetary System,
now spoil'd and defac'd; to set the indwelling
spiritual
Inhabitant free into some more
pure
and
refin'd System
; and that
animal
Life of all Kinds and Degrees, does and must necessarily suffer here, by bodily Wants and Infirmities, by the Injuries and Inclemencies of
Seasons,
by the
Rapacity
and
Ferocity
of their Fellow-Creatures, besides a thousand other
Accidents,
and at last most intensely by their Death, and the Rupture of their outward Shell or Tabernacle; From all this is a plain Demonstration, that they are in a State of Suffering, Expiation, and progressive Purification, and that at last they will all be set at Liberty, and become the Sons and Children of God in some Degree or Order or other, according to his original Intention, and the Plan of this his universal
Monarchy
and Kingdom, laid before the Foundation of the World; and all this Darkness, Sufferings, and unintelligible Play, is only to save human Liberty, and produce at last
pure Love
and
naked Faith.
IV. No body ever denied, that
Animals
of all Kinds might be destroyed, even
intelligent
as well as
sentient,
when it is done for some wise or useful Purpose, as in
Self-defence,
or even for moral Purposes, implicitly to admonish and teach others their Duty, what they deserve, or what they are to
believe
and
hope
; these Purposes, with all their particular Circumstances, are under the
moral
Government of an infinitely wise Being. The only
Question
here is, Whether they may reasonably and justly be put to
Pain
unnecessarily and
wantonly,
or for no wise End or Purpose, but only to scratch
callous
Pallates, when other Means of Health may be had more effectual, and no less pleasant. V. It is not altogether
Fact,
that Animals devour one another from any other Reason, but for Want of sufficient Plenty of proper vegetable Food, as Seeds, tender Plants, mealy Roots, and the like, which even the most
carnivorous
Animals will brouze on, when they can meet with it in Plenty, as is well known in
natural History
; and even the Fish, which of all Animals are the most
voracious,
will readily feed on Balls of Meal and Milk, without offering to devour one another; as the
ingenious
Mr.
Andrews
of
Norfolk
has found by Experiment; for having put several Sorts of small and great Fishes together into a large whiten'd
Pond
of clear Water, where they might all be easily seen and number'd, and feeding them with Balls made of Milk and Flower, (which were put into pervious
Troughs
) he found, at least thought, that they did not offer the least Violence to one another. VI. Allowing Animals to be actuated by a spiritual or immaterial Principle, of the same
Nature
with intelligent Creatures, yet they are not of the same Degree and Order with them; they may be
intelligent
Creatures of an
inferior Order,
beginning lower, and verging more slowly towards their intended Perfection; they may be under different Conditions of Purification, and may pass the whole of their Duration here, in the State of
Infants,
who dye before they are born, or before they arrive at the Use of Reason, and yet in other States of Being may grow and advance to a much higher Perfection of
Sensation
and
Intelligence
than we can readily imagine. For to me it seems utterly incredible, that any Creature, whether
sentient
or
intelligent,
should come into this
State
of Being and Suffering, for no other Purpose than we see them attain here; and it is equally incredible, that any Creature should spontaneously exert animal and muscular Function,
i.e.
should live and feel, without some Degree of an
immaterial, immortal,
and
selfactive
Spirit. Matter and its Laws, can never account for such Appearances. There must be some infinitely beautiful, wise and good
Scene
remaining for all
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, the Discovery of which will ravish and astonish us one Day. Moderately wise Ends, Purposes, and Means, are unworthy of infinite Perfection; whatever
God
does must be every way worthy of Himself: His
Working
may serve many wise and good Ends and Purposes here, but the last and great End of all must be of
Dignity
and
Majesty
worthy of Him, tho' we cannot yet a great while comprehend it.
§. 12. To conclude: 1. It is plain from
Revelation,
that
animal Food
was
permitted,
and
fermented Liquors
not
forbidden
; and consequently, that there is neither
Virtue
nor
Vice
in the Use of them absolutely, but in the Order, Time, Quantity, and other Circumstances of their Usage. 2. That in our present
Situation,
and under our present Circumstances, for
some
Persons, and in Order for
some
Purposes, a reasonable Quantity of
animal Food,
and
fermented Liquors,
may be absolutely necessary. 3. It is plain from
Reason, Philosophy,
and
Experience,
that
Excesses
in high
animal Food,
and
strong fermented Liquors,
are the true efficient and most general Cause of most
atrocious
and dangerous Distempers; and consequently, that
vegetable Food,
and
unfermented Liquors,
are the true and natural
Antidote
of such Distempers. 4. That
animal Food,
and
fermented Liquors,
will more probably, and more naturally cause Distempers, and shorten Life, than
vegetable Food,
and
unfermented Liquors.
5. That a moderate and small Quantity of
animal Food,
and
generous fermented Liquors,
will naturally tighten, harden, and strengthen, give Firmness and Force to animal Solids and Fibres, and enrich, warm, and invigorate the Blood and Juices; and consequently, is safest to all subject to eruptive Distempers, as Gout, Erisipelas,
&c.
in the
Fits.
But at the same time that it hardens and tightens the Solids, it condenses and thickens the Juices, and renders the Animal of a shorter
Duration
of Life, and more subject to
Diseases. 6. Lastly,
That for bodily Strength,
animal Food,
and
fermented Liquors,
seem fittest; but for
intellectual
Exercises,
vegetable Food,
and
unfermented Liquors,
seem appropriated; and that consequently, the best Way to secure the
golden Mediocrity,
between
bodily
Strength and
spiritual
Force, (the State fittest for the Generality of Mankind) is for the healthy to confine themselves to about a Pound, at least half a Pound, of
animal Food,
and a Pint, at least half a Pint of
fermented Liquors,
daily: But for the unhealthy,
valetudinary,
and studious, to sink below this
Medium
in both these, till, by Experience and Observation, they find that Quantity of either, they are easiest under, and to stick to that, should it even be to descend totally into Vegetables, Milk and Seeds, with unfermented Liquors.
END of the SECOND DISCOURSE.
DISCOURSE III. A Philosophical THEORY FOUNDED ON EXPERIMENTS OF THE NATURE and LAWS OF Minute Inanimat Bodies, AND THEIR SYSTEMS, in general.
Rom. viii. 22.
For we know that the whole Creation groaneth, and travaileth in Pain till now.
DISCOURSE III.
A Philosophical THEORY Founded on EXPERIMENTS, OF THE NATURE and LAWS of Minute INANIMAT BODIES, and their
Systems,
in general.
PREFACE.
THAT the
Curious
and
Philosophical
Reader (who possibly may be entertain'd with such
Speculations
) may have in one general View, what has been or will be incidentally hinted in my preceding and succeeding Works, concerning the Nature of
Minute Bodies,
their
Systems
and
Laws,
I have collected into a few
Propositions,
what I have found scatter'd in the Works of
Philosophers
and
Mathematicians
of most Note, on that Subject; particularly those of Sir
Isaac Newton.
These I have connected the best I could, and in some Particulars have adventur'd to supply with Conjectures by
Analogy,
from their general Nature; leaving every one to judge for himself, according to his
Taste
and
Liking,
there being nothing of what is here laid down very material to the practical Part of these Discourses.
PROPOSITION I.
THE
Elements,
or least and last Particles of
Matter,
are of various
Sizes, Densities
and
Figures.
Those of the
first Order,
or the very least, are almost infinitely small, hard and
elastic,
pervading all Bodies but pervious to none; such as are probably the Particles of the
Etherial
or
Newtonian
Fluid. The Particles of the
second Order
are compos'd of these, and consequently are of a greater Size, but less
dense
and
elastic,
being pervious to the Particles of the first Order, and themselves pervading all others: Of this kind are probably the Particles of
Light.
The Particles of the
third
and last
Order,
are compos'd of those of the second Order, bearing such Proportion to them in Size,
Density
and
Elasticity,
as they do to those of the
first Order.
SCHOLIUM.
IT is beyond all Doubt, that the Quantity of
solid
Matter in this material
System
is very small, in respect of the interspers'd
Vacuities.
It is demonstrably certain, that a solid
Cube
or
Sphere
of a Mile or Furlong, or even a Yard in
Diameter,
being divided sufficiently small, and its Parts ranged in a proper
Order,
would furnish
Solidity
enough to answer all Appearances. Suppose the Particles all
Cubes,
and to be so united by the
Contact
of their
Angles
as to make
cubical
Interstices, then the
Vacuity
would be equal to the
Solidity
; and since Matter is divisible
in infinitum,
this Vacuity may be encreas'd to any Proportion of
Majority.
We actually find that
Water
and
Mercury
will pass through the
Pores
of
Gold
; and Sir
Isaac Newton
has demonstrated, that
Gold
must have many times more
Pores
than solid
Parts,
and yet it is the heaviest of all Bodies.
Light
passes through the most opake Bodies, when shreded sufficiently thin, it scarce meets with any Resistance in its Passage through clear
Glass
; and
Aether
pervades all Bodies with very little or no Resistance: From all which it manifestly appears, how small a Proportion there is between the
Solidity
and
Vacuities
in our
System.
PROP. II.
THE
Elements
of Bodies, or the least and last Particles of whatever
Order,
are solid, hard and indivisible, at least by natural and created Powers, else it would be in the Power of
Natural Means
and created Agents to alter the present
Constitution
and
Nature
of Things: For a
World
made up of Particles broken and worn out, would be quite different from what it now is, and altogether insufficient to answer the Ends and Purposes of
Nature.
PROP. III.
Analogous
to, of the same Nature, and probably from the same Cause, with
Gravity
in the great Bodies of Universe, (the
Sun, Planets
and
Fixt Stars
) which acts as the Squares of the Distance reciprocally, there is in the least and
elementary
Particles of Matter, a Principle of
Attraction
and
Repulsion,
whereby they
attract
and
repell
one another, according to some constant and invariable
Law,
whatever that may be.
SCHOL. I.
WHAT this
Law
is, by which the
Particles
of
Matter attract
and
repel
each other, no Observations or Experiments hitherto made have been sufficient to determine; only thus much is certain, that in receding from the Point of
Contact,
it decreases in a greater Proportion than that of the
duplicate Ratio
of the Distance
reciprocally
; for by that Law, the Force of
Attraction
at any small assignable Distance, would be nearly the same; whereas it is manifest from Observation and Experience, that it is exerted only at or near the Point of
Contact.
Sir
Isaac Newton
has calculated from the
Inflection
of the Rays of
Light,
that the attracting Force in the Point of Contact is 10000,0000,0000,0000 times greater than the Force of
Gravity
; and the ingenious Mr.
Hales
has shewn by a great Variety of
Experiments,
that the
repulsive,
or
elastic
Force, (which probably arise from one and the same Cause) in some sorts of
Particles,
are likewise
immensly
great.
SCHOL. II.
IF
Particles
mutually
attract
each other as the
Cubes
of their Distances
reciprocally,
the Force of
Attraction
in the Point of
Contact
will be infinitely greater than at any assignable Distance. According to
this
Law, (which seems to obtain, at least very nearly in the smallest
Particles
of
Matter
) if the Force of
Attraction
in the Point of
Contact,
be not infinitely greater than the Force of
Gravity,
it will be infinitely
less
than that Force of
Gravity
at any assignable Distance. But tho' the Force of
Attraction
in the Point of
Contact
is very great, yet it is not infinitely greater than the Force of
Gravity,
seeing the Parts of any Body may be separated by a finite assignable Force, and therefore at a
given
Distance it must vanish, or become
infinitely
small.
SCHOL. III.
REPULSION
begins, and goes on, where
Attraction
ends, and o constitutes the middle Point in the
Progression
between them, or o,
i. e.
infinitely small of the same Order, is the last Term and Limit of
Attraction,
and the first of
Repulsion
; and they probably go on according to the same
Law
and
Progression,
tho' with contrary Directions: For, as Sir
Isaac Newton
observes, those Particles which recede from one another with the greatest
repulsive
Force, and are with the greatest Difficulty brought together, cohere most strongly when brought into
Contact.
PROP. IV.
THE
Cohesion
of the small Particles of Matter, is in the
compound Proportion
of the
Quantity
of their cohering
Surfaces,
and the
Quantity
of their
attractive
Powers; and their
attractive
Powers are,
caeteris paribus,
as their
Densities,
or the Quantities of Matter they contain.
COROL.
HENCE it follows, that the less the cohering
Surfaces
are,
caeteris paribus,
the less will be the Degree of
Cohesion,
and that the least Degree of
Cohesion,
is when the
Surfaces
touch in a Point only, or are
Spheres
or
Spheroides.
PROP. V.
THE Power or Force of
Attraction,
in small Particles of Matter, increases as the Size of the Particles is diminish'd. For, as this Force acts only in or near the Point of
Contact,
it will be proportional to that
Contact,
or in the
compound Ratio
of the
Density
of the Particles and the
Largeness
of their
Surfaces
; but the
Surfaces
decrease as the
Squares
of the
Diameters,
while the
Solidities
decrease as their
Cubes
; and therefore, the smallest Particles of Matter, having the largest
Surfaces
in Proportion to their
Solidities,
and more of their Points coming into
Contact,
will have the greatest
attractive
Force in Proportion to their
Bulk.
PROP. VI.
THE
Gravities
of Particles decrease as the
Cubes
of their
Diameters
; for their
Gravities
are as their Quantities of Matter, which, in
homogeneous
Bodies, are as the
Cubes
of the
Diameters.
COROL.
HENCE it is, that
Mercury,
from the Smallness and Divisibility of its Parts is so easily raised; and that Bodies may be suspended in
Fluids specifically
lighter than themselves.
PROP. VII.
IF the Parts of a Body, immers'd in a
Fluid,
are more strongly
attracted
by the
Fluid,
than they are by one another, they will mutually recede from each other, with a
Force
equal to the Excess of the one
Attraction
above the other, and will be equally diffus'd through the Fluid: And hence the Nature of
Solution, Separation
and
Diffusion.
PROP. VIII.
IF
Particles,
suspended in a
Fluid
and
attracting
each other, are
elastic,
after their
Collision
they will
resile
from one another, and meeting with other Particles, they will be
reflected,
till by such
Actions
and
Re-actions,
a
Fermentation, Effervescence
and
Ebullition
is produced.
PROP. IX.
IF
Particles,
suspended in a
Fluid
and
attracting
each other, are not
elastic,
they will not be reflected from one another, but coalesce into
Masses,
till their
Gravity
exceeding that of the
Fluid,
they will sink, and be precipitated. The same thing will be produced by increasing or diminishing the Gravity of the
Menstruum
in which the Particles are suspended.
PROP. X.
THE
Figures
of the Elements of all pure
unelastic
and incompressible
Fluids
must necessarily be
spherical,
or at least approaching thereto; for were they of any other
Figure,
their
Surfaces
would touch in more Points than one, and consequently they would
cohere.
And the
Elements
of solid Bodies probably may be of the Figure of some one or other of the regular Solids, as
Cubes, Triangles, Prisms, &c.
so that, their Surfaces coming into
Contact,
they may attract each other with the greater Force.
SCHOL.
WHAT may be the Figure of the Elements of
elastic
Fluids, as the Air, and the
Newtonian Aethereal Fluid,
is not material to enquire, since their
Fluidity
does not arise from the Figure, but the
repulsive
Force of their Particles.
PROP. XI.
THE
Elasticity
of solid Bodies is the Effect of the
attracting
Force of their Particles; for when the small contiguous and cohering Particles of a Body are, by a
Stroke,
or any external Violence, separated from each other to extremely small Distances, if this
Force
is taken off, the separated Particles will, by the Force of
Attraction,
rush back into their
Contacts
with an accelerated
Velocity,
and the Body will recover its pristin Figure. But if the Particles are so far separated as to be without their
Spheres
of
Attraction,
they will remain in that
Disjunction,
and the Body will be uncapable of recovering its former State.
PROP. XII.
THAT Bodies, under a
Rotation,
fly off in the
Tangent,
is only a Consequence of that general
Law,
by which they persevere in the same State of Rest, or moving uniformly in a
streight
Line, unless they are made to change that
State
by some external Force impressed; for the Direction of a Body moving in the
Circumference
of a
Circle,
is in the
Tangent,
and it is made to describe the
Circle
only by the
central Attraction,
which ceasing to act, the Body will proceed in its proper Direction, or will fly off in the
Tangent.
PROP. XIII.
THE
Figures
of Bodies, and their Actions on one another, arising from the Principles of
Attraction
and
Repulsion,
together with the Motions impressed on them by
living
and
intelligent
Agents, will probably account for most of the Appearances of the
material
World, if
mechanically
adjusted, and treated according to these mentioned Laws.
PROP. XIV.
AIR is a
System
of Particles endued with a
repulsive
Force, which being fixt in all
animal, vegetable
and
mineral
Substances, are by
Fire, Fermentation, Putrefaction, Dissolution,
or any other
intestine Action
or
Reaction,
set at Liberty, and thrown off into an
elastic
State, and carrying along with them
Ramenta
or Abrasions of the Bodies they were fixt in, they compose our Atmosphere; which is a
Chaos
of such Particles of various
Solidities, Gravities
and
attractive
and
repulsive
Powers, acting by the establish'd
Laws
of
minute
Bodies; and hence its
Compression, Weight, Elasticity
and various Degrees of
Density.
SCHOL.
THE
Density
of the
Air
is proportionate to its
Compression,
and therefore the
centrifugal,
or
expansive
Force by which its Particles endeavour to recede from one another, must be in the
reciprocal
Proportion of their Distances, or in the direct
subtriplicate Ratio
of their
Densities.
PROP. XV.
EARTH
is only a loose Collection of the different
elementary
Particles of Matter, of all the three Orders, thrown together without any regular Combination or
Cohesion
; as
Whiteness
is a Blending and Mixture of all the differently-colour'd
Rays
of
Light.
PROP. XVI.
WATER
is a Collection of the Solutions of tasteless and insipid
Salts,
originally
fixt, crystalis'd
and
dispers'd
quite through the
Globe
; but kept in
Fluidity
by Heat, like melted Lead. And different
Salts
are Water united with a little
Air
and some
Earths, acid
or
sulphureous,
in a
crystalis'd
State; as
Ice
is Water congeal'd, and Water is
Ice
dissolv'd. But this is not intended as a Definition, but only as an Illustration. All Salts are soluble by Water, and all Water evaporated; drops a
saline
Substance mixt with
Earths.
PROP. XVII.
ACIDS
seem to be compos'd of such elementary Particles as are endued with a very great
attractive
Power; whence, by insinuating themselves into the
Pores
of Bodies, and
attracting
their Particles more strongly than these Particles
attract
one another, they thereby separate and divide them.
SCHOL.
POSSIBLY the Figures of Acids, may be
triangular Prisms,
or such like, to facilitate their Entry into Bodies, and to separate their Particles like Wedges; for all Matter must have some Figure.
PROP. XVIII.
HEAT,
as it is a Property of Bodies, is only the brisk
vibrating Action
and
Reaction
of the
elastic repelling Nitre
of the
Air,
and the
aethereal Fluid,
with the strongly
attracting acid Sulphur
; which
Sulphur,
by its
Analysis,
is found to contain an inflammable Oil, an
acid Salt,
a very fixt Earth, and a little
Metal.
COROL.
HENCE the
Affinity
between
Light
and
sulphureous
Bodies, and the true Nature of
Oils
and
inflammable Spirits,
which are nothing but a great deal of
Sulphur,
a fine or light
acid Salt,
a very little
Water
and
Earth.
SCHOL.
SINCE it has been found, that a
Thermometer
in an exhausted Receiver, will rise and fall as much, and almost as soon, as another
Thermometer
placed by it in the open Air, it seems to follow, that
Heat
is conveyed and propagated from one Body to another, by some
subtle elastic Fluid,
pervading all Bodies; and it is not improbable, that the
Vibrations
of this
Medium
in hot Bodies, contribute to the Intenseness and Duration of their
Heat.
And since smooth polish'd Bodies, with
plain Surfaces,
cling together as strongly in an
exhausted
Receiver as in the open Air, it is not improbable, that their
Cohesion
may be caused by this same
Medium.
Both Experiments go a great way to ascertain the
Existence
and Necessity of some such
aethereal Fluid.
PROP. XIX.
LIGHT
seems to be the
vibrating
Particles of a hot Body, driven off by the
repelling
Force, with an
immense Velocity,
which is continued and augmented by the
aethereal Fluid,
and the
Attraction
of the Bodies it meets with in its Progress.
SCHOL. I.
SINCE, as Sir
Isaac Newton
has observ'd,
Light
is convertible into
Bodies,
and Bodies into
Light
; and that it is probable, that
Light
is only the Particles of a
hot
Body, thrown off with an immense
Velocity,
it would seem, that these Particles which constitute Light are the
elementary
Particles of the
second Order,
with which
sulphureous
and oily Bodies, from the great Activity,
Attraction
and
Elasticity
of their Parts, appear to be saturated and abound; for these being smaller and more
elastic,
than the Particles of the
third Order,
will be thrown off with a very great
Velocity,
which we know to be an essential Property of the
Rays
of
Light
; and they will likewise pervade all Bodies, which is also a Property belonging to the
Rays of Light
; there being no Body, however dense or close in its Texture, which, by being shreded thin, does not become transparent.
SCHOL. II.
THE
Rays of Light
seem to consist of Particles of different Sizes, (that being necessary to produce the various Colours and different Degrees of
Refrangibility
) the least of which make
Violet,
the weakest and darkest of the Colours, and are most easily diverted from the
right
Course, by
refracting
Surfaces; and the rest, as they are bigger, make the stronger and more
lucid
Colours, as
Blue, Green, Yellow, Red,
and are with more and more Difficulty diverted.
SCHOL. III.
THE
Sun
and
fixt Stars,
are immense
Globes
of Matter, saturated with these Particles of the
second Order,
and so being heated
red hot,
are kept in Heat by their
intestine
Motion, and the
Action
and
Re-action
of their Parts with the
aethereal Fluid
; their dense
Atmospheres,
by their Compression, keeping their Parts from flying off, or consuming too fast.
SCHOL. IV.
IT is not impossible, that our
Earth,
with its
Satellit
the
Moon,
the other
Planets
in this our
System,
with their
Satellites,
but especially the
Comets,
should be all of them
Bettering-houses,
(according to the
Dutch
manner of speaking)
Prisons, Dungeons,
and Places of Punishment, for
Trial, Expiation,
or progressive
Purification
of the several Sorts, Orders and Degrees of lapsed,
sentient
and
intelligent Beings.
That they are not, and cannot be
permanent
or
eternal,
in their present State,
Philosophy
and
Astronomy
furnish innumerable Arguments, to convince any thinking Person. Most of their
Orbits
are
elliptical,
which certainly is not so simple or perfect a Figure as a
Circle.
The
Planes
of their
Orbits
cut one another at irregular various and vastly different
Angles,
which, at least, in our present way of thinking, is not so
harmonious.
Besides the unaccountable
Oddnesses
in most of their
diurnal
and
annual Revolutions,
the
Nutations
of their
Axes,
their
Rings, Spots
and
Girdles,
which, at least, savour not of that
Simplicity,
Perfection and Beauty conspicuous in most of the other Works of the
Author of Nature.
Moreover, as to our
Planet
in particular, it has so many untoward Marks, and oblique
Symptoms
of a designed
Deteriority,
that it would require a Volume to enumerate those daily observed by
Astronomers
and
natural Philosophers,
besides those now mentioned, which are common to most of them. Our Earth has, in particular,
barren and unfruitful Climates, unhospitable and uninhabited Regions,
unhealthy and mortal Seasons, Tempests, Thunder and Lightning, Vulcanos, Plagues and epidemical or infectious Atmospheres:
All which could never proceed from an infinitely good and wise Being, if his Design was not to punish and correct. But all these seeming Deformities are kind and
fatherly
Designs of Wisdom, and have infinitely beautiful
final Causes
and Motives; and are strong and amazing Instances of his
Being, Love
and
Wisdom,
if they are reckon'd only
Correction
and
Bettering Mansions,
of no durable or permanent Stability, but verging and growing into some
progressive,
beautiful and
final
State, by general Laws, which
State,
in due Time, will appear and emerge, and then He may, as He did at first, say of all his Works, they were good and perfect in their
Order.
And then the
Son
shall give up the Dominion to his
Father,
in a much happier and more perfect Condition than it was at first made, as
He
said of Himself, that
He
came, that all God's Creatures (
Sentient
and
Intelligent,
and consequently their
Habitations
and
Mansions
)
should have Life,
(that is, have Perfection and Happiness)
and have it more abundantly.
PROP. XX.
FLAME
is the
sulphureous
or oily Smoak of a hot Body, agitated to such a Degree as to be
ignited.
PROP. XXI.
THOSE Bodies are transparent, whose
Pores
are sufficiently small to attract the
Rays of Light,
and
rectilinear
to transmit them: Thus Paper is made more transparent, by having its Pores fill'd or lessen'd with Water or Oil.
THE following Propositions are manifest from Experiment
Vide
Boyle
; the
Philosophical Transactions,
and the
Memoirs
of the
Academy Royal.
.
1.
MERCURY
consists of smaller Particles than any known Fluid, for it will pass where no other Fluid can.
2. THE Particles of
Mercury,
in all their Divisions, preserve a spherical Figure, from the strong Attraction of their Parts; as is evident by fine Glasses: And the smaller the Particles, the more perfect the Spheres; as the same Glasses demonstrate.
3.
MERCURY
is the heaviest of all natural Fluids, being 14 times heavier than
Water.
4. THE Particles of
Mercury attract
some Bodies the most of any, as
Gold
; and fly from others the most, as
Oil of Vitriol,
and all
Acids.
COROLLARIES.
1. THEREFORE the Particles of
Mercury
are the most easily rais'd by Heat, being divisible into the smallest Parts; which, though not sensible, yet are known by their Effects in
Silver Water, Mercurial Steams
and
Exhalations,
and their ready passing through all
animal
Substances.
2. THEREFORE the Particles of
Mercury
have the greatest
Momentum
and Force, being the heaviest of all natural Fluids.
3. THEREFORE the Particles of
Mercury,
by their
Smallness, Sphericity
and
Weight,
being actuated and rais'd by Heat, readily pervade all animal fleshy Substances, which are but
Spunges
with communicating Cells; as is evident from the Effects of
Fumigations,
and the
Palsies
of those who silver Glass, or dig in the Mines of that
Mineral.
MEDICAL COROLLARIES.
1. THEREFORE the Particles of
Mercury
are the fittest to break the Cohesion of all
Viscosity,
and divide its Substance by its Weight, in Animal Tubes; from which
Viscosity
all the
cold chronical
Diseases most probably proceed.
2. THEREFORE the Particles of
Mercury
are fittest to open all Obstructions in the small Capillary or
Lymphatic
Vessels, from their
Smallness, Weight
and
Sphericity.
3. THEREFORE the Particles of
Mercury,
from their
Smallness, Weight
and
Sphericity,
are fittest to make the
Circulation
whole and entire quite around.
4. THEREFORE
Mercury
is the only proper
Antidote
for such
Palsies,
whose Cause is the
Tenacity
of the Juices in the small Blood-Vessels, pressing upon the
Nerves
and
Fibres,
and so interrupting their
Vibrations
and Actions.
5. THEREFORE
Mercury
is the best
Antidote
for the
Scurvy,
in the first Intention, by its
Smallness,
its
Weight
and
Sphericity,
breaking the
Salts
and larger Concretions obstructing the
Lymphatics.
6. THEREFORE
Mercury
is also the best
Antidote
for the
Gout,
in the first Intention, readily opening those small Vessels which are the most difficult to be dilated by reason of their Compression betwixt bony
Articulations,
even though their Smallness should be such, that 200 of them can make up but the Thickness or Bulk of one
Hair.
But a thin cool
Dyet
must continue them
pervious,
when
Mercury
has made them so.
7. THEREFORE
Mercury,
duly prepar'd, and judiciously manag'd, is the only proper
Antidote
for the Diseases produced by Excesses of any kind, especially of animal Food and fermented Liquors.
8.
MERCURY,
by its
Weight
and
Sphericity,
will infallibly burst those Vessels whose Obstructions cannot be dissolved or opened, driving the Substance of these Obstructions through the Sides of the slender
Lymphatic
Vessels; and will infallibly tear the small Vessels, whose Sides are very rare and slender, or whose Pores are made very large by
Putrefaction.
9. THEREFORE
Mercury
is a divine
Antidote
or
real Poison,
according to the Person prescribing, or the Case it is prescribed in.
10. THE best Preparation of
Mercury
is that wherein its Particles are most minutely divided, and kept at the greatest Distance from one another.
11. THAT Preparation of
Mercury
is the best, where, after a due Division into its smallest Parts, the Mixture is made with
that
Body which has the most
specific
Virtue against the Disease. Thus the
Aethiops cum Sulph.
is best for
Inflammations, Piles,
the
Gout,
the
Erysipelas, &c.
and that with
Antimony,
against
cutaneous
Distempers; that with
Volatiles
and
Foetids,
in
Nervous
Cases; that with
Bark
and
Bitters,
in
Intermittents
; and so in others.
12. THEREFORE the
Aqua Mercurialis
is the very safest general Deobstruent in very weak Persons, did it not require too long time to produce any salutary Effect.
Mercury alcalisated,
or kill'd with any calcin'd Body, given often and in small Doses, is the next;
Cinnabar next
to that, and then
Aethiops, &c.
13. ALL
Mineral
Medicines ought to be infinitely divided, before they are sent into an Animal Body; they never having been intended by the
Author of Nature
to enter there, but in their
minutest
Particles and Divisions; as we may see by
Nature
's preparing, in this Manner,
Mineral
Waters of all kinds, fitted for the Cure of almost all
chronical
Diseases, if join'd with a proper Regimen; except, perhaps, some few of those begot by unnatural cramming with Mixtures of Salts, Spices, Oils, and inflammable Spirits; or those begot by contagious venereal Diseases.
14.
MERCURY,
with the Salts, such as
Calomel,
the
Turbith, Sublimat, red, white
and
green Precipitate,
are, of all Preparations, the most prejudicial and injurious to animal Habits; these saline Mixtures tearing the small Vessels, where Diseases are mostly generated, and in whose Integrity, all the Delicacy of Life consists: But they are thereby of the quickest Effect in Cases that depend on Expedition, as the
Hydrophobia,
inflammatory
Rheumatism,
and the like.
GENERAL MEDICAL COROLLARIES.
1. As
Water
alone,
Blood-warm,
is the best Diluent, so
Mercury
is the best
Deobstruent
; but as
Water
alone may be too sluggish, so
Mercury
alone may be too active and ponderous, for tender and delicate
Animal
Solids, especially in its fluid State, or mix'd with
Salts,
or too active Bodies; and therefore the absolutely best Preparation of
Mercury,
is when, being divided by the utmost possible Art, it is join'd with the most
specific vegetable
Medicines against the Distemper, that it can conveniently be united with, and fixt in.
2. As the
Fineness
or
Smallness
of Particles, together with the Largeness of their Surfaces, make
Hardness,
or the greatest
Cohesion
in Bodies, as has been shewn by Proposition IV. and V. and may be seen in finewoven
Cloth, Gold, Marble, Crystal, Shells, Salts
and
Diamonds
; and as
Earths, Water, Milk, watery Fluids,
and
vegetable Substances,
consist mostly of Water and rare loose fine Earths, with a little grosser
Salts
and
Sulphurs
of small or no Cohesion, it is evident, that such Substances are fittest for weak,
tender
and
valetudinary
Persons, as affording all the Materials of
Nutrition,
and being more easily resolvible into their
integral
Particles; and are most proper Food for intellectual Purposes, which depend on the easy Performance of the
animal Functions,
as
nervous
Distempers arise chiefly from their labour'd Performance, compressing, by their Weight and Hardness, the too tender and delicate membranous
Tubuli
of the
Nerves,
and so stopping or retarding their
Vibrations
and
Oscillations,
tho' they are not so proper for
mechanical
Strength and Force.
GENERAL SCHOLIUM.
IN these few Propositions are contain'd the Principles of all the natural
Philosophy
hinted at in my medical Treatises. If it is just, or approaches the Truth, as I hope it does, then it must necessarily follow, 1. That soft, mild and cool Foods, are fittest to carry on the
animal Functions
the most readily, freely, naturally and lastingly. 2. That
Spirits, Salts, chymical Oils,
(which are but Spirits condens'd) and every thing that has pass'd the
Tortures
of the
Fire,
abounding with Particles small, hard,
caustic,
(for calcin'd
Antimony
will be increas'd one fifth in its Weight) and highly
attractive,
are most pernicious to
animal
Habits; not only burning and tearing the delicate
Fibres
and Vessels, like
Caustics
and
Lancets,
but by their
attractive
Powers, violently corrugating and contracting the
Fibres
; so that in habitual Drinkers, Drammers, and high Feeders, their
Tone
and
Elasticity
is entirely destroy'd, by their sudden and alternate
Contractions
and
Relaxations
Vide
Hales's Haemostaticks.
, while at the same time the Juices are thicken'd and coagulated by the spirituous Mixture, and so dispos'd to form
Obstructions
and
Concretions
in the smaller Vessels: And therefore they ought never to be used, but as
Spurs
and
Whips,
to push on and stimulat the sluggish
Organs
for a time, and make them carry off the Over-load with a short Vigour; and so are only proper in Extremities, as a present Filip. 3. That
animal
Foods, whose Parts have been first divided by
animal Organs,
and afterwards attenuated and refin'd by those of other
Animals,
and mixed with great Quantities of
animal
Salts and Oils, when again taken into
animal
Habits for Food, where they undergo a third Subtilization or
Milling
; or the Flesh of
Animals
that live on
animal
Food, are so minutely divided, as (by Proposition IV.) to acquire the greatest Degree of
Attraction
; and therefore, when introduc'd into the small
Tubes
and capillary Vessels, in great Quantities, they must form
Obstructions
of the strongest Cohesion and Tenacity. 4. That
Mercury,
in some Shape or other, is the only proper Deobstruent and Dissolvent, in all
chronical
Cases, and in those
acute
ones that come nearest to them; especially in those who have fed much and long on
animal
Foods, and
fermented
or
distill'd
Liquors. 5. That
Milk
and
Vegetables
are not only the sole rational and proper Food of tender or diseased
Animals,
but, from the Grossness of their Parts, and their small Degree of
Attraction
and Cohesion consequent thereupon, being dissolv'd by a less Force than
animal
Food, are fittest to carry on, the most pleasantly, all the
Functions
in which
Health, Serenity
and
free Spirits
consist. 6. That therefore
Milk, Seeds, Fruits,
and
mealy
Vegetables, with Water-drinking, are undoubtedly the most infallible Means to preserve the
Faculties clear
and
acute,
and to acquire
Activity
and long
Life,
whatever
mechanical
Force and Strength may require for sudden strong Efforts. 7. On the whole, as
Water,
with a little fine vegetable
Earth, Salt
and
Sulphur,
seems to me, to be the
proper
Food intended by
Nature
for
Animals
; and as it is
Water
alone which conciliats that
Fluidity
absolutely necessary to Juices circulating in
Tubes
; the more it partakes of this
Element,
the fitter it is for the
animal
Functions.
Mercury
seems to be the only other Fluid that has the Qualities fitted for circulating and destroying
Viscosity
; so that, in fine, the two proper
Antidotes
intended by Nature for chronical animal Diseases, especially those of the worst Kind, seem to be
Mercury,
some-how prepared, and
Water,
naturally or artificially impregnated, the one for animal, and the other for
vegetable
Feeders.
DISCOURSE IV. Philosophical CONJECTURES ON SPIRITUAL NATURE, THE HUMAN SPIRIT in Particular.
Gen. i. 26.
And God said, Let us make Man in our Image, after our Likeness.—
Ver. 27.
So God created Man in his own Image, in the Image of God created He him.
DISCOURSE IV.
Philosophical CONJECTURES ON SPIRITUAL NATURE, THE HUMAN SPIRIT in Particular.
§. 1. THE
natural Faculties,
Properties or Attributes of all rational
Spirits,
and human Intelligences, (and indeed of all Intelligences of whatsoever
Order
or
Degree
) are incontestably these three: 1.
Perception
or Understanding. 2.
Willing,
Chusing or Freedom. 3.
Memory,
Reflection or Attention. Out of these
three
all the Operations of a human
Spirit
may be deduced; and suppose
living
or actuating some
Vehicle
as their
Base:
and though they may be (and are justly) considered separately, yet, in wellexercised and duly cultivated
Spirits,
they are sometimes so instantaneous, as to seem one and the same Act of the
Mind,
and are called by the general Name of Thinking or
Cogitation,
when either in separate
Acts,
or instantaneous, and all Spirits differ chiefly in the Degrees of these
natural Powers.
§. 2. HOWEVER uncommon the Expression may seem, yet to those who admit a
Deity,
or supreme
Spirit,
of infinite Perfection, the
Author
and first
Cause
of all Things, finite
Spirits
of all possible
Orders
can be conceived
philosophically,
no otherwise than as
Miniatures, Effluxes, Emanations, Infinitesimals,
or infinitely small
Sparkles,
of this infinite Source of
Living, Intelligence, Action, Perfection
and
Happiness,
voluntarily emitted, lighted up or
created,
by this infinitely perfect
Being,
and endow'd with his
radical
and
essential
Qualities and Attributes of
Life, Activity
and
Intelligence
; so that all
Spirits
are, in their own Natures, diminutive or infinitely small
Deities,
and necessarily (now they are created, and have a derivative Existence from Him) must partake of his
Immortality, Intelligence
and
Freedom,
or his
Divine Nature
and
Image
; and consequently can never be
annihilated,
forced, or deprived of the Powers of
Perception, Intelligence
and
Willing,
no more
He
can.
§. 3. THESE
Faculties
and Powers of all
Spirits
are not only to be
felt,
but distinguished in every
human
Mind, duly exercised and cultivated, by
attentively
considering its Nature and Operations; but necessarily follow by
Analogy,
from the Nature of the
first
Cause, that Being of infinite Perfection, the
Deity
; who being of infinite
Wisdom
and
Power,
could find nothing without
Himself,
before Creation, to be a
Model
or
Pattern
for his intelligent Creatures; and therefore stamp'd them with his own most
glorious Image,
creating them little
Divinities,
resembling Himself in his
radical
and
essential
Attributes, so as at last to become
similar
to Him in Perfection and Happiness, in their several
Orders, Gradations
and
Ranks.
For
infinite
Perfection wanting nothing, and to whom no Happiness nor Perfection could be
added,
could have no other
End
or
View,
in producing rational
Intelligences
into
Being,
but to make them happy, by partaking of his
essential
Happiness, in their several
Orders
and
Ranks
; that is, in becoming
similar
to him in his
natural
as well as
moral
Attributes; his natural ones (as has been said) being
Life, Intelligence
and
Activity
; his
moral
ones,
Justice, Goodness
and
Truth
; in which
two
united consists the Perfection and Happiness of all
intelligent
Creatures.
§. 4. IN a mere
Philosophical
Disquisition, though no Argument is to be taken from
Revelation
; yet to express my Meaning so as to leave no room to be mistaken by such to whom
Revelation
is familiar, I shall represent it in the Words of the Scriptures. It is said in
Genesis,
on the Design of the
Creation
of the
human Soul, Let us make Man after our own Image
; and again,
in the Image of God created he him
; and elsewhere,
You are God
's
Images:
And to shew the human
Rank, David
says,
He was created a little lower than the Angels
; and our
Saviour,
speaking of
Marriage,
says, that in Heaven
they are neither married, nor given in Marriage, but are like the Angels
; and the same Manner of describing the human
Spirit
frequently occurs in the
Scriptures,
both of the
old
and
new Testament.
§. 5. IT is a frequent and common Opinion of all
Pagan
and
Christian
Antiquity, that all created Intelligences have Bodies or
Vehicles
of one kind or another, fitted to their
Order, Rank,
Degree of
Purity, Habitation
and
Situation.
It is highly probable and
philosophical,
to think there is no perfectly
pure
and immaterial
Spirit,
but the
Supreme Spirit,
the
Father
and
Creator
of all Spirits; and that all created
Spirits,
how high and sublime soever, have proper and peculiar Bodies, and
organiz'd
Cases, not only to circumscribe and limit their
Powers,
and their
Extension
and
Expansion,
but to enable them to communicat, and commerciat with, to contemplat and admire the Contrivance of the
material
World; to converse with the lower Ranks of Intelligences, that we certainly know, have material
Vehicles,
such as we of the
human
Race are; but also to execute the Orders of the Divine
Oeconomy
and Providence, over the whole
System
of Intelligences, and material World. And accordingly we find Mention made in
holy Writ,
of a
natural
Body and a
spiritual
Body; and of the
Sun
and
Planets
having a particular
Glory,
in their Bodies, peculiar to themselves; and of the
glorious
Appearance and
Radiation
of our
Saviour
's Body on the
Mount.
And it is very absurd, and almost
blasphemous,
to think these
Myriads
of
Stars
and Luminaries, that appear in a Winter Night, in the Heavens, and its
milky Way,
to be nothing but twinkling
Tapers,
uninhabited, and designed only to be stupidly and ignorantly
gaz'd
on by us.
§. 6. WHAT a
spiritual
Substance, or of what Nature the
Substratum
of these Faculties of
Understanding
and
Will,
or of
Thinking,
is, we shall never perfectly know, till we arrive at the World of
Spirits,
and drop this coarse
earthly
Tabernacle. Indeed, we know nothing of the internal
Substance
of any Being; all we know or can know, is their sensible Qualities and the
Effects
of them on us; and something in general we learn of inanimated Bodies, and their
Laws,
from the
Uniformity
of these Effects: And we may be certain, that
spiritual
Substance is in most, if not all its Qualities, contradictory, at least
contrary,
to Body or
material
Substance, and
vice versâ.
For
Example,
we know that Matter is absolutely
passive,
and equally susceptible of
Motion
or
Rest
; and that
Spirit,
or spiritual Substances, are
self-active
and
self-motive,
and the immediate productive Cause of all Motion in Body, and consequently is endow'd with
Freedom
or
Liberty.
We know that
Matter
is
impenetrable,
and that two Bodies cannot possess the same
Space
at the same
time
; but
Spirits
may and can pervade and penetrat one another, at least by their
spiritual
Virtue and
Energy
; as is evident from
Persuasion, Conviction, Reasoning
and
Compassion,
and such-like spiritual Actions. It is true, the
Sphere
of their
Activities
is limited and circumscribed; but we also know, that the
Spirit
acts in every Point of that
Circumscription:
as we find by our Bodies, every Part of which is more or less sensible, by the
membranous
Mouths of the nervous
Tubuli
being spread over all the solid Parts of an
animal Body
; and we know no
Body,
or mere Matter, that is so.
Matter
is certainly divisible in
infinitum,
and may be actually divided into very small Parts; but
Spirit,
having no sensible Parts, is neither
divisible
nor
discerptible.
Persons of light Understandings, and gross Conceptions, may dispute or ridicule these Truths; but they must be
poor Philosophers,
who can think them not highly
probable
; and have a mean Notion of the Extent of Nature, and its
Author.
Four of the greatest
Philosophers
of this or any other Age, to wit, Sir
Isaac Newton,
Mr.
Leibneitz,
Mr.
Hugens,
and Mr.
Fatio,
when they describe the
Matter,
which they suppose to be the Cause of
Gravity,
consider it as
infinitely
small in its Particles,
infinitely
rare,
infinitely
elastic, and moved with an
infinite
Velocity. And the
first
of these, by a very strong Figure, calls it
Spiritus quidam Subtilissimus.
What these
four Infinitudes
may effect on
Matter,
to destroy at least these gross, palpable and sensible Qualities we observe in it, such as sensible
Extension, Impenetrability
and
Passivity,
I will not take upon me to determine: But all the Notion we can now form of
Spirit,
is to
divide, refine, sublime
and
exalt
Body and Matter
ad infinitum,
so that we be sure it can have very little of the
sensible
Qualities; and this, I fear, is as far as
Philosophy
can go, while we have only gross and palpable
Vehicles
of Clay. For by
Analogy
to infinitely divided, subtiliz'd, sublim'd and refin'd
material
substance, we form the only Idea, Notion or Perception, we can now frame of
spiritual
Substances, and that is but a gross one, and neither just nor true.
§. 7.
LIVING, Sensation
or
Actuation
of Matter, is not easy to define or describe.
Existence
or Being belongs to
Matter
as well as
Spirit
; but
Life,
Sensation or Perception, and their Consequences, belong only to some one
Rank
of Spirit or Mind; and I may defy all the
Philosophers
and
Mathematicians,
that ever have been, to explain consistently, from
Matter
and
Mechanism
alone, as it now obtains, the
Life, Growth
and
Fecundity
of the lowest
Plant
or
Vegetable,
at least its
Seed
or
Seeding,
much less of the least
Insect
or
Animal,
and least of all of a
rational, sentient
and
percipient
Being: So that where-ever there is any
Degree
of
Life, Vegetative, Sensitive
or
Rational,
there is probably some Degree of a
Soul
or
Spirit, immaterial, immortal
and
progressive
; so that
Life
or Animation, in all Creatures in general, is indeed Matter
organiz'd
and actuated by a
Spirit,
or
Soul,
of some one
Rank
or
Degree
or other: I mean only created Life, or Life
derivative,
as it is in Creatures; for in the
Creator,
Life is without
Matter,
without
Body
or
Vehicle,
and without
Limits,
or Possibility of Non-existence or not Living. The best Notion, Idea, or Perception, we can frame of created Life, is that of a nice, delicate, finely contriv'd
Machine,
of a vast Variety of
Organs
set in Motion by the
first Cause,
and continued by an internal self-motive
Spring,
which
Spring
is this
spiritual
Substance.
§. 8. As we have some Notion of what Extent the best-form'd and most cultivated human
Spirit
is, there may be
Myriads
of a lower Rank of the same
Species
; and that as under the human
Species,
there is an almost infinite Variety of the
brutal
and irrational
Species,
and under these, a like or greater Variety, of the
vegetable
Kind, from the Moss on the
Wall
and the
coralline Sea-plant,
up to the highest
Divine, Philosopher
or
Mathematician
of the human Race; and that all the several
Species,
from the highest to the lowest, sink so gradually into one another, that it is impossible to determine where one
Degree
ends, or the next begins: So it is also highly probable, that above the
human
Species there are
Orders, Ranks
and
Hierarchies,
rising gradually and insensibly, without
Limits
and without
End.
This the Dignity, Power, Wisdom and Goodness of the
first
infinitely perfect Being, and the
Analogy
of Things, seem to oblige us to
conjecture
or hope; and the infinite Variety of
Systems, Fixt Stars,
(which we known to be
Suns,
and very probably have
primary
and
secondary Planets, analogous
to ours) and the infinite Expansion of
Space,
makes it probable and
philosophical.
And as an
Angel
is only of a little higher and more noble Order than the
human
Race, and all created Intelligences have
Vehicles
or Bodies of an
Order
and
Purity analogous
to their
Rank
and
Degree
in the
Scale
of Intelligences; we may fairly and
philosophically
define a pure original, not
lapsed, Angel,
of the lowest
Order,
a
spiritual
Substance of the next immediat Order above the
Human,
actuating a divinely
organiz'd
Body, of a Purity and Sublimity
analogous
to their Order, and the Perfection of his informing Spirit.
§. 9. WE have a pretty clear Perception of what the human Race is at present, both in their Body and Spirit. He that has a just, though not an adequate Idea of
infinite
Perfection, that is, of
infinite
Power, Wisdom and Goodness, can find no possible Reason or Motive, why such a
Being
should create Intelligences, imperfect in their
Order,
unhappy and perishing, when the
same
Power, Wisdom and Goodness, could either have totally abstain'd from creating
them
at all, or have made them to be at last happy in their
Order
and
Rank,
consistent with their Natures and his own;
Malice
and
Difficulty
having no Place in such a
Being.
But any one who considers this ruinous disorder'd
Globe,
and the Miseries, Darkness and Wretchedness of the whole
System
of Intelligences that inhabit it, cannot but conclude one of these
two,
either that their
Author
had not Power to make them otherwise, or that they have wilfully forfeited their
Rank,
and his Favour and Protection, by transgressing the Terms and Conditions on which they were intitled to it; and so being left to reap the Fruits of their own Labour, sunk into a
lapsed
disorderly Condition.
§. 10.
INFINITE
Power, Wisdom and Goodness, could, primarily and originally, bring no Intelligence into Being, with rational and intelligent
Spirits,
actuating divinely
organiz'd
Bodies or Vehicles, but under these
two
Conditions: 1. That the
organiz'd
Body should be supple, pliable, and joyfully obedient to all the
Dictates
and Commands of the free intelligent
Spirit:
And, 2. That the
Spirit
should be supple, pliable, and obedient to the
Dictates
and Influences of the
Eternal
and
infinitely
perfect
Spirit,
its
Author
and
Creator:
And in these
two,
its
original
Innocence, Happiness and Perfection, must necessarily have consisted. And this was and must have been the true
original
and
paradisaical
State of both Body and Soul of the human Race; and must be the Constitution and Complexion of the
unfallen angelical
State, and of all the
Hierarchies
of unlapsed
Spirits.
Which
two
Conditions, I think, necessarily infer a
preexistent
State to our present one, since we do not find them in ourselves now.
§. 11. ALL created Intelligences being
free
and finite, must of Consequence be
fallible,
and liable to run into
Disorder,
as well as capable of obeying
Order:
For they could not be
free,
unless they had the Power of chusing either Side; Self-activity being of the
Essence
and Root of
Intelligence,
and perhaps the Source from which it springs; so that all created
finite free
Intelligences were naturally capable of Falling, of Rebellion and Disorder. An
infinitely
wise and intelligent Being, of sufficient Power, could not make another intelligent
Being
with Desires, Impressions and
Pantings
after a State which was according to Order, to his Nature, and the Nature of Things, unless at the same time
He
had appointed Means and proper Objects to satisfy these just and natural
Desires
; no beneficent and good Being could act so. Now that we (at least many of us of the
human
Race) have yet a Notion and
Idea
of a better State of Being and Acting, than we find ourselves in, and wish and pant after it, is most certain and undeniable; every honest and thinking Person must find
a Law in his Members, that wars against the Law of his Mind,
and wishes and desires to be freed from the one, that he may conform to the other. Now this is what is called the
Lapse
or Fall; and if this State of Imperfection last for ever, so must the
Fall
; and till this Desire or Panting be satisfied, the intelligent Creature cannot be completely happy; and for this End was the
Oeconomy
of
Jesus
intended.
§. 12. How and by what
Steps
the
Lapse
was brought on, is of no Consequence for us precisely to know. The
Design
and Point in
View
of all the
Oeconomy
of Providence, and of
Jesus,
is to restore us, with the Consent, Concurrence and Integrity of our three
radical
Attributes, of
Living, Activity
or Freedom, and
Intelligence,
which He cannot do Violence to, they being immediately derived from Himself, whose
Images
and
Miniatures
all Intelligences are: And the Means that alone can effect this, without intrenching upon these essential and radical Qualities, are
pure Love, naked Faith,
and
universal Resignation
; which Means we could not perfectly use, if
precise
Truths, particular and specific
Steps,
and the naked Nature of Things, were always pointed out to us: This (at first at least) would infallibly weaken our
Faith
and
Trust,
counteract our
Resignation,
and destroy our
Liberty
; and therefore all that is reveal'd concerning
this,
and the other Truths of past, future and invisible
States,
is general, undetermin'd, and indefinite; and the
Precision
is promis'd only on our Advancement and Progress.
He that doth the Will of my Father, shall know of the Doctrine:
Our
first
Lesson is just what is absolutely necessary to begin our Return; the Knowledge of more Truths and greater
Precision,
is to reward our Progress. The next immediate Step, or what is to be done daily and hourly, we are never ignorant of in our Duty; and that is all that is necessary; the rest are all wisely put out of our Reach, and do not belong to us now, till we advance that Step; and when we come into the proper Disposition of Body and Mind, to benefit by the just and precise Knowledge of these mentioned and such-like Divine Truths, (though absolute
Precision
be inconsistent with
Finitude
) we shall admire and adore the Wisdom of our
Teacher,
for having conceal'd from us what would then have hurt us, as much as for these
general
Truths, which serve sufficiently to
animate
and encourage us in our now travelling and
probatory
State; for both are directed with
equal
Wisdom. If we are ignorant, it is because we are not come into the proper Disposition to benefit by Knowledge, or that more precise Knowledge would hurt us, and draw us out of our
Orbit,
or shortest Road.
§. 13. IF we may be allow'd to conjecture with Humility and Modesty, about such unreveal'd and indefinite
Truths
and
States,
we may reasonably think, that this
Lapse
was not brought about all at once, but
Step
by
Step,
by many
Machinations,
Plots and Contrivances of the superior
lapsed Intelligences
on the Inferior.
Nemo repente fit optimus aut turpissimus.
Finite Intelligences must form and acquire all their
Habits
by repeated
Acts,
and
Step
by
Step:
So that in all Probability, the
Fall
might have been a long time in bringing about; and innumerable Numbers of all the several
Ranks
and
Orders,
and some of all the different
Hierarchies,
might have been brought into this
general Rebellion,
and have gradually departed from that
pure Love, naked Faith
and
universal Resignation,
which alone made the Essence of their Perfection and Happiness; though in the
brief
contracted Account we have of it in
Revelation,
it is compriz'd in a few general Words, which is all we in our present
State,
it seems, could bear, without Violence being committed on our
Liberties,
our universal
Resignation
obstructed, and the Merit of
pure Love
and a generous Trust and Confidence in infinite Perfection destroy'd; more explicit and detail'd Accounts, might have nourished
Pride, Presumption
and
Self-sufficiency,
and so sunk us deeper.
§. 14. OUR
Senses
were given us to
commerciat
with material Objects, and to perceive and enjoy the Beauties of the
inanimate
Creation, as well as to limit the
Extension
and
Expansion
of our Powers and Faculties; and by them all our Sensations,
Ideas
and Pictures of Bodies and inanimate Creatures, are convey'd to the
sentient
and
intelligent
Principle. The Key and Mean of all our
natural
Knowledge of them, is
Experiment
or Observation, perform'd by our Senses simply, or improv'd by
Art,
and the
Logic
of all human and natural Knowledge about them, is
Proportion
justly apply'd: For
Syllogism
and formal Argument, is but
Proportion
express'd in abstracted Terms, or the
Ideas
meant by these Terms; and this is the true and only Mean of natural Knowledge about
Bodies
and their natural Qualities and
Laws.
In
spiritual
Truths, imperceptible and immaterial
Beings,
(
viz.
) about their Nature, Qualities and Ranks, can know nothing naturally and humanly, (unless it be infus'd and impress'd by some other
Spirit
) but by
Analogy, Similitude, Allegory, Trope, Metaphor,
or
Figure,
referring them to, and comparing them with, our own intelligent and sentient
Spirit,
and its Manner of Operation; and then cloathing them with such Terms, or referring them to such Knowledge, as we have receiv'd from
Sensation,
or from
Proportion
; and this is the only
Mean
and Instrument of human Knowledge we can possibly have, in the Nature, Qualities and
moral
Relations of
Spirits, spiritual
and
moral
Actions and Duties. The
sentient
and
intelligent
Principle, or
Soul,
is the Spring or Source of both
Keys
or Kinds of
Logic,
without which both would be equally useless. Culture and Experience is in
spiritual
Knowledge, what
Experiment
and Observation is in
sensitive
Knowledge;
Analogy
is to the
first,
what
Proportion
is to the
second
;
Similitude, Allegory, Trope, Metaphor
and
Figure,
(all the Appendages of
Analogy,
or a more distant or near Approximation to it) are what a more or less accurate, a general or more particular
Experiment
and Observation, or juster and clearer
Proportion
apply'd to material Objects, is in
sensitive
Knowledge; and a close, simple, full and cogent
Analogy,
is as just and coercive a Demonstration in
spiritual
Knowledge, as a
Mathematical
or
Geometrical
one is in
sensitive
Knowledge.
Scripture, Revelation,
and our own inward
Feelings
of the Operations of our
Soul,
give the
Data,
(
viz.
the general Propositions, the accurate Observations on them)
analogous
to Mr.
Flamstead
's or Dr.
Halley
's Observations of the
Appulses
of the Moon to the Fixed Stars, from sufficient Numbers of which, the great Orbit of the Lunar Revolution is determin'd, by comparing them with the general
Law
of Attraction. Here
Revelation
gives us the
Observations
; the Knowledge we have of the Nature of the Operations of our own
Spirits,
gives us the general
Law
; and
Analogy
may answer to
Algebra
and
Calculation
in
Astronomy
and mix'd
Mathematics
; and we may err and blunder in the
first
for want of Care and Attention, as we may in the
last,
being ever finite, and consequently fallible.
§. 15. THE Account we have in
Revelation
of the
Lapse,
may have a
literal, natural
and material Meaning (as all the Words and Works of
God
have a
natural
or
literal, spiritual
and
divine
Meaning and Use, else he were not
God,
that is, a Being of
infinite
Perfection); and these Meanings may only
develope
and unfold themselves, and appear to different Persons, according to their different Degrees of
Purity
and Perfection; the
literal
and
cortical
Meaning and Use, may be fitted to
elementary
and initiating Persons, and be
just
and
true
in its Degree; and the
others
proper only for the more advanced; and this with infinite Variety, Justness and Property. Now in
Moses
's Account of the
Lapse,
the
Tree of Life,
of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil,
the
Serpent, Paradise,
and all the
Scene
and
Group
of this mysterious Affair, was certainly
literal, material
and
real,
as there represented and described; but perhaps happen'd not till the last Act of this
Tragedy. Paradise
was certainly a most delicious and enchanting Place of
material
and bodily Delights; the
Tree of Life
and its Fruit was design'd to perpetuat the Life and Health of the then new-modell'd, though not perhaps
Ethereal
Vehicle; the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,
certainly communicated by its Fruit, Pain, Diseases and Death to this partially incrusted Body: The
Serpent,
no Doubt, was a lapsed
Spirit,
embodied in this then more
beautiful Animal.
Now as all this Scene, may have also
spiritual
Meaning as well as a
literal
and elementary one, of more Consequence to our Happiness and Perfection to be known and believ'd, as the
Spirit
is of more Value than the
Body
; why may not
Paradise
mean in this Sense, the
three
original and fundamental Powers of the Soul,
Living, Activity
or Liberty, and
Intelligence,
or its original and immutable Nature and Constitution, intrusted with us finite Intelligences, to cultivate, improve and exalt? The
Tree of Life
be
Him,
from whom all Life and Being proceeds, the
Father
of us all? The
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,
the primary
Image
of the
Deity,
the
Son of God,
by whose
Oeconomy
Evil known and felt, could only be done away and eraz'd, or his divine Nature, Justice, Goodness and Truth, which
Image
was in the human Nature defac'd, by trusting it to his own
Spirit
and Liberty? The
Serpent,
the
grand Deceiver,
or
lapsed
spiritual Nature in General, or one of the highest
Order
of the
lapsed Hierarchy?
And so the whole Scene of the
Lapse
may be more properly and feelingly
allegoriz'd,
or explain'd in plain Terms to an honest and ingenuous Heart, (
viz.
) thus: All created finite Intelligences being
free,
and consequently
fallible,
innumerable Numbers of them, through
Pride, Self-sufficiency,
and Desire of
Independence,
trusting to, and conducting themselves by their own
natural
Lights, as being made little
Deities,
and deriveing with their Being from their Author, a
Ray,
Efflux, or
infinitesimal
Emanation of his
Self-existence, infinite Activity
or Power, and infinite Wisdom, that is, of his Nature and essential Attributes; deriving, I say,
dependent
and
derivative
Living, Freedom and Intelligence, but affecting Independency, and departing from
pure Love, naked Faith
and
universal Resignation
to infinite Perfection, they gradually sunk into
Selfishness, Propriety
and
inordinate Love
of the Creatures; and instead of being govern'd absolutely in all things by the Providence, Influences, Impulses and Suggestions of the
Eternal Spirit,
they affected to be govern'd by their own natural Spirits, and selfish and narrow Views and Prejudices, and became, as it were,
independent,
unguarded, and unrestrain'd
Thinkers
and
Actors,
prying into and determining in all Matters whatsoever; and instead of being resign'd to the
universal Reason
and sovereign
Will
and Order of Divine Providence, found Fault with, criticis'd, grumbled at, and blasphem'd the Conduct and
Oeconomy
of infinite Wisdom, and gradually departed from
pure Love, naked Faith,
and
Trust,
and
universal Resignation,
the
sole
Means to preserve them in the Perfection of their dependent State, and in
Similarity
to his
moral Attributes
; and so fell from the perfect Happiness of their Rank and derivative Being;
Self,
spurious
Self,
became
transubstantiated
into their thus deprav'd Natures.
§. 16. WHEN human Nature had thus
lapsed,
by affecting Independence, and desireing to govern itself by its own natural Spirit solely, and wallowing in the Objects of Sense, and swallow'd in
Creature-pleasures,
it being an
eternal Law,
establish'd in Nature, (for many wise and great Ends) and, by
Analogy,
(as we find it) extending from
material
to
spiritual
Things,
viz.
that
Like draws and is equally drawn to Like
; or that Bodies and Spirits attract and unite with
similar Bodies
and
Spirits,
from the universal Principle of
Attraction
and
Union
; the human Body did hence necessarily and
mechanically
(as it were) contract a Rust, Grossness,
Stupor
and Inactivity, and became restive and disobedient to the Commands of the natural
Spirit,
gradually degenerating into an
earthly, gross, material
Prison or
Dungeon
; and the
Spirit
was hereby more contracted, restrain'd and limited in its original and immutable Attributes of
Liveing, Activity
and
Intelligence,
as to their Extention, Purity, the Quickness and Exertion of their Acts, (for all Spirits are limited and tied down to the
Nature, Order
and
Purity
of their
Vehicles,
while their Union lasts, though their natural Powers in their
Fund
and Essence be immutable, and constantly the same) so that their natural Spirits now being assisted by the
supernatural Grace
and Influence of the
Eternal Spirit,
procur'd by the Mediation of
Jesus,
must work out their Recovery and Restoration by gradually returning to their
original Order.
§. 17. PERHAPS, as all animated Beings,
Sentient
or
Intelligent,
must necessarily be cloath'd with some
Vehicle,
purer or grosser,
ethereal
or
planetary,
fitted to the
Mansion
they are confin'd to, and to their Degree of Purity in their moral Powers, and their Extention or Rank of natural Powers; so all
created free Intelligences,
of whatever Order or Degree, must necessarily pass through some State of
Probation,
Apprenticeship and Trials, of their
Love, Faith
and
Patience,
before they can arrive at their
final,
immutable, and for ever
permanent
State, and the
Mansion
they are eternally to inhabit afterwards. That something like this was the general Sense of Mankind, seems to be hinted in all
Pagan
Antiquity that we have any Accounts of,
Egyptian, Syrian, Grecian
and
Roman,
by their
Initiations
into the
Mysteries
of their
Gods
; and this, chiefly, in order to produce an habitual Firmness, Force and Stability, on finite, free, labile Intelligences, in the different Institutions. It would seem, as none but
God
is a pure
Spirit
in his Nature and Substance, none but
God
can be
infallible
and
impeccable:
And that all Creatures being finite and
free,
must necessarily, by their Nature, be
labile, fallible
and
peccable
; and that even infinite
Wisdom
and
Power
could not make a
Creature
(for
God
cannot work Contradictions) that was of its own Nature,
illabile, infallible
and
impeccable
; but that before that
secondary
Nature of eternal
Infallibility, Illability
and
Impeccability
could be brought about, on the most perfect of created Intelligences, it must necessarily be, by confirm'd
Habits,
produced by repeated
Acts,
and perfected into
pure Love
and
naked Faith,
or into an absolute Surrendry of their
natural
and
moral Powers,
to infinite Perfection, which alone can produce derivative
Infallibility
and
Illability
on them, and so
eternize
Perfection and Happiness, and which only can be produced by various Trials, Essays and Temptations to the contrary:
He who never was tempted, what knoweth he?
Thus the
Son
of
God,
as
Man,
was made
perfect
by Suffering: As a
Potter
gives Firmness and Impenetrability to his
Earthen Ware,
by keeping it in the Fire till it vitrifies. Had
Lucretia
lived to all Eternity, her
Chastity
would never have been doubted; whereas
Cleopatra
must not only first have made an
Amende Honorable,
but have pass'd through several severe new
Trials,
before her's could have been believ'd. We plainly find by
Revelation,
that many of all the several
Hierarchies
fell on their
Trial
; for tried they must have been, else they could not have
fallen
; for
Reaction
always supposes
Action.
As it is the Nature of
Pride
and
Malice,
to be spiteful, infectious and tempting, (in Hopes that Numbers may make them overlook'd, or too powerful, and so secure) we find they, or their Leader, (suppose his Name
Lucifer
) had a great hand in the human
Lapse,
as it is glanced at under the
Serpent
that tempted
Eve.
And from this
Fall
of the
Angels,
the natural and plain Account of
Daemonology,
and the early impious
Heresy
of the
Manichaeans,
(
Lucifer
and his
Angels
) is to be deriv'd. What the
Trials
of these
fallen Angels
were, and in what manner those of the Angels in the several
Hierarchies
who stood, combated, kept firm and unshaken, and thereby were for ever confirm'd,
establish'd
and
eterniz'd,
and perhaps increas'd and inlarg'd in
Purity, Lustre
and
Glory,
by their Victory; is not reveal'd, nor to be discover'd but by
Analogy
or Conjecture. The
History
of the human
Lapse
is so brief and obscure in
Moses,
(perhaps partly
allegorical,
partly
literal
) with a plain Design to damp idle or hurtful
Curiosity,
and so prevent our being hurt thereby, by withdrawing us from the
one thing necessary,
that it amounts almost to a total
Forbidding,
and a Warning from prying with too much Eagerness into this
mysterious
Affair; and to leave things secret (the
Secreta Imperii Divini
) to
God.
All that is certain is, that we are
lapsed
at present, or in a State of Trial and Probation, (we of the
human
Race on this ruinous
Planet
) and cannot possibly now be as we came out of the Hands of our infinitely wise, good and powerful
Creator. Pre-existence,
the Manner of our
Lapse,
the Duration of our Banishment, and the last Term and Limits of our
Restoration,
are, with
infinite
Wisdom and Goodness, in their Detail conceal'd from us, because they would infallibly
hurt
us; if more
precise,
they might obstruct the Merit of
Faith,
or draw us out of the shortest Way.
Either
of these two Manners of explaining the
Lapse,
may suffice an honest modest
Philosopher,
(who is sensible of his own limited Faculties) to make the Affair neither improbable nor impossible; especially when he finds himself both imperfect, unhappy, and unfit to be finally united with a
Being
infinitely perfect and happy, as He now is. I chuse the
first,
as more conformable to
Revelation,
and the Form of
sound Words
; and every modest
Christian Philosopher
will be cautious
not to be wise, above what is written.
§. 18. WHETHER this
Globe
of
Earth,
as we now inhabit it, was the
original
and
primitive
Seat of
innocent
and
unlapsed
human
Spirits,
and by the
Energy
and Force of the
Lapse,
was gradually and necessarily, and, according to the present Laws of Bodies, turn'd into the ruinous, dark, dismal State it is now in, and such elementary and clayey Prisons made of it, as our present
Vehicles,
and the human
Race,
with all the Spirits concern'd in the
Rebellion,
thrust down and confin'd upon it, is not material to be known, nor perhaps
philosophically
to be determin'd: It seems most probable, and conformable to the
Analogy
of Things, and the common
Laws
of Nature, that it gradually and naturally changed from its
original
Beauty and superior Place among the
Stars,
into its present ruinous and decay'd
State,
from the natural
Malignity,
and deleterious
Energy
of the
Rebellion
in its primitive Inhabitants, which perhaps was gradual. What is certain is, that such a Place as
Paradise
is describ'd, is now no-where to be found on it; and that
balancing
the Inconveniencies with the Advantages, of want of
Light
and
Sun,
and of cold, uncertain and various
Seasons,
of
Barrenness,
and Mountains cover'd with
Ice
and
Snow,
of the one Part, with the
Hurricanes, Tempests, Volcano's, Earthquakes, Thunder
and
Lightning,
poisonous
Insects,
and ravenous and savage
Beasts,
scorching Heats, and
pestilential
Winds, Blasts or Damps, of the other, the whole
Globe
is pretty near equal in Conveniencies; and no particular Place without its
Comforts
and
Inconveniencies.
So that either
Paradise
was on some other
Planet,
or (which is most natural to suppose) Crime,
Rebellion
and Disorder have had a
physical
and necessary Influence, on the Matter or Vehicle belonging to each human
Spirit
; and thus the whole Mass of rebellious
Intelligences,
with the
Globe
they inhabited, was naturally and
physically
chang'd and disorder'd. I say, it is most natural and
philosophical,
and perhaps a necessary Consequence of
physical
Efficiency and
Energy,
to conclude that the
Spirit,
according to its Degree of Purity or Depravity, should purify and sublime, or corrupt and disorder the
elementary
Vehicle, with which it is cloathed: as
Fire
turns Bodies into its own Nature, and
Cold
deadens and incrassats them, according to the Degree of their Intenseness. We see
Luxury,
inordinat
Leachery,
Riot and Laziness, first incrassat, then inflame, and at last
mortify
and
putrify
human and animal Bodies; and Abstinence, a low and cool
Regimen,
Exercise and Air,
lighten,
enliven and
volatilize
them. And it is not impossible, that a whole Race, and all the Inhabitant Mass of such corrupted and putrified Bodies, and deprav'd and degenerated
Spirits,
may have had such an insensible and gradual Influence on a whole
Globe,
its
Atmosphere
and different Regions, as quite to alter its
original
Nature; as we see Heaps of putrifying
Fish, Insects,
and the Carcasses of Men, by the
Fermentation
and
Volatilization
of the animal Salts, (from intense Heat) produce an universal
Plague
and
Pestilence,
as was that of
Athens,
and many others. Thus far the Change of our
Planet
might have been a natural and necessary Consequence at least, the
Elements,
or Beginning of such a Depravation of the Bodies of its Inhabitants, and their Habitation: which, no doubt, infinite Wisdom and Power, (who directs the natural and necessary Effects of his
inanimat
Creation, for the moral Purposes of his
intelligent
Creatures, supernaturally) and out of the
general
Law
establish'd for
material
Bodies and
spiritual
Substances, may have heighten'd, exasperated, or even quicken'd, according to his Pleasure, for the wise Ends and Purposes of his
Providence
; and thus might have destroyed that
Paradise,
which by Rebellion and Disorder had been abus'd,
viz. supernaturally
and contrary to the general
Laws
of the
Celestial
Motions, might have changed the
Orbit,
the
Centre
of
Rotation,
the Distance of the
Earth
from the
Sun,
and the
Angle
of the
Ecliptic
with the
Equator
; to reverse the
Elements,
destroy its
Figure
and Structure, and thus to weaken the Fertility, and produce the rest of the Appearances we now observe on our
Planet,
and throughout the whole
Solar System,
which have many evident Marks of
Ruin
and Desolation; and this for a Punishment and expiatory Purification of the
lapsed
Inhabitants: And thus also the
Deluge
might have been brought on, after the Destruction of a
paradisaical Globe,
by altering only its
Centre
of
Gravity
; and after the same Manner other Changes might have been produc'd.
§. 19. AN
animal
Body is nothing but a
System
or Aggregat of mere mechanical Powers,
viz.
of
Ropes, Pullies, Levers, Tubes, Glands, Strainers,
and the like;
viz.
One great Pipe with infinite Branches, (infinite in Number, Fitness and Delicacy;) secreting proper and
specific
Liquors, to keep them (these Solids) in Repair, and preserve them in their due Tone, and a proper Degree of
Elasticity,
thereby to serve the Intentions, and answer the
Ends
of the intelligent Spirit, while confin'd to this
Planet.
And as I have often used the Similitude, I still find it the most proper,
viz.
that the Body, this earthly
Vehicle
and
Machin,
is, as it were, a curious finely contriv'd
Organ,
or musical Instrument, whose
Keys, Stops
and
Pipes
were all originally, elegantly adjusted and duly tun'd, for the Use of the
Musician,
or indwelling
Spirit.
In this Fitness and Propriety to answer the Purposes of the
Creator,
does the
Union
consist; if that is partly disorder'd, this
Union
is partially dissolv'd; while the great and necessary Parts are tolerably sound, the
Union
will still subsist, tho' imperfectly; but if these essential
Organs
are quite spoiled, the
Union
will be totally dissolv'd, and the Inhabitants, by the eternal
Laws
of
Spirits,
must necessarily find out, and pass into some other
astral Vehicle,
or
musical Organ,
proper for its then Degree of Purity or Corruption; as an
Insect
is, by the great
Law
of
Instinct,
directed to deposit her
Eggs
on those Leaves or Trees that are fittest to preserve and
vivify
them; or a
Bird
seeks by
Instinct,
the Situation and Materials for her
Nest,
that is most proper to shelter and accommodate her
Young
; and this perhaps in a continual Progression, from
astral Vehicle
to
Vehicle,
perpetually refining, as the rational free Intelligence purifies in its
moral
Capacity or Attributes.
§. 20.
MATTER,
or Body, is essentially incapable of any thing but
Division, Figure, Motion
and Situation. It is naturally
passive,
and to make it
active,
or capable of
Self-motion,
is an absolute Contradiction and Impossibility; for
two
opposite and contrary Principles can never subsist in the same Subject: and therefore it must be intirely inert and
passive,
and for ever continue in the State it is put in, unless it be chang'd by some
external Force
; and that can never be effected but by a
Spirit,
or spiritual Substance: which, on the contrary, is essentially
self-active
and
self-motive,
and by its Agency determines the Motion and Rest, and different Directions and Actions of Bodies. It is true, this
Agency
is under certain Restrictions, being limited and subjected to the general
Laws
of the
Nature
of Bodies; but the Beginning, End and Degree of the
Force
and Motion, and all other Changes produc'd in Bodies, are from the
Energy
and Action of
spiritual
Substances, either
primary
or
secondary,
original or created; so that where Matter,
Mechanism
and its Powers and
Laws
end, there
spiritual
Agency and
Energy
begin. And therefore I fear, that Sir
Isaac Newton
's
Spiritus quidam subtilissimus, Descartes
's and
Leibnitz
's
Vortices, Hugens
's and
Fatio
's infinitely rare, rapid, subtil Matter, with the Qualities they must endow them, to solve Appearances, (I mean only in animated Bodies, for in Inanimat it may be required, nay some such Fluid seems necessary, I think) is, I fear, imaginary and without Foundation, from sufficient Experiment, or the
Anology
of Nature; unless by their infinitly subtil Matter, they mean real
spiritual
Substance, or else the first
Elements
of Bodies; for Matter must be extended, divisible,
inert,
and gravitat, else it can be no longer Matter; and when such immaterial, and, as it were, self-moving Matter is granted, it will separate us, but one Step further from
spiritual
Substance and Agency; or the perpetual Influence of the
First Cause,
in whom all things
live, move and have their Being.
And, I fear, the whole of the Supposition, how
mechanical
and adequat soever, to answer Appearances in all
animated
Beings, and in all Accounts of it given by these great Men, has not that Simplicity and Beauty conspicuous in, and
essential
and necessary to, all the Works of God,
i. e.
to
infinit
Wisdom and Power. Of the same kind are
animal Spirits,
in the Account of
muscular Motion
; and, on the whole, I can conceive Matter no otherwise, but as divided, extended, mov'd and figur'd, and actuated and directed by
Spirit,
which only can act on it, by its own
self-motive Energy,
tho' that too is limited and circumscrib'd by Matter, in all created
Spirits.
If Experiment or repeated Observations should ascertain the Existence of such an infinitely rare and
elastic
Matter necessarily, (which I fear it will hardly do) then we must submit to receive it; but, I think, since
Resistance
will always necessarily accompany Matter in
Motion,
how small, rare or
elastic
soever, it will of consequence at last alter the Figure and Direction, and abate the Force and Figure of the Particles, so as to render them unfit to produce the Effect, and answer present
Appearances
; and perhaps this System may be so ordain'd at first thus to end. But still, as we must stop somewhere at last, and admit of
spiritual
Agency to impress the
first
Motion, nothing but repeated and undeniable
Experiment
and
Observation
should induce us to multiply Causes, and allow any such Fluid intervening between
animated
Matter and the
first
or
secondary
Movers. This will be better understood by an
Example:
It is well known what Pains have been taken, and how many
Hypotheses
have been fram'd, not only by
Physicians,
but
Geometers
of the
first Rank,
to explain
muscular Motion,
and all, I think, hitherto in vain. This subtil Matter under the Name of
animal Spirits,
(or at least in propagating them) and even Sir
Isaac
's
Spiritus subtilissimus,
has been imploy'd for this Purpose, tho' with little Satisfaction to most attentive and qualify'd Judges. How much more natural,
philosophical
and
simple
is it, to suppose the
Nerves
to be infinitly delicat and
mechanically
adjusted membranous
Tubes, Twists
or
Ropes,
whose
Elasticity
and
Mechanism
is preserv'd by an internal milky soft
Pith,
which Membranes receive their first Impression and
Impulse
from the
self-motive Principle
within us, (for the
self-moveing Principle
must communicat the first Impulse either on this suppos'd intermediat
Fluid,
or on these
Membranes,
and either of them is equally unintelligible and explicable; but the last is the shortest way, and therefore likeliest to be the Method of the
Author of Nature,
who always works the shortest Way, and after the simplest Manner, as may be mathematically demonstrated in all his real and natural Workings) and communicat and propagat it by proper and
harmonious Oscillations
to the Muscles, by whose
mechanical
Structure those
harmonious
Motions are excited into Action, by that admirable Mechanism so fully and justly explain'd, by the learned and ingenious Dr.
Alexander Stewart!
How much more simple and natural is it to conceive, that the Surfaces of Bodies, their Effluvia or repelling
Steams,
communicat certain justly proportion'd and commensurable
Undulations, Vibrations
and
Tremors
to such
membranous Pipes,
which the natural
Sagacity
of the intelligent Principle knows by its own innate Powers, to indicat the Presence of such and such Bodies; in the same Manner as the
Governor
of a besieg'd Town, or the several Ships of a
Fleet,
understand what such a Number of
Guns,
or such a
Flag,
import and signify! Thus Things are easy, intelligible and simple. We daily see and hear, what fine Pieces of
Music
a skilful
Musician
can fling off a well-tun'd Instrument, from the various Motions of his
Fingers
or
Voice:
But this I propose as a mere Illustration. If
Experiment
should shew the Necessity of the mentioned
ethereal Fluid,
even then, I think, it will take Place only in
unanimated Nature.
And if there is any Regard to be had to such an
Hypothesis,
before it be absolutely decided by Experiment, it must be, because
Nature
and its
Author
never act by
Starts,
Fits, and Intervals, but by slow, uniform and imperceptible Degrees, tho' the Progression is often not to be determin'd by finite Experiments, or finite Capacities. But even tho' the Organs of Sense may and do want
Media,
the
animal Functions
are too intimat and necessary to Life to need such.
§. 21.
LIFE, Activity
and
Intelligence,
are natural and necessary in some Degree to all
spiritual
Beings, as all the Consequences and Combinations of them are; as being
Miniatures, Sparkles
or
Infinitesimals
of the
Deity.
All of the same Order,
Rank
or
Hierarchy,
have these nearly in the same
Degree
; and these
Hierarchies
and Ranks, differ only in their Degrees of these primary
Attributes.
What may make the most apparent Difference in this
State
of things, in the
Individuals
of the same
Rank
or
Species,
is, perhaps, the more coarse or elegant Texture; or the Fitness or Unfitness of their
ethereal Vehicles
in their first Formation, as they primarily came out of the Hands of their
Maker.
All the
radical
Differences conspicuous in the human Race now, are owing to the different
Frame, Texture
and
Culture
of their bodily Machin, and its spiritual Organs; so that
originally
there must have been no Difference of
Sexes,
because at
last,
in their restor'd and recover'd State there will be none; they will, in that respect, be like the
Angels,
as
Revelation
expresly asserts. Something
analogous
to
Creative
Fecundity, possibly, may be even in
Angels,
and primarily may have been too in the
human
Race, because of their
Similarity
and Resemblance to those
Angels,
and to their grand Original the
Deity
; I say, some
miniature
Resemblance of his
Creative
Power might have been in them. Beneficent Nature must be necessarily
communicative,
and earnestly desirous, there may be infinitly more Beings to contemplat, worship and adore the infinitly perfect Being, and admire the Operations of his Hands, to imitat Him, and partake of his
Felicity.
But how this
Creative
Power, or earnest Desire of more Intelligences, operated then, I will not take upon me to conjecture: But certain it is, that the Division of the
Sexes
was after the
Lapse
was begun, and, perhaps, when it was far advanc'd; possibly to put a Drag on it, and prevent the final Degeneracy into
Self-love,
or an idolatrous and unnatural Commerce with the
brute
Creation.
§. 22. IT is both
philosophical
and highly probable to suppose, that the Bodies as well as the
Spirits
of all the
human
Race were created at one and the same time; at least were sent into these
Adamical Dungeons
they now inhabit, at one and the same time. The Spirit endow'd with the
three
radical Qualities of
Life, Activity
and
Intelligence,
in the Perfection that belong'd to its Order and
Species
; and the Body, in the Perfection of their then Estate, at least in the original and first Stock, in whose Loins were included in
Miniatures
and
Infinitesimals,
in a perpetual Progression descending, all the Race and Mass that should ever
exist,
of that Species. This will be no Difficulty to those who know and understand, the infinit Divisibility of Matter, and the Doctrine of
first, second, third
and consequent
Fluxions
or
Differences,
as they are now demonstrated and explain'd. These
infinitesimal
Bodies have probably been animated, and growing in their own Manner, and according to their
Laws,
from their first Formation, and from the Time of the primary general
Creation,
till they arriv'd at their full Maturity. No doubt both these
miniature
and
mature
Bodies, were vastly different from what we find our
lapsed
earthly Tabernacles now are. As the
Spirit
was perfect in its Kind, so was the
Body:
As the
Spirit
was pliant, supple, and chearfully obedient to the Influences of the
Eternal Spirit,
(which was breath'd into it by the Spirit of God,
viz. pure disinterested Love
) so was the
Body
pliant and obedient to the Commands of the human
Spirit:
All was Order, Peace, Love and
Harmony
; and probably the Frame and Figure of the Body might be in many Particulars different from what we now find it, as we have observ'd of the Difference of the
Sexes
in the former
Section
; and these Differences may be necessary in one State of the Progression, and may naturally drop off, and decay, in another, when of no further Use: Instances of which we may see in the different Shapes of
seminal
Animalculs,
Eggs, Nymphae
and
young Insects,
from what they have when arriv'd at Maturity; of a
Chick
in the
Egg,
from what it is when perfectly grown; in the several Stages of the
Silk-worm,
and most other animated Beings, Vegetables as well as Animals. And this is a just and wise Contrivance, and evidently demonstrates
Design
in the Maker, to fit the living Creature for its several Situations. But what is most material, is, that even this now
Adamical
and gross Tabernacle of ours, must necessarily contain under it, the Principles,
Elements,
Springs and
linear Root
of that
ethereal
or
paradisaical
Body it was created in, and of that perhaps
glorious
Body it will be restor'd to at last in the final Recovery (which perhaps are both the same). But this can be no Difficulty to those who know that the Rays of the
Sun
are but Matter and Body, which may be contain'd in a Dungeon of Putrefaction, and in a
Dunghil
as well as in the
azure Sky
; and that the Particles of Matter
attract
and
repel
each other in different Circumstances, and purify and sublime as well as incraffat and condense, by the mere Force and Energy of the present
Laws
of Nature: And this
Law,
by which the whole Stock of such an Order and Rank of Intelligences advances in a certain
Progression
towards Happiness and Perfection, (the Confirmation and Stability of which is only to be found in the
last
and most perfect State of Purity and Happiness, as being
free,
but
finite,
and consequently
fallible
Creatures) must absolutly depend on and be brought about by Experience, confirm'd Habits, many appropriated
Trials,
and much gradual Labour; for nothing is more certain than the Axiom,
Nemo repente fit turpissimus aut optimus.
This
Law,
I say, of deriving the whole Race from such a radical Stock in an increasing
Progression,
was a
noble
Design, and of infinite Love and Wisdom, for rendering the succeeding and posterior Generations Partakers of all the Acquisitions of
Wisdom, Knowledge,
and other
Improvements
of their Predecessors: But as
Corruptio optimi est pessima,
by the
Lapse
all the contrary has happen'd, and
Aet as parentum pejor avis tulit Nos nequiores, mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem.
So that what infinit Love and Goodness could not effect, that is, render
finite fallible
Intelligences
fixed,
and eternally
stable
in Order and Purity:
Punishment, Experience
and
Trial
may at last effect, tho' in an unnatural and retrograde Manner: But for this Misfortune, infinit Wisdom is no more to be blam'd, than a kind
Father
that leaves a comfortable Subsistence to a
prodigal Son,
is to be charg'd with the Miseries and Diseases he has contracted in squandering it.
§. 23. THERE may possibly be original Difference in the Complexion and Frame of the Spirits of the same
Rank
and
Order
of Intelligences: some have one or more of their
natural
and
radical
Attributes in a greater Degree of Perfection than others, which certainly are heighten'd by the different Degrees of Perfection and Improvement of their
moral
Qualities; it being sufficient to constitute their Degree or Rank, that the
Sum total
of their Qualities, one to compensat the other, be originally pretty near
equal.
But I should think the greatest Difference consists in the
Culture: The righteous Man is more excellent than his Neighbour,
says the
Royal Prophet
; which is only from his
cultivating
into higher
Habits
his
moral
Qualities; and it is the same with both Parts of the Compound, the Qualities of which, in all
finite free
Intelligences, must ever depend, to a certain Degree, on
Culture
and
Improvement,
in the Docility or Facility of the
Spirit,
and
Pliancy
of the Body. He that by
Study,
entering into his own Heart, thinking, reflecting, remembering, and acting, cultivats his
Spirit,
will continually acquire a Facility, Quickness and
Penetration
in
intellectual
Opperations; and he that by
Air, Exercise,
a low
Diet,
and proper and well-tim'd
Remedies,
improves and heightens his Health, and perfects his
animal Functions,
will be fitter and more capable to improve his
intellectual
Faculties. The bodily
Machine,
disorder'd or spoil'd, will sink, debase, blunt and confound the Operations of the
Spirit
; and the
Spirit
violently agitated, or too closely confin'd, will disturb the
Oeconomy
of the bodily Functions: and the perfect State of Health, and the last Perfection of all intelligent Creatures, consisting of an intelligent
Spirit
and a material
Machine,
depends on the perfect
Sanity
and
Harmony
of
both
united, in their respective
Order
and Rank. A superior Degree of Perfection in either, will consist with an inferior Degree in the other; but when either the
Spirit
is quite uncultivated, or in an
infinitesimal Degree
only, the
radical
Qualities of
Living, Activity
and
Intelligence,
may be dwindled into that one of mere
Living,
as in Children and
Ideots,
perhaps
Brutes
; and when the Body is much in Disorder, the
spiritual
Faculties, however cultivated, either wander at random, or act irregularly. But the
Fund
of the
Spirit,
or the radical Qualities, may be eternally the same, invariable and unalterable in their
Order
and
Rank,
whatever happens to the bodily
Machine
; only the sensible and
elicited Acts
will vary and alter; or, which is the same thing, the radical Qualities of
Living, Activity
and
Intelligence,
may be invariable in the
Rank
and Degree proper to such a
Species
of spiritual Nature, whatever Machine or bodily
Organ
it be cloathed with; only it cannot exert its elicit or exterior
Acts
without a proper
Machine:
As a
Musician
is still in his Nature and
Fund
a good
Musician,
whether he has an
Organ
or musical Instrument to play on or not, or whatever sort of musical Instrument he has; but he never can perform an
harmonious
pleasant Piece of
Music,
without having a perfect and proper
musical
Instrument. An
Angel
is still an
Angel
in his Nature, whatever
Vehicle
he appear in; but cannot perform his Office to the human
Species,
unless he appear in some Shape or
Vehicle
familiar and proper to his Commission. So that as to the human
Species,
the present Body and
Vehicle
was design'd, and is necessary only to commerciat and communicat with the
System
of Bodies or Beings cloathed with material and sensible Appearances and Qualities, as they now are in their ruinous State: For as to invisible, imperceptible, and
spiritual
Objects and
Beings,
the first
Elements
of any Knowledge about them, must intirely and solely be deriv'd from
Analogy,
to the Ideas and Resemblances of Things, convey'd to the
sentient
Principle through the
Senses
; and when these
elementary
Steps are gone through, and become familiar and easy,
spiritual
Agency and Operation (if such be allow'd) may then begin its Influence and Effects: For when the Mind has been duly cultivated and habituated to a Faculty of
Thinking,
to
abstracted
Sentiments, Reflections and
Ideas,
then rational,
spiritual
and closer
Thinking,
becomes familiar and easy: But the
Rudiments,
and initial Procedure, must be deriv'd through the Senses, in Perceptions and
Ideas
excited by Matter and its Qualities, but improved by
Analogy
and its Appendages,
Trope, Metaphor, Similitude
and
Hieroglyphic.
§. 24. THE natural Progression and
final
Cause or Reason of this
Oeconomy,
as far as
philosophical
Reasoning may go in such Matters, may be this: The original and
radical
Qualities of all
spiritual
Natures being (as has been often said)
Liveing, Activity
and
Intelligence,
and these being unalterable and eternally the same, in the specific
Order
and Rank, a vast Number (perhaps of all the several Orders of the
Hierarchies
)
lapsed
and fell, and ran into Rebellion and Disorder, (being finite and free) and so defac'd and lost their
moral
Qualities of
Justice, Goodness
and
Truth.
Infinit
Wisdom
and
Love
then, always intending to recover and restore his
lapsed
Creatures, must, by the eternal unalterable
Laws
of his Nature, bring it about in a Manner consistent with their original and
radical
Qualities; that is, by preserving their
Life
or
Liveing,
their
Activity
or
Liberty,
and their
Intelligence
or
Understanding.
In loseing their
moral
Attributes, they perhaps lost or spoil'd, their
paradisaical
or
glorious
Body with which they were originally cloath'd, and were new-cloath'd over it, with a crass, unactive
Tabernacle
or Prison, such as we find our present
Adamical
one now is; by which means our
radical
Qualities were greatly confin'd, and more narrowly circumscrib'd, and we were reduc'd to a State of
Annihilation
and Extinction as to them (as it were) for a long Tract of Time: Our radical Qualities of
Liveing, Activity
and
Intelligence
being thus reduc'd to the single one of
Liveing
; as the whole human Race actually once were in the
Loins
of their first Parent
Adam,
or whoever was the first of the human Race. From that time they have been
developeing,
extending and unfettering their
Adamical
Tabernacles (every one in his Order) thus spread over the internal
ethereal
Vehicle, till they came to a certain Degree of Maturity, and had form'd the several new-cloath'd
Organs,
Pipes and Springs of this
second Adamical Machin,
fit to perform the
probatory
and
expiatory Harmony,
in this Period of Duration, in order to acquire and regain their
moral
Attributes of
Justice, Goodness
and
Truth,
and to return into
Order,
and, consequential, Happiness: Finite Beings, are absolutely uncapable to regain these
moral
Attributes consistent with their natural and necessary ones, but by a gradual Progress, (
viz.
) by
Labour, Patience, Experience
and
Trial,
by which they may be gradually confirm'd into permanent
Habits,
and advanced to the Degree of their Order and
Rank,
or perhaps higher; and thus their natural Attributes being depress'd and sunk into an Equality with their
moral
Ones, by being thus cloathed and circumscrib'd with gross Vehicles, their natural Powers are preserv'd from Violence, and only
sopited
for a time, till the
moral
Qualities begin to rise; and then both may go on in the same Pace, which, it would seem, could, by no other possible or imaginable Means, be so consistently brought about. For the natural Attributes of
Liveing, Activity
and
Intelligence,
preserv'd at their utmost original Extent, must necessarily have counteracted and clashed with the Acquisition of the
moral
Attributes to any Degree of Perfection. For Example; innate,
precise
Knowledge, and a penetrating Understanding, in any thing, in this our
lapsed
Estate, would necessarily have counteracted Dependence, Meekness, Poverty of Spirit, Humility,
pure Love,
and universal
Charity
; and unbounded
Liberty
must have clash'd with Restraints,
Submission
and
Resignation,
now (at least) so absolutely necessary to the Acquisition of the
moral
Powers to any Degree, and so of the rest of the moral Attributes. But by thus depressing the
natural
Attributes to the
Level
of the
moral
ones, both may, without Violence, be in time restor'd to their appointed Order and
Degree
; that is, they gradually and Step by Step, may be turn'd into permanent
Habits,
by the Divine Grace, and the
Oeconomy
of
Jesus.
§. 25. HENCE, the
moral
Attributes being defac'd by the
Lapse,
and the
natural
ones brought down to a Level with them, by confining them to gross
Vehicles
or Prisons, the whole of the
intellectual
Operations must, in some measure, depend on the bodily
Machin,
as well, as the Degree and Perfection of the
moral
Attributes, in this present
lapsed
State, at least in its first Steps and Initiation. The
intellectual
Operations can never be so regularly and perfectly exerted, while the
Body
is in Disorder; a sick and diseased Person seldom
perceives
truly, nor reasons justly; and a
vicious
Person never judges solidly, that is, by
Number, Weight
and
Measure,
nor acts perfectly. But that this may be more clearly understood, it may want a little further Detail. I say nothing here of a possible
passive
State in advanced Christianity, that being above
Philosophy
or Conjecture, and perhaps the last
Scene
of the
Drama
of Restoration.
§. 26. WHAT Men call a
Genius,
or a Man of fine natural Parts, a
Hero,
or a
Philosopher,
(before the Fund, the whole created spiritual Substance, or the moral as well as the natural Attributes, be acquir'd and cultivated into a Habit) is much owing to the Perfection of the
Machin
or Vehicle, and its spiritual or
ethereal
(now cloathed over with Clay)
Organs.
The
intellectual
Faculties require proper
Organs,
Springs, Ropes and Pipes, to perform their Operations by, as well as the Senses; and these probably are the
Arteriolae, Fibrils
and
membranous Tubuli
prolong'd, of the cortical and glandular Parts of the Brain, which are diversify'd and delicatly modify'd
ad infinitum
; the Detail and Mechanism of which never was, nor perhaps ever will be,
philosophically
explain'd: But that the Perfection of the
intellectual
Operations in our present State, depends, in some measure, on the Soundness and
Integrity
of the Body, and these particular
Organs,
there are many undeniable Evidences to prove, as shall be afterwards shewn. What I would here insinuat is, that the
Delicacy,
Fineness and Perfection of one
Set
of these intellectual
Organs,
beyond that of another
Set,
is that which makes the
Genius, Hero
or
Philosopher.
Thus the Health of the Body being good and sound, if a Man has warm, but sharp
Blood,
with very
elastic
and strong
pungent Nerves,
but the particular
Organs
of
Thinking,
Attention and Reflection, indifferently agile only, he may make a
Hero.
If his Blood be
cool, soft, mild
and
sweet,
and his intellectual Organs very
elastic
or agile, he may make a
Philosopher
or
Law-giver:
And so of the other Differences of natural
Spirits,
among the human
Race,
in all of whom the
Fund,
or natural Attributes, may be pretty near
equal.
But whatever Equality there may be in the
natural
Qualities of such
Spirits,
the Difference in the
moral
ones, makes the human
Species
to differ at last widely, even in the Exercise of
natural
ones. For the true
Criterion
of a right and sound Understanding, and perfect Judgment, is to examin things by
Number, Weight
and
Measure,
according to their Nature and Relations, and then to estimat and prefer them, according to their
intrinsic
Worth and Importance thus determin'd; and in this Sense it is true only,
that the righteous Man is more excellent than his Neighbour:
that is, wiser as well as better. And that the Acquisition and Culture of the
moral
Qualities, not only shew the Justness and Strength of the
natural
ones, but also inlarge, augment and perfect
them,
both as they necessarily mend and improve the bodily
Health,
by Temperance and Abstinence, and consequently rectify and
tune
the
Organs
of the intellectual Faculties, but likewise as they cultivat and extend all the Powers of the
Spirit,
by Study,
close Thinking,
by
Actions,
and
Abstraction,
and other intellectual Operations, imploy'd in the Acquisition and Exercise of these
moral
Qualities.
§. 27. THAT the
Perfection,
and full, free and just Use of the
intellectual
Faculties, depends, in a great measure, on the Soundness and Health of the bodily
Machin,
more particularly of the
Organs
of these
intellectual
Faculties, is evident from many Considerations:
1st,
The Body was design'd to concentre and circumscribe the
spiritual
Powers, to confine and imprison them for a time, and fit them only grosly to
commerciat
with other Bodies on this present
ruinous
Planet, and must purify and refine, according to the Degree of the Acquisition and Perfection of the
moral
Attributes, as has been explain'd; and every Step in this Acquisition necessarily tends to
develop
and
inlarge
the
natural
and
radical
Attributes, as has likewise been hinted; from whence their mutual Dependence on each other becomes evident. In this our
lapsed
State, our gross and earthly Prisons were design'd by infinit Wisdom, to curb, concentre and restrain the exalted
Functions
of the
radical
and intellectual Faculties, in Proportion to the Defacement and Decay of the
moral
ones, that being both on a
Level,
they might rise, advance and perfect by equal Degrees, without Clashing or Contradiction; without which our Ruin must have been eternal, our
Lapse
perpetual, and our
Recovery
impossible; the
natural
and
radical
Qualities, in their utmost Extent, being evidently contradictory to, and destructive of, the Acquisition and Improvement of the
moral
ones; and the whole
Restoration
must be brought about by the Culture of the
moral
Qualities, which perfect and develop the
natural
ones, and thereby
purify
and
sublime
the
Vehicle,
extend and form the intellectual
Organs:
So that in the first Steps at least of this
Progressive
Purification, the Perfection of the
Acts
of the
intellectual
Faculties depend on and are in proportion to the Perfection of their
natural
and bodily
Organs. 2dly,
We experimentally find, the
intellectual
Faculties and Operations depend on the Body, in all
acute
and
chronical
(especially those called
nervous
) Distempers; the
Raveings, Incoherences
and
Distractions
in the
first,
and the unaccountable
Terrors, Panics, Inconstancies,
Dispondence and
Cowardice
of the
last,
are sufficient Proofs of
this
; and demonstrat the Necessity of a proper
Crase
in the Juices, and the Soundness and proper
Elasticity
of the Solids and
Organs,
in all the intellectual
Functions
and Operations, but eminently so in the first Steps of our Renovation.
3dly,
We actually find, and are ocularly sensible, in an
Embryo,
in Infancy, in
seminal Miniatures,
that the whole of the
natural Powers
are concentred and imprison'd; and that it is in their Growth only, and in the developing of their
Organs,
and in the Inlargement of the Doors, Windows and Aperture of the Senses, that their intellectual Faculties ever inlarge themselves to any Degree.
4thly,
We find that
Luxury, Leachery,
Intemperance, Laziness, strong and violent
Passions,
inclement and pestilential
Air,
Bruises and Accidents, that injure the
arterial,
and
nervous System,
always hurt, and sometimes destroy the
free Exercise
of these Faculties, and the Acquisition of Virtue (at least of some Virtues) as well as
Science
; and that proper Remedies, and due Management, recover and restore them again.
5thly,
Abstracting from the
Probability
and
analogical
Evidence, that the Bodies of the whole Race were actually form'd, liv'd, grew and extended in the Loins of the first
original
Pair, we see plainly, (as I have hinted) that every Individual begins with, as it were, a mere
vegetable
Life, while in
Embryo,
in seminal
Miniature,
and in the Mother's Womb; that when it is born, it has scarce more than an
animal
Life, in which it continues much longer than any other
Animal
we know; and that it rises by slow and imperceptible Degrees into a
rational
Life: From which it is evident, that the Powers of the
Soul
are sunk, concentred, imprison'd and contracted by its unform'd Tabernacle or
organical
Vehicle, and cannot exert its intellectual
Functions,
but gradually and insensibly, and as the bodily and intellectual
Organs
are form'd; and that for this wise and gracious End, That the
moral
Powers and Virtues of the Soul may have
Time, Liberty
and
Leisure,
by repeated
Acts,
to turn into
Habits,
and so all
three
may equally develop and extend together, (
viz.
) the
natural
and radical Powers, (which in their Capacity, and original
Energy,
are invariable) and the
moral
Attributes of the Soul, and their mechanical and material Organs.
5thly,
But what is in this Case a Demonstration, is, that all the vital Functions and
Sensations,
are all perform'd by the
Spirit,
by the Intermediation only of Motions,
Vibrations
and Tremors, properly modify'd and impress'd by Bodies, or their
Effluvia,
on rightly dispos'd
membranous Tubuli, elastic
Threads or Filaments; which Motions or
Vibrations,
the
Soul
naturally, and by its own innate and
radical
Powers and Sagacity, knows to denote the Presence of such and such Bodies, and their Actions. Thus
Seeing
is perform'd by the Impressions of the Rays of
Light,
emitted or reflected by the Surfaces of Bodies, which by the Size of their component Particles, and other Circumstances, exciteing particular
Vibrations
and
Undulations
on the
elastic optic Nerves,
point out to the sagacious
Spirit
(innately and naturally endow'd with such a Capacity of Perceiving and Judging) the Presence of such and such Bodies: And in a Manner
analogous
to this, is
Hearing, Feeling,
and all the other Senses perform'd, and muscular Motion may be perform'd much in the same way.
6thly,
To confirm all this, and that Observations and
Fact
may justify and demonstrat
Speculation,
it is certain, and almost infallible, that
ponderous
Medicines, duly and properly prepar'd and adjusted, and a
low, cool, thin Diet,
persisted in, a due Time, and join'd with Air and Exercise, will generally restore the
free
and perfect Use of the
intellectual
Faculties, not only to those who have destroy'd or hurt them by
Luxury
and
Laziness,
but even to such as have deriv'd them with their Birth, or from Accidents or Parents, if the
Organs
themselves be not intirely confounded or spoil'd; at least in some Degree, sufficient to demonstrat the Proposition; and every one knows that this
Method,
and these
Medicines,
only mend the Juices, and open Obstructions. Of this I could give some such Instances, having treated several such Cases, that I could venture my Reputation on some Degree of Success of the Method, when apply'd early and in due Time, before the
noble Organs
be quite spoil'd. And if
Philosophy
have any thing certain or true, it is this, that
quo posito ponitur, & quo sublato tollitur, in eo consistit ejus rei Essentia.
A great deal more I could urge, but this must suffice to the honest
Inquirer,
and fair
Philosopher
; else, nothing will.
§. 28. FROM all which it is evident, that it is to
Experience, Culture
and
Probation,
removing Obstacles and Impediments, that we must apply both for the Extention and Improvement of the
natural
and
moral
Powers of the
Soul,
and for the Perfection of the intellectual
Organs
of the Body. All
three,
since the
Lapse,
have been contracted, imprison'd or concentred, as it were, to a
Punctum Saliens,
(as the Naturalists speak of the beginning
Incubation
of a Chick from an Egg) to be extended and dilated to a given State of Maturity and Perfection, altogether proper for its
Order
and Rank, and alone and only to be brought about at first by the Culture of others (its Parents, Nurses and Masters) while under Age, and afterwards by its own
Industry, Attention
and
Diligence,
in a proper Method, when come to Maturity. So that the whole Perfection of Body,
Soul
and
Spirit,
(by Soul and Spirit I always mean the
natural
and
moral
Powers) depend on proper
Culture, Experience
and
Trials
; and our whole
lapsed
State is probatory,
experimental
and
progressive,
and from our vegetable, through our brutal and rational, up to our
restored
first
paradisaical
and last divine, fix'd and immoveable State; the whole Progress is in a great measure our own Work, tho' under general
Laws,
both for
Spirits
and Bodies, but with supernatural (or if you please,
miraculous
) Aids and Assistances from time to time, to be the Rewards and Motives of our Diligence and Zeal, tho' perhaps they are never to be felt or distinguish'd, till the whole Progression is at an End; which Progression might or may be much after
this Manner,
as far as can be conjectur'd from things as they now appear. The human Race was originally made in the
Scale
of Intelligences, and in that
Cone
of Creation (if I may be allow'd the Similitude without offending weak Minds, and low
Philosophers
) which seems to ascend, from
inert
and
passive Matter
through the human
Species,
to the
Angels,
and beyond the
Cherubims
and
Seraphins,
up to the utmost Extent that created finite free Intelligence reaches: (all which, in their natural Powers, are
Infinitesimals
respectively and unalterably of their great Original, the
Deity,
but at an infinitly infinit Distance from Him, as they ought and must be, but in a verging Progression of
Similarity
to him, in their
natural
as well as
moral
Powers) I say, the human
Species,
being made a little lower only than the
Angels,
with Bodies or earthly
Machins,
supple and pliant to their in dwelling
spiritual
Intelligences, and with
Spirits
supple and pliant to the Influences, Impulses and Commands of the
Father of Spirits
(in which their Innocence and Felicity consisted); and being free, and consequently capable of a
progressive
Procedure, from this original State of their Creation, either forward to Perfection and Happiness to a certain Degree, which probably might fix them in the Extention of their
original
Powers, (tho' not in the greatest Perfection of their
moral
ones) and consequently in their greatest Happiness; or a
Departure
backward into Disorder, Rebellion, spurious
Self-love,
inordinat Love of the Creatures,
Propriety,
and consequently
Misery
; their
Creator
eternally designing to restore them to their first or perhaps a
higher
Rank, plac'd them first upon this Ball of Clay, (which had been either naturally and
physically
ruin'd and spoil'd, by their own immoral Taint and Corruption, or was by his own
omnipotent
Agency) and confin'd them to
Prisons
and
Dungeons
made of this
Planet,
tho' with infinit Wisdom and Elegancy, and with a sublime Delicacy adjusted to the Nature of their
Lapse,
or the Ends of their
Probation
and Purification; whereby their natural Powers being
cramp'd
and concentred to the Degree of the Decay of their
moral
Powers, they may by their own Labour and Culture (but supernaturally assisted) advance proportionally in both, to the Stature and Degree appointed them in their original Formation, and perhaps higher; and in the mean time, perhaps dropping through many different
Vehicles,
and material Bodies, grosser, or more sublime, either Dungeons, or partially glorious Bodies, as they have advanced or gone backward in the Acquisition of the
moral
Attributes,
Justice, Goodness
and
Truth,
or (which is the same in the
Christian
Language) of the Cardinal Virtues,
Faith, Hope
and
Charity
; which, justly explain'd, are of the same Import.
§. 29. THE human
Soul,
or intelligent Principle, has its
radical
Qualities and Faculties, that it was endow'd with in its first
Creation,
essentially inherent and
innate
in its Nature, and in their full Extent and Perfection, even now in this
lapsed
State, perhaps beyond the Vigour they can ever arrive at in this mortal Life, only cramp'd and sopited by this gross and earthly Prison (like a
Felon
in a
Dungeon
or condemn'd Hole); and as it has the Power or Root of the Senses of
Seeing, Hearing
and
Feeling,
almost the same as when at intire Liberty, in its ethereal Vehicle, tho' now confin'd to Darkness,
Silence
and
Unactivity,
and can only see and hear as through a
Grate
or narrow
Chink
; yet it has its natural Powers, and their bodily
Organs,
as vigorous and lively, as when it was at large, tho' it be not in a Capacity to exert them in the same Degree, by reason of its heavy clay Coverlet: And this gross earthly Tabernacle actually contains under it, the
organical
Lines and
Stamina
of that glorious
paradisaical
and first created Body it was endow'd with before the
Lapse,
or of the more glorious one it will be solely cloath'd with in its
final
Perfection and Restoration, tho' both (for they are one and the same) now cover'd over and encrusted with gross mouldering Clay; and both Soul and Body, as they are now in this
lapsed
State, will gradually drop and put off this
Adamical
Tabernacle, and slide into another, and perhaps a third, according to the general
Laws
of Purification, and in Proportion as the
spiritual
Inhabitant advances in Perfection, till at last it arrive at that
fix'd
and
permanent
State, and the Place and
Mansion
it was design'd for in the universal
System
of Intelligences.
§. 30. FROM this Account, if agreeable with the universal
Analogy
of Things, and the general
Laws
of Providence relating to the
Lapse
and Purification of Intelligences; it will follow, that intellectual Acts and Exercises are but
Remembrance,
and removeing Impediments, or but the Spirit's returning to its
original
and primitive State: That
Culture,
Study and Reflection, and all the Operations of the
Mind,
are really (and not figuratively) but
lopping, pruning,
dressing and removeing Obstacles and Incumbrances, and forming the bodily
Organs
to a proper Suppleness and Facility, for the Performance of
spiritual
Exercises, and to produce
Habits:
That the Study of
Arts
and
Sciences,
and all other Knowledge, is but
Remembrance
and Recollection, opening Passages and
Apertures,
to admit more Light into the
Prison
and Dungeon; which can only effectually be done by the Acquisition of the
moral
Powers of
Justice, Goodness
and
Truth,
or of
Faith, Hope
and
Charity
; and this not figuratively, but in Reality, and by fix'd Habits. In a word, the
Soul
has essentially and radically in its
Fund
and Nature,
innate
and
permanent,
all the natural Powers in their full Extent and Degree that ever it can possibly arrive at here, but they cover'd over, sopited and concentred by the gross
Adamical
Prison; and is only depriv'd of its
moral
Powers in its present
lapsed
State, which
moral
Powers it is sent here to recover.
§. 31. THE Exercise of the
natural
Powers of the
Soul,
(
viz.
) of
Liveing, Activity
and
Intelligence,
is the general State and Complexion of all spiritual Natures:
Liveing
means, supposes and implies the
actuating,
informing, directing and superintending the several Motions and Functions of a divinely organiz'd Material, either
Ethereal
or
Planetary,
grosser or more refin'd Vehicle, according to the
Oeconomy
of Providence in its Restoration, and in giving Motions and Directions to Bodies or Matter to a certain Degree.
Memory
is but an Affection or Modification of the
Understanding,
fixing it to a particular Object; as
seeking
any thing absent or lost, is but a particular Attention and Observation or Detention of the
Eye
on the different Objects presented; and that the Understanding has proper
Organs
for the different Uses and Purposes of Perceiving, Considering, and fixing its
Attention,
as the
Eye
has various Muscles, Tendons, Humours and Glands, for directing, fixing and perfecting its
Sight
; and
Memory
is just such a
Modification
of the Understanding, as
Searching
or Seeking is of the
Eye
; and all is perform'd through the
mechanical
Powers and
Organs
of the Body, by the innate Sagacity of the Mind: and hence it comes to pass, that when these
mechanical
Powers and
Organs
of the Body are quick and agile, to present Variety of
Images, Pictures
and
Ideas
with Readiness, the Person is
ingegious, fanciful, poetical,
or of a quick and lively Imagination. If the
Organs
of the Imagination, the nervous
Fibrillae,
the membranous
Tubuli,
be strong and firm, the Impressions or
Ideas
being dureable, the
Memory
becomes strong. The Understanding is merely
passive,
it is like the
Vis Inertiae
of Matter, or Reflection and Refraction in it, of which it is the
analogous
Quality in the Soul; and this
Vis Inertiae
is one of the last Steps of the descending Miniature of the divine Original in his inanimat Creation.
Truth
is to the Understanding, what
Light
is in animal Life to the
Eye
; it must be receiv'd absolutely, and only according to the then State of the
Mind.
It is the
Will
that is the ruling and directing Faculty of
spiritual
Nature, and its
analogous
Quality in inanimated Matter, is
Attraction
and
Repulsion:
all depend on it; it rules absolutely, and without Controul, even sometimes over the Understanding, and every Faculty of the
Soul.
It is the
self-active
and
self-motive
Principle, acting above and beyond Matter, at a Distance, without the Intervention of a material
Medium,
by its own
Energy,
and after its specific manner of Operation; as is evident from
Instinct, Impulse, Sympathy
and
Antipathy,
Conscience, natural Affection, and the like
immechanical
Affections of the Soul.
Matter
only limits and modifies its Operations, and renders it capable to commerciat and communicat with Bodies, by acting upon them, and being reacted upon by them. The
Will
may and can act without and contrary to the Judgment, Conviction and Approbation of the
Understanding
(Self-activity and Self-mobility necessarily secluding all foreign Aid); and from it the first
Springs,
Direction and Perfection of the
Understanding,
often take their Rise; but generally they advance by the same Steps in their Purification; only the
probatory
and purifying Process in the
lapsed
State, both in the Acquisition of the
moral
Attributes, and in the
Culture
and
Development
of the bodily
Organs,
of the Faculties, gradually and by uniform Acceleration (like the
Velocity
of descending Bodies) receives its constant Impulse from the
Will.
§. 32. SOME have thought, that the
Wills
of all
Intelligences
were so order'd by the divine Decree and Appointment, that they should be so absolutely free, as to become even independent of his
Influence
and
Prescience,
and that their
Liberty
should be in a natural
Equilibrium
to do whatever their original Powers could possibly effect, and be determin'd by their own
Strength
only, and affirm'd that so much a
self-motive
Power does necessarily imply; and that accordingly,
God
was not actually certified of the
Lapse,
till it happen'd, in the
Angelical Hierarchy.
That the divine Nature may actually have
arbitrary Ideas,
they think, necessarily follows, from his natural infinit
Liberty,
which they suppose a Consequence of the absolute
Infinitude
of all his Attributes, and the
Base
and Root of his infinit
Intelligence
or
Omniscience.
For no Creature is
free,
but must be at the same time
intelligent,
and all intelligent Creatures are naturally
Images
of
Him
; and since
intelligent
Creatures, such as we are, have
arbitrary Ideas,
(as is evident from our being able to act contrary to our
Judgment,
and contrary to our present and future greater
Good,
were it but to shew the Nature of our
Liberty,
in any one Instance, for
Example,
to suffer present or future certain Pain, as in
Suicide
) therefore there must, by
Analogy,
be concluded a correspondent Power of infinitly more Force and Perfection in the divine Nature. It is true,
Omniscience
could certainly
foreknow
whatever
Omnipotence
could effect; but both
Omniscience
and
Omnipotence
being in the divine Nature infinitly
free,
they think it a higher Instance of Perfection and Power, for a
free Omniscience
voluntarily to design not to know what his
Omnipotence
might effect on his free
intelligent
Creation; and that it implies not want of Perfection and Power, but, on the
contrary,
is a much higher Instance of Perfection and Power, for an infinitly
perfect Being
to create Intelligences, that should be naturally in such a Degree of
Freedom,
that even He Himself should not foreknow what they were to do; but should, as it were,
voluntarily
and
arbitrarily
suspend (
Jesus Christ,
say the
Fathers,
suspended the Influence of his
Divinity
on his
Humanity
;
He made Himself of no Report, He took upon Himself the Form of a Servant,
the greatest Instance of his Divinity possible) the Influence and Penetration of his
Omniscience,
to magnify and manifest his
Omnipotence.
He might, no doubt, have foreknown every thing that should ever be effected, or brought to pass, by the
self-motive
Powers of his created
miniature Images
; but He might also designedly and arbitrarily not
foresee
or
foreknow
all this, to
enoble
his intelligent Creatures thereby, that so they might be
free
even from his
Espial
and
Observation,
for a Trial of their
Faith
and
Patience,
(as a tender Mother tries her
Fondlings
Strength and
Gait,
by letting go the
Leading-string
) and thus leave them a Possession and Property, (that they might be fitter Objects of his
Commerce
and
Glory
) and that they might have something in
Dominion
and
Heritage,
that in Gratitude they might render back to
Him,
which even He (now He had created them) could not
force
from them. Perhaps such a
Creature
might become a nobler Instance of infinit
Wisdom
and
Power,
than one, all whose future Thoughts and Actions were certainly foreknown even by
Omniscience:
as a skilful
Watch-maker
might make a
Watch
or
Clock,
whose Time of Going or Striking he might not foreknow, or could not foretel, that absolutly depending on the Length of the
Chain
tied to the
Spring
or
Weight,
which he had in his Power not to have measur'd. This bold and profane Supposition, of
God
's design'd and
arbitrary Non-foreknowledge
of his finite free Intelligences future Actions, would indeed intirely take off all the
Difficulties
and
Objections
against the
Lapse,
about
Liberty, Prescience,
and
Predestination
; and justify the Darkness and Distresses in
Providence, Revelation,
and the whole
Oeconomy of the Restoration:
but whether it is perfectly consistent with the
Harmony
and
Simplicity,
and absolute
Infinitude
and Dignity of the divine Nature and
Attributes,
I dare not take upon me to determin. And since infinit
Sagacity
and
Penetration
(like that of a
wise
and
good Minister
of State) will account for
Prescience,
without influencing or intrenching on
Liberty,
I am much rather inclin'd to subscribe to it.
Infinit Perfection
can provide for the Perfection and Happiness of his Creature, without any Prejudice to
Himself.
§. 33. ALL
intelligent
Creatures being (as I have often said)
Effluxes, Emanations,
and analogous
Infinitesimals
of the
Deity,
must necessarily be impress'd with his
Image
; for though they be finite, dependent, and created, yet being
free,
so far they are little
analogical Divinities
; and though they flow'd from Him as their
Source,
yet by this their
Liberty,
they are able to hold, as it were, in
Property,
an
infinitesimal
Portion of his spiritual Nature and Qualities, and thereby have something of their
own
to give Him back, and thus to
commerciat
with Him, and at last to return to Him as their
last End:
just as the
last
and
least
Particles of Water (being probably
spherical
or
spheroidical
) may retain their own Figure when receiv'd into the universal
Volume
of all Fluids of the
Ocean,
and are actuated by its Motions; or like the
Fish,
which though in the
Sea,
yet all of them preserve their own Forms; or rather like the
Iron
in the Oven, which being turn'd into liquified
Fire,
yet retains its own Shape. Just so, all created Intelligences may preserve their own Principles of
Individuation,
when they are restor'd
to the Rock out of which they were hewn.
But these lame and unanimated
Allusions
I adduce only as
Illustrations
of this incomprehensible Subject; for
Creation,
though a necessary Article to be believ'd in all the
Systems
of
Natural Religion,
is as incomprehensible and inexplicable as any
Mystery
in
Reveal'd,
unless it be by
Analogy
; and it is no hard Matter then to conceive any thing
is,
that actually
exists,
especially where infinit Power is suppos'd the
Cause,
and when it does not involve an absolute Contradiction, as these
analogical
Allusions shew this does not. However this Explication be receiv'd, I think it
self-evident,
that in their
Creation,
or
Emanation
from the
first Cause,
all
Intelligences
have been impress'd with
God
's
Image,
and are really thereby
infinitesimal Deities:
And that the natural
Powers, Attributes
and
Faculties
we feel in our own Souls, may fairly be carried up to
absolute Infinitude
by
Analogy,
and in some imperfect and gross manner, be so rais'd as to give a shadowy Glance, or faint
Idea,
of the
supreme Being
the
Deity:
And that our Liberty may not be violated, and our Restoration may be secur'd, I fear this is as
precise
as we can reach in this our
lapsed
Estate, while we dwell in earthly Prisons, I mean by
Philosophy
or mere Reasoning only, without
Revelation
or divine
Faith.
And therefore, whatever
natural
Powers, Qualities or Faculties we find in our own
Souls,
(at least in the best and most perfect of our
Race
) we may safely conclude, there are Powers, Qualities and Faculties, eminently correspondent and
analogous
to them, in the
divine Nature,
with the Difference that
absolute Infinitude
has to the
lowest Finite:
and on the other hand, that there are
miniature
Resemblances in all finite
Intelligences,
correspondent and
analogous
to the essential and fundamental Attributes in the
divine Nature
; and consequently that we may fairly reason and
philosophize
(with the Modesty and Humility that become the
lowest
of Intelligences) from our own
spiritual
Nature, up to the
Divine
spiritual Nature, keeping within the Bounds and Proportion mentioned. For Example; we find and certainly know, that in our own
spiritual
Nature there are Liveing, Understanding and Will, and that all our intellectual Operations are but
Modifications
of
these: These
then must be the
natural
Image of the
divine
Being originally impress'd on our
Souls.
We learn from
Revelation,
that in the
divine
Nature, there is a
Trinity
of Persons, in
Unity
of Substance. We may then fairly conclude, that, in some Manner or other, the
three radical
Powers of
Liveing, Understanding
and
Will,
are the
natural
miniature Image and Representation of this
Trinity
in Unity. In the divine Nature, the three
analogous
and correspondent Attributes are,
Self-existence, Omniscience
and
Omnipotence
; in other Words, Necessity of
Being,
infinit
Wisdom,
and infinit
Activity.
In all created Intelligences, there are a
deriv'd
Being or Liveing,
finite
Understanding, and limited
Will
or
Freedom.
This
Analogy
or Correspondence, I say, between the
divine
Nature, and the
spiritual
Nature of all finite Intelligences, may give us at least some general Notion of the
Trinity
in
Unity
(for
Precision
is incompatible with
Finitude,
and all I pretend to here, is to remove Contradiction and Impossibility, from an uncomprehensible and inexplicable
Mystery
).
Self-existence,
or Necessity of Being, is the proper
Characteristic
of the
Father
in Revelation.
I am that I am,
or I am the sole Being, that is
necessary Existence.
The
Word,
the
Wisdom,
the
Understanding
of the
Father,
the
express Image
of his intelligent Nature, the
sovereign Reason,
is the
Characteristic
of the
Son
in Scripture. The
Holy Ghost,
or the Spirit of the Father and the Son, (
viz.
) their infinit
Activity, Energy
and
Power,
is represented there as a
liveing, enlightening, actuating, comforting
and
instructing
intelligent Substance, and shadowed out to us by the most penetrating
energic
Things known, to wit,
Wind, Light
and
Fire
; and so may be explain'd by our
self-motive
Power, our Liberty, the Spring of
pure Love, naked Faith,
and
universal Resignation.
All these
three
(and I think the natural Attributes of the Deity are but Three) natural Powers and Faculties are comprehended in one
spiritual
Nature, in all created Intelligences: in them they are
Modalities
only, Powers or Faculties; but in the
divine
Nature, they are
Realities,
and active distinguish'd Subsistences, because of its infinit
Activity.
For nothing is more certain in
Philosophy,
than the
metaphysical
and
scholastic Axiom, that every thing in God, is God.
I might, with a good deal of
philosophical
Propriety, run this
Analogy
up to all the Qualities and Attributes ascrib'd in
Scripture
to the Persons of the
holy Trinity
; but I give it only as a philosophical
Emblem, Allusion
or
Similitude,
to reconcile that
inexplicable Mystery
to modest, sober and guarded Thinkers; for it is still much better to adore and obey, and wish or pray, to believe as the
Holy Spirit
in Revelation intended, the
best we can,
in the
holy Trinity,
than to
philosophize
about it. The two capital Errors in the Doctrine of the
Trinity,
(especially of the
Incarnation
) and divine Nature of the
Persons,
(which is the Hinge of the Doctrine of the Trinity) is the
Arian
and
Sabellian
Heresies; both which are of great Detriment to Christian Perfection, and the Practice of its cardinal Virtues,
Faith, Hope
and
Charity,
or the Acquisition of the
moral Powers
of the
Soul
; but with a very notable Difference, the
Arian
being of infinitly more Detriment to
sublime practical Christianity,
than the
Sabellian
Heresy. The
first
dwindling and sinking the Merit, Dignity and Love, his Sufferings and Satisfaction, and consequently dishonouring and debasing the
divine
Nature, Purity, and the Merit of the common
Saviour
of the
lapsed
Mortals; and thereby the Motives and Necessity of
pure Love, naked Faith
and
universal Resignation,
the sole Means of our Recovery and Immobility: And perhaps among all the
Apostles, Martyrs
and
Confessors,
and universally acknowledg'd
Saints,
there will not be found one who notably lean'd to this
Heresy.
The
Sabellian,
on the contrary, tho' certainly
Heretical,
too arrogantly departing from the
Form of sound Words,
yet has preserv'd the
Dignity
and Purity of all these
Motives,
the Greatness of the
Love of God,
the
Sanctity
of his Nature, and
Heinousness
of Sin, and is only too philosophically
nice,
out of a Dread of intrenching on the
Unity
of the divine Nature. I was the more willing to retouch this
Speculation,
because what I have advanc'd about it in my
Philosophical Principles of Reveal'd Religion
has been misunderstood; else I had not meddled with it
here,
as being out of my present Province, for which I ought to beg the Reader's Pardon. This
Mystery
was not reveal'd to puzzle our Reason, but for a Trial of our
Faith,
and a Motive to our Resignation; and because its Truth was necessary to the Conception of the general
Plan
of the Restoration, and the understanding, practiseing and perfecting the Christian Virtues and
Morality.
§. 34. THE
Soul
and
Body
at first sopited in a State of mere
vegetable
Life, (in the
seminal Animalcul,
and in
Embryo
) is there developing,
vegetats,
and lives, (perhaps for many Ages) according to their own general
Laws,
and the secret Designs of Providence; in Time, the
Compound
comes into the
Light,
and is born into the World; and then, from the Velocity of its Growth, and the
Development
of the
Organs
of its Faculties, (the nervous membranous
Tubuli,
and the
glandular Machinulae,
perhaps increasing first) becomes
sensitive,
and enjoys
animal
Life: The Nature of
gross
Matter, the Miseries of this ruinous
Globe,
and the present dark State of Things, inclement or deleterious
Air,
Negligence and Ignorance, and many other Accidents, (all under the Direction of an
infinitly
wise Being, for kind and gracious Purposes) make the slender Individual now become
sensitive,
and feel Pain, Misery and Distress, even before it is
conscious
or capable to know the
Cause.
Instinct, (a plain but
innate
Effect) Pains and Sufferings, make it
mechanically
(as it were) avoid the Approach of the Causes possible or probable, by which these Pains are produc'd. Hence natural Aversion, Reluctance, and some Endeavours to retire from Excess of Colds and Heats, improper or too much Nutriment, and all noxious Bodies and
Animals.
These
Sensations
and Feelings lodg'd in the
Memory,
with the innate
Instincts, Sympathies
and
Antipathies,
grow stronger, till they are gradually confirm'd into
Habits
; and on these infant
Habits
and
Ideas
begin the Dawnings of
Reason, Reflection, Memory
and
Will,
and all the Play of the
intellectual
Faculties on their now developing
Organs.
If the Body is strong, its Appetites and Passions are proportionally so, which inordinatly gratified, naturally and necessarily beget strong and new Pains and Punishments; these, on Reflection and Remembrance, awaken
Conscience,
arising from an
innate Instinct
radically implanted in spiritual Nature, to excite and encourage a Love of
Order,
and punish Disorder; and
Conscience
actuated and enliven'd by still further Reflection on the necessary and natural Connexion between
Disorder, Crime
and
Punishment
; on the first Dawnings and Awakening into rational and
conscious
Life, if Children were duely and strenuously nurtur'd and cultivated by frequent Acts, as Occasions offer, and supported by due Temperance, Air and Exercise, in the bodily and
organical
Powers, and by bringing the Appetites and Passions in Subjection to the
Spirit,
and thereby labouring to acquire a Facility and Readiness in the Exercise of the
moral
Powers, as the
natural
ones advance; they would, in due Time, raise the
Adamical
Compound to all the Perfection and consequent Happiness this present
State
would admit, in the full and free Exercise of the
natural
Powers, and the Acquisition of the
moral
ones; tho' not to the greatest, yet to a competent Degree, and to the most perfect and orderly Condition this present probatory and expiatory State will admit. But the Nature of Things in and about us is such, and the Miseries and Sufferings are so constant, unavoidable and pungent, as will naturally and necessarily excite in a Mind cultivated after the Manner has been describ'd, an anxious Desire to inquire and examin if there be any possible Means to be freed from them at last; and if there can be any rational and probable Way to secure, at least after this
State
is past, and this
Adamical
clay Tabernacle is laid down, some State of Being, at least no worse, and as much better as may be, on our going into another Mansion: And this is the precise Condition of Mind infinit
Love
and
Wisdom
intends to bring his rational
lapsed
Intelligences into, by this wise
Oeconomy
; for under such a Disposition, sooner or later, they will be fitted to hearken to, to examin and seriously to inquire into the Truth of
Revelation,
and heartily to say,
Lord! what shall I do to be saved?
END of the FOURTH DISCOURSE.
DISCOURSE V. Philosophical CONJECTURES ON NATURAL ANALOGY, ITS LAWS, AND SOME OF ITS CONSEQUENCES.
1 Cor. xiii. 12.
For now we see through a Glass darkley—
2 Cor. iv. 18.
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen, are Temporal; but the things which are not seen, are Eternal.
DISCOURSE V.
Philosophical CONJECTURES ON NATURAL ANALOGY, its LAWS, and some of their CONSEQUENCES.
THINGS may differ in the
Degrees
of the same Qualities, as well as in
Kind
; as in a
Cube
of Gold and one of Lead, in
spiritual
and
material Substances,
and the like.
DEFINITION I.
DIFFERENCE
in
Degrees
only, is where things having their
essential
Qualities common, admit in these Qualities, a
More
and a
Less,
or a Difference in their Degrees. For Example; A
Miniature
and a Picture to the Life; a
Cube
and a
Parallelopipedon
of the same Substance, and on the same Base; a
Man
and a
Child.
DEFINIT. II.
DIFFERENCE
in Kind, is only where some
essential
Qualities in the things compar'd are
common,
some are
different
; as a
Vegetable
and an
Animal, Matter
and
Spirit,
a
Cube
of Gold and one of Lead.
DEFINIT. III.
BY
Ratio,
is here meant the Relation or Reference of any two things compar'd to one another, whose essential Qualities admit of
Degrees,
or of a
More
and a
Less
; as between a
Brute
and a
Man,
a
Man
and an
Angel,
and between different
Bodies
of the same Substance.
DEFINIT. IV.
SIMILARITY,
is where there is an Equality or
Sameness
of
Ratio's
in the Substance, and essential Qualities of things,
differing
only by a
More
and a
Less.
For Distinction's sake, in abstracted or simple Ideas, or in
Qualities,
I should call this
Sameness
or Equality of
Ratio's,
a
Similitude
or
Likeness
; as in Problems of
Arithmetic
and
Geometry,
in Heat and Cold, in Light and Darkness, and the like. In
Things, Substances
or
Aggregats
of Qualities, I should call it
Similarity
; as in all the Individuals of the human
Species,
in
Animals
and
Vegetables
of the same
Tribe,
and their Progress from the
Embrio
or
Seed,
to Maturity, I should pronounce them, I say, in a
Similarity
of
Ratio's.
DEFINIT. V.
THINGS, Substances,
and
Qualities,
are meant to be progressive, or in a
Progression,
which are constantly increasing or decreasing
similarly:
For Example; The concave Surfaces that make a
Globe,
(as the Coats of an
Onion,
the Membrans of the
Cornea
of the Eye) the
Puncta Salientia,
that become Animals; the Mathematical Point, whose Fluxion describes a Line; the Mathematical Line, whose Fluxion makes a Surface; and the Mathematical Surface, whose Fluxion makes a Solid.
SCHOLIUM.
SPACE
and
Time, Motion
and its
Velocity,
seem to be no
Realities,
at least no external
Realities,
but the mere Modifications, and different Circumstances and Situations of
Bodies
or
Matter,
and so nothing but mere abstracted
Ideas,
or an easier and clearer Manner for our finite Conceptions, which cannot comprehend any complicated Thing at once. A particular
Space,
or the
Locality
of a Body, seems to be a mere Mathematical abstracted Solid, (so to speak) or the last
Limit
or
Term
of a Mathematical Solid, or of Body
evanishing
; such an one as a
Point
is of a
Mathematical Line,
a
Line
of a
Mathematical Surface,
and a
Surface
of a
Mathematical Solid
; only here the whole Content of the
Mathematical Solid,
or
evanishing
Body, is comprehended in the
Idea.
The same way of Reasoning may be applied to
Time, Motion,
and
Velocity,
which are but the
Limits, Modifications,
and particular Circumstances of
Body
or
Matter,
and have no external
Realities
; but like the
Shadow,
that depends on the
Light,
shineing on the Body: they all admit of
Degrees,
or a
More
and a
Less,
as belonging to, and connected with,
Matter
and
Bodies.
A particular
Space
is to a particular
Body,
what
o,
or the relative
Infinitesimal
is to a particular given Progression; and an
Infinit Body,
like
infinit Space,
is a mere imaginary
Idea,
the last Term or Limit of an ascending Progression, as
o
is of a descending one. Suppose, for
Example,
a Progression of the Powers of Natural Numbers, or their Cossic Characters, descending,
&c.
+
x4
+
x3
+
x2
+
x
+
−
x
−
x2
−
x3
−
x4
,
&c.
the middle Term,
o
or
x
/∞ will represent a Mathematical Point, and + ∞
x
will represent an infinit Body, and − ∞
x infinit Space,
+
x
a particular Body, and −
x
a particular Space; and substituteing for + ∞
x, x
+
x
+
x
+
x
+
x, &c.
and for − ∞
x,
−
x
−
x
−
x
−
x, &c.
(or what Number of unknown Quantities, or howsoever compounded, with their variable or constant Powers) and treating them according to the Nature of their Composition in a given Expression, by the common Rules of
Cossic
or
Arabic
Characters, and rejecting all the
finite
Terms, or those of a lower Order of such abstracted Infinits, and reserving only the
highest
Terms of the Expression; and you will readily and intelligibly have all the
Mysteries,
and solve all the
Problems
discovered by
Fluxions, Differentials,
and
Series's,
in
Numbers, Space, Time, Motion, Velocity,
and
Bodies,
and see that all this
mysterious
and admired
Play
of the Understanding, is wholly about abstracted
Ideas,
and the Modifications of
Body
and
Matter,
which our narrow, limited and finite Faculties not being able to apprehend and conceive distinctly in the Complex, are forced to
parcel
out and divide thus into single intelligible Parts, merely for their own Convenience; and so is a mere
Technical
Art of the Understanding and Imagination to assist the
Memory.
DEFINIT. VI.
RELATIVE Infinit,
or Infinitude in Creatures, (whose Nature consists in being more or less respectively than any
assignable
Quantity whatever) is such as increases or decreases perpetually; yet by no finite Power can be actually brought to nothing, and no finite Faculty can actually assign its
limiting
Terms,
viz.
the
greatest
and the
least.
In this Sense it is, that we suppose the least Particles of Bodies to be hard and indivisible; that Body or Matter cannot be infinit; that Matter is divisible
in Infinitum
; that
Attraction
at a certain finite Distance becomes
Repulsion
; that
positive
Quantities become
negative
in convergent Progressions, or from
negative
become
positive
in divergent Progressions; which Progressions may be infinitly varied, even to a created or relative Infinitude, as Mathematicians know.
DEFINIT. VII.
ABSOLUTE Infinitude
is the sole Property or Attribute of the
Deity,
who is
infinitly Infinit
in all Excellencies and Realities, which, though infinitly various, are at the same time infinitly
simple
and
one.
This is evident from the
Simplicity
and
Unity
of his Nature, as a true
Philosopher
must see.
DEFINIT. VIII.
THINGS
are contradictory only, which absolutley and totally destroy one another, and mutually
annihilat
their Substance, Subsistence, and Qualities Thus it is in things created, (if
absolute Contradiction
can subsist in them) Heat and Cold in the same Degree, Light and Darkness in the same Degree,
negative
and
positive
Terms of the same Progression, finite and infinit of the same Kind. But nothing seems to be so absolute a Contradiction as
necessary Existence
and
Nonentity,
absolute
Nothing
and absolute
Infinitude.
SCHOLIUM.
IT is doubtful, whether or not there can be any real and complete Contradiction between created Substances, Things and Qualities, since they must all necessarily be
Pictures, Emblems
or
Miniatures
of the
Deity,
and the divine Attributes, Substance or Nature. There seems to be necessary, an
Energy, Action
and
Reaction
in the contradictory or totally annihilating Substances, Things or Qualities; as that between the good and evil Principle in the
Manichean System
; between absolute Nothing and absolute Infinitude, in the true
Philosophical System
; between
Creation
and
Annihilation:
For in all created Things, Substances and Qualities, there is
Subsistence
and Reality, (
Spiritual, Intellectual
or
Material
) which cannot be annihilated or render'd totally contradictory, but by the same
absolute Infinitude
by which they were created or ordain'd; and infinit Perfection can at no future Time be contrary to itself;
the Works of God are without Repentance
; and
Reaction
always supposes
Action.
In created Substances, Things and Qualities, there seems only to be a
Contrariety,
that is, a Contradiction or Annihilation of
some
of the Qualities, and their respective Degrees. Thus
material
and
spiritual
Substances may be contrary to one another, but not contradictory; being actually united, and some-how ally'd, in all intelligent Beings; and having some Qualities
common,
as actual
Existence,
and a Power of intending and remitting their
Energy,
or of
Expansion
and
Contraction
in their Substances and Powers,
analogous
to
Elasticity
in Bodies. They must indeed have Limits and Bounds of their Activity and Self-mobility, beyond which they can do nothing, which Powers
Matter
seems design'd to terminat and counteract (as Shadows die away in thick Darkness).
Matter
may suspend, contract and destroy the Action and Exertion of these
spiritual
Powers, but cannot annihilat their
Substratum,
nor destroy their
Root
or
Fund
; for after their Concentration by Matter or Body, they will still subsist in the
Substratum,
either in
Root
or
Act,
in a finite Magnitude, or
infinitesimal Miniature.
DEFINIT. IX.
ANALOGY
is a
Similarity
in Substances and essential Qualities, differing only by a
More
or a
Less,
or in Degrees.
SCHOLIUM.
ANALOGY
is of two kinds,
simple
and
complex
; that is, perfect and complete, or imperfect and incomplete.
DEFINIT. X.
SIMPLE Analogy,
is where there is a perfect and total
Similarity
of Substances, and essential Qualities, differing only in Degrees. As that between a
lumbaginous Animalcul,
a
seminal Embryo,
a
Child
and a
Man
; that between a
Seed
and a
Plant.
Of this Nature are all the particular Answers to indetermin'd
Problems
in
Algebra,
and all the particular
Curves
that answer the same Conditions in
Geometry,
of which there is an infinit Variety.
SCHOLIUM.
THERE are (I think)
Substances,
Things and Qualities of a
middle
Nature, between the
Extremes,
or the
greatest
and
least
of their Terms, in every created Reality; as between any two finite given Terms in Quantities, there is an Infinity of
mean Proportionals,
actual and assignable; as between
x
and
y
there is the
Mean
, and between
x
and
there is
; and in a Circle of an infinit
Diameter,
between any finite Part of the
Diameter
and the other infinit
Segment,
there is the Perpendicular, (a mean
Proportional
) which is neither infinitly
Small
nor infinitly
Great,
(I speak only of
relative
Infinitude) and which I should call
Indefinit
; so in Substances or
Substrata
of Qualities, whether
Material
or
Spiritual,
(the two Terms or Limits) some may approach or
verge
towards gross indiscerptible or imporose
Matter,
or pure
Spirit,
in all the Degrees of
relative
Infinitude, which never can by any Power less than
absolutely
infinit, arrive at either of the Extremes. This in
Algebra
and
Geometry
is demonstrated; and the absolute Infinitude, Purity and Simplicity of the Divine Nature makes this Distinction necessary here.
COROLLARY I.
HENCE it will be reasonable to suppose, that as
Matter,
by its infinit possible Division, Minuteness and Rarity, by its Elasticity and Velocity, may be sublim'd and refin'd into
relative
Infinitude, so as to become, as it were, Sir
Isaac Newton
's
Spiritus quidam Subtilissimus,
and meet only with an infinitly small Resistance in passing through gross and porous Bodies, such as our
Planet
is; so
spiritual
Substance may be
analogically
supposed to be capable of all the relative Degrees of Purity and Sublimity, or Grossness and Density, till it terminat in the lowest or highest
spiritual
Substance, which yet will ever be contrary, though not contradictory, to
material
Substance.
COROLLARY II.
HENCE it will follow, that this infinitly
refin'd
material Fluid, of indefinit Rarity and Elasticity, will meet with no sensible Resistance in passing through gross
planetary
Bodies; yet its Parts being still
Material,
and subject to the
Laws
of all material Bodies, must at least meet with some
infinitesimal
Resistance, and have some
Reaction
; as the
Rays
of the
Sun,
being Oceans of material Particles, constantly emitted from his Body, must necessarily lessen it, though insensibly and infinitly little, yet
really
; so that neither of them can be design'd to last to an actual Eternity in their present State; they may be so alter'd on proper Occasions, by the Power and Influence of Him who first created them, as to answer the Ends of his wise Providence, but cannot continue as they now are during all his
Eternity.
DEFINIT. XI.
COMPLEX
or imperfect
Analogy,
is where there is only a
Similarity
between a certain Number of essential Qualities, that differ in Degrees, and are diversified in other Qualities less essential; as that between a
Man
and an
Angel,
that between a
Man
and a
Brute,
or that between a
Plant
and a
Brute
; and the several
Ranks
and
Orders
of Being emerge as these Qualities increase and multiply.
PROPOSITION.
ALL
Creation,
the whole
System
of the Universe, with all the particular
Systems
in Nature, all Beings animated and inanimat, all Substances, Qualities and Realities whatever, and every individual Circumstance in Nature, is nothing, and necessarily can be nothing, but the
Supreme Being,
his
Nature
and
Attributes,
transubstantiated into
Being
and Preceptibility, pourtray'd and shadow'd out and drawn forth
ad extra. Mundus universus nihil est nisi Deus explicitus. But the
Workman
will eternally be different in
Kind
from his
Work,
the
Cause
from the
Effect.
DEMONSTRATION.
BEFORE
Creation, Omnipotence
itself could find no
Pattern
or
Model
for his Operations
ad extra,
but Himself, and his own Attributes, or the
Ideas
of his own Mind; which being infinitly perfect, must necessarily have been the
best
and most eligible to imitat and copy out in his Productions; and
Perfection
being
simple
and
one,
by the Necessity of his own perfect Nature, He could act outwardly no other way than by this
Analysis
; and this is a Demonstration
a priori
from the
Cause
to the
Effect,
if any thing can possibly be such; and in
fact,
it holds equally strong
a posteriori,
so far as the wisest and best-cultivated human Spirits can reach or investigat, takeing in the necessary
Conditions
and Circumstances, as far as Experiment and Observation can discover; which I intend to shew and illustrat in a few Instances.
§. 1. THE
vegetable
World, in its Variety, Elegance and final Causes, is a most astonishing Proof of God's
geometrical
Knowledge and Skill, (so to speak) and fully shews what
Matter,
the grossest and most unactive Substance, can do, when contriv'd and directed by his Wisdom and Power. In
Plants
and
Vegetables,
there seems to be no
spiritual
or self-motive Power; but only a
material
Spirit, or such an one perhaps as Sir
Isaac Newton
's
Spiritus quidam subtilissimus:
Here, and in
material Agency,
that Fluid seems necessary; and the few Observations he has offer'd to infer its Necessity, (which the present Experiments and Discoveries about the Cause and Laws of
Electricity
and
Magnetism
wonderfully confirm) are supported by its Implication here in
vegetable
Nature, in order to explain the
Actuation, Growth
and
Increase
of
Plants
and
Minerals
; all which vegetat and increase according to
general Laws,
which no less Power than that of the
Author of Nature
could so wonderfully have contriv'd and perpetuated. For though by Heat, Moisture and
Attraction,
from a
supramechanical
original Formation and Arrangement of the indivisible
Particles
of Matter, or original Elements, their future Progression, Development and Multiplication may be now, in the gross, understood and explain'd; yet the Cause of
Attraction
and
Elasticity,
the first Impulse, and motive
Energy,
and the Continuance of these Powers and Activity, can so probably be accounted for from no other
Principle,
as this relatively infinitly
rare
and
elastic
Fluid, the Size, Figure and Laws of which could come only from this infinitly powerful and wise
Geometer.
§. 2. THE totally inanimat Creation (consisting either in the Fragments of the animated Parts, or in the now aggregated or compounded
Moleculae
of the
primary Elements
) shew and speak the Wisdom and Skill of their
Artificer
; but more especially the
Systems
and Collections of these
elementary
original Particles,
viz. Air, Water, Light, Salts,
and
Mercury
; how proper their
Size, Figure
and
Laws,
for the Uses and Ends proposed? This
Speculation
would rapturously imploy the Eternity of a
sagacious
natural
Philosopher.
Sir
Isaac Newton
has, with great Penetration, discover'd many hitherto unknown
Mysteries
and
Miracles
of Wisdom, in the
Theory
of
Light
and
Colours.
I will only suggest on the Head of this and the former
Proposition,
that had it not been for the first Contrivance in the
Systems
of minute Particles now mention'd, there could not possibly have been any proper Materials for the
Food, Growth
and
Increase
of the
Vegetables, Minerals
and
Metals
; and had it not been for the Combination and Arrangement of the
Elements,
into such middling integral Particles, as are these of the
Vegetables,
there could have been no proper and peculiar Food for the
Animals
; the whole
System
being so disposed in a perpetual
Climax,
that all its Parts mutually depend upon and are subservient to one another; the
Tubes
of
Vegetables
being
mechanically
fitted and
harmoniously
adjusted to
mould
the Form, the Size, and combine these Elements into the middling nourishing integral Particles, for the Food of Animals, by the Solar Heat, and the Laws of Attraction in minute Bodies.
§. 3. IN
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, from the brute Creation, through
Men
and
Angels,
up to the
Seraphims
and
Cherubins,
as far as
Creation
reaches, the
Analogy
is plain, simple and necessary. The
three
natural Powers of
Liveing, Intelligence
and
Liberty,
in their spiritual self-active Principles, cloath'd and circumscrib'd by
aethereal Vehicles,
seem to be there in a perpetual
Climax,
and differ only in Degrees. The essential Difference between this and the
vegetable
and
mineral
Creation, (which are both of the same Order and Tribe, and by the same vegetative Laws, diversified under different Circumstances, (like the initial Terms of an
algebraic
Canon converging into the higher and more advanc'd Terms) equally grow and increase) seems to consist in the
self-motive
and
self-active
Powers of the former, of which the
latter
is intirely destitute. The
vegetable
Creation seems only to be actuated by the
Powers
of Matter, and is consequently
inert
and
passive,
and continue for ever in their Place and Situation, unless forced from it by some external
Impulse
; whereas the
brute
and animated Creation have a
self-motive
Power; so that
Vegetation
intirely depends upon the Powers of
Matter
; and
Animation,
in all its Degrees, requires a
spiritual
Substance of some Rank or other: And here the essential Difference between vegetable and animal Nature lies,
viz.
in the
locomotive
Power of the latter, of which the former is destitute intirely, and is merely
passive.
But since the
brute
Creation, in some Degree, plainly manifests all the
Passions
and
Affections
of Mind, that we of the
human
Race are capable of; since they
live,
or are actuated by a
self-motive, self-active
Principle; since they
feel
Pleasure and Pain, and may be (at least most of them that fall under our Observation) made to
learn
and
understand
some things (which is a Proof that they are endow'd even with
Intelligence
in a lower Degree); and since all of them, from the minutest
microscopical Animalcul
up to the
Elephant
and
Whale,
suffer, and must necessarily suffer, a Million of different ways here, at last most intensely by their
Death
and Dissolution, it is highly
probable
that they are in a
lapsed, expiatory
and
progressive
State of Being, and may advance to higher Degrees of Perfection and Happiness, like the
initial
Terms of a diverging
Progression:
This the
Analogy,
perspicuous and necessary in all the Works of infinit Wisdom, and the various and manifold Operations of
God
's Power, makes highly
probable,
rational, and
philosophical.
Infinit Benevolence admits of no Stop or Bounds in its Communication of Being, Happiness and Perfection, but what arises from the Difference of the
Order
of
Nature,
or of
Things.
§. 4. As to us of the
human
Race, our
original Powers,
the Order, Rank and present State of our spiritual Nature, and self-motive Substance, with its original
aethereal
Vehicle, at present cover'd over with a
Crust
of the Substance of the gross ruinous
Planet
we inhabit, so much has been already said in the former Discourses, that to avoid
Tautology,
(which I have perhaps run too much into), I shall not come over the same Subject here.
§. 5. THE
angelic Hierarchy
must, in its own Nature, and from our present
lapsed
State and Condition, be absolutly unknown to us, but in so far as
Revelation,
or
philosophical Analogy,
give us some dark
Hints
; but such
Hints
they do give us, as imply no Contradiction, but on the contrary have a great Degree of
Probability
and Verisimilitude, and naturally flow from the infinitly various Wisdom of the great Author and Cause of
Creation:
We may err in the Detail, but not in the general
Idea
about them. We see what a Variety (an infinit Variety) of
Vegetables
and
Animals,
in their several
Tribes
and
Species,
He has produc'd; and if we could possibly observe and class them, taking in those we cannot discover but by the Help of
microscopical
Art, we should find this Variety increase infinitly more in the
animated,
than in the
vegetable
Creation, rising in a certain
harmonious
Progression and Variety, and which, no Doubt, is multiplied in the same Proportion in the
angelical
World. For, as things combin'd multiply or increase in the Number of their Qualities or their Degrees, so do the
Combinations
possible and actual, as is well known to
Mathematicians.
The
Fixt Stars,
with their
analogous
planetary
aethereal
pure and sublime
Systems
and
Apparatus,
seem most probably to be the
Seats
of the unlapsed
angelical Hierarchies
; and he that knows, or has a dark Notion only, of the
Number
of those already discover'd, the
Number
of those hid in the
Milky Way,
as it is called, and the infinite
Extension
and
Expansion
of
Space,
which, in order to preserve the Situation, Distance and
Equilibrium
of these
Orbs,
must be filled with
analogous Luminaries
or
Systems,
may have some Idea of the infinit
Number
and Variety of these
Hierarchies.
They must all have some
generical
Nature, as well as
specific
Differences: This
generical
Nature may probably be no other, than the
fundamental
and
essential
Attributes of the
Deity, viz. Liveing, Understanding
and
Will,
or
Father, Son
and
Holy Spirit,
as has been
analogically
illustrated, and which, in gross solid Matter, are shadow'd out in the
trine
Dimensions of Bodies. Their
specific
Differences no finite Capacity can possibly assign or comprehend, but there are two very eminent, essential and
luminous
ones, suggested to us from
Revelation,
and confirm'd by
philosophical Analogy, viz.
those of the distinguishing Characteristic of the
Son
and
Holy Spirit.
St.
John
says,
God
is
Light,
and in Him is no Darkness at all; and in another Place he says,
God
is
Love,
and he that dwelleth in
God,
dwelleth in
Love:
That is, the Divine Nature and Substance is
Light
and
Love
; and accordingly, the highest Orders of the
celestial Hierarchies
are eminently
Light
and
Love,
or they are infinitly
Luminous,
or infinitly
Ardent
; which two Qualities make the
Characteristic
of the
Cherubims
and
Seraphims,
as their
Names
import; and these two Attributes of the Divine Nature seem to pass variously, and in different Degrees and
Gradations,
through all Creation down to inanimat Nature; and in each Individual, they are both radically and actually existent, but in different Degrees, according to their several
Orders. Existence,
or
Liveing,
is common to all created Beings, which is an analogous
Participation, Picture
or
Image
of the
Father
and Creator,
by whom are all things.
Some Bodies are nothing but
light,
luminous and transparent, as
Fire, sulphurous
Bodies, and all
minute
Bodies, violently agitated, or put into brisk
vibrating
Motions; and every Body
shredded
sufficiently thin, becomes
diaphanous
; and all Bodies whatever,
reflect
or
refract
Light. Some Bodies, again, are more or less
attractive,
as
Salts, Oils
and
Sulphurs
; and some at certain Distances less than infinite, are
repulsive
(which is a flagrant Picture of Lapse, Corruption and Rebellion in
spiritual
Nature). All these Qualities have their
analogous
and correspondent Powers in
spiritual
Nature, which to a
Philosopher
of any Penetration were superfluous to detail. For in
spiritual
Beings and intelligent Natures, these two Qualities and their higher Degrees, in some more than in others, are so conspicuous, that they cannot be over-looked. In all
Founders
of
Republics,
and
Civil Societies,
in all
Law-givers
and
Philosophers,
in all
Apostolical
Men, in the
Inventers
of Arts and Sciences, even in the Broachers of
Heresies,
this Quality of
Light,
however coarse, turbid, and confin'd, seems to have been their
Passion,
their
Fort,
their
Characteristic
and over-ruling
Byass
; and in all the
Hermetical
Tribe, the
Solitaries,
the true contemplative
Philosophers,
the Founders of
Orders, Monasteries
and
Collegiat
Life, in true and zealous
Patriots
and Lovers of their Country and
Species
; in short, in all the
contemplative
and abstracted Persons,
Love
seems to be the
predominant
Affection; and this Division runs through all, even corrupt and lapsed Nature, and makes the great
Distinction
of Mankind, into the
Governed
and
Governing
; those who defend Truth, and those who attack Error; those who
thrust,
and hit the Mark best,
i.e.
the Law-givers, or their Makers; and those who
parry
best,
i.e. Politicians
and honest
Statesmen
; those fitted by Nature to
command,
and those that are made only to be
commanded
and obedient; that is, all the
active
and
social,
or the
Children of Men
; and the
Sons of God,
or the Thinking and
Contemplative.
But this Difference is with infinit Variety, great Imperfections, foreign Mixtures, and
diabolical
Influences in corrupt Nature; but never the one in any eminent Degree, without some Degree of the other, as they are both united to
Infinitude,
in their divine
Original
and
Cause
; and these Differences make up the
Specification
and
Individuation
of the several Particulars of
lapsed,
free and intelligent Nature, and the Difference of the Conduct of
Divine
Wisdom, in their Purification and Restoration, who with infinit Wisdom and
Propriety,
conducts all and each, without
Violence
on their Freedom and specific Qualities, or
Dissonance
to the
Harmony
of his own Attributes, to their great and
final
End of Being; which is the wonderful
Oeconomy
of the general and particular
Restoration
; and this Difference and Distinction of the original Qualities and Affections of the Soul,
viz. Light
and
Love,
and the different
Manoeuvre
and Conduct of Providence in this State towards them, is founded on the different Parts they might have acted in the general
Lapse
of Mankind, and the different
Offices,
Seats and
Mansions
they are to be prepar'd for in the universal Monarchy of the
Restoration
; and may make the otherwise
unaccountable
Difference of the
Bodies, Spirits, Tempers,
Capacities,
and outward and inward Success in this State, of two Children of the same Birth, as
Twins,
or two immediately succeeding one another of the same Parents, under the same Education and Beginnings in the World, and on the same Bottom; which every one must have observ'd to be as various, different and distant as the
Poles,
and in a manner
diametrically
opposite, even otherwise unaccountable and odd.
§. 6. THAT the
fixt Stars,
and their analogous
planetary satellitious
sublimer
aethereal Systems,
may possibly be the
Seats
and
Mansions
of the
unlapsed, tried
and
purified angelical Hierarchies,
and of restor'd, purified and glorified
sentient
and
intelligent
mortal Beings, seems not only probable,
philosophical,
and according to the general
Analogy
of Things; but is strongly and frequently hinted in
Revelation,
as every one who is familiarly acquainted with it must know.
God
's Throne, his
Shechinah,
the Heaven of Heavens, his Dwelling-place, is always represented
above: Elijah
went upwards,
Christ
ascended, and the Seats of the blessed are always represented as among these celestial
Orbits.
And though
Analogy
may not
apodeictically
demonstrate a
Fact
or
Truth,
especially as to its
precise
and
specific
Nature and secondary Qualities, in the Detail, about
imperceptible
and
spiritual
Beings (precise Truth in these Matters being not only incompatible with
Finitude,
but counteracting
Faith, Trust
and
Resignation,
the sole Means of our Recovery and progressive Purification, being absolutely destructive of
Liberty,
and clashing with the
Divine
Attributes of infinit Justice and Purity, and his absolut Dominion over the Creation); yet when
Analogy
and
Revelation
concur in the same general Conclusion, it is so high a Presumption and Probability as comes nearest a
Demonstration
; at least to those who have any Regard for Revelation; for to such it will be self-evident, that infinit Wisdom, and absolut Infallibility, will never make the most distinct Approach to any
Allusion
or Similitude, that borders on things in no Degree of Alliance,
Approximation
or Neighbourhood, or where the
Contact
is not as near as Circumstances will admit, or that is not as the first Terms of a convergeing
Progression,
or
one
that will lead his low, wandering, blundering Creatures into gross Mistakes; that Bodies or Vehicles of spiritual Substances must have an
Ubi,
a
local
permanent Situation at last, is certain; that these numberless glorious
Luminaries
were lighted up with such a Profusion of
Lustre,
only for us stupidly to gaze at, is ridiculous. That they must be infinit in their Number, (I mean always creaturely relative
Infinitude
) follows from the infinit Expansion of
Space,
and the
Equilibrium
necessarily to be preserved, in order to perpetuat the Situation, Distance and Relations of these glorious
Luminaries.
That they may be of an infinitly purer, more refin'd and sublim'd Matter than even that of our
Sun,
(who was design'd grosly only to picture out the Divine Nature to us
lapsed
Mortals, and to enlighten and cherish us a little, and our dark Prison, during our
Probation
and
Recovery,
and not made for Perpetuity; and which is cover'd over and compress'd with a gross dense
Atmosphere,
with
Maculae
and
Spots,
that possibly may hinder its too quick and violent Consumption) is highly probable. These
fixt
and permanent
Luminaries,
with their analogical
planetary Apparatus,
may be the Seats of the
Bless'd,
whose glorious
Vehicles
may be of the same Matter and Substance with their respective
Mansions.
These
aethereal Planets
and
fixt Stars,
may be so situated, and so
harmoniously
plac'd in regard to one another, that the Rays, and, as it were, spiritual or
aethereal
Matter, which they perpetually pour forth and emit through the whole
Expansion
of Space, may by a perpetual
Flux
and
Reflux,
and
melodious Vibrations,
be return'd back again upon one another, and so perpetuat and
eternise
their
Lustre
and
Glory.
The Rays of our Sun have Fits of easy
Transmission, Refraction
and
Reflexion
; according to Sir
Isaac Newton,
its Particles have a greater
Byass
on the
one
Side than on the
other
; they attract one another in an infinitly greater Proportion than their Power of
Gravity
in general.
Bodies
may be turn'd into
Light,
and
Light
into
Bodies.
Some
Diamonds
and precious Stones are
luminous,
emit Light, and shine in the Dark. Several
Phosphors
(liquid and solid) emit Light at all Times, both in
Air
and
Water
; and the
Asbestos
and purest
Gold
bear all Degrees of Heat and Fire without much Alteration; and the purest Glass in the
Focus
of the strongest
Specula,
only continues liquid without any other Change. These
Facts
I suggest only to shew that Light, as well as other Bodies, may be various, of different Purity and Sublimity, differing in
Degree,
though not in
Kind
; and much more might be suggested here, to shew the various Nature and different Qualities of
Light
and luminous Bodies one from another, if necessary, to illustrat this perhaps
imaginary
Speculation, at least save it free from Contradiction or Impossibility; but I propose in this mere
Conjecture.
§. 7. THAT
infinit Wisdom, Power
and
Love,
could produce no
sentient
or
intelligent
Being
ad extra,
without impressing in the
Fund
and Essence of its Nature, an infinit
Love
to Him, an insatiable and unextinguishable Desire, Thirst and
Ardour
to be
reunited
at last with Him, as its supreme Felicity, is as
absurd,
and, I think,
blasphemous
to doubt, as to doubt of his
Being
and Existence. To think otherwise, is to question his
infinit Perfection
; for
infinit Perfection
must be
single
and
one
; and sentient and intelligent Beings, without this radical and innate
Ardor
for
Happiness,
that is, to be at last united and to commerciat with infinit Perfection, seeing, by the
Sensibility
and
Intelligence
of their Nature, they are capable of it, in their Order, would be an
Effect
without a
Cause,
or an
Action
without an
End
or
Purpose,
at least without intending the self-evident
best
End, which is a Contradiction the most absolut to infinit Perfection. No
sentient
and
intelligent
Being ever was without an
Ardor
or Bent towards
Happiness
; it is a
radical
Principle in their Nature, and never counteracted, though its Nature and true Cause is often mistaken, may be unknown or forgot, yet it can
finally
consist only in this
Reunion.
But Sensibility and Intelligence, being by their Nature and Essence
free,
must be
labile,
and by their
Lability
may actually
lapse,
degenerat, and by Habit acquire a
second Nature,
opposit and contrary to this implanted
Brass
and Tendency towards a
Reunion
and permanent
Commerce
with their original and
first Cause
; and by
Selfishness,
inordinat Love and Idolatry of their
Fellow-Creatures,
sopit and extinguish this central
Byass,
at least as to
elicit Acts,
though not in the
Root
and
Fund:
And in this
Contrariety, Distraction
and tearing asunder of these
moral Powers
in
spiritual Nature,
the Essence of
Misery
and
Hell
itself chiefly consists. So long as this contrary, habitual and foreign
Byass
lasts, so long must the
Unhappiness
and
Tortures
of such
sentient
and
intelligent
Creatures continue; like the
Chill
and
Cold
in the
Comets,
while in the Parts of their
Orbit
most distant from the
Sun
; or like the small
Particles
of Matter, which out of the
Sphere
of their
Attraction
become
repulsive,
and by the Law of their
Passivity
continuing ever in the
State
into which they are put, must for ever proceed in this their
repulsive
Course. But this contrary
Byass
to
Reunion
with their infinitly perfect and happy
Original,
being
adventitious
only, and by
Habit
only confirm'd into a
second
artificial
Nature,
the infinit
Love, Wisdom
and
Oeconomy
of the
Son
of
God
was contriv'd and design'd to melt down,
annihilat
and destroy, that the original innate
Byass
might operate and take Place; and without this infinitly wise
Oeconomy,
to me it seems, the permanent Order, Peace and
Harmony,
and consequent
Felicity
of universal sentient and intelligent Nature, could no other possible way have been or be establish'd at last.
§. 8. IT is not impossible, but extremely probable, and according to the universal
Analogy
of Nature, that our
Planets
and their
Satellites,
should be the more tolerable
Jails, Prisons
and
Dungeons
of the several
Orders
and
Degrees
of
lapsed, probationary, sentient
and
intelligent
Beings. That some of them are straiter, less comfortable, more dark, dismal and unhappy than others, there is no doubt can be made. That they are not, nor cannot be design'd for an
eternal
Duration, in their present Condition, is highly probable. We see on this our
Planet,
that the Bodies, Tempers and Habitudes of
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, that continue long in such particular
Climats,
and under such Influences of the Celestial Bodies, alter, and take a
Turn,
according to the general Laws and Temperature of that
Climat.
The
Planets
and their
Satellites
have an infinit
Propriety
and Fitness for being more tolerable
Bettering
and
Correction-Houses
and Prisons, for lapsed, sentient and intelligent Beings: They are no ways, nor cannot become, in their present Situation,
Pleasure-Houses,
Paradises, and happy
Mansions,
nor permanent Dwelling-Places for perfect and glorified Intelligences. The
natural
Language of the
Deity
to us in our present Condition, can be no other but by
Types, Similitudes, Allusions, Parables, Allegories, Analogy,
and
final Causes,
without Violence on our
Liberty,
our Acquisition of
Faith, Hope
and
Charity,
or debasing his own infinit Purity and Perfection; at least about invisible and imperceptible Beings and States under our present
Lapse
; and therefore I conjecture, that our
Planets,
and their
Satellites,
are design'd by infinit Wisdom for the temporary
Jails
and
Correction-Houses
of
lapsed,
probationary,
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings; and that their superinduc'd Vehicles, or other
penal
and
penitential
Habits, are of the same Substance and Materials with the respective
Prisons
they are confin'd to.
§. 9. THAT the
Comets
cannot be the
Seats
of blessed Spirits, I think, is self-evident: That they are not made only to supply our
Planet
the
Earth,
or even all the other
Planets
with
Moisture
and
Humidity,
only, is as evident. The
Number
of them (perhaps half a dozen in a
Century
) that have been observ'd and seen, and of which we have some Records, with their sensible Effects, Appearances and
Periods,
are abundantly too
many
for that
far-fetch'd
and
precarious
Purpose only. Our
Water
most certainly decreases, and must necessarily be exhausted in time; as do the
Heat
and
Rays
of the
Sun
; but not so sensibly as to lay a Foundation for Experience and Observation by our Senses or Art: But rather to increase our sensible Punishment, and natural Purification, at the last Stage. And it is highly reasonable and
philosophical
to suppose, that our whole
System
was design'd by our
Creator
to last in its present Situation, only so long as was requir'd for the
Probation, Purification
and
Expiation
of lapsed
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, which both
Revelation
and
Philosophy
shew cannot be an
infinit Duration
; but that the whole
planetary System,
within the
Orbit
of
Saturn,
is progressively and by
general Laws
verging towards some grand
Catastrophe
and
Jail-Deliverance.
The
Elect
seems to imply, the
Officers
and
Governors
of this
new Jerusalem,
this
political
future State, this universal
Restoration Monarchy
of the
Father of all
; and the
Period
of the Duration of this present
probatory
State of the
System
of
Saturn,
seems confin'd and limited in
Revelation,
to the Number of the
Elect
's being accomplished, that is, to the Time when all the necessary
Officers, Governors
or
Magistrates
of this
new
universal Government is formed, finished and accompleated, and then will be the End,
Crisis
and
Period
of this
probatory
State. I say then, the
Comets
cannot be the Seats of the Bless'd, if Alterations of Heat and Cold,
Summer
and
Winter,
in some more temperat and moderat Degree, be necessary for tolerable liveing, in Bodies
crusted
over with the Substance of which the
Habitation
is made, (as it is
philosophical
to think of the Inhabitants of the
Comets
) seeing their
Orbits
are so
excentric
to the
Sun,
the
Foci
of their
Ellipses
so vastly distant, that they must pass for Ages through both Extremes of Heat and Cold, and be perpetually involv'd either in
Fire
or
Darkness,
and so in extreme Misery, as to their incrusted
Machins
; and consequently they probably are the
Prisons, Condemn'd-Holes
and Dungeons of
God
's
Kingdom,
and universal
Monarchy.
§. 10. IT is both
rational
and
philosophical,
and according to the natural
Analogy
of Things, to suppose, that the
next
World, or its several Steps of Progression, and its initial Steps or first Terms, and the invisible impreceptible State of
Things,
in the
other Life,
has a great and near Similitude and Resemblance to this present State; and that they differ chiefly in
Degrees,
the
other World
being of an infinitly greater Purity, Sublimity and Perfection only, without the
Errors, Darkness
or
Miseries
of this Life.
God is the same Yesterday, To-day, and for Ever,
immutable and invariable in his Nature and Attributes; and, as has been often hinted, all his Works
ad extra,
and the Operations of his Wisdom and Power, have a perpetual ascending
Analogy
and Progression towards Him, his Nature and Felicity. It is true,
Revelation
informs, that
Eye hath not seen, Ear hath not heard, nor hath it entered into the Heart of Man to conceive the Glory and Happiness that God has reserved in another Life for them that love Him.
But as that refers chiefly to the inward Joy and Happiness,
Extasies
and
Transports,
that the consummatly Bless'd feel in their Commerce and
final Union
with
Him,
their infinitly perfect Source and Original; so it does not affect their outward
State,
their
Polity,
external Order and
Mansions,
of which only I am here speaking; and of which the Description and Account by
Revelation,
intimats plainly a great
Affinity
with the most perfect and happy Condition of our
now
World; and it is highly probable, they differ more in
Degrees
of Perfection than in
Kind.
The
new Jerusalem
is liken'd to a City, a State and
Republic
; it has its People, Subjects and Officers; it has
Temples, paradisaical Gardens, Rivers of Pleasure,
a
perpetual Spring,
and all our best and most
beatifying
Delights and material Comforts here. I know all this Language and Description is but
Allusion, Figure
and
Allegory,
and must be understood chiefly of our
Creation
or
glorified
Bodies; but as every created Being,
sentient
and
intelligent,
has a Body or Vehicle as well as Spirit, an
aethereal,
planetary, or a glorified
Vehicle,
the last inseparable and immortal, as well as a
spiritual self-motive
Substance, the Body or glorified
Vehicle
may have
analogical
Food, some Fruit of the
Tree of Life,
which in
Paradise
itself perpetuated the
Immortality
of, and would have
eternis'd
the
Creation Vehicle
; it must have an
Ubi,
a
Mansion
and Dwelling-Place; it must have
analogous
Pleasures of an innocent, spiritual and sublimer Nature, proper to its Order and Rank, and proportion'd to the Purity of its then
Body
and
Soul
; there must be different
Orders, Ranks
and
Distinctions
; superior Officers and Subalterns, a
Government
and
Polity
in the
new
as well as in the
old Jerusalem:
In short, they will probably differ not in
Kind,
or absolute and total Contradiction, from the best and most perfect State of Things here, that can be imagin'd or describ'd, at least in the first Steps or Terms in the progressive
Perfection
and
Happiness
; but in Degrees, and in
Negation
of all that is imperfect,
dissonant
and disorderly in this
present State
; but this in an
infinit,
that is, a relative or creaturely
infinit
superior Degree; and into the
final,
consummat and perfectest State, we must mount only by
Degrees,
and
Steps,
through many
Mansions
and progressive
Order
; and by acquireing an habitual
Stability,
by repeated
Acts
and
Trials,
be confirm'd in eternal Purity and Felicity at last; and one
Stage
of Being will be perhaps but an
Apprenticeship
and probatory Initiation for a higher and better, and this without Bounds and without Limits (I mean only as to the bodily
Restoration Vehicle,
its
Mansion, Food,
created Pleasures and Enjoyments, which can only flow from the Fund, the spiritual Inhabitant's being restor'd and perfectly united with, and transform'd into the
Divine Nature
and Qualities). This
System,
modestly explain'd and cautiously guarded, in the Proportion of
Perfect
to
Imperfect, Infinit
to
Finite,
Innocent to Lapsed, would, I think, take off many Difficulties in
Revelation,
in the
Oeconomy
of
Jesus
and the
Restoration,
the different Methods of Providence, and its present Appearances, and our Mistakes of the
Sentiments
and Writings of
inspir'd
Authors. For it is impossible the Spirit of God should insinuat any
Resemblance,
Alliance, or
analogical
Similitude between things that differ
generically,
were
disparata
and incompatible; but between such as were verging by Progression, and in an
Approximation
to the real Perfection of their Natures. Lapsed Beings are infinitly distant at present from such a
final Union
and relative
Identity
with their Source, and his
Throne
and
Shechinah:
But must be like the
Assymptots
of
Hyperbola's
and their
Curves,
eternally approaching to, but never able totally to coincide.
§. 11.
ANALOGY,
'tis true, can never demonstrat the actual Existence and real Being of any thing to us:
Sensation
only and Experience can do that. It is only capable of explaining and illustrating the Nature, Substance and Qualities of Things already made and created. It is, as
Quintilian
very elegantly describes Analogy,
Ejus haec vis est, ut id quod dubium est, ad aliquod simile, de quo non quaeritur, referat, ut incerta certis probet.
But then it takes off any Contradiction and Impossibility from its
Existence
; makes it possible, probable and rational; and renders it a fit Subject for the
supreme Reason
and
Power
to work upon, if He pleases, and
similar
to his other Operations; it clears all possible Objections, and
Difficulties,
and makes it natural and intelligible; and that is precisely what our present Condition and Situation requires, or will admit, for the Acquisition of the
moral Powers, Faith, Hope
and
Charity,
to secure our
Liberty
from
Violence,
and the
Divine Attributes
from
Dissonance.
And if the fundamental
Proposition
be admitted,
viz.
that all the Works of infinit Wisdom and Power
ad extra,
are and can be nothing but Pictures, Resemblances and Signatures of
God
's
Nature, Substance
and
Attributes,
in
Miniature, impress'd
or
prominent:
In a word, if it be true, as has been said, that
Mundus universus nihil est nisi Deus explicitus
; and, I think, nothing can be more self-evident; then most of the Consequences I have drawn from this great Truth are necessary, natural and obvious; especially when Revelation suggests the same Truths and Conclusions, at least in general. We may very readily err in the
Detail,
and in the Eliciting and Application of a particular Case; but not so readily in the
general
Law, as is common with
Algebraists,
they often blunder in the Application, who were in the Right in the
Canon.
§. 12. WE may blunder and be mistaken in our particular Conclusions and Deductions from this universal
Analogy,
I say, as well as in
Geometry
and
Algebra,
being weak, fallible, and imperfect Creatures: But our Errors and Blunders in the
first,
will sometimes proceed from a different Cause from our Mistakes in the
latter.
A wrong Head, want of Culture, and
Precipitation,
are generally the Cause of our Mistakes in
Geometry
and
Algebra
; but in
Analogy,
especially that
Analogy
which concerns the moral Attributes of the Divine Nature, the
human
Soul, the
holy Scriptures,
and invisible States, it is owing often to a wrong
Heart, Pride,
and Self-sufficiency. We are afraid such pure and sublime
Theorems
should be true; they hint the
Necessity
of a greater Purity in us than we are willing to cultivat at present. If we ascribed all Perfection, every
good Gift
and
perfect Donation,
to the supreme Cause; and were at the same time humbled and contented even with our own Ignorance, Errors and Blunders of
Love
and
Resignation
only; if our Sentiments and
Ratiocination
were intended for his
Glory
and
Magnificence
solely, and our own Humiliation, satisfied with this single Truth alone, that God is
God,
that is infinitly
perfect,
they could neither hurt us nor others. But if our Heads must needs be at work (as mine has here); if, like Children, we must play with
Ideas,
and
philosophise
about the Kingdom of
Invisibles
and
Imperceptibles,
and the
Arcana Imperii divini
; if we cannot at first, at least and in our Years of
Probation
or
elementary
State, arrive
per saltum
at
pure Love, naked Faith,
and
universal Resignation
(the only solid Means of Infallibility and Stability); then the best and surest Method is to deal in
Analogy,
as the
Mathematicians
do in
Algebra
and
Geometry,
to acquire a Facility in solving difficult
Problems
with Readiness and Accuracy;
viz.
by laying up in our
Memory,
or having ready at hand a
Penus Analogica,
as they have a
Penus Analytica
; in beginning with the most
simple
and least complicated
Analogies
; in attentively observing the
Ratio's,
Relations and References of Things, Substances, their Qualities and probable
final Causes,
and finding out their Degrees and Progression. The
Astronomers
had with Exactness and Accuracy discover'd and settled the
Orbit, Period, Distance,
and Laws of the
Sun
and
Earth,
before they attempted with any Success that of the
Moon
; and Sir
Isaac Newton
had settled and adjusted the Laws, Motions and Appearances of the
Solar System,
before he attempted the
Moon
and
Planets
; and had for seven Years studied experimental
Chymistry,
before he set about to investigat the Nature and Laws of minute Bodies and their
Systems
; he had cultivated and made many and various Experiments, by separating, combining and
analysing
the
Rays
of
Light,
through many
diaphanous
Mediums, before he attempted to discover the Nature, Figure, and Laws of their component Particles.
Analogy
and its Appendages,
Type, Allusion, Similitude, Parable, Hieroglyphic
and
Allegory
(all more remote or nearer Approaches to
Analogy
) is the only natural Language the
Deity
can speak to us at present, under our Degeneracy and
Lapse,
consistent with his
Dignity
and
Purity,
and the Preservation of our
Liberty.
He may speak to us mediatly by his
Angels
; He may speak to the Wills by his
Holy Spirit,
and to our
Understandings
by his
Word
his only begotten
Son,
and in the holy Scriptures by his
Prophets, Apostles,
and
Saints
; but his sole,
natural,
articulat, indelible and universal Language, can possibly be no other but his Works of Wonder
ad extra. The Heavens declare the Glory of God:
By the Characters and
Hieroglyphics
intimatly impress'd on them; and they can only be read or understood by
Analogy
to
Him,
to
us,
and to
one another.
If then we began with this inanimat World, in (which only true natural
Philosophy
from final Causes can instruct us) thence proceeded to the
vegetable
World, then advanc'd to the
brute
Creation, (where
natural
History and
Chymistry
will be of great Service) and at last ascended to
intelligent
Beings, through the
angelic Hierarchy,
till by
Analogy
we arriv'd at the
Supreme Cause
; this Method would be the most natural and secure, in a
natural Progression
by
Analogy:
And if with Humility, Modesty, and begging the Direction of the
uncreated
Wisdom, we persever'd with Patience: this divine
Philosophy
might, in time, (cultivated by different Hands) be of Service to the
contemplative
Christian Philosopher
himself, as well as to others. But my Meaning will be better understood by a short
Recapitalation
of what has been said, and an
Illustration
by an Example.
1. WHEN God intended to bring Creatures into Being, He could not chuse but make them after the most perfect Pattern: He therefore stamp'd his own
Image
upon all his Works. Hence the Creatures, being all
Miniatures
of the Deity, must bear a mutual Resemblance to Him and to one another. This
Resemblance
is what we call
Analogy,
and runs through the whole
Scale
of
Beings
; every
Being,
besides its
peculiar
and distinguishing Quality, whereby it is determin'd to this or that particular
Order,
and has the
Pre-eminence
of all below it; being also possess'd of all those Qualities that are to be found in any of the inferior
Orders.
As a
Curve
of any of the
Orders
has all the Properties of the inferior Orders of
Curves,
besides those that belong to its own Class or
Species.
2. THESE different
Orders
or Ranks of Beings, being distinguish'd by their respective Qualities, the
first Term
of this infinit
Scale
will be simple
Existence
; the Addition of
one
Quality will constitute the
second Term
or
Order
; of
two,
the
third
; and so of the rest; whence the Number of Qualities with which any Being is endow'd, will determin its Place in this
Scale,
and shew its Distance from the
first Term.
Besides this Difference in the several
Orders
of Beings, there is also a Diversity among those of the same
Order,
which proceeds from their possessing some of the common Qualities in a more or less eminent Degree.
3. As
God
can have but one
Model
in all his Productions, every
System
of Beings will resemble all the other
Systems,
and each will be a Copy of the whole
Creation.
The
material
World will be a Transcript of the
spiritual
; and the
Laws
and
Oeconomy
of the
one
will be analogous to and correspond with those of the
other.
Besides this general
Analogy,
there will be a more immediat and flagrant Relation between each
material System,
and the Intelligences to which it belongs; the Structure of the Bodies and other material
Organs
of these Intelligences, together with the whole Frame and Contexture of the material
System,
being such as will best suit the Nature, Rank and
Order
of these
Intelligences.
And this Relation probably will subsist and attend them in all the Changes and
Periods
through which they pass; so that should the intelligent
System lapse
from its Purity and Perfection, the material
System
would fall into Disorder likewise, and undergo some
similar
and
analogous
Change.
4. OF this general
Analogy
between the
spiritual
and
material Systems,
there are many
Traces
plainly to be discern'd by an acute and
contemplative Philosopher.
To instance only in the Similitude which our
solar System,
as now disorder'd, bears to the
lapsed Intelligences
that inhabit it. In the Centre of this
System
is plac'd the
Sun,
a bright and lively Image of the
Deity,
his material inanimat
Miniature
; the
Planets
and other
celestial Orbs
revolving about him at their respective Distances, and performing their Revolutions in different
Periods
of Time, will represent the several
Orders
of lapsed Intelligences, the different Degrees of their
Lapse,
and the Duration and Continuance of their
probatory
State. This glorious Body, the
Sun,
infinitly surpasses all the other
Orbs
in Magnitude and Lustre; they are no more, compar'd to him, than Points in the
Circumference
of a
Circle.
They have no Brightness of their own; it is all deriv'd by
Reflection,
and is more or less, according to their Distance from him.
5. THE chief Properties of the
Sun
are
Attraction, Light
and
Heat.
The
Sun
's
Attraction
extends to the remotest Parts of the
System,
acting at all Distances, with a
Force
increasing in a certain Proportion as these Distances decrease. 'Tis by this
Attraction
that the
Planets
are retain'd in their
Orbits,
and kept from flying off in the
Tangent,
to which their
projectile
Force gives them a constant Tendency. Should the
Sun
's
Attraction
cease but a Moment, the whole
System
would fall into the utmost Disorder, and be irrecoverably ruin'd. How like is this
Attraction
to the
Love
of
God,
continually operating upon all created
Intelligences,
and powerfully solliciting them to a nearer Approach and Resemblance to Himself! Its Influence is constant and invariable; were it possible it should have the least Intermission, the whole
Creation
would fall into utter Ruin and Destruction.
6. THE
Light
of the
Sun
is diffus'd throughout the whole
System
; no
Celestial
Body is endow'd with this Quality but himself. This is an
Image
of that
Light which enlightens every Man that comes into the World
; an
Emblem
of Him who came forth from the
Father of Lights
; the
Light
and
Sun
of the new
Jerusalem,
and of
spiritual Nature.
7. THE
Sun
's Light is always accompanied with Heat, the Principle of
Life
and
Vegetation.
In the other celestial Bodies there is some small Degree of this Quality, but it is originally deriv'd from or produc'd in them by the
solar Heat
; without which they would be barren and inhospitable
Desarts.
This represents the Influences of the
Holy Spirit,
which are inseparable from the
Light
of the
Gospel
; and are the Principle of our
spiritual Life,
animating and cherishing every intelligent Being, and making it productive of all the Fruits of Righteousness.
8. LET us next consider the Properties of the
Planets,
and other Bodies that revolve about the
Sun.
Their various
Magnitudes
and
Distances
from the
Sun,
with the
periodical
Times of their Revolution, will express the several
Orders
of
lapsed Intelligences,
the different Degrees of their
Lapse,
and the particular
Periods
of Time allotted for their Trial and
Probation.
Some of these Bodies, as the
Comets,
move in
Orbits
that are very
Ellyptical,
going off to immense Distances from the
Sun,
where the Influence of his
Heat
and
Light
is almost insensible; but by the Force of his
Attraction
they are again drawn back, and brought even to a nearer Approach than other Bodies that move in narrower
Orbits.
9. THE
Planets
are constantly acted upon by two different Forces,
viz. Gravity
or
Attraction,
and the
projectile
Force. These are contrary to one another, and always act in opposite Directions; the
projectile
Force giveing the
Planet
a constant Tendency to recede from the
Sun,
and to fly off in the
Tangent
; while the Force of
Attraction,
by drawing it the contrary way, prevents that Effect: So that by the joint Action of both, the
Planet
is kept in its
Orbit.
The
attractive
Force, though continually influencing the
Planet,
is not a Quality of it, but proceeds from the
Sun
; the only Quality belonging to the
Planet
is that of the
projectile
Force. This will shadow out the
Lapse,
the Action of
Selfishness,
and the inordinate
Love
of the Creature, with their Opposition to the
divine Love.
PHILOSOPHERS
tell us, that the present State of our
System
cannot be of long Continuance; but that the
solar Attraction
must necessarily prevail over the
projectile
Force of the
celestial
Bodies; and all the
Comets
and
Planets,
with their
Satellites,
be at last
absorb'd
and
swallow'd
up in the
Sun.
FINIS.
AN ABSTRACT; Or, A Brief, but Distinct REPRESENTATION OF THE
Doctrines
and
Sentiments
Contained in the preceding DISCOURSES.
AN ABSTRACT OF DISCOURSE I.
PHILOSOPHICAL CONJECTURES about the Nature and Qualities of the
Original Animal Body,
and of its Progressive State, in its several Stages of Existence.
THAT there may be
Animals,
(and consequently animal
Organs
) performing
analogically,
at least, the animal
Functions,
less than our Senses can discover, assisted by our best
Art,
possibly less, than our Imagination can frame an Idea of
Page
1
Several
Demonstrations,
shewing the utter
Impossibility,
that an
animal
Body could be first form'd, or can be now continued, by mere Mechanism, or the Laws of Nature now obtaining; but must be the immediat Work, continued and supported by the constant Influence of an omnipotent and omniscient
First Cause
3
That the
least
and
last
Particles of Matter can be divided by no finite Power whatever 4
That their
Figures
were probably at first only
Spheres, Cubes,
and
equilateral triangular Prisms
ibid.
That our now porous and confus'd
Elements, Salts, Water, Light, Air,
and
Earth,
still have
inherent
Qualities, which distinguish them from each other, which they never totally lose, tho' these may be swallow'd up, when combin'd
unharmoniously,
as they now are 5
That the original
Creation,
and the
Resurrection
Body, might have been, and may be, of this first kind of simple
Elements, harmoniously
combin'd; but are now crusted over, and
discordantly
blended with the gross secondary Elements of this
ruinous Planet
we inhabit 6
That the Fineness of the original
aethereal
animal Body, may have been in
Proportion
to its
Order,
and the Perfection of the natural and moral Powers of the
Soul
conjunctly 7
That this
analogically, spiritual
(so to speak) animal Body, might have been
roll'd
up, and
concentred,
into a
Miniature
of a
Miniature in Infinitum,
in the Loins of the
first Adamical Parent,
till by its being sufficiently plaister'd over with the Matter of this ruinous
Planet,
it became able to bear its now
Inclemency,
and be born into this World 8
That this
primitive, aethereal,
divinely
organiz'd Body,
by an
individual Fitness
and Congruity to the informing spiritual Substance, might have been thereby so intimatly and
commensuratly
united with it, that they could never after be separated by any finite Power, no more than the
original Particles
of Matter could be divided by such a Power ibid.
That the confineing this original
spiritual
Body and
Soul
so long a Time to so dark a Prison, as the
Seeds
and
Eggs
of Animals are now, might have been for
progressive Purification, Correction
and
Punishment
9
That it is
Fact,
that the
wisest
and
best
Men, have been at first mere
Vegetables,
afterwards mere
Brutes,
and but at last
rational
intelligent Beings 10
That
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings are by their
derivative
Nature immortal and unannihilable, and because
God
can never be contrary to Himself; but are in a
progressive
State towards Perfection and Happiness in their Order, like the several Orders of
Hyperboloids
12
That the
natural
Powers being uniformly constant and invariable, and the
moral
Powers being cancell'd by the
Lapse,
had not the
natural
Powers in their full Vigour been suspended and fetter'd, they must have
counteracted
the Acquisition of the
moral
Powers 13
That
precise
Knowledge, and
mathematical
Certainty, in the real Nature, and of the intimat Substance of any complex Thing, is incompatible with
Finitude
; and that the
Degree
of Certainty in Things, is only in Proportion to the
Amplitude
of the Faculty 16
That subjecting all Creation to
general Laws,
was one infinitly wise and effectual
Mean
to secure
Liberty
inviolate, and to
harmonize
the Divine Attributes, in the great Work of Restoration 17
That the only thing worthy of a
Philosopher,
is, by
Experiment, Attention
and
Induction,
to collect as many of these
general Laws,
as he possibly can 18
That God being
Simple, One,
and always the same, must necessarily act by
general Laws
in all
Creation
; but that good and wise Men have been deterr'd from studying them, in
spiritual Nature,
out of Dread of the odious Appellation of
Enthusiasts
19
That the Study of these
general Laws
of infinit Wisdom and Sagacity may be a Part of the Employment of happy
contemplative Spirits
hereafter 20
That an infinitly rational and perfect Being could possibly have no other
Pattern
or
Model
for his Works of Creation at first, but
himself,
his own
Substance, Nature
and
Attributes
21
That therefore there must be one perpetual
Analogy
and
progressive Perfection
running through all the Works of an infinitly
rational
Being; and that as
Proportion
is the
Key
of the material,
Analogy
is the
Logic
of the
spiritual
World 22
That
Suffering
is a
mechanical
and necessary Consequence of our present
Situation
on this
ruinous Globe,
and that none ever could avoid it absolutly, but in Degree, and that thro' the Merits and
OEconomy
of
Jesus
only.
Sufferings
become
Blessings
because Means of Restoration 24
That this
Suffering
is a natural and
mechanical
Purification and Perfection of the
Subject
25
That
Consciousness
of the
End
or Occasion of this
Suffering
is no way necessary towards the beneficial Effects of it: That Consciousness would be prejudicial in the
first
Steps of this Purification; and only when its
End
is obtain'd, can it be beneficial to
clench
its Effects 26
That the great
Problem
and Difficulty with the
Best of Beings
(so to speak), and in the
Oeconomy
of his Providence, and the Reason of the present Darkness in it, is to restore
lapsed
Creatures, in Consistence with their
Liberties,
and the
Harmony
of his
Divine Attributes
27
That the general Methods of Providence in restoreing lapsed Intelligences, are plainly, 1. The continuing
general Laws.
2. The suspending the
elicit
Acts of the natural Powers for a Time, by Ligatures of this ruinous
Planet:
And, 3. By the admireable and adoreable
Oeconomy of Jesus
30
That it is a Contradiction to suppose a
beneficent
Being would create
sentient
or
intelligent
Beings, for
Suffering,
merely for
Suffering
's Sake ibid.
That the
Sufferings
of the
sentient
and
intelligent
Creatures, in this present State, necessarily supposes a State of
Pre-existence
and a future
Lapse,
or a
Course
of
Trial
and
Probation
32
That there may be other
States
and
Mansions, in infinitum,
of
progressive
Purification and Perfection; and that
Suffering,
which in the Divine Purity, and the Nature of Disorder, must have been
eternal,
is made temporary only, by the Merit and Suffering of
Jesus
34
That
spiritual Substance
may be conceiv'd analogous to, and not contradictory to Matter sublimed and refined by the Power of
Omnipotence
; but even this
Idea
is imperfect, and not satisfactory, their Substances being naturally destructive of each other, and their Qualities in all their Modifications equidistant. 37
That the
spiritual Body,
and immaterial
Spirit
crusted over with Clay, may for its Purification progressively be an infinit time in
developeing
these natural Powers, and in acquireing the moral Powers defaced by the Lapse; but that now under the
Oeconomy
of
Jesus,
this will be perfected in a finit Time, and even the whole
System
of
Saturn
is by general
Laws
vergeing to some great
Catastrophe
or Change 42
That the
Spirit,
as being a Ray of the Divine
Substance,
or a Power emitted from his
necessarily
existent Nature, is immortal in its own Nature; but that the
spiritual
or
aethereal
Vehicle is only immortal by the
Divine
Order, and comparatively, as the first Particles of Matter are
indivisible
43
That the thinner and lighter the
Crust
on this
aethereal
Vehicle is, the natural Powers will be elicited more readily and freely, and the moral Powers acquir'd more easily and fully, and the necessary Sufferings thereby lessen'd 44
That since the
natural Powers
of the
Spirit
are constant and always the same in their
Root
and
Fund,
it will follow, 1. That our acquir'd Knowledge is but Remembrance. 2. That there is in our spiritual Nature inherent and innate a
moral Sense,
and a
natural Sagacity,
as well as natural Sensations. 3. That there are innate Ideas of God and Virtue, and of moral
Good
and
Evil
in the Soul, tho' sopited and unelicited, as well as a natural Power to perform the
animal Functions.
4. That spiritual
Sensation
and
Senses
(justly explain'd) are Realities, and not Figures. 5. That the Soul, in her Operations now, can only use and employ the material Organs of the
aethereal
Vehicle crusted over as they are with
planetary
Clay, which she must endeavour to extend, develope and mundify. 6. That
Culture,
Study and Labour in extending and perfecting the
natural
Powers, is but removeing Superfluities, cutting off Excrescences, and rendering the
aethereal Vehicles
and their
Organs
pliant and supple, and for the which we are now condemn'd to labour for our Punishment and Purification. 7. That the shortest Way to perfect the
natural
Powers, is to labour at the recovering the
moral
Powers 46
That the
Activity, Sensibility
and
Penetration,
the
animal Functions,
the Passions, Sentiments, Memory, Imagination, and the other more material and less abstracted Operations of the
Soul,
and even the
involuntary Functions,
the voluntary Motions of the Body, are more immediatly performed by the
self-moveing,
immaterial, naturally sagacious
Spirit,
on the primitive
aethereal
Vehicle divinely organised, but now crusted over with Clay, as Springs and Weights move Clock-works, the first tho' having an
innate
Principle of
Self-action,
the other only an
extraneous
and adventitious one 48
That in this
progressive
endless
Purification
and Perfection of an Animal in Body and Spirit, there may be many Steps, Stations and
Mansions,
and, one finished, another may begin, till the
final
Completion 50
That in this endless
progressive
Purification towards consummat Perfection and Happiness, there may be a particular
Law
of
Attraction,
Fitness and Similarity, proportion'd to the Acquisition of the
moral
Powers, and Extension of the natural Powers, that may draw and determine them to their several
Stations
and
Mansions,
as the Eggs of
Insects
and Seeds of
Plants
are by
Electricity
drawn to their proper
Nidus
's and Leaves, till like the
Asymptots
of Hyperbola's they come at last to meet in their Curve ibid.
That this Sketch of a System is innocent, tho' it should be deem'd a
Romance,
which is all I am answerable for 51
AN ABSTRACT OF DISCOURSE II.
PHILOSOPHICAL CONJECTURES about the Preference of
Vegetable
to
Animal Food
; and of the End and Design of Providence in
Appointing
the first, and, on Trial,
Permitting
the latter.
THAT by our present
Frame,
we are fitted as for
Vegetable,
so for
Animal
Food, at least in the Days of our Vigour; but that
Animal
Food, on Trial, and consequent Miscarriage, under the first intended and appointed
Vegetable
Food, was permitted by the Author of Nature, as a
pis alle,
1. To let us feel the natural and necessary Effects of our own
Lusts
and
Concupiscence.
2. To produce naturally and
mechanically
those Pains, Miseries and Distempers, that might create a Horror of inordinat
Lusts
and
Appetites,
and afford Time and Opportunities to ponder and think, and thereby to return to
Order, Love of Virtue,
and its
Source.
3. To shorten the Duration of our natural Lives, that Sin and Misery might not increase, or last
eternally.
4. To
concentre
our natural Powers to a
Level
with our defaced moral Powers, that, without clashing, they might rise, and be restored, in the same
Progression.
And, 5. Perhaps to connive at what, without committing Violence on Liberty, could not at that Time be prevented. 55
That our present earthly Bodies being compos'd of the now
secondary Sulphur, Salt, Air, Water
and
fine Earth,
only, and it being certain, from
chymical
Experiments, that
Sulphur
and
Salt
are the two most active and destructive
Elements,
and that the
three
last,
Air, Water
and
fine Earth,
are more innocent, the less active and deleterious, and
Animal
Food abounding most in the two first, and
Vegetable
in the three last; consequently
Animal
Food must be more destructive to
Animal Bodies
than
Vegetable
in the same Proportion. 2. Because by
Experiment
the Juice and nourishing
Extract
of Animal Food is more
tenacious
and
glewy
than that of Vegetable Food. 3. Because
Animal Food
abounding more with
Salts
and
Sulphurs,
and they by their Nature being always in perpetual Motion and Action, must
mechanically
tear
Animal
Substances faster than Vegetables, which abound most with the more
passive
and innocent
Elements
; especially, 4. When
fermented
Liquors are join'd to them, as Dilution, which harden the
solid
Meat, and obstruct its Solution and
Digestibility.
And
lastly,
since, 5. the
Particles
of Animal Food being strain'd through the finer
Tubes,
and stronger
Organs,
of Animal Digestion, must be more minutely divided than the Particles of Vegetables can, by their fewer and grosser Tubes of Preparation, and being destitute of Animal
Heat
and Force, and having only the
Solar
Heat and universal Law of
Attraction
common and equal in both; on these Accounts, the
Particles
of
Animal
must be much finer than the Particles of
Vegetable
Food, and consequently have a
proportional
much greater Degree of
Attraction
; must therefore be united with greater
Force,
and form stronger Obstructions, and being more
delicious,
betray the Feeder more readily into
Excesses.
On all which Accounts, (I say)
Animal
Food must
mechanically
and necessarily create Diseases, and shorten Life more readily than
Vegetable
59
That since what is, and
necessarily
is, must be a Part of the
Intention
of the
Creator,
and since
Animal
Food necessarily begets Diseases and Pains more readily than
Vegetable
Food can, there is no accounting for the Permission of
Animal
Food, but by supposing Pain and Suffering here a necessary Mean of
Expiation
and
Purification,
which
GOD,
on
Trial,
finding nothing else could reclaim his
rebellious
Creatures,
unwillingly,
as it were, permitted it, as a
Father
sends his
Son
to the
Correctionhouse:
And that, as when by
Pride, Tyranny, Malice, Murder
and
Brutal
Commerce, by the more luxuriant and delicious Vegetable Food, the
Deluge
came to its
Pitch,
he was forced to destroy both the People and their Food by this
Deluge
62
That to those to whom
Revelation
is familiar, the like Means of Correction will be evident from the Permission of
Plurality
of Wives to the
Jews
; and that under his immediat and miraculous Government, he, on their Murmurs,
indulged
them in a
Monarchical
Government, as a kind
Father
admonishes his froward giddy Child to beware of too familiar Approaches to Fire, by burning his Fingers 64
That there is no accounting for the
Permission
of
Animal
Food, on the Foot of
Natural
Religion, the wanton Murder of
Animals
for Food, when more salutary
Vegetable
Food can be readily had, showing a Cruelty and Ferocity inconsistent with beneficent Natures; but that the
universal Proprietor
of Life and Happiness might, with great
Wisdom, Justice
and Kindness, knowing when the Term of
Expiation
of a lower Class of probationary, progressive or
lapsed Animals
is accomplish'd, give Leave, in the Course of his Providence, to put an
End
to their present Manner of Living, and advance them thereby sooner to a higher State of Being and Felicity, and at the same time
secretly,
and in Consistence with their
Liberty,
to admonish a higher
Rank
of Intelligences what they merited; for these (to be sure for wise and beneficent) Ends, perhaps unknowable by us,
GOD
might have permitted the killing Animals for our Food, as he certainly did for Sacrifice; for this we have a
Patent
in Revelation, but none for fermented Liquors, but as
Physic, Cordials
and
Stomachicks
or
Bitters,
on Extremities, Sickness, inclement Seasons, Fatigue or in Festivals 64
That fermented Liquors of any Kind can never, in their Nature, be proper, or the
best,
for
Animal
Health and Life; for they are the spurious Invention of
Art,
and the further Deviation from the
Simplicity
of Nature, which has given us no Intimation of any such Kind of Beverage in the Preparations of pure Nature, and which the Animals who follow the
Laws
of
Nature,
will not touch; they are properly
Physic, bitter
Draughts, and unnatural
Cordials
on Extremities, in Sickness and inclement Seasons, and only design'd for a
temporary
Relief, and occasionally.
Fermentation
concentres, condenses and contracts, as it were, to a Point, at least to a much smaller Volum, (like a
Burning-glass,
which condenses the
solar
Rays, to make them more
fierce
) all the
deleterious
Particles of the
Vegetables,
that is, their
Salts
and
Oils
; and is the true and sole
Cause
of all our great and atrocious Distempers, especially of all the Train of the frightful
nervous
Diseases which now rage universally in
England,
like a
Plague
; and have been increaseing since the
Conquest,
and since Wine has been familiar to all Ranks; and Water-drinking only, timeously begun in Life, is the only sufficient
Antidote
for these most wretched
lunatick
Distempers 46
That there are many Evidences of the Hurt
fermented,
but especially
spirituous
Liquors, do an
animal
Body; as, 1. That they harden and destroy the
Digestibility
of animal Food, and indeed of all kinds of Food in the Stomach. 2. Because they
corrugat
and
contract
the
Fibres,
and pin together the Particles of the Food, so that they cannot be so readily separated and divided into their
integral
nourishing Parts. 3. Because by their Heat and Activity, they bring the
Fibres
and
Membrans
of the digestive
Organs,
and all the other Solids, into too violent and frequent
Vibrations
and
Succussions,
and thereby break the
Tone,
and destroy the
Elasticity,
of these
Organs,
dissolve their Continuity, and so wear them out much sooner. And, 4. Because they
stunt
the Ductility and Growth of the animal Organs themselves, and thereby hinder their Developement, Extension, Elasticity and natural Strength, by continuing their
linear
or superficial Amplitude folded or rolled up 68
That all
sentient
and
intelligent
Creatures are in an expiatory, perfectioning and progressive State, is evident, because here they must necessarily suffer; and infinit Beneficence could not possibly create any sentient or intelligent Being, merely to suffer; but chiefly, perhaps only, for
Expiation,
and consequent progressive Perfection and Happiness. That probably the early and universal Precept of
Sacrifice,
might first introduce
animal
Food; which
Sacrificeing
might have been intended, 1. Silently and kindly to admonish the
Sinner
to consider what he deserves: In this silent manner possibly, for the preserving Liberty inviolate, all the Animals might, partly, be design'd to read us Lectures of Instruction in Morality, or of the Conveniencies of Life, in the same manner. 2. By a
Prolepsis
to perpetuat the Expectation and Hope of some more
noble Sacrifice,
with such a View as the
Eucharist
was instituted after
that
Sacrifice had been accomplished. But yet this Permission seems to have been against the
Grain,
as may be gather'd from the Caution not to eat the Animal's
Blood,
in which its
Life
and
deleterious
Qualities alone consisted 73
This Aversion in infinit Wisdom and Goodness, to permit the Use of animal Food, which He condescended to, merely for the
Hardness
of the
Hearts
of his
lapsed
Creatures, kindly to give them a forced Permission to do what He found they would presumptuously do, is further shewn by the Distinction between
clean
and
unclean Animals,
which were not to be eaten; which in their Nature are more apt to
madden
the Passions, enrage Distempers, and produce an Aversion to Virtue. And tho' St.
Peter
had a miraculous
Vision,
to tell him nothing was
unclean
under the
Gospel,
yet that was not till the Doctrine of
Self-denial
and Mortification was establish'd, as the Fundamental of
Christianity
74
That some
Vegetables,
as
Eastern
Gums,
Spices, Aromaticks,
pungent
Foetids,
and
Onion
Tribes, are more destructive to
Animals,
than young white
animal
Food 76
To the Difficulties, that our
blessed Saviour
eat and drank with
Publicans
and
Sinners:
That he wrought his first
Miracle
to produce
Wine:
That he fed a Multitude by miraculous
Animal
Food: That St.
Peter
had a Vision to instruct him, that all Food was equal: It is answer'd, 1. That the Question only is, Which of the two Foods,
Animal
or
Vegetable,
was probably first intended by the
Author
of the Universe before the
Lapse,
and the Ruin of the
Planet
we now inhabit? 2. That different Repairs are necessary to different Degrees of Ruin, even in material Habitations. 3. That there is neither
Virtue
nor
Vice
in either kinds of Food, but in their
Quantity,
or as they are commanded by
lawful Superiors.
But that a
low
or vegetable Diet is naturally and mechanically more productive of Health and long Life, and consequently of
Knowledge
and
Virtue,
than a high
animal
Diet. 4. That our
Saviour
came to
seek,
to
save
those who were lost, and so was under a Necessity of converseing with the
Voluptuous
and
Sinners:
But that the Preference he gave to a
low Diet,
was implicitly included in his grand Doctrine of
Selfdenial,
and takeing up the
Cross.
5. I grant, that in our present Situation on this
ruinous Globe,
it is
impracticable
and
impossible,
for Persons of all Ranks, Conditions and Occupations, to live intirely on
Vegetables:
Their Use
now,
is only to cure, alleviat and lessen the
Distempers
generated necessarily by
animal
Food, and
fermented
Liquors: And, 6. Even these, and
spirituous
Liquors, are sometimes necessary on Extremities, in some Diseases, as
Filips
and Cordials for temporary Reliefs; and infinit Wisdom foresaw this Mischief of these high Meats and Drinks, and provided an
Antidote
for them, at least for a Time, 1. By makeing the great Bowel, the
Liver,
to draw off their Poison, and turn it into a
salutary Medicin.
2. By forming
mineral
Waters of all kinds, with such Profusion and Variety, every-where on the Surface of the
Globe:
And, 3. By creating the Minerals themselves,
Mercury
especially, mechanically adjusted for that Purpose, among many other Uses and Utilities, of ponderous and mineral Medicins, which probably were not in the
same Form,
or so readily at Hand, before the
Flood
81
That to the Appearances in the present State of Nature, that seem to clash with this Doctrine (which consists only in these
three
Propositions, 1. That
animal
Food, in its own Nature, is more ready to produce Distempers than
vegetable
Food. 2. That therefore infinit Wisdom must have had wise and beneficent Ends in instituteing the
first,
and but probably permitting only the
latter:
And, 3. That therefore the latter must be the proper
Antidote
for Disorders produc'd by the former); it is to be observed further, that at present our whole
System
is in Disorder, in a purifying, and, as it were, in a
febrile
State, labouring in a
perfectionating Progression
by general Laws, under natural
Liberty,
and the
Harmony
of the Divine Attributes, which must at last terminate in relative Order, Perfection, and universal Happiness. That now there is no such thing as avoiding the destroying of
animal
Life absolutly; but that it should not be done out of mere
Luxury, Wantonness
and
Ferocity,
which even the rapacious Animals do not, but from want of any proper Food 86
That on the whole, it is plain from Revelation, that, 1.
Animal
Food was permitted, and
fermented
Liquors not absolutly, but their Excesses, forbidden. 2. That in many Circumstances and Situations, a reasonable Quantity of
animal
Food and
fermented
Liquors is absolutly necessary for a Time. 3. That it is plain from
Philosophy
and
Experience,
that Excesses in high animal Food, and strong fermented Liquors, are the true and adequat Cause of the great and atrocious Distempers. 4. That
animal
Food, and
fermented
Liquors, will necessarily shorten Life (perhaps one half) more readily than
vegetable
Food, and unfermented Liquors, and in the same Proportion cause Distempers. 5. That tho' a moderat Quantity of
animal
Food and
fermented
Liquors will naturally warm and strengthen the Blood, and tighten the Solids for a Time, and consequently is necessary in all
eruptive
Distempers, yet they will shorten Life, and produce Distempers, much more readily than
vegetable
Food, and unfermented Liquors. 6. That for bodily and
mechanical
Strength dureing a Time, and for a transient Occasion, tho'
animal
Food, and
fermented
Liquors, be the most effectual; yet for
intellectual
Purposes,
vegetable
Food, and
unfermented
Liquors, are certainly fittest. But to secure the
golden Mediocrity
between bodily Strength and clear penetrating Heads, about a half Pound of animal Food, and a half Pint of fermented Liquors, in the intirely Healthy and Young, or rather less, seems to bid fairest in Quantity for that Purpose: The Valentudinary must gradually sink below this healthy Standard, till, by Experience, they find their own proper Dose 88
AN ABSTRACT OF DISCOURSE III.
A PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY, founded on
Experiments
of the
Nature
and
Laws
of
minute inanimat Bodies,
and their
Systems
in general.
PROPOSITION I. THE least
Particles
of Matter are of various Sizes, Densities and Figures; the very
least
are almost
infinitly small, hard
and
elastic,
makeing the
first Order
; the
second Order
are compos'd of those; and these combin'd make the
third Order
92
SCHOLIUM. The Quantity of
solid
Matter in the
material System
of the Universe, may be very small; and yet, if duely divided and arranged, might answer all the Appearances of
material Worlds
93
PROP. II. The
least Particles
of Bodies are indivisible by any
finite
or created Powers 94
Analogous
to
Gravity
in the great Bodies of the Universe, there is in the least Particles of Matter, a Principle of
Attraction
and
Repulsion
ibid.
SCHOL. I. What the general Law of
Attraction
and
Repulsion
in the
least
Particles of Matter precisely is, has not yet been determin'd; only in receding from the
Contact,
it is demonstrable that it is greater than the
reciprocal Duplicat.
95
SCHOL. II. If
Particles
attracted each other in the
reciprocal Triplicat
in their Point of Contact, the Force of their
Attraction
would be infinitly greater, than at any assignable Distance; yet it would not be infinitly greater than the Force of
Gravity,
since any Body may be separated by an assignable Force 96
SCHOL. III.
Repulsion
begins and goes on, where
Attraction
ends; and they probably go on according to the same
Law
and Progression, but with contrary
Directions
ibid.
PROP. IV. The Force of
Cohesion
in the small Particles of Matter, is in a compound
Proportion,
of the Quantity of their
cohering
Surfaces, and the Quantity of their
attractive
Powers ibid.
COROL. Therefore the less the
cohering
Surfaces are, the less will be the Degree of Cohesion, and the least of all will be in
Spheres
or
Spheriods
97
PROP. V. The Force of
Attraction
in small Particles increases, as the
Size
of the Particles is diminished ibid.
PROP. VI. The
Gravities
of Particles decrease as the
Cubes
of their
Diameters
ibid.
COROL. Hence, from the Smallness and Divisibility of its Parts,
Mercury
is so easily rais'd; and Bodies may be suspended in
Fluids specifically
lighter than themselves ibid.
PROP. VII. If a
Fluid
attracts the Parts of an immers'd Body more strongly than they do one another, they will be equally diffus'd through it 98
PROP. VIII.
Elastic
Particles suspended in a Fluid after their
Collision,
will resile, and by their
Actions
and
Reactions,
cause
Fermentation
and
Effervescence
ibid.
PROP. IX.
Unelastic
Particles suspended in a
Fluid
attracting each other, will sink and be
precipitated
; the same will be produc'd by diminishing the Gravity of the
Menstruum
98
PROP. X. The
Figures
of the Particles of all unelastic Fluids must necessarily be
Spherical
; and the
Elements
of all Solids must be of some of the regular Solids, as
Cubes, Triangles, Prisms,
&c. 99
SCHOL. The Figure of the Particles of
elastic
Fluids is of no Consideration, since their
Elasticity
depends only on their
repulsive
Force ibid.
PROP. XI. The
Elasticity
of solid Bodies is the Effect of the
attracting
Force of their Particles ibid.
PROP. XII. That Bodies under a
Rotation
fly off in the
Tangent,
is the Effect of the
general Law,
by which they continue in their
State,
whatever that be 100
PROP. XIII. The
Figures
of the Particles, and their Actions on one another, arising from the Principles of
Attraction
and
Repulsion,
together with the Motions impress'd on them by
living
and
intelligent Agents,
will probably account for the Appearances of the
material World,
if adjusted according to their Laws ibid.
PROP. XIV.
Air
is a
System
of Particles endow'd with a repulsive Force, which being fix'd in all
animal, vegetable
and
mineral
Substances, are by
Fire, Fermentation, Putrefaction, Dissolution,
or any other intestine
Action
and
Reaction,
set at Liberty, and compose our
Atmosphere
; and hence its
Compression, Weight, Elasticity
and
Density
ibid.
SCHOL. The
Density
of the
Air
is proportionat to its Compression, and therefore its
expansive
Force must be in the direct
subtriplicat Ratio
thereof 101
PROP. XV.
Earth
is a loose Collection of the different elementary Particles of Matter, of all the
three Orders,
thrown together without any regular Combination ibid.
PROP. XVI.
Water
is a Collection of the
Solution
of tasteless
Salts,
originally
crystalliz'd,
but kept in Fusion by Heat; and different Salts are different Combinations of these with the other
Elements
102
PROP. XVII.
Acids
seem to be very
attractive
Particles of plain Surfaces, and
angular
Points ibid.
SCHOL. Possibly the Figures of
Acids
may be
triangular Prisms
; for all Matter must be figur'd ibid.
PROP. XVIII.
Heat
is the brisk vibrating
Action
and
Reaction
of the
repelling Nitre
of the
Air,
and the
aethereal Fluid
with an attractive acid
Sulphur
; which
Sulphur
yields an inflammable
Oil,
an
acid Salt,
a fix'd
Earth,
and a little
Metal
163
COROL. Hence the Affinity between
Light
and
sulphureous
Bodies, and the true Nature of
inflammable
Spirits ibid.
SCHOL. Since a
Thermometer
in an exhausted Receiver will rise and fall in the same manner as in the open
Air,
and since
polish'd
Bodies in the same,
cling
together as strongly as in the
Air
; it seems to follow, that there is some subtle elastic Fluid pervadeing all Bodies, to produce these Appearances 104
PROP. XIX.
Light
seems to be the vibrating Particles of hot Bodies, driven out by the
repelling
Force, with an immense
Velocity
; which is increas'd by the
aethereal
Fluid, and the
Attraction
of Bodies ibid.
SCHOL. I. Since
Light
is convertible into
Bodies,
and
Bodies
into
Light
; it would seem, that Light is only the Particles of a hot Body thrown off with an immense Velocity ibid.
SCHOL. II. The Rays of
Light
seem to consist of Particles of different Sizes, and different Degrees of
Refrangibility
ibid.
SCHOL. III. The
Sun
and
fixt Stars
are immense
Globes
of Matter, saturated with the Particles of the
second Order,
or of
Light
ibid.
SCHOL. IV. It is not impossible this
Earth,
with all the
Planets
and
Comets,
should be intended as temporary
Prisons,
and Places of Correction, for the
Trial, Expiation,
or
progressive Purification
of the several Orders of lapsed,
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings 106
PROP. XX.
Flame
is the sulphureous Smoak of a hot Body 107
PROP. XXI. Bodies are
Transparent,
whose Pores are sufficiently small and rectilinear ibid.
EXPERIMENTS.
PROP. I.
Mercury
consists of smaller Particles than any known Fluid. 2. The Particles of
Mercury,
the smaller they are, the more perfect
Spheres
they are. 3.
Mercury
is the heaviest of all natural Fluids. 4.
Mercurial
Particles
attract
some Bodies most, and
fly
from others the most 108
Philosophical Corollaries.
1. Therefore the Particles of
Mercury
are most easily rais'd by Heat. 2. Therefore they have the greatest
Momentum.
3. Therefore they will readily pass through all
animal
Substances, which are lax and porous 109
Medical Corollaries.
1. Therefore the Particles of
Mercury
are fittest to break
Viscosity.
2. Therefore they are the fittest Medicin to open the
Obstructions
of the small Vessels. 3. Therefore they are fittest to cure
Palsies.
4. Therefore they are fittest to antidot the
Scurvy.
5. Therefore they are the best
Antidot
for the
Gout.
6. Therefore they are the best Remedy for
chronical
Distempers caus'd by Excesses. 7. Therefore the Particles of
Mercury
duely prepared, are the most probable Mean to make the Circulation quite round and intire through the whole System of the animal
Tubes
; that is, to thin the Juices 110
Medical Cautions. Mercury,
however prepared, will infallibly burst those Vessels, whose Obstructions cannot be dissolved, and break those whose Sides are very slender, or which are putrified; and therefore
Mercury
is a divine
Antidot,
or
real Poison,
according as it is managed; neither it nor any mineral Medicin being ever design'd by the Creator to enter an animal Body, no more than animal Food, in his first Intention, at least before the Lapse, and perhaps not before the
Deluge,
the
Minerals
being probably then intended for other Uses, and not being perhaps in the
Form
they are now, nor on the mountainous Surfaces of the Earth, nor dissolv'd in Water, as we now find them 111
The Choice of mineral Medicins.
The best Preparation of
Mercury
is that wherein its Particles are most minutely divided and separated, and thereby fitted to pervade the smallest
Tubes
ibid.
That Preparation of
Mercury
is best, where its Particles being minutely divided, the Mixture is made with that Body of the most acknowledg'd
specific
Virtue against the Disease 112
Therefore the
Aqua Mercurialis
is the best and most universal of all Deobstruents in very weak Persons; the
Mercurius Alcalisatus
next; then the Cinnabar, Aethiops, Quicksilver, purified with specific Extracts,
&c.
ibid.
All
mineral
Medicins ought to be infinitly divided before they are sent into an
animal
Body ibid.
Mercury,
and the
active Salts,
are the very worst and most prejudicial Preparations to animal Bodies, and are not to be us'd but in small Doses, and in Cases that require
Expedition
113
General medical Corollaries.
As Water, Blood-warm, is the best Diluent, so purified
Quicksilver
is the best Deobstruent. But as Water alone may be too sluggish, so
Mercury
alone may be too active and ponderous in delicat Constitutions; therefore the very best Preparation is where
Mercury,
infinitly divided, is mix'd with the
specific
Vegetable or Mineral against a given Distemper ibid.
Therefore a thin cool low Diet of
vegetable,
or very tender and loose animal Substances, is the very best Food for delicat and wasted Constitutions 114
A general medical Scholium.
From this
System,
or Philosophical Explication, of the Nature and Laws of the minute Particles of Matter, it will follow, 1. That soft, mild, thin and cool Foods, are fittest to carry on and continue
animal
Life and
Functions.
2. That
Spirits, Salts, chymical Oils,
and Medicins that have pass'd through the Tortures of the Fire, are most pernicious to animal Bodies. 3. That Food of
Animals
which live on
Animals,
are the worst kind of animal Food for human Bodies. 4. That
Mercury,
duely prepared and combin'd with a
specific
Alterative, is the best
Deobstruent
and
Dissolvent.
5. That
Milk
and
Vegetables
are the proper Food for young and diseased Animals, and tender Constitutions. 6. That Water
Beverage
is best for preserving the Faculties clear, the Spirits free, and prolonging Life. 7. That, on the whole,
Mercury,
some-how prepared, and Water,
naturally
or
artificially
impregnated, are the two
Antidots
provided by Nature for
animal
Distempers in
chronical
Cases 116
AN ABSTRACT OF DISCOURSE IV.
PHILOSOPHICAL CONJECTURES on
Spiritual Nature,
the
Human Spirit
in particular.
THAT the natural Powers of all
Spirits
are these two,
Understanding
and
Willing,
which suppose a third,
viz. Living,
as their Base 119
That all created
Spirits
naturally and philosophically can be conceiv'd only as
infinitesimal Miniatures, Sparkles, Emanations,
or, if I durst use the Words, diminutive analogous
Particles
of that infinitly perfect
spiritual Being,
who is so intirely
One,
that He cannot have Parts; yet have these Miniatures of Him an
infinitesimal
Portion of his spiritual Substance, endow'd with a proportional Share of his
natural Attributes
of
Living, Understanding
and
Willing
; and so are therefore necessarily
immortal,
and cannot be
annihilated
120
That these
Faculties
or Powers are felt sensibly and perceptibly by duely cultivated Spirits of all Orders, and follow by
Analogy
as to the Substance of the
Soul,
and these
Faculties,
from the necessary Nature and Attributes of the
Deity
121
That this Meaning is evident in
Revelation,
which says,
Men are God's Images,
and they are there called
Gods
; that is, they were at first made
infinitesimal Divinities,
endow'd with his
natural
and
moral
Attributes, in their Order 122
That all
Pagan
and
Christian
Antiquity believ'd, that all created
Spirits
were cloath'd with some material
Vehicle,
and that
God
alone was
pure, immaterial, infinit Spirit
; and
Revelation
speaks of a
spiritual,
that is, of an infinitly refin'd and sublim'd
Body
123
That neither
material
nor
spiritual
Substances are knowable by us at present, but by their
sensible
Effects and Acting: But that
Matter
and
Spirit
are
contrary,
tho' not contradictory, in their most
essential
and distinguishing Qualities; Matter being divisible in
infinitum,
and Spirit indivisible: But what infinit Divisibility, Rarity, Elasticity and Velocity in the Particles of Matter, might at last effect on its Substance and Qualities, to give Matter a Nature different from gross porous inert Bodies, none but the
Author
of
Matter
and
Spirit
can tell or comprehend: But they will eternally be even thus, like the
Hyperbolic
Curve and its
Asymptot,
probably like
parallel
Right Lines 125
Living
is probably actuating, governing and moveing a divinely
organiz'd
Vehicle,
primitive, aethereal
or
planetary
; and whereever there is any Degree of
Life, vegetative
(or divinely organiz'd Matter only)
sensative
or
rational,
there of Neceslity must be a
spiritual
(so to speak) Body, or an immaterial, immortal and progressive spiritual Substance, actuating, governing and moveing a divinely
organiz'd
Body of some Order or Nature or another, or both united 126
That there may possibly be
Orders, Ranks
and
Species
of animated Beings, with divinely
organiz'd
Vehicles of all
Degrees,
gradually rising, from the
Coralline
to the highest
Seraphim
; and an
Angel
is only a
spiritual
Substance actuating a divinely
organiz'd
Body, of an Order and Purity a little higher than that of an
unlapsed
perfect human Being 127
That we plainly perceive how imperfect and unhappy Beings we are at present, we of the
human
Race; yet cannot possibly think that we came thus out of the Hands of our
Creator
; but must conclude we have lost our primitive
Creation
State by some wilful
Mismanagement
of our own 128
That our
primitive
State must necessarily have been, 1. That our organis'd Vehicle was entirely
supple
and pliable to our Spirit; and, 2. That our
Spirit
was entirely
pliable
to the Divine Spirit 129
That all created
Spirits
being naturally
free,
must be necessarily
fallible:
That, on this Globe, there was never a thinking Being, come to any Degree of Maturity, who found not himself, at one time or another, miserable, and wish'd not to be otherwise; this State is called the
Lapse
130
How this
Lapse
was brought about, is not explicitly revealed, and is not knowable by mere Reason or
Philosophy
; we feel that it is, and that is all we at first know certainly. GOD'S Design being to
restore
us, with the Consent of our own
Liberty,
and the
Harmony
of his Attributes, discourages vain Curiosity in Particulars; all that is revealed to us is general and indefinit; we feel that we are imperfect and unhappy, and that is sufficient to begin the first
Steps
of our Recovery into Order in Body and Soul; we are always certain in the Knowledge of our Recovery, of the
second
Step when we have made the
first,
of the
third
when we have made the second, and soon
in infinitum
; more previous Knowledge would but perplex and confound us, and draw us out of the
shortest
Road of
Restoration
132
That it is not improbable, that the
Lapse
was brought about by Steps and Degrees, that Way of
Lapseing
being most natural to
finite
Creatures, and many of the several
Orders
of Beings might have been concern'd in it 133
That our
Senses
were given us to
commerciat
with
material
Objects, these of our present
System
especially, or others we may pass into; in which the
Key
and
Logic
of our Knowledge is
Proportion.
All we can possibly know of spiritual Natures must be from
Analogy,
without Violence on our
Liberty,
which make us mere
Vegetables,
and from comparing them with the Faculties and Operations of our own
Spirits
; and
Analogy,
duly cultivated and cautiously guarded in spiritual Nature, is answerable to
Algebra,
or
Analyticks
in Mathematicks 135
That since
God is,
spiritual Nature and material Nature
is
and exists: All
GOD
's Words and Works must therefore necessarily have a
literal
or
material, spiritual
and
divine
Meaning and Sense; the
literal
for Beginners, the
spiritual
for the Advanced, and the
divine
for the Perfect. Perhaps it may be thus in the Account of the
Lapse,
and all the
Group
of this Affair certainly were literal,
Paradise
a Place of material Delight, the
Tree of Life
a Food to perpetuat the then material Vehicle in Health and Liveliness; the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,
quite the contrary; the
Serpent,
the highest fallen
Angel.
The spiritual Meaning may refer to the moral Powers of the Soul, as the literal did to the bodily; the
Tree of Life
may refer to the Source of the Divinity, the
Father
; the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,
to the
God-Man Jesus Christ
; the
Serpent,
the grand Deceiver;
Paradise,
the natural Powers of the
Soul,
which were contracted and sopited by gross Matter, upon the
Lapse,
after the
moral
Powers were defac'd by Rebellion, Disorder, Selfishness, and inordinat Love of the Creature 137
That by this
Lapse,
from the Principle of
Attraction
establish'd universally in the
spiritual
as well as
material
World, the primitive
aethereal
Vehicle was gradually turn'd to a
planetary
one, such as we now live in; and thereby the
Activity, Energy,
and Extension of the
natural
Powers of the Soul were greatly confin'd and stunted, as to their elicited Acts, tho' they could not be so as to their
Fund,
and potential Nature; and now they must rise to Perfection in proportion only to the acquir'd
moral Powers,
and by Labour and
Culture,
under the
Oeconomy
of
Jesus,
and by the Aid of supranatural Grace, be develop'd, extended and purified 139
That perhaps all
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, of all Ranks, must necessarily pass through a State of
Trial, Probation
and
Apprenticeship,
before they can be, even by Omnipotence, confirm'd and
eterniz'd
in
Illability
and
Impeccability,
as a
Potter
vitrifies his Ware by Fire; or a Smith
steels
his
Iron.
All that is necessary or proper for us to know, or be certain of, in our present State, is, that we are
lapsed Probationers,
and progressive towards Perfection and Happiness; more precise Knowledge of our
pre-existent
or future State might only retard our Progress 143
Whether the ruinous
Planet
we now inhabit, was the primitive Seat of
unlapsed
human Spirits, and by their gradual
Lapse
was insensibly turn'd into its
present Condition,
is impossible for us now to determin.
Paradise,
as described by
Moses,
is now no-where to be found; and most
Climats,
on a Balance of Incommodities with Conveniencies, are pretty much upon an Equality to the Natives. We find
Luxury
destroys our
planetary
Vehicles, and
Pestilences
infect the
Atmosphere
and the Earth, as well as its Inbitants: But it is probable, the Divine Power might suspend or accelerat the
general Laws
of Nature, to turn this
Globe
from its
Paradisiacal
to its present State 145
An
animal
Body being a
System
only of
mechanical
Powers, compos'd of fine
elastic infinitesimal
Lines, or Threads form'd into various
Webs
or
Membranes,
and they into
Tubes
or solid Bundles, are, by proper Liquors, kept for a time in due
Elasticity,
having under them the primitive
aethereal
Vehicle, which is the proper Covering of the
Soul,
and its immediat Instrument between it and the
planetary
Plaistering, which, when broken, drops, and perhaps they (Soul and
aethereal
Vehicle) pass into others, till its progressive Purification be finish'd into
Illability
and
Impeccability
147
Matter is capable only of
Division, Figure, Motion
and
Situation,
and is passive and inert.
Spirit
is
self-motive
and
selfactive,
and must be the Principle of
Motion
in Bodies, without which they would continue for ever
inert,
but so far as their Principle of
Attraction
or
Repulsion,
produc'd probably by some
subtile universal Fluid,
sets them into Action: But this Fluid seems confin'd chiefly to
inanimat
Matter; and does nothing in particular or eminently in proper animal Functions, but as the
general Laws
of Nature operate and concur with all
material Operations
; and the Whole of animated Functions seem to be
directly
and
eminently
transacted by the
actuating
immaterial Principle on the
divinely organiz'd aethereal Vehicle,
which communicats its
Energy
to the
planetary
Plaistering. So that the material Spirit of Sir
Isaac, Hugens
and
Leibnitz
's rapid Fluid, and even our common
animal
Spirits, seem to be without any Use, but in inanimat Motions and Appearances: And perhaps
animal
Motions and
Functions
may be better understood and explain'd, by supposing what is
Fact,
that our Solids, the
Nerves
especially, (which are the more immediat Instruments of
animal
Motions, and their Functions) are
membraneous cellular Tubuli,
preserv'd in their proper
Elasticity
and Tone, by a
milky Oil
contain'd in them; and are
mechanically
adjusted at first by the immediat Hand of the
Almighty,
and fitted to convey, from the
immaterial Spirit,
a Beginning of proper
harmonious
Vibrations and
Oscillations
(which may perhaps be promoted and forwarded by the correspondent
Undulations
of an infinitly rare
elastic
Fluid, disseminated thro'
universal Space
); which being sent, in a proper Direction, by the appropriated
Nerves,
to the peculiar
Muscles,
and divinely
organiz'd
Instruments, conveys proper Action, Energy and Motion to them; and
Bodies,
and their
Effluvia,
(so and so vibrating) may to the same
membranous Tubuli,
communicat peculiar
Vibrations,
fitted to impress a Sensation of their Presence, and of Bodies, and their Qualities, to the
intelligent
naturally
sagacious Spirit
; so that the whole Work may be directly transacted between the
Spirit
and outward Bodies, by the divine
Mechanism
of proper bodily
Organs
; and the
aethereal
Fluid may be to
animated
Bodies, in their Motions and Functions, not essential, but accidental or commodious, for a more convenient Propagation; as Air is to
Animals,
or Water to the
Fish
151
That
Living, Activity
or
Liberty,
and Intelligence, in some Degree, and all their
Modes,
are necessary to all
animated
Beings, of all Orders; and the Difference in the Individuals of the same Order, depends on the
Frame
and Texture of their
Vehicles
in a great measure; so that probably at first there might have been no Difference of
Sexes,
that depending on a design'd different
Configuration
of this
planetary
Crusting. That some Power
analogous
to the original creative Attributes in the
Deity,
arising from his infinite
Self-activity,
might be communicated to all
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, is not improbable. But how this
infinitesimal creative
Power operated before the
Lapse,
is not known: Perhaps by an intense
Willing
under the Influence of the
Divine Spirit
153
It is highly probable, from the Necessity of
Suffering,
in the present State, that all the
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, that shall ever
live
or appear on this
Globe,
were all created at the same Instant, miscarried in their
Probation,
and were all at the same time confin'd into
infinitesimal
Prisons of this ruinous
Planet,
in the
Miniature,
Seeds,
Ova,
and
Animalculs
of the primitive
Pairs,
or Stock, to be progressively propell'd into sensible Living on this
Planet,
all by general
analogous
Laws, in their Order; and this progressive
Propagation
was kindly design'd, as a Mean of recovering their
moral
Powers, by the Benefits arising from the Acquisition of Virtue and Wisdom in the Parents, tho' the contrary has fallen out 156
There may be
original
Differences in the
Spirits
of the
Individuals
of the same Order of Intelligences, some having one of the essential and natural Attributes of the
Spirit
in a higher Extent than the other, it may be sufficient to constitute the
same Order,
that their
Aggregats
be equal: But the Perfection of the
aethereal Vehicle,
Culture, and the Acquisition of the moral Attributes, makes the most signal Difference in this State; as Air, Exercise and Diet improve the
Health,
so does
Culture
in the Acquisition of the
moral
Powers of the Mind. The natural Powers are constant and invariable, as to their
Fund
and Capacity; but are impeded from
elicit
Acts by the Clumsiness and Want of due
Culture
of the
animal
and
intellectual
material
Organs
159
The
Mainoeuvre
of Providence in the Restoration seems to be thus: The radical
natural
Powers being constant and invariable in their
Fund
and Capacity, but the
moral
Powers being defac'd by the
Lapse
; infinit Goodness, ever acting by his own
beneficent
Nature, designing to recover these
moral
Powers, tied down the
Energy
and
Elicitation
of the
natural
Powers, by Ligatures of this ruinous
Planet,
at first into that of mere
Living
; and included the whole Mass of
lapsed
human Intelligences, in the
Loins
of
One,
or a Pair, who were to be the universal Parents, designing the
self-active
and
self-motive
Principle in each should, under certain
general Laws,
break and work off these
Ligatures,
in their several
Orders
; while they, by other
general Laws,
relating to
spiritual
Nature, (
Prophecy,
to wit,
Miracles, Apostolick
Lawgivers, supernatural
Influences
and
Graces,
and at last by the overwhelming
Light
and Love of the
Messiah,
his only begotten
Son
) should recover in them the defac'd
moral
Virtues 162
Hence it is evident, the first and initial Steps of this Restoration must, in a great measure, depend on the
Sanity
of the
Adamical
Machin; because, when our earthly Tabernacle is greatly disorder'd, these
elementary
Steps in the
Developement
of the natural, and the Acquisition of the
moral
Powers, cannot be so readily brought about, which depends greatly on the
Parentage
; for the whole Aggregat of all that is connected with the Parents, their Bodies, Humors, and
material
or
spiritual
Qualities, are transfus'd and transubstantiated through the whole, and descend to Posterity just as they possess them, and so the Children must fare accordingly 163
It may happen, by Accident, by Disease, by universal Causes, that one Set of
nervous Glands
in the Brain, one Set of
membranous Tubuli
(the material
Organs
of Cogitation) may be more spoil'd, broken, and worn out in some than the others, both in Parents and Children; which will make a great Difference in the
elicit
Acts of the
natural
Powers, and which will make the Difference between a
Lawgiver,
a
Philosopher,
a
Hero,
and an
Artisan.
But this whole Affair is more immediatly under God's special and particular
moral
Government of his World; tho' perhaps by general Laws, only
occasionally,
and on great and worthy Motives, suspended 165
That at present, the
Perfection
of
intellectual
Faculties depends, in a great measure, on the
Sanity
of the bodily Machin, seems evident, because, 1. The
Adamical Machin
was intended only to suspend the
elicit
Acts of the
natural
Powers in their most eminent Degree, to give us Fredom, by developeing and throwing off their
Incrustation,
to acquire the
moral
Powers. 2. By Experience we find, that in Disorders and Distempers of the Body, the
intellectual
Operations are either inconstantly, weakly, or unsteadily perform'd. 3. It is
Fact,
that in
seminal Miniatures,
in
Embryo,
and Childhood, and for a long time, the
Soul
does nothing but perform the
living
and
animal Functions.
4. We find, that
Luxury, Leachery, Laziness,
strong Passions,
inclement
Air,
Bruises
and Accidents, that injure the Body, hurt and destroy the free and easy Exercise of these Faculties, in the Acquisition of
Science
and
Virtue.
5. We actually see, that as the Body inlarges, and the Organs of the Senses strengthen, the
intellectual
Faculties and their elicit Acts grow stronger. 6. All
intellectual
as well as vital Operations, are perform'd by the
Intermediation
of
modulated
and
harmonious Vibrations
on
membranous Tubuli,
(the
Nerves
) and they absolutly depend on the State of the Body. 7. As
Luxury, Leachery,
and
Laziness,
will spoil these
intellectual
Operations; so, on the other hand, a
low cool Diet, Air
and
Exercise,
proper
Evacuation,
and the mild
ponderous
Medicins, will cure and mend them, and bring them often to the same, sometimes to a better State than they were before 169
From hence it is evident, that the whole Work of our Restoration, in some measure, depends on
ourselves,
in Co-operation with the Divine Assistance, under his Providence, and the
Oeconomy
of
Jesus
; the whole Creation, from
inert
Matter, up to the highest
Cherubim,
being, as it were, an inverted Cone rising from a Point, and made of
infinitesimal Surfaces,
as it were, contitinually inlarging, (which makes their
Order
) being all
Pictures,
less or greater, of the
radical
or natural Attributes of their
Creator
; but Men having defac'd their
moral
Attributes, are imprison'd in Gaols of this
ruinous Planet,
that by a progressive Expiation, Purification, and Labour, they may recover these, and so become again
similar
to their Original, in their
moral
as well as
natural
Powers, and so become again
infinitesimal Divinities,
in their
Order,
and perpetually happy 173
The human Soul has innate, constantly and invariably in it, all the
natural
Powers it was first created with, even now in its lapsed State, at least in its
Fund, Capacity,
and
Essence
; only they are suspended, chain'd down, and concentred, as to its
elicit
Acts, by the
Adamical
Tabernacle, like a
Felon
in a Dungeon, and will drop at last; and so perhaps passing through various
planetary Gaols,
will progressively recover the Use of their
natural
Powers, as they acquire the
moral
ones 175
From whence it will follow, that the
Culture
of the natural Powers, the Acquisition of Sciences, and all
intellectual
Exercises, are but
Remembrance,
cutting off
Obstacles,
and removeing Impediments, opening Passages, and widening
Apertures,
through this
Adamical
Prison, which is the most readily and effectually brought about by endeavouring to acquire the
moral
Powers 176
That
Memory
is but an Affection of the
Understanding
and
Will,
fixing the Attention and Reflection, like
seeing
in the
Eye
by the Effort of the
Will.
The
Understanding
is passive and
inert,
as every material Organ is. It is the
Will
that is the ruling and commanding Faculty, and Sovereign in the Soul. The
Will
is infinit and unlimited, and may act in Contradiction and Contrariety to the Understanding; is so absolutly unlimited, infinit and unconfin'd, that it extends to all Distances, without the Intermediation of Body. Being a self-motive and self-active Principle, it is no less real in its Operations, tho' it do not always effect its Volitions. In it lies the true and essential natural
miniature Image of the Deity
178
Some have thought, the
Will
of all
free Agents
so
infinitly free
in its own Nature, as it was deriv'd from the
creative
Source of Liberty and Power the
Deity,
that He left it
free,
hid and imperceptible directly from his own
Penetration, Espial
and
Influence
; for so much they think a
selfmotive Power
necessarily implies, tho' but an infinitesimal one; and that even
Omniscience
knew not that the
Angels
had lapsed, till the Rebellion actually happen'd; but had, from all Eternity, provided for the Possibility of such an Event: That to ennoble his Creatures, and make them fit to
commerciat
with Himself, He might suspend his
Omniscience
to magnify his
Omnipotence
; and might designedly and
arbitrarily
not foresee (tho' He certainly always might) the contingent and natural Actions of his
intelligent
Creatures, to make them more worthy of Him. But this bold and unwarranted Supposition, tho' it might solve some Difficulties about the
Lapse,
about
Prescience
and
Predestination,
and in the
Oeconomy
of Revelation and the
Restoration,
is perhaps inconsistent with the Perfection of the Divine Nature; and since infinit
Penetration
and
Sagacity
will equally answer the same Difficulties, and is less derogatory from infinit Perfection, the former Supposition is untenable, I think 182
As the
trine
Dimensions of
Matter
and
Space,
and their necessarily being neither fewer nor more, give us, in unanimated Nature, a lively Picture of the
Trinity in Unity,
in the Divine Nature; so the three fundamental
natural
and
essential Powers
of all intelligent Creatures, carry up the
analogical
Picture higher; which perhaps passes through all the
celestial Hierarchy,
and all intelligent Nature, up to their Source the
Creator,
who is the last and highest Term of this
Climax
; as He is, so we are, in our spiritual Nature, with the uncomprehensible Difference there is between the lowest
Finite
and absolute
Infinitude.
As in our Nature there is
Living, Understanding
and
Willing
; so in his there is
Self-existence, Omniscience
and
Omnipotence
; or, analogous to, in the Revelation Language,
Father, Son,
and
Holy Spirit.
But as
Living, Understanding
and
Willing,
in us and all Creatures, are but, as it were,
Modalities, Qualities, Faculties
and
Powers
; in the Divine Nature, on the contrary, they must be
Realities, Subsistences
and
Beings
; because every essential and radical
Attribute
in
God
must be actually
God,
because of his infinit Simplicity and Perfection. But this Representation of the Divine Nature is here only alledg'd as an Allusion and
analogous
Picture, to take off the Difficulties in this inexplicable
Mystery
; and, in some Degree, to reconcile it to modest guarded
Philosophers,
of honest Hearts, who are conscious of their own
low
Rank in the Scale of Intelligence. The
Arian
and
Sabellian
Heresies being the two Extremes, are yet widely different in their Influence on Christian Perfection: The first dwindling the
Merit, Dignity, Example
and
Satisfaction
of the Saviour of Men, into a mean low
human Transaction
; the
second
being only too
philosophically
nice and
punctilous
about the
Unity
of the Divine Nature; which tho', I think, this
emblematical miniature
Representation of it, actually existent in all intellectual Nature, fairly reconciles, and makes as clear as our present State will admit 184
The immaterial
Soul
and
aethereal
Vehicle, sopited in a State of mere
vegetable
Life, for perhaps many Ages, in the
seminal Animalcul,
by this
planetary
Incrustation; in time appears on this
Globe,
becomes sensitive, feels Pain and Misery; then begins
Instinct
and
Remembrance
from precedent Suffering, and stores the Mind with
Ideas
or Pictures of absent Actions and Things, and on these the
Understanding
operats to produce a Facility and Habit of Reasoning; as the material Organs and Instruments of these Operations
develope
and strengthen, Reflection and Remembrance of present or past Suffering awakens Conscience (an innate Faculty of the Soul); this Faculty, as the Ideas multiply, Sensations become more intense, Reflection more strong and frequent, and the intellectual Organs are dispos'd, becomes more anxious and vehement; and providential disposing Accidents, or natural Occurrences, incline us to provide for a durable future Happiness, at least when this
Adamical
Tabernacle shall crumble into Dust; and then perhaps we come to a State to say in earnest,
Lord, what shall I do to be saved?
which seems to be the precise Condition infinit
Love
and
Goodness
intends by this wonderful
Oeconomy
to bring us into 190
AN ABSTRACT OF DISCOURSE V.
On NATURAL ANALOGY, its
Laws,
and some of its
Consequences.
THINGS may differ in
Degree
as well as in
Kind
193
DEF. 1. Difference in
Degrees
is where things having their
essential
Qualities the
same,
admit in these Qualities a
More
and a
Less
ibid.
DEF. 2. Difference in
Kind,
is where some of the
essential
Qualities of things compar'd are
common,
some are
different
ibid.
DEF. 3. By
Ratio,
or Relation, is meant the
Reference
or Connexion any two things compar'd have with one another, whose
essential
Qualities common, admit of a
More
or
Less
ibid.
DEF. 4.
Similarity
is where there is an Equality or Sameness of
Relations:
In the Substance and essential Qualities of things compar'd, differing only by a
More
or a
Less:
In
abstracted
and
simple Ideas,
this Sameness is commonly called
Similitude
of
Ratio's:
In Things, Substances, or Aggregats of Qualities, it may be called
Similarity
of
Relations
194
DEF. 5.
Things, Substances,
and
Qualities,
are meant to be
progressive,
which are constantly increasing or decreasing
similarly
195
SCHOL.
Space, Time, Motion,
and
Velocity,
seem to be no
Realities,
or external Things, but mere
Modifications,
different
Situations
and
Circumstances
of Bodies or Matter; and are only our Manner of
conceiveing
or considering
these.
A
particular Space,
or the
Locality
of a particular Body, seems to be the
Mathematical
Term, or the Limits of the Three Dimensions of a Body, (as a Point is of a Line) or a Body in the Instant of its Evanishing or Generating. And
universal Space
is just such an
Idea
as infinit Number, or an infinitly
great Body,
or a mere
Ens Rationis.
And to shew that they are all but
abstracted Ideas,
and our partial Manner of conceiveing Things, from our limited Capacity; if we perform actually the
Arithmetical
Operations, as the Expression points them out, on proper infinit
Series's,
and throw away all the lesser Quantities, we shall come to all the
Mysteries
in
Fluxions
and
Differentials, Ratio's,
and
Series,
commonly known, which are acknowledg'd to be only abstracted
Ideas,
and
technical
Arts, to supply the Defects of our Faculties, which are not intuitive, but progressive; they admit of Degrees, or a
More
and
Less,
only as belonging to and being connected with Body; viz.
Space, Time, Motion,
and
Velocity,
are Relations or Modifications only of Body or Matter 196
DEF. 6.
Relative Infinit,
is such as is suppos'd to increase or decrease
perpetually,
yet by no finite Power can be brought to, and no finite Capacity can assign or conceive its
limiting Terms,
viz. the
Greatest
or the
Least
197
DEF. 7.
Absolute Infinitude
is the sole Attribute of the
Deity,
who is infinitly infinit in all
Perfections
and
Realities
ibid.
DEF. 8. Things only are
contradictory,
which totally destroy one another, destroy their
Subsistence, Substance,
and
Qualities
ibid.
SCHOL. It is very doubtful, nay, I think, impossible, there can subsist a full Contradiction among
created
Things, Substances, or Qualities, since they must all be
Effluxes
of the
Deity,
in whom there can subsist no Contradiction. For in created Things, to become totally
contradictory,
there must be an equal
Action
and
Reaction,
to have produced it; but in all Creatures there seems to be a
Subsistence
and Reality, which cannot be totally destroy'd by one another, but by a Power and
Energy
equal to that by which they were created, and infinit
Perfection
cannot be contrary to itself. There may therefore be a
Contrariety
among created Substances and Qualities, but not a full
Contradiction,
or total Annihilation of their Subsistence, Substance, and all their Qualities. For even between
material
and
spiritual
Substances, there will remain still,
Substance, Subsistence,
a
Relation,
an Alliance, a Power of Expansion and Remission, both of their Substance and Qualities, which will make them
alliable,
and, as the
Chymists
speak, will make them capable of an Amalgama, (like
Quicksilver
with
Lead
) tho' they will eternally act by Contrariety on one another's Substances and Qualities, and ever counteract one another 200
DEF. 9.
Analogy,
is a
Similarity
in Substances and essential Qualities, differing only by a
More
or a
Less
ibid.
SCHOL.
Analogy
is of two kinds,
perfect
and complete, and
imperfect
and incomplete ibid.
DEF. 10.
Perfect Analogy
is where there is a total
Similarity
of Substances, and essential Qualities, differing only in
Degrees
ibid.
SCHOL. There are, I think,
Substances,
as well as Things and Qualities, of a
middle Nature,
between the
Extremes,
in every created Reality; and this seems to be necessary, from the Infinitude of the
Divine Nature,
as well as from the Nature of
Finitude
and Creature, which must be various and gradual. And as between any two given
Terms,
there are an Infinity of
mean Proportionals
assignable; and between an
infinitly small,
and an infinitly
great part
of the Diameter of an
infinit Circle,
there is the
Perpendicular
neither infinitly small nor great; so there must be material and spiritual Substances, of all Degrees of Sublimity, Purity, and Perfection, which, tho' similar, may differ in Degrees 201
COROL. Hence it may be possible, there may exist material Substances, continually approaching to the Nature and Qualities of spiritual Substances, which yet they can never arrive at, like the
Asymptots
of an
Hyperbola
202
COROL. 2. Hence, there may possibly be material Fluids, so infinitly
rare, spiritual,
and
elastic,
that they may permit gross, porous,
planetary
Bodies, with only an infinitly little Resistance, tho' that Resistance may be still
somewhat,
and but as the
Sun
diminishes only infinitly little continually, in the Emission of her Light; neither the
spiritual Fluid,
nor the
Sun,
can be design'd to last, in their present Condition, a Duration equal to
GOD
's
Eternity
203
DEF. 1.
Complex Analogy
is where there is only a
Similarity
between a certain Number of essential Qualities, common to the Things compared, which differ in Degrees; but are diversified in other Qualities less
essential
ibid.
PROPOSITION.
All Creation, the whole System of the Universe, with all the particular Systems in Nature, are or can be nothing, but the supreme Being and his Attributes, transubstantiated into Being and Perceptibility; but the Cause will be always different from the Effect, the Artificer from the Work.
This may be demonstrated
à priori,
from the Nature and Attributes of the first Cause; but to illustrate it
à posteriori,
some Instances may be proper 204
§. 1. In the
vegetable
World, to explain their Growth and Multiplication, the infinitly rare elastic material Fluid mention'd, judiciously applied, will be sufficient, as also in the Vegetation and Growth of
Minerals
205
§. 2. The totally
inanimat
Creation, especially our now
secondary Elements
of
Air, Water, Light, Salts,
and
Mercury,
in the peculiar Fitness of the Size, Figure, Law of Attraction and Gravity, shew the infinit Wisdom of their Contriver; for had they not been figur'd, so as they are now in Nature, to fit the
Tubes
of
Vegetables,
and to combine them into their now integral Parts, they could not have been proper Materials for the Accretion of these
Vegetables
; and if they had not been so combin'd and
moulded
in the Vegetables, there had been no proper Food for
Animals
206
The Difference between
Vegetables
and
Animals
lies in this, that for the Actuation, Growth and Multiplication of the
first,
there neither is, nor is wanted any other Power or
Energy
than what an infinitly rare and
elastic
material Fluid produces on a divinely
organis'd
material Machin; but in the
latter,
there is a
self-motive
and
self-active
spiritual Substance actuating and governing all their
Functions,
of some Order or Degree, even in the lowest
Brute
and
Insect
208
§. 4. The
human Powers,
their Degree, Order, and the Nature of their primitive aethereal
Vehicle,
with its now Plaistering, have been sufficiently explain'd 209
§. 5. The
Angelic Hierarchies
must be infinit in their Number, rising in a
harmonious
Progression and Variety, whose Seats may possibly be the
Fixt Stars,
and their
analogous planetary aethereal Systems
and
Apparatus
; and these must be infinit in Number likewise, to preserve the
Equilibrium
in universal Space, and their original Distances from each other; they must have one
generical
Nature, which must be that of the
radical Attributes of the Deity, Living, Understanding
and
Willing
; their
specific
Differences may consist in
Light
and
Love,
that some are more eminently luminous, others more ardently
loving
; and this Difference seems to take Place even on this
ruinous Planet,
in the different Complexions and Talents of Mind in the different
Orders
of Men, which can only account for the odd Diversity in the Children of the same Parents, under the same Education and Example 213
The
Fixt Stars,
which must be infinit in Number, seem to be the material
Mansions
of
unlapsed,
tried and purified angelical
Hierarchies,
and of restor'd, sentient and intelligent
lapsed
Creatures.
God's Throne,
his
Shechina,
is represented as above:
Elijah
went upwards, and
Christ
ascended. Bodies of all Orders, or different Purity, must have an
ubi,
a local Situation, and a parmanent
Mansion,
at last: These
Fixt Stars,
and their
planetary Apparatus,
may be the Seats of the
Unlapsed
and
Restor'd,
and their
aethereal Vehicles
may be of the same Matter with their
Mansions
; and the Matter of these luminous and glorious Seats, and the
Vehicles
made of them, may be
eternis'd
by
harmonious Vibrations,
and a perpetual
Flux
and
Reflux
of their Rays 216
GOD
being the Creator of all sentient and intelligent Beings, the efficient Cause, and Object of perfect Felicity, it is a manifest Contradiction he should creat any such without
impressing
in the very Essence of their Nature an ardent and insatiable
Tendency
and Ardor after
Re-union
with him; and accordingly the
Desire of Happiness
in all
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings is invariable and unextinguishable, as we see, however they may mistake the
End
or Means, by being
labile,
and placeing it in spurious
Selfishness,
and inordinat Love of the Creatures; and in the Distinction and Contrariety between this
innate
Byass and that
adventitious
one, does the Essence of Misery and
Hell,
in all future States, consist; but this last
Byass
being acquir'd only, and not
innate
and
essential,
the
Love, Merits
and
Satisfaction
of the
Son
of
God,
were contriv'd from all Eternity, to melt down and efface 219
Is it not highly probable that the
System of Saturn,
the
Planets
and their
Satellits,
may be the local
Prisons
and Dungeons, or Correction-houses, of the several Orders of lapsed
probationary
and
progressive sentient and intelligent Beings?
They differ vastly in their Accommodations; they seem to be under some
penitential Disciplin
from many obvious Imperfections and
Oddities
not easily otherwise accountable, or reconcileable to the Simplicity, Beauty, Harmony and regular Order of all the Works of an infinitly perfect and powerful Being; but, with infinit Propriety and Wisdom, seem fitted for the Design of Penitence, Correction, and initial Purity and Perfection 220
The
Comets
cannot possibly be the Seats of the
Blessed
; they are too many to supply only our
Decrease
of Water; their Alternations of extreme Heat and Cold, Light and Darkness, are too
violent
for any animated Vehicle in a State of Happiness: They seem more probably to be the Habitations of animated Beings under the Expectation of the
last Sentence,
or to be the Condemn'd Holds of
GOD
's Kingdom 222
The next immediat
Mansions
to this, or the several Stations and Mansions design'd for the respective
Purification
of Soul and Body of lapsed, sentient and intelligent Beings, and all the several Steps, Stations or
Mansions,
in all Probability have a gradual Resemblance or
Analogy
to one another and to this State here, and this
Planet
we now inhabit as the first or initial Term upwards or downwards respectively; in those upwards all the Beauties, Comforts and pure Delights here increasing similarly in Degree, without their Deformity, Miseries or Pains; in those downwards all the contrary: This Climax seems naturally to flow from the Simplicity and Immutability of the Divine Nature by
Analogy,
and is conform to Revelation. All Bodies or
Vehicles, planetary
and
aethereal,
must have an
ubi,
and a fixt
Mansion
at least for a Time; and all sentient and intelligent Beings must have a
Polity, Order
and
Laws,
be under a Government and Subordination; else it would not be a
happy State,
but
consummat Misery. GOD
is a
God
of Order, and all his Works are performed with
Order, Number, Weight
and
Measure,
and must have all a mutual
Analogy,
or as near a Resemblance to one another, as the Nature of Things will admit 125
Analogy
does not (at least always directly and infallibly)
demonstrat
the real Existence and necessary Production of Things
ad extra
; but it strongly illustrats, explains, and makes them consistent with and consonant to the Things that we know already, see and feel to exist; it makes them different Links only of the same
Chain,
of Effects, and similar Terms of the same Progression, removes Difficulties, and makes Things rational and fit Objects for a rational
supreme Cause
to work by; and this is the solid Foundation of all true
Philosophy,
which can only gather Causes and general Laws by Induction from repeated single
Experiments,
and is as high an Evidence as the Nature of
Finitude
and our Rank of Intelligence will admit in imperceptible Things; and when confirm'd by
Revelation,
rises to the Evidence of a
Demonstration
in the strictest Sense 127
We may
err
and
blunder
in it, as we may in
Algebra
and
Geometry
; but often our Errors in the last come but from Want of Culture, Precipitation, or a wrong Head only; but in the
Analogy
that leads us to the Knowledge of the Divine Purity and Nature, and the Necessity of our own Purification and Perfection for
invisible
States, and the Nature of
Spirits,
our Blunders are often owing to a wrong
Heart,
Licentiousness,
Selfishness,
and Independency. If we went on in natural
Analogy
as we do in natural
Philosophy
and
Geometry,
by the
simplest, plainest
and most obvious Cases, first collected by
Induction,
laid them up as a
Store
to proceed on to the higher Terms of the
analogical Progression,
and with Attention and Humility went on, from
inanimated
Matter, and its
Law
to
Vegetation, Animation, Spiritual
Being, up to the
supreme Cause
; perhaps great Proficience might be made in time by such a Method.
Analogy
is the only Mean of Knowledge, that can secure
Liberty
in
lapsed Intelligences.
I will illustrate my Meaning by an
Example
in the
System
of
Saturn
229
1.
GOD
bringing Creatures into Existence, must have made them after the most perfect
Pattern,
and therefore stampt them with his own Image, and so they must bear a Resemblance to him, and to one another, which is
Analogy.
2. The Number of Qualities added to
Existence,
together with the Degrees of these Qualities, determin their
Order.
3. The material World is a
Transcript
of the
spiritual,
and there is a more immediat Relation between each
material System,
and the
Intelligences
to which it belongs; and should they lapse and fall into Disorder, their
Mansion
would make a
similar
Change. 4. There are many Evidences of this
Analogy
between the
material
and
spiritual Systems:
The
Sun
is placed in the
Centre
of our
System,
the material
Image
of the
Deity
; the
Planets
revolve about
him,
in different
Times
and
Periods,
to represent the several
Orders
of
lapsed
Intelligences; these
Planets
have no Light in themselves, it is all deriv'd by
Reflection
from
him.
5.
Heat, Light,
and their Consequence
Attraction,
are his chief Properties, and by this
Attraction
the
Planets
are kept in their
Orbits,
which strongly
pictures
out the
Love of God,
continually soliciting all Intelligences to a nearer Approach to
him.
6. The
Light
of the Sun is diffus'd through the whole
System,
representing
that Light which enlightens every Man that comes into the World,
an
Emblem
of him who came forth from the Father of Lights
God-Man.
7. The
Sun's Light
is always accompanied with
Heat,
which represents the
Holy Spirit
the Principle of spiritual Life. 8. The various Magnitudes, their Distances from the
Sun,
with the
periodical
Times of the
Revolutions
of the
Planets,
will express the different Degrees of the
Lapse,
and the Times allotted for their first Trials and Probation. The
Comets
by their long
elliptical
Orbits are thrown off to the greatest Distance, and again drawn back to the nearest Approach to the
Sun,
to represent the Extremes of
Love
and
Punishment
to the same Intelligences, in order to purify them. 9. The
Planets
are acted upon by two different Forces,
Attraction
and the
projectile Force,
which are contrary to one another. The
projectile
Force makes the
Planet
recede perpetually from the
Sun,
while the Force of
Attraction
prevents this Effect; the
projectile
Force belongs to the
Planet,
the
attractive
to the
Sun.
How wonderfully does all this
Oeconomy
proclaim and speak in a Language truly natural, and proper to the Majesty and Wisdom of the
Deity,
the Nature of the
Lapse,
the Action of Selfishness, and inordinat Love of Creatures, and the Force of the
Divine Love
in the
Oeconomy
of
Jesus!
For it is suppos'd by the best
Phī losophers,
that the
solar Attraction
will at last prevail over the
projectile Force,
and thereby both
Planets
and
Comets
will be swallowed up and transform'd into the Substance of the
Sun.
FINIS.
MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS ON, AND EXPLICATIONS OF, THE Preceding DISCOURSES.
§. 1. THERE seems to be something solid, in one Observation
Leibnitz
makes,
viz.
the
Mark
or
Criterion,
between the Works and Operations of
Nature,
or the
GOD
of Nature; and the Works of
Art,
or of
finite
Power and Wisdom,
viz.
That
GOD,
or Nature, works always by
Organs infinit
in Number, or in a perpetual convergent
Progression
of
Organs
or Means towards some one or many wise
Ends,
or
Art,
by
Organs finite
in Number, or numerable (by
Organs
;
Creature, Man
is always meant a separable distinct Part of a
Machin
). For
Example
; we may be able to reckon the
Wheels, Springs, Pullies, Chains, &c.
of any
Watch
or
Clock,
or any
Machin,
how complicated soever, made by
Art:
But who can reckon the
Fibres, Tubes, Membranes, Valves, Inosculations, Ligatures,
Degrees of
Curvature,
in the
Tubes, &c.
of a
Pile
of Grass, or of a
Feather
of a Bird? The further we go by our Senses, assisted even by the most perfect
Art,
their
Number
multiplies on us; but then, if we could descend into the
Figure, Number,
and
Law
of
Cohesion
of their component Particles, we should be intirely lost, and all our
Art
or Management would leave us in thick Darkness, and utter Confusion. In the Works of the
GOD
of Nature, there is no
Maximum
or
Minimum
assignable, or conceiveable by us. Sir
Isaac Newton
has demonstrated the infinit
Tenuity
of the
Particles
of
Light
; and the progressive
Analogy
of Nature shews it is possible, that there may be Fluids as much more
rare,
and of as much lesser Particles, as those of Sand are bigger than those of
Light. Leuvenhoeck
's Discoveries of the Minuteness of some
Animalculs,
and of some
Tubes
of Animals, are scarce credible by any one who has not seen some of them, as I have. The ingenious Dr.
Porterfeild
has demonstrated the extreme Tenuity of even an
organiz'd
and compounded
nervous Fibre
; and there is no Reason from the Nature of
Matter,
from the Laws of
Mechanism,
or from the
Divine
Attributes, to stop there; we may descend still lower, or higher in
infinitum,
and be warranted by Reason and
Geometry.
One great Fault in natural
Philosophers
has been, that they have rejected every Account, as incredible, imaginary, and fictitious, which suppos'd
Fluids
extremely or infinitly
rare, rapid,
and
elastic,
as is that of
Huygens
's,
Leibnitz,
and Sir
Isaac Newton
's; and yet some such there must infallibly exist in Nature, as the
Phaenomena
shew: For if the natural Motions on our Earth, in Bodies, are perform'd by
Air, Water,
and
Heat,
since we know sensibly, these are Fluids of a finite and pretty near determinable Size, Figure, and Degree of Gravity in their
Particles,
the
Analogy
of Nature will make it as evident, that the other less known, secret, subtile, and unaccountable Appearances may be perform'd by some other properly condition'd Fluid, (I mean only in the Appearances of the
material World
) I say, as certainly, as if the first Terms of a
Series x
+
x2
+
x3
+
x4
,
&c.
were given, I should certainly conclude the 10th, 11th and 12th Terms of such a
Series
were
x10
+
x11
+
x12
.
§. 2. THE
Threads,
(the last and the least)
Fibres,
or
linear Filaments
of all
vegetable
and
animal
Substances, are certainly infinitly small,
elastic
and
ductile
; in separateing and
anatomiseing
them, we can never come to an
End
; and fine
Microscopes
will shew, that even the very least our Senses can perceive, or our Art divide, are still Twists or
Tubuli,
and compounded of an infinit Number of lesser and lesser
Threads.
They are infinitly
elastic,
for we find no Limits in their
Elasticity
; the smaller and finer they are, we find them growing still more
elastic
in the same Proportion; and here also the
Progression
is without Stop or Limit.
Elasticity
depending on the Degree of
Attraction,
in the component
Particles,
the
Elasticity
can never be stopt, till we arrive at Particles infinitly
hard, indivisible,
and
imporose,
which no finite Power can produce, and no finite Intelligence conceive; and even in such, there would be an infinitly small
Renisus,
or
Reaction
of their Particles when compress'd; so that all Fluids of whatever Nature, and of whatever Degree of Rarity, must have some Degree of
Elasticity
or
Reaction.
Of such
Threads,
the
Membranes,
and of
these Membranes
the
Tubes,
and Vessels of all
vegetable
and
animal
Substances, seem compos'd. I say, not
mechanically,
and according to the Laws of Nature, that we see now they are govern'd by, and accounted from, but
supra-mechanically
compos'd, and by the immediat Hand and Power, or Influence, of an
infinitly
wise and powerful
First Cause.
Of these again, I say, are the
Tubuli,
the Coats of the
Pipes,
and all the other
vascular Apparatus,
in fewer or more
Pipes,
according to their Use and Necessity, compos'd. The
Fluids
are only design'd to keep them in a proper Degree of
Moisture
and
Glibness,
to continue their necessary
Tone,
and due Degree of
Elasticity.
All the pleasant, easy, and healthful Sensations of
Life,
depend chiefly on these Fluids. Little can be effected by
Art
or
Medicin,
on the Solids, and their
linear Fibres:
A temporary Constriction only, a transient
winding up,
a Fit of tolerable Health, and Flow of Spirits, may be gain'd by
astringent
cordial Medicins; but it is
Regimen
alone, by rendering the
Fluids
sweet, soft, cool and
balsamic,
that enable the
Solids
to
play,
according to their
innate
Powers, that can give dureable and uniform good Health, and keep these
Solids
as they were at first form'd, in a proper
Tone, Glibness,
and
Elasticity.
§. 3. WE are not to conceive, as if the
Author
of Nature created Things in the Order, and in the Manner we can only now apprehend or explain them: They were, in Him, but
one
single Act of his
Omnipotence
and
Omniscience
; for us, to understand them in any tolerable manner, if at all we can, we must
divide
them into different
Parts
and Parcels, and form an
Idea
of them by different
Acts
of our Imagination. For Example: Suppose
Matter
divided into
solid, imporose, infinitly little Cubes, triangular equilateral
Prisms
and
Spheres, harmoniously
rang'd and united at first, by some Law of
Attraction,
and fram'd by a Divine
Mechanism,
into
organical
Bodies, some-how
analogous
and similar to those, which
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings are now cloathed with (with this only Difference, that besides their being now
cas'd
over with the gross porous Matter, of this
ruinous Planet,
several additional temporary
Organs,
to fit them for their changeing Situations, may be added, which in other Situations may
drop
off, and dry away; as we see in the
Placenta
and
umbilical
Vessels of the
Foetus,
and the different temporary
Apparatus
of the
Silk-worm,
and other
Insects
); into which the
First Cause
inspired an
infinitesimal Sparkle,
and
Miniature
of his own Substance, and natural and moral
Attributes,
to actuate and govern this
Microcosm,
in the same
analogous,
but in an infinitly lower manner, as He presides over and actuates the
Universe.
This
aethereal
Body, being then supple and pliable to the actuating
spiritual
Substance, as
it
was to the Divine Influence; but being
free
and
fallible,
innumerable Multitudes of them, by
spurious Self-love,
and inordinat Love of the Creatures, and created Pleasures, actually
lapsed,
fell into Rebellion and Disorder, and so brought on the Necessity of this present State, and the gross
penitential
Appearances of this ruinous
Planet
we now inhabit.
§ 4. BODY and
Spirit,
or material and spiritual Substances, will eternally be
disparata,
if not
contradictory,
yet intirely
dissimilar
and contrary, and at an infinit Distance, in their Natures and Substances. Body will be eternally
passive
and inert,
Spirit
eternally
self-active
and
self-moveing,
or endow'd with an internal
Principle
of acting on, or moveing Matter; all their
Relation
or
Reference
one towards another, can only be known by
Analogy
; and yet not being
contradictory,
they might possibly be conceived of the Nature of
Hyperbola's,
with their
Assymptots:
For tho' the
Passivity
of Body be in Proportion to its
Density,
yet since Body cannot be actually
infinit
in its Quantity or Extent, its
Passivity
or
Inertia
cannot be
infinit,
but lessens as its
Density
does; but still, if its Density was suppos'd even
infinitly
small, that will not make it
self-active
; it must actually become
Spirit,
and pass thro' that Term
Not-matter
in its Progression, before it can arrive at
Self-activity,
and then acquire the contrary Qualities, as the
Series
+ 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 0 − 1 − 2 − 3 − 4 does; and nothing
less
than infinit Power can reduce it to that State; that is, it must be actually brought to be
Not-matter,
or an
immaterial
Substance, before it can become active or
spiritual Substance
; and so is, as it were, in the State of
parallel
Lines, and not of an
Hyperbola
with its
Assymptot.
But still there is an
Analogy
between their Substances, such an one tho's as is between
finite
and relative
infinit,
or between the
least
and
greatest
Term of an infinit
convergent Series.
§ 5. THE
Persians,
of all the
Antients,
seem to have had the least intolerable Notion,
Idea,
or
analogical
Picture on their Imaginations of
spiritual
Nature, in conceiving it like
Light
or
Fire.
If we suppose an indivisible, infinitly
rare
Substance, and endow it with infinit
Elasticity
and
Energy,
with an
internal
Principle of Self-activity, or of
Self-mobility,
we have the essential Attribute of
spiritual
Substance; all its other Qualities will be as
Modifications,
flowing from that
Root
; for then
Understanding
or
Conception
will become only
analogous
to an intimat
Union, Contact
and Presence to every individual
Atom
or component Particle as it were, of the
Object
conceived or understood.
Reasoning
will be a progressive Performance of this
intellectual
Operation, and compareing the
analogous
Parts or component
Particles
to one another:
Love
or
Desire
will be a continued
Union
or
Contact
with the
Object
; and so of the other
Modifications
of this internal Principle of
Self-action
in an infinitly
rare
and indivisible
sentient
or
intelligent
Substance:
Fire
or
Light
will then be the most
luminous
Resemblance or
analogical
Picture of
spiritual
Substance and Qualities; especially if we take it as it is, in its uncreated
Source,
the
Divine Nature,
for an infinitly
pure,
perfect,
simple
and
active, living
and
intelligent
Substance, then it will become the best
analogical
Resemblance of the
Divine Substance
(however faulty and deficient) we can frame, now as at present we are: And small
Lamps, Globes,
or Sparkles of
Light
or
Fire,
kindled up, voluntarily emitted, or flowing, from this infinit
Globe
of
Light
and
Love,
will best represent particular spiritual Natures, whose
Rays,
tho' emitted with a
relatively
infinit
Velocity,
will weaken, and terminat in thicker and thicker
Darkness, Shade,
or Want of
Fire
and
Light,
which will best represent to us, and furnish out the
Idea
of Body, but still an imperfect one,
Darkness
being only a Negation of
Light:
But as the Rays of
Millions
of different
Flambeaux
may pass really, tho' material, through the
Eye
of a Needle, without Resistance or Interfereing; so spiritual Substances, by a proper Penetration, may conceive and comprehend, according to their Capacity and Power, their proper Objects; and in this
analogical
Sense it may be understood, that
universal Nature,
or the
created Universe,
may represent
GOD
's Body, or his
Sensorium,
and he may be called the
Soul
of the
Universe,
as the
Planets
in our
System
may be term'd the Body, the
Tabernacle
and
organical
Machin
of the
Sun
; in all which tho' there will be eternal Impropriety and Disparity: For the one is the
Cause,
the other the
Effect
only; the
One
is the
Artificer,
the other the
Work
; the one is a
living, spiritual
Substance, the other dead Matter; the one is
self-originated,
and necessarily existent, the other is created, deriv'd and dependent; the one is the first and least
Term,
the other, as it were, the greatest, and last Term, of an infinit divergeing
Series,
but at an infinitly infinit Distance. This is as far, it would seem, as our active Powers can go, in their present State, by themselves, unless it be communicated and imprest by the
Source
from above, by direct Sensation and Feeling on the
Spirit.
§ 6. As the
self-motive, self-active
Power in spiritual Substance is the Source of
Intelligence,
by its intimat
Penetration, Union,
and Presence with the whole internal Substance of its comprehended
Object
; so it is the sole Principle of
Liberty,
and the true
miniature Image
of the
Deity
; in short, it is the very
Essence
of
spiritual
Nature, and the
Root
of all its Qualities and Operations: It may be limited in its Extent, in its
elicit Acts,
and circumscrib'd in its
Energy
; but in its
Root, Faculty,
and
essential
Nature, in its
self-active Base,
it is infinit and unbounded. A
Farthing
Candle is as truly Light and Heat as the Body of the
Sun
; and we may have vehement
Willings, Longings, Volitions
and
Velleities,
and have an
innate,
inherent Power to intend or remit our Wills
in infinitum,
which no other Power can deprive us of, but that which can
annihilat
us, or turn us into another Nature. It would seem to me, that created
spiritual
Substance of all
Orders
and
Degrees,
were
analogous
to the infinitly pure and perfect Divine
spiritual Substance,
infinitly
diluted
or
rarefied,
as it were, like the Light and Heat of the
Sun
reflected from the
Moon
; and this in an infinit
similar Progression,
becomeing rarer and more diluted, till it terminated in
Darkness
or
Shade,
thicker and grosser till it becomes like
Matter,
which is
analogous
to
Shade
or
Darkness,
and which too goes on
in infinitum,
thickning and incrassating, to become quite inert and passive; so that laying aside created Substance, both
material
and
spiritual,
as quite
unknown
and
unknowable,
and of which we can have no
Idea à priori,
nor be certain of its Existence but
à posteriori,
and from its
Effects,
or the
divine Veracity,
if we conceive
spiritual
Substance
analogous
to
Fire
or
Light,
infinitly
pure, rare, self-active,
and
self-motive,
and
material
Substance
analogous
to
Shade
or
Darkness,
infinitly
dense, compact
and
concentred,
we shall have all that I think can be made of
either,
in this our present State; and as
Darkness
contracts and limits Light, extinguishes or imbibes its
elicit
Rays; so
Body
or
Matter
limits and stops the Selfactivity of
spiritual
Nature, and they are an eternal
Bar
and Obstacle on one another; as Matter of a
proper
Figure and Contexture of Parts, condenses and heightens the Action of
Fire
and
Light
; so
divinely organis'd
and
harmoniously
figur'd
Vehicles
may promote the
elicit
Acts of
spiritual
Natures; and the
Analogy
to Fire, Light and Darkness, will hold good then through all the Degrees of compareing. It may be said, that all this is but
Figure
; but I think all true
Figure
is but remote
Analogy,
and all true
Analogy
is a distant progressive
Approximation
to
Reality
; and both are as real the one as the other, and differ only as the
first
and
last
Terms of a
Series.
§ 7. THE
Purification
of the
Soul
is perfectly
analogous
to the
Cure
of the
cacochymical
and
cadaverous
State of the
Body
; and the
Method
of
Cure
of
spiritual
Nature, takeing in the different Subjects,
Matter
and
Spirit,
is perfectly
similar
to the
Methodus metasyncriticus
of the
Ancients
in the Cure of a
Cachexy
in the
Body.
The
Analogy
is here perfect and complete; they differ only, as the
first
and subsequent
Terms
of a
geometrical divergent Progression. Sin, Disorder
and
Rebellion,
is to the
spiritual
Nature of an
intelligent
Being, precisely and really (as much as they are both
Realities
) what a
cancerous
and
malignant Ulcer
is to an
animal
Body: The
Cure
of the
last
is by a
low, sweetning
and
thinning Dyet
at first, to enable the
Patient
to bear the
last
Operation, which must be by
Excision
and
Extirpation,
and raiseing new
sound
Flesh in its Place;
Penitence, Selfdenial, calm Passions,
a
meek Spirit,
and a constant patient Attendance to, and Dependence on, the
Directions
of the
Physician
of
Souls,
will answer the first Part; and I am of Opinion,
he
(the
Divine Physician
of
Souls
) by his omnipotent Power, and his being
GOD, he,
I say, must perform
supernaturally
and
instanteously,
as it were, (for a sweetning Cure of such inveterat
Humours
alone, would require
infinit Time
) some
grand
Operation, (in which the Creature is intirely
passive
)
analogous
to
Excision
and
Extirpation,
to divide between the
Joints and Marrow,
to cut out the
Adamical Core
in
lapsed
spiritual Nature, and to raise up, ingraft and implant his own
Nature
and
Substance
in its stead, to perpetuat and
eternise
its Soundness and Integrity, not in a
Figure
or
Metaphor,
as is commonly, tho' I think
barbarously, philosophised
; but at last, and in the
dernier Resort,
and before the
hyperboloid Curve
(to speak so) can meet with its
Assymptot,
as really and truly as
Matter
and
Spirit
are Realities, tho' of different Natures.
In the Day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die:
In the Sense that Death came by
Adam,
Death spiritual was completed by one Action of the of the Parentage of Mankind, so by some one miraculous Operation
eternal Life
comes by
Jesus Christ.
I can never apprehend, that the
Oeconomy,
the Operation, the Efficiency of
Jesus,
terminats either in
Example, Repair
of the Indignity, confirming the standing
Hierarchies,
cooperating with us in destroying bad Humours and Habits gradually, or makeing a sufficient, free and full
Atonement
only; but that he must
supernaturally
and really cut out, burn away, and fill up, and supply, as it were, with his own
spiritual
Substance, the
Adamical cadaverous Core
out of lapsed
spiritual
Nature, to sanctify and
eternise
its Purity, Perfection and Happiness; and this as really, tho' not
materially,
but
spiritually,
I say, as really as
Spirit
is real, contradistinguish'd from
Matter.
I choose to speak in the
Mathematical
and
Medical
Language, because the
Analogy,
the
Similarity,
and the
Precision,
is here so just, so close, and so luminous, that I think it must penetrat those who can perfectly understand it, and may by a
Dictionary
be made plain to others, if they think it worth the while to deal in such
abstracted Conjectures.
§ 8. THE
human Spirit
is literally, and not in a mere Figure, a
Tabula rasa,
a
Sheet of white Paper,
as it comes into the World at present, under its
planetary
Plaistering; and it would seem, for this very End the Plaistering itself was design'd, and the gross porous
secondary Elements,
of this
ruinous Planet,
were by infinit Wisdom contriv'd; not but that
spiritual
Nature, in its Order, and in its natural and
essential
Powers, of
living, understanding
and
willing,
and all their Modifications of Sagacity,
Penetration
and
Conduct,
and a Capacity of perceiveing outward Things, and of gathering the Materials on which they work, of external Objects,
Ideas,
and Knowledge of Things, are not in their Fund, in the Faculty and Power, unalterably the same, and as it were engrav'd in their Substance according to their Order; for
spiritual
Nature cannot
increase
or
diminish
in its
essential
Powers and Capacity; but their
elicit
Acts, their Appearances
ad extra,
may be intercepted and restrained from
issuing forth
by the gross
planetary Plaistering
; like
Characters
and
Inscriptions
engrav'd in the Substance of
Brass
or
Marble,
and filled up with
Wax, Clay
or
Dirt:
or like the imperceptible
Ink,
which leaves no Trace on the white Paper, but shews itself when rubb'd over with
Juice of Lemon.
Thus the immaterial
thinking
Substance is laid asleep, becomes thoughtless, and as it were
stupefied,
a bare polisht
Plain,
and a Sheet of
clean Paper,
(its three natural Powers of
living, understanding
and
willing
are sunk in one of
living
only) a mere
Recipient
or
Continent,
and as it were (without Ridicule) a
dark Lanthorn,
in the
Loins
of the Parent; and as it comes first into the World; but still the
self-active
and
self-motive Flame
is alive within in its Seed, and its
Punctum saliens.
External Objects, Pain, natural Instincts and Necessities, rub off some of the improper Plaistering, and break some of the
Ligatures
; these repeated and increas'd, unloose more; and thus the
Organs
of
Sensation,
the
Apertures
of the Senses, and the
sentient
and
instructive
Powers, are gradually set free, and the
Dirt
pickt out of the spiritual Substance; then Memory and Attention awakens, and
Ideas
are form'd and retain'd by Time and Degrees. By the
Animal Functions,
which flow from
living,
more and more of the
membranous Tubuli,
and
medullar
and
cortical Glands
of the Brain, are develop'd; and the self-motive Powers, by repeated Efforts, Strains, and Pushes, (like a Spring in the Box of a Watch) set free more and more of
aethereal Organs
of
Thinking,
according to the Degree of
Culture, Exercise,
and Useage, they pass under, and this by a quicker or slower
Progression
and Velocity, as they are cultivated, used and exercis'd, till they come to the highest State they generally arrive at; and thus by Labour and Exercise of the
Organs
of the
intellectual
Faculties, they work off the
Dirt,
that fill'd up the ingrav'd
Characters
on their
spiritual
Substances, and make the
imperceptible Writeing
appearing legible merely by fileing off and scrapeing away the
Plaistering
on the primitive
aethereal Vehicle,
whereby the
spiritual
Substance is set free directly to enjoy and use all its
inbred Powers,
and has Capacity to perceive all Things
ad extra,
know, understand and possess them; not as a
blind
Man restored to his Sight, or a
deaf
Man to his Hearing, or a
dumb
Man to his
Speech,
who were born so; but as a Man, for a short time shut up in a
Dungeon,
and separated from all things without, and again set at Liberty, knows and enjoys all again, as before. And the
final Cause
of this reduceing the spiritual Substance to a
Tabula rasa,
by a gross Plaistering, and a temporary Imprisonment, in the dark, dismal, cadaverous
Dungeon
of this Body, seems to be not only for
Expiation
and
Punishment,
but that the
moral Powers
of the Soul,
Justice, Goodness
and
Truth,
or
Faith, Hope
and
Charity,
might feel no Interruption from the
Activity,
Extent and Contrariety of these natural Powers; but that they might amicably, gradually, and, by
mutual
Assistance and Support, rise and grow together in similar
Steps,
and a regulated
Progression,
till they were confirm'd into a
Habit
; like sweetning the whole Mass of the Fluids, by a
milk
or
vegetable
Diet; to fit the Subject for the last
passive grand Operation
in the
Oeconomy
of
Jesus,
which may be to cut out, as it were, of our spiritual Substances, that
Core,
schirrous
or
cancerous Gland,
generated by the
Lapse,
and from the
Adamical
Principle, and to heal and fill it up with his own
immaculat Substance,
perhaps really and truly (as the Liturgy of the
Church of England
expresses it) communicated to us in the
worthy
receiveing of the
Sacrament
of the
Body
and
Blood
of
Jesus,
or some-how we cannot explain.—This
Effect
will neither appear absurd nor
unphilosophical
to those who believe
Jesus
to be the
Son of God,
of the same
Substance
and
equal
Powers with the
Father
; the Manner how, is the proper Subject of
Faith,
unconceiveable to us, at least as we are at present; but the
Fact,
in general, or something of that kind, highly probable from
Analogy,
and evident from
Revelation:
For, I think, no truly
humble Christian,
let him be in what State of
Perfection
he may, can think himself fit to be
united
and
commerciat
eternally with infinit
Purity
and
Perfection,
till some great Work be done in his
Soul,
more than he feels in himself then.
§. 9. MOST,
Christians,
at least, are agreed, that the
Oeconomy
of the
Restoration,
as contriv'd and executed by
Jesus Christ,
(
God-Man,
the eternal Son of
GOD
) as far as it was possible on his Part, and as far as it was consistent with
Liberty,
and the
Harmony
of the Divine Attributes; I say, all
Christians
are agreed, that this was a Work of surprizeing
Wisdom, Beauty, Goodness,
and worthy of a
GOD
; having in it, to the greatest Perfection, every thing that could most effectually answer the
End
proposed: But I know not if many have endeavour'd to shew it to be the
, and the only
one,
that could possibly answer that End, takeing in the whole
Conditions
; and yet I cannot help thinking, that this may be strictly
demonstrated.
A
Sovereign
may pardon, on his Repentance and Amendment, a
rebellious
Subject, and receive him into
Grace
and Favour; but it will be eternally true, he has been a
Rebel,
and that there remains the
Cicatrice
of that Sore in his
Heart
and
Soul,
which first produced his
Rebellion.
Now it is as certain, as that
GOD
is, that nothing
impure
and imperfect in its
Order,
can
finally,
invariably and eternally be united and
commerciat
with Him; that is, be permanently and eternally
happy
; because of his infinit Purity, Dignity, and Sovereignty; and the receiveing an imperfect,
intelligent
Being into his Favour, Service, and design'd
Post
again permanently, (or one less
similar
to Him in its Order) would not only
sully
his Purity, but make Him cheaper, and less intensely the
sovereign Felicity
of the standing
Hierarchies,
and make his Wrath less dreaded, and so not a sufficient Bar on their
Lapse.
Now every
Truth,
and every
Fact,
is in its own Nature as
eternal,
as it is
real.
It will be eternally true, I have been a
Rebel,
if I have been one; and
GOD
alone, who has the Power of
Creation,
has the Power of
Annihilation
; and this
Fact,
as far as a Fact can be, at least as to its Root, must be
annihilated
and done away some-how, before it can be
creaturely
and
relatively
true, that I was not a
Rebel,
or at least that my
Rebellion
is really now, both as to
Him
and
me,
as it never had been; which can only be done, as far as I conceive, by
annihilating, burning
out,
consumeing,
the rebellious
Core
of my
spiritual
Substance, and filling it up with something
analogous
to his pure immaculat
Divine Nature
and Substance, or new createing; and nothing less than a
GOD
can do this: So that on Repentance and Amendment, Men might be in the Condition only of
Rebels,
whose Lives conquering
Monarchs
have saved, yet instead of continuing them
Citizens,
had translated them into some remote Corner of an uncultivated Country, as a conquer'd Province, and made them a lower
Order
of Creatures. But as
infinit
Perfection is without any possible Change, in its first most perfect Intention, as to its Nature, but not as to its Degree; and can only bring it about less immediatly, and after a longer Time, (by reason of the
Free-wills
of his
intelligent
Creatures, on which He neither can nor will commit Violence) yet still will effect it, with a Perfection at last, beyond even, as it were, the first Intention; accordingly
Jesus Christ
came, to bring
Life,
and to bring it more
abundantly
; and by his infinit
Power
and
Love,
being
GOD,
to
annihilat,
melt down, and burn away, the
Adamical Lapse, Core,
and
Cicatrice,
of Sin and Rebellion, in spiritual Nature, and new create, and replace, his own
Divine Substance
and Nature in its stead; so that it may then be said, with
philosophick
Propriety, that a truly
regenerat
and
sanctified
Person has the
Divine Nature
and Substance of
Jesus, GOD-Man,
actuating and moving him, that is,
living
in him, as really and substantially as ever before his
Adamical
lapsed
Spirit
lived in him. This may sound
odd
and particular to
little Philosophers,
nay, even to many perhaps virtuous and good Persons; but as I think it is the Language of St.
Paul,
and of
Jesus Christ
himself, I think also, that if there is not some
Reality,
and
philosophic
Propriety in it, as real as is the Distinction between
material
and
spiritual
Substance, and that it is not intirely all
Figure,
there is no forming any
Idea,
either of the
or
of it (and even
Figure
in
philosophic
Propriety, is but the first
Term
of an infinit
Series
); nor why it should have been revealed or mentioned: Nor will there be much Difficulty insuperable in it, or unexplicable in
Philosophy,
to those who admit
Jesus
to be
GOD,
and his Words to be
Spirit
and
Truth,
and
GOD
to be infinit in Power and Goodness; the End and Means of all whose
Actings
must be equally perfect in their
Order,
and who suppose that Matter and Spirit must be equal Realities. This
last State
I resemble to the
Hyperbolic Curve
's meeting with its
Asymptot
(I hope I shall be forgiven the Particularity of the Expression, because of its Justness and Propriety); and it may be the finishing Operation, to eternize the
Infallibility
and
Impeccability
of all lapsed, sentient and intelligent Beings, to which
few
arrive in this Life, and all must perhaps pass through many
Mansions,
and various
planetary Vehicles,
before they can attain to
it
in its last Perfection, and to which some pass with a quicker Velocity, and a faster convergeing Progression, like the several Orders of the
Hyperloids,
some of which meet the
Asymptot
infinitly sooner and faster than others
Vide
Philosophical Principles of Reveal'd Religion.
, but through which all must pass sooner or later; for
GOD
's Ways must be equal, uniform and general, to all his Creatures of the same
Order,
with only the Difference their
general
or
particular
Wants or Distempers require; and as He treated the Manhood of
Jesus Christ, who was made perfect by Sufferings,
and as He has treated all his
Disciples,
so all
lapsed
intelligent Beings must pass through
Jesus Christ,
receive his
Revelation,
and go through his
States,
sooner or later, or in some
Mansion
or another, before they arrive at perfect
Infallibility
and
Illability
; that is, they must first or last all be
Jesus Christ-like,
before they can become permanently
GOD-like,
or similar to Him in Perfection and Happiness. This Progression and
final
Perfection, the
Free-wills
of intelligent Beings may retard a finite Time; and they might have retarded it from
Eternity
to
Eternity,
that is, for ever, both in the
eternal
Nature of
Sin,
and the infinit Purity of the
Divine Nature,
without this
sole
and
individual
Mean,
viz.
the
Merits, Power
and
Efficacy
of the
Oeconomy
of
Jesus
the
GOD-Man
; who uniteing
human
Nature to Himself, has actually, really, but spiritually, cut out the
Core
and
Cicatrice
of the
Lapse,
and filled up the
discontinuous
Void with his own
spiritual Substance
and Nature, in all those who shall be finally restored; for
He is the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE.
§. 10.
REASON
and
Faith,
in their true
philosophic
Natures, in their Source and Foundation, are so far from being
contrary,
much less
contradictory,
that they are intirely
similar
and
analogous,
and differ only as the higher and lowest Terms of a
divergeing Series. Reason,
in its
Principle
and
Faculty,
in the lowest Intelligence, is like a
Progression,
the first
Term
of which is the
Root,
or
miniature Base,
of all the higher subsequent
Terms,
which are all
similar
and
analogous
to one another, how compounded and elevated soever they may be, and where the superior
Terms
virtually include the inferior, and bring them down to the Simplicity and Plainness of the
lowest Term
; but not without Labour, Attention, and Reduction of the
Conditions
to their proper Limits.
GOD
is the
Sovereign
and
Supreme Reason,
involved in Clouds and Darkness, by reason of his infinit
Splendor,
and the infinit Disproportion of our Faculties; and perhaps out of Designs of Love and Goodness, as we are at present in so unfit a State: Our
Reason
and Conception, tho' infinitly disproportion'd to such an
Object,
yet is of a
similar
Nature with his Light, and natural
Attributes:
Our
Reason,
and intelligent Powers, are
analogous
to the lowest and first
Term
of such a Progression; his
Light
and
Splendor,
to the
highest
and
last
great
Term
; which
Term,
in a
Series,
tho' comparatively
infinit,
yet is but a
finite,
compared with his absolute
Infinitude.
The other
Terms
of such a
Series
may be
analogous
to the natural Powers of the several different
Orders
of Intelligences, that may exist in external Nature; and all the several
Orders
of Intelligences, with their respective Powers, from the lowest to the relative highest, may be continually approaching one another, yet never can reach the other
Terms,
much less the last
Term
relative infinit, and least of all to absolute
Infinitude
; for in absolute
Infinitude
there is such Variety of
Objects, Mansions, Pleasures,
and
Happiness,
as are boundless and without Number or Limits.
GOD
is the sovereign and supreme
Reason,
I say, always consistent, uniform, and invariable: He is
pure, unsullied,
and unchangeable.
Creatures,
even the most sublime and perfect, can only know Him by a
progressive
nearer Approach to Him in
Similarity,
which will be gradual, but endless. The Faculties, Powers, and Qualities, both
Natural
and
Moral,
of Creatures, are, as it were, but
analogous
(to speak still more plainly) to a
Series,
such as 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5,
&c.
We of the human Race, at least our Fellow
Animals,
of the only
sentient
Race, may be as 1, or 2; the higher
Orders
may be as 10, 100, 1000,
&c.
to us. At what
Term
we began, or any Order begins, we cannot know, nor, did we know, could we alter it; that depends intirely on the good Pleasure and Wisdom of Him that made us: In this Point we cannot add a
Cubit to our Stature,
but we may all press forward to higher Terms and Degrees, and be continually
progressive,
tho' perhaps mostly in our
moral
Powers, and consequently in Perfection and Happiness; which can be done by
Faith
only, that is, by
trusting
to, believing in, and acting according to the Direction given by
one,
whose natural and moral Powers are of a much higher
Order,
or in Proportion to a much higher
Term
than ours are: As if
one,
whose natural and moral Powers are as 1000, should reveal to one whose natural and moral Powers are as 1 only, that in order to raise his natural and moral Powers to 2, he must trust or believe, that is, take his Word for it,
so
and
so,
and do
so
and
so
in Consequence, and that this will lead him on gradually to the
Term
2, and so in all the other
Terms
of the
Progression.
This really seems to be somewhat like the Case of all
sentient
and
intelligent
Beings, in order to advance in this
eternal Progression
of Perfection; the only Method possible for them, is to
trust
and
act
in Consequence of this Trust, and depend on the Veracity and Ability of the Informer; for this trusting is in order to the acting. In
building,
or working or
sailing
a
Ship
to a certain
Port,
the
Seaman
must
trust
and work, according to his Directions: In raising an
Arch,
or measuring a
Distance,
very few Operators understand the abstract
Geometry,
on which the Directions are founded. In short, in this our present
expiatory
and
probatory
State, in all we do to advance towards higher
Terms
of our
progressive
Perfection and Happiness, we must absolutely
trust
and
work,
else we shall never advance in divine
Faith,
and in the progressive Perfection of our natural and moral Powers; and here we have not only
infinit
Power and Wisdom for our
Director,
but infinit
Goodness
for our Assistant, who yet from the Purity and Perfection of his own Nature, cannot
direct
or assist us but in Consistence with the
Harmony
of his own
Attributes,
and our own
Free-wills,
i. e. imperceptibly. Our intellectual Powers are
analogous
to our material
Organs,
our Senses.
One
with a
Telescope,
or with very strong
Eyes,
might see a
City,
or a Dwelling, which another without it, or with weaker Eyes, could not perceive. If the
weak-sighted
Person must needs go to this
City
or Dwelling, he could only take the Directions of the stronger-sighted, on what
Point
of the
Compass
to direct his Course, what
Hills, Dales,
and
Rivers
to cross, to walk on
Trust
and
Hope.
Our
trusting
is in order to our travelling.
Faith,
or
Trust,
that does not terminat in Action or Travelling, is mere
Painting
and dead Work.
Revelation
discovers the Being, Purity, and Perfection of the
First Cause,
his internal Nature, and the Splendor He dwells in, what is his
Society,
and what their Occupation; that to be happy completely and permanently, we must get thither. We, while our Powers, natural and moral, are but as 1 or 2, cannot see or perceive the Beauty, Perfection of his Nature, and the Place He inhabits, nor the Propriety of the
Directions
and Advices He gives us, in order to get thither. The Nature of things will not admit of any other Evidence, but
Faith
and
Trust,
and consequent working, till our
natural
and
moral
Powers are thereby rais'd higher; and then we shall perfectly comprehend the Beauty, Propriety and Utility of these Directions, and advance gradually, by following the same Method, to higher
Terms
of Powers and Faculties, and higher Degrees of Glory and Felicity, in this infinit endless
Progression.
From all which it is evident, that
Reason
and
Faith
are so far from being contrary, much less contradictory, that
Reason
is the first
Term
given in this Progression, of created Light or Powers:
Faith
or Trust is, as it were, the
Ratio
of the several
Terms,
which goes through them all, that is, the Ground or Bottom of the subsequent Operation and Working. By the Directions given, and Working, we infallibly pass to the second, third, and higher
Terms:
Or, to express it yet more strongly and clearly, if possible,
Faith
or
Trust
is proceeding as we do in
Algebra,
supposing the second or higher
Term,
tho'
unknown,
yet as
known
; and then working according to the Conditions of the Question, the
Term
unknown becomes thereby infallibly known. I cannot enlighten these Figures, and this Language here, they are so pertinent and cogent to those who understand them.
§ 11.
PURE
and disinterested
Love
is
Love
of infinit Perfection for itself
only,
and for its own
Amiableness,
without any other Consideration; but this, as every thing else, admits of infinit Degrees. The great Mistake here, lies in Persons pretending to get to the Top of the Ladder, without ascending by all the Steps; and that some define the
last
Step as it were the
first.
All things belonging to Creatures must be progressive, and confirm'd Habits must be acquired by repeated persevereing Acts.
Naked, free
and generous
Faith,
is trusting, confideing, and
believeing
in
Infallibility,
and infinit
Veracity,
upon its own
Word,
its
Nature
only; and on the most slender Intimation of its Orders, the
generous Believer
is determin'd to venture his
Whole
on that Bottom: And from these
two,
flow absolute
Resignation
; and this also admits of
Degrees:
Both these are subject to
Error,
Mistake and Delusion, in feeble
lapsed
Mortals, such as we are; and this cannot be prevented, from the very Nature of Things, as they are now, in our
probatory
and
penitential
State, constituted; but surely there is less Danger in the
Excess,
than the
Defect:
No
good Master
ever rejected or punished his poor good-natur'd, weak
Servant,
for loveing and trusting him too much, or obeying him too
precisely
or literally. I readily grant,
Prudence, Order, Measure, Decency
and
Regularity,
are the first of all the Moral and
Christian
Virtues, and frightful Consequences have ensued upon the Neglect of them; and both
Enthusiasm
and
Infidelity,
I think, equally imply a wrong Head, some
nervous
Disorder, and Want of
common Sense
; but both
Excesses
and
Defects
strongly evidence, that there is a just
Medium
wherein
true
Virtue and sole
Right
consist: And still of the
two
Evils,
Infidelity
and
Tepidity
is infinitly the worst, not only in regard of the
Infidels
and
Tepid
themselves, as it defeats the
sole
Means
Providence
has, or, I think, can contrive, for their
Recovery
and
Restoration
; but as it destroys Numbers of
weak Souls
by its Influence and Example, and as
Infidelity saps
the Foundations of all
Morality,
and consequently of all
civil Society
; whereas
Enthusiasm
can but hurt chiefly the Bodies, or outward Fortunes of their Fellow Creatures, by
diabolic
and tyrannical
Persecution,
unless
Hypocrisy
can be join'd to
Enthusiasm,
and then it becomes consummat
Infidelity.
To me it would seem, the whole Conduct and Design of Providence, in this present probationary State, is to produce in the Hearts of his lapsed Creatures,
pure Love
and
naked Faith
only, and that
this
is the sole
Key
of all the Inclosures of his Providence; and that this State of Mind must be that which alone is of any Value in the Sight of GOD, as being the only Means possible of begetting perfect
Felicity,
and
eternizeing
it; even so much, as that
He
in his Providence seems to neglect, or over-look and undervalue, as it were, any thing less than
these,
at least any thing that might retard or interfere with
these.
An Instance or two will make this plain: We see that we, of the lowest
Rank
of Intelligences, are endow'd with a
Capacity
and Power of communicating our
Thoughts, Conceptions,
Dispositions, and Sentiments to one another, directly, plainly and intelligibly, by
Language
or Writeing, and by many other
Signs, Symbols
and Figures:
Infinit
Wisdom and Power, without all Doubt, had he so pleased, might have contriv'd us so at present, that
he
might have been able some-how to communicat himself
directly, plainly,
instantaneously and intelligibly, to all his
intelligent
Creatures, his Children, the Work of his own Hands, whom he cannot help loveing as a tender
Father
does his
Children.
But since this Method not only would have done us no
Good,
but on the contrary, a great deal of
Hurt,
by hindering and interfereing with our implicit
Trust,
our
Reliance,
our
Resignation,
our
Faith,
and absolute Dependence on him, so necessary to the Production, and
eternizeing
of perfect Happiness; we see he hides himself in
Clouds
and
Darkness,
and is literally a
Deus absconditus
as to us, and does only approach to, or commerciat with us, in
pure Love, naked Faith,
and total Abnegation and Resignation, so hard to be acquired. Again, how necessary, how indispensable, would seem the
precise,
the limited, the unmistakeable Nature of natural and moral
Good
and
Evil
to us, in our present probatory State? and yet we are left for the Knowledge of
them,
to
Feeling,
to
Observation,
to
Experience,
to
Culture,
to
Pain
and
Suffering.
The
wisest
of mere Men said,
That no Man knoweth Good or Evil by all that is before him:
We naturally reckon
Health, Wealth, Honour
and
Success,
the real, the only Goods of this Life; and yet, if
Christianity
is not all a
Farce,
their Contraries are often, nay almost, always the most real, and the most perfect Goods, since they are the shortest Road to absolute
Resignation,
the greatest of all
Goods,
and the sole Mean of perfect Happiness. Once more; infinit Wisdom and Power has, as it were, done nothing to gratify our Curiosity, to
polish
our Natures, to advance the
Comforts
and
Gratifications,
the
Conveniencies,
and the honest
Improvements
of
Living:
How many
Nations,
and
Millions
of our own
Species,
of the same Order and Rank of Intelligences, are left all their Lives in the utmost
Brutality, Ignorance
and
Savageness,
not only as to the
Endowments
of their Minds, but almost as to the absolute, at least decent Necessaries of Life! in which
Cimmerian
Darkness, and execrable bodily Impurity, or Filth, they wallow, live and die, even vastly below many of the
Brute Species.
The most useful, pleasant and instructive
Discoveries
in Life, have, even among the most
polisht
Nations, been discover'd
late,
by
Chance,
and with great Imperfections at
first,
I mean,
Writeing, Printing,
the
Compass,
and
Glasses,
and even
Philosophical Physic
itself: All this cannot happen by Chance,
Fatality,
from Impotence, or without some infinitly wise and gracious
Design,
under the
Oeconomy
and Providence of an infinitly good,
wise
and
powerful Governor,
who alone knows best,
how long,
and what Kind of
Trial
and
Probation
is fittest for his lapsed intelligent Creatures, of such
Tribes, Nations
and
Climats
; to what Degree they have
lapsed,
what is their most proper Trial, how far
Simplicity
(and even
actual Humiliation
of this
intelligent
Creature, made a little lower than the
Angels
in his natural unalterable
Powers,
and as it were, to
drench
him in Dirt and
Nastiness,
even below the lowest
Brute,
as
Compost
fructifies Vegetables) is the
Via brevissima,
and Suffering, even
unconscious
Suffering, is sufficient; and knows best what
Mansion
they are design'd to inhabit hereafter; and has fitted
outward
Circumstances accordingly: And as to what is commonly reckon'd
polishing,
and haveing the decent Necessaries and Conveniencies of Life, he leaves Men to their natural
Liberty
and
Industry,
to employ their natural
Activity
innocently and laudably thereby, which otherwise might run riot in
Turpitude
and
Vice
; and to
general Laws,
which, followed with
Simplicity, Attention
and
Sincerity,
would naturally bring them perhaps the shortest Way to
disinterested Love, implicit Trust
and
Resignation
; and this he does even with a seeming Neglect of those other Things, as accounting them of no Value, when compar'd with this
pure Love,
and
implicit Trust,
that Disposition of Mind which alone can beget and
eternize
Happiness. Further; of what great Consequence to the Quickness of our
Purification,
and consequently of our
eternal Happiness,
it would appear to us, would be, the certain Knowledge of the precise Time of our
Dissolution
and
Death?
Then, like true penitent and serious
Felons,
we should employ all our last Moments intirely in cleansing our Vessels, and
trimming our Lamps
; and yet all that is known in this weighty Affair is
general,
and that we once must all die: The
Time,
the
Manner,
and other Circumstances, are all absolutely unknown to us; and why this? but only because infinit Purity and Perfection values nothing about us, but absolute
Trust, Dependence,
and
Resignation,
even to venturing our very
Lives
; and, as our
Saviour
expresses it, if we do not
hate,
that is, undervalue, our own Life, in respect of
him,
or love it but in
Subordination
to our Love of Him, we cannot be his
Disciples.
Again; the
Providence
of
GOD
seems to act
here
solely by
second Causes,
and by
general Laws
only, and in such a manner, that we but seldom
perceptibly
discern the Hand that disposes of
Events
; tho' doubtless, as
GOD
is an
infinitly free Agent,
He governs by a particular, as well as a general Providence; on proper and particular Occasions He dispenses with his own general Laws for a time, by a particular Interposition, both in
material
and
spiritual
Appearances: But in these particular
Interpositions,
we can have no
physical,
but only a
moral
Certainty, in order to raise and confirm our
Trust
and
Resignation
; for
Faith, Trust,
and
Resignation,
always suppose Uncertainty and Doubt; and some time or other, we shall admire and adore that
Wisdom
and
Goodness,
who could in so delicat and kindly a
manner
conceal from us, and hide that Hand, which directs every
Atom
of the
Universe,
and disposes of every
Hair of our Heads,
in order to render our
Trust, Faith,
and
Resignation,
stronger and more firm: As the Darkness and Cool of the
Autumn
Nights are what harden and consolidat the now refined and purified Juices, which the stronger
Sun,
and longer Day-light, had rais'd and sublim'd into the
Seeds
and
Fruits
; for the same Reason, the
Operations
and Influences of the Divine
Spirit,
or
Grace
and spiritual Aid and Assistance, are
secret
and
imperceptible
; and are always to be suspected, when they are
impetuous, sensible,
and acting only by
Fits
and
Starts,
as the gross Machin is
in
or
out
of
Tune,
and as the animal Functions play
easily
or
labour,
especially in
young unexperienced
Persons, who have not been
tried
and
purified
in the School of the
Cross:
For these uncommon and
extraordinary,
or even
perceptible
Operations of the
Divine Spirit,
seldom happen
pure, sincere,
and
unmixt
; but to the long and severely
Tried
and
Purified,
and when the Passions, Appetites, and
spiritual Humours
are moderated, calm'd, and subdued, on the Decline of a Life spent in due Retirement, and proper Silence; not in the
Storm
or
Tempest,
but in the
still calm Voice,
does the Divine
Spirit
speak; and a truly humble, and enlighten'd Person, ought to suspect himself,
get above,
and pass over every
Impulse, Sweetning,
or
Glance
of Light that comes not thus accompanied. Children, Beginners, and Noviciats in the
spiritual Life,
are often gratified with such
Sugarings
for their Encouragement; but Bread is for grown Persons, which is got by the
Sweat of the Brow,
and bearing the
Cross
; and a prudent staid Person will have too great a Regard for the Purity and Dignity of the
Divine Spirit,
to bring him down, to account for all the
mechanical
and
animal
Operations of his
volatile
and various
Imagination. Nec Deus intersit, nisi sit Deo dignus vindice nodus, & aquila non captat muscas.
But I beg Pardon for this Digression out of my Sphere, Capacity and Experience, to treat justly. But all the Difficulties and Darkness in Providence, and in natural and revealed Religion, seem to be intended by infinit Wisdom with surprizeing Justness,
Propriety,
and
Delicacy, only
as the most effectual
Means
to bring us to pure
Love,
and naked
Faith, Trust,
and
Resignation
; and are so far from being
Objections
against the Christian
Religion,
or to weaken its
Credibility, Dignity
and
Authority,
that were there no such
Difficulties, Doubts, Uncertainties
and
Mysteries
in
Revelation,
it would be a strong
Presumption,
and an undeniable Argument, that it came not from
GOD,
who being
infinitly infinit
in all
Perfection, Wisdom, Knowledge
and
Goodness,
must be incomprehensible to us in our present State, and so they could not be worthy, adequat and proper for such a
Being,
who is equally above Perception, Feeling and Sentiment, as above Comprehension.
These
may be good, useful and real, and his
mediat,
but seldom his
immediat
Operation. This pure
Love
and naked
Faith
seems to be the only
Point in View,
of the great and wise
Governor
of the
Universe,
even to such a Contempt of what we commonly think fine
Endowments
and
Polishing,
that in a great many Instances, in
Nations, Tribes,
and for
Ages,
he would seem, in the Conduct of his Providence, to prefer their Contraries, as the
shortest Way
to this
End
; tho' still there is a
Choice, Perfection,
and
Meliority,
in the
Honestum, Utile,
and the
Decorum
; but he only can know when, where, and in what outward Circumstances, lies the
,
quoad hos aut hunc.
§ 12. I TAKE it, in the first original Creation there was but one universal
Salt,
or one Kind of
saline
Particles, and that they were hard,
imporose, triangular, equilateral Prisms.
When Nature came to be confounded, jumbled, and
unharmoniously
combin'd, the other
Elements
of
Air, Water, Sulphur
and
Earth,
in forming secondary
Elements,
were
incommensuratly
and discordantly mixt with these; but still each preserv'd some Degree of its
primitive
Nature, as the compounded
Elements
retain'd more or less of their primitive
Particles
in the Composition; hence our purest
Elements
that
Art
can elicit, are still compounded, and inseparable from the
rest
; the purest, most simple, and most necessary of them all, seems to be our pure
Nitre,
or the universal
Salt
of the
Air,
the Mother of all
Salts,
so necessary to
animal
Life,
Sanguification,
the
Stimulation
of the animal
Fibres,
the Propagation and Action of
Heat
and
Fire,
the Production of
Cold
and Freezeing, to
animal Foecundity
and
Vegetation,
and many other of the
Appearances
of Nature, to which it seems absolutely necessary, and enters into their Substance and Composition. The other
Salts, Acids
and
Alcalis,
the
essential,
or lixivial
Salts
of Vegetables,
Plants
and
Minerals,
are only this primitive
nitrous Salt
combin'd with these other
Elements,
and as they predomine and exist in these particular Subjects: These mention'd
Salts
in
Animals,
are
Nitre
mixt with animal
Oils, Air, Water
and
Earth,
such as their Substances are compounded of; and it is in the same Manner in the
Plants
and
Minerals.
The greatest specific Difference among the
Salts
seems to arise from the Distinction of
Acids
and
Alcalis
; the first, both from
Philosophy
and
Experiment,
seem to be of
acute-angled,
greatly
attractive Particles
; and the Degree of their
Acidity
seems to depend on the
proportional
Degree of the Sharpness of their
Points,
which now may be various, and their Degree of
Attraction
also:
Alcalis
seem to be porous
calcarious
fine Earths; the
testaceous Powders
are among the most simple and perfect of them, and the Model of all the rest. and plainly shew the Nature of the whole
Tribe.
They are, as is evident from the
Microscope,
nothing but Earths of an exceeding fine Grain, and of very small
Particles,
full of large
Pores
and
Cells,
wherein an
acid
Water or Spirit has been contain'd, probably that of
Nitre.
Heat,
solar
or
culinary,
and
Calcination,
throws off some Part of this
acid
Water, and leaves the
Cells
partially empty. These empty
Cells,
upon being immerged in any
acid
Spirit or Water, suck it in again with Violence and Velocity, the remaining Part of the
Acid
in the
Cells attracting
the new
Acid
with additional Force; and hence
Fermentation
and
Effervescence.
All the
Alcalis
partake of this one general Nature, and differ only as they are more or less combin'd with the other
Elements. Volatility
arises from a light
Oil
united with either Kinds of
Salts
; and this seems to be the true
philosophic
Nature of all
Salts. Salts
and
Air
seem absolutely necessary to carry on
animal
Life and Functions;
Air
to rarefy the Juices, separat the
Globules,
which might otherwise be too closely united and compress'd; for the Introduction of which into the Blood and Fluids, the
Lungs
of
Animals
seem chiefly design'd:
Salts
stimulat the Solids into
Actions, Vibrations,
and excite their clumsy elastic Force, in order to carry on the
animal Functions,
so absolutely necessary to living. The just and proper Regulation of these
two, Air
and
Salts,
the so necessary Instruments of pleasant and easy living, is as fit a Subject to be adjusted by a wise and
philosophic Physician,
(others are but
Empyrics
at the best) as
Diet
and
Exercise.
The
Air
we choose to live in ought to be rather dry and thin in the
Medium
; but even this must be proportion'd to the Nature of the
Distemper,
and the State of the
Juices,
if possible; and they who have acquir'd their Disorders by high Meats and Drinks, which abound in
volatile Salts,
must by
insipid
Foods, and
aqueous
Liquors, lessen the Abundance of such Salts, which is the Case of all the
Rich
and
Wealthy.
They, on the contrary, who have acquir'd their Distempers by too
poor
and
low
a Manner of living, on
vegetable,
insipid and instimulating Food only, which is the Case of most of the Poor or Indigent, must be cured by more
generous
Living, and more stimulating and sapid Meats and Drinks, which excite their Solids into Action, and on which account all
low Livers,
who are driven into this Way of Living, by the Nature of their Distempers, require double the Exercise, of those who can bear
generous
and
active
Foods; and without it Nature will stagnat and sink; which is the Case of many of the
Female Sex,
and of Persons in
Gaols
and
Monasteries:
In a Word, where-ever a low or vegetable Diet is necessary, there
Air
and
Exercise
are in a much higher Degree necessary, than they are in a more generous
Diet,
to make a
low Diet
effectual. But then the
high Feeders
pay in the Shortness of their Lives, and the Sharpness of their Diseases, for their present Pleasure, and idle, indolent, healthy Life.
FINIS.
ERRATA.
Page 13, Line 27, dele
with.
p. 13, l. 2, for
gene,
read
general.
p. 33, for
affixing,
r.
of fixing.
p. 65, from (
higher,
to—
for Him
) in a Parenthesis. p. 81, l. 16, for
Liver,
r.
Bile.
p. 84, l. 30, dele
from.
p. 95, l. 16, for
are,
r.
is.
p. 172, l. 20, for
vergeing,
r.
divergeing.
p. 176, l. 7, dele
they.
p. 177, for
ingegious,
r.
ingenious.
p. 196, l. 19, read the Series thus,
x4
+
x3
+
x2
+
x
+ • −
x
−
x2
, &c. for
o,
r.
i,
and for
x
/∞ r.
x
/
x.
p. 241, l. 28. dele
and.
p. 294. l. 23. for
permit,
r.
pervade.
l. 28, for
her,
r.
its.
p. lxvi. (
the rest are
) is transpos'd, and should follow in the next Line after the Word
Britain.