IV. I Come now, Eleutherius, to acquaint you with some of the Reasons, that have made me backward to entertain such a Notion of Nature, as I have hitherto Discours’d of. And I shall at present comprise them under the following five.
I. The first whereof, is, That such a Nature, as we are speaking of, seems to me to be either asserted, or assum’d without sufficient Proof. And this single Reason, if it be well made out, may, I think, suffice for my turn. For, in matters of Philosophy, where we ought not to take up any thing upon Trust, or believe it without Proof, ‘tis enough to keep us from believing a thing, That we have no positive Argument to induce us to assent to it, though we have no particular Arguments against it. And, if this Rule be to take place in lesser Cases, sure it ought to hold in this, where we are to entertain the belief of so Catholick an Agent, that all the others are look’d upon but as its Instruments, that act in subordination to it; and which, being said to have an immediate Agency in many of the Phaenomena of the World, cannot but be suppos’d to be Demonstrable by divers of them. I have yet met with no Physical Arguments, either Demonstrative, or so much as considerably Probable, to evince the Existence of the Nature, we examin. And, though I should admit the use, that some Divines contend for, of the Holy Scriptures in Philosophical Controversies, yet I should not be persuaded of the Existence of the Nature, we Dispute of. For, I do not remember, that the Scripture any where declares to us, that there is such a thing, (in the sense by me question’d) though (as I formerly noted more fully in the IV. Section,) in Genesis and some other places, where the Corporeal Works of God are expresly treated of, (though in order to Spiritual ends) one might probably enough expect to find some mention of God’s Grand Vicegerent in the Universe of Bodies, if he had establish’d any such. But, whatever be the true cause of the Scriptur’s silence about this matter, the silence itself is sufficient to justifie me, for examining freely, by Reason, a thing that is not impos’d on my belief by Revelation. And, as for the Physical Arguments that may be brought in favour of the question’d Notion of Nature, I shall, e’re long, examine the Principal of them, and shew that they are not Convincing. To these things may be added, as to the Proof drawn from the General Opinion about Nature, That, being a Popular, not a Physical Argument, it may indeed pass for currant with the Vulgar, but ought not to do so with Philosophers.
II. The second Reason is taken from the Unnecessariness of such a Nature, as is pretended. For, since a great part of the Work of true Philosophers has been, to reduce the Principles of things to the smallest Number they can, without making them insufficient; I see not, why we should take in a Principle, of which we have no need. For, supposing the common Matter of all Bodies to have been at first divided into innumerable minute Parts, by the Wise Author of Nature, and these Parts to have been so dispos’d of, as to form the World, constituted as it now is; and especially, supposing that the Vniversal Laws of Motion, among the Parts of the Matter, have been establish’d, and several Conventions of Particles contrived into the Seminal Principles of various things; all which may be effected by the meer Local Motion of Matter, (not left to itself, but skilfully guided at the beginning of the World) if (I say) we suppose these things, together with God’s ordinary and general Concourse, which we very reasonably may: I see not, why the same Phaenomena, that we now observe in the World, should not be produc’d, without taking in any such Powerful and Intelligent Being, distinct from God, as Nature is represented to be. And, ‘till I see some Instance produc’d to the contrary, I am like to continue of this mind, and to think that the Phaenomena, we observe, will genuinely follow from the meer Fabrick and Constitution of the World. As, supposing the Sun and Moon to have been put, at first, into such Motions about the Earth, as Experience shews they have; the determinate Celerity of these Motions, and the Lines, wherein they are performed, will make it necessary, that the Moon should be sometimes Full, sometimes scarce Illuminated at all to us-ward, sometimes Horned, and, in a word, should exhibit such several Phases as every Month she doth, and that at some times She and the Sun should have a Trine, or a Quadrate Aspect, &c. and that now one, and now the other of them, should at set times suffer an Eclipse: Though these Eclipses were by the Romans and others of old, and are by many Unlearn’d Nations at this day, look’d upon as Supernatural things; and though also Aristotle, and a multitude of his Followers, fancy’d, that such Regular Motions could not be maintain’d without an Assistent Intelligence, which He and They therefore Assign’d to each of the Heavenly Orbs. And indeed the difficulty, we find, to conceive, how so great a Fabrick, as the World, can be preserved in Order, and kept from running again to a Chaos, seems to arise from hence, that Men do not sufficiently consider the unsearchable Wisdom of the Divine Architect or […] (as the Scripture styles him) of the World,1 whose piercing Eyes were able to look at once quite through the Universe, and take into his Prospect both the beginning and end of Time: So that perfectly fore-knowing, what would be the Consequences of all the possible Conjunctures of Circumstances, into which Matter, divided and mov’d according to such Laws, could, in an Automaton so Constituted as the Present World is, happen to be put; there can nothing fall out, unless when a Miracle is wrought, that shall be able to alter the Course of things, or prejudice the Constitution of them, any further, than He did from the Beginning foresee, and think fit to allow.
Nor am I sure, that the received Notion of Nature, though it be not necessary, is at least very useful, to explicate Physical Phaenomena. For, besides that, I shall shew e’re long, that several Explications, where recourse to it is presum’d to be the most advantagious, are not to be allow’d: To give the Nature of a Things for the Cause of this or that particular Quality, or Operation of it, is to leave Men as ignorant as they were before; or, at least, is to acknowledg, that a Philosopher can, in such Cases, assign no better particular and immediate Causes of Things, than a Shepherd or a Tradesman, that never learnt Natural Philosophy, can assign of the same things, and of a Thousand others. And though it be true, (as I formerly also intimated) that, in many Cases, Philosophers themselves can answer no otherwise, to such Questions as may be Propos’d to them, than by having recourse to the Nature of the Thing; yet such Answerers do not declare the proper Cause of a Dark Phaenomenon, but only that he, who imploys them, does not yet know it: And so this indefinite Notion of Nature, which is equally applicable to the resolving of all difficulties, is not useful to disclose the thing, but to delude the Maker of the Question, or hide the ignorance of the Answerer.
III. My third Argument is, That the Nature, I question, is so dark and odd a thing, that ‘tis hard to know what to make of it, it being scarce, if at all, intelligibly propos’d, by them that lay most weight upon it. For it appears not clearly, whether they will have it to be a Corporeal Substance, or an Immaterial One, or some such thing, as may seem to be betwixt both; such as many Peripateticks do represent substantial Forms, and what they call real Qualities, which divers School-men hold to be (at least by Miracle) separable from all Matter whatsoever. If it be merely Corporeal, I confess, I understand not, how it can be so Wise, and almost Omniscient an Agent, as they would have it pass for. Besides that, if it be a Body, I would gladly know, what kind of Body it is, and how, since, among Bodies, there can be no Penetration of Dimensions, this Body can so intimately pervade, as they pretend Nature does, all the other Bodies of the World? And to this I would add divers other Questions, that would not be easily answered. (But I shall resume this Third Argument in another place.) If it be said, that Nature is a Semi-substantia, as some of the Modernest Schoolmen are pleas’d to call substantial Forms, and real Qualities; I roundly answer, that I acknowledge no such Chymerical and Unintelligible Beings, and shall only desire you to apply to them a good part of the Discourse, made in certain Papers, occasion’d by a Chymico-Physical Essay about Salt-petre, against the pretended Origine, and inexplicable Nature, of the imaginary substantial Forms of the Peripateticks. It remains therefore, that this Nature, we speak of, if it be any thing positive, should be an Immaterial Substance. But to have Recourse to such an one, as a Physical Agent, and not only a Determiner, but the Grand Author, of the Motion of Bodies, and that, especially in such familiar Phaenomena, as the Ascension of Water in Pumps, the Suspension of it in Watering-Pots for Gardens, the running of it through Siphons, and I know not how many others) and to Explain its Casuality, as they speak, will, I think, prove a Work exceeding difficult: Though I shall not here spend time to shew you the farther inconveniences of such a Supposition, being to do that hereafter; and, in the mean-while, contenting myself to observe, as to many of the Naturists, That, though their Doctrine may favour it, they seem rather content to talk darkly, and uncertainly, of what they call Nature, than by clearly-Defining it, expose it to Objections not easie to be answered, and who foresee the advantage, that the unsetledness of the Notion gives them, to pretend Knowledg, or disguise Ignorance.
IV. Since many of the most Learned amongst the Naturists are Christians, and not few of them Divines too, it may not be improper (which else I should, perhaps, think it would be,) to add, in this place, that the next thing, for which I dislike the Vulgar Notion (or Idea) of Nature, is, That I think it dangerous to Religion in general, and consequently to the Christian.
For this Erroneous Conceit defrauds the True God of divers Acts of Veneration and Gratitude, that are due to Him from Men, upon the account of the Visible World, and diverts them to that Imaginary Being they call Nature, which has no Title to them; for, whilst Nature is suppos’d to be an Intelligent Thing, that wisely and benignly Administers all that is done among Bodies, ‘tis no wonder that the generality of Philosophers, and, after their Example, of other Men, should admire and praise Her, for the wonderful, and for the useful things that they observe in the World. And, in effect, though Nature, in that sense of the Word I am speaking of, be never (that I remember) to be found in the Sacred Writings; yet, nothing is to be more frequently met with (and that adorn’d with Titles and Encomiums) in the Books of Philosophers, than Nature and Her Effects. And, if we consider, that, whatever has been said, by some, in excuse of Aristotle himself, yet the generality of the Peripateticks, from whom the Vulgar Notion of Nature is chiefly receiv’d, made the World to be Eternal, and referr’d all the Transactions among the Bodies it contains, to what they call’d Nature. Whence, ‘twill not be difficult to perceive, that, if they do not quite exclude God, yet, as they leave him no Interest in the first Formation of the Universe; so they leave him but very little in the Administration of the Parts it consists of, especially the Sublunary Ones. So that, instead of the True God, they have substituted, for us, a kind of a Goddess, with the Title of Nature: Which, as they look upon as the immediate Agent and Director in all excellent Productions, so they ascribe to Her the Praise and Glory of Them.
Whether this great Error, in a Point of such Importance, may not Undermine the Foundation of Religion, I think it may not irrationally be suspected. For, since the most General and Efficacious Argument, that has persuaded Philosophers, and other Men, that there is a God and a consideration of the Providence, is afforded by the visible World, wherein so many Operations and other Things are observ’d, that are manag’d (or perform’d) with such Conduct and Benignity, as cannot justly be ascrib’d but to the Wisdom and Goodness of a Deity: They that ascribe these Things to mere Nature, do much weaken the force of that Argument, if they do not quite take away the necessity of acknowledging a Deity, by shewing, that, without any need of having Recourse to Him, of the Administration of the World and of what is perform’d among Things Corporeal, an Account may be given. Though, when Men are put upon considering the matter, and press’d to declare themselves more clearly, they are asham’d to affirm, that God and Nature are the same Thing, and, will confess, that She is but his Vicegerent; yet, in Practise, their Admiration and their Praises are frequently given to Nature, not to God: In like manner, as, though the Sun be the Fountain of Light, and the Moon derives all Hers from the Sun; yet the Sea, in Its grand Motions of Ebbing and Flowing, appears to respect the Moon, and not the Sun: For thus, the generality of Men, though they will acknowledg that Nature is inferior and subordinate to God, do yet appear to regard Her more than Him.
To be short, Nature uses to be so frequently recurr’d to, and is so magnifi’d in the Writings of Physiologers, that the excessive Veneration Men have for Nature, as it has made some Philosophers (as the Epicureans) deny God, so, ‘tis to be fear’d, that it makes many forget Him: And, perhaps, a suspicious Person would venture to add, That, if other Principles hindred not (as, I know, that in many, and, think, that in most, of the Christian Naturists they do,) the Erroneous Idea of Nature would, too often, be found to have a strong tendency to shake, if not to subvert, the very Foundations of all Religion; mis-leading those that are inclin’d to be its Enemies, from overlooking the Necessity of a God, to the Questioning, if not to the denyal, of his Existence.
V. My Fifth and Last Argument is taken from hence; That I observe divers Phaenomena, which do not agree with the Notion or Representation of Nature, that I Question. For, if indeed there were such an Intelligent, Powerful and Vigilant Being, as Philosophers are wont to Describe Nature to be, divers things would not be done, which Experience assures us are done.
And here I shall once for all give an Advertisement, which I desire may be call’d to mind, whenever there shall be Occasion, in the following part of this Tract, which is this; That, because Inanimate Bodies are usually more simple, or less compounded, and of a slighter and less complicated or curious Contrivance, than Animals or Plants, I thought fit to chuse most of the Instances I employ, rather among lifeless Bodies, whose Structure and Qualities are more easy to be Intelligibly and with Brevity Discours’d of, than among living Creatures, whose Textures, being Organical, are much more intricate and subtil. And this Course I did not scruple to take, because the Celebraters of Nature give her a Province, or rather an Empire, as large as the World, and will have her Care and Jurisdiction reach, as well to Inanimate as to Living Bodies; and accordingly most of the conspicuous Instances they Alledge, of her Providence and Power, are taken from Bodies destitute of Life; as when they tell us, That the Ascension of Water in Sucking-Pumps, and the Sustentation of it in Gardeners Watering-Pots, are caus’d by Nature’s abhorrence of a Vacuum: That heavy Bodies (unhinder’d) fall to the Ground in a Perpendicular Line, because Nature directs them the shortest way to the Centre of the Earth; and that Bubbles Rise thro’ the Water, and Flames Ascend in the Air, because Nature directs these Bodies to re-join themselves to their respective Elements; to omit other Instances of this sort, that there will be occasion to mention hereafter: Till when, these may suffice to warrant my taking most of my Instances from Inanimate Bodies; though I shall not confine my self to these, especially when I shall come to Answer Objections that are taken from living Creatures.
The foregoing Advertisement will be, I hope, found conducive to clear the way for my Fifth Argument, lately propos’d, which concludes, that, if indeed there were such a Being, as Nature is usually Represented to be, several things would be otherwise Administred in the Universe, than Experience shews they are.
To enumerate all the Particulars that may be propos’d to make this good, would swell this Discourse much beyond the Bulk to which my Haste obliges me to confine it. But, to make you amends for the Paucity of Instances, I shall now name, by the kind of them, I shall propose such as, for the most part, are taken from those very things, whence the Wisdom and Vigilancy of Nature is wont to be confidently Argued, which I the rather do, that by such I may make way for, and shorten the Answers I am to give to the Arguments e’re-long to be Examined.
First then, Whereas the great Care and Vigilancy of Nature, for the common Good of the Universe, is wont to be Demonstrated from the watchful Care she takes, to prevent or replenish a Vacuum, which would be very Prejudicial to the Fabrick of the World: I Argue the quite contrary from the Phaenomena, that occur about a Vacuum. For whereas ‘tis Alledg’d, that Nature, in great Pumps, and in the like Cases, lifts up the heavy Body of Water in spight of its tendency towards the Centre of the Earth, to obviate, or fill up a Vacuity; and that out of a Gardener’s Pot, or Inverted Pipe, stopp’d at one end, neither the Water, nor even Quick-Silver, that is near fourteen times as heavy, will fall down, lest it should leave a Vacuum behind it; I demand how it comes to pass, that, if a Glass-Pipe be but a Foot longer than 34 or 35 Feet; or an Inverted Tube, fill’d with Quick-silver, be but a Finger’s breadth longer than 30 Inches, the Water in the one, and the Quick-silver in the other, will subside, though the one will leave but about a Foot, and the other but about an Inch, of deserted Space, which they call Vacuum, at the top of the Glass. Is it possible, that Nature, that in Pumps is said to raise up every Day so many Hundred Ton of Water, and, if you will believe the Schools, would raise it to any height, (left there should be a Vacuum) should not have the Discretion, or the Power, to lift up, or sustain, as much Water as would serve to fill one Foot in a Glass-Tube, or as much Quick-silver as an Inch of a slender Pipe will contain, to obviate or replenish the Vacuum, she is said so much to abhor? sure, at this rate, she must either have very little Power, or very little Knowledge of the Power she has. So likewise, when a Glass-Bubble is blown very thin at the Flame of a Lamp, and Hermetically seal’d whilst ‘tis very hot, the Cause, that is rendered, why ‘tis apt to break, when it grows cold, is, that the inward Air, which was before rarefied by the Heat, coming to be Condens’d by the Cold, left the space deserted by the Air, that thus Contracts itself, should be left void, Nature, with violence, breaks the Glass in pieces. But, by these Learned Mens favour, if the Glass be blown but a little stronger than ordinary, though at the Flame of a Lamp, the Bubble, as I have often tryed, will continue unbroken, in spight of Natures pretended abhorrency of a Vacuum: Which needs not at all to be recurr’d to in the Case. For the Reason, why the thin Glass-Bubble broke not when ‘twas hot, and did when it grew cold, is plainly this; That, in the former state, the Agitation of the Included Air, by the Heat, did so strengthen the Spring of it, that the Glass was thereby assisted and enabled to resist the weight of the Incumbent Air: Whereas, upon the Cessation of that Heat, the Debilitated Spring of the Internal, being unable to assist the Glass, as formerly, to resist the Pressure of the External Air, the Glass itself being too thin becomes unable to support the Weight or Pressure of the Incumbent Air, the Atmosphaerical Pillar, that leans upon a Bubble of about two Inches Diameter, amounting to above one Hundred Pound Weight; as may be manifestly concluded from a late Experiment that I have try’d, and you may meet with in another Paper. And the Reason, why, if the Bubble be blown of a due thickness, it will continue whole after it is Cold, is, that the thickness of it, though but faintly assisted by the weakned Spring of the Included Air, is sufficient to support the Weight of the Incumbent Air, though, several times, I have observed, the Pressure of the Atmosphaere, and the resistence of the Bubble, to have been, by Accident, so near the aequipollent, that a much less outward Force, than one would imagine, applyed to the Glass, as, perhaps, a Pound, or a less Weight, gently laid on it, would enable the outward Air to break it, with Noise, into a Multitude of pieces. And, now give me leave to consider, how ill this Experiment, and the above-mentioned Phaenomena, that happen in Glass-Pipes, wherein Water and Quick-silver subside, agree with the Vulgar Apprehension, Men have of Nature. For, if in case She did not hinder the falling down of the Water, or the Quicksilver, there would be no such Vacuum produced, as She is said to abhor; Why does She seem so solicitious to hinder it? And why does She keep three or four and thirty Foot of Water in Perpendicular height, contrary to the nature of all heavy Bodies, suspended in the Tube? And, Why does she furiously break in pieces a thin seal’d Bubble, such as I come from speaking of, to hinder a Vacuum? if in case She did not break it, no Vacuum would ensue. And, on the other side, if we admit her Endeavours, to hinder a Vacuum, not to have been superfluous, and consequently foolish, we must confess, that, where these endeavours succeed not, there is really produc’d such a Vacuum, as She is said to abhor. So that, as I was saying, either She must be very indiscreet to trouble Herself, and to transgress Her own ordinary Laws, to prevent a danger She need not fear; or Her strength must be very small, that is not able to fill a Vacuity, that half a Pint of Water, or an Ounce of Quick-silver, may replenish; or break a tender Glass-Bubble, which, perhaps, a Pound Weight on it, would, with the help of so light a Body as the Incumbent Air, crush in pieces.
The other Grand Instance, that is given of the Wisdom of Nature, and Her watchfulness for the Good of the whole World, is, the Appetite She has Implanted in all heavy Bodies, to descend to the Centre of the Earth, and in all light Ones, to ascend towards Heaven; or, as some would have it, towards the Element of Fire, contiguous to the Orb of the Moon. But, for positive Levity, ‘till I see it better prov’d, than it hath hitherto been, I allow no such thing Implanted in Sublunary Bodies; the praepollent Gravity of some, sufficing to give others a Comparative or Respective Lightness. As a piece of Oak, or the like Wood, being let go in the Air, falls down by its own Gravity, or rather by virtue of the Efficient of that Gravity; but if it be let go under Water, it will, though it be never so great a Log or piece of Timber, ascend, with a considerable force, to the top of the Water; which, I hope, will not be ascribed to a positive Levity, since, when it descended in the Air, ‘twas by its Gravity that it did so. But not to insist on this, nor to take notice, how wisely Nature has Implanted into all heavy Bodies an Appetite to Descend to the Centre of the Earth, which, being but a Point, is not able to contain any one of Them; not to urge these things, I say, I will only invite you to consider one of the most familiar things that occur among heavy Bodies.
For, if, for Example, you let fall a Ball upon the Ground, it will Rebound to a good height, proportionable to that from whence you let it fall, or, perhaps, will make several lesser Rebounds, before it come to rest. It it be now ask’d, Why the Ball, being let out of your Hand, does not fall on this or that side, or move upwards, but falls directly toward the Centre of the Earth, by that shortest Line, (which Mechanitians call Linea Directionis) which is the Diameter of the Earth prolong’d to the Centre of Gravity of the Ball? ‘Twill be readily Answer’d, That this proceeds from the Balls Gravity, i. e. an Innate Appetite, whereby it tends to the Centre of the Earth the nearest way. But then I demand, Whence comes this Rebound, i. e. this Motion upwards? For, ‘tis plain, ‘tis the Genuine Consequence of the Motion downwards, and therefore is encreas’d according as that Motion in the Ball was encreas’d, by falling from a greater height: So that it seems, that Nature does, in such Cases, play a very odd Game, since She forces a Ball, against the Laws of heavy Bodies, to ascend divers times upwards, upon the Account of that very Gravity, whose Office it is to carry it downwards the directest way: And, at least, She seems, in spight of the Wisdom ascribed to Her, to take Her Measures very ill, in making the Ball move downwards with so much violence, as makes it, divers times, fly back from the place She intended it should go to. As if a Ball which a Child can play with, and direct as he pleases, were so unweildy a Thing, that Nature cannot manage it, without letting it be hurried on with far greater violence, than her Design requires.
The Reflection, I have been making on a Ball, may (mutatis mutandis, as they speak) be applyed to a Pendulum. For, since ‘tis unanimously affirm’d, by all that have written of it, that it falls to the Perpendicular, upon the Account of its Gravity: It must not be deny’d, that ‘tis from a Motion proceeding from the same Gravity, that the swinging Weight passes beyond the Perpendicular, and consequently ascends, and oftentimes makes a multitude of Diadroms, or Vibrations; and consequently, does very frequently ascend, before it comes to rest in the Perpendicular: Which is the Position wherein its Gravity is best comply’d with, and which therefore it had been best setled in at first.
I shall not here mention those Grand Anomalies, or Exorbitances, even in the vaster Bodies of the Universe; such as Earth-quakes, that reach some Hundreds of Leagues, Deluges, Destructive Eruptions of Fire, Famines of a large spread, Raging Pestilences, Coelestial Comets, Spots in the Sun, that are recorded to have obscured it for many Months; the sudden Appearing, the Dis-appearing, and the Re-appearing of Stars, that have been judg’d to be as high, as the Region of the fix’d Ones. I will not, I say, enquire how far these Anomalies agree to the Character wont to be given of Natures Watchfulness and Vigilancy, because, probably, I may have hereafter a fit opportunity to do it, and must now proceed to the remaining Instances I promis’d you, which are taken from what happens to Animals: As soon as I shall have dispatch’d some Considerations and Advertisements, that seem necessary to be premis’d, to what I have to offer about that difficult Subject.
If the past Discourse give rise to a Question, Whether the World, and the Creatures that compose it, are as perfect as they could be made? The Question seems to me, because of the Ambiguity of the Terms, too intricate to be resolv’d by a single Answer. But yet, because the Problem is not wont to be discuss’d, and is, in my Opinion, of Moment, in reference to Natural Theology; I shall venture briefly to intimate some of the Thoughts that occurr’d to me about it: Having first declar’d, that I am, with reason, very backward to be positive in a matter of this Nature, the Extent of the Divine Power and Wisdom being such, that its Bounds, in case it have any, are not known to me.
This premis’d, I consider, that the sense of the Question may be, Whether God could make the Material World, and the Corporeal Creatures It consists of, better and more perfect that they are? speaking in a general way and absolute sense: Or else, Whether the particular Kinds or Orders of the Creatures, in the World, could any of them be made more perfect or better, than they have been made?
To Answer the Question in the first-nam’d sense of it, I think it very unsafe to deny, that God, who is Almighty and Omniscient, and an Owner of Perfections, which, for ought we know, are participable in more different manners and degrees than we can comprehend, could not Display, if it be not fitter to say Adumbrate, them, by Creating a Work more excellent than this World. And, his Immense Power and Unexhausted Wisdom considered, it will not follow, either, that because this World of Ours is an admirable piece of Workmanship, the Divine Architect could not have better’d It; or, because God himself is able to make a greater Master-piece, this exquisitely contriv’d System is not admirably Excellent.
But the propos’d Question, in the other sense of it, will require some more words to resolve it. For, if we look upon the several Species of Visible Creatures, under a more absolute Consideration, without respect to the Great System of the Universe, of which they are Parts, or to the more particular Designs of the Creator; it seems manifest, that many sorts of Creatures might have been more perfect than they are, since they want many compleating things, that others are indow’d with; as an Oyster, that can neither hear, nor see, nor walk, nor swim, nor fly, &c. is not so perfect a Creature, as an Eagle, or an Elephant, that have both those Senses that the Oyster wants, and a far more active Faculty of changing places: And, of this inequality of perfection in Creatures of differing kinds, the Examples are too obvious to need to be enumerated. But if the Question be better propos’d, and it be inquir’d, not whether God could have made more perfect Creatures, than many of those he has made, for that, ‘tis plain, He could do, because He has done it; but, Whether the Creatures were not so curiously and skilfully made, that ‘twas scarce possibly they could have been better made, with due regard to all the wise Ends He may be suppos’d to have had in making them, it will be hard to prove a Negative Answer.
This I shall indeavour to illustrate by a Supposition. If one should come into the well-furnish’d Shop of an excellent Watch-maker, and should there see a plain Watch, design’d barely to shew the Hour of the Day; another, that strikes the Hours; a third that is also furnish’d with an Alarm; a fourth, that, besides these, shews the Month Current, and the Day of it; and lastly, a fifth, that, over and above all these, shews the Motions of the Sun, Moon and Planets, the Tydes, and other Things, which may be seen in some Curious Watches. In this Case, I say, the Spectator, supposing him judicious, would, indeed, think one of these Watches far more Excellent and Compleat than another; but yet he would conclude each of them to be perfect in its own own kind, and the Plain Watch to answer the Artificer’s Idea and Design in making it, as well as the more Compounded and Elaborate one did. The same thing may, in some Circumstances, be further Illustrated, by considering the Copy of some excellent Writing-Master, for, though there we may find some Leaves written in an Italian Hand, others in a Secretary, and, in others, Hands of other Denominations; though one of these Patterns may be much Fairer, and more Curious than another, if they be compar’d together; yet, if we consider their equal Conformity to the respective Idea’s of the Author, and the suitableness to the Design he had of making each Copy, not as Curious, Sightly and Flourishing as he could, but as Conformable to the true Idea of the sort of Hand he meant to exhibit, and the Design he had to shew the Variety, Number and Justness of his Skill, by that of the Patterns he made Compleat in the respective Kinds; we shall not think, that any of them could have been better’d by him: And if he should have made a Text-Hand as fair as a Roman-Hand, by giving it more Beauty and Ornament, he would not have made it better in its Kind, but spoil’d it, and, by a Flourish of his Skill, might have given a Proof of his want of Judgment.
But, to return thither whence I began to make this Excursion, perhaps, Eleutherius, you will object against the Examples I have produc’d before it, that the Exceptions, I have taken at some of the Proceedings of Nature, may be as well urg’d against Providence, and exclude the One as well as the Other, from the Government of the World.
But to this I Answer, that this Objection is Foreign to the Question, which is about Mens Notion of Nature, not God’s Providence; which, if it were here my Task to Assert, I should establish It upon Its proper and solid Grounds: such, as the Infinite Perfections of the Divine Nature, which both engage and enable Him to Administer His Dominion over all things; His being the Author and Supporter of the World; The exquisite Contrivance of the Bodies of Animals, which could not proceed but from a stupendious Wisdom; The supernatural Revelations and Discoveries He has made of Himself, and of His particular care of His Creatures, by Prophecies, Apparitions, true Miracles, and other ways, that transcend the Power, or overthrow, or, at least, over-rule the Physical Laws of Motion in Matter: By these, I say, and the like proper Means, I would evince Divine Providence. But being not now oblig’d to make an Attempt, which deserves to be made very solemnly, and not in such haste as I now write in. I shall, at present, only observe to you, that the Case is very differing between Providence and Nature, and therefore there is no necessity, that the Objections, I have made against the Later, should hold against the Former. As, (to give you a few Instances of the Disparity) in the first place, it appears not, nor is it likely, that ‘tis the Design of Providence to hinder those Anomalies and Defects, I have been mentioning: Whereas, ‘tis said, to be the Duty and Design of Nature, and Her only Task, to keep the Universe in Order, and procure, in all the Bodies that compose it, that things be carried on, in the best and most regular way that may be, for their Advantage. Secondly, Nature is confess’d to be a Thing inferior to God, and so but a subordinate Agent, and therefore cannot, without disparagement to Her Power, or Wisdom, or Vigilancy, suffer divers things to be done, which may, without Degradation to God, be permitted by Him; who is not only a self-existent and Independent Being, but the Supream and Absolute Lord, and, if I may so speak, the Proprietor of the whole Creation: Whence both Melchizedec and Abram style Him, (Gen. xiv. 19, 23.) not only the most High God, but, […] Koneh, Possessing (or, as our Version has it, Possessor of) Heaven and Earth: And Who, when He made the World, and established the Laws of Motion, gave them to Matter, not to Himself. And so, being obliged to none, either as His Superior, or Benefactor, He was not bound to Make, or Administer, Corporeal Things after the best manner, that He could, for the good of the things themselves: Among which, those that are capable of Gratitude, ought to Praise and Thank Him, for having vouchsafed them so much as they have, and have no Right to except against His having granted them no more. And, as being thus oblig’d to none of his Works, He has a Sovereign Right to dispose of them; so, He has other Attributes, which He may justly Exercise, and both intend And expect to be Glorified for, besides his Goodness to Inferior Creatures: and His Wisdom may be better set off to Men, and perhaps to Angels or Intelligences, by the great Variety of His Contrivances in His Works, than by making them all of the excellentest Kind: As Shadows in Pictures, and Discords in Musick, skilfully Plac’d and Order’d, do much recommend the Painter, and the Musician. Perhaps it may be added, That the permitting the Course of Things to be somewhat violated, shews, by the Mischief such Exorbitances do, how good God has been in setling and preserving the orderly Course of Things. Thirdly, As God is a most Absolute and Free, so He is an Omniscient, Being; and, as, by His Supream Dominion over the Works of His Hands, He has a Right to dispose of them, as He thinks best for His own Glory, so upon the score of His unfathomable Wisdom, He may have Designs, and, if I may so speak, Reaches, in the Anomalies that happen in the World, which we Men are too short-sighted to discern; and may exercise as much Wisdom, nay, and as much Providence (in reference to Man, the Noblest Visible Object of His Providence) in sometimes (as in Divine Miracles) receding from what Men call the Laws of Nature, as He did at first in establishing them: Whereas the Office of Nature, being but to preserve the Universe in General, and Particular Bodies in It, after the best manner that their respective Conditions will permit; we know, what ‘tis She aims at, and, consequently, can better discern, when She misses of Her Aims, by not well Acting what is presum’d to be Her Part. Fourthly, We must consider, that, as God is an Independent, Free and Wise, so He is also a Just Agent; and therefore may very well be suppos’d to cause many Irregularities and Exorbitances in the World, to punish those, that Men have been guilty of. And, whereas Nature is but a Nursing-Mother to the Creatures, and looks e’ne upon wicked Men, not in their Moral but in their Physical capacities, God expresly declares, in the Sacred Scriptures, that, upon Adam’s Fall, He Curs’d the Ground, or Earth, for Man’s sake, Gen. iii. 17, 18. and that there is no penal evil in the City that is not deriv’d from Him, Amos iii. 6. He is not over-rul’d, as Men are fain to say of Erring Nature, by the head-strong Motions of the Matter, but sometimes purposely over-rules the regular Ones, to execute His Justice; & therefore Plagues, Earth-quakes, Inundations, and the like destructive Calamities, though they are sometimes Irregularities in Nature, yet, for that very Reason, they are design’d by Providence; which intends, by them, to deprive wicked Men of that Life, or of those blessings of Life, whereof their Sins have render’d them unworthy. But, whil’st I mention Designs, I must not forget, that Mine was only to give you a Tast of the Considerations, by which one may shew, that such things, as manifest Nature to act unsuitably to the Representation that is made of Her, may yet, when attributed to Divine Providence, be made out to have nothing inconsistent with It.
And yet, somewhat further to clear this weighty matter, and particularly some things, but briefly hinted in what I have been lately Discoursing, I think it fit, before I descend to the Particulars, that I am to employ against the Vulgar Notion of Nature, to premise somewhat by way of Caution, that I may do some Right (though I can never do enough,) to Divine Providence; and take care betimes, that no Use, Injurious to It, may be made of any thing that my Argument hath oblig’d me, or will oblige me, to say about that Imaginary Thing, Vulgarly call’d Nature, either in This or the VI. Section, or any other Part of our present Enquiry.
I conceive then, that the Divine Author of Things, in making the World, and the particular Creatures that compose it, had respect to several Ends; some of them knowable by us Men, and others hid in the Abyss of the Divine Wisdom and Counsels. And that of those Ends, which are either manifest enough to us, or, at least, discoverable by Human Sagacity and Industry, some of the Principal are, The manifestation of the Glory of God, The Utility of Man, and The maintenance of the System of the World; under which is comprised, the Conservation of particular Creatures, and, also, the Propagation of some Kinds of them.
But this General Design of God, for the welfare of Man and other Creatures, is not (as I conceive) to be understood, but with a twofold Limitation.
For, First, though Men, and other Animals, be furnish’d with Faculties or Powers, and other Requisites, to enable them to preserve themselves, and procure what is necessary for their own welfare, yet this Provision, that God has been pleas’d to make for them, is made with reference to what regularly, or what most usually, happens to Beings of that Species or Sort that they belong to; but not with regard to such things as may happen to them irregularly, contingently, and (in comparison of the others,) unfrequently. Thus it is, in General, far better for Mankind, that Women, when they are brought to Bed, should have their Breasts fill’d with Milk, to give Suck to the new-born Babe, than that they should not; though sometimes, as, if the Child die in the Delivery, or presently after, and in some other Cases also, the plentiful recourse of Milk to the Mothers Breasts proves troublesome and inconvenient, and sometimes also dangerous, to her. Thus a Head of Hair is, for the most part, useful to the Person, whether Man or Woman, that Nature has furnish’d with it, though, in some Cases (as of Consumptions, and in a few other Circumstances) it happens to be prejudicial to the Wearer; and therefore Physicians do often, with good success, prescribe, that it be shaven off. Thus the Instinct, that Hens have to Hatch their Eggs and take care of their Young, is, in General, very useful, if not necessary, for the Conservation of that Species of Birds; and yet it sometimes mis-guides and deludes them, when it makes them take a great deal of pains to Brood upon those Duck-eggs, that Housewives, (having taken a way the Birds own Eggs) lay in her Nest, which makes her very solicitous to Hatch and take care of Ducklings, instead of Chickens. Thus ‘tis an Institution that ordinarily is profitable for Man, that his Stomach should nauseate or reject things that have a loathsome taste or smell, because the generality of those things, that are provided for his Nourishment, are well, or, at least, not ill-tasted; and yet, on some occasions of Sickness, that disposition of the Stomach to refuse, or vomit up, nauseous Purges, and other dis-tastful Medicines, (as such Remedies are usually loathsom enough) proves very prejudicial, by being a great impediment to the Recovery of Health. And thus (to be short) the Passions of the Mind, such as Fear, Joy and Grief, are given to Man, for his Good; and, when rightly us’d, are very advantageous, if not absolutely necessary, to him: Though, when they grow unruly, or are ill-manag’d, as it but too often happens, they frequently prove the Causes of Diseases, and of great Mischief, as well to the passionate Man himself, as to Others.
The second Limitation (which has a natural Connexion with the former,) is this, That the Omniscient Author of Things, who, in His Vast and Boundless Understanding, comprehended, at once, the whole System of His Works, and every Part of it, did not mainly intend the Welfare of such or such particular Creatures, but subordinated His Care of their Preservation and Welfare, to His Care of maintaining the Universal System and Primitive Scheme or Contrivance of His Works, and especially those Catholick Rules of Motion, and other Grand Laws, which He at first establish’d among the Portions of the Mundane Matter. So that, when there happens such a Concourse of Circumstances, that particular Bodies, fewer or more, must suffer, or else the setled Frame, or the usual Course of Things, must be alter’d, or some general Law of Motion must be hinder’d from taking place: In such Cases, I say, the Welfare and Interest of Man himself (as an Animal) and much more That of inferior Animals, and of other Particular Creatures, must give way to the Care, that Providence takes of Things of a more General and Important Nature or Condition.
Thus (as I formerly noted) God establish’d the Lines of Motion, which the Sun and the Moon observe, tho’ he foresaw, that, from thence, there would necessarily, from time to time, ensue Eclipses of those Luminaries; which he chose rather to permit, than to alter that Course, which, on several accounts, was the most convenient. Thus a blown Bladder, or a Foot-Ball, falling from a considerable height upon the Ground, rebounds upwards, and so, contrary to the Nature of Heavy Bodies, moves from the Centre of the Earth, lest the Catholick Laws of Motion, whereby the Springyness and Reflection of Bodies, in such Circumstances, are established, should be violated or intrench’d upon.
Thus, He thought not fit to furnish Sheep with Paws, or Tusks, or Swiftness, or Animosity, or Craft, to defend or preserve themselves from Wolves and Foxes, and other Beasts of Prey. And tame and fearful Birds, such as Hens, are so ill provided for defence, that they seem designed to be the food of Hawks, Kites, and other rapacious Ones. Thus Oysters, having neither Eyes nor Ears, are not near so well provided for, as the generality of Beasts and Birds, and even most other Fishes. And thus Silk-Worms (to name no other Catterpillars,) usually (at least in these Countries,) live not much above half a Year, being less furnish’d with the Requisites of longaevity, than the generality of Birds, and Beasts, and Fishes.
I have thought fit to lay down the two foregoing Limitations, partly, because they will be of use to me hereafter, and, partly, because they contain something, that may be added to what hath been lately Represented on behalf of the Divine Providence (as it falls under the Naturalist’s Consideration.) For, by these Limitations, we may perceive, that ‘tis not just, presently to deny, or censure the Providence of God, when-ever we see some Creatures less compleatly furnish’d to maintain themselves; or some Cases less provided for, than we think they might be; or seeming Anomalies permitted, which we look upon as mischievous Irregularities. For the Welfare of Men, or of this or that other Particular sort of Creatures, being not the Only, nor, in likelihood, the Principal End of God, in making the World; it is neither to be admir’d nor reprehended, that He has not provided for the safety and conveniency of Particular Beings, any further, than well consists with the Welfare of Beings of a more considerable Order, and, also, will comport with his Higher Ends, and with the maintenance of the more General Laws and Customs, setled by Him among Things Corporeal: So that divers seeming Anomalies and Incongruities, whence some take occasion to Question the Administration of Things, and to deny the Agency of Providence, do not only comport with it, but serve to accomplish the Designs of It.
I have the more expresly declar’d my Mind on this occasion, because, indeed, of the two main Reasons, which put me upon so difficult a Work, as I foresaw this Treatise would be, as one was, the Love I bear to Truth and Philosophical Freedom; so the other was, a just Concern for Religion. For thinking it very probable, that, in so Inquisitive an Age as This, some Observations, like Mine, about Nature itself, might come into the minds of Persons ill-affected to Divine Providence, who would be glad and forward to wrest them, and make a perverse use of them; I thought it better, that such Notions should be candidly propos’d, by One that would take care to accompany them with those Cautions, that may keep them from being injurious to Religion.
Having premis’d the two foregoing Advertisements, to obviate Misconstructions; I hope, I may now safely proceed to Particulars; whereof, for Brevity’s sake, I shall here mention but a few, leaving you to add to them those others, that occur in other parts of this Treatise.
In the first place then, I shall take notice, that there are several Instances of Persons that have been choak’d with a Hair, which they were unable, either to cough up, or swallow down. The reason of this fatal Accident, is, probably, said to be the Irritation that is made, by the stay of so unusual a thing, as a Hair, in the Throat; which Irritation occasions very violent and disorderly, or convulsive, Motions to expel it, in the Organs of Respiration, by which Means the continual Circulation of the Blood, necessary to the Life of Man, is hinder’d, the Consequence whereof is speedy Death. But this agrees very ill with the Vulgar Supposition of such a Kind and Provident Being, as they represent Nature, which is always at hand to preserve the Life of Animals, and succour them in their (Physical) dangers and distresses, as occasion requires. For since a Hair is so slender a Body, that it cannot stop the Throat, so as to hinder, either, the free passage of Meat and Drink into the Stomach, or, that of the Air to or from the Lungs; (as may be argued from divers no-way Mortal Excrescences and Ulcers in the Throat,) were it not a great deal better for Nature, to let the Hair alone, and stay, ‘till the Juices of the Body have resolv’d or consum’d it, or some favourable Accident have remov’d it, than like a passionate and transported Thing, oppose it, like a Fury, with such blind violence, as, instead of ejecting the Hair, expels the Life of him, that was troubled with it?
How the Care and Wisdom of Nature will be reconcil’d to so improper and disorderly a Proceeding, I leave Her Admirers to consider. But it will appear very reconcileable to Providence, if we reflect back upon the lately given Advertisement. For, in regard of the use and necessity of Deglutition, and in many Cases of Coughing and Vomiting, it was, in the General, most convenient, that the Parts that minister to these Motions, should be irritated by the sudden Sense of things that are unusual, though, perhaps, they would not be otherwise dangerous or offensive, because (as we formerly noted,) ‘twas fit, that the Providence of God should, in making Provision for the Welfare of Animals, have more regard to that, which usually and regularly befalls them, than to extraordinary Cases or unfrequent Accidents.
Though most Women are offended with the Stink of the smoaking Wick of a Candle, which is no more than Men also are, yet it has been frequently observ’d, that Big-bellied Women have been made to Miscarry, by the smell of an extinguish’d Candle, which would before have indeed displeas’d, but not endanger’d, the same Persons: So that it seems, Nature is, in these Cases, very far from being so prudent and careful, as Men are wont to fancy Her, since, by an Odour, (which, if calmly receiv’d, would have done no harm to the Teeming Woman,) She is put into such unruly Transports: And, instead of watching for the Welfare of the Teeming Woman, whose Condition needed a more than ordinary measure of Her care and tenderness, She violently precipitates her poor Charge into a danger, that oftentimes proves fatal, not only to the Mother, but the Child also.
The improper, and oftentimes hurtful, Courses that Nature takes, in Persons that are sick, some of one Disease, some of another, will be, hereafter, taken notice of in opportune places; and therefore, for the present, I shall only observe, that Nature seems to do Her Work very weakly, or bunglingly, in the Production of Monsters, whose Variety and Numerousness is almost as great as their Deformity, or their Irregularity; insomuch that several Volums have been written, and many more might have been, to give the Description of them. How these gross Aberrations will agree with that great Uniformity, and exquisite Skill, that is ascrib’d to Nature, in her seminal Productions, I leave the Naturists to make out. I know, that some of them lay the fault upon the stubbornness of the Matter, that would not be obsequious to the Plastick Power of Nature, but I can hardly admit of this Account from Men of such Principles, as they are that give it: for ‘tis strange to me, they should pretend, that Nature, which they make a kind of Semi-Deity, should not be able to mould and fashion so small, and soft, and tractable, a Portion of Matter, as that wherein the first Model and Efformation of the Embrio is made; when, at the same time, they tell us, That ‘tis able, in Sucking-Pumps, to raise, and, if need be, sustain, whole Tons of Water, to prevent a Vacuum: And can, in Mines, toss up into the Air, Houses, Walls, and Castles, and, perhaps, the Rocks they are built on, to give the kindled Gun-powder the Expansion, that its New state requires.
Other Arguments, that, by a light Change and easie Application, may be made use of and added to these, against the Vulgar Notion of Nature, may be met with in divers Parts of this Treatise, and especially in the VII. Section; for which Reason (among others) I decline lengthning this Part of my Discourse with the mention of them.
I foresee it may be said, that, unless we admit such a Being as Nature, to contrive and manage Things Corporeal, and, in a Regular and Methodical way, direct them to their respective Ends, there will appear no visible Footsteps or Proof of a Divine Wisdom in the Corporeal World. And this Argument, I confess, is so specious, that ‘twas one of the things that made me the longest hesitate, what I should think of the Receiv’d Notion of Nature. But having further consider’d the matter, I saw it might be answer’d, that the curious Contrivance of the Universe, and many of Its Parts, and the orderly Course of Things Corporeal, with a manifest Tendency to determinate Ends, are Matters of Fact, and do not depend upon the Supposition of such a Being, as they call Nature; but, setting aside this or that Hypothesis, may be known by Inspection, if those that make the Inspection be Attentive and Impartial: As, when a Man sees a Humane Body skilfully Dissected by a dexterous Anatomist, he cannot, if he be intelligent and unprejudic’d, but acknowledg, that there is a most curious and exquisite Contrivance in that Incomparable Engine, and in the various Parts of it, that are admirably fitted for distinct and determinate Functions or Uses. So that I do not at all, nor indeed can, suppress the manifest Tokens of Wisdom and Design, that are to be observed in the wonderful Construction and orderly Operations of the World and Its Parts: But I endeavour to refer these Indications of Wisdom to the true and proper Cause. And whereas, in the Hypothesis of the Objectors, there may be three Causes assign’d of these Specimens or Foot-steps of Wisdom, namely, God, Nature, and Chance; if, according to the Doctrine by me propos’d, Nature be laid aside, the Competition will remain only between God and Chance: And sure he must be very dull, or very strongly prejudic’d, that shall think it reasonable to attribute such admirable Contrivances and such regular Conducts, as are observable in the Corporeal World, rather to Chance, (which is a blind and senseless Cause, or indeed no proper Cause at all, but a kind of Ens rationis) than to a most Intelligent Being, from which the curiousest Productions may with Congruity be expected: Whereas, if such a Celebrated Thing, as Nature is commonly thought, be admitted, ‘twill not be near so easie to prove the Wisdom (and consequently the Existence) of God by His Works, since they may have another Cause, namely, that most watchful and provident Being, which Men call Nature. And this will be especially difficult in the Peripatetick Hypothesis of the Eternity (not of Matter only, for in that the Atomists and others agreed with them, but) of the World. For, according to this Account of the Universe, there appears no necessity, that God should have any thing to do with it, since he did not make this Automaton, but it was always Self-existent, not only as to Matter, but to Form too: And as for the Government or Administration of the Bodies it consists of, that is the proper business of Nature. And if it be Objected, that this Being is by its Assertors acknowledg’d to be subordinate to God; I shall answer, That, as, upon the Reasons and Authorities I elsewhere deliver,2 it may justly be question’d, Whether many Philosophers, and perhaps some Sects of them who are Adorers of Nature, confess’d Her to be but the Substitute of a Superior and Divine Being? So, this distinction and subordination is not so easie to be prov’d against those that side with those other Ancient Philosophers, who either acknowledg’d no such thing, or expresly deny’d it. Besides that, this Objection supposes the Existence and Superiority of a Deity, which therefore needs to be prov’d by other ways; whereas in the Hypothesis I propose, the same Phaenomena that discover admirable Wisdom and manifest Designs in the Corporeal World, do themselves afford a solid Argument, both of the Existence and of some of the grand Attributes of God, with which the rest, that properly belong to Him, have a necessary Connexion.
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