I have now gone through so many of the celebrated Axioms, concerning Nature, that, I hope, I may reasonably presume, that the other Sentences of this kind, that my Haste makes me leave unmention’d, will be thought capable of being fairly explicated, and with Congruity to our Hypothesis, by the help of the Grounds already laid, since, with light Variations, they may be easily enough improv’d, and apply’d to those other Particulars, to which they are the most Analogous.
But this Intimation ought not to hinder me to make a Reflection, that not only is pertinent to this place, but which I desire may have Retrospect upon a great part of the whole precedent Discourse. And it is This, that, though we could not Intelligibly explicate all the particular Axioms about Nature, and the Phaenomena of Inanimate Bodies, that are thought, but not by me granted, to favour them by Mechanical Principles; it would not follow, that we must therefore yield up the whole Cause to the Naturists. For we have already shewn, and may do so yet further ere long, that the Supposition of such a Being, as they call Nature, is far from enabling Her Partizans to give intelligible Accounts of these and other Phaenomena of the Universe. And though our Doctrine should be granted to be, as well as that generally receiv’d about Nature, insufficient to give good Accounts of Things Corporeal: Yet I shall have this Advantage in this Case, that a less degree of Probability may serve, in Arguments imploy’d but to justifie a Doubt, than is requir’d in Those that are to demonstrate an Assertion.
‘Tis true, that the Naturists tell us, that the Nature they assert is the Principle of all Motions and Operations in Bodies; which infers, that in explicating Them, we must have recourse to Her. But before we acquiesce in, or confidently employ, this Principle, it were very fit we knew what it is. This Question I have discours’d of in the Section: But having there intimated a Reference to another Place, the Importance, as well as Difficulty of the Subject, invites me to resume in this Place the Consideration of It; and both vary and add to what I formerly noted, that I may as well inculcate as clear my Thoughts about It. I demand then of Those, that assert such a Nature as is vulgarly describ’d, whether it be a Substance or an Accident? If it be the later, it should be declar’d, what kind of Accident it is; how a Solitary Accident can have Right to all those Attributes, and can produce those numerous, manifold, and wonderful Effects, that they ascribe to Nature; and why a complex of such Accidents, as are the Mechanical affections of Matter, (as Figure, Bulk, Motion, &c.) may not altogether, as probably as that Accident they call Nature, be conceived to have been Instituted by the perfectly Wise Author of the Universe, to produce those Changes among Bodies, which are (at least for the most part,) intelligibly referable to Them? And if Things be not brought to pass by their Intervention, ‘twere very fit, as well as desirable, that we should be Inform’d, by what other Particular and Intelligible Means Nature can effect them better, than they may be by that Complex.
But if it be said, as by Most it is, that the Principle, call’d Nature, is a Substance, I shall next demand, Whether it be a Corporeal, or an Immaterial One? If it be said to be an Immaterial Substance, I shall further ask, Whether it be a Created One, or not? If it be not, then we have God under another Name, and our Dispute is at an End, by the removal of its Object or Subject, which is said by the Schools to be God’s Vicegerent, not God Himself. But if Nature be affirm’d (as She is, at least by all Christian Philosophers,) to be a Created Being, I then demand, Whether or no She be endowed with understanding, so as to know what she does, and for what Ends, and by what Laws She ought to Act? If the Answer be Negative, the Supposition of Nature will be of very little Use to afford an intelligible Account of Things; an unintelligent Nature being liable to the Objections, that will a little below be met with against the usefulness of Nature, in case She be suppos’d a Corporeal Being. And though it should be said, that Nature is endowed with Understanding, and performs such Functions as divers of the Antients ascribe to the Soul of the World; besides, that this Hypothesis is near of kin to Heathenism, I do not think, that they who shall with many Grecian, and other Philosophers, who preceded Christianism, suppose a kind of Soul of the Universe, will find this Principle sufficient to explicate the Phaenomena of It. For if we may compare the Macrocosm and Microcosm in This, as well as many are wont to do in other Things; we may conceive, that, though Nature be admitted to be indowed with Reason, yet a multitude of Phaenomena may be Mechanically produc’d, winhout Her immediate Intervention; as we see that in Man, though the Rational Soul has so narrow a Province to take care of, as the Human Body, and is suppos’d to be intimately united to all the Parts of It; yet, abundance of things are done in the Body by the Mechanism of it, without being produc’d by that Soul. Of this we may alledge, as an Instance, that, in Sleep, the Circulation of the Blood, the regular Beating of the Heart, Digestion, Nutrition, Respiration, &c. are perform’d without the immediate. Agency, or so much as the actual Knowledge, of the Mind. And, when a Man is awake, many things are done in his Body, not only without the Direction, but against the Bent of his Mind; as often happens in Cramps and other Convulsions, Coughing, Yawnings, &c. Nay, though some Brutes, as particularly Apes, have the Structure of many Parts of their Bodies very like that of the Analogous Ones of Human Bodies: Yet, that admirable Work of the Formation and Organization of the Foetus, or little Animal, in the Womb, is granted by Philosophers to be made by the Soul of the Brute (that is therefore said to be the Architect of his own Mansion,) which yet is neither an Incorporeal, nor a Rational Substance. And, even in a Human Foetus, if we will admit the general Opinion of Philosophers, Physitians, Divines and Lawyers, I may be allowed to observe, that the Human Body, as exquisite an Engine as ‘tis justly esteem’d, is form’d without the Intervention of the rational Soul, which is not infus’d into the Body, ‘till This hath obtain’d an Organization, that fits it to receive such a Guest; which is commonly reputed to happen about the end of the Sixth Week, or before that of the Seventh. And this Consideration leads me a little further, and prompts me to ask, How much, by the Supposition or Knowledge of the Mind, (at the newly mention’d time,) we are enabled to explicate the Manner, How the foremention’d Functions of an Embryo are perform’d, when at the end of six or seven Week the Rational Soul supervenes and comes to be united to this living Engine?