And to proceed to that which we have formerly assign’d for the Second End of the Creation; That much of this Visible World was made for the use of Man, may appear, not only from the time of his Creation (already taken notice of) and by the Commission given to the first Progenitors of Mankind, to replenish the Earth, and subdue it, and to have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea, and over the Fouls of the Air, and over all the Earth, and over every living thing that creepeth or moveth on the Earth: (Gen. 1.28, 29) But also by God’s making those noble and vast Luminaries, and other Bodies that adorn’d the Skie to give light upon the Earth, though inferiour to them in Dimensions, and to divide between the Day and between the Night, and to be for Signes, and for Seasons, and for Daies, and for Years. (Gen. 1.14, 15, 16) To this agrees that Passage in the Prophet, Thus saith the Lord that Created the Heavens, God himselfe that form’d the Earth, and made it, He hath established it, He Created it not in Vaine, He formed it to be Inhabited, &c. And the Inspired Poet speaks of Man’s Dignity in very comprehensive Termes, (Is. 45.2) For thou (saies he to his Maker) hast made him little lower then the Angels, and hast Crowned him with Glory and Honour;² Thou madest him to have Dominion over the Works of thy Hands, thou hast put all things under his Feet.

The same truth may be confirm’d by divers other Texts, which it might here prove tedious to insist on.³ And therefore I shall rather observe, that consonantly thereunto, God was pleased to consider man so much more then the Creatures made for him, that he made the Sun it selfe at one time to stand still, and at another time to goe back, and divers times made the parts of the Universe forget their Nature, or Act contrary to it; And ha’s (in summe) vouchsafed to alter by Miracles the Course of Nature, for the instruction or reliefe of Man (As when the Fire suspended its destructive Operation, whilst the three resolute Jewes with their Protectour walk’d unharm’d in the mid’st of those flames that destroy’d the Kindlers;⁴ and as the heavy Iron emerg’d up to the swimming piece of wood, miraculously by Elisha made Magneticall.) And you may also, Pyrophilus, take notice, that when Adam had transgressed, immediatly the ground was cursed for his sake. And as it is not unusual in Humane Justice to raze the very houses of Regicides and resembling Traitours; So when the provocations of Sodom swell’d high enough to reach Heaven, God did not only Destroy the Inhabitants from the Face of the Earth, but for the Inhabitants Sins destroy’d the very Face of the Earth. So when in Noah’s time a Deluge of Impiety call’d for a Deluge of Waters, God looking upon the living Creatures as made for the Use of Man, stuck not to Destroy them with him, and for him; but involv’d in his Ruine all those Animals that were not necessary to the perpetuation of the Species, and the Sacrifice due for Noah’s preservation. And so when (in the Last daies) the Earth shall be replenish’d with those Scoffers mention’d by St Peter, who will walk after their own Lusts, (2 Pet. 3.3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10) and deride the Expectation of God’s foretold coming to Judg and Punish the Ungodly, their Impiety shall be as well punisht as silenc’t by the unexpected Flames (perhaps hastned by that very impiety) that shall either Destroy or Transfigure the World. For as by the Law of Moses, (Lev. 13.54, 55) the Leprous Garment which could not be recover’d by being washt in Water, was to be burnt in the Fire, so the World which the Deluge could not Cleanse, a generall Conflagration must Destroy.

Nor is reason it selfe backward to countenance what we teach. For it is no great presumption to conceive, that the rest of the Creatures were made for Man, since He alone of the Visible World is able to enjoy, use, and relish many of the other Creatures, and to discerne the Omniscience, Almightinesse and Goodnesse of their Author in them, and returne Him praises for them. ‘Tis not for themselves that the Rubies flame, other Jewels sparkle, the Bezar-stone is Antidotall; nor is it for their own advantage that fruitfull trees spend and exhaust themselves in Annual profusions. The Light which he diffuses through the World is uselesse to the Sun himselfe, whose inanimate being makes him incapable of delighting in his own splendor; which he receives but to convey it to the Earth, and other by him illuminated Globes: whence probably the Hebrewes call’d him Shemesh, which Grammarians derive from the Roote Shemash signifying in the Chaldean Tongue, to serve, or minister to; the Sun being the great Minister of Nature, and Servant general of the Universe. And as Animals alone among the Creatures seem to have a proper sense of, and complacency in, their own Being; So Man alone among Animals is endow’d with Reason, at least such a pitch of it, as by which he can discerne God’s Creatures to be the Gifts of God, and referre them to their Creator’s Glory. This truth I find not only embrac’d by Christians, but assented to even by Jewes and Heathens; Among the Jewes my Learned Acquaintance, Manasseh Ben Israel,⁵ professedly labours to prove it by Scripture and Tradition (though in some of his Arguments he might appear more a Philosopher, if he would have appear’d lesse a Rabbi) and among other passages I remember he alledges that, wherein the Wise man saies (as our Translators English it) That the Righteous is an everlasting Foundation; which he renders, Justus est columna Mundi,⁶ The Just Man is the Pillar of the World. And indeed if the Context did not somewhat disfavour the Interpretation, the Hebrew words [tzaddîk yesôd olâm] would well enough bear the sense assigned them. Congruously whereunto, I remember that when Noah (who is call’d in Scripture a Righteous man, and κῆρυξ δικαιοσύνης, a Herald, or Proclaimer of Righteousnesse) offer’d up that noble Sacrifice of all the sorts of clean Beasts and Fowles, as a Thank-offering for the Reprieve of the World, God is said to have smelled a Savour of Rest,⁷ and to have resolved in his Heart never to Curse the ground for Man’s sake, (Gen. 8.21, 22) but to continue the vicissitudes of Summer, and Winter, Day, and Night, &c, as long as the Earth shall remain. And among the Philosophers themselves, the Truth we are now manifesting, has not been altogether ignor’d. For though Seneca somewhere, more wittily then truely, saies, Non causa mundo sumus hyemem aestatémque referendi;⁸ suas ista leges habent, quibus divina exercentur. Nimis nos suspicimus, si digni nobis videmur, propter quos tanta moveantur: Yet Lactantius (not to mention other Authors) tels us that the Stoicks generally believed the World to have been made for man.⁹ Vera est (saies he) sententia Stoicorum, qui ajunt nostra causa Mundum fuisse constructum. Omnia enim quibus constat, quaeque generat ex se Mundus, ad utilitatem hominis accommodata sunt. And Seneca himselfe speaks elsewhere almost as if he had read and believed the beginning of Genesis; Dii (saies he) non per negligentiam nos genuere,¹⁰ quibus tam multa genuerant: Cogitavit enim nos ante Natura quam fecit.

Nor were the Stoicks the only Philosophers to whom the Contemplation of the Universe discover’d this End of it. For to instance now in Cicero only;¹¹ Quorum igitur causâ (saies that great Orator) effectum esse mundum? Eorum scilicet Animantium, quae ratione utuntur: Hi sunt Dii et Homines, quibus profecto nihil est melius.

Having thus premised, Pyrophilus, that two of God’s principal aimes in the Creation, were the manifestation of his own Glorious Attributes, and the Welfare of his noblest Visible Creature, Man; It will not be perhaps difficult for You to discerne, that those who labour to deterre men from sedulous Enquiries into Nature, do, (though I grant, designelessely) take a course which tends to defeat God of both those mention’d Ends.

For to speak first to the Last of them; that man’s external fruition of the Creatures, and the Delight and Accommodation which they may afford him, must be highly prejudic’d and impair’d by his ignorance of that Natural Philosophy, wherein his Dominion over the Creatures chiefly consists, what we shall say hereafter concerning the usefulnesse of the Knowledg of Nature to humane Life, will sufficiently evince. But such an Animal fruition (if I may so call it) of the Works of Nature, affords not Man all the good that God design’d him in them. For Religion being not only the great Duty of Man, but the grand Instrument of his future Happinesse, which consists in an Union with and Fruition of God, during that endlesse Terme that shall succeed the expiration of his transitory Life on Earth; what ever increases or cherishes his Religion deserves to be lookt on as a great contributer to his Happinesse. And we may therefore venture to affirme that the knowledg of the Creatures does lesse advantage Man, as it ennables him to Master them; then as it Assists him, by admiring and serving him, to become Acceptable to their Author. And what ever our distrustful Adversaries are pleas’d to surmise to the contrary, certainly God intended that his Creatures should afford not only Necessaries, and Accommodations to our Animal part, but Instructions to our Intellectual. The World is wont to be stil’d not unfitly by Divines, The Christians Inne; but perchance it may be altogether as properly call’d his Ship: for whereas both Appellations suppose him a Traveller, the Inne, though it refresh him in his Journey, does not further him in it, but rather retard his progresse by detaining him in one place; whereas a Ship not only serves the Passenger for an Inne when he is weary, but helps to convey him towards his Journey’s End. And according to this Notion, to suppose that God hath placed in the World innumerable things to feed Man, and delight him, and none to instruct him, were a conceit little lesse injurious to God, then it were to a wise Merchant, that sends Persons, he loves, to a farre Country, to think that he would furnish their Cabinets with plenty of Provisions, soft Beds, fine Pictures, and all other accommodations for their Voyage, but send them to Sea disprovided of Sea-Charts and Mariners Compasses, and other requisite helps to steer their Course by, to the desired Harbour.

And indeed so farre is God from being unwilling, that we should Prye into his Works, that, by divers Dispensations he imposes on us little lesse then a necessity of studying them. For first he begins the Book of Scripture with the Description of the Book of Nature; of which he not only gives us a general account, to informe us that he made the World; since for that end the very first Verse in the Bible might have suffic’d: But he vouchsafes us by retaile the Narrative of each Day’s Proceedings, and in the two first Chapters of Genesis, is pleas’d to give nobler hints of Natural Philosophy, then men are yet perhaps aware of. Though that in most other places of the Scripture, where the Works of Nature are mentioned but incidently, or in order to other purposes, they are spoken of rather in a Popular then Accurate manner, I dare not peremptorily deny, being unwilling to interesse the reputation of Holy Writ (design’d to teach us rather Divinity then Philosophy) in the doubtful contentions of Naturalists, about such matters as may (though the History of the Creation cannot) be known by the meer Light of Natural Reason. We may next observe, that God has made some knowledg of his Created Book, both conducive to the beliefe, and necessary to the Understanding, of his Written one: Our Saviour making it one cause of the Sadduces great Error about the Resurrection, that they knew not the Power of God. And the Scripture being so full of Allusions to, and comparisons borrowed from the properties of the Creatures, that there are many Texts not clearly Intelligible without some knowledg of them; as may appear even by the first Gospel (The Promise that the Seed of the Woman should Bruise the Serpents Head, and have his Heele bruised by that subtle Creature) preached to fallen Man in Paradise, and by the representation of the Worlds Four great Monarchies, and the Genius of each of them, under the Notion of Four Beasts, in Daniels prophetick Vision: and that often repeated Precept of our great Master to his Disciples, is coucht in an expression alluding to the properties of Animals: For where he commands them to be Wise as Serpents, and Harmlesse as Doves, he does not only recommend to them a Serpentine warinesse in declining dangers, but seems also to prescribe not alone an inoffensivenesse towards others (the conspicuousnesse of which quality in Pigeons have made them, though erroneously, be supposed to have no Gall) But also as harmlesse a way of escaping the dangers they are actually ingaged in, as that of Doves, who being pursued by Birds of Prey, endeavour to save themselves not by fight but, only by flight.

And indeed so many of the Texts in Scripture are not to be competently illustrated, without some knowledg of the properties of the Creatures related to in them, that I wonder not, that Levinus Lemnius, Frantzius, Rueus, and other Learned Men have thought it requisite to publish entire Treatises, some of the Animals, others of the Stones, and others of the other Works of Nature mentioned in Scripture: Only I could wish that they had been as wary in their Writings, as commendable for their Intentions, and had not sometimes admitted doubtful or fabulous accounts into Comments upon that Book, whose Prerogative it is to teach nothing but Truth.

Nor ought their Labors to deterre others from cultivating the same Theme; For as (such is Gods condescention to Humane weaknesse) most of the Texts, to whose Exposition Physiologie is necessary, may be explicated by the knowledg of the external, or at least more easily observed qualities of the Creatures; So, that there are divers not to be fully understood without the Assistance, of more penetrating indagations of the Abstrusities of Nature and the more unobvious properties of things, an Intelligent and Philosophical peruser will readily discerne.

Now if you should put me upon telling you, Pyrophilus, what those Attributes of God are, which I so often mention to be visibly display’d in the Fabrick of the World, I can readily answer you, that though many of Gods Attributes are legible in his Creatures, yet those that are most conspicuous there, are his Power, his Wisdome, and his Goodnesse, in which the World, as well as the Bible, though in a differing, and in some points a darker way, is designed to instruct us, which that you may not think to be affirm’d gratis, we must insist a while on each of the Three.

And first, How boundlesse a power, or rather what an Almightinesse is eminently displayed in Gods making out of Nothing all Things, and without Materials or Instruments constructing this Immense Frabrick of the World, whose Vastnesse is such, that even what may be prov’d of it, can scarcely be conceived, and after a Mathematical Demonstration, its Greatnesse is distrusted? Which yet is, I confesse, a wonder lesse to be admir’d then the Power expressed by God in so immense a Work, which neverthelesse some moderne Philosophers (whose opinions I find some Cabalists to countenance) suppose to be not the only Production of Gods Omnipotence. Not to mention Elephants, or Whales, some of which an Hyperbolist would not scruple to call moving Mountains and Floting Islands; and to passe by those stupendous Hils, and those Seas, where the Light looses it selfe, as Objects which their neernesse only represents so Bulky; let us hasten to consider, that whereas the Terrestrial Globe we Men inhabit, containes, besides all those vast Kingdomes the Unions of some of which constituted the Worlds foure celebrated Monarchies, those spacious (since detected) American Regions, that have been deservedly stiled The New World: And that whereas the Common Account makes the circuit of this Terrestrial Globe to be no lesse then 22600 Italian miles, consisting each of 1000 Geometrical Paces (which number the more recent account of the accurate Gassendus makes amount to 26255 Miles of the same measure) whereas, I say, this Globe of Earth and Water seems to us so vast, Astronomers teach us, that it is but a Point in comparison of the Immensity of Heaven; which they not irrationally prove by the Parallaxis (or Circular difference betwixt the place of a Star, suppos’d to be taken by two Observations, the one made at the Centre, and the other on the surface of the Earth) which Gassendus confesseth to be undiscernable in the fixt Stars: as if the Terrestrial Globe were so meer a Point, that it were not material, whether a fixt Star be look’d upon from the Centre, or from the surface of the Earth. This may lessen our wonder at the Ptolomaeans, making the Sun (which seems not half a Foot over) to be above a hundred sixty and six times bigger then the Earth; and distant from it One thousand one hundred sixty and five Semi-Diameters of the Earth, each of which contains, according to the afore-mentioned computation of Gassendus, 4177 Miles; and at their supposing the fixt Stars (whose distance the same Author, as a Ptolomaean, supput’s to be 19000 Semi-Diameters of the Earth) so great,¹² that they conclude each of the fixt or smallest Magnitude to be no less then 18 times greater then the whole Earth, & each Star of the First or Chief Magnitude to exceed the Terrestrial Globe 108 times. And as for the Coperricans (that growing Sext of Astronomers) they, as their Hypothesis requires, suppose the vastness of the Firmament to be exceedingly greater then the Ancients believed it. For Philippus Lansbergius, who ventur’d to assign Distances and Dimensions to the Planets and Fixt Stars (which Copernicus forbore to do) supposes as well as his Master,¹³ that the Great Orb it self (as the Copernicans call that in which they esteem the Earth to move about the Sun) though its Semi-Diameter be suppos’d to be 1500 times as great as that of the Earth, is but as a Point in comparison of the Firmament or Sphere of the Fixt Stars; which he supposes to be distant from the Earth no less then 28000 Semi-Diameters of the Great Orb, that is, 42000000 of Semi-diameters of the Earth; or according to the former Computation of common Miles 175434000000, which is a Distance vastly exceeding that which the Ptolomaeans ventur’d to assign, and such as even imagination it self can hardly reach to. I confess indeed, that I am not so well satisfied with the exactness (nor perhaps with the Grounds) of these kinde of Computations, by reason of the Difficulty I have met with in making exact Celestial Observations with either Telescopes, or other Instruments, sufficiently witness’d, by the great disparity remarkable betwixt the Computations of the best-Artists themselves. But on the other side I am not sure, but that even the Copernicans ascribe not too great a distance to some of the Fixt Stars; since (for ought we yet know) those of the sixth Magnitude, and those which our Telescopes discover (though our bare Eyes cannot) are not really less then those of the first Magnitude, but onely appear so by reason of their greater Distance from our Eyes; as some Fixt Stars seem no bigger then Venus and Mercury, which are much lesser then the Earth. And therefore upon such Considerations, and because the modestest Computation allows the Firmament to be great enough to make the Earth but a Point in comparison of it; it will be safe enough, as well as just, to conclude with the Psalmist, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

The next Attribute of God that shines forth in his Creatures, is his Wisdom; which to an intelligent Considerer appears very manifestly express’d in the World, whether you contemplate it as an Aggregate or System of all Natural Bodies, or consider the Creatures it is made up of, both in their particular and distinct Natures, and in Relation to each other, and the Universe which they constitute. In some of these the Wisdom of God is so conspicuous, and written in such large Characters, that it is legible even to a vulgar Reader: But in many others the Lineaments and Traces of it are so delicate and slender, or so wrapt up and cover’d with Corporeity, that it requires an attentive and intelligent Peruser. So numberless a multitude, and so great a variety of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Reptiles, Herbs, Shrubs, Trees, Stones, Metals, Minerals, Stars, &c. and every one of them plentifully furnish’d and endow’d with all the Qualifications requisite to the Attainment of the respective Ends of its Creation, are productions of a Wisdom too limitless not to be peculiar to God: To insist on any one of them in particular (besides that it would too much swell this Discourse) might appear injurious to the rest; which do all of them deserve that extensive Exclamation of the Psalmist, How manifold are thy works, O Lord; in Wisdom hast thou made them all. (Psal. 104.24) And therefore I shall content my self to observe in general, That as highly as some Naturalists are pleased to value their own knowledge, it can at best attain but to understand and applaud, not emulate the Productions of God. For as a Novice, when the curiosest Watch the rarest Artist can make, is taken in pieces and set before him, may easily enough discern the Workmanship and Contrivance of it to be excellent; but had he not been shown it, could never have of himself devised so skilful and rare a piece of Work: So, for instance, an Anatomist, though when by many and dexterous Dissections of humane Bodies, and by the help of Mechanical Principles and Rules (without a competent skill wherein, a Man can scarce be an Accomplish’d and Philosophical Anatomist) he has learn’d the Structure, Use and Harmony of the parts of the Body, he is able to discern that matchless Engine to be admirably contriv’d, in order to the exercise of all the Motions and Functions whereto it was design’d: And yet this Artist, had he never contemplated a humane Body, could never have imagin’d or devis’d an Engine of no greater Bulk, any thing near so fitted to perform all that variety of Actions we daily see perform’d either in or by a humane Body. Thus the Circular motion of the Blood, and structure of the Valves of the Heart and Veins (The consideration whereof, as himself told me, first hinted the Circulation to our Famous Harvey) though now Modern Experiments have for the main (the Modus seeming not yet so fully explicated) convinc’d us of them, we acknowledge them to be very expedient, and can admire Gods Wisdom in contriving them: Yet those many Learned Anatomists, that have for many succeeding Ages preceded both Dr Harvey, and Columbus, Caesalpinus, Padre Paulo, and Mr Warner (for each of these four last are suppos’d by some to have had some notion of the Circulation) by all their diligent contemplation of humane Bodies, never dream’d (for ought appears) of so advantagious an use of the Valves of the Heart, nor that nimble Circular motion of the Blood, of which our modern Circulators think they discern such excellent Use, not to say, Necessity.

And though it be true, that the greater Works of God do as well declare his great Wisdom as his Power, according to that of the Inspired Philosopher; (Prov. 13.19, 20) The Lord by Wisdom hath founded the Earth, by Understanding hath he establish’d the Heavens. By his Knowledge the depths are broken up, and the Clouds drop down the Dew: Yet does not his Wisdom appear less in lesser Creatures; for there is none of them so little, but it would deserve a great deal of our Wonder, did we attentively enough consider it. And as Apelles (in the Story) was discover’d by the skilful Protagoras, by so neat and slender a Line, that Protagoras, by being scarce able to discern it, discern’d it to have been drawn by Apelles: So God, in these little Creatures, oftentimes draws traces of Omniscience, too delicate to be liable to be ascrib’d to any other Cause. I have seen Elephants, and admir’d them less then the structure of a dissected Mole, which hath better Eyes then those, that will not see a designation in the dimness of its Eyes (made onely to see the Light, not other Objects by the help of it) and the unwonted posture of its Feet, given it not to run on the Ground, but to dig it self a way under Ground. And, as despicable as their Littleness makes the Vulgar apt to think some Creatures, I must confess my wonder dwell not so much on Natures Clocks (if I may so speak) as on her Watches, and is more exercis’d in the coyness of the sensitive Plant, and the Magnetical Properties of a small and abject Load-stone, then the bulk of the tallest Oakes, or those vast Rocks, made famous by Shipwracks. I have pass’d the Alpes, and have seen as much to admire at in an Ant-hill, and have so much wondred at the Industry of those little Creatures themselves that inhabited it, that I have ceas’d to wonder at their having given a Theme to Solomon’s Contemplation. Those vast Exotick Animals which the Multitude flocks to see, and which Men give Money to be allow’d to gaze on, have had many of them lesse of my Admiration, then the little Catterpillar (as Learned Naturalists esteem it) to which we are beholden for Silk. For (not to mention all the Observables crouded by Nature in that little Worm) I thought it very well deserv’d my wonder (when not long since I kept some of them purposely to try Experiments) how this curious Spinster, after he had buryed himself alive in the precious Tomb he had wrought for himself out of his own Bowels, did cast off his former Skin and Legs, and, in shew, his former Nature, appearing for divers days but an almost movelesse Magot; till at length, divesting this second Tegument also (in which Nest, Phenix-like, he had been regenerated out of his own Remains) he came forth (if I may so speak) out of this attiring Room under another form, with Wings, Eyes, and Leggs, &c. to act a new part upon the Stage of the World; which (having spent some days without feeding (that I could observe) in providing for the propagation of his Species) he forsakes and dies. And I the rather mention the Silk-Worm, because that there have been of late divers subtle Speculators, who would fain perswade us, That Animals do nothing out of Instinct, or, if you please, innate or seminal Impressions; but Spin, build Nests, and perform all the other Actions for which they are admir’d, barely by Imitation of what they have seen done by others of the same Kinde. But in the Silk-Worm (at least here in England) this plausible Opinion will not hold: For the Silk-worms I kept, were not hatch’d but in the Spring, out of Eggs laid some Days in the Sun; and the Worms that laid those Eggs, being every one of them dead the Winter before, it was impossible these new Silk-Worms, when they first began to spin their scarce imaginable fine Web, and inclose themselves in Oval Balls of a very Artificial Figure and Texture, should have wrought thus by Imitation; there not having been for many Moneths before, in the place where they were hatch’d (nor perhaps in the whole Country) any Silk-Worms alive which they might imitate. But I must leave these curious Spinsters to their Work, and proceed to tell you, That Seas and Mountains, with the other Hyperboles of Nature (if I may so term them) proclaim indeed Gods Power, but do not perhaps more manifest his Wisdom, then the contrivance of some living Engines, and (if I may so call them) Breathing Atoms, that are so small that they are almost all Workmanship; so that, as before, in the Psalmists Expression we truly said of Gods Greatnesse, That it was unsearchable; we may now as truly say of his Wisdom in the Prophets Words, and in the same Text where he represents him as the Creator of the ends of the Earth, (Isa. 40.28) That there is no searching of his Understanding.

And if I durst, Pyrophilus, make this part of this Essay of a length too disproportionate to the rest, I could easily, as well as willingly, represent to you divers things which might serve to Illustrate the πολυποίκιλος σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ, (Eph. 3.10) manifold Wisdom of God (as St. Paul speaks on another occasion) But though I dare not expatiate on this Subject, yet neither dare I altogether conceal from you, that I have sometimes admired to see what scarce imaginable variety of living Engines his Plastick skill (if I may so speak) has been able to produce, (especially in the Waters) without scarce any other resemblance betwixt them, then that they are each of them excellent in its own Kinde, and compleatly furnish’d according to the exigency of its Nature. And that which much encreases this Wonder, is the disproportion of those living Engines, wherein the great [Yotzêr hakkôl] Former of all things (as the Scripture justly calls God) has been pleas’d to display an almost equally skilful Contrivance. (Jer. 10.16) Amongst Terrestrial Animals we have the Elephant, of whose stupendious vastness such strange things are related, even by eminent Writers, that I know not well how either to dis-believe them, or give credit to them: And therefore we shall content our selves to mention that which is left on Record by the accurate Gassendus in the Life of Peireskius;¹⁴ For this matchless Gentleman having caus’d an Elephant, in the Year 1631, to be weigh’d in a Scale, purposely provided, he was found to weigh, of the Roman Pounds (consisting of twelve Ounces apiece) very near Five thousand: And yet surely that this Elephant was very far from being one of the largest of that sort of Beasts, he that shall consider the bigness and length of some of their Teeth, as they are commonly call’d, which are to be seen at divers places, both in England and elsewhere, and is not resolv’d not to believe the consonant Relations of Eastern Travellers (among whom Linschoten tells us there have been some Teeth found to weigh Two hundred pounds apiece, each pound consisting of twenty four Ounces) may be easily perswaded. On the other side let us reflect upon the smalness of some Terrestrial Animals; and not to mention that little white Creature bred in Wax, which Aristotle call Ἀκαρί, and speaks of as suppos’d to be the least of all living Creatures whatsoever: Let us consider those little Mites that are bred in mouldy Cheese; for divers of these scarce amount to the weight of a Grain, and every Pound containing Five thousand seven hundred and sixty Grains; supposing each Mite did weigh a whole Grain, yet that formerly mention’d small Elephant would exceed him near 28800000 times. And yet though a Mite seem but a moving Atome, and unless there be divers together, is not easily discern’d by the unassisted Eye; yet in an excellent Microscope I have, you know, several times both seen and shewn to others, even in a gloomy Day, and a disadvantageous Place, not onely the Limbs of this little Animal, but the very Hair growing upon his Legs. Now let us but consider how strangely skilful and delicate a Workmanship must be employ’d to contrive into so narrow a compass, the several Parts Internal and External, requisite to make up this little Animal; how many must goe to the texture of the Eyes, and other Organs of Sense; how many to the Snout (which he has, not unlike a Hog) and the several parts of it; how many to the Stomach and Guts, and the other Inward Parts addicted to the digestion of Aliment, and exclusion of Excrements; and to be short, how inimaginably subtle must be the Animal Spirits running too and from Nerves suitable in such little Legs: And if, as we have observ’d them to multiply by Eggs, the little Creatures be hatch’d in those little Eggs, after the manner of divers other Oviparous Animals, how much smaller then a hatched Mite must be a Mite upon the Animation of its delineated Parts? since in Hens Eggs we have sometimes seen the Chick manifestly alive, and its Limbs clearly delineated, whilst yet it took up so small a portion of the Egge, that both the White and the Yolk (betwixt which it is generated, and not of the Chalaza or Tredle, as Aquapendente and other Moderns teach) seem’d to be sometimes yet intire, as well as involv’d in their peculiar Membranes. But it is not so conspicuous in gradient Animals (if I may so speak) as in swimming ones; How vastly disproportionate Masses of Matter the wise Former of all things can fashion into living Engines. For Whales are much more stupendious Creatures then Elephants: And not to mention what Hartenius (apud Johnstonum) tells us of twenty sorts of Whales, whereof the eighteenth Species, which he calls Nordhwal, is by him related to be Ninety Ells long; but what Ells he means, I know not: Nor to mention those less incredible Accounts which are given of the vastness of Whales by our English Navigators, who are wont to Fish for them; I shall onely set down what is related by one of the eminentest Modern Lyncean Philosophers, because he speaks as an Eye-witness,¹⁵ when he tells us, That in the Year 1624, there was cast upon a place near Santa Severa, about 30 Miles from Rome, a dead Whale of 91 Psalms in length, and 50 in thickness: He adds, That its Mouth was 16 Palms long, and 10 high; in which, being opened and kept gaping; a Man on Horse-back might finde competent room; this Mouth being used to harbor a Tongue of twenty Palms (which may make out fifteen Foot) in length. The same inquisitive Writer adds, That four Years before, near the Island of Corsica, not far from the Coast of Italy, another Whale was cast, One hundred Foot long; which being a Female, was found to be big with a Cub of thirty Foot long, 1500 pound weight. But that which will let you see, Pyrophilus, the disproportion betwixt there kinde of Fishes and common Elephants, is, that which the same Author adds, That the Lord onely, or Fat (as he speaks Carnea pinguedo) of this corpulent Creature, weigh’d One hundred and thirty five thousand pound, that is, above Twenty seven times the weight of the whole Elephant, which was caus’d to be weigh’d by Peireskius. And though the Omnipotent Creator be able to make swimming Creatures of such prodigious bigness, that the Ocean it self may seem to be but a proportionate Pond for such Fishes; yet is the same Omniscient Continuer, as able to make a swimming Engine more slender then a Cheese mite, and so little, that a small part of a Grain may out-weigh divers of them. For, Pyrophilus, I must here acquaint you with a strange Observation, which I have been inform’d to have been some while since made in Italy by Panarola a Famous Physitian in Rome, who is said, by the help of an excellent Microscope, to have discern’d in Vinegar small Living Creatures, which he takes to be Worms. The mention of so unlikely an Experiment, made me engage some excellent Philosophers and Mathematicians to assist me in examining it: But though our Microscopes exceeded the best that were brought us over from Rome, yet all our diligence and attention did but make them conclude that Panarola’s Eyes had been deluded. Notwithstanding which, causing a somewhat hollow bottom of pure Crystalline Glasse to be fitted to my Microscope, I prosecuted the Enquiry my self; and at length was so lucky, as not onely to discover these little Creatures with a Microscope, but by holding the Liquor in a Crystal Viol, almost upon the strong Flame of a Candle, to discover multitudes of them with my naked Eyes, as weak as they are. But though I have already convinc’d those that formerly derided such Observations, as not to be made with the best Microscope, yet the great weakness of my Sight has not permitted me to perfect my Observations concerning these Creatures. And therefore reserving the more particular mention of this odde Observation till another time, I shall now onely tell you as much as is pertinent to our present purpose; namely, That having with a certain parcel of strong White-wine Vinegar (for ‘tis not in every Vinegar that they are constantly to be found) fill’d up to the top thin Viols with long and slender Necks; and having likewise with the same Liquor fill’d other small Crystalline Viols, though short-neck’d, and held them betwixt my Eye and the Sun, or a Window open towards it, or very near a great Candle, I have often in these Glasses, especially in their slender Necks, after having a while fix’d my Eye on them (attention being in this case very necessary) admiringly observ’d great numbers (and sometimes as it were Shoals) of living Creatures, which seem’d to be rather Fishes then Worms; for they swim freely up and down the Liquor, and often hover about the top of it, with a wrigling motion, like that of Eels, to which likewise their long and slender shape resembles them. And though these swimming Creatures be not all exactly of a size, yet some of them seem’d slenderer then any sort of living ones, that hath hitherto been taken notice of by the unassisted Eye: And I remember, that having look’d in a good Microscope upon one of them, and a Cheesemite much about the same time, the Fish appear’d so slender, that we judg’d it not much thicker then one of the Legs of the Mite: So that considering what a vast deal of matter the great Creator can manage and fashion into a Whale, and in how little room he can contrive all the parts requisite to constitute a Fish, we may justly say to him in the Psalmists Language, (Psal. 86.8) There is none like unto thee (O Lord) neither are there any works like unto thy works.

The last of the three Properties of God, which we mentioned him to have manifested in the Creation, is his Goodnesse; Of which all his Creatures do in their due measure partake, partly by their having a Being vouchsafed them, and partly by their being preserved in it as long as their subordination to higher purposes, and to more powerful creatures do permit, by that supporting Influence of God which keeps them from relapsing into their first Nothing; according to that memorable Passage, where Nehemiah having mentioned God as the Creatour of the Heavens, the Earth, the Seas, (Nehem. 9.6) and all the Creatures belonging to them, He calls Him the Preserver, or (as the Original has it) The enlivener of them all. And as for Animals, who are more capable of enjoying, though not most of them of discerning His bounty, His Goodnesse to them is more conspicuous. For besides that in Scripture he is called The Preserver both of Man and Beast, and accordingly is said to give food even to the young Ravens that cry, (Gen. 8.1) and to have after the Flood remembred not only Noah, but every living thing that was with him in the Ark, His Goodnesse to them is apparent by the plentiful and easily attainable provision he makes according to the exigence of their several Natures. For that innumerable swarm of various Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Reptiles, and other Animals that People the Terrestrial Globe, and the contiguous parts of the World, and by his endowing each of them, with all the Qualifications requisite to the perpetuation of their Species, and the preservation of their Lives, as far forth as is consistent with his Ends in their Creation. But most resplendent does the Goodnesse of God appear towards his Favourite Creature, Man, whom having vouchsaf’d to ennoble with his own Image, he makes most of the Creatures of the world visible to us, pay homage to him, and in some manner or degree do him service: God’s liberality at once bestowing on him all those Creatures by endowing him with a Reason enabling him to make use of them; so that even those Creatures which he is not able to subdue by his Power, he is able to make serviceable to him by his Knowledg; as those vast Globes of Light, which are so farre above him, that their Immensity and Brightnesse can scarce render them visible to him, are by man’s Mathematicks forced to give him an account of all their Motions, and waiting upon his Dials keep time for him; and even the defects of such works of Nature, are by man’s skill made serviceable to him, as the Eclipses of the Moon serve Geographers notably in that difficult and useful worke of finding Longitudes. The Stars serve for Candles to give man light, and the Celestial Orbs are his Candlesticks. He breaths the Aire, the Fire warmes him, and serves him not only in his Kitchin, but to master most other Bodies in his furnaces. The Clouds water his Land, the Earth supports him and his Buildings, the Sea and winds convey him and his Floating-houses to the remotest parts of the World, and enable him to possesse every where almost all that Nature or Art has provided for him any where. The Earth produces him an innumerable multitude of Beasts to feed, cloath, and carrie him; of Flowers and Jewels to delight and adorne him; of Fruits, to sustaine and refresh him; of Stones and Timber, to lodg him; of Simples, to cure him; and in summe, the whole sublunary World is but his Magazine. And it seems the grand businesse of restlesse Nature so to constitute and manage his Productions, as to furnish him with Necessaries, Accommodations, and Pleasures.

Of such a Number of Plants, Animals, Metals, Minerals, &c. that people and enrich the Terrestriall Globe, perhaps there is not any one, of which Man might not make an excellent use, had he but an insight into its Nature: nor are the most abject and despicable therefore the least useful. There is not any Stone, no not the sparkling Diamond it self, to whom Man is so much beholden, as he is to the dark & unpromising Load-stone, without which the New-World probably had never been detected, and many Regions of the Old World would have little or no commerce with each other. Nor have the Lion, the Eagle, and the Whale, joyned all together (though reputed the Chief of Birds, Beasts, and Fishes) been so serviceable to Man, as that despicable Insect, The Silkworm. And if we impartially consider the Lucriferousness (if I may speak in my Lord of St Albans Stile) of the properties of Things, and their Medical Virtues, we shall finde, That we trample upon many things, for which we should have cause to kneel, and offer God Praises, if we knew all their Qualities and Uses: But of this subject we may elsewhere purposely treat.

To which I must onely adde, Pyrophilus, That you will injure Nature, if you suppose, either that all the Concretes, endowed with excellent Properties, have long since been notorious, or that all the Medicinal Virtues of Simples, commonly us’d, are already known; or that all those Concretes are destitute of considerable Properties, to whom none have been yet ascrib’d by eminent Authors. For almost every day either discloses new Creatures, or makes new Discoveries of the usefulnesse of things; almost each of which hath yet a kinde of Terra incognita, or undetected part in it: How many new Concretes, rich in Medicinal vertues, does the New World present the Inquisitive Physitians of the Old? Notatu dignum (says the Ingenious Piso, in his newly publish’d Medicina Brasileensis, lib. 1.) quod eximiae tot arbores, frutices, & innumerae herbae, figura, foliis & fructibus a veteris orbis Vegetabilibus, paucis exceptis, dissimillimae appareant. Idem de avibus, animantibus & piscibus deprehenditur, ut & insectis alatis, atque alis destitutis; quae ineffabili colorum pulchritudine & portentosa multitudine generantur, partim nota nobis, partim incognita. And of the known American Simples, How many latent Virtues does experience from time to time discover? And (to mention now no others) the Febrifugal property of that Peruvian Tree, called by the Natives Gannanaperide, whose Bark, call’d commonly China Febris, has been at Rome, and freshly also at London, found so wonderfully effectual against those stubborn Diseases, Quartain Agues; and though a Learned Author endeavors to depreciate it, by alledging, That it is wont rather to suspend the Fits, then truly cure the Disease, which after awhile will return again; yet, besides that, it may be often very beneficial to a weakned Patient, to have his Fits put off, the Physitian thereby also gaining Opportunities to imploy strengthning and preventing Remedies: Besides this, I say, if you will credit that great Person, Sir Kenelm Digby, it is rather the Patients or Doctors fault, then the Medicines, if the Disease return. For having purposely consulted him about this Objection against the Use of the Cortex Febrifugus, he solemnly assur’d me, That of betwixt Twenty and Thirty Persons, that he had himself cur’d of Quartanes by this Remedy, not so many as Two fell into a Relapse.

And now I am upon the more freshly discover’d Virtues of American Drugs, I might acquaint you with the admirable Properties, not onely in Diseases, but even in Wounds of a certain Mineral, which (though careful examination of it has not yet taught me to what Species of Stones to reduce it) you cannot but have heard mention’d with wonder, under the name of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Stone, which my Father, ὁ μακαρίτης, enjoy’d, and did strange things with for many years, and by his Will bequeathed (as the highest Legacy he could leave him) to his dearest Friend, the most Learned and Famous Bp Usher, Primate of Ireland: But of this Stone, the merit of the subject makes me reserve what I have to say, to a Discourse, wherein I may be allowed to say more to it then now I dare: and therefore I shall proceed to tell you, that ‘tis not in the Simples of the New World onely, that new Medicinal properties may be discover’d; for even those which daily obtrude themselves upon our careless Eyes, or are trampled under our regardlesse Feet, may possesse Virtues, to which the major part of Botanists are mere Strangers. To which purpose, I remember that I have often gather’d a little short-liv’d and despicable Plant, with which alone (slightly infus’d in Beer) I lately knew a yong Kinsman of Sir Kenelm Digby’s, in few Days, and without pain, as both Himself, his Mother, and his Physitian assur’d me, cur’d of that stubborn and seldom vanquish’d Disease of the Kings Evil, against which it doth Wonders; and yet having consulted not onely some of the famousest and recentest Herbals, both English and Latine, about this, but also enquired of two or three eminent Herbarists, I could finde neither any such Virtue, nor almost any at all, ascrib’d by Authors to that excellent Plant.

And whereas Gods bounty to Man in the Creatures, seems a little clouded and streightned by his permitting some Poisonous Plants and Venomous Animals to have a Being in Nature; to that it may be reply’d, First, That many Poisonous Bodies contain their own Antidotes; insomuch that the diligent Piso, who hath had great opportunities to examine the Effects of both, ventures to say, treating of the Poisons and Antidotes to be met with in Brasil, Equidem vix dixeris, Venena an Alexiteria plura sint pronata: and a little lower, Sic folia, flores, & fructus herbarum Tangaraca & Juquerii, venena Brasiliae facile prima, propriam suam unaquaeque radicem oppositum habet Antidotum: and a little after, Barbari viperarum pinguedinem & capita, tum & integra Insecta quae vulnera intulerint, ex arte parata, audacter & felici cum successu venenatis ictibus applicant; adeoque per ipsos effectus comprobare nituntur in omni veneno contineri suum Antidotum: And next, that the noxiousnesse of many (and therefore not improbably of all of them) is not so incorrigible, but that by Mans Art and Chymical Preparations, they may be made, not onely innocent and harmless, but useful too. This Truth, Pyrophilus, Antimony and Quick-silver, and some other noxious Bodies (which Men have learn’d to make Medicinal) have already taught our Modern Physitians; who prescribe, even in their Dispensatories, divers Medicines made out of those churlish Minerals, to which, in the ensuing Discourses, you will find divers others (perhaps not inferior) added. That Opium is reckon’d by Physitians among Poisons, I need not tell you; and yet such powerful Remedies may be made with it for many desperate Cases, especially in hot Countries, that the good it may doe, so much exceeds the harm, that Physitians would be sorry there were none of it in the World. The Oyl of Scorpions is not onely Antidotal against their Stings, but is witnessed, by experience, to be very useful to bring away the descending Stone of the Kidneys, and to remedy divers other Mischiefs, besides those that Scorpions can doe. And to these I shall need but to adde one instance more, because of the noblenesse of that single one, and that is the Root Mandihoca, so common all over the West Indies: for Nature is so far from having been a Step-mother to Man in making that Plant abound so much in those Countries, though in its crude simplicity (as the Helmontians speak it be confessedly a rank Poison, that she hath scarce in any one Plant been so bountiful to the Americans. For by a slight and easie preparation, which we shall hereafter mention, it affords many populous Nations almost all the Bread they eat, and some of them a good part of their Drink; the Root freed by a strong Press from the noxious Juice, and dry’d, affording them that Cassavie Meal, whereof they make their Bread; which by the taste and colour I could not discern to be other then good. Nor is this the onely use this Poisonous Plant affords them: For the above-commended Piso gives us this short, but comprehensive Character of it; Ex Mandihoca radice maximo scatente veneno, optimum Alimentum non solum, sed & Antidotum concinnatur· (lib. 3o) But concerning the use that may be made of Poisonous Creatures, we elsewhere professedly discourse: And shall therefore now proceed to observe to you here, that I have not yet mention’d to you the instance which most manifests the greatness of the Good which God intended Man in the Creatures: For, not content to have provided him all that was requisite either to Support or Accommodate him here, he hath been pleas’d to contrive the World so, that (if Man be not wanting to himself) it may afford him not onely Necessaries and Delights, but Instructions too; For each Page in the great Volume of Nature is full of real Hieroglyphicks, where (by an inverted way of Expression) Things stand for Words, and their Qualities for Letters. The Psalmist observes, (Psal. 19.1) That the Heavens declare the glory of God: And indeed, they celebrate his Praises, though with a soundless Voice, yet with so loud a one (and which gives us the Moral of Plato’s exploded notion of the Musick of the Spheres) to our intellectual Ears, that he scruples not to affirm, that There is no Speech nor Language where their voice is not heard (or as Junius and Tremellius render it, without violence to the Hebrew Text, There is no Speech nor Words; yet without these their Voice is understood) and that their Line is gone throughout all the earth; that is (as the Learned Diodati expounds it) their Writing in gross and plain Draughts, and their Words to the end of the World: Their Language having so escap’d the confusion of Tongues, that these Natural and Immortal Preachers give all Nations occasion to say of them, as the Assembly at Pentecost did of the Inspir’d Apostles, (Acts 2.11) We do hear them speak in our Tongues the wonderful Works of God.

Nor can we without listning to these Sermons, derive the entire (perhaps not the chiefest) Benefit design’d us in the Creatures: For sure, that God, who hath compos’d us both of Body and Soul, hath not confin’d the uses of so many admirable Creatures, and so much inimitable Workmanship to that ignoble part of Man which coupleth him to the Beasts, with the neglect of that Diviner Portion, which allies him to the Angels; vouchsafing to the Lord of the Creatures in the fruition of this his Palace, no higher Prerogative then he is pleas’d to allow to the Brutes, that serve but to compleat the variety requisite for its embellishment. Of this Opinion I lately found that excellent Writer, St Austine, to have been before me: For, Non debes uti oculis (says he) ut pecus, tantum ut videas, quae addas ventri, non menti: utere, ut homo, intende Coelum, & intende Facta, & quaere Factorem; aspice quae vides, & quaere quem non vides, crede in eum quem non vides, propter ista quae vides. Nolite fieri sicut equus & mulus, &c.

Nor can the Creatures onely inform Man of Gods Being and Attributes (as we have already seen) but also instruct him in his own Duties:¹⁶ For we may say of the World, as St Austin did of the Sacraments, that it is Verbum visibile. And certainly, God hath never so confin’d himself to instruct Men by Words or Types, as not to reserve himself the liberty of doing it by things: Witness his appointing the Rainbow to Preach his Goodness to all Nations, and fortifie the Faith of Mankinde against the fear of a second Deluge. ‘Tis something to high a saying for an Heathen, that of Plato, where he teaches, That the World is Gods Epistle, written to Mankinde. For by Solomon God sends the Sluggard to school to the Ant, to learn a provident Industry: Christ commands his Disciples to learn of Serpents and Pigeons prudence and inoffensiveness: The same Divine Teacher enjoyns his Apostles to consider the Lilies, or (as some would have it) the Tulips of the Field, and to learn thence that difficult Virtue of a distrustless relyance upon God: (1 Cor. 15.36, 37) And St Paul seems almost angry with the Corinthians, That their Faith, in so abstruse Mysteries as that of the Resurrection, was not inform’d and strengthned, by considering the meliorating death of Corn committed to the Earth: And the Royal Poet learns Humility, by the Contemplation of the most elevated parts of Nature; When I consider (says he) the Heavens, the work of thy Fingers, the Moon and Stars which thou hast ordained, (Psal. 8.3, 4) What is Man, that thou visitest him? Thus you may see that God intended the World should serve Man, not onely for a Palace to live in, and to gaze on, but for a School of Virtue; to which his Philanthropy reserves such inestimable Rewards, that the Creatures can, on no account, be so beneficial to Man, as by promoting his Piety, by a competent degree of which, Gods goodness hath made no less then Eternal Felicity attainable.

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← Essay 1. Of Its Usefulness in Reference to the Mind of Man · Contents · Essay 3. Containing a Continuation of the Former →

Footnotes

1. Sen. de Otio Sap. Cap. 32. ↩

2. Psal. 5. 5, 6. ↩

3. Gen. 2.28, 26, 29. Psal 8 7. Heb 2 7. Iob 5 3. Ho. 2.28, 21, 22. Rom. 8 28. 2 Cor 3.22. 2 Tim. 4 3. ↩

4. 2 King, 6.5, 6. ↩

5. In Probl. de Creat. ↩

6. Prov. 10.25. Gen. 6.9. ↩

7. 2 Put. 2.15. ↩

8. 2 do De Ira cap. 27. ↩

9. De Ira Dei cap. 13. ↩

10. De Benef. cap. 23. ↩

11. 2 do De Nat. Deor. ↩

12. Gassend. Inst. Astr. lib. 2. c. 13. ↩

13. Gassend. lib. 3. can. 11. ↩

14. Gassend· in Vit. Peireskii, lib. 4. ↩

15. Jo: Faber Lynceus in his Exposition of some Passages of p. 568. ↩

16. D. Aug. Hom. 3. ↩