account as they think of Religion against the care I take to decline the frequent use of that Word Nature in the Vulgar Notion of it Reserving to another and fitter place some other things that may relate to the Theological scruples if any occur to me that our Free Inquiry may occasion The Philosophical Reason that inclines me to forbear as much as conveniently I can the frequent use of the Word Nature and the Forms of Speech that are deriv'd from it is That 't is a Term of great Ambiguity On which score I have observ'd that being frequently and unwarily imploy'd it has occasion'd much darkness and confusion in many Mens Writings and Discourses And I little doubt but that others would make the like Observations if early Prejudices and universal Custom did not keep them from taking notice of it Nor do I think my self oblig'd by the just Veneration I owe and pay Religion to make use of a Term so inconvenient to Philosophy For I do not find that for many Ages the Israelites that then were the only People and Church of God made use of the Word Nature in the Vulgar Notion of it Moses in the whole History of the Creation where it had been so proper to bring in this first of second Causes has not a word of Nature And whereas Philosophers presume that she by her Plastick Power and Skill forms Plants and Animals out of the Universal Matter the Divine Historian ascribes the Formation of them to Gods immediate Fiat Gen. i. 11. And God said let the Earth bring forth Grass and the Herb yielding Seed and the Fruit tree yielding Fruit after his kind c. And again Vers. 24 God said Let the Earth bring forth the living Creature after its kind c. Vers. 25 And God without any mention of Nature made the Beast of the Earth after his kind And I do not remember that in the Old Testament I have met with any one Hebrew word that properly signifies Nature in the sense we take it in And it seems that our English Translators of the Bible were not more fortunate in that than I for having purposely consulted a late Concordance I found not that Word Nature in any Text of the Old Testament So likewise though Iob David and Solomon and other Israelitish Writers do on divers occasions many times mention the Corporeal Works of God yet they do not take notice of Nature which our Philosophers would have his great Vicegerent in what relates to them To which perhaps it may not be impertinent to add that though the late famous Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel has purposely written a Book of numerous Problems touching the Creation yet I do not remember that he imploys the Word Nature in the receiv'd Notion of it to give an account of any of Gods Mundane Creatures And when St. Paul himself who was no stranger to the Heathen Learning writing to the Corinthians who were Greeks speaks of the Production of Corn out of Seed sown he does not attribute the produc'd Body to Nature but when he had spoken of a grain of Wheat or some other seed put into the ground he adds that God gives it such a Body as he pleaseth and to every seed it s own Body i. e. the Body belonging to its kind And a greater than St. Paul speaking of the gaudiness of the Lillies or as some will have it Tulips uses this Expression If God so cloath the grass of the Field c. Matt. vi 28 29 30. The Celebrations that David Iob and other Holy Hebrews mention'd in the Old Testament make an occasion of the admirable Works they contemplated in the Universe are address'd directly to God himself without taking notice of Nature Of this I could multiply Instances but shall here for brevity's sake be contented to name a few taken from the Book of Psalms alone In the hundredth of those Hymns the Penman of it makes this That God has made us the ground of an Exhortation To enter into his Gates with Thanksgiving and into his Courts with Praise Psal. lxxix 34. And in another Let the Heaven and Earth praise God that is give Men ground and occasion to Praise Him congruously to what David elsewhere says to the Great Creator of the Universe All thy work 's shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee Psal. cxlv 10. And in another of the Sacred Hymns the same Royal Poet says to his Maker Thou hast cover'd me in my Mothers womb I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well Psal. cxxxix 13 14. I have sometimes doubted whether one may not on this occasion add that if Men will need takes in a Being subordinate to God for the management of the World it seems more consonant to the Holy Scripture to depute Angels to that charge than Nature For I consider that as to the Coelestial Part of the Universe in comparison of which the Sublunary is not perhaps the ten-thousandth part both the Heathen Aristotelian's and the School Philosophers among the Christians teach the Coelestial Orbs to be moved or guided by Intelligences or Angels And as to the lower or sublunary World besides that the Holy Writings teach us that Angels have been often imploy'd by God for the Government of Kingdoms as is evident out of the Book of Daniel and the Welfare and Punishment of particular Persons one of those Glorious Spirits is in the Apocalypse expresly styl'd the Angel of the Waters Which Title divers Learned Interpreters think to be given him because of his Charge or Office to oversee and preserve the Waters And I remember that in the same Book there is mention made of an Angel that had Power Authority or Iurisdiction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over the Fire And though the Excellent Grotius gives another conjecture of the Title given the Angel of the Waters yet in his Notes upon the next Verse save one he teaches That there was an Angel appointed to preserve the Souls that were kept under the Altar there-mention'd And if we take the Angel of the Waters to be the Guardian or Conserver of them perhaps as the Romans in whose Empire St. Iohn wrote had special Officers to look to their Aqueducts and other Waters it may not be amiss to observe upon the by that he is introduc'd Praising his and his fellow-Spirits Great Creator Which is an Act of Religion that for ought I know none of the Naturists whether Pagan or even Christians ever mention'd their Nature to have perform'd I know it may on this occasion be alledg'd that subordinata non pugnant and Nature being God's Vicegerent her Works are indeed his But that he has such a Vicegerent it is one of the main businesses of this Discourse to call in Question and till the Affirmative be solidly prov'd nay and tho' it were so I hope I shall be excus'd if with
examin'd before it be throughly entertain'd Let me therefore make bold to enquire freely Whether That of which we affirm such great Things and to which we ascribe so many Feats be that almost Divine thing whose works among others we are or a Notional thing that in some sense is rather to be reckon'd among our works as owing its Being to Human Intellects I know most men will be forestall'd with no mean prejudices against so venturous an Attempt but I will not do Eleutherius the Injury to measure Him by the prepossess'd generality of Men yet there are two scruples which I think it not amiss to take notice of to clear the way for what shall be presented you in the following Discourse And first it may seem an ingrateful and unfilial thing to dispute against Nature that is taken by Mankind for the Common Parent of us all But though it be an undutiful thing to express a want of respect for an acknowledg'd Parent yet I know not why it may not be allowable to question One that a Man looks upon but as a pretended one or at least does upon probable grounds doubt Whether she be so or no and 'till it appear to me that she is so I think it my duty to pay my gratitude not to I know not what but to that Deity whose Wisdom and Goodness not only design'd to make me a Man and enjoy what I am here bless'd with but contriv'd the World so that even those Creatures of his who by their inanimate condition are not capable of intending to gratifie me should be as serviceable and useful to me as they would be if they could and did design the being so and you may be pleas'd to remember that as men may now accuse such an Enquirer as I am of impiety and ingratitude towards Nature So the Persians and other Worshipers of the Coelestial Bodies accus'd several of the Ancient Philosophers and all the Primitive Christians of the like Crimes in reference to the Sun whose Existence and whose being a Benefactor to Mankind was far more unquestionable than that there is such a Semi-Deity as Men call Nature And it can be no great disparagement to me to suffer on the like Account with 〈◊〉 good Company especially when several of the considerations that Justifie them may also Apologize for me I might add that it not being half so evident to me that what is called Nature is my Parent as that all Men are my Brothers by being the Off-spring of God for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Aratus is adopted by St. Paul I may justly prefer the doing of them a service by disabusing them to the paying of Her a Ceremonial Respect But setting Allegories aside I have sometimes seriously doubted whether the Vulgar Notion of Nature has not been both injurious to the Glory of God and a great Impediment to the solid and useful Discovery of his Works And first it seems to detract from the Honour of the great Author and Governor of the World that Men should ascribe most of the admirable things that are to be met with in it not to him but to a certain Nature which themselves do not well know what to make of â—Tis true that many confess that this Nature is a thing of His establishing and subordinate to Him but though many confess it when they are ask'd Whether they do or no yet besides that many seldom or never lifted up their eyes to any higher Cause he that takes notice of their way of ascribing things to Nature may easily discern that whatever their words sometimes be the Agency of God is little taken notice of in their thoughts And however it does not a little darken the Excellency of the Divine management of things that when a strange Thing is to be effected or accounted for men so often have recourse to Nature and think she must extraordinarily interpose to bring such things about Whereas it much more tends to the Illustration of God's Wisdom to have so fram'd things at first that there can seldom or never need any extraordinary Interposition of his Power And as it more recommends the skill of an Engineer to contrive an Elaborate Engine so as that there should need nothing to reach his ends in it but the contrivance of parts devoid of understanding than if it were necessary that ever and anon a discreet Servant should be employ'd to concur notably to the Operations of this or that Part or to hinder the Engine from being out of order So it more sets off the Wisdom of God in the Fabrick of the Universe that he can make so vast a Machine perform all those many things which he design'd it should by the meer contrivance of Brute matter managed by certain Laws of Local Motion and upheld by his ordinary and general concourse than if he imployed from time to time an Intelligent Overseer such as Nature is fancied to be to regulate assist and controul the Motions of the Parts In confirmation of which you may remember that the later Poets justly reprehended their Predecessors for want of skill in laying the Plots of their Plays because they often suffered things to be reduced to that Pass that they were fain to bring some Deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Stage to help them out Nec Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus c. And let me tell you freely that though I will not say That Aristotle meant the mischief his Doctrine did yet I am apt to think that the Grand Enemy of God's Glory made great use of Aristotle's Authority and Errors to detract from it For as Aristotle by introducing the Opinion of the Eternity of the World whereof he owns himself to have been the first Broacher did at least in almost all Mens Opinion openly deny God the Production of the World So by ascribing the admirable Works of God to what he calls Nature he tacitly denies him the Government of the World Which suspicion if you judg severe I shall not at more leisure refuse to acquaint you in a distinct Paper why I take divers of Aristotle's Opinions relating to Religion to be more unfriendly not to say pernicious to It than those of several other Heathen Philosophers And here give me leave to prevent an Objection that some may make as if to deny the receiv'd Notion of Nature a Man must also deny Providence of which Nature is the Grand Instrument For in the first place my Opinion hinders me not at all from acknowledging God to be the Author of the Universe and the continual Preserver and Upholder of it which is much more than the Peripatetick Hypothesis which as we were saying makes the World Eternal will allow its Embracers to admit and those things which the School-Philosophers ascribe to the Agency of Nature interposing according to Emergencies I ascribe to the Wisdom of God in the first Fabrick of the Universe which He so admirably contrived that if
Difficulty of the Task that the design of a Free Inquiry puts me upon For 't is far more difficult than any one that hath not try'd and I do not know that any Man hath would imagine to Discourse long of the Corporeal Works of God and especially of the Operations and Phaenomena's that are attributed to Nature and yet decline making oftentimes use of that Term or Forms of Speech whereof 't is a main part without much more frequent and perhaps tedious Circumlocutions than I am willing to trouble you with And therefore I hope you will easily excuse me if partly to shun these and to avoid using often the same words too near one another and partly out of unwillingness to imploy Vulgar Terms likely to occasion or countenance Vulgar Errors I have several times been fain to use Paraphrases or other Expressions less short than those commonly received And sometimes for one or other of these Reasons or out of Inadvertence miss'd of avoiding the Terms used by those that admit and applaud the Vulgar Notion of Nature whom I must here advertise you that partly because they do so and partly for brevity's sake I shall hereafter many times call Naturists Which Appellation I rather chuse than that of Naturalists because many even of the Learned among them as Logicians Orators Lawyers Arithmeticians c. are not Physiologers But if on this occasion you should be very urgent to know what Course I would think expedient if I were to propose any for the avoiding the Inconvenient use of so Ambiguous a Word as Nature I should first put you in mind that having but very lately declar'd that I thought it very difficult in Physiological Discourses especially to decline the frequent of that Term you are not to expect from me the satisfaction you may desire in an Answer And then I would add that yet my unwillingness to be altogether silent when you require me to say somewhat makes me content to try whether the mischief complain'd of may not be in some measure either obviated or lessen'd by looking back upon the Eight various significations that were not long since deliver'd of the Word Nature and by endeavouring to express them in other Terms or Forms of Speech 1. Instead then of the Word Nature taken in the first sense for Natura Naturans we may make use of the Term 't is put to signifie namely God wholly discarding an Expression which besides that 't is harsh and needless and in use only among the School-men seems not to me very suitable to the profound Reverence we owe the Divine Majesty since it seems to make the Creator differ too little by far from a Created not to say an Imaginary Being 2. Instead of Nature in the second sense for That on whose account a Thing is what it is and is so call'd we may imploy the Word Essence which is of great Affinity to it if not of an adequate import And sometimes also we may make use of the Word Quiddity which though a somewhat Barbarous Term is yet frequently imploy'd and well enough understood in the Schools and which is more considerable is very comprehensive and yet free enough from Ambiguity 3. What is meant by the Word Nature taken in the third sense of it for what belongs to a living Creature at its Nativity or accrues to it by its Birth may be express'd sometimes by saying that a Man or other Animal is Born so and sometimes by saying that a Thing has been Generated such and sometimes also that 't is thus or thus Qualifi'd by its Original Temperament and Constitution 4. Instead of the Word Nature taken in the fourth Acception for an Internal Principle of Local Motion we may say sometimes that this or that Body Moves as it were or else that it seems to Move spontaneously or of its own accord upwards downwards c. or that 't is put into this or that Motion or determin'd to this or that Action by the concourse of such or such proper Causes 5. For Nature in the fifth signification for the establish'd course of Things Corporeal 't is easie to substitute what it denotes the establish'd Order or the setled Course of Things 6. Instead of Nature in the sixth sense of the Word for as Aggregate of the Powers belonging to a Body especially a Living one we may imploy the Constitution Temperament or the Mechanism or the Complex of the Essential Properties or Qualities and sometimes the Condition the Structure or the Texture of that Body And if we speak of the greater Portions of the World we may make use of one or other of these Terms Fabrick of the World System of the Vniverse Cosmical Mechanism or the like 7. Where Men are wont to imploy the Word Nature in the seventh sense for the Vniverse or the Systeme of the Corporeal Works of God 't is easie and as short to make use of the Word World or Vniverse and instead of the Phaenomena of Nature to substitute the Phaenomena of the Vniverse or of the World 8. And as for the Word Nature taken in the eighth and last of the fore-mention'd Acceptions for either as some Pagans styl'd Her a Goddess or a kind of Semi-Deity the best way is not to imploy it in that sense at all or at least as seldom as may be and that for divers Reasons which may in due place be met with in several Parts of this Essay But though the foregoing Diversity of Terms and Phrases may be much increas'd yet I confess it makes but a part of the Remedy I propose against the future mischiefs of the confus'd Acception of the Word Nature and the Phrases grounded on it For besides the Synonymous Words and more literal Interpretations lately propos'd a dextrous Writer may oftentimes be able to give such a Form or as the Modern Frenchmen speak such a Tour to his many-ways variable Expressions as to avoid the necessity of making use of the Word Nature or sometimes so much as of those shorter Terms that have been lately substituted in its place And to all this I must add that though one or two of the eight fore-mention'd Terms or Phrases as Quiddity and Cosmical Mechanism be Barbarous or Ungenteel and some other expressions be less short than the Word Nature Yet 't is more the Interest of Philosophy to tolerate a harsh Term that has been long received in the Schools in a determinate sense and bear with some Paraphrastical Expressions than not to avoid an Ambiguity that is liable to such great inconveniences as have been lately or may be hereafter represented There are I know some Learned Men who perhaps being startled to find Nature usually spoken of so much like a kind of Goddess will have the Nature of every thing to be only the Law that it receives from the Creator and according to which it acts on all occasions And this Opinion seems much of kin to if not the same with that of the famous
but a notional Rule cannot in a Physical sense be said to perform these things but they are really performed by Judges Officers Executioners and other Men acting according to that Rule Thus when we say that Custom does this or that we ought to mean only that such things are done by proper Agents acting with Conformity to what is usual or customary on such Occasions And to give you an yet more apposite Instance do but consider how many Events are wont to be ascrib'd to Fortune or Chance and yet Fortune is in reality no Physical Cause of any thing for which Reason probably it is that Ancienter Naturalists than Aristotle as himself intimates take no notice of it when they treat of Natural Causes and only denotes that those Effects that are ascribed to it were produc'd by their true and proper Agents without intending to produce them as when a Man shoots at a Deer and the Arrow lightly glancing upon the Beast wounds some Man that lay beyond him unseen by the Archer 't is plain that the Arrow is a Physical Agent that acts by virtue of its Fabrick and Motion in both these Effects and yet Men will say that the slight hurt it gave the Deer was brought to pass according to the course of Nature because the Archer design'd to shoot the Beast but the mortal Wound it gave the Man happen'd by Chance because the Archer intended not to shoot Him or any Man else And whereas divers of the old Atomical Philosophers pretending without good Reason as well as against Piety to give an account of the Origin of things without recourse to a Deity did sometimes affirm the World to have been made by Nature and sometimes by Fortune promiscuously employing those Terms They did it if I guess aright because they thought neither of them to denote any true and proper Physical Cause but rather certain Conceptions that we Men have of the manner of acting of true and proper Agents And therefore when the Epicureans taught the World to have been made by Chance 't is probable that they did not look upon Chance as a True and Architectonick Cause of the System of the World but believ'd all things to have been made by the Atoms considered as their Conventions and Concretions into the Sun Stars Earth and other Bodies were made without any Design of Constituting those Bodies Whilst this Vein of framing Paradoxes yet continued I ventur'd to proceed so far as to Question Whether one may not infer from what hath been said That the chief Advantage a Philosopher receives from what Men call Nature be not that it affords them on divers occasions a Compendious way of expressing themselves Since thought I to consider things otherwise than in a Popular way when a Man tells me that Nature does such a thing he does not really help me to understand or to explicate how it is done For it seems manifest enough that whatsoever is done in the World at least wherein the rational Soul intervenes not is really effected by Corporeal Causes and Agents acting in a World so fram'd as Ours is according to the Laws of Motion setled by the Omniscient Author of things When a Man knows the contrivance of a Watch or Clock by viewing the several pieces of it and seeing how when they are duely put together the Spring or Weight sets one of the Wheels a work and by that another till by a fit Conse cution of the Motions of these and other parts at length the Index comes to point at the right Hour of the Day The Man if he be wise will be well enough satisfied with this knowledge of the Cause of the propos'd Effect without troubling himself to examine whether a Notional Philosopher will call the time-measuring Instrument an Ens per se or an Ens per accidens And whether it performs its Operations by virtue of an internal Principle such as the Spring of it ought to be or of an external one such as one may think the appended Weight And as he that cannot by the Mechanical affections of the parts of the Universal matter explicate a Phaenomenon will not be much help'd to understand how the Effect is produc'd by being told that Nature did it So if he can explain it Mechanically he has no more need to think or unless for brevity's sake to say that Nature brought it to pass than he that observes the Motions of a Clock has to say that 't is not the Engine but 't is Art that shews the Hour whereas without considering that general and uninstructive Name he sufficiently understands how the parts that make up the Engine are determin'd by their Construction and the Series of their Motions to produce the Effect that is brought to pass When the lower end of a Reed being dipp'd for Instance in Milk or Water he that holds it does cover the upper end with his Lips and fetches his Breath and hereupon the Liquor flows into his Mouth We are told that Nature raiseth it to prevent a Vacuum and this way of raising it is call'd Suction but when this is said the word Nature does but furnish us with a short Term to express a concourse of several Causes and so does in other Cases but what the Word Suction does in this For neither the one nor the other helps us to conceive how this seemingly spontaneous Ascension of a heavy Liquor is effected which they that know that the outward Air is a heavy fluid and gravitates or presses more upon the other parts of the Liquor than the Air contained in the Reed which is rarefy'd by the Dilatation of the Sucker's Thorax does upon the included part of the Surface will readily apprehend that the smaller pressure will be surmounted by the greater and consequently yield to the Ascension of the Liquor which is by the prevalent external pressure impell'd up into the Pipe and so into the Mouth as I among others have elswhere fully made out So that according to this Doctrine without recurring to Nature's Care to prevent a Vacuum one that had never heard of the Peripatetick Notions of Nature or of Suction might very well understand the mention'd Phaenomenon And if afterwards he should be made acquainted with the receiv'd Opinions and Forms of Speech us'd on this occasion he would think that so to ascribe the Effect to Nature is needless if not also erroneous and that the common Theory of Suction can afford him nothing but a compendious Term to express at once the Concourse of the Agents that make the Water ascend How far I think these extravagant Reasonings may be admitted you will be enabled to discern by what you will hereafter meet with relating to the same Subjects in the VII Section of this Discourse And therefore returning now to the rise of this Digression namely That 't is not unlike you may expect I should after the Vulgar Notion of Nature that I lately mention'd without acquiescing in it substitute
inclin'd to apprehend the First Formation of the World after some such manner as this I think it probable for I would not Dogmatize on so weighty and so difficult a Subject that the Great and Wise Author of Things did when he first Form'd the universal and undistinguish'd matter into the World put its Parts into various Motions whereby they were necessarily divided into numberless Portions of differing Bulks Figures and Scituations in respect of each other And that by his Infinite Wisdom and Power he did so guide and over-rule the Motions of these Parts at the beginning of things as that whether in a shorter or a longer time Reason cannot well determine they were finally dispos'd into that Beautiful and Orderly Frame we call the World among whose Parts some were so curiously contriv'd as to be fit to become the Seeds or Seminal Principles of Plants and Animals And I further conceive that he setled such Laws or Rules of Local Motion among the Parts of the Universal Matter that by his ordinary and preserving Concourse the several Parts of the Universe thus once completed should be able to maintain the great Construction or System and Oeconomy of the Mundane Bodies and propagate the Species of Living Creatures So that according to this Hypothesis I suppose no other Efficient of the Universe but God himself whose Almighty Power still accompanied with his Infinite Wisdom did at first Frame the Corporeal World according to the Divine Idea's which he had as well most freely as most wisely determin'd to conform them to For I think it is a Mistake to imagine as we are wont to do that what is call'd the Nature of this or that Body is wholly compris'd in its own Matter and its I say not Substantial but Essential Form as if from that or these only all its Operations must flow For an Individual Body being but a Part of the World and incompass'd with other Parts of the same great Automaton needs the Assistance or Concourse of other Bodies which are external Agents to perform divers of its Operations and exhibit several Phaenomena's that belong to it This would quickly and manifestly appear if for Instance an Animal or an Herb could be remov'd into those Imaginary Spaces the School-men tell us of beyond the World or into such a place as the Epicureans fancy their Intermundia or empty Intervals between those numerous Worlds their Master dream'd of For whatever the Structures of these living Engines be they would as little without the Co-operations of external Agents such as the Sun Aether Air c. be able to exercise their Functions as the great Mills commonly us'd with us would be to Grind Corn without the assistance of Wind or running Water Which may be thought the more credible if it be considered that by the meer Exclusion of the Air tho' not of Light or the Earth's Magnetical Effluvia c. procur'd by the Air-pump Bodies plac'd in an extraordinary large Glass will presently come into so differing a state that warm Animals cannot live in it nor flame tho' of pure Spirit of Wine burn nor Syringes draw up Water nor Bees or such winged Insects fly nor Caterpillars crawl nay nor Fire run along a train of dryed Gunpowder All which I speak upon my own experience According to the foregoing Hypothesis I consider the frame of the World already made as a Great and if I may so speak Pregnant Automaton that like a Woman with Twins in her Womb or a Ship furnish'd with Pumps Ordnance c. is such an Engine as comprises or consists of several lesser Engines And this Compounded Machine in conjunction with the Laws of Motion freely establish'd and still maintain'd by God among its Parts I look upon as a Complex Principle whence results the setled Order or Course of things Corporeal And that which happens according to this course may generally speaking be said to come to pass according to Nature or to be done by Nature and that which thwarts this Order may be said to be Preternatural or contrary to Nature And indeed though Men talk of Nature as they please yet whatever is done among things Inanimate which make incomparably the greatest part of the Universe is really done but by particular Bodies acting on one another by Local Motion Modifi'd by the other Mechanical Affections of the Agent of the Patient and of those other Bodies that necessarily concur to the Effect or the Phaenomenon produc'd N. B. Those that do not relish the knowledg of the Opinions and Rights of the Ancient Iews and Heathens may pass on to the next or V. Section and skip the whole following Excursion compris'd between double Paratheses's which though neither impertinent nor useless to the scope of this Treatise is not absolutely necessary to it In the foregoing III. Section of this Treatise I hope I have given a sufficient Reason of my backwardness to make frequent use of the Word Nature and now in this IV. Section having laid down such a Description of Nature as shews that her Votaries represent her as a Goddess or at least a Semi-Deity 'T will not be improper in this place to declare some of the Reasons of my dissatisfaction with the Notion or Thing it self as well as with the use of the Name and to shew why I am not willing to comply with those Many that would impose it upon us as very friendly to Religion And these reasons I shall the rather propose because not only the Generality of other Learned Men as I just now intimated but that of Divines themselves for want of Information or for some other cause seem not to have well consider'd so weighty a matter To manifest therefore the Malevolent Aspect that the Vulgar Notion of Nature has had and therefore possibly may have on Religion I think fit in a general way to premise what things they are which seem to me to have been the Fundamental Errors that mis-led the Heathen World as well Philosophers as others For if I mistake not the looking upon meerly Corporeal and oftentimes Inanimate Things as if they were endow'd with Life Sense and Understanding and the ascribing to Nature and some other Beings whether real or imaginary things that belong but to God have been some if not the chief of the Grand Causes of the Polytheism and Idolatry of the Gentiles The most Ancient Idolatry taking the word in its laxer sense or at least one of the earliest seems to have been the Worship of the Coelestial Lights especially the Sun and Moon That kind of Aboda zara 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Iewish Writers call strange or false Worships being the most Natural as having for its Objects Glorious Bodies Immortal always regularly mov'd and very beneficial to Men. There is Recorded in the Holy Scripture a Passage of Iob who is probably reputed to be at least as Antient as Moses which seems to argue that this Worship of the two great Luminaries was