with relation to the Deity To the same Purpose also wrote St. Cyprian or whatever other ancient Authour it was that passes under His Name in the Introduction to the Treatise of the Cardinal Works of Christ Thus much for the Preamble or First Part of this Second Book PVRPOSING to proceed according to Balbus's Four fold Distribution of his Dispute let me tell ye by way of Epitome of the First Branch thereof the Scope of which is to make out there are Gods The Being of a Deity the First Branch of the Stoical Disputation prov'd by Three sorts of Arguments i. e. the Existence of some or other Divinity that he confirms the Point by Arguments of Three Sorts the Consent of all Men the Constancy of the Opinion the Appearance of the Gods and the Revelation of things to come are of the First and for the Second and Third they are plainer in the Context it self than to need a Declaration So that I pass to the Contents of the First Branch The Contents of each Section of the First Branch of the Second Part or Balbus's Dispâ—tation as follows PART II. SECT I. From lin 14. of pag. 73. to lin 7. of pag. 74. Balbus entring upon the Proof of a Deity draws the First Argument to that purpose from Heaven which being beheld all men presently Confess that a God there is-THENCE to lin 27. of the same page Another Reason that perswades of the Existence of a Deity is the fixt and stable Opinion of him in the Minds of all men and the Religious Adoration constantly paid to his Majesty THENCE to lin 33. of pag. 75. He also collects the Thing from the Appearances of the Gods themselves THENCE to lin 6. of pag. 77. He undertakes to strengthen the Credit of Divine Revelations which he conceiv'd to be of great force toward Confirming a Deity First by removing all suspicion of Fiction then by Variety of Events and the Punishment of some that slighted the Tokens THENCE to l. 20. of pag. 78. Somewhat is likewise deriv'd toward the support of Predictions by pressing the Examples of their Ancestours who shew'd much Faith Piety and Constancy in their Care of the Auspicia THENCE to lin 15. of pag. 80. That so Firm Prop of Divination at First drawn from the Event it self of the Things Divin'd only in the General he Now resumes and fortifies with the Predictions of the Sibylls and the Answers of the Southsayers as if found True but more especially by the peculiar aâ—d notable Eact of Tib. Gracchus which he relates at large in the whole 10. and 11. Sectious almost THENCE to lin 2. of pag. 81. Then by a Brief and Clear Syllogism fetcht from Divination he Concludes that Gods there are And that the Conclusion might not be Infirm in any part he Anticipates an Objection that would ruine it In the end he again inculcates what it was the Drift of the whole to prove the Existence of a Deity Confirming it by the Testimony of Nature as by the Seal and Suffrage of all Mortals THENCE to lin 34. of the same page He Here urges over again much what the same Arguments in proof of a Deity that he had us'd before only they are Confirm'd by the Authority of the Principals of the Stoical Sect Cleanthes Chrysippus and â—eno And First of Cleanthes who speaks of fâ—ur ways whereby men have come to a knowledge of the Deity Three of which are set forth in This Section the Other in the Next THENCE to to lin 20. of pag. 82. The Fourth and Chief Cause alledg'd by Cleanthes for the Impression of a Notion of the Deity in the Minds of Mortals is the Contemplation of things Celestial A Cause that he Here Illustrates by a queint and proper Comparison THENCE to lin 8. of pag. 83. He produces the Argumentation whereby Chrysippus collected the Existence of a Divinity That there is something or other in Universal Nature better than Man and so there must needs be a God In proof of the Antecedent Three Reasons are given the First of them deriv'd from the Noble Effects that exceed Human Ability is in This Section the other Two in the ensuing THENCE to lin 33. of the same page What Chrysippus has prov'd in the Section above I mean the being of something in the World that is Better than Man does Lucilius also now Confirm by two Arguments to be more at large expounded by and by THENCE to lin 24. of pag. 84. The Divine Mind of the World is collected both from the Mind of Man and from the Excellence it self of the Vniverse THENCE to lin 9. of pag. 85. He moreover Confirms the Divine Mind of the Vniverse First by the Admirable Consent of the Parts of the same World Next by the Constant Variations of the Seasons of the Year Then by the Tides of the Sea the Vicissitudinary Flux and Reflux whereof is so Certain and Lastly by the Course of the Stars in so Steady an Order for so long a time THENCE to lin 33. of the same page He strengthens the Assertion of Reason in the World by the Authority and Arguments of Zeno in Transitu noting the Stoical Brevity in Disputing and by a decent Comparison shewing how much Rhetorick surpasses Logique THENCE to lin 20. of pag. 86. The same Zeno labours to to make out what he stickled for in the Last Paragraph that the World is indu'd with Sense and Reason by two Other Syllogisms and a Double Similitude THENCE to lin 6. of pag. 87. He advances to the Physical Arguments made use of by the Stoiques in erecting their Divinity and before All states This Principle that whatever has Life Lives by the benefit of a kind of Heat THENCE to lin 25. of the same page He Confirms the Position of the foregoing Section that all Life is deriv'd from the virtue of Heat by the Authority and Arguments of Cleanthes THENCE to lin 18. of pag. 88. This same Vital Heat of the two Sections above shews he more at large by an Induction through the Four Elements to be diffus'd into all the Parts of the Universe THENCE to lin 3. of pag. 89. From the Earth he advances to the Water and endeavours to make appear that in It is Heat implanted by Nature THENCE to lin 33. of the same page He finishes the Induction before set upon and far more easily demonstrates the Heat above averr'd to be included in the Bowels of the Earth and Mingled with the Water to abide also in the two remaining Elements the Ayr and Fire Whence by a step from the Parts to the Whole he Concludes the World it self to be in like manner preserv'd by means of the same Heat THENCE to lin 15. of pag. 90. He set to demonstrating the Fiery Property in the Sections foregoing taught to be disfus'd thorough the several Parts of the Vniverse to be also indu'd with Sense and Reason And with This Intent he Premises as if Decreed
themselves never yet decreed divine Honours to any Creature from which they receiv'd not some considerable Benefit Their Ibes destroy multitudes of Serpents for being a sort of tall Birds with rough hard Legs and a long Horny Beak they preserve Aegypt from the Pestilence by devouring those swarms of Wing'd Serpents that are brought by the South-West wind from the Deserts of Lybia And so they neither harm by their Biting while alive nor by their Stink when dead I could shew the advantages they reap by their Ichneumons Cats and Crocodiles were it not that I 'm unwilling to be over tedious Yet I will wind up the Topique with this Remarque That whereas the very Barbarians Deine Beasts in consideration of the good they do them * Wâ—â—â—â— Epicurus's 〈◊〉 neither thinks of nor does any â—hing Your God contrary-wise is so far from being Celebrated for any Favour that he performs not so much as the least Action He does nothing at all says he †The Gods not 〈◊〉 Truly Epicurus is much of the Humour of those Idle Lads that prefer no blessing to a Holy-day And yet even They too when they have got a Play-day do busie themselves in some â—â—â—â—â—ve Exâ—â—â—ise or other Whereas the 〈◊〉 is to be reputed so entirely 〈…〉 slâ—â—â—h that should he but Stir 〈…〉 much as his Happiness is worth Wâ—â—â— The Consequence of making them sâ— Doctrinâ— not only strips the Gods of all divine Motion and Operation but tends to render Men Lazy also since not even the Deities themselves can be Happy if they take any pains Their Residence Doings and the reâ—son of their Happiness according to the Epicureans enquir'd into But yet be it as you say that They are of Human shape Where do they reside Then What is their Course of Lifeâ— and wherefore is it that you term them Blessed For it seems necessary that he who would be Happy should use and have all good things within himself †The Order of the Elements Now each Inanimate has its proper station assign'd it the Earth the Lowest the Water above That the Air higher then both the highest of all is given to Fire ‖ All Animals have certain places allotted 〈◊〉 Of Animals some live upon the Land Others in the Water And some again being Amphibious inhabit both Nay and there are yet Others which are thought to arise from Fire and may be discern'd fluttering about in burning Furnaces I demand First therefore * Demands what is your Divinities place of abode Then if he stir at all what Appetites are capable of removing him from his post Lâ—stly Since it is proper to all †And covet something or other agreeable to their Natures Animated Beings to covet some certain thing or other that is agreeable to their respective Natures what is it that God affects what special End does the motion of his Mind and Reason tend to In a word how comes he to be Happy How Eternal For a Tripp in any of These Particulars is a * Makes him Mortal Blot Thus we see that †Idle conceipts knâ—w not where to stop and Prove Nothing an Ill-grounded Proposition comes to no Issue ‖ Epicurus's means of discerning the Figure of the Deity For you moreover deliver'd that the Figure of the Deity was only discernable by the Mind not by Sense That it was neither Solid nor Invariable That a Perception of it was affected by a Similitude and Transition of Images that incessantly proceeded from Innumerable Atoms upon which our Phansie being intent we So came to discern and presume that That Nature is Blessed and Eternal * Charg'd with Vnintelligibleness and Imaginariness Now what in the Name of those owers that are the subject of this Dispute do you mean by all This For if the Gods do only exist in Thought in Imagination and are absolutely void of Substance and Solidity what is the difference betwixt Imagining Thinking of a Divinity and a Hippocentaur †The Agitation of Mind by which it is supposed to be effected asserted to be vain phantastical Motion Other Philosophers term all such Effigiations of the Mind Vain Cogitation but You an Approach and Entry of Images into them ‖ An Example of such Idle Motion Thus I call my conceipting my self to behold T. Graechus Harangueing the People in the Capitâ—l and collecting Voyces against his Collegue M. Octavius Idle Motion while You affirm that the Images both of Graechus and Octavius do persevere and from the Capitol are brought to my Remembrance That the Case of Divine Images is not Unlike Tois by an earnest Intention whereupon our Minds are stir'd up and so we come to understand that the Deities are Happy and Immortal * Images being void of substance â—anâ—â—t 〈◊〉 aâ—â—forâ—e uâ—â—n the Miâ—◠〈◊〉 here 〈…〉 images themselves are objected Or if theâ— could yet Happiness would not be any consequence of it Now supposing that any such Figures there should Be whereby the Mind might be affected yet 't is only a certain naked Species of them that is represented And how comes That Violence either to be Empharical of a Blessedness and Eternity †The First author of them But what are and whence came these your pretended Images You have this Conceipt from Democritus who is himself very much reprehended for it And you find no Consequence upon it neither but the whole Cause it self halts and staggers ‖ The Preâ—ence of them maâ—e out to be Improbâ—â—â—e For what can be of harder Demonstration then how the Images of all men of Homer Archilochus Romulus Numa Pythagoras Plato should come into My head Not in the self same Forms that they were of neither So that how should they be Theirs then Or Whose Images are they Aristotle writes that there never was any such Person as the Poet Orpheus and Others say that the sort of Verse usually called Orphique was invented by one Cecrops a Pythagorean And yet Orpheus or according to Your way the Image of him has often run in my Thought Whence is it also that one kind of Figure of the same man appears to me and another to You Wherefore have we Representations of things that never either were or could be as Scylla Chimaera Or of such Men Places and Cities as we never beheld with our Eyes How happens it that I command them at pleasure Or that they câ—me even of their own accord while I am sleeping The whole Pretext Velleius is pure Triftle You do impose Images not upon our Eyes only but upon our Minds too so great a Privilege have you to talk Idly But how Inordinate you are in the Particular your pretended frequent occurring of such a * Epicurus's Transition of Visions Exploded Transition of flowing Visions that the same Thing may be seen by Many at One and the Same time speaks out I should blush to acknowledge that I understand not any thing of all
those very Excrementitious parts of it that Nature rejects are not without some degree of Warmth too any more then the rest Even the Veins and Arteries have a kind of sparkling in them as of a Spiritous and Fiery Motion And it has been often observ'd that when the Heart of any Creature is new pluckt forth it pants with such a Quivering that it seems to have the Activity of Fire Whatever therefore Animal or Vegetable has any Life at all derives it from the Warmth that is included in it Whence it may be gather'd that That Nature wherein this Heat is Embody'd has within it a certain enlivening Virtue that conveys it self thorough the whole World And This will better appear upon a more Acute Explication of this General Fiery Property that pierces into all things I will therefore take a view of the several parts of the World which are sustain'd by means of the greatest Heat ‖ An Exemplification â—f the Matter by the Earth which is suppos'd to be Lower then the Water and the Lowest of all the Elements And First Thus much may plainly be discern'd in things of an Earthy substance For we see that Fire is produc'd by the striking of one stone against another that Earth sends forth a kind of smoak when new turn'd up And that Water is drawn Warm in Winter time especially out of Well-springs This happens by reason of the Heat that is shut up in the Caverns of the Earth and which upon the Contraction of the Water in Frosty Weather is kept the closer in There might a great deal be said and sundry Proofs urg'd to demonstrate that all things that spring out of the Earth and those Seeds themselves which being There generated and inherent in Plants are contained in the same do receive their Rise and Growth from the temperament of Heat That there is also a certain Mixture of Heat in the Water both the Fluidness and the Effusion of it do declare for it could neither be turn'd into Ice by Cold nor Thicken'd by Snow and Frost did it not dilate it self into Flowings upon being Thaw'd and made Liquid by the Heat that is mingled with it Thus does it become hard by Northern and other Cold Blasts and it softens again and is dissolv'd by the Contrary * The Heat of the Seas suppos'd to be Natural not adventitious The Seas too when toss'd by the Winds are Warm'd to such a degree that it is easie to apprehend that even this great body of Moisture it self is not without a certain Heat included in it Neither yet is this Warmth to be reputed only external and adventitious for it is rais'd up out of the Inward parts of the Deep by Agitation This happens to Our Bodies also when they are heated by Stirring and Exercise The very Air it self thô Naturally the Coldest of all is however in no wise destitute of Warmth much Heat being mixt even with It also It proceeds from the Exhalation that arises from the Water of which some of it may be taken for a kind of Vapour deriving its Being from the Motion of that Heat which is contain'd in the same A Resemblance of This may be seen in Liquors made boyling hot by the putting of Fire under them Now as for the Fourth Part or * They held the Whole Universe to be a kind of Fâ—fth Element Element that is yet behind it is altogether fervid the whole Nature of it and communicates vital and salutary Heat to all other things Whence I conclude that since the several Quarters of the World do subsist by means of †The Force of Heat Heat it cannot but be thorough a certain Propriety of equal and moderate Warmth that the Vniverse it self has for so long a time been sustain'd And this so much the rather too in regard it may be presum'd that this hot and fiery Quality is infus'd into every Nature to the intent that it might be capable of breeding and begetting its Like For it is from This that Living Creatures and whatever is fixt in the Earth by the Root must necessarily receive Birth and Augmentation So that it is Nature that binds together the Four Parts of the World and preserves it and that not without the Assistance of Sense and Reason neither For every Being that is not Single and void of Qualities but annext and conjoyn'd to Another must needs be indu'd with some one Virtue of an Excellency paramount to all the rest As Reason in Man in Beasts something Analogical to it from whence the Appetites of things do take their Rise As for Trees and all that grow out of the Earth Their Principality is suppos'd to be contain'd in their Roots Now That I term Principality which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then which nothing in its respective Kind can or even ought to be more Valuable That then wherein the Principality of Universal Nature resides cannot but be the most Excellent and deserving of Authority and Dominion over all things From the Parts to the Whole We see that Parts of the Universe for there is nothing in the whole World that is not a Portion thereof are furnish'd with Sense and Reason And therefore that Particular of it wherein its Soveraignty abides is surely indu'd with them likewise and That too in a more large and admirable proportion So that it inevitably follows that the World is qualify'd with Wisdom and That Nature which holds all things in its Embrace with a Perfection of Reason Consequently the World is a God and the Powers thereof are contain'd in * Universal Nature â—t being termed both the World and a God Divine Nature As for the Heat also of the Vniverse Heat in Universal Nature it is more Pure Clear and Lively and so more apt to move the Senses then is This Warmth of Ours whereby those things that are Familiar to us are continu'd and encreas'd Since Man and Beast then have This Heat in them and so come to be Sensible and Animated it were Absurd to affirm that the World which is indu'd with a more compleat bright free with a most quick and volatile Ardour is without any Sense at all especially since the Heat that appertains to the Vniverse is not agitated by Another or by outward force but is spontaneously moved of it self For is any thing of greater Might then the World that it should be able to force and stir up the Heat that it is furnish'd with * Plato's Authority press'd in confirmation of what he delivers Plato who passes for a little God among the Philosophers is of opinion that there are Two sorts of Motion the One Proper the Other External and that That which of its own accord is actuated by its self is more Divine then the Other that is mov'd from Without This Voluntary sort he places only in our Minds and conceives that from Them the †The Motion of Universal Nature
Substantially but Adjectively Individual and that may not be broken and beaten in Pieces And since every Animal has a Passive Nature None can avoid the Necessity of receiving somewhat from without which is to say in effect of bearing and suffering So that if each Animal be Mortal there is none Immortal If every Animal may be cut in Two and Divided none can be Individual none Eternal But all Animals are liable to receive and bear external violence Necessary therefore it is that every Animal be Mortal Dissoluble and Dividual For as if all Wax be Mutable there can be nothing of Wax but may be Chang'd any more than of Silver or Brass if the Nature of Silver and Brass be Variable So in like manner if the Substances that * i. e. The Elements are whereof all things are compounded be Alterable no Bodies at all can be Vnchangeable But as you teach those Elements whereof each thing consists are Mutable Therefore is every Body so too For were any Bodies Immortal All would not be Mutable So that in Consequence all Bodies are Mortal For all Bodies are either Water Air Fire Earth or what is constituted of These or of some of them But there is nothing of these that perishes not For both whatsoever is Earthy may be Divided And Water is so Fluid that it is easily press'd and parted As for Fire and Air the least Impulse makes way through either of them as being highly yielding by Nature and subject to Dissipation Moreover they all not only perish but are chang'd too into one anothers Natures as when Earth turns to Water Air arises out of That the Skie out of Air and so for their Course * i. e. When a Higher and Better Nature is chang'd into a Lower and Worse as Fire nto Air Air into Water c. backward again Now if those things whereof every Animal is Constituted be Perishable no Animal can be Sempiternal †Hâ—viâ—g Thus destroy'd the Divinity of the Woâ—ld he Now sets about overthrowing its Eternity Nay and thô This were not Insisted upon yet can no Animal be sound that had not a Beginning and shall be for ever For they are all indu'd with Sense Consequently they feel Hot things and Cold Sweet and Bitter and cannot by any sense enjoy what 's Gratefull to them without being liable to that which is otherwise Wherefore if they be sensible of ‖ i. e. Of the Impression that Pleasure makes upon the Sense Pleasure so are they of Pain And whatever is subject to Pain must necessarily be liable to Dissolution So that it is to be acknowledg'd that every Animal is Mortal Moreover whatever feels not Pleasure and Pain That can be no Animal since as an Animal it must needs have a sense of such things Now what does feel them cannot be Eternal and each Animal does In Consequence not any Animal is Eternal And yet further there can be no Animal without a Natural Appetition and Aversion What 's Agreeable to Nature is Coveted and the Contrary Declin'd Now every Animal covets Some things and shuns Others And what it does avoid is Opposite to its Nature and that which is so has power to destroy it Necessary therefore it is that all Animals Perish Innumerable reasons might be produc'd to infer and conclude that there is nothing partakes of Sense but must Die For the very Things themselves that we are sensible of as Cold Heat Pleasure Pain and the like when they are in Excess Kill Now no Animal is without Sense Consequently none is Eternal * A New Argument to prove no Animal to be Eternal For the Animated must needs be of a †i. e. Substance Nature either Simple as an Earthy Firy ‖ i. e Spirable or Airy Animal or Watry And what such a thing should be there can be no apprehending or Compounded of more * i. e. Elements Substances every of which has a place the Highest Middle or Lowest proper for it to be mov'd in by the Power of Nature And These may hold together for a time but that they should Always is Impossible forasmuch as each of them must necessarily be taken again to its own Place And Therefore no Animal is Sempiternal But Your Party Balbus Exceptions against the Stoiques for placing all the Power of Nature the Life of Animals in Fire and then making That Fire Eternal and a God use to ascribe All to the Virtue of Fire following †He was by the Greeks Nick-nam'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s enebrosus Heraclitus I presume a man that every one interprets not the same way thô since he would not have understood what he wrote I 'le pass him by For Thus you say that all ‖ i. e. Life Now Heat is the Native Instrument made use of by the Soul whether Animal Sensitive or Vegetible Power is Fire and therefore that both Animals Die as soon as this Warmth fails them and also that in every Nature of things such live and flourish as are indu'd with Heat Now I see not why if Bodies perish when Heat is extinguish'd they should not Die too upon the Loss of * i. e. Radical Moisture Vpon the Consumption of which Animals Dissolve Moisture or of Breath especially since over much †As in the Case of a Fever or the like Disease But then This is a Death Contrary to Nature Heat kills them likewise So that This holds good in the Other as well as in Heat But let us see the * i. e. The Conclusion of the Disputation and whither it Tends Issue This you would have I suppose that there is not in Vniversal Nature and the World any †i e. That is an Animal of it self even from without i. e. plac'd without the Bodies of Animated Beings save only Fire Which same Fire is an Animal of it self without the Mixture of any Other Nature i. e. without any other Nature that may Join it self with it Animal from Without beside Fire And why so now rather than save only the ‖ i. e. Wherefore would you rather have no Animal from without in the World but Fire then but the Soul i. e. but the Air which we draw in Breathing Soul from * i. e. Of which Soul i. e. of which Air the Life of Animals does also consist as Anaximenes and other Philâ—sophers held which too the Life of Animals proceeds and upon that consideration it is term'd †In Another place Tully makes Anima to be so call'd from Animus so that uâ—less we suppose so great a man to have Contradicted himself it were better perhaps to saâ— upon which Consideration it is term'd Animal Anima But how take you as for Granted that Life is nothing else but Fire One would think it likely to be somewhat Compounded of Fire and Soul together But if Fire be an Animal of it self without the mixture with it of
into all Parts Therefore is it Continu'd and in Conjunction with the Sea and naturally carry'd toward the Heaven by the Tenuity and Heat whereof it being Temper'd yields Vital and Salutary Breath to living Creatures Lastly of the Stars Now the highest Part of the Firmament called the Sky surrounding This does both retain its own Ardour pure and not thicken'd with any mixture and is joyn'd to the Extreme part of the Air. In the Sky are the Stars mov'd which both preserve themselves Conglobated by their own Power and also sustain their Motions by means of their very Form and Figure For they are Round Which Forms as I take it I have made out before are the least subject to Violence The Stars are likewise of a Fiery Nature and therefore are fed with those Vapours of the Earth Sea Rivers that are exhal'd by the Sun out of the Warmed Fens and from the Waters And when the Stars and the whole Sky are nourish'd and refresh'd with them they send them forth and draw them up again so that little or nothing is lost or consum'd by the Fire of the Stars or the Flame of the Sky * The Stoique's General Conflagration and Renovation of the World From Hence Our People judge That likely to come one day to pass which †A Stoical Philosopher that Writ several Books of Morals Panaetius is said to have made some doubt of Viz. That at the Last the World would be in a General Conflagration when upon the Consumption of Moisture neither the Earth could be fed To its Original the Water nor the Air ‖ return again the very Spring of it being gone when there 's no longer any Water Thus would nothing be left save only Fire * Acting by a Soul and so a God From which Reanimating Power the World would be Renewed and in the same Order and Beauty I will trouble you but with One word more concerning the Stars Of Those too The Virtues of the Planets convenient for the Birth of things that are said to Wander Of These there is so great a Consonancy from Motions very much unlike that when the Top of Saturn would I hil the Middle of Mars Heats and Jupiter plac'd between Illustrates and Tempers them Those †Venus and Mercury Two that are below Mars are assistant to Sol and the Sun himself fills the Vniverse with his Proper Light and Luna the Moon being Illuminated by him conduces to Gravidness Birth and Maturity So that if any one there be that is not affected with this Connexion of things this as it were Agreeing Cimentation of Nature I take for granted that he never Reason'd with himself upon any of these matters WELL A Transition from Celestial to Terrestial things and First Vegitibles spoken to to descend from Heavenly to Earthly things what is there in Them wherein the skill of an Intelligent Nature does not appear In the First place as to things that spring out of the Ground the Trunks do both afford Stability to what they sustain and draw Juyce from the Earth whereby those that subsist by their Roots may be nourish'd The Bodies of them are also cover'd over with a Rind or Bark to the end that they might be the more secure against Heats and Colds As for Vines now they lay hold of Props with their Tendrels as with Hands and erect themselves just as if they were Animals Moreover if they be planted near Cabbages or Colworts 't is said they will not touch 'em in the least but avoid them as things hurtful and pestiferous Then Animals their Constitutions Food Coverings c. What a wonderful Variety is there likewise of Living Creatures How strangely are they capacitated to this end that they may every one in their respective kind preserve themselves Of Them some are cover'd with Hides others cloth'd with Fleeces and some Over-run with Bristles Some we see are clad with Feathers Others overcast with Scales Some are Arm'd with Horns Others have the Help of Wings The same Nature has in a large and plentiful manner provided Food also proper to every one of them And I could say What and how Ingenious a disposition of Parts and how admirable a Composure of Members there is in the Figures of Animals for the Receiving and Digesting of it For all Within is so fashion'd and plac'd that there is not any thing superfluous or not necessary for the Detention of Life She has likewise bestow'd upon Beasts Sense and Appetite that by the one they might be incited to an endeavour of getting Natural Food and by the Other distinguish the Hurtful from the Salutary Moreover some of them come to their meat Going Others Creeping some Flying and Others Swimming And They some of them also take it by opening the Mouth and by the Teeth Others hook it in to them with Claws and some again by the Crookedness of their Beaks Some likewise Suck Others Peck Some swallow whole Others Chew And some too there are so Low that they can easily feed upon the Ground While such as are Taller as Geese Swans Cranes Camels are assisted by the longness of their Necks * i. e. A Trunk Hands were given to the Elephant because the Bulk and Vnwieldiness of his Body render'd his coming to Food the more Difficult As for such Beasts as Live by preying upon Creatures of another kind Nature bestow'd upon them either strength or speed Upon some also a sort of †Contrivance Machination and Cunning As Spiders some whereof do I may say Weave Nets that so if any thing lights into them they may destroy it Others again stand upon the Watch and seize and devour whatever drops But then for the ‖ Pinna a Fish with a rugged brown shell ending narrow Nacre-fish Pinna as the Greeks term it with its two great shells wide open it holds a kind of Combination with the Sprawn to the end of getting sustenance So that when little Fishes swim into the Gaping shells the Pinna having notice of it by the Biting of the Sprawn shuts them in Thus is there a Society between Creatures very much Unlike upon account of procuring Food And Herein it is matter of Wonder whether these Natures came to Associate in consequence of any familiar Congress betwixt one another or did so even from * i. e. from some Original Principle the very Beginning There is something also to be admired Amphibious Creatures and the Policies in those Water Creatures that are bred upon the Land 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 â—â—â—rs'd of as Crocodiles and the River Tortoises and some Reptils too that thô not generated in the Water make to it yet as soon as able to stir Moreover it is usual with us to set Ducks-Eggs under Hens by Which the Ducklings being Hatched are for a while fed as their Damms but at length they forsake those that produc'd and brought them up and upon sight of the Water
the same Philosopher in Confirmation of the Divinity of the Vniverse THENCE to lin 30. of the same page Having done what he can to prove the World to be a God he may have the like Privilege further to infer the Figure of the same to be the Form of the Deity Therefore shews he it Here to be Worthy of the Godhead that is to say the most Beautifull of all Figures THENCE to lin 23. of pag. 101. Another Commendation of the Sphere is deriv'd from Necessity inasmuch as in any other Figure such an Equality of Motion and Constancy of Order were never to be preserv'd Ba bus in the mean time not abstaining from some Gentle Touches upon the Epicureans and particularly their Authour who had he but consider'd the Sky must needs from their very Conversion have concluded upon the Round Figure of the World and of the Stars THENCE to lin 10. of pag. 102. An Occasion Here offering he Digresses to Describe the Motion of the Planets beginning with the Sun THENCE to lin 28. of the same page Next to the Sun he sets forth the various Courses Forms or Phases Sites and Effects of the Moon THENCE to lin 17. of pag. 103. He considers Generally and admires the Motions of the Other Five Planets THENCE to lin 33. of the same page He descends particularly to the Courses of each of the remaining Planets of Saturn First Then of Jupiter THENCE to lin 20. of pag. 104. The Courses of Mars Mercury and Venus are Describ'd THENCE to lin 9. of pag. 105. From the Constant and Convenient Motion of the Planets he concludes them to be not only indu'd with Vnderstanding but to be Divinities also Upon the same Consideration ascribes he Prudence and Intelligence to the Fixt Stars likewise denies them to be mov'd together with the Sky or Heaven and will have them to be separate and apart from all Etherial Conjunction THENCE to lin 20. of the same page To the Fixt Stars in like manner as to the Wandring does he Arrogate a Divine Mind together with the Consequences of it and removes Objections THENCE to lin 12. of pag. 106. To strengthen his Assertion hitherto of a Divine Mind's being in the Whole World he produces Zeno's Definition of Nature who makes it to be indu'd not only with a Mind but with Art too THENCE to lin ult of the same page Over and above an Artificial Mind does he upon Zeno's Authority likewise attribute a Providence to the World with whatever he imagines to be an Appertenance thereof THENCE to l. 22 of p. 107. Here he makes a short Recapitulation of what he had hitherto deliver'd in this Second Branch of the Dispu ation Wherefrom may be in a sort collected what the Quality the Question in Proposition of the Divine Nature is Viz. such as acts something and That without any Labour too And why This he shews by a Reason out of the Porch at the same time Refelling Epicurus who thought Otherwise THENCE to lin 13. of pag. 108. He conveniently introduces as on the Opposition to Epicurus's Idle and Vnactive Deities a number of a sort of Profitable and Beneficent Gods Consecrated by the Judgment and Religion of the Wise men amongst the Greeks and Romans THENCE to lin 21. of pag. 109. He proceeds from Things to Persons and Rehearses Beneficent Men accounted for Gods THEâ—CE to lin 6. of pag. 110. Being about to set upon an Explanation of Natural Theology wrapt up in Fables he takes his Beginning from Coelum THENCE to lin 21. of the same page Who Saturn is Whence his Name according to both Greeks and Latins The Intent of the Fables of his Devouring his Children and being Bound by Jupiter THENCE to lin 17. of pag. 111. The Explication of the Name and Sirnames of Jupiter Illustrated by the Authority of Wise Men. THENCE to lin 22. of pag. 112. The Mythology of Coelum Heaven the Skie is follow'd by That of the Air Water Earth under the Appellations of Juno Neptune Dis Proserpina and Ceres He also by the way shewing the Etymology of these same Names They being expressive of the Vertue and Power of each respective Deity THENCE to lin 20. of pag. 113. The Mythology of Mars Minerva Janus Vesta and of the Dii Penates as also the Original of these Apellations noted THENCE to lin 27. of pag. 114. Whence proceeded the Name of Apollo and Sol Diana and Luna of Menses and of Venus Why Lucina or Luna the Moon was Phansi'd to be present at Nativities THENCE to lin 20. of p. 115. He lays open the Spring of the whole Superstition so Unworthy of the Gods in his Opinion which is the False Divinity ascrib'd to Natural things under a kind of Human Form Whence it came that in a manner all the Vices of Human Frailâ—y were imputed to the Deities in like sort as to Men. A Madness that Balbus utterly disapproves of THENCE to the End or to lin 18. of pag. 116. Having in the Former Section repudiated Vain Deities He in This Advances One and a True God worthy of all Worship and Adoration He shewing opportunely of what sort this same Worship ought to be that is to say Remote from Superstition And Thus he puts an End to the Second Branch of the Dispute pag. 98. Amendments Illustrations c. of the Second Branch of the Stoical Disputation What kind of Nature they are of who are Gods and What they are c. p. 98. lin 32. from the Appearances of things to our Eyes from the Custom of the Eyes which continually behold the Deities represented under Human Form c. lin ult of it scil of the Opinion of the Divinity of the World c. pag. 99. pag. 99. lin 24. Proves as much Proves it c. lin 25. forbear making a shew bewraying the there is a great c. p. 100. pag. 100. l. 6. respective Parts Semi-diameters Equal c. lin 27. the Extreme the Circumference c. lin 28. That the Middle c. lin 29. In Solids there is Length Solids and Planes what Bredth and Depth in Planes only Length and Bredth what is Best by the Palate but while he is studying what is most Gratefull to the Taste he c. the Palate of Heaven c. pag. 101. pag. 101. lin 11 c. by Immutable Spaces by Wayes which they never change c. lin 15. their Motion any other way i. e. either Ascending Higher or Descending Lower c. lin 16. from the Conversion of both c. lin 19. same Earth c. i. e. when it has sent forth c. it leaves the same Earth Darken'd sometimes in One â—art of the Hemisphere sometimes in Another Night how occasion'd c. lin 26 c. of it of the Earth interposing obstructing and Interposing between the Sun andVs c. lin 30. equal to those of Day i. e. because they recover in Winter what they lose in Summer c.
appeal unto the whole world to determine which is the Right And if either All can agree upon or any One be found to have discover'd the Truâ—h I shall then admit the Academy to have been * 〈…〉 Saâ—ing 〈◊〉 â—o the Mâ—n Arrâ—â—ant Wherefore I may with Statius the Comedian in his Twins ‖ An 〈…〉 Crave beâ— beseech pray supplicate and implâ—re the Aid and Atteâ—tion of young and old gentle and simple not upon so Trifling an â—â—casion as was His Capital Villany of a Common Strumpâ—t's refuâ—ing her Punk'◠〈◊〉 for the g â— Turn she had done him but that they come mark and know how thâ—y are to conceive of * And 〈…〉 the usefulness of â—â—e Argument Religion Piety Sinâ—rity Ceremonies Faith Oaths Of Temples Altars Solemn Sacrifices nay and of the very * Divinations by Inspection of Birds The dissensions of the Learned upon This Topique again mâ—re particularly press'd in bâ—half of his â—aâ—ty Auspicia too of which I am President for all These refer to the Question in hand Now in very deed the Dissensions amongst the Learned concerning This Point doe not a little stagger even those that pretend to something of Certainty †The Occasion of the Dâ—spute And as I have observed This often so did I more especially note it in my friend Cotta's late accurate and elaborate Dispute upon this same subject of the Nature of the Gods For coming to him once upon his Message and Invitation on ‖ The last of March. Jupiter of Latium's Day I found him sitting in the * Exhedra a kind of Porch where Professors of Sciences us'd to exercise Hall discoursing with C. Velleius the Senator whom the Epicureans cry up for the ablest man of all the Latins C. Lucilius Balbus a Stoique hardly to be equall'd even among the Greeks being likewise present Cotta as I enter'd the Room told me I came in good time for that he was Then in Controversie with Velleius upon a weighty matter which considering the quality of my Studies was not improper for me to interest my self in It is indeed Lucky said I in meeting with Three Princes of * The Ferr considerâ—ble Sects were the Academiques Stoiques Perâ—patetiques and Epicureans Three Sects and were but †The Perâ—tatique M. Piso here too no Order of any repute would want a Patron Colta Reply'd If our Antiochus's Book which he lately presented to Balbus be in the Right there will not be any great need of That Gentleman for Antiochus is There of Opinion that the Differences betwixt the Stoiques and Peripatetiques are rather Nominal then Real And Balbus favour us with your Judgment of it Mine said he Why truly I 'm amaz'd that so quick-sâ—ghted a man as is Antiochus should not discern the Clashings between them to be much more considerable then he speaks of since the * The differences betwixt â—he Stoiques and â—â—tipatetiques First separate the Honest from the Profitable both in Name and Kind whereas the Other consound them in such sort as only to distinguish them in Degree and Value not in Substance So that it is not barely a slight disagreement of Words but a very great difference of Things But more of This at another time Now if you please to what we were upon With all my heart Return'd Cotta but First let me acquaint our New-comer looking upon Me that our subject was the Nature of the Gods A point Sir that now as ever appearing to me to be exceeding difficult and obscure I had prevail'd upon Velleins to report Epicurus's Thoughts concerning it and Sir added he howing to Velleius if it be not too much Trouble oblige us with a Recapitulation of what you have have already deliver'd I 'm Content Reply'd he thô this Person Smiling upon Me will not be my Second but yours you having both Learnt from the same †An Acadeâ—ique Philo not to be Positive in any thing My Return was that Cotta would answer for our Tâ—nets and that I came not to assist but impartially to hear bringing with me a mind wholly disengag'd from all obligations of a necessary to defend either this or â—other Opinion Veilâ—ius introduc'◠〈…〉 up the Opinions of Others concerning the divine Nature or Essence § 2. HEREUPON Velleius with as much assurance I must confess according to the wont of That Party as if he dreaded nothing more then to seem to Doubt of any thing and as if he had been just dropt thorough Epicurus's * Spices he phansied between Worlds Intermundia from the Council of the Gods Give ear said he then not to vain and devised Tales not to the Mechanical World-making God of Plato's †His Dialo gu so entitleâ— which treats of the Origen of the World and its Creator Timaeus not to that Conjuring old Gypsie of the Stoiques 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Providence nor yet to that Thinking and Feeling Round Fiery and Voluble Deity the World These being the Mormoes and Goblins of Dreaming rather then of Reasoning Philosophers ‖ He seeks by Radiculing of Plato to overthrew his assertion that the World was made by God For how should your Plato see God in the great * So Plato called the all surrounding Circle of the Air or Heavens Work-house he talks of giving fashion and shape to the Universe What Engins Tools Machins Beams Assistants were made use of in the Erection of so stupendious a Fabrick How came the Air Fire Water Earth all on a sudden to be subservient to the Will of the Architect Whence proceeded those Five Forms that he phansy'd to give being to all the Other and that jumpt so luckily for the fashioning of the Mind and production of the Senses It would be endless to run through All which indeed are generally of such a consideration as that they look more like things to be wish'd then to be found But his Master-piece is his suggesting the World to have been Created made I may say with Mortal hands and in the same breaâ—h pronouncing it to be Everlasting Can He pass but for so much as a Smatterer in Philosophy who shall conceipt any thing that had a Birth to be Eternal * His Argument agâ—iâ—g Plaâ—â—'s Eterâ—iâ—y of â—e Woâ—ld For what composition is there that is Indissoluble Or what that having once had a Beginning will not also have an Ending A Refutation of the Stâ—iques Providence As to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Providence if taking it Lucilius as you would have it I demand as e'en now I did of the Other the Tools Instruments the Model and Designation of the whole Work But if Otherwise why yet did she make the World Mortal and not as Plato's Divinity had done Everlasting And I do further require of you both how came it that these Globe-makers appear'd all on a sudden and that we should hear nothing of them for so long before †〈…〉 Times and 〈◊〉 For
it does not follow that if there was no World there were no Ages I do not mean such Ages as are made up of so many years and upon a computation of so many days and nights That could not be I grant without the Revolution of the Orbs But from Infinite Time there was a certain Eternity not confin'd to any Rules or Measures of Seasons Thô How it was we cannot understand no nor as much as imagine that a time there should be when no Time was ‖ Epicuruâ—â—s Argument against tâ—e Stâ—â—ques Providence there is no such because â—â—e must haue beeâ— Idle whâ—â— it wâ—s Impossible fâ—r her to have 〈…〉 Resolve me now Balbus why your Providence was Idle all so Immense a Space Was she loth to undergo so much Toyl Nothing of That kind could reach the God-head Nor in truth was there any in the Case seeing all Seminary Powers the Air Fire Earth Water are said to have obeyed the God of Nature And then wherefore was he ambitious of turning * Aâ—dilis an Officer amongst the Romans that had in charge to adorn the Temples and puâ—lique Spectacles City Surveyor as it were and garnishing the Firmament with Signs and Lights If for his own more commodious Habitation for an Infinite space before he dwelt it should seem in the dark as in a dungeon Moreover can we believe him to be Taken with That Variety wherewith we see Heaven and Earth to be imbellish'd What Entertainment can This be to Him Or if it were a delight he could not so long have been without it Or again were all These made as you still tell us for the use of Men Of Wise men only Truly a great Lumber of things for a very small Company Or of Fools First there could be no reason for his accommodating the Bad And further what could he hope to get by 't in regard Fools are confessedly the most miserable even in the very Notion of such For then Folly what can be more Deplorable And yet once more seeing there are such numberless Crosses incident to Human Life that a Wise man is Fain to temper them by his Vertues Fools on the contrary are neither able to avoid them at a distance nor to Bear them at hand Now for those that have bestow'd Sense and Reason upon the World it self He objects aâ—ainst thâ—sâ— who thâ—msâ—â—â— the World to be indu'd wiâ—h Reason they appear to be utterly Ignorant of the Nature of the Mind and what Forms it is possible for it to Actuate But These shall be spoken to by and by and I will now continue my admiration at the Heaviness of †The Platoniques c. them that will needs have it to be Animated Immortal and Happy and Round withal Which is a Figure to which Plato ascribes more then to any Other tho for my part I should as soon have given my Vote for the Cylinder Square Cone or Pyramid * Why the World could not be happy were it suâ—h a God â—s Pâ—ato pretends But what kind of Life do they appropriate to This Round Deity Why a being whirld about with an Incessant unimaginable Celerity With which Motion I do not see how Happiness and a steady Mind can be consistent A Motion the least exercise whereof upon Our Bodies is Painful why then may it not be alike Troublesome to Him too Nay the very Earth as part of the Universe must consequently be a Portion of the Deity But a great deal of This is barren and uninhabitable some of it scorcht with the over near approach of the Sun and some again by his too great distance harden'd and cover'd with Frost and Snow Wherefore if the Wâ—rld be a God and These Parcels of it some of his Limbs must necessarily be parcht and burnt others chill'd and benumb'd He now comes tâ— wâ—â—t mâ—re especially relaâ—es to the Stoiques and opposes to All the Principlâ—s of his own Sect. BUT I will now report and prove the quality of what you Lucilius are more directly concern'd in Beginning with the Last of the above-nam'd Elements ‖ He blames Thales fâ—r suppâ—sing the Mind to be able to livâ— without a Body câ—ntrary to the judgment of thâ— Epicurean and yet substâ—tutiâ—g 〈◊〉 Water as 〈◊〉 and so making the Deity to â—e Mâ—rtal as it wâ—re For Thales Milesius who was the first that searched into matters of This kind made Water the Original of all things and God to be That Wisdom which formed All things out of Water Now if the Deity can subsist abstracted from a Corporeal Sense or Nature why did he assign it a Watry one were the Mind it self able to live without a Body Anaximander phansy'd that the Gods were born and that after a long space of time they dy'd and that there were Innumerable Worlds * The Epicureans held God to be Eternal But how should we conceive the God-head to be other then Sempiternal Anaximanes was next who pronounc'd the Air to be God to be Generated Immense Uncircumscrib'd and in perpetual Motion †And â—â—aâ— he is â—f Human which they t ke 〈◊〉 be the mâ—st beautiful sâ—ape As if That which is absolutely void of Form could be a Divinity to whom must needs belong not Some only but the most Beautiful shape Or how should that which had a Birth be exempt from Dissolution Him Anaxagoras both follow'd and borrow'd of But yet he was the first that affirm'd the Model of Universal Nature to have been projected and perfected by the efficacy of an All-comprizing Intellect ‖ His Exceptions against Anaxagoras's Doctriâ—e are all Epicurean too Wherein he was not aware that to such an Incomprehensibleness there could be no Conjunction of any sensible Motion nor that there cannot be any sense at all where the Soul is not affected upon external Violence So that if he accounts upon this Intellect as something in the Nature of an Animal there ought to be some or other Existence yet more internal and within it from whence it might take a name But what can be more Inward then the Mind and therefore it is enclosed in an External Body This Doctrine will not go down with Him And * Epicureans We on the Other side are not able to apprehend how there can be any Soul separate from all material adjuncts †He was a Pythagorean Alemaeo of ‖ A famâ—us City of Calabria Crotoe in Deifying the Sun Moon Stars as also the Mind did as little consider that Thereby he attributed Immortality to Mortal Things Nor yet did * He haâ— a great many followers in this Opinioâ— Pythagoras who asserted the Essence of One Vniversal Soul included in and extended thorough all frail Beings and that Ours were still taken from it †Why the Wâ—rlâ—â— can have no Soul any more discern that in such a rending away of Human Souls the Deity it self could not but be dilacerated and that seeing our Minds were to
respect any of these can be deemed Happy a man can hardly Imagine Heraclides Heraclides's whiâ— sies â—isapprov'd of Pontus who came out of the same School has stuffed His Books with sundry Childish Fables One while he will have the Vniverse to be a God another an Intelligence and by and by the wandring Stars divests him of a †And therefore Ch ldish sensible Body and yet pretends his Form to be Variable In the same Books he also crouds the Air and the Earth into the number of the Deities So are Theophrastus's The Inconstancy of Theophrastus is not a whit more Tolerable for sometimes he attributes divine Prerogatives to the Mind Then to the Firmament and anon to the Planets and Celestial Constellations ‖ And alsâ— his Scholar Strato whâ—se Opâ—â—â—ns were mu h the same wiâ—â— Pâ—thagorâ—s'â— Nor yet does his Scholar Strato dignify'd with the Title of * For his grâ—at a 〈◊〉 to the Study of sâ—â—sible Nature Naturalist deserve more regard who makes the whole Divine Vertue to be seated in and diffused thorough Vniversal Nature and to occasion Birth Growth and Dissolution but withal to be void both of * And consequently of Prudence and Pleasure according to Their Doctrine Sense and Form BUT to return to your Friends He comes now to take the Stoicks themselves directly to task beginning with their Founder Zeno. Balbus Zeno was of Opinion that the Law of Nature was a Divinity capacitated to stir up good Desires and quell the contrary Thô how such a Law should come by Life we are as much to seek as we are assur'd that the Deity is Animated In another place the same Person Deifies the Fiery Circle of the Heavens Only there 's no conceiving of a God that understands nothing †He derides the Opinion we can have no notion of any such either in our Prayers Wishes or Desires In Other Books he makes a certain Impulse extended thorough all Natures to be divinely affected He attributes as much to the Stars also and to the Years Months and Seasons And in his Exposition of Hesiods Theogonia or Origination of the Gods he destroys the imprinted conceived Notions of the Deityes reckons not Jupiter Juno Vesta nor any of the rest that are of Vulgar Appellation in the number and teaches that those Names are in a certain respect to be affixt to things Mute and Inanimate Nor is his Scholar Arish any nearer the Mark Aristo blam'd too in phansying the Figure of the Gods to be Indiscernable that they are without ‖ Contrary to thâ— Opinion of the Epicureans As also Cleanthes Sense and doubting whether they have Life or no. Cleanthes who was a Hearer of Zeno at the same time with the Other First Deifies the World it self Then the Universal Mind and Spirit Next he pronounces for a most certain Deity That Highest Lowest All-surrounding and Embracing Heat which may be call'd the Firmament The same man Doating as it were in the Books he wrote against Pleasure One while holds the Gods to have a certain Form and Shape Then that the Stars are the Only Deities and at length that nothing is more Divine then Reason Thus that Great God whom we only know in Contemplation and take no other Impression of then in the Notion of the Mind Thus that God I say comes not to appear at all Persâ—us censur'd Perseus another of Zeno's Scholars teaches to reckon upon those as Deities who have been the Authours of any Invention beneficial to Human Life and to dignify the Profitable things themselves so found out with Divine Appellations intimating as if they were Gods in very deed rather then matters of Divine Institution Now what can be more absurd then either to attribute Divine Honours to things sordid and deform'd or to place in the Number of the Deities men long since Dead and Rotten for whom Tears and Mourning were the most proper sort of Adoration Crysippus's Opiâ—ions Reported and condemned As to Crysippus who is held to be the sharpest Interpreter of the Dreams and Dotages of the Stoiques he set up a great Company of Unknown Deityes and so wholly Unknown too that it is impossible to get any Information of them even so much as in Conjecture Thô one would think that a man might take any Figure into his Imagination First he makes the Divine Virtue to be plac'd in Right Reason and in the Mind and Spirit disfused thorough the whole Mass of Nature Then he Deifies the World and the Universal Effusion of its Soul Next the Power of That Soul influencing the Mind and Judgment By and by that Common Nature which contains and conjoyns all things Then again the Fatal and Dark Representation and Necessity of things to come as also the Fire and that which I before term'd the Sky or Firmament And Lastly those things which do naturally flow and persevere as the Water Earth Sun Moon Stars and that Supreme Circle which environs the whole World and such Men too as have acquir'd Immortality The same Person stickles for the Sky or Firmament to be him who is usually call'd Jupiter for That Air which glides thorough the Water to be Neptune and for the Earth to be Ceres after the sâ—me fashion interpreting and applying the Ordinary Names of all the Other Deities He avâ—râ— further that the Power of that Eternal Rule or Law which seems to be the Guide of our Lives and the sourse of Honest actions is also Jupiter and calls this Immutable Decree it self Fatal Necessity and the sempiternal verity of future Events But none of These seem to have any thing in them in the least expressive of a Divine Vertue Thus far his First Book touching the Nature of the Gods And it is the chief scope of his Second in such sort to accommodate to what he had deliver'd in his First the Fables of Orpheus Musaeus Hesiod Hâ—iner that the most ancient Poets who never dream'd of any such matter might seem to have been Stoiques He was of Seleucia a Town near Bâ—bylon and therâ—â—â— re he was call'd Babylonius Him Diogenes of Babylon imitating in the Treatise he entitles Of Minerva will not allow the Story of Jupiters Birth and the Rise of the Virgin to be a Fable but reduces it to Physiology That Fable is that upon Vulcan s cutting of Jupiter 's Head with an Ax a Little Armed Girl Minerva started out of it who Invented the Arts. The Pâ—ilâ—s â—her as muâ—â— Ouâ— upon This Sâ—bject an â—â—s Extravâ—gant â—â— the Poets Egyptians Mâ—â—â— and the Common People And thus have I run thorough most of the Dreams of Doaters rather then Judgments of Philosophers which truly come little short of the Fictions of the Poets that have poyson'd by their very suavity in Absurdity and Unreasonableness These having introduc'd their Gods raging with anger inflam'd with Lust and presented to our view their Feuds Brawls Skuffles Wounds as also their
* Another Simile to know the Lord of Nature When you behold a fair and stately House either you are not to be wrought into a Perswasion that it was built for Mice and Weasels even thô you see not the Master of it And would you not shew your self miserably Weak indeed then should you Compute upon so admirable an Appointment of the Universe so great a Variety and Beauty of Celestial things so mighty a Bulk and Power of Land and Water to be All matter only of Your Accommodation and not the Mansions of the Immortal Gods Is not This Plain enough also A Collation of Higher things with Lower to insinuate that Man's Mind derives from Abâ—ve and is Demonstrative of the Existence of a Deity that what is Higher is still more Perfect And that the Earth is Lowest of all and compass'd about with a very thick Air Whence as we observe it to fare in such sort with diverse Cities and Regions that the Wits and Faculties of the People are the Duller because of the Fogginess of the Climate the self same thing happens to Mankind in General for that they are plac'd upon the Earth which is the grossest Quarter of the World And yet from the force even of Human Policy may the Existence of a certain Wisdom and That more profound too and divine be presum d upon For Where as sayes Socrates in * Who represents Socrates teaching that it came from Above Xenophon did Man get This of his Moreover if any one ask how we come by that Humour and Warmth which is diffus'd through the Body that terrene solidness of â—arts and in short that Vital Spirit of ours it is manifest that some of These we deriv'd from the Earth some from the Water some from Fire and some again from the Air wherein we Breath But Then for That which far exceeds the Other Reason as I term it or in more Words if you please the Mind Vnderstanding Cogitation Prudence Where found we it Whence had we it †The World infer'd as upon a Consequence to be inâ—u'd with a Reason every way Compleat and Perfect Shall the World have all the rest and yet want This one thing which is of the greatest Value Unquestionably Nothing is and not only is but can so much as be imagin'd to be Better Fairer or more Excellent then the Vniverse And if Wisdom and Reason are most to be accounted of That which is confessedly the Best cannot but be indu'd with them The Harmonious Relation of Natural things urged in proof of a Deity How comes there to be so agreeable consentient and persevering an ‖ Natural Communication Alliance of things surely no man can deny what I say Could the Earth come to be cover'd ar one time with Flowers and at another with Ice and Snow Or the Approches and Retreats of the Sun be known amids such a Number of things that are in continual self-variation by the * In Capricorn and Cancer Solstices and Winter-seasons Or the †The Tides that by coming and going seem as it were to Breath Breathings of the Deep and Compressions of the Waters be mov'd by the Wax or Wain of the Moon Or yet the Different Courses of the Stars be maintain'd by the same Rolling of the whole Heaven That all This I say should come to pass that there should be so harmonious a Concert of all the Parts of the World amongst themselves could not certainly but be Impossible were they not bound up and contain'd by One Divine and Constant Spirit These things when handled in the free and distinct Method that I have in my Thought will be the less obnoxious to the Cavils of the * Who Quarrel'd all things Academiques Thô indeed at †The Founder of the Stoical Sâ—ct Zeno's scant and streight rate of Couching them they lye the more Open to Exception For as a Running Stream is seldom or never corrupted but standing Water easily So by a flowing Vein of Expression the Errours of the Reprehender are wash'd away whilst the Narrowness of a Pincht course of speaking is scarce able to ‖ Bâ— Reason of its Obscurity defend it self For Thus did Zeno Press all that I dilate upon Whatever Acts by Reason says he is to be prefer'd to that which does not But nothing is Better then the World Consequently it makes use of it By the same way of Reasoning may it also be prov'd to be Wise to be Blessed and to be Eternal For all these things being more Valuable then are those which want them and nought Preferable to the World it necessarily follows that it is a * That produces and conserves all things God And That Thus too No part of any thing that wants Sense can be Capable of Perception But some Parts of the Universe are Sensible Therefore is not the World destitute of sense He proceeds and urges yet more Closely * An Argument drawn fr m the Definition of Generation Nothing says he that has neither Sense nor Reason of its Own can generate what is qualify'd with Both But the World produces things indu'd with Life and Reason And Therefore it must needs it self be Animated and participate of Reason He also concludes the Argument with a Similitude as his Manner is Thus. If well-tun'd ipes are made out of the Olive-Tree it is not to be doubted but there is a certain Innate skill of Piping in the Tree it self Or if the Plane Tree produce good Fiddle-strings the Presumption is the same Viz. That a Natural Musical Virtue is inherent in those Plane Trees And why then may not the World be deem'd Animated and Wise when such as are indu'd with Life and Wisdom do come forth of it The First Topique The Existence of a Deity â—prâ—â—'d by Argumenâ—s drawn from Nature BUT since I am fall'n into a different way of Proceeding from what I spoke of in the beginning For I deny'd that this First Topique requir'd to have much said upon 't in regard every body could not but see that Gods there are I will confirm the Point it self by Arguments drawn from Nature For so it is that whatever is capable of Nourishment and Encrease contains within it an Efficacy of Natural Heat without which it could neither be Nourish'd nor Grow For things that are Hot and Fiery are agitated and impell'd by their proper Motion But such as are nourish'd and encreas'd are indu'd with a temperate and convenient Fervency which so long as it abides in us Sense and Life do remain also but when This is chill'd and extinguish'd we our selves are immediately put out and perish Now by Reasons much of a sort with These it is that our Cleanthes shews what a great proportion of Heat is inherent in all Bodies For he will not allow that there is any Food so gross as that it is not to be Digested within the compass of a Day and a Night and
Power Stirring up necessary Motions in all Bodies And Others That it is a Virtue partaking both of Reason and Order proceeding as it were in a Track and declaring what the Cause of every thing is and what the Effect Whose Skill no Art no Hand no Artist can attain unto by Imitation For as much as thô Seed be exceeding Small of it self yet is the Virtue of it so great that if it fall into a Nature proper for Conception and to contain it and get but matter whereby it may be sustained and encreased it so forms and fashions every thing in its respective kind that Some are nourish'd only by their Roots Others indu'd with Motion Sense and Appetite and a capacity out of Themselves to beget their Like Again there are yet Others also who apply the word Nature to every thing As Epicurus who Divides Thus All Natures that are says he do consist of a Body and a Void and the Accidents that accompany them * Nature according to the Stoiques consists of Orâ—er and Art But as for Our People when we say the World is supported and govern'd by Nature we do not understand after the manner of a Clod a scrap of a Stone or any thing of the like sort that is without a faculty of sticking together But of a Tree an Animal in which there appears nothing of Temerity but Order and a certain Resemblance of Art Now if those things which subsist by their Roots A Course of Argument to mâ—ke out that aâ—l things are subjected to and govern'd by Nature after an admirable manner do live and flourish by the skill of Nature The Earth it self is undoubtedly sustein'd by the same Art and Power of Nature as one that being Impregnated with Seeds produces and brings all things forth of her self embracing the Roots she augments them and is her self again nourish'd by higher and external Natures And by the * Exhalations expirations of the †i. e. The Earth same is the Air also fed the Sky and all the Stars Wherefore if the Earth be upheld and nourished by Nature the same Reason holds too for the rest of the World For Roots are fixt in the Earth Animated Beings are sustain'd by breathing the Air and the Air it self sees hears sounds together with Us for without it none of these could be done nay and it is mov'd with us too for wherever we stir where-ever we go it seems as it were to give place and to yield And whatsoever things are carried in the Middle which is the Lowest part of the World or from the Centre to the Superficies or by a round Conversion about the Middle all These do constitute One Entire Nature that holds the whole World together And whereas there are Four sorts of Bodies by the Vicissitude of Them it is that the Nature of the Universe is continu'd For the Water arises out of the Earth the Air out of the Water the Sky out of the Air And so backward again the Air proceeds from the Sky the Water from the Air and from the Water the Earth which is Lowest of all Thus by the moving upward and downward back and forward of These Natures whereof all things do consist is effected a Conjunction of the several Parts of the World Which must necessarily be either Sempiternal and of the self same Garniture and Appointment that we now see it to be Or certainly of an exceeding long standing and likely to remain for a great and almost Immense space of time Now whethersoever of these it be it follows yet that the World is administer'd by Nature For what sayl of Fleets what Embattlement of Armies Or on the Other hand to make a Collation of the things that Nature effects what shooting up of a Vine or a Tree Moreover what Figure of any Animated Being and Compaction of Members is significatory of so great skill of Nature as is the World it self Either there is nothing at all therefore that is govern'd by ‖ Sensibilis Sensitive Nature or it must be confess'd that the World so is For that which contains all other Natures and their Seeds how can it self but be administer'd by Nature If a Body should allow that Teeth and the Beard do proceed from Nature but not that the Man himself out of which these grow exists by the same Nature he could not be thought to understand that what produces any thing out of it self is of greater perfection then the thing so produc'd Now the * Which the Stoiques held to be Vniversal Nature and a Deity World is the Seedsman Planter Begetter as I may say and the Educator and Nourisher of all things that are administer'd by Nature and cherishes and sustains every one of them as its Parts and Members But if the Parts of the World be administer'd by Nature by Nature also cannot the World it self but be govern'd And indeed with the Administration thereof is no fault to be found For of those Natures that Were the Best that could be is effected Let any one shew how they might have been Better But That no body will ever be able to do And whoever would mend any thing in it will either make it worse or desire that which is not possible to he done But if all the Parts of the World are so constituted that they could neither have been more convenient for Use nor fairer to the Eye let us examine whether they be Casual or else in such a State that they were no way able to Cohere but under the Influence the Direction of Sense and a Divine Providence If then the things that are perfected by Nature are Better then such as are wrought by Art and that Art effect not any thing without the help of Reason Assuredly Nature her self is in no wise void of Reason How therefore can it be Proper when you cast your Eye upon an Image or a Picture to conclude that there went Art to the framing of it And upon Making at a great distance a Ship under Sail not to question its being Steer'd by Skill and Reason Or when you see a Clock either of Brass or of Water * Scipio was the First that Invented the Water-Clock in Rome to understand that the Hours are Told by Art not by Chance And yet to think the World which contains these very Arts themselves the Masters of them and all things to be destitute of Counsel and Reason Should any body carry the Sphere lately invented by our Intimate Friend Posidonius each Conversion whereof effects the same thing in the Sun the Moon and the Five Wandring Stars that in the Compass of every Day and Night is wrought in the Heaven into * They were accounted to be Barbarous Countries Scythia or Brittany what one even of those very Barbarians would doubt but there went Reason to the framing of it Whereas †The Epicureans c. Greek and Latin who appropriated all Learning and