m m vm&i • . * V ^■1 ^^^^^B PERKINS LIBRARY Duke University Kare Dooks 1 1 r //. /~revils y which he had innocently miftaken for a Pack of harmless Beagles. — But the whimfi- cal Diltreffes of the poor Ladies, gave me no fmall Diverfion. Sweet Mifs fenny , who has lavilh'd away more Kiffes upon her favourite Cat, than the would beftaw upon the befl Man in the Parifh, felt fome compunction within herfelf, that fhe had been wantonly, and almofl malicioufly, throwing away thofe Careffes upon an evil Spirit, which many a good Chriftian would have been glad of. Dear Mifs Harriot had the fame regret for her beloved Monkey, and poor Dolly for her Parrot j and refolved, one- and-all, never to hold commerce or correfpon- dence with evil Spirits for the future, in what- ever amiable Shape or Figure they might ap- pear; which, I apprehended, could end in nothing lefs ( 3) lefs than an intire destruction of all the favourite Domefticks of the Family ; whilfl you, with a chearful compofure of Mind and Countenance, infeparable from good Nature and good Senfe, fat fmiling at the empty Harangue of the Ora- tor, and the fantaftical Sufferings of the Au- dience. Well! home I went, full of this abfurd, un- philofophical Scheme, wondering how my learn- ed Friend, who, with very moderate Talents, af- fects to be thought a very great Scholar, and profound Philofopher, could ever fall into this uncommon way of thinking. But as I chanced a few days after to ftrole into a Bookfeller's Shop, I fpyed a little Pamphlet lying upon the Counter, entitled, A Philofophical Amufement^ concerning the Language of Birds and Beafts. Written originally in French by Father Bou- geant, a learned Jefuit, &c. I quickly per- ceived where my learned Friend had pick'd up his new Philofophy, from what Fountain all this profound Erudition was drawn. The ho- neft Man has a very prepofterous Ambition to be famous ; and as he is confcious that he has no chance to attain any degree of Diftinclion from the proper and regular uie of his intellec- tual Faculties, he therefore attempts a nearer cut to Fame, by engaging the Attention of the Un- learned to fomething that has a new and mar- vellous Appearance : This has given him an itch after Novelty, and an affection for un om- mon Notions, more than common Senfe. No wonder, therefore, he was immedhtely ibuc'c B 2 with (4) with this furprizing Sentiment, which he re- folved to put off at the next Tea-table for his own, alluring himfelf, that neither the Ladies, nor myfelf, (whofe Obfcurity he heartily defpifes) mould ever find him out, but admire him for a moft profound Philofopher. I took my Pam- phlet home with me, and read it over and over, with the greateft Care and Candour ; and upon the whole muft needs fay, that I mould never have fufpected the Author (ifhehadnot told us fo himfelf) to be a Jefuit, much lefs a Famous 'Jefuit. He has done no credit to his Order ; the Gentlemen of that Society owe him but little Thanks j they generally acquit them- felves much better upon any Subject they un- dertake. He has treated a noble Subject loofe- ly and fuperficially, to fay no worfe ; for I might add, idly and profanely ; and had I been his proper Superiour, I mould have changed his Con- finement at ha Fleche, for a more proper Ha- bitation at Moorfields. But this (fay you) is libelling without Proof, condemning at random : Let us come to Particulars ; make good your Charge, mew us, if you can, the Defects of his Scheme, and try if you can flrike us out a better. With all my heart, Madam. But before I pro- ceed to a more particular Examination of his Scheme, I muft freely acknowledge, that there are a great many juft and fprightly things fcat- tered up and down through his whole Perfor- mance ; but favouring more of the vivacity of the Frenchman, than the piety and folidity of a Chri- itian (5) ftian Philosopher. He juStly and fmartly ridi- cules the unintelligible trumpery of Mechanifm, InStinct, Substantial Forms, and what not of the Arijlotelian and Cartefian Philofophy, which, like occult qualities, are hard Words without a Meaning, intended only as a thin difguife for Ignorance and Affectation : But what has he ad- vanced in the room of them ? Why, Something equally abfurd, but not equally innocent ; Some- thing mocking to a Philofopher, and offensive to a Chriftian, in direct contradiction to Reafon and Revelation, as I Shall endeavour to make ap- pear. Nor is he lefs offenfive in point of Delica- cy, his Ideas and Sentiments are often fo low, his Images fo indecent, his Expreffions fo coarfe, as could hardly be expected from a polite French* man, and an EccleSiaStic to a fine Lady, whom, at the fame time, he feems to eonSider as a Per- fon of Difcernment and Distinction. Let us now follow him his own way. His SirSt Chapter is Of the TJnderflanding of Brutes. He begins with this Question ; Have Brutes any Underjianding ? I am convinced (fays he) that you will not Jo much as heft ate upon this Quejlion : farely prefuming She would anfwer in the Affirmative, and as I dare venture to affirm that his fair Correfpondent had not a better Understanding than mine, I will venture to pre- fume the fame for you. An Underjianding they certainly have of fuch a kind or degree, at leait as is furHcient for their State and rank in the univerial (6) univerfal Syftem, and the feveral duties and of- fices for which they were intended by their Creator. Lefs than this I think cannot be faid, and who prefumes to fay more ? Though I have known many an honeft Fellow that made a good figure in his Neighbourhood, who yet has hardly difcovered more Reafon, a better Under- standing, or half fo much Virtue as the Bead he rode on. Take any Man of a plain, natural good Underflanding without the prejudices of Philofophy, and propofe the fame Queflion to him : I dare fay he would flare at you, and think you were bantering him ; or if he thought you were in earneft, he would not fo much as de- mur upon it. In fhort, however we may af- fect to puzzle ourfelves or others with learned Objections proceeding from downright Igno- rance, we all own it, we prefume upon it, as a firfl Principle, we reafon upon it, and act agree- ably, as we make it an unerring Rule to di- rect us in the Treatment and Management of our domeftick Animals 5 this it is that guides us in the education of our Dogs and Horfes, to train them up by Correction and Difcipline to the feveral Offices for which they are intended, and the Services which we expect to receive from them. This it is that directs us to carefs and reward them when they do well, and to correct and punifh them, when they are vicious and difobedient. Did we conlider them as meer Machines, as Creatures that had no Senfe, Un- derflanding, or Reflection ; this Conduct would be as abfurd and ridiculous, as it would be to carefs (7) carefs and reward your Clock or your Watch for going well, or correct and punifh them with a Whip or Cudgel for going wrong. On the other hand, we difcover in Brutes plain and evi- dent marks of Senfe and Underftanding. They are fenfible what we do to them, and what they do to us. When for inflance I fee a Dog haftening to me when I call him, carefs me when I ftroke him, tremble when I rate him, run away from me when I beat him : nay, fur- ther, when I fee him reflecting and reafoning upon my Conduct towards him, I muft con- clude he is acted by fome higher Principle than meer Mechanifm. Be pleafed, Madam, to try this Experiment with your beloved Veny, (though upon fecond Thoughts he has been too much and too long a Favourite to apprehend any danger from your Hands,) or call any other Dog of the Family, whofe Hunger may make him leap at a good Morfel, fhew him a Piece of Meat in your Left Hand, and hide your Right Hand behind you, and fee how he will behave ; efpe- cially, if he knows he has been guilty of a Fault, or been rated or punifhed for fome Mif- demeanour. He will either not come near you at all, unlefs urged by the violence of his Hun- ger, or approach you with the utmoft Diffidence and Caution : for thus I hear him reafoning with himfelf ; Surely, this is not the Hand that ufed to feed me, and why is that other Hand hid from me f That Hand, from which I have received many afore Stripe, when I have offended, has now, I fear 7 fome Jeer et Vengeance, fome Whip, or Cudgel (8 ) Cudgel in Jlore for me, if 1 get within the reach of it ; I will therefore prefer the Dogs Portion of Hunger and Eaje, before Lajhes and Stripes, and broken Bones. Ay ! and he is much in the right, he reafons well, and difcovers more Senfe and better Logic than many a ftupid Puppy with two Legs, who lives at random, who pur- fues every appearance of Pleafure, gratifies every Appetite, fubmits to every demand of Luft or Fancy, without Thought or Reflection, and rufhes with his Eyes open into certain Difeafes, Beg- gary and Damnation. Now then if the Senfes and Perceptions of Brutes be Co quick and lively, if from thofe Perceptions they never fail to draw juft and rational Conclufions, and to make a prac- tical Ufe of them for the preventing Pain, or procuring Pleafure, if by the different Motions and Geftures of their Bodies, or Sound of their Voice, they exprefs their different Sentiments of Joy and Sadnefs, of Pain or Pleafure, of Fear and Defire, of Love or Hatred j I cannot help con- cluding from thence, that they have in them fome Principle of Knowledge and Sentiment, be it what it will. Now, were all the Philofo- phers in the world to affert and maintain the Cartefian Opinion of their being Machines, there is fome ftrong inward Conviction in every fenfible unprejudiced Mind that gives them the lye, tho' we were not able to confute their AfTertion, nor defend our own ; and furely nothing but the Vanity of a Frenchman could ever expect that fo abfurd a Scheme could pafs upon a learned World for ibund Reafon and true Philofophy. 3 For (9) For my own part, I could as fbon expect to fee Gallantries between a couple of amorous Clocks or Watches, or a Battle betwixt two quarrel- forae Windmills. The Notion of Injlinff, though not fo pal- pably abfurd,is equally obfcure, unneceffary, and ufelefs for all the great ends and purpofes which it is intended to ferve. They who uie it, do not pretend to define k, to mew us its real Nature, or wherein it confiits, they feem only to fpeak of it as a blind Impetus, and unknown Impulfe; a kind of Mechanical Neceffity, by which we are in a manner compelled to perform fuch and fuch Actions, without being able to know or ex- plain the Reafons for fo doing. By this, they pretend to account for many wonderful Ope- rations and Effects in the almoft infinite Variety of Species through the Brute-Creation, fuch as, for inftance, all forts of Birds building their Nefts in exact uniformity of Model and with the fame Materials, all the various Methods of Cure that both Birds and Beafts have recourfe to when they are any ways indifpofed or wound- ed ; this it is, they fay, that teaches the Spar- rows to purge themfelves with Spiders and other Infects 5 this teaches Birds to i wallow Gravel to facilitate their Digeftion ; this teaches the Dog with a furfeited Stomach to run to a particular kind of Grafs to procure a Vomit ; to this we owe all the excellent and wonderful Operations to be found among Beafts and Birds, Reptiles and Infects j many of which feem to exceed the C higheft ( io ) higheft Improvements of human Reafon and Invention. But why mutt all this be owing to lnftinct ? Since we cannot refufe them a know- ing Faculty, why mould we give them a need- lefs lnftinct? Thefe wonderful Operations may be, for ought we know, the fimple Effects of their Underftanding : and fince it is folely in confe- quence of a knowing Faculty, that Man performs the fame Operations, why mould not the fame Principle alfo rule in the Brutes ? And where would be the Herefy of believing or affirming, that thofe Actions which Brutes are fuppofed to per- form by meer Inft inct, are performed in confe- quence of their Underrtandings, with Under/land- ing and Reafon ? Is fuch a thing impoffible ? Does either Reafon or Revelation forbid it ? Are they not equally poffible to their Omnipotent Creator? And can any reafonable Doubt be made, whe- ther they were not endued with every Perfection that their Rank in the Scale of Beings required ? And would it not be a great Imperfection to want the means of knowing and procuring what- ever was rcquifite in the common Order of Nature, for the Prefervation of the Individuals and the Propagation of the Specks ? And fince it cannot be denied that every Species of Beings have that power, I fee rjpthing abfurd or un- philofophical in fuppofmg, that the All-wife and Omnipotent Author of Nature lias given each of them fuch Faculties as are proportion- able to their Wants and Capacities, and the part they fill in the univerfal Syitem. Is there ei- ther Abfurditv or Herefy in fuppofing, that the fame ( M ) lame infinite Power that could form the Body of the moft minute Infect, with fuch exquifite Proportion and Beauty, could at the fame time, with the fame eafe, provide a proper Inhabitant to animate and govern it, and anfwer all the purpofes of its Creation ? He that can think other- wife, mult have been either a very ignorant or a very indolent Obferver of Nature. The Scrip- tures directly call this Knowledge by the name of Wifdom, Prov. xxx. 24. There be four Things that are little upon Earth, but they are ex- ceeding wife. The Ants are a People notftrong, yet they prepare their Meat in the Summer. The Conies are b?/t a feeble Folk, yet they make their Houfes in the Rocks. The Locufts have no King, yet go they forth all of them by Bands. The Spider taketh hold with her Hands, and is in King's Palaces. Holy fob fuppofes the fame thing, that the whole Brute-Creation aft by Wifdom and Underftanding, of fuch a Kind and Degree as is proper for their State and Condi-, tion in the Scale of Beings. Thus Ch. xxxix. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. fpeaking of the Gftrich, he obferves, that jke leaves her Eggs in the Earthy and warms them in the Duft, and for- gets that the Foot may crujh them, or that the wild Be aft may break them. She is hardened againft her young ones, as though they were not hers, her labour is in vain without fear, becaufe God hath deprived her of Wifdom, neither hath he imparted to her Underftanding. The Fact is alferted by all Travellers, that the Otrich leaves her Eggs in the Sand to be haterfd by C 2 u.e I 12 ) the Sun, which unnatural difregard for her Off- fpring is fo remarkable, that when they fee a Mo- ther who has little Tendernefs for her Chil- dren, they compare her to an Oftrich ; to which the Prophet 'Jeremiah alludes in his Book of Lamentations, ch. iv. 3. 'The Daughter of my People is become cruel, like the Oftriches in the Wilder nefs. In fhort, the Oftrich is allowed, on all hands, to be a very ftupid foolilh Bird, deftitute of that Prudence and Caution which are viiible in every other Family of Infects, Birds, and Beafts ; for it is particularly obferved in her, that when (he is purfued by the Hunters, fhe runs to hide her Head, and particularly her Eyes behind a Tree, all the reft of her large Body is expofed to view ; but as fhe no longer iees the Hunter, fhe wifely imagines he does not lee her, and that therefore fhe has no danger to apprehend. Now this whole abfurd and ridiculous Conduct, the infpired Writer afcribes to her want of that Wifdom, Under (landing and common Scnfe, which are to be found in every other Species of Beings, for the Production and Prefervation of their feveral Families. Becaufe God hath deprived her of Wifdom, neither hath he imparted to her Under /landing, v. 17. Were we now to extend our Enquiries to the Polity, Architecture, and Oeconomy of Bees and Wafps, and all the other Tribes and Families of In- fects, we fliould find them in many refpects excellent Monitors to the Bulk of Mankind. " * The Beehive, for in fiance, is a School to " which * Spectacle dc la Nature, Did. ;.p 135. ( '3) " which numbers of People ought to be fent. * c Prudence, Induftry, and Benevolence, pub- Brutes ; but, for fear of allowing them imma- terial, and confequently immortal Souls, he fre- quently infinuates, that Thought, Rationality, or Reflection, is not the abfolute Privilege of immaterial Beings, but may be communicated by the Power of God to certain Portions of Matter, differently modified, and confequently that Matter exalted to a certain degree of Puri- ty, may be as capable of Reafon and Reflection, as an immaterial Spirit. And in his Difpute with the Bilhop of Worcejier, who juftly charged him with this unphilofophical Notion, he was re- duced to a neceffity of afferting it in plain and exprefs Terms, and of putting all his Philofophy to the utmoft ftretch, to reconcile it to Reafon and common Senfe ; which, I humbly conceive, is abfolutely impomble. Yet he frequently and directly afferts the Pofiibility of Thinking Mat- ter, allowing to his material Animal Senfe, Per- ception, Reafon, fpontaneous Motion or Volition, which, one would imagine, that nothing but Vanity, an Itch of Singularity, or a Defire of Victory, could ever have extorted from fo great and excellent a Perfon : and I cannot pafs it by without fome little Examination, for which I fhall offer at no Apology to a Lady of your in- quifitive Genius, and fuperior Underftanding, di- rected folely by Reafon and the Nature of Things, without the Prejudices of vulgar Errors, or the Subtilties of Philofophy, falfely fo called. The moft obvious Idea we have of Matter, is of an cxte7ided impenetrable, folid Subftance, nn- capable of moving itfelf or of being moved, but bv ( >7) by the Agency and Imprejjion of jome fuperior^ external, aSlive Caufe ; from whence it will un- avoidably follow, that mere Matter, however modified, exaltedj or purified, will be as un- eatable of Self-motion > as it was in its loweft ftate of Denlity, or Depreffion ; and confequent- ly cannot, by any Power, bs tranfmuted, or fub- limated into a lining, felf-moving Subftance j from whence it follows, that all Gravity, At- traction Eiafticity, Repulfion, and whatever Tendencies to Motion are obferved in Matter, and commonly called natural Powers of Matter, are not Powers implanted in Matter, or poffible to be made inherent in it j but are intirely owing to lbme Impulfe, or Force impreffed upon it from external Caufes. And the moft that can be faid, is; that Matter is indeed fufceptible of Motion, or capable of being moved, but that the Motion itfelf mud proceed from fome external Caufe, totally diftincl: from, and fuperior to Matter. Mr. Locke, therefore, had very little Reafon to be fo peremptory in his Difpute with the Biihop of Worcejler, about the Polfibility of Thinking Matter 5 where, to prove it poffible, he fays, Vol. 2. p. 144. Edit. 171 5. for example^ God creates an extended jblid Subftance, without fu» per adding any thing elfe to it, and fo we may confider it at reft ; to Jhme parts of it hefuper- adds Motion, but it has fill the E ) fence of Matter. Other parts of it he forms into Plants, with all the Excellencies of Vegetation, Life, and Beauty, which is to be found in a Ro/e or a F * each-tree ', above the EJfence of Matter in general, but it is D Jli.l ( 18 ) • fill but Matter : To other parts he adds Senfe, or fpontaneous Motion, and thqfe other Properties that are to be found in an Elephant. Hitherto it is not doubted but the Power of God may go -, but ij we venture to go one Step further, and fay t God may give to Matter Thought, Reajbn, and J 'olition, as well as Senfe and fpontaneous Motion, there are Men ready to limit the Power of the Omnipotent Creator, and tell us he cannot do it ; becauje it dejlroys the E fence, or changes the ef- Jential Properties of Matter , 6cc. Well ! and a very good Reafon it would certainly be ; for Om- nipotence itfelf cannot produce Impoffibilities, cannot effect Contradictions, cannot make the fame Thing to be, and not to be, at the fame time ; cannot make a Subftance, which, as folidly extended, muft refill: all Change of State, become (while it continues unactive and dead) Life, Senfe, and fpontaneous Motion ; for that is directly affirming, that the fame Portion of Matter, which is unactive, dull, and dead, may be at the fame time living, fenfible, and fpontaneoufly moving. To fay the truth, his Zeal to fupport his Argument, and confound his Adverfary, has thrown him into fuch In- coniiftencies of Thought and Expreffion, as could never have proceeded from cool and fo- ber Reafon. For Inftance, where he fays above, To fome parts of Matter , God fuper adds Motion, but it has ft ill the E fence of Matter. What does he mean by faying, // has Jlill the Effence of Matter ? Does he mean, that Motion has the EiTence of Matter, or is effential to it, or a Mode of ( 19 ) of it : Neither of thefe could be his Meaning } he could only mean, that that Portion of Mat- ter to which Motion is fuperadded, has ftill the EfTence of Matter. Who doubts it ? And therefore is intirely diftinct from the Motion fu- peradded, which is really and truly nothing lefs than an Emanation or Impreilion from the Ori- ginal and Eternal Fountain of Life and Power j and, confequently, intirely diftinct from Matter. If Solidity, Inactivity, and Refinance, be the effential Properties of Matter, it will unavoida- bly follow, that all thofe Effects commonly af- cribed to certain natural Powers redding in Mat- ter, are immediately produced by the Power of an immaterial Being, who firil created this dead Subftance Matter, originally impreffed, and ftill continues to impreis Motion upon it. Now whatfoever begins Motion where it was not, and flops it where it was, that effects a Change from Reft to Motion, and from Motion to Reft, and that arbitrarily, can never be Matter, whole ef- fential Property it is necefTarily to reiift all change of its State, either of Reft or Motion. I therefore conclude, that whatever Principle or Being can arbitrarily effect a Change of the pre- fent State of Reft or Motion, in that Portion of Matter which compofes the Body of any Ani- mal, cannot be the Matter of the Body itfelf, which necefTarily refifts or oppofes all change of its prefent State, and therefore muft be conclu- ded to be an active, immaterial, and ipiritual Subftance, which, without any violence to Phi- lofophy, we may venture to call a Soul. Pardon D 2 me, ( 20 ) me, Madam, for leading you into this intricate dry Speculation ; my Subject led me into it, and requir'd fome little Examination in this place. Some further Considerations upon this Subject, and the Reverend Father's deviliih Contrivance to account" for all animal Functions and Opera- tions, without allowing them to have Souls, we {hall defer to a more proper Place, and proceed to the next Head of Inquiry. JL Of the Necejjity of a Language between Brutes. Ry Language we are not only to understand a Sequel of articulate Sounds, by which Men have agreed to exprefs their Ideas and Sentiments to each other, but any fort or kind of inarticu- late Sounds, Geftures, or Motions, by which, in the feveral Tribes and Families of the Brute-Cre- ation, the Individuals communicate their Senti- ments, their Wants, their Defires to each other : and thele are, no doubt, as different as the Spe- cies themfelves, and as expreffiva and fignifi- c mt to them as our moft articulate Sounds can b: to us. Of this there can be no manner of doubt, efpecially among thofe that live in fo- ciety, as particularly Pigeons, Rooks, Swal- lows, and Storks among Birds ; Bees and Ants among Infects ; and particularly the Beavers among Beafts j and no doubt but there mud be the fame among Fifhes, thofe efpecially which at certain Seafons remove in Shoals to different parts of their Element. All, and each of tbefe, fpeak, ( » ) fpeak, undoubtedly, a Language proper and pe- culiar to their Species, which are as expreffive and intelligible to them, as our Language is to us ; and may, not improperly, be. called the dif- ferent Dialects of the Language of Nature. Our Author, in the midft of this Inquiry, has tlropp'd an Expreffion which I cannot under- ftand, as having no apparent relation to his Sub- ject, or any Connection with what goes before, or follows after. Page 27, He fays , Angels /peak to each other, yet have no Voice. How bold, how crude, how unphilofophical is this Expref- iion ? Have Angels a Voice to fpeak to us, and none to fpeak to one another ? Did he never read of the Converfation of Angels with the Patriarchs and Holy Men of the Old Tejlament ? Of the Angel Gabriel delivering a Meffage from God to Zacharias, concerning the Birth of John the Baptift, Luke i. and another to the BlefTed Vir- gin, concerning the Incarnation of our Lord Jefus Chrift? Did he never read otthe Voice of the Archangel } 1 ThefT. iv. 16? If he only means, that they have not a Voice like us, articu- lated by the Organs of the Human Body, and different Modulations of the Air ; who difputes it ? But is this fufficient to juftify him in faying they have no Voice ? Does he allow a Voice, or fomething equivalent to it, to the loweii Orders of Brutes and Infects, and will he allow none to the higheft Orders of intellectual Beings ? How furprizing, how unaccountable is this ? Surely he had as mean an Opinion of the good Senfe of the ( 22 ) the fine Lady to whom he was writing, as he had a good one of his own. But to return : He obferves, very juftly, that we have a thou- fand ways of expreiling our Pafiions, our Senti- ments, our Hopes and Fears, our Defnes and Wants, our Joys, or Sufferings, without the Me- diation of Words. When we are pleafed (fays he, pag. 23.) everything in us /peaks : Do we not continually /peak by certain Looks, by a Mo- tion of the Heady a Gejlure, nay the leafl Sign in the World? Ay ! and when we are difpleafed or angry, we can as eafily make ourfelves under- stood by Looks and Geftures, as by the plaineft: and moftexpreflive Language. How often have I feen thofe lovely Eyes of yours rebuking, with unutterable Eloquence, the aiTuming Coxcomb, and the malicious Prude, into Silence and good Manners ? How many melting AddrefTes have you received from the Eyes of your languilhing Admirers, who had neither Courage nor Merit enough to addrefs themfelves in any other Lan- guage ? In Short, languishing modeft Lovers re- ferable a Nation or Society of dumb People, who are never at a lofs for a Set of Significant Looks, Motions, and Geftures, to fupply the want of Words, and Defect of other Expreffions; and which form a Language as expreffive and intel- ligible to them, as the molt articulate Language in the World can be to other People. Now can any one reafonably doubt, whether the Brute- Animals have the Power and Means of doing the fame ? It is, I think, undeniable, that they have all a knowing Faculty -, but to what pur- pofe (*3 ) pofe can wc fuppofe the all-wife Author of Na* ture has given them this Faculty, but to enable them to provide for their Wants, their Preferva- tion, and whatever is fit for their Condition, and fuitable to the peculiar kind of Life he has ap- pointed for them. Let us, moreover, confider that many Species of Birds, Beafts, and Infects are made to live in Society at large, and others to live in a kind of domeftic Society, Male and Female cohabiting together, in a kind of Family, for the Education of their Young-ones. Now, do but confider what Uie could the rirft Species make of their Understanding, for the Preferva- tion and Welfare of their Society, and of courfe for their own peculiar Good, arifing from the publick Profperity, if the Members of that Soci- ety have not among themfelves a common Lan- guage perfectly known to every one of them ? What Uie could they make of their Knowledge and Underftanding, if they had not fome Me- thod of communicating their Knowledge, Ad- vice, and Afliftance, to each other ? If they could not underftand, or be underftood by each other, they could neither give nor receive any Comfort, Afliftance, or Help from Society, and without fuch a Communication it would be ab- folutely impoflible for fuch a Society to fubfift j in a word, no more Communication, no more Society. For the better underftanding the Necefiity of this Communication, let us take a nearer View of thofe particular Families among the Beafts, Birds, and Infects, that feem moft to want i and ( H) and to life it, thofe I mean that live in So- ciety. Among the Beafts, we will particularly confider the Beaver, who for his lingular Saga- city, Patience, Indufby, and Skill in Architec- ture, feems to excel all the quardruped Fami- ly. * " The Beaver is a Creature particular- *' ly remarkable for the ufe made of his " Skin, but moll of all, for the Dexterity with <{ which he builds his Habitation. The Beaver,' " whether Male or Female, has four Bags un- <{ der his Inteftines, impregnated with a reii- •' nous and liquid Subftance, which when it is " ejected fettles into a thick Confidence, of which <£ he makes a lingular ufe in the building his c£ Habitation. The Phyficians call it Caftor i m out of the reach of Danger, and when they are deftitute of Force, Ltagem, and Cunning, fupply the want of the common and ordinary Means of their Prefer- m. This is very wondcrf.il ; but our Wonder in- creafes, when we attentively confider the diffe- rent Organs and Implements with which each of them work in tm: r fcveral Proteilions: Some fpin, and have a couple of Diitaff , and Fingers to form their Thread ; others make and Lawn, and for thut purpofe are provided with Shuttles, and Clues of Thread. There are fome o build in Wood, and are therefore fup- plied with two Bills for cutung their Timber. Others make Wax, and have their Shops iith'd with Rakers, Ladles, an,d. Trowels. ■\ or them hive a Trunk, more wonderful jor it'; [ than the Elephant's, and rich to fome ferves for an Alembic for the ..illation ( 37) diilillation of a Syrup Man cm never imitate ; to others it perform; the Odice of a Tongue; many employ it as a Drill for piercing, and the generality of them ufe it as a Reed for Suction. Several, vvhofe Heads are fortified with a Trunk, a Saw, or a couple of Pincers, carry in the other extremity of their Bodies an Augur, which they" lengthen and turn at discretion -, ana by that means dig commodious Habitations for their Families in the Heart of Fruit:, under the Bark of Trees, in the Subftance of Leaves or (jeijis, and frequently in the hardeft Wood itfelf. There are few who have excellent Eyes, but have likewife an additional Benefit of a couple of Horns, or Antenna, that defend them ; and as the Animal moves along, efpecially in the dark, make a tryal of the Way, and difcover by a quick and delicate Senfation, what would de- file, drown, or endanger them 3 and if they find thefe Horns moiftened by any orTenfive Liquor, or bend by the Refiftance of a folid Body, the Animal is warned of the Danger, and turns another way. Now all thefe Motions, even of the minuteil Animals, however accidental or capricious they may appear to us, are as really directed to a certain End, as thole of the largeft Bein2^ : we mall find all the Sagacity and Can- ning we admire in a Fox, for chufing himfelf an advantageous Kennel, providing ior himfelf and his Family the NecefTaries of Life, and avoid- ing the Snare of the Gin, and the Perfecution of the Hunter : The fame Induftry with which we fee a Bird build itfelf a convenient Neft, pro- vide ( 33 ) vide for the Subfifrence of itfelf and Young-onest and elude the Snares of the Fowler; you will find the fune Care, the fame Sagacity, actua- ting the fmalleft Infect for the Prefervation of itfelf and its minute Pofterity. The Parent is feldom, or never, deceived in the natural Choice of Means for its own Prefervation, or the Se- curity and Education of its Young-ones. Dif- folve a Grain of Pepper in Water, you may difcover by the help of a Microfcope, Worms of an incredible Smallnefs, fwimming in the Fluid. The Parent, who knows this to be their proper Nourifhment, never lays her Eggs in any othtr Place. Look through a Microfcope at a Drop of Vinegar, there you will difcover a num- ber of little Eels, and never any other Animals, becaufe one particular Creature knows, that Vi- negar, or the Materials that compound it, is pro- per for her Family, and therefore depofits them cither in that Matter, or in the Liquor itfelf, and no where elfe. -f In thofe Countries where the Silk-worm feeds at large in the Fields, her Eggs are only to be found on the Mulberry- tree : 'tis eafy to fee what Intereft determines her to that Choice. You will never find up- on a Cabbage any Eggs of the Caterpillar that eats the Willow ; nor fee upon the Willow the Eggs of any Caterpillar who feeds upon Cab- bage. The Moth feeks for Curtains, Woollen Stuff, drefs'd Skins, or even Paper, becaufe its Materials are Fragments of Cloth, which have loft the bitter Flavour of Hemp, by the work- -r Spectacle de la Nature. Di*L :. f »9« ing (39) ing of the Paper-mill. In fhort, every Species of Animals, from Man the Lord of the Creation, to the minuteft Infect that the naked Eye, or the Microfcope can difcover, act with Regularity and Uniformity, with all the Marks of Wifdom, Sa- gacity, and Prudence, within their feveral Spheres of Action, for the Prefervation of their Being, the Propagation of their Species, and anfwering the feveral Ends and Purpofes of Providence in their Creation, and the Rank which they hold in the Syftem of Nature. But what am I doing ! ——Pardon me, Madam, my Purfuit of this copious and delightful Inquiry, has led me off from the main Queftion I propofed to con- fider, which was, the Necemty of fome Lan- guage, fome Means of communicating the Sen- timents, Wants, Inclinations, and Defires of the Individuals of every Society and Family, in order to confult and provide for the Safety and Happineis of the whole. The mutual Wants of Society, the Care and Education of a Fa- mily, muft be in fome fenfe, and to a certain degree, the fame in all Societies and Families of Birds and Beafts, Reptiles and Infects, as well as of Men ; and without fome kind of Lan- guage, fome Method of Communication, thofe Wants could never be known, nor thole Ne- ceflities effectually fupplied. All Creatures, there- fore, that live in fociety, who divide the feveral Duties and Offices of that Society among the In- dividuals, who appoint to every Member their diftinct- Offices, t&eir peculiar Pods, their parti- cular Provinces, muft of neceffity have fome Lan- guage, ( 4-0 ) gaage,. be it what it will, iince, without thi5 Help it is quite impoflible for any Society to fub- fill. Now, tho' all Animals do not incorporate in large Societies, yet all have Families, domellic Engagements, Cares, and Neceffities, which re- quire mutual Help and Afliflance, and by con- fequence a certain Language, by which their mu- tual Wants, Inclinations^ and Neceilities may be difcovered and made known to each other j (o that every Species of Animals feem to have the fame want of a Language, of fome kind or ano- ther, as thofe which live in great Societies : for as all Societies are but AfTociations of Families or Individuals, whatever infers the Neceffity of a Language in one cafe, infers it equally in all. It would be hard to affign a Reafon why Na- ture, or rather the all- wife Author of Nature, who always ads uniformly, fhould deny fome of them a Privilege he has granted to the reft. It is a general Obfervation that all the Productions of Nature are uniform, that as me is fparing in Superfluities, fo fhe is rather profufe in things necelfary, and upon the whole does nothing in vain : but is it not neceffary that a Couple of Animals, joined to form a Houfhold and Fa- mily together, a Couple of Birds for in fiance, mould be able to underftand, and mutually to impart their Sentiments and Thoughts to each other ? Let us return to the old Supposition of two People abfolutely dumb, living together in the fame Floufe, without the Atliitance of any other Perfon ; I defy the Union to fublitt, if they have .no means left of agreeing about their Affairs, ( 4i ) Affairs, and expreffing their mutual Wants and Neceffities. Two Sparrows, two Foxes, two Whales, will lie under the fame Impotlibility of living together ; and all the Inconveniencies of the dumb Society I have mentioned, will be feen in their refpeclive Families : In a word, the ■ Neceffity of a Language between a Husband and his Wife, to enable them to live together, upon which human Societies fubiift, is, in due degree, the fame in all the Species of Beings be- low them, in every Tribe and Family of the Brute-Creation.* Could it be fuppofed, that there were any Race of Animals in the Uni- verfe capable of producing their Kind in abso- lute Solitude, without the Intervention of a dif- ferent Sex, it muft be confeiTed the Faculty of Speech to them would be quite a ufclels Ta- lent : but wherever two Bsafts, or two Birds, fhall ftand in an habitual Need of each other, and form among them a lading Society, they muft of neceffity (peak to each other. How is it to be conceived, that in the Gallantry of their firft Addreffes to each other, their mutu- al' Concern and Vigilance for each other's Wel- fare,- and the neccffary Cares that attend the Education of their Families, they mould not have a thouiand things to fw to each other ? It is impoffible in the order of Nature, that a Sparrow, or a Turtle, that is fond of his Mate, mould be at a lofs for proper Expreilions to dil- cover the Tenderneft, the Jealouiy, the Anger, the Fears he entertains for her, in the feverar In- * Philofbph. Amuiemfent, p. 36, 5-, &c. G cide (42) cidents of Life that muft arife betwixt the mofi loving Couple, in the courfe of a long Cohabitation. He muft icold her when ihe plays the Coquet, he muit bully the Sparks that make Attempts upon her Virtue, he mull: be able to underftand her when me calls to him ; he mufl, whilft me is affiduoufly fitting upon her Brood, be able to provide Neceffaries for her, and know diftinctly what it is me wants or calls for, whether it be fomething to eat, or Materials to repair her Neil ; in all which, a Language, of -fome fort or other, is abfolutely rieceflarv. Our Author reafons fo pertinently and con- fidently upon this Head, that I mall chufe to give you the two or three following Paragraphs in his own Language. " Many Beails, one will fay, have not a fet- ct tied and permanent Houfhold like Birds, (for " by-the-bye, Birds are the moft perfect Mo- tl del of conjugal Conitancy and Fidelity:) this 11 I very well know, and their Number is u even very great. Such are Dogs, Horfes, Deer, &c; LETTER II. (Price Eighteen Pence.) 'The following Treat ifes wrote by J. Hi L drop, A.M. Printed for R. Minors. I. A Propofal for bringing in a Bill to repeal XX. certain obfolete Statutes, called the Ten Com* man amends. Price is. II. The Contempt of the Clergy. In a Letter to a Friend. Price is. 6d. III. An Efiay for the better Regulation arid Im- provement of Free-Thinking. Price i s, IV. An Efiay on Honour. Price is. 6d. V. A Commentary upon the fecond Pfalm. i s^ 6J+ VI. Free Thoughts on the Bi utc^Crcation. Leti ter I. Price i s. FREE THOUGHTS UPON THE BRUTE-CREATION: O R, A N EXAMINATION O F Father B O UGEANT's Philofophical Amufement, &c. In Two L E T T E R S to a Lady. By JOHN HILDROP, M. A. Rector of Wath y near Rippon in Torkfhire : And Chaplain to the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Ailesbury and Elgin. LETTER II. LONDON: Printed for R. Minors, Bookfdler and Stationer, in St. Clement's Church-yard. M.DCC.XLIII. ( o FREE THOUGHTS UPON THE BRUTE-CREATION.- O R, An Examination of Father BOUGEANTs Philofophical Amufement) &c. LETTER II. Madam, YOUR favourable Acceptance of my firft Letter, encourages me to hope you will not be difpleafed with a fecond ; in which I propofe to coniider more diftincl:- ly the Queftion before us. I fhall view it in every Light that llevelation and Reafon can give us. I fhall coniider the Account that Mo/es gives of their firfl Formation, and ori- ginal State in Paradife, and compare it .with their prefent State andCondition in the World; B from (2 ) from whence I lhall draw fome Inferences and Conclufions, and endeavour to anfwer fome Objections ; and leave it to your own good Judgment to determine upon the Evidence that fhall be given. The Apoftle to the Hebrews, xi. 3. tells u?, that by Faith we under/land that the things which are J'een (this whole vifible World, with all its various Inhabitants and Productions) were made out of things which are not feen, (an ideal, invifible, glorious World, eternally fub- fifting in the Divine Mind) that this prefent temporary, fading State of things, which we call the natural World, is an Out-birth, a creaturely Manifeftation of the invifible Pow- ers and Beauties of eternal Nature, impreiTing and difplaying themfelves through all the Re- gions of created Nature, through all the Tribes and Families of the Animal, Vege- table, and Mineral Kingdoms, and to which they exactly correfpond, as the Shadow to the Subftance, and the Impreffion to the Soul. From this fruitful Womb of eternal Nature were produced in their appointed Seafon, by the infinite Wifdom, Goodneis, and Power of the Almighty, the whole Mundane Syftem, the World with all its Inhabitants, all the Sub- jects of the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, all the innumerable Species, Tribes, and Fa- milies of Birds, Beads, and Fifties, Reptiles, and Infects, all that live upon the Earth, fly through the Air, or fport themfelves in the great Abyfs, from Behemoth and Leviathan to the ( 3 ) the fmalleft Infect : the very lead and mean- eft, as well as the greateft, are all the Work of God, formed by infinite Wifdom and Pow- er upon the perfect ideal Models in the Divine Mind. Mofes defcribes the Creation or Forma- tion of the FifTies and Fowls out of the Wa- ters as the Work of the Fourth Day. Gen. i. 20, 21, 22. God Jaid, Let the Waters bring forth abundantly \ the moving Creature that hath Life, or (as it is more truly rendered in the Margin) a Soul; and Fowls that may fiy above the Earth, in the open Firmament of Heaven ; and God created great Whales, and every living Creature that moveth, which the Waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged Fowl after his kind, and God Jaw that it was good. The Beafts and Reptiles as pro- duced out of the Earth, were the Work of the Fifth Day, ver. 24. And God Jaid, Let the Earth bring forth the living Creature after his kind, Cattle and CreepingThing, and Beafl of the Earth after his kind, and it was Jo. And God made the Beafl of the earth after his kind, and Cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind : and God Jaw that it was' good. They were all pro- nounced to be good, yea, very good, being the Productions of infinite Wifdom and Goodnefs, formed in Member, Weight, and Meafure, of the moil exquiiite Beauty, the moil delicate Proportion, without Defect, without Super- fluity, exactly fitted and enabled to anfwer the various Purpofes of their Creation, to B 2 execute ( 4 ) execute the Will of their Creator, to mini- ifer to the Delight and Service of Man, and contribute to the Beauty and Harmony, of the univerfal Syftem. Thefe, therefore, were the firfl Inhabitants of Paradife, in which they were fettled by their Maker with a fpe- cial Bleffing to increafe and multiply their Species, in the feveral Regions of Nature, ap- pointed for their Habitation. We may con- fider them as the numerous Domeilicks of fome great and mighty Prince, feat before- hand to fill, adorn, and beautify the feverai Offices and Apartments of his Court, and give him a magnificent and triumphant Reception. Accordingly we find, that fo foon as Man was created in the Image of God, ver. 26, 27. God gave him an abfohite Power and Dominion over them all. He ble/Jed them, and /aid unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenifo the earth and /lib due it, and have a h minion over the Fifh of the fa, and over the Fowl >:, the air, and ever every Living 'Thing that movetb upon the: earth. As Man was thus created in the Image of the Ever-BlefTed Trinity, all the Excellen- cies and Perfections that were to be found in every Species of Animals in their mod perfect State, were all in a fuper-eminent degree in the perfect human Nature, thereby our firfl Parent had an intire Knowledge, and abfolute Dominion over all the various Kinds, Ranks, and Oiders of the animal and vegetable World. By the firfl he was enabled to know the very central Natures, and moil intimate Properties Properties and Powers of every Species, and to give them fignificant Names, expreffive of their feveral Natures. Thus we rend, Gen. ii. 19. And out of the Ground the Lord God formed every Bea/i of the f eld ^ and every Fowl of the air> and brought them unto Adam to fee what he would call them ; and whatfoever Adam called every living Creature^ that was the Name thereof. The Original of all Names was to exprefs the Nature of the Things named, up- on which account Names and Natures were very frequently in Scripture ufed promifcuoufly. And as he perfectly knew their feveral Proper- ties and Powers, and had them all in a fuper- eminent degree within himfelf, fo he hag 1 an abfolute Power to direct and controul them, fo as to fulfil the Will of their Creator, in an- fwering the End of their Creation, and pre- ferving the Peace and Harmony of the whole Syflem. Whilft they received through him as God's Vicegerent, and their Governour, fuch Communications of Happinefs, as their Na- ture was capable of, and their State of Being required. He was their immediate Lord, re- ceiving from the infinite Fountain of Light and Good a conftant uninterrupted Commu- nication of Life and Blefling, which were through him derived to all the feveral Parts and Inhabitants of the Animal and Vegetable Creation, and thereby kept them all in abfo- lute Subjection and Dependance upon him j fo that he had an intire Dominion over this whole vifible World which we inhabit. To this Ori- 5 ginal ( 6 ) ginal Charter or Commiffion the holy Pfalmift: refers, P/dl. viii. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Lord, what is Man that thou art mindful of him, and the Son of Man that thou vifite/l him f Thou madejl him lower than the Angels, to crown him with Glory and Worjhip ; Thou madejl him to have dominion over the Works of thy Hands, thou hajl put all things in f abjection under his feet, all Sheep and Oxen, yea and the Beajls of the Field, the Fowls of the Air, and the Fijhes of the Sea, and whatfoever walketh through the Paths of the Sea. Here, Madam, let us make a Hand, and review with Aftonimment and Rapture the infinite Wifdom, Power, and Goodncfs of our Almighty Creator, the tranfeendent and inconceiveable Beauties of the new World,, the Harmony, the Peace and Happinefs of thefe its once happy Inhabitants, bleiled with more exalted Faculties, Strength and Beauty, cropping the everlafting Verdure, the unfad- ing Flowers of Paradife, drinking the untaint- ed Streams of Life and Immortality in a deli- cious Garden, into which neither Sin nor Sor- row, Corruption or Death had yet entered, exempt from Pain and Sicknefs, Labour and Mifery, where the Spirits of Darknefs had no Power, nor the Ieaft Appearance or Shadow of Evil could find admiition ; where all was Purity, Light, and Pleafure, the Joys and Beauties of eternal Spring j where each of them in their proper Place and Order were mini- firing to the Happinefs of their Sovereign Lord, (7 ) Lord, the Harmony and Order of the Syftem, and proclaiming aloud, as it were with one Voice, the Glory and the Goodnefs of him that made them!— Such was, fuch muft have been (if we believe the Scriptures) the bleffed Condition of thefe once happy Creatures. Is there any thing in this Account that feems either impoflible or improbable ? Does not the whole appear confiftent, reafonable, worthy of God, and agreeable to Scripture ? On the other hand, how mean, how trifling, how un- worthy of God, how repugnant to Scripture, is the Philofophy of thofe, who fuppofe them to be either animated by Evil Spirits, or elfe allowing them no fpiritual Principle of Motion or Action, fuppofe them to be mere Machines, to have no more Senfe or Perception than a Clock, or a Watch ; that though they have fome Motion, fome Appearance of Senfe and Shadow of Reafon, yet it is no more than what arifes from the Structure of their Organs, and the Mechanifm of their Frame; that they are therefore no more the Objects of our Com- panion than any other Piece of Machinery. That their Cries and Complaints, which we commonly fancy to be Exprefiions of Grief, Pain, or Suffering, are no more to be regarded than the Sound ofaDrum when it is beaten, or the Noife of a Clock when it firikes. Is" not this offering Violence to Reaion ; Nature, and common Senfe ? L it Hot ms ; a Mock of God's Creatures? Sure lam; that the Scriptures and moft ancient Phi ^ is Subject in ( 8 ) in a verv different manner. Mofcs declares in the mod exprefs manner, that they have //#- ing Souls ; Gen. i. 29, 30. And God /aid, Be- hold I have given you every Herb bearing Seed, which is upon the face of a 11 the Earth, and every Tree, in which is the Fruit . of a Tree, yielding Seed, to you itjhatt be for Meat. And to every Bea/l of the Earth-, and to every Fowl of the Air, and to every Thing that creepeth upon the Earth, wherein there is Life, or (as it ought to be rendered, as in the Margin, a living Soul) I have given every green Herb for Meat. On this account it is, that the Scriptures every where reprefent them as Objects of the divine Care and Companion, as depending upon him for the Support andSuftenance of that Life which he has given them. Hence holy fob xxxiii. 41. afks this Queftion, Who provideth for the Raven his Food f when his young ones cry unto Gody they wander for lack of Meat. The Pfalmift has the fame ExprefTion, Pfal. cxlvii. 9. That God giveth Fodder to the Cattle, and feedeth the young Ravens when they call upon him. So again, Pfal. civ. fpeaking of the whole Brute-Creation, he fays, Thefe wait all upon thee, that thou mayjl give them their Meat in due Seafon ; when thou givejl it them, they gather it ; when thou openefi thy Hand, they are filled with good. Our blefTed Lord fays the fame thing, Mat. vi.26. Behold the Fowls of the Air, for they fow not, neither do theyfpin, and yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. And in the Leviticd Law, God feems to aflert his peculiar (9 ) peculiar Title to every Species, and their Re- lation to him, by claming the Firft-born of each, as peculiarly his own. Thus we read Exod. xiii. j 2. The Lord /pake unto Moles, faying, Sanctify to me all the Fir fl- born among the Children o/Tfrael, both of Man and Beajl y it is mine. And Pjal. cxviii. where all Crea- tures are called upon to praife God, Bea/ls and all Cattle, Worms, and feat Bend Foiol. It will be found to have a much more exalted Meaning, than appears at firft Sight to an un- attentive Reader. Bat now I expect to be afked, if this were the original happy State of the Brute-Cre- ation, how came they to lofe it, how came they into this miferable Condition in which we fee them at preient? A God of infinite Wif- dom and Goodnefs could make none of his Creatures to be miserable j much Ids would he, by an arbitrary Act of his Will and Pieafure, deprive them of any kind or degree of Happi- nefs, which his Goodnefs had freely conferred upon them, Without any Offence or Demerit on their parts. They are not properly moral Agents, no Command or Prohibition had ever been given them; and. where there was no Law, there could be no Tranfgreffion.; and where there was no Tranfgreflion, one would naturally imagine there would be no Pu- niihment. And yet there feems to be an univerfal Sentence of Condemnation gone out aga.nft the whole Syftem. Thev fuffer in eery Article of their Nature in • ilich a C manner, ( 1° ) manner, as one would think nothing but fomc univerlal Guilt, and intire Corruption and De- generacy of their Nature could poffibly deferve or bring upon them. How elfe comes it to pafs, that there mould be in Tome of them fuch a Ma- lignity and Cruelty of Temper, and in others fuch poifonous Qualities, or fuch hideous De- formity as is quice (hocking and terrible to hu- man Nature ? But the moil beautiful and harmlefs, even thofe whom we confider as the Emblems of unfpotted Innocence, as Lambs and Doves areexpofed to the fame Calamities, of Mifery, Pain, Corruption and Death, as thofe of the moil favage and cruel Natures. Now it is as plain, from Reafon and the Na- ture of Things, that thefe malignant Quali- ties are not elTential to them, were not origi- nally implanted in them at their firfl Creation, as that from an abfolutely good and perfect Caufe no Evil could proceed : And the Scrip- tures declare that God pronounced them all to be good, yea very good: Endued with every Perfection, that their Nature and Rank in the Scale of Beings required. Whence then this deplorable Change? this unhappy Subveriion of their primitive State, their prefent lamen>- table Condition ! I have already told you, that their Happi- nefs confided in the Communications of di- vine Blefiings, which were conveyed to them through the pure Canal of the unfallen human Nature. Our firil Parent in his State of In- nocence and Glory, flood in the place of God to ( II ) to the World below him, cloathed with all the Beauties, and BlefTings of Paradife; the created Image of the ever-bleffcd Trinity; through him were derived all the BlefTings of that happy State, to all the different Species, Tribes and Families of the animal Creation. This was the happy State of the primitive Earth and all its Inhabitants, till Man by his TranfgrefTion loft the Favour of his Maker, and forfeited, both for us and them the bleifed Privileges of our primitive State and Condi- tion; the Communication of divine Light and Life betwixt God and Man being fufpended, he had no more Power to direct and govern the Creatures below him. He flood naked and deftitute, poor and helplefs in the midft of his numberlefs unhappy Subjects and Domefticks, utterly unable to aflift or deliver himfelf or them from the Bondage of Corruption he had brought upon them, he being by his own Act and Deed devoted to Darknefs and Death, neceflarily involved the whole Syftem in the fame Calamity. The Centre of BlefTing was (hut up from him, or rather he had (hut him- felf out of it; His Eyes were clofed to the Light of Heaven, and all the Sources and Channels of divine Communications were in- tirely interrupted ; He had no BlefTing to re- ceive, and therefore none to beftow. He was fallen under the Influences of the aftral World, confined as a Malefactor to a F|ri(bn of his own making, to be fcourged and punifhed by the jarring difcordant Properties of the di- C Z vided ( I? ) \ided Elements to which he had voluntarily iubje&ed hirmelf; no wonder therefore that the whole Syftem of Creatures below him, who were his Subjects, Domefticks, and De- pendants, are deeply afTeded by w ^ Fall, and ihare in his Puniihmems. So the Apoftle to the Romans tells, Chap. viit. Tl ' l c Creature, (the whole Creation) ivas made fuhj-tt to Va- nity, net willingly (not by any Fault of their own) hut by reajon (on the Account, by the Sin) of him, 10 ho hath fubjefted the fame in kope\ that is, of Adam, who was their imme- diate Lord and Governour. For ive know that the whole Creation groans and travels in Pain. The whole Syftem of the vifibk Creation fym- pathizes and fufTers with their rebellious Lord. Thus when a great Subject is attainted of High Treafon againft his Sovereign, the Sen- tence afYcds not cniy hhnfelf, but his Chil- dren and Domeftick*} nnd an in tire Forfei- ture of all the Privileges or his Blood and Birth, are the certain and neceiLry Confe- rences of his Condemnation : So that as Man was by his Tcanfgrefiion devoted to Darknefs and Death, fo were all the Brute- Creation, who were his Domcfticksand Depen- dants. Though it was not indeed ib proper- ly a judicial Sentence pronounced upon them, as a neceflary Confequcnce of their State in Nature, and the Relation and Dependance which they flood in to our firfl Parent their natural Lord and Sovereign. They were by his Tranfgrelhon made fubject to Vanity, Mi- fery, ( >3 ) fery, and Death, but no violent Execution was fuffered to be made upon them, but in the way of Sacrifice ; none of them were to be put to death, but by God's own Appoint- ment to be Types and Monitors of the great propitiatory Sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who was ilain from the Foundation of the World for the Salvation and Redemption of loft Mankind. No Power was given to Man to murder or abufe them, to kill or eat them, as we have now, that was a particular Indul- gence granted to Man after the Flood, which had fo broken and corrupted the Face of Na- ture, weakened and deftroyed the vegetable Powers and feminal Principles of the Earth, that the Herbs and Fruits had, in a great mea- fure, loft their natural Temperature, and were lefs capable of nourifhing the Bodies of Men, upon which God gave them liberty to eat the Flefh of Beafts, Birds, and Fifhes, as well as the Fruits of the Earth, as we read Gen. ix. 2, 3. The Fear of you, a?id the Dread of you, Jliall be upon every Beajl of the earth, and up' on every Fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the Fifies of the Jea ; into your hand are they delivered, every moving thing that liveth foall be Meat for you , even as the green Herb, have I given you all things. The State of the Brute-Creation, therefore, has, ever fince the Fall of Man, been very different from what it was at the firft. Some of them are fierce and untraceable, preying about ( H) about in defart Places, the Enemies and De- ftroyers of Mankind, who yet ftill confefs their original Subjection to them by flying from them, and not afTaulting them, unleft compelled byHunger, or in their own Defence : the reft are in a State of Servitude and Sub- jection, miniftring in their proper Place and Order, to the Pleafure and NecefTities of Man- kind. Upon this view they are reprefented to us both by Reafon and Revelation, as the un- happy Objects of our Care and Com paflion, as guihlefs Sufferers for pur Tranfgre (lions : they declare it to be a Breach of natural Juftice, an Indication of a cruel and unnatural Temper to abufe or opprefs them, to increafe the Miferies, and aggravate the Sufferings of thefe innocent unhappy Creatures, and to add by our Barbari- ty to the Weight of that Bondage to which they are made fubject by our Difobedience, to put them to unnecefTary Labours, to load them with immoderate Burdens, to punifh them with immoderate Severities, or with- hold from them thofe necefTary Refrefhments which their State and Condition requires. The Wife Man in the Book of Proverbs, Ch. xii. 10. makes it an Act of Rightcoufnefs, the Dic- tate of natural Equity : The righteous Man regardeth the Life of his Beafl y but the tender Mercies of the Wicked are cruel. Where he plainly declares it to be the Mark and Duty of a righteous Man to be merciful to his Cattle; and the Property of an unjuft and wicked Man to be cruel and barbarous. God himfelf in the old ( IJ ) old Law guarded againft this unnatural Cruelty by feveral exprefs Commands and Prohibitions in favour of thefe unhappy Creatures, particu- larly in the Fourth Commandment, the Reft of the Sabbath-day is declared to be for the Eafe and Benefit of the Cattle, as well as for their Owners > as it is more exprefly declared, Exod. xxiii. 12. Six days Jlmlt thou do thy work, and on the jcventh day thou fl; alt reji y that thine Ox and thine A fs may reft in the fame. And at the 4th and 5th Verfes of the fame Chapter, there is a particular Injunction to mew Mercy even to the Cattle of our Enemy, if we fee them in diftrefs : If thou meet thine Enemies Ox or Afs going aftray, thou fialt fur ely bring it back to him again. If thou fee the Afs of him that hateth thee, lying under his burden, and wouldjl forbear to help him, thou Jhalt furefy help with him. And our Bleffed Lord him- felf mentions it as a fpecial Act of Humanity and natural Juftice, To leadourOxen andAfjes to watering, or if they happen to fall into a pit, to pull them out, tho' it were on the Sabbath-day^ Luke xiv. 5. Math. xii. 1 1. In the xxvth of Deut. ver. 4. God prefcribes a fpecial Law in favour of the Oxen that trod out the Corn, as we now threili it, that their Mouths mould not be muzzled whilft they were at Itheir La- bour, but that they might eat as well as work, and enjoy ibme immediate Fruits of their La- bour. We read in the Book of Jonah, that when the Prophet had denounced the De- duction of Nineveh, the King proclaimed a Fall ( 16 ) Fail: of three Days for the Cattle as well as for the People, Let neither Man, nor Beaft, Herd, nor Flock, tafle any thing ; let them not feed, nor drink Water, but let Man and Beajl be covered with Sackcloth, and cry mightily un- to God. And at the laft Verfc'of this'Pro- phecy, God declares, that his Companion for the Cattle, as well as for the People of Nine- veh, had diverted the Execution of the Sen- tence denounced againft them. Should I not, (faid he) fpare Nineveh that great City, in which are more than Six /'core Thoujand Perfons, that cannot difcern betwixt their right Hand and their left, and aljb much Cattle ? We read Numbers xxii. 28. That the Mouth of Balaam's Afs was miraculoufly opened to upbraid the Cruelty of his Rider, and his barbarous Ufage of a faithful old Servant, that had never (tum- bled or fell with him before : IVIoerefore, fays JJje, haft thou Jmit ten me thefe three times ? Am not I thine Afs, upon which thou haft ridden ever fince I was thine unto this day, was I ever wont to do fo to thee? And he faid, Nay. And when the angry Prophet justified his Severity to the poor Bead, the Angel of the Lord pleaded for the Afs, and condemned the Rider ; Wherefore (faid he) haft thou /mitten thine Afs thefe three times? Unlefs Jhe had turned from me, furely I Jhould have Jlain thee, and faved her alive. And tho' the reft have not naturally the Power of complaining in Words, yet have they all a Power of expreffing their Pains, their Wants, and their Sufferings, which every body under- ftands, v -7) ftands, and which every good-natured Per- fon would gladly relieve or prevent. As tor the Malignity obfervable in many of them, as particularly the Cruelty and Re- venge of fome, the Envy and Treachery of o- tners, which the learned Father knows not flow to account for, there feems tobe > I think, no great difficulty in comprehending it. The Violence offered to the whole Syftem of Na- ture, by an abfolute Violation of the Laws of Harmony, juftice, Truth, and Order, an in tire Apoftacy from the fupremc Foun- tain of Life and Bleffednefs, could not fail to produce dreadful Effects in every part of Na- ture, all thofe Qualities and Properties in eve- ry Species of Being which in their primi- tive State of Innocence and Glory were as fo many VerTels and Inliruments of Bleffing, were by this unhappy Change, made fo many different Sources and In ftru merits of Diforder and Confufion, and the more exalted and powerful they were in the original Frame and Intention of Nature, fo much the more nox- ious, malignant and deftructive they were in their State of Depravity and Corruption; ac- cording to that well-known Maxim ofPhilo- fophy, That the be ft things when they are cor- rupted, became the worft. This will be found to be univerfally true from the higheft to the lowell Order of Beings both in Heaven and Earth. The moil: exalted Seraphims in the Hoft of Heaven, when they left their firft Habitation, and fell from their Thrones of Glo- -D rv, ( 18 > r v, found their Fall proportionably deepen and their Malignity and Mifery proportiona- bly greater than thofe who moved in inferiour and lower Degees of Power and Glory ; the higher they were exalted in the Regions of Liizht and Immortality, the lower they funk in the Abyfs of Darknefs and Death : The exceeding Brightnefs of their Flame ; ths Strength of their Love, and the mighty Powers of their Angelick Nature, whilft united to the pure Light and Love of God y became, when feparated from it, thofe everlafting Chains of Darknefs by which they are bound, and in which they are detained, to the Judgment of the Great Day. The fame may be too juflly faid ofourfelves, of cur own Species. Men of mean Condition, low Parts, narrow Minds, and weak Abilities, if they grow corrupt and wicked, they act with low Views, in a nar- row Sphere, and confequently are capable of doing lefs Mifchief in the World ; but Men of jftrong Parts, exalted Understandings, exten- five Views, and great Abilities, efpecially when amfted and fupported by Intereft and Power, when they degenerate, when they turnTyrants, Oppreflbrs, and Reprobates, they fpread Ra- pine and TerroF, Deftruction and Mifery all round them. A little Villain may rob an Or- chard or a Fifhpond, mav fteal a Sheep or an Horfe, for which the whole World agrees they richly deferve to be hanged, and generally meet with their Fate ; but your illuftriousR — ues, your Villains ofDiftinclion, who plunder Pro- 5 vinces ( 19 ) vinces and Kingdoms, who depopulate Coun- tries, who devour or fell whole Nations into Slavery, and fill the face of the Earth with Blood and Defolation ; they move in a different Sphere, and defy that Juftice, which if not blind to their Crimes, yet is unable to punith them. And as for your Sex, whom God and Na- ture have decked with a Profuiion of Charms and Graces, to fweeten the Cares, alleviate the DiftrciTes, and heighten the Joys of focial Life, if they mould ever be fo unhappy as to deviate from the glorious Path of Virtue and Honour, to degenerate from that amiable Simplicity of Life and Purity of Manners, which is their diftinguifhing Excellency, their trueft Beauty ; it is not to be doubted, but their Guilt and Corruption would be pro- portionable to that tender Seniibility of Heart which is the Beauty and Glory of their un- corrupted Innocence. And however ftrange and incredible it may appear to thofe who judge of Ages pail by the Virtue and Innocence of the prefent, which no doubt will be a Pat- tern to fucceeding Generations ; yet Hiitorians, Philofophers, Poets, and Painters, have a- greed in fome Reprefentations of Female De- generacy, which an innocent well-bred Man who mould make an Eltimate of the reft of your Sex, from your own unexceptionable mining Character, would never expert to find but in Romance and Fable. And that the iame Obfervation founded in the very Nature D 2 of ( 20 ) of Things, runs through every Species of the Animal-Creation, is fo reafonable a Suppoii- tion, as hardly to admit of a Debate. Upon which account it an hardly be doubted, but that thofe Animals, which in their prefent State of Degeneracy and Corruption are moft /hocking, deteftable and deftmctive to hu- man Nature, were in their original State of Perfection, moll: eminently ufefu!, beautiful, and good : and by the fame way of reafoning one would be tempted to imagine, that thole Species of Animals who fcem to be the melt uncorrupt Part of the Brute-Creation, who feem to have the leaft Symptoms of the uni- versal Malignity which has more or lefs poi- foned the whole Syitem, whom Religion and Philofophy reprelent to us as the moft per- fect: created Emblems of human Virtue and Innocence ; I mean the focialand domeftic A- nimals, thofe which contribute to the Com- forts and Neceflities of Life; as Sheep and Oxen, Doves and Bees, &c. were in their original State, little more exalted in the Pei> fecYion of their Natures, than we fee them at prefent. I have often been tempted to indulge an Imagination, that in the original Frame of Things, every Species of Animals were in a more particular and immedite Manner related or united to tome one particular Part, or Fewer, or Faculty of human Nature, which might be as it were their particular Element, and in which they might moft eminently dif- play ( *. ) play and exercife their fpecifick Virtues and Powers, as Inftruments, Emblems, or Uni- fons in the universal Harmony of Nature. This, Madam, is a mere Conjecture ; we pretend not to Demonstration, but when we quit the Land of Syftems, to wander in the fpacious Fields of Imagination and Probability, many a beautiful Thought, many an enter- taining Conjecture will prefent it felf to a lively Fancy, not unworthy the Attention of a wife Man, or the Coniideration of a Philo- fopher.. One thing however is certain, that in their prefent Siate of Degeneracy and Cor- ruption, the very worn; of them, are but feeble Shadows, faint Emblems, of the fame kind of Degeneracy and Corruption in our felves, in corrupt human Nature. Shew me any one Species of Animals more ridiculous, more contemptible, more pernicious, more deteftable than aie to be found among the filly, the vicious, the wicked part of Mankind. Can Apes and Monkeys be a more ridiculous or milchievous kind of Creatures, than fome very fine Folks who are to be found in the moll: polite AfTemblies ? Is a poor Dog with four Legs, who acts agreeably to his Nature, half fo defpicable a Creature as a fad Dog with two, who with high Pretenfions to Reafon, Virtue and Honour, is every day guilty of fuch Crimes, for which his Brother-Brute would deferve to be hanged ? Is a Swine that wallows in the Mire, half fo contemptible an Animal, as the Drunkard and the Sot, who wallow ( 22 ) wallow in the Filth and Vomit of their own Intemperance ? What is the Rage of Tygers, the Fiercenefs of Lions, the Cruelty of VVolves and Bears, the Treachery of Cats and Mon- keys, and the Cunning of Foxes, when com- pared with the Cruelty, the Treachery, the Barbarity of Mankind ? The Wolf and the Tyger that worry a few innocent Sheep, purely to fitisfy their Hunger, are harmlefs Animals when compared with the Rage and Fury of Conquerors, the Barbarity and Cruel- ty of Tyrants and OppreiTors, who uninjured, unprovoked, lay whole Kingdoms wafte, turn the moil beautiful Cities into ruinous Heaps, fill every Place with the dreadful Effects of lawlefs Rage, and fweep the face of the Earth before them like a devouring Fire or an Inun- dation; and all this only to gratify an infati- able Avarice and Ambition, to extend their Conquefts, to raife an empty Name, a Fabrick of Vanity upon the Ruins of Humanity, Virtue and Honour. Befides, the very fierceft and cruellest Brutes never prey upon one another; whatever Violence they may offer to thofe of a different Species, which they never do, unlefs compelled by Hunger or in their own defence, yet they fpare one another; whilft Man, the Lord of the Creation, di- ftinguiflied from every Species of Animals be- low him by the glorious Privilege of a ra- tional and intelligent Nature, is worfe than a Brute to his own Species : Not only every Rank and Order of Men are in a State of En- mity (»3 ) mity to each other, but even thofe of the fame Rank and Order, who are united not only by one common Nature, but by one common Intereft, are as fo many Beads of Prey to each other. Every Man who is un- der the Dominion of an imperious Luft, a violent Paffion, or interfering Intereft, is a Brute to thofe that ftand in his way, obftruct his Views, embarafs his Schemes, or any way oppofe the darling Paffion and Defire of his Soul. Look into the feveral Ranks, Orders, Societies, and AfTemblies of Mankind ; (the Courts of Princes and AfTemblies of Ladies only excepted ; where nothing but Truth and Virtue, Politenefs and Honour can find Ad- mittance:) and you will rind more Treachery and Iniquity, more Fraud and Cunning, than among the Beafts of the Field, or the mofl favage Inhabitants of the Defart.— -I was once rallying a very pretty Lady, who was fmother- ing a favourite Lap-Dog with a Torrent of KifTes and tender Speeches; Fie, laid I, Ma- dam, How can you beftow fo many CarefTes upon that little Beafr, which many an honeft Man would be glad to purchafe at any rate ? Sir, faid fhe, I love my little Dog, becaufehe loves me ; and when I can meet with any one of your Sex, that has half fo much Gratitude* and Sincerity as my poor Totty, he fhall never find me infenfible or ungrateful. To fay the truth, Ingratitude and Infjncerity feem to be Vices of mere human Growth, feldom or ne- ver to be found among the Brute-Creation ; on the ( 24 ) the other hand, many illuftrious and fur- prizing Inftances of Gratitude from Brutes to Men who hive been their Defenders, Phyfi- cians, or Benefactors, not only ftand record- ed in ancient Hiftory, hut are matters of dai- ly Obfervation. And is not a poor honeft Cur that loves and watches, and barks for the Security of his Mafter, a Reproach to an unfaithful Servant, a treacherous Friend, or a deceitful Companion ? Were any confede- rate Man to take a cool and impartial Survey of human Nature, could he trace the fubtle Wandrings even of his own Heart, thro' the many intricate Mazes, the numberlefs By- paths of Fraud and Canning, Diffimulation and Hypocrify, by which the Interefts and Counfels of this World are ufually directed and fupported, he would blufh to find that all thofe unamiable, or, to fpeak more properiy, deteftable Qualities, which are to be found in the moil malignant Parts of the Brute-Creation, are to be found in a more eminent decree of Ma- lignity in his own corrupt Heart.— But whither am I wandering? Let us return to our Sub : ect. You, Madam, who judge by Principles of common Serife, without the Prejudices of Phi- lofophy, I make no doubt are throughly fa- tified that Brutes have Souls endued with fuch Powers of Thinking, Keafoning, and Willing as is neceflary for their State and Condition in the Scale of Beings. But how will you be, able to convince your learned Neighbour, with whom you have maintained many a warm Debate, and rauft expert many more it (*5) if you give into my Sentiment, and declare your felfon my fide of the queftion ? You mull expect neither Mercy nor Manners if you dare to contradict or differ in the leaffc from this great Oracle Mr. Locke. To fay the truth, the honed: Man without Tafte or Ge- nius fets up for a Philofopher upon the fole Credit of having read his Book, and iubmit- ting more implicitly to his Authority than to his Bible, tho' he under/lands them both alike. He will certainly tell you as he often has me, that neither he nor Mr. Locke denies their hav- ing Souls, but improperly fo called ; not fpiri- tual immaterial Subflances, but Matter fo fubli- mated and refined, of fuch an exquifite Frame and Texture, as to be capable of Thought and fpontaneous Motion, and all the other Quali- ties and Properties which in a more exaited and proper Senfe are truly attributed to incor- poreal and fpiritual Beings. The Poflibility of a material Animal, of felf-moving thinking Matter, has at riill light fuch a glaring Appearance of Contradiction, that it is amazing how any Man of Senk, but efpecially of fuperiour Parts and diftingaifFiec^ Abilities, could ever fei iouily maintain it j and it will puzzle the wifefl Man to £hew what real Purpofes of Philoiophy or Religion can be promoted by it. The mod paiterial (par- don me, Madam, I did not incen it for a Pun) I fay, the moft material Argument that has been brought to fupport it, is the fup- pofjng and calling the accidental Affections of K .iter/ ( 26 ) Matter, fuch as Gravitation, Attraction, E£ lectricity, Fermentation, and Rarefaction, the eflential Properties of Matter, with which it has really no natural Connection, or neceffary relation to it. The Cohefon of the feveral parts of Matter, /'. e. the Power by which they are united and cemented together j The Gravita- tion^ Attraction, or Power by which the fe- veral parts of the Syftem gravitate or are at- tracted to each other, is intirely and efFen- tiallv diftinct from the Matter it felf. The great Sir Jfaac Newton, as quoted by Mr. Locke, p. 149. who adopts his Sentiment in confirmation of his own, feems in his younger Days to have been in the fame way of thinking. I mall give it you in Mr. Locke's own Words, in his Anfwer to the Bifiop of V/orcefler. Ton ask (fays he) how can my Idea of Liberty agree with the Idea that Bodies can operate only bv Motion and Imfulfi ? Anfw. By the Omnipotence of God, who can make all things agree that involve not a Contradict ion. He goes on, 'Tis true, I Jay, that Bodies ope- rate by Impulfe, and nothing elje, and Jo I thought when I writ it, and yet can conceive no other way of their Operation -, but I am fince convin- ced by the judicious Mr. Newton's incomparable Book, that 'tis too bold a Prcfumption to limit God's Power in this point by my narrow Con- ceptions. The Gravitation of Matter towards Matter by ways inconceivable to me, is not only a Demon/irafion that God can, if he pleafes, put into Bodies Powers and Ways of Operation, above (27 ) above what can be derived from our Idea of Bo- dy, or can be explained by what we know of Matter •, but alp an unqueflionable and every- where vifible Injlance that he has done Jb. Now with all due Submiffion to the Judgment of both thefe excellent Writers, I cannot help thinking this to be a verv crude and uncorrecl: o J manner of exprefiing a very unphilofophical Thought. That God can, if he pleafes, put in- to Bodies, Powers and Ways of Operation, above what can be derived from our Idea of Body : That God can either immediately by his own Power, or mediately by the Operation of in- feriour Intelligences,communicate what kind or degree of Motion he pleafes to any part or portion of Matter ; that he can exalt, refine, tranfmute, and model it into what Form or Shape he pleafes ; that he can make even the vileft part of Matter a proper Vehicle, Ha- bitation, or Body for the moft glorious An- gel, who can deny ? But what then ? What will this prove ? Will this juftify our con- founding two diftincl Ideas ? Muft we con- found Matter with Motion, Body with Soul, becaufe we find them exifting or united toge- ther ? Does not the very Expreffion of put- ting Powers and Ways of Operation into Bodies^ imply that thofe Powers are diftincl: from Bodies, fomething fuperadded to them by the omnipotent Power of God ? Something not included in the Idea of Body, not efiential to it; Why then muft they be confounded to- gether? When we read, Gen.ii. 7. That the E 2 Lord ( *S ) Lord God formed Man of the Dufl oftheGrouna\ and breathed into hisNojlrih the Breath of Life, and Man became a living Soul -, Would it not be a ftrange Conclufion to infer from thence, that that very Dujl of the Earth out of which his Body was formed, was that very Breath oj Life which was breathed into him, by which he became a living Sou! r Yet would there be quite as much Rfcafon and Truth in the one Conclufion as in the other. In the and which is confe- auenttoit, Liberty. For as Body cannot but communicate its Motion by Impulfe to another Body, which it meets with at fejl % Jo the Mind can put Bodies into motion, or forbear to dofo, as it pleafes. Here, I think, the learned Au- thor has expreffed himfelf in very plain and intelligible Language. And yet this fame ex- cellent Perfon in his Controverfy with the Bifhop, falls into a quite different way of Thinking and manner of Expreflion : He frequently aflerts, or ftrongly infinuates, the Potfibility of Thinking Matter, and endea- vours to prove it by fuch Mediums, as his cooler Thoughts would never have entertained, or rejected with Contempt. Hear how h» reafons in his third Letter, pag, 396, 397. Your fir jl Argument I take to be this, that ac- cording to me, the Knowledge we have being by cur Ideas, and our Idea of Matter in general, being a folid Sub/lance, and our Idea of Body being a folid, extended, figured Subfiance j if J admit Matter to be capable of Thinking, I con- found the Idea of Matter with the Idea of Spi- rit. To which I anfwer, No ; no more than J confound the Idea of Matter with the Idea of a Horfe, when I Jay that Matter in general is a [olid (3t ) folid extended Sub/lance, and that an H'orfe is a material Animal, or an extended folid Sub± fiance with Senfe and fpontaneous Motion. The Idea of Matter is an extended folid Sub- Jlance; wherever there isfuch a Subftance, there is Matter and the EJjence of Matter, whatever other Qualities not contained in that Effence it fhall pleafe God to fuperadd to it. For example, God creates an extended folid Subflance without fuperadding any thing elfe to it, and jo we may confider it at refi : to fome Parts he fuperadds Motion, but it has fill the Effence of Matter : other Parts of it he frames into Plants, with all the Excellencies of Vegetation, Life, and Beau* ty, which is to be found in a Roje, or a Peach- tree, &c. but it is fill but Matter : to other Parts he adds Senfe and fpontaneous Motion, and thofe other Properties that are to be found in an Elephant. Hitherto 'tis not doubted but the Power of Qod may go, and that the Properties of a Rofe, a Peach, or an Elephant, fuperad- ded to Matter, change not the Properties of Matter, but Matter is in thefe things Matter ft ill. But if one go one ftep further, and venture to fay, God may give to Matter Thought, Rea- fon, and Volition, as well as Senfe and fpontane- ous Motion, there are Men ready prefently to li- mit the Power of the Omnipotent Creator, and tell us he cannot do it j becaufe it dejlroys the Effence, and changes the ejjential Properties of Matter. To make good which Affertion, they have no more to fay, but that Thought and Rea- jon are not included in the Effence of Matter. ( 3* ) 1 grant it, but whatever Excellency not cent a ed in Its EjJ'ence be fuper added to Matter ; it does not dejiroy the EjJ'ence of Matter, if it leaves it an extended /olid Sub/lance : wherever that is, there is the EJfence of Matter ; and if every thing of greater Perfection, fuper added tofuch a Sub/lance, deflroys the Efjence of Matter, what will become of the Ejjbice of Matter in a Plant or an Animal, whofe Properties far exceed thofe of a meer extended jolid Sub/lance ? But it is further urged, that we cannot con- ceive how Matter can think, I grant it : but to argue from thence, that God therefore cannot give to Matter a Faculty of thinking, is to fay God's Omnipotency is limited to a narrow Com- pafs, becaufe Man's Underjlanding is fo j and bring down God's infinite Power to the Size of our Capacities. If God can give no power to any part of Matter, but what Men can account for from the EJfence of Matter in general: if all fuch Qualities and Properties mujl defiroy the E/fence, or change the efjential Properties of Matter, which are to our Conceptions above it, a?idwe cannot conceive to be the natural Conje- quences of that Efjence ; it is plain that the Ef- jence of Matter is deftroyed, and its ejfential Properties changed in mojl of the fenjible Parts of this our Syftetn : for it is vifible, that all the Planets have Revolutions about certain remote Centres, which I would have any one explain, or make conceivable by the bare Efjence or natu- ral Powers depending on the EJfence of Matter in general, without l Join et king Jufer added to that Ejfence % s (33) P.fnce, which he canno! conceive ^ for the mfrV- ing of Matter in a ■ . o'^edLiue, or the At- traction of Matte?' by Matter, is all that can be/aid in the cafe; either cf which, is above our reach to derive from the EjJ'encc of Matter or Body in general ; though one of thefe two mufl imi ly be allowed to be fuper added in this In/lance, to the Ejjence cf Matter in general. The Omnipotent Creator advifed not with us, in the waking of the World, and his Ways are not the lej's excellent, bccaife they are pajl find* ing out. In the next place, the vegetable part of the Creation is not doubted to be wholly material -, yet he that will look into it, will objerve Excel- lencies and Operations in this part of Matter y which he will not find contained in the Ejjence of Matter in general -, nor be able to conceive how they are produced by it, and will he there- fore fay, that the E fence of Matter is dejlroyedin them, becaufe they have Properties and Opera- tions 7iot contained in the efjential Properties of Matter as Matter, not explicable by the Ejjence of Matter in general ? Let us advance one jlep further, and we fiall in the Animal World meet with yet greater Per^ feElions and Properties no way explicable by the Ejjence of Matter in general. If the Omnipo- tent Creator had not fuper added to the Earth, which produced the irrational Animals, Quali- ties far furpajjing thofe of the dull dead Earth, cut of which they were made ; Life, Safe, and fptmtaneMs Motion^ nobler- Qualities ihun werg P beforg (34) before in it, it had flill remained rude fenjlelefs Matter ; and if to the Individuals of each Species, he had not fuper added a Power of Pro- pagation, the Species had perjfljed with thofe In- dividuals : but by thefe EJ/ences or Properties of each Species, Juperadded to the Matter which they were made of the Effences or Properties of Matter in general were not dejlroyed or changed, any ??iore than any thing that was in the In- dividuals before was dcflroyed or changed by the Power of Generation Juperadded to them by the firfl Benediclion of the Almighty. In all fuch Cafes the Super-inducement of greater Perfections and nobler Qualities, de/lroys nothing of the Effence or Perfections that were there before ; unlefs there can be Jhewed a mani- feft Repugnancy between them : but all the Proof offered for that, is only that we cannot conceive how Matter, without fuch juperadded Perfec- tions, can produce Juch EffeSis ; which is, in truth, no more than to Jay, Matter in general, or every part of Matter, as Matter, has them not •, but is no Reafon top>rove, that God, if he pleafes, cannot J uper add them to Jbme_ parts of Matter, unlefs it can be proved to be a Contra- diction that God Jhould give to Jbme Parts of Matter Qualities and Perfections which Mat- ter in general has not ; tho we cannot conceive how Matter is inve/led with them, or bow it. operates by virtue of thefe new Endowments : Nor is it to be wondered, that we cannot, whilfl we limit all its Operations to thofe Qualities it had 6 fore, and would explain them by the known Qualities (.35) Qualities of Matter in general \ without any fitch jifperinduced Perfections. The looie Rea Ton- ing, the Jumble of Ideas, the Confuiion of Sentiment, the evafive Diftin&ions that appear in every Sentence of this tedious Quotation, are a melancholy Proof of the Weaknefs of human Understanding, and the mighty Power of Prejudice, Paflion and Self-love to miilead and pervert it. Nothing furely but a Love of Fame, an Impatience of Contradiction, and a Defire of Victory, could feduce fo great and excellent a Perfon to depart from the plain and obvious Principles of Reafon and Philofophy, which himfelf had in the clear- eft and ftrongeft manner afTerted and main- tained. If Inactivity or Refiftance to any change of the State it is in y either of Reft or Motion, be one of the primary and mofl obvious Quali- ties of Matter, which I prefume will not be difputed : it will unavoidably follow, that every poffible kind or degree of Motion, all the feveral Changes and Modifications that can poflibly be made in any part or portion of Matter, rauft be derived from fome imma- terial and fpiritual Principle, who is the Source of that moving Power by which all the pof- fible Changes of State, or Place, can be efiec- ted. Either, there is Inactivity or Reft/lance in Matter^ or there is not. If there is, it cannot poffibly move itfelf, fince two Tendencies or Properties oppofite and deftru&ive to each other, can never fubfift in the fame Subject; If there be no Refiftance, the Action of Mat- F 2 t * er ( 36 ) ter upon Mutter would be wholly mconceiv-r able, or rather impoili'ole, ijnlefs that other Matter could be moved by nothing at all j fo that in cither cafe, Matter can never be- come a fcif-moving SubfUnce, no not by any Power, becapfe it implies a Contradiction. Yea fee then how unreaibn'ably Mi. I eke refolves tlv (pout ineous Motion fuperaaded to Matter, in order to form i ex- plain the Pombility of a ma :rial ■ or Thinking Matter, into the O ' • of God, who can make all things c t im- ply not a Contradiction \ \ ■.. this a ga- ting Contradiction, and therefore mud: be given up for an Impossibility. What then limft we lav ? What muft be the Confequence ? Why it is, it muft be plainly this, that fince Matter is abfolutely incapable of thofe Quali- ties and Operations which appear through the whole Brute- Great ion, if it cannot produce thought, Volition, and spontaneous Motion, we muft affigri femie other Caufe to which thefe Effects may properly be afcribed, which muft be an immaterial and fphv.ual Principle, tru- ly and properly called a living Sold. I know you will be well, pleafed to find what I have here advanced confirmed by no lefs an Au- thority than that of the late learned Dr. Cdarkt\ in his Demon ft 'rat ion, ccc. Part II. Page 300. fedit. 4. and Page 221. Edit. 6. All, things that arc done in the IVorld (fays he) are- done ci- ther immediately by God hiwfcif, or by . created intelligent Beings: Matter being evidently hot at all ( S7 ) fill capable of any Laws or Powers what fever, a??y more than it is capable of Intelligence ; ex- cepting only this one negative Power , /7v.7 r:v- rv />tf/Y of it will, always and necfurily continue. in that State, whether of Reft or Motion, where- in it at pre fe nt is ; fo that all tbofe things which we cor. .only fay are the Effecls of the natural Powers of Matter j and Laws of Motion, as Gravitation, .''■ action, Qr the like, are, in- deed, (if 'kj will '/peak /I r icily and properly) the Eff'ecl of God's ailing upon Matter continually an ' every Moment ', either immediately by him- felf, or mediated by foh e created intelligent Be- ing: which O'frvaticn, by-t he-bye, furniffes us, as has been b T :d. zvith an excellent natural f)emonflration of Providence : confe- quently there is no fiich thing as what Men call the Courfe of Nature, ortpefPqwci cf Nature. The Courfe ofNature^ truly and properly fpe ail- ing, is nothing ejfe but the Hi 11 of God producing certain Effecls ■ in a continued, regular t con/laut, and uniform Manner : which Courfe or Manner of acling, being in every Movie ,:i perfectly arbi- trary, is as eafy to be altered c i any time as to be prefcrved. In fhort, the thing fpeaks itfelf, I dare fay you require no other Evidence than your own Reafon fuggefts to you ; but your Reverence for Dr. Clarke as a Philofopher, gives you the additional Pleafure of finding him clearly on the lame fide of the QueiHon. Tomany a fine Lady, yea and many i Sue. Gentleman, I mould think myfelf bou. to. make an Apology for attempting to lead > a (3?) thro' fo many hard Words, into fuch abftract- ed Speculations ; but to offer at any to you would be an Affront to your Under/landing. You, Madam, who have improved a fine Tafle by an early Acquaintance with the beft Writers of our Age and Nation, who can enter into their Reaibnings, and point out with a critical Delicacy, their diftinguiming Beauties, which you even improve by repeating them; you who can find a more agreeable Entertainment in the polite and rational Pleafures of the Mind, than in the fafhionable Follies of Life ; who can find more Delight in the Charms of Poetry, and the fevere Speculations of Philo- fophy, than in the infipid Chit-chat of a modern polite Converfation, will, I hope, think it no bad Compliment to your Under- ffanding, that I fubmit my moft laboured Thoughts to yourCenfure and Correction, and even glory in your Approbation. Well, Madam, thus far I think we have pretty well cleared our way through the Intri- cacies of Philofophy to one certain Conclu- fi on, that Brutes have Souls , fpiritual and im- material Beings. Here then let us make a ftand, and take breath, let us look forward and back- ward, let us furvey the Ground we have pair, whether we have made no falfe Steps, mifta- ken our Direction, or deviated in the leaft from the direct Path of found Reafon and true Philofophy j if not, what muff, be done next, muff we fit down contented with our prefent Difcoveries, or mufl we venture to proceed a ffep (39)' ftep further > Methinks I fee your thought- ful penetrating Genius at a great difficulty > retreat you cannot, as a Philofopher: Ad- vance you dare not, as a good Christian.-— Methinks I hear you fay, or I am fure you think with a kind of religious Horrour — What then muft be the Confequence ! If they are immaterial and fpiritual, they mult by una- voidable Confequence be immortal, which has been generally the Medium to prove the Im- mortality of human Souls, which has the terri- ble Appearance of philofophical Herefy. — Cou- rage, Madam, never fear, we will purfue this Thought no further than we have the Light of Reafon and Revelation to guide us j where- ever that fails to direct us, we will be content to fit down in Ignorance and Darknefs, and it mull be our own fault, if we go wrong under fuch Direction.—— It has been an invariable Rule with me, in all Cafes, (Love and Poli- ticks, always excepted) never to ftifle a certain Truth for fear of Confequences. Juft and honeft Premifes are a kind of loving Things, which never fail to beget juft and honeft Con- clusions, which being the legitimate OiF-fpring , of virtuous Parents, and Heirs-Apparent to the found and virtuous Conftitution of their Pro- genitors, cannot fail to fubfift upon the Inte- grity of the Family ; therefore, e'en let them turn out, and fhift for themfelves. Why, fay you, will you dare to pronounce that the Souls of Brutes are immortal ! No, truly, Madam, not I, but you fhall pronounce for ■ ( 46 ) for your felf, according to the Evidence that fhall be given. Pray, what think you was therr Original State and Condition in theft iii ft happy Setftemeftt in Paradiie, when all the Works of God were pronounced to be verjf good? Will you fiy they were mortal ? Could any Creature be mortal before Death entered into the World ? And was not Death the im- mediate, the neceflary Confequence' of Sin? So the Apoftle tells us, Rom. v. 1 2: By one Man ■Sin entred into the World, and Death ftv Sin. And was not Sin an accidental Tranforeffion of the Law of God, a Violation of the Laws of Truth and Order, a Breach of the Harmony of Nature? And by Confequence a Contra- diction to the Will of the Creator ? Now, if Death were the Confequence of Sin, the Ef- fect of the Tranfgreffion, which we are afTured of both by Reafon and Revelation, is it con- fident either with Philofophy or Religion, to iuppofe that the Effect mould precede the Caufe, that the Execution mould anticipate the Sentence of Condemnation, and the Sen- tence the TranfgrefTion ? In this view of the cafe, therefore, there feems to be a ftrongPre- iumption, that in the Intention of their Cre- ator in their original Frame, and their Relation to the univerfal Syflem, they were to be Par- takers of that Bleffing and Immortality which was the Privilege of the whole Creation, tilt Man by his Difobedience forfeited it for hiirir ielf, arid by confequence for mem.' Can any Man prefume to fay,, that infinite' Wifdomf 4. created M 1 ] created any thing in vain ? That in the infinite Variety of Creatures* there was io much as one that was fuperiiuous ornfelefs ? That he who proportioned and formed the whole Syf- tem in Number ^ Weighty dnd Meafure, Wifd. xi. 20. did not intend even the minuted Por- tion of it to be a Monument of his infinite Wifdom and Goodnels, by contributing to the Beauty* the Order, and Harmony of the whole ? And if the Prefervation of the Spe- cies was necelTary to perpetuate the Harmony of the whole; what probable or poflible Rea- fon can be affigned for the Deftruction of the -Individuals? I am apt to believe it will be dif- ficult to affign any that will not as ftrongly conclude againfl the Individuals of our own Species, as of any other, and what Occafion can there be for indulging bold Conjecture^ and (hiking out new Hypothefes, to depreci- ate the Wifdom, dehaie the Goodnefs, and li- mit the Power of the Almighty, and all this to folve Difficulties and aniwer Objections pro- ceeding purely from Prejudice, and Ignorance of the divine Wifdom and Power. *£be Mer- cies of God are over all his JVorks. He made them all to be happy, as exquifn-ely happy as infinite Goodnefs, Wifdom, and Power could make them, and their Rank and State in Na- ture was capable of receiving ; and it is not ow- ing to any Mutability in the Counfels of God, to any Fault of their own that they" have loft any degree of that Happi net's they were cre- ated to enjoy, but i: is the fatal and riectfTary © Confequence (42 ) Confequence of the relation they flood in to their unhappy rebellious Lord, and the dread- ful Confufion which his Difobedience has brought upon the whole vifible Creation, who were thereby made fubjecl to Vanity \ i. e. Pain and Miiery, Corruption and Death. Rom. viii. 20. Do but examine your own companionate Heart, and tell me, do you not think it a Breach of natural Juftice, wantonly and without Ne- cefiity to torment, much more to take away the Life of any Creature, except for the Pre- fervation and Kappinefs of our own Being ; which in our pi dent State of Enmity and Difcord is fometimes unavoidable ? I know you 60 : And can you think that infinite Mer- cy, who made them to be happy, could, in the primary Intention of their Nature, re- iblve to deprive them of that Happinefs (or at leaft a PofTibility of recovering it again) by an utter Extinction of their Being ? If you or I could be fo happy as to be able to build a Houfe, to lay out a Garden, to contrive a Machine, to draw a Picture, to compofe a Poem or a Piece of Mufic fo exquifitely perfect that all the ConnoiJJ'eurs in the feveral Arts could not be able to correct, or Envy itfelf to cenfure, I dare anfwer for you, as well as for my felf, that we mould be as ambitious to preferve ; as we were to produce them, and think it the higheft Felicity to be able to per- petuate the Works of our Hands, or the La- bour of our Brains, by making them immor- tal. (43 ) tal. To build up only in order to pull down, to produce or create in order to deffcroy, in fhort, to do and to undo, without an appa- rent Neceflity, is a Reflection upon common Senfe; and mall we, dare we, impute to infi- nite Wifdom, Goodnefs, and Power, an Infir- mity, which a Man of common Senfe would blufh to be guilty of ? Were we the Owners of Animals, in their feveral kinds perfectly ufeful, beautiful, and good, mould we not be follicitous for their Prefervalion, much lefs {hould we wantonly deftroy them ? But fur- ther yet, Were we the Creators of thofc Ani- mals, had we brought them into Being by the mightieft Efforts of human Benevolence, Wifdom, and Power, mould we not watch over them with the mod endearing Marks of Tendernefs and Affection ? And can we (a Race of evil, weak, and partial Creatures,) have more Regard for our own Works, than the Almighty has for his ? much lefs can we pre- fume to fay, that we have more Compajjhn for any of his Creatures than he that made them t 2 Efd. v. 33. And if our own Hearts allure us, that we would not wantonly torment or de- ftroy any of God's Creatures, it will, I think, amount almoft to a Demonstration, that the Father of Mercies will not cauilefsly deftroy the Work of his own Hands, or put an end . to the Being of any Creature, whom he cre- ated capable of eternal Happinefs. But I expect you will tell me, as many grave Authors of great Learning, and little Under- G 2 landing (44) Standing have done beiore you, that there ig not even the Appearance of Injuftice or Cm-? elty in this Procedure ; that if the Brutes them- felves had Power to fpeak, to complain, to appeal to a Court of Juilice, and plead their own Caufe, they could have no juil Reafon for Complaint : This you may lay, but 1 know you too well to believe you think To ; but it is an Objection thrown in your way by fame fe- rious Writers upon this Subject ; they tell you, that their Exiilence was given them upon this very Condition, that uld be temporary and fhort, thai riutter'd, or crepr, or lwam, or waik'd about their refpective Ele- ments for a little Sea ion, they fhould be fwept away by the hand of Violence, or the Courfe of Nature, into ar. entire Extinction of Being, to make room for their SuccefTors in the fame Circle of Vanity and Corruption. Bur, pray, who told them fo ? Where did they learn this Philoi'cphy ? Does either Reafon or Revela- tion give the kail Countenance to (uch a bold Aflertion ? .So far from it, that it feems a di- rect Contradiction to both, The wife Preach- er has given us a deeper and ftfer Founda- tion for our Philofophy, Ecclef. hi. 14. I know that whatfoever God doetk, it Jhall be for ever, nothing can be put to it % nor any thing taken from it, and God doeth it that Men (houuifcar before him. And the Royal Pfalmift, Pfal. civ. where he is defcribing the Beauty, the Mag- nificence, the Wifdom of the Creation, breaks out into Raptures of Gratitude and Joy : O Lcrd («) Lord (fays he, ver. 24.) how manifold are thy Works, in Wifdom haft thou made them all, the Earth is full of thy Riches. If then all the Works of God are the Effect of infinite Wif- dom, if every, even the meaneft, the fmalleft, and mod contemptible Creature, were formed, direc^d, and eftablifh'd in their proper Rank and O; der, by 'he unerring Counfel and Wif- dom of the Almighty j is it not a bold Pre- emption to impute to thatWifdom, unworthy and contradictory Counfels ? Does it not feem to imply Incor.ftancy and Mutability in God, that the fame infinite Wifdom that made every Creature beautiful, ufeful, and good for cer- tain Ends and Purpofes, fhould deftroy, or an- nihilate any thing that he has made, and there- by defeat the Wifdom of his own Counfels, and the Ends of his Providence ? This furely muft appear as (hocking to Reafon, as it is con- tradictory to Revelation. And therefore the Pfalmiit, Pfal. civ. after he has defcribed in moll pompous and poetical Language, the Beauties and Glories of the Creation, parti- cularly the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms, feems to lament their Mortality as a Violence and Breach upon the Harmony of Nature, ver. 29. Thou hideft thy Face, they are troubled ; thou takeft away their Breath, they die and return to their Dujl. But he comforts himfelf in the next Verfe, that they are not loft, their Death is but a Change of their State and Manner of Ex T iftence: the original Purpofes of God in their preation (hall ftand for ever and ever - y and whatever (46 ) whatever Changes and Revolutions they may undergo, they fhall in due time appear again in their proper Place and Order, to fill the Sta- tion, and anfwer the feveral Ends intended by infinite Wifdom in their firft Creation, ver. 30, Thou ftalt fend forth (for fo it mould be ren- dered) thy Spirit, and they fo all be created, (i. e. appear again in a new Form or Manner of Ex- igence) and thoufialt renew the face ofthel&rth, the Glory of the Lord (manifefted in the Re- novation of the vifible World and all its Inha- bitants) fiall endure for ever, and the Lord fhall rejoice in his Works. As he did in their firft; Creation, when he pronounced them all to be very good, when all the Powers of Hea- ven and Earth proclaimed aloud the Wifdom, the Goodnefs, and Power of their Maker, when the Morning Stars fang together, and all the Sons of God Jhouted for joy, Job xxxviii. 7. The Evi- dence that appears thus ftrong from the Con- fideration of the Nature of God, the infinite Perfection of his Wifdom, and the Immuta- bility of his Counfels, will appear yet ftronger from confidering the Nature and Condition, the Capacities and Powers of the Creatures themfelves: As they are all endu'd with Life and Motion, Senfe and Perception, and many of them, perhaps, with equal, if not quicker and more delicate Seniations in their Sphere of Ac- tion, than many of us in ours, andthefe freely beflowed upon them by the overflowing Good- nefs of their Maker ; if they were intended not only to fill the feveral Ranks and Orders they ( 47 ) they ftand in, in the univ.erfal Scale of Beings, and compleat the Harmony of the Univerfe, but alfo to have their Share in the general Bleiling, and iuch a degree and portion of Hap- pinefs as they were capable of enjoying : Will any one lay, it would be no Punimment to them to be totally deprived of that Happinefs, and even of a Poflibility of recovering it, by an arbitrary and entire Extinction of their Be- ing ? You and I ihould certainly think fo, if we were to do or fufFer the fame ; and we may, by more than a Parity of Reafon, be afraid to afcribe to Almighty Goodnefs and Wifdom, what appears a Weaknefs and Cru- elty in our fclves. Tell me not that God may do this by an arbitrary Act of his Will, and be no more partial or unjufl in finking them out of the Lift of Beings, than in bring- ing them into it, that he may refumeaGrant that he had freely given them ; and who (hall prefume tofiop his Hand, or limit his Power y and fay \ What doefl thou f This is arguing from the Principles of human Weaknefs and Ig- norance, the Counfels of God are not arbitrary in the human Senfe of that Word, but found- ed on the immutable Principles of infinite Wifdom, Goodnefs, and Truth, and there- fore without Variablenefs or Shadow of chang- ing* J am « if Jy. His Counfels, like his Na- ture, are the fame to-day ', yejlerday\ and fot^ ever. Heb. xiii. 8. It would be thehigheft Prefumption to pre- tend to limit the Power of the Almighty j yet yet all agree in this, that Omnipotence kfeli can do nothing that implies a Contradiction ; but is it not a manifefl Contradiction to infi- nite Wifdom, to make and unmake, to create and to deftroy ? The fame infinite Wii'dom and Power that brought them into Being, muft of neceffity (pardon the Exprenlon) preferve them in it, unleis we could fuppofe that he^ who from Eternity law through all the Pof- iibilities of Being, in whom every part of the Creation lives, and moves, and has its Being, {hould fee a Reafon for creating at one time, and destroying at another, the Works of his own Hands.- 1 might pufh this Argument yet further, and perhaps be able to produce fomething more than Conjecture and Probabi- lity, that the very Notion of Annihilation is abfurd and unphilofophical, contradictory and impoflible ; but as this would be leading you into a too tedious and abftrufe Speculation, I ihall content myfelf, and hope I have, in fome meafure, fatisrled you, with what has been already faid upon this Subject. The great Mr. Locke, in his Controverfy with the Biihop of Worcefter, Page 148. makes a kind of Objection to what has been here ad- vanced, that has more the Air of a Sneer than an Argument. But here I take liberty to obfervc, that if your Lordfiip allows Brutes to have Senfation, it will follow either that God can and does give to fome portions of Matter a Power of perception and Thinking ; and that all Ani~ vials have immaterial, andconfequently, according to (49 ) to your Lordfiip, imrhdrtal Sails, as well as Men. And to fay that Fleas and Mites, &c. have immortal Souls as ivell as Men, icill po/fi- bly be look'd on as going a great ivay to Jerv? an Hypothefis: Many Writers fince his time have improved this Thought, in order to ex- pofe and ridicule the Immateriality of the Soul, by mentioning the Eels in Vinegar, the rium- berlefs Nations, which to the naked Eye ap- pear as the Blue of a Plumb, btn are difco- vered by the Microfcope, to be the proper In- habitants of that particular Orb or Sphere ; but let them try the utmoft Strength of thefe Objections, and fee what it will prove^ but the Ignorance and Prefumption of thofe that make It. Is it not a more furprizing Inftance of the Almighty Power of God, to form fo wonderful, fo beautiful a Piece of Mecha- nifm in one or thefe minute Animals, thafi in that of an Ox or a Horfe, a Whale or an Elephant ? What lefs than infinite Wifdom and Power, could form a little Portion of Mat- ter, tod fmall to be viewed by the naked Eye, into that almoft infinite Variety of Parts, that are neceflary to form an organical Body ? Do but confider, how inexpreffi'oly fine, flender, and delicate, muft the feveral Parts be, that are neceffary to form the Organs, to propor- tion the Structure, to direct the Machinery, and preferve and fupply the vital and animal Action in one of thefe imperceptible Animals; yet every part that is necefTary to Animal Life^ is. as truly found in one of them, as in H Behemoth ( 5<>) Behemoth and Leviathan. I very much doubt whether any Wifdom but that which framed them, can fully comprehend the Structure, the Symmetry, the Beauties of this almoft im- perceptible Generation, and think it muft needs exceed any finite Underftanding to conceive, much lefs to explain, howfuch an infinite Va- riety of Parts, and Exercife of Powers, could be contained or exerted within fo narrow a Space : Firft , the Heart, the Fountain of Life ; then the Mujcles neceflary to produce Motion ; the Glands for the Secretion of Juices ; the Ven- tricle and Inteftines for digefting their Nou- rishment, and numberlefs other Parts which are neceflary to form an organical Body. This Knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for any human Underftanding, and it may reafo- nably be doubted, whether the Angels them- felves are able to explain and comprehend it. But when we further confider, that each of thofe Members are themfelves alfo organical Bodies, that they conlift of Fibres, Membranes, Coats, Veins, Arteries, Nerves, and number- leis Springs, Tubes, and Pullies, too fine for Imagination itfelf to conceive, try in the next place whether you can form the leaft Appear- ance, even of a Guefs, how infinitely fubtlc and fine muft the parts of thofe Fluids be, that circulate thro' theie Tubes, as the Blood, the Lympha, and animal Spirits, which in the .largeft Animals are fo exquifitely fine, that no Imagination can explain or conceive. Can any Wiidom,anyPower, lefs than infinite, produce, or (5«) or explain fuch wonderful Effects and Appear- ances as thefe ? Infinite Wifdom is as truly and wonderfully difplayed in the fmalleft, as in the greateft Works of the Creation, and nothing lefs than the fame Wifdom that formed the univerfal Syftem, could poffibly produce the fmalleft and mod contemptible Being in na- ture. I fay then, that all thefe Rffetts of in- finite Wifdom were intetided to anfwer fome end, to fervefome purpofe, or they were not : they contributed fomething to the Beauty and Harmo- ny of the whole, or they did not : they were ei- ther ufeful and neceffary in their fever al Ranks and Orders, or fuperfuous and ufelefs : Take which fide of the Dilemma you pleafe, and fee what Confequences will unavoidably fol- low. If you fay they were made for fome end, to anfwer fome purpofe, that they con- tributed to the Beauty and Harmony of the whole, it will neceflarily follow, that they do fo ftill, unlefs you will venture to fay, that the Syftem is alter'd, that what was once ne- ceflary is not fo now ; which would be an abfurd and blafphemous Imputation upon in- finite Wifdom. It will therefore follow, that whatever Ufes or Purpofes were intended in their Creation, can only be fupplied and an- fwered by ftill preferving them in being. If they were created by infinite Wifdom, the fame infinite Wifdom will alfo preferve them : if you doubt or deny this, you muft unavoidably fall into the other fide ef the Dilemma, and fay that they were not the Effetts of infinite Wif H 2 dom^ ( st ) dom, that" they \Vere nut made to krre any end, or anivver anv purpofe, that they contrU buted nothing to the Beauty and Harmony of the Syftem, that many of them are not on- ly ufelcfs and unnpeeflfary, but noxious and mifchievous, and had better either not have been created at all, or immediately {truck out of the Lift of Beings, to prevent their doing more Mifchjef: in moit, that they were a fort of By- blows, Excrefcencies, or fortuitous Pro- ductions, with which infinite Wijdom had no manner of Concern, either in their Formation or Preiei vation. Does not fuch a Thought as this 'mike you with a kind of religious Hor- rour r Is not the Blafphemy as mocking to .your Piety, as the Nonfenfe to your Under- standing ? Yet one of thefe rnuft be mainr . tained to fupport the other fide of the Quef- • tion. I will therefore venture to conclude, that whatsoever Creatures infinite Wijdom faw fit to produce in the firft Creation, will be preferved by the farne : infinite Wijdom fo, long as the Syftem itfelf fhall continue, which is as certain a Conclufion, as that the Parts fhall : cqntjnue as long as the Whole, the Materials (hall fubfift as long as the Fabrick ; and this . not only with regard to the Species, but to all the Individuals of the feveral Species, which, as : Religion and Philqfophy ailure us, were a&u- • ally txifting in their fir ft Caufe or Parent, when the divine Benediction, to increafe and multiply, was pronounced upon them, and they were declared by God himfelf to \>e very ( 53 ) mery good. Whatever Arguments have or may be produced in Vindication of the Wifdom and Goodncfs- of God in the Works of the Creation, will (I humbly conceive) moreilrong- ly conclude for their Immortality : and if L. much as the Shadow of a Reafon can be al- led^ed for their Annihilation or utter Extinc-- tion of their Being after Death, it will as ftrongly conclude againft the Wifdom of their iii it Creation, And whether fuch a Conceliiou might not have a fatal Influence upon weak and irreligious Minds, deferves well to be con- fider'd, whether they might not from hence be induced to believe or to hope, at leaft, that they might receive the fame Indulgence as the reft of their Fellow-Brutes, and be no more accountable for the Sins of a long Life, the Abufe of nobler Faculties, the Defiance of the higheft Authority, the Contempt of the plain- eft Duties, and a Violation of the moil: reafo- nable Commands, than the poor Brutes, who- have no Sin to anfwer for, and would never have known eithei Pain or Sorrow, Suffering or Death, had our firft Parents but continued as innocent as they : What then mould hin- der their Continuance in being after the Diftb- lution of their Bodies ? Why may not the im- material Form be difpofed of in its proper •State, waiting for the Time of the Reftitution s>f all things^ A els iii. 21. When the whole peering Creation Jhall be delivered from the bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty >ef the _ Sons .cfGody Rom. viiu 21. The wii Preacher (54) Preacher feems to have exprefs'd his Thoughts very plainly upon this Queftion, EccL iii. 21. where he mentions the Spirit of a Man, and the Spirit of a Beafl, however different in their fpecifick Dignity and Qualities, yet both equally immaterial and immortal, both return- ing, after the DifTolution of their Bodies, to their proper State or Centre : The Spirit of the Man going upwards, and the Spirit of the Beaji going downward; that is, the former a£- cending, the other defcending to their proper Rank or Sphere in the invifible World. — And after all, where is the Difficulty of comprehend- ing, or the Danger of afferting this proper Af- ibrtment of the feveral Species of Beings, ac- cording to their original State in the Order of Creation ? What need is there of fo much phi- lofophical Refinement and Caution in explain- ing fo obvious a Queftion ? What poffible Danger can there be in afferting a Truth too plain to be denied, or what Purpofes of Reli- gion can be ferved in concealing or difguifing a certain Truth, in order to eftablifh an un- certain, I had almoft faid an impofiible Con- jecture ? Tell me ingenuoufly, Madam, can you hefitate a Moment how to determine up- on this Queftion ? Some learned Men have ftarted a Difficulty, how thefe feparate EfTen- ces, or Brute-Souls, are to be difpofed of after Death. Thus, particularly, the pious, learn- ed, and Right Reverend Author of The Proce- dure, Extent, and Limits of Human Under- {landing, expreffes his Doubts and Fears, Page ( 55) I73> J 74- They who hold fenftive Perception tn Brutes to be an Argiwie?it of the Immateriality of their Souls, find themj elves under a Necefity of allowing thofe Souls to be naturally immor- tal likewije, and they are fo embarajjed how to dijpofe of thofe irrational immortal Souls after the Dijfolution of their Bodies, and what fort of Immortality to conceive for them, that they imagine them all to return to the great Soul or Spirit of the World, or by a Metempjuchofis to pafs into the Bodies of fucceeding Animals, and then when they have done their Work at the end of the World, they are to be difcharged out of Being, and again reduced to their primitive no- thing. — Again — If thofe Souls are once granted to be immaterial, it is utterly inconceivable that they jhould not naturally have the fame Immorta- lity with thofe that are human -, fince we cannot with any Senfe or Confftency difiinguifij two dif- ferent kinds of Immortality for created Spirits, if the Souls of Brutes be immortal, that can- not when fepar ate be thought to remain altoge- ther in a State of Inactivity or lnfenfibility, which communicated Senfe and Activity to Mat- ter, while in conjunction with it ; and if Jo, they mujl be fenjible of Happinefs or Mijery, and in fome degree liable to Rewards and Punifimenti as eternal as their Souls. He concludes, What heightens the Abfurdity of this way of Think- ing, is y that in imagining the Souls of Brutes to be immaterial, Men mujl necejj'arily diftinguijb f, great Variety of them, both in Nature and Degree ', we fort for Birds \ another for Bcajls, and ( 5« ) and another for Fifoes ; and thefe muft be alt Jubdivided again into very different Species of im- material Souls , according to the different forts there are under each of t he fe general Heads. Nay i every Fly and In feci ntuft on this Suppofition have fome fort of immaterial Soul, even down to the Cheefe-mites ; and what is yet niore abfurd, is-, that there mufi be an infinite Variety of Imma- terialities imagined^ to Juit the Rank and Con- dition of every individual, living, fenfible Crea- ture. What a Rhapfody is here \ Can there be a more lively Picture of a puzzled Imagi* nation, terrified with Spcdres, and combating with Difficulties of its own creating? If the Premifes be juft, the Conclusion mud be lb too, they muft mind or fall together: If the Evidence be ftrong for the Immateriality of Brute-Souls, as I believe you think it is, their Immortality muft, in my Opinion, be the na- tural Confequence : And how are we con- cerned to enquire what mall become of them in their feparate State? What is it to us to .know how they fliall be difpofed of after the Diflblution of their Bodies ? Cannot infinite Power, which formed them without our Ad- vice and Affifkance, difpofe of them in the fame manner ? This, I think, is certain, that if they are immaterial, and confequently immortal, if their Souls animated certain Bo- dies in this Life, and were the proper Prin- ciples of their Action, they cannot ceafe to be active after they are in a feparate State, and muft have a peculiar Sphere of Life and Action 4, without ( 57 ) without their Bodies, as well as they had on them. Can you, Madam, conceive what would have become of the numerous De- fendants of the feveral Species of Beir (whofe peculiar Bleliing from God was to increafe and multiply) if Adam had not finned, nor by confequence Sin and Death entered in- to the World ? Can we fuppofe that he who made them to increafe and multiply, had not made a proper Provilion for their Reception ? And will not (think you) the fame Wifdom. and Power continue the fame Provilion for them ftill ? Can any Man pretend to tell me what is the State of feparate Souls ? Where, or what, or how many are the different Man- lions and Receptacles of the Dead ? Thefe are idle Enquiries^ unanfwerable Queftions, yet does any reafonable Man doubt whether there are fuch Manlions, fuch proper Habitations for feparate Spirits, and if for one Rank of Beings, whv not for ail ? And is it not a monftrous J Prefumption in us, wha are ignorant of the plainejl things, and can hardly judge aright of the commonejl things that are upon earth, and find not without great labour the things that are before us, Wild. ix. 16. to be preferr- ing Bounds to omnipotent Wifdom, directing the Exercife of infinite Power, by our narrow Apprehenljons of the Nature of things, and the Power of God ? His Objection againft the fame Immortality allotted to different Species of Beings, is very crudely and obfeurely ex- preffed. Immortality, or a Perpetuity of Ex- I iflence ( 5^ ) illcncc in its aburacfced Nature, to whatever different Pranks or Species of Beings it is ap- plied, mail be one and the fame ', however dif- ferent their State and Condition may be. As tor the Brute-Souls being ienfibLe of Happi- nefs or Miiery in their feparate State, Why not ? as we'll as in their prefent natural State ? If they are capable of Happinefs ur Mifery here, if they are the Objects of divine as well as human Compaliion in their prefent State, (which both Reafon and Revelation plainly evince) what fhould hinder their being capa- ble of higher degrees of Happinefs in their fe- parate State in the invilible World, as well as they were in their firfl Scituation in Paradife, before Sin and Death entered into the World, and they funk with us under the Bondage of Corruption ? But to fay (as our Author does) that it will thence follow they are liable to Re- wards and Punijh meats, requires both Proof and Explanation. They were not moral Agents, nor is their prefent Unhappincfs the proper • Pu niiliment of any abufe of their Free-will, the Violation of any Duty, the Tranfgrerlton of any Command, or Difobedience to the Will of their Maker. This the Apoille ex- prtfly declares, Rom. viii. 20. That they were made jhbjec~l to Vanit\\ not willingly, not by any Fault of their own, but by reafon of him, upon the Account, by the TranfgrefTion of Man> *wbo has fubjeffed them to it in hope ; that is, in certain hope of being delivered from a Mi- fery they had not deierved, from a Bondage which ( 59) which they had not brought upon them felves,but were neceffarily involved in it by the relation they flood in to our firfl Parent, who was their natural Lord, the Sovereign and Governour qf the whole Mundane Syitem. And why does he fay it heightens the Abfurdity of this way of Thinking, that we mall be obliged to diftinguifh a great Variety of Souls, both in Nature and Degree, for the great Variety of Beings ? Why is it a greater Abfurdity to fuppofe different Species of immaterial Souls, than different Species of material Bodies ? If (as the Apoftle - reafons, i Cor. xv. 39.) All .Fle/h is not the fame Fle/h, but there is one kind o/FleJJj of Men, another Flcfo of Be aft s, ano- ther of ' Fifhes, and another of Birds : Where would be the Abfurdity of thinking or faying, all Souls, or Spirits, or immaterial Beings are not fpecifically the fame, but there is one kind of Soul of Men, another kind of Beads, ano- ther of Fifhes, another of Birds, and another of Infects, and perhaps another of the various Tribes and Families of each P It is at leaft highly probable that it is fo, and the Appear- ance of Abfurdity arifes from nothing elfe but our Ignorance of the Ways of God, and his myfterious Operations in the Frame and Courfe of Nature, and a vain Prefumption that we are competent Judges of both. This it is that tempts us to prefcribe Limits, and direct the Exercife of infinite Power ; this tempts us to form Hypothefes, and lay Schemes for the Operations of Omnipotence, and charge I 2 everv ( 60 ) every Deviation from it as abfurd and unreafo- nable. And by the lame Method of Reafoning, we might, (if Experience did not convince us) as wifely infer that the almoft infinite Va- riety of material Bodies were abfurd and im- pofliblf. And after all this Appearance of Abfurd ity, it is more than probable that this great Variety of immaterial Souls both in Na- ture and Degree for InfeBs, Fifres, Birds y and Beafhy ought to be regarded as a lingular Arti- cle in the Harmony and Beauty of theCreation, in the riling Scale of immaterial Beings. When we obferve fuch a wonderful Gradation of Beauty, Form, Perfection and Proportion, in the feveral Parts of Matter, through the Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms, through all the Species of Fofiils, Plants, and Animals, up to the human Bodv, it muft ap- pear to a rational and attentive Mind, to be a wide and unnatural Chafm in i he Nature of tilings, if there were nothing between dead Matter and the human Soul. Let us not then cmbarrafs ourfelves with Doubts and Enqui- ries about the Purpofes and Couhfels of infi- nite Wifdom, in the Creation of fuch a won- derful and beautiful Variety of Animals, thro' all the feveral Regions of Nature ; but fatisfv ourfelves, that as nothing lels than infinite Power could produce the lead: and molt con- temptible into Being, fo nothing lefs than infinite Wildom has formed and directed them to an- fwer the feveral Purpofes of their Creation, and fill their different Ranks and States in the Scale ( 6. ) Scale of Being, and that the fame infinite Wifdom will not fail to difpofe of them here- after in the moft proper Manner, to anfwer the original Purpofes of their Creation. Thus much we may venture to pronounce with fafety, that it is by no means inconfiftent with Reafon, that there may be feveral Degrees and Orders of immaterial Beings, with different Powers and Faculties, according to their diffe- rent Ends : And that fuch of thefe as are capa- ble of actuating Bodies, may be difpofed of in different Bodies, according to their different Capacities : and when the immaterial Beings are feparated from thefe Bodies, fo that the Bodies are dead, no Man can prefume to fay that it is impoffible or unreafonable, for om- nipotent Wifdom to continue them in being, and difpofe of them in fuch a State or Condi- tion as he mall fee fit. And if partial human Benevolence, if limited human Underftanding, could conceive any poffible Reafon, or con- trive any poffible Means to continue their Be- ing, and their Happinefs in a State of Sepa- ration, then it is neither an abfurd Thought, nor impious Hope, that their Almighty and moft Merciful Creator, whole Companions are over all his Works, may effect both, iince no- thing lefs than both could at firft move him to bring them into Being, and fuch a State as the Harmony of Nature required, and infinite Wifdom law fit for them. And now, Madam, I appeal to you and to every fenfible impartial .Reader, to tell me what (62 ) what poffible ill Confequences can be drawn from the Suppofition of their Immortality 5 or what poffible Advantage to the Interefts of true Philofophy and Religion can arife from denying it ? The Infidel will bepleafed to hear you own the Poffibility of a material Soul of thinking Matter, and comfort himfelf with the hope that he with the reil: of his reafon- ing Fellow-Animals may be exactly of the fame make, have nothing in them fuperiour to Matter, no Principle of Immortality, nothing capable of eternal Rewards and Punifhmentsj tho' he himfeif would eafily turn the Tables upon you, and prove the contrary from the plainer! Principles of Nature and Philofophy. On the other hand, if we could prove to his c atisfaclion, that every kind and degree of Life through the univerfal Syftem muft necef- farily be immortal, it would prove ftrongly upon him the neceffity of his own Immor- tality, and quite deftroy the feeble, the ter- rible Hope of Annihilation, or utter Extinc- tion of his Being ; it would (how him in a ftrong and amazing Light, the abfolute Impof- iibility of evading the proper and neceffary Pu- nifhment of a wicked and ungodly Life, the unavoidable Confequences of brutifh and vi- cious Habits, debating the Soul, degrading it from its proper Rank and Dignity, corrupting all its Faculties, and rendering it uncapable of thofe divine Communications which are the proper Life, the only real Felicity of human Souls. But to return, The ( 6 3 ) The wonderful Gradation in the Scale of Beings (fo far as our Senfes can difcover it) is not only the Object of daily Experience and Admiration, but is alfo a noble Key to open to us the more remote and invifible Scenes of Nature and Providence, and to raife upon the Foundation of a juft and proper Analogy, a rational Superftru&ure little inferiour in Evi- dence and Strength to a Mathematical Demon- ftration. As we obferve in all Parts of the Creation, that there is a gradual Connection of one with another, without any great or dis- cernible Gaps between, that in all that great Variety of Things we fee in the World, they are all fo clofely linked together, that it is not eafy to difcover the Bounds between them ; we have all the reafon imaginable to believe, that by fuch gentle Steps, and imperceptible Degrees, Beings afcend in the univerfal Sy- flem from the loweft to the higheft Point of Perfection. Where is he that can fettle tbs Boundaries of the material and fpiritnal World ? Who can tell where the fenfible and rational begin, and where the infenfible and irrational end? Who can precifely determine the loweft Species of Animals, and the firfi and highefl Degree of inanimateBeings ? The whole Syftem of natural Beings, fo far as we can obferve, lefTen and augment in the fame Proportion, as the Quantity does in a regular Cone, where though there be a manifeft dif- ference betwixt the bignefs of the Diameter at remote Diftances, yet the difference, betwixt the ( H ) the upper 'and under, where they touch each other, is hardly diicernable: The Difference betwixt Man and Man is inconceivably great. Were we to compare a Ncicttm^ a Locke t or a Boyle, with that fort of human Creatures com- monly diltinguim'd by the Name and Title of hnncfl \or very hone 'ft Fallows , who have very little befides their Shape and Rifibility (or Faculty of laughing, which fome Philofophers make to be the formal Difference betwixt rational and irrational Animals) to diftinguifh them from Brutes, we mould be almoft tempted to think them of a different Species : but were we to compare the Understandings, the Tempers, the Abilities of fome Men and fome Brutes, we mail find fo little Difference, that it would be hard to fay to which we mould give the preference. The Brute in the Stye, the Stable or the Kennel, and the Brute in the Parlour, are very often diftinguifhed to the advantage <;f the former, as the more harmlefs, the more ufeful, the more virtuous Animals of the two. Nor has the Difference in point of Undei Hand- ing been much lefs coniiderable. Now as the Rule of' slnahgy makes it more than probable, that in the afcending part of the Scale there are numberlefs Ranks and Orders of intelli- gent Beings, excelling us in feveral degrees of Perfection, afcending upwards towards the in- finite Perfection of the Creator,' by gentle Steps and Differences, that are hardly at a difcernable diflance from each other : fo in the defcending Part, there are doubtfefs num*. berlcfs (6 5 ) berlefs Ranks and Orders of Being enduad with lower Faculties, lower Degrees of Life and Per- ception, till you come down by imperceptible degrees to the Vegetables, and inanimate Brute- Matter ; but what are the fpecifick Differences that diftinguifh thefe feveral Ranks and Degrees of Being, is not eafy to conceive. The Scale of Life, like the Continuation of all Motion, the Undulation of Waves, the Vi- bration of Sounds, and the Progrcffion of Light, are performed by certain infeparab'e i tho' diftinct and decrealing Communications and Impreffions from one part of Matter to another, each of them proportionably dimi- nifhing, till you come at laft to a State of ab- folute Inaction and Reft : b*;t what is the pre- cife and abfolute Boundary, betwixt languid Motion, and abfolute Reft, what created Un- derftanding can explain or comprehend ? Who can fix the direct Point where the laft dying Sound expires in dead Silence ? Who can difcern where the laft glimmering Ray of Light is fwallowed up in total Darknefs and Obfcurity ? Who can determine the Limits betwixt the Ebb and Flowing; of the Tide, or defcribe the fingle Point which is the ending of the one, and the beginning of the other ? Nor are the Boundaries betwixt the Human and Brute Underftanding more eafily diftin^ guifhed. Who can determine the loweft De- gree of human Ignorance, and the higheft Pitch of brutal Knowledge \ who can fay where the one ends, and the other begins, or K whs- ( 66 ) whether there be any other Difference betwixt them but in degree. Mr. Locke in his 27th Chapter, of Identity and Diver jlty, has, in the Courfe of his Argu- ment, dropt fomething lb much to our pre- fent Piirpofe, and fo apparently contradictory to what he has advanced in other part? of his Theory, that I cannot help tranfenbing it. Page 284. Edit. 8vo. I think 1 may be ce ■fluent, that whoever Jhoidd j'ee a Creature of his own Shape, thd it had no ?nore Reajon, as to its Life, than a Cat, or a Parrot, would call him /till a Man ; or whofoever fjoufd hear a Cat or a Parrot difcourfe, reafon, and philo- sophize, would call or think it nothing but a Cat or a Parrot ; and Jay, the one was a dull, irrational Man, and the other a very intelli- gent rational Parrot. A Relation we have in an Author of great Note {jneaning Sir William Temple'* Memoirs) 1 had a mind to know from Prince Maurice'* own Mouth the Account of a common but much credited Story, that I had heard Jo often jrom many others, of an old Par- rot he had in Brafil, during his Government there, that J'poke, and asked, and a/ fiver ed com- mon ^iie/lions like a reafonable Creature ; fo that thofe of his Train there generally concluded it to be Witchery or Poffefjion -, and one of his Chap- lains who lived long afterwards in Holland, would never from that time endure a Parrot, but f aid they all had a Devil in them. I had heard many Particulars of this Story, and a [fe- vered by People hard to be d'fer edited ; which made ( 67) made me ask Prince Maurice what there was in it. He faid, with his ufual Plainnefs and Dry- nefs of Talk, that there wasfomethijig true, but a great deal falfi of what had been reported. I dejired to know of him what there was of the Jirjl f He told me fijort and coldly \ that he had heard of fuch an old Parrot, when he came to Brafii ; and tho he believed nothing of it, and 'twas a good way off] he had the Curiofity to fend for it ; that it was a very great and a very old one ; and when it came fir jl into the Room where the Prince was with a great many Dutchmen about him, it faid prefently, What a Company of White-men are here ! They asked it what he thought that Man was, pointing at the Prince ? It anfwered, Some General or other. When they brought it clofe to him he asked it, «f» D'ou venez vous ? It anjwered, de Marin nan. The Prince; A qui eftesvous? TIjc Parrot, A un Portugueie. The Prince, Qui fais tu la? The Parrot, Je garde les Poules. The Prince laugh- ed and faid, Vous gardes les Poules ? The Par* rot anjwered, Ouy, Moy, et je fcay bien faire, and made the Chuck four or five times that Peo- ple ufe to make to Chickens when they call them. I fit down the Words of this worthy Dialogue in French jufi as Prince Maurice faid them to me. I ask 'd him in what Language the Parrot fpake ? And he faid in Braiilian. 1 asked him K 2 whe~ ■f Whence come you ? From t/laritman. Prince. To ivbcm Jo you belong ? The Parrot. To a Portuvucfe. Prince. What do you do there ? Parrot. I look after the Chickens. Prince. You look af- Ur the Chicken ? Parrot. l'cs, / knoiv bo-.v to do it very - ( 68) whether he under flood Brafilian ? He f aid, No x but he had taken care to have two Interpreters fa him ; the one a Dutchman who /poke Brafilian, and the other a Brafilian that Jpake Dutch ; that he asli d them feparateh ana \ privately ', and both of them agreed in telling him jufl the fame thing that the Parrot faid. I could not but tell this odd Stcry, becaufe it is Jb much cut of the way, and from the fi? -ji hand \ and what may pafs for a good one; for I dare jay, the Prince at kafl believed himfelf in all he told me, having ever pa [Jed for a very honejl and pious Man. I leave it to Naturalijls to reafon, and to other Men to believe as they plea}. :. on it. The Ufe Mr. Locke makes ofthisfurprizing Story, is of a very particular Nature, and I muft needs fay, not without Violence applied to his purpofe. Hear his own Remark. The Prince, 'tis plain, who vouches this Story, and our Author who relates it from him, both of them call this Talker a Parrot ; and I ask any one elfe, who thinks fuch a Story fit to be told ; whether if this Parrot, and all of its kind, had always talked, as we have a Prince's Word for it, this one did ; whether, I fay, they would not have paffed for a Race of rational Animals ? So far, the Queftion is properly ftated, and may be eafily anfwered. Without doubt they would. But, he proceeds to aik. further, Whether for all that they would have been allowed to be Men, and not Parrots ? Why fo ? Unlefs it were thought abfurd or impious to afcribe any kind or degree of Rea- fon ( 69 ) fon to Brutes j which is fo far from being the cafe, that I humbly conceive, there is at leaft a flrong Probability of the contrary. And this Story, (o well attefted, is no contemptible E- vidence in our favour. Supposing, therefore, this to be the cafe, the Queftion I would afk fhould be this : Does not this Parrot difcover as evident Tokens at leafl of Reafon and Un- derftanding as many of our own Species, who are allowed to be reafonable Creatures, and to make a tolerable Appearance in the gay World? Is>thcre any difcernible Difference betwixt the Converfation of this Bird, and many a fad un- lucky Bird, who fancies himfelf a very pretty Fellow, and, perhaps, a very tine Gentleman ? Let us, if you pleafe, Madam, enter a little further into the Comparifon. The Parrot, in fo fhort a Converfation, could difcover but few Ideas, neceffarily involved in the Queftions he was obliged to ^nfwer ; but thofe few fee m to be clear, diftincl, and regularly adjufted ; and if we may be allowed to judge by this Speci- men, he might have a larger and better Stock of intellectual Materials to employ upon pro- per Occafions. Firft of all, It is plain, he could diftinguifh Colours, and the Difference betwixt his footy Countrymen, and the white Attendants of the Prince. Secondly, He could diftinguifh Men from any other Species of Ani- mals, by his calling the Prince's Attendants White-men. Thirdly, He had Geography enough to diftinguifh one Place from another, and to tell the Prince, that he came from Ma- rinnan. ( 7° ) rlnnan. Fourthly, He under flood the abft rafted Nature of Property, and the relation he bore to the Portuguefe Owner or Mafter to whom he belonged. Fifthly, He could infer that that Relation implied fome fort of Service to be performed on his part, which was the Care of the Chicken. Sixthly, He difcovered that he underftood the Nature of his Office, and how to execute it in a proper manner, by making the Signals which the Mother ufed to make to her young Family, to warn them to fly from any imminent Danger, and put themfelves under her Protection. It feems to appear from hence, that this fenfible, honeft, faithful Servant bad as much Knowledge as was fufficient to qualify him for the Poft that was affigned him, of which he gave full Proof in his Examination by the Prince. You will ell me, perhaps, this was no Proof of his Un- derftanding ; it might probably be a LelTon which he had learn'd by Rote : But, pray, Madam, is not the Probability as flrong on the other fide ? efpecially as you find, that the firft Speech was the effect of immediate Re- flection without any leading Queflion to in- troduce it, and the reft were a Sequel of pro- per Anfwers to the feveral Questions that were propofed by the Prince. But you may fur- ther reply, that as he had fo few Ideas to work with, it would require a very moderate degree of Underftanding, to be able to adjuft them properly, and apply them juftly upon "proper Occafions. True— But the being abls (7' ) able to do it at all, even in the lowefl de- gree, is confefling the Point that I am labour- ing to prove, and anfwers every Objection that has been made againft it. Well, then, fuppofing this poor individual Bird at the head of his Species, compounding and com- paring Ideas, forming Conclusions, reafoning, and anfwering Queftions, we may, according to Mr. Locke s own Conceflion, allow him to be a Rational Parrot j and may reafonably infer that the other Individuals of the fame Species, are capable of fimilar, if not equal Improve- ments, and bv confequence have a propor- tionable Title to the Character of rational Crea- tures : On the other hand, if a flender Stock of Ideas, a Slownefs of Apprehenfion, a Po- verty of Genius, and Nanownefs of Under- flanding, be a fufficient Reafon for finking them out of the Rank of rational Beings, I quite dread the Confequence, and almoft trem- ble to think what terrible Havock it muft make in the human Species. How many ho- neft, merry, pretty Fellows muft inftantly re- fign their Pretentions to Humanity, be turned to Grafs, or degraded into the lowed Rank of Vegetables ! Could you ileal into poor Sylvio's Pericranium, and there deface the Ideas of his Dogs, his Horfes, his Bottle, and (I am forry to add) his Miftrefs, you would leave an abfoluteVoid, an entire Blank as could be found in the whole Creation. Ned Courtly, who va- lues himfelf fo much upon his Knowledge of the World, is not one jot richer than he ; the 5 whole ( 7* ) whole Furniture of his Memory, (the only Faculty he has to find Employment for his Tongue) wasftolen from the Drawing-Room, the Opera, and the AfTembly ; and if it were poiTible for him to return his intellectual Trum- pery to the place from whence he ftole it, he would immediately be upon the Level with the Wafps and Butterflies. I have at this time in my eye a Group of folemn Blockheads, who have the Vanity to call themfelves Freethinkers, without being able to explain the Character they infolently claim, nor the Title by which they pretend to claim it. I wijja I had a pro- perAuthority to confine them all together in one Room, with a decent Allowance of Pen, Ink, and Paper, debarring them the ufe of two or three Libertine Books, two or three Cant- words, and two or three Comnlon-place Jokes, upon Parlbns, Prieft-craft, and Superftition ; and I would defy their united Mifunderftand- ings in fix Weeks time to produce fix Quarto Pages upon any Queftion in Philofophy orRe- ligion, written (I do not fay with Argument or Grammar, for that would be an unreafona- ble Impofition) but even with true Spelling and common Senfe. Could you by any means re- train the arch, the witty, the eloquent Clari?i- da from her favourite Topicks of Drefs and Scandal, you would infinitely oblige all her Ac- quaintance, by condemning her to perpetual Silence. Now, I would venture to fay, that the Par- tition betwixt the lowed Degree of Human, and (72 ) and the higheft Degree of Brute-Underftand- ing, is fo very llender, that it is hardly per- ceptible, and couid not in any degree be di- ftinguiuYd but by a greater Fluency of Lan- guage; which, tho' in the main it may be con- iidered as an Advantage to our Species in ge- neral, yet is it none to thofe who feldom make any other Ufe made of it, than to difcover the Emptinefs of their Heads, the Peverfenefs of their Wills, or the Iniquity of their Hearts, and mew how little the real Difference is (Shape only excepted) betwixt a fagacious, good-natur'd, governable, ufeful Animal, which we agree to call a Brute ; and a wrong-head- ed, vicious, ungovernable, mifchievous Brute, whom we agree to call a Man ; and what Au- thority we have to ftrike out of the Syftem of Immortality fo great a part of the Creation, without an abfolute and evident Neceffity, ex- ceeds my Compre hen lion. If both Reafon and Revelation allure us, that in their firft Creation they were all very good : as perfect in their fe- veral Kinds, as beautiful in their fcveral Orders, as necefTary to the univerfal Harmony, as in- finite Power and Wifdom could make them ; if by the fpecial Benediction of their Maker they were to increafe and multiply, and per- petuate their feveral Species, before Sin and Death entered into the World ; how dare we pretend to reverfe this Blefling, to correct infinite Wifdom, to alter the eftablilh'd Or- der of Things, and pronounce a Sentence of utter Extinction upon numberlcfs Ranks and L Orders (74) Orders of Beings, created by infinite Wifdom, to manifeft the Power and Goodnefs of their Maker, by mihifhing to the Pleafure and NecefTities of Mankind, and contributing in their proper Order to the Beauty and Harmo- ny of the univerfal Syftem ; Is not this pro- nouncing a Curfe where God has pronounced a Bleffing ? and in effect declaring that infi- nite Wifdom and Power were idly employed in forming, fupporting, feeding, and blefling numberlefs Species, Tribes, and Families of ufelefs and unneceffary Beings ? Is it not more reafonable, more coniiftent with the Nature of God, and the Scripture-Account of the Cre- ation, to fuppofe that the immaterial Forms, the incorruptible Eliences of the whole Syftem, notwithstanding its prefent ruinous and deplo- rable Appearance under the Bondage of Cor- ruption and Death, are immoveably fix'd in their proper Rank and Order in the invifible World, according to the eternal Archetypal Model in the Divine Mind, in and by which, as their efficient and exemplary Caufe, every Being in Heaven and Earth, from the moft exalted Seraph to the lowefl: Vegetable, was made, in which they now fubfiit, and mail for ever fubfift, in a glorious Immortality ? The Abfurdities that flow from the contra- ry Opinion, are a ftrong prefumptive Proof in favour of ours. That all Creatures were the Productions of infinite Goodnefs, Wifdom, and Power, and could therefore be only created in order to be as perfectly happy as their Rank and (75 ) and State in Nature could admit j is as certain as that an infinitely wife, and good, and pow- erful Being, could not pofllbly make any Crea- ture only with an Intention to make them miferable ; and yet we fee at prefent the whole Face of Nature covered, as it were, with Dark- riefs, Confufion, and Deformity, a Scene of Sin and Folly, of Mifery ami Sorrow, fink- ing, as it were, under its own Weight, and groaning under the Bondage of Corruption : And dare we fay, or imagine, that this was the original primitive State of things ? Could Diforder and Confufion, Vanity and Mifery, proceed from the omnipotent Fountain of Or- der, Truth, and Love ? Muft we not rather fay, that we are in a preternatural State, that the Evils we fufTer are accidental, the fatal Confequence of the Tranfgreffion of our firfl Parents, feduced by the Temptation of an evil Spirit, to a Violation of all the Laws of Juftice, Truth, and Order ? And can we ima- gine that this violent, this unnatural State (hall lad: for ever ? Is the State of the whole Cre- ation fo deplorably miferable, as to admit of no Remedy, no Hope of Deliverance ? Shall the eternal Purpofes of infinite Wifdom, Love, and Power be intirely defeated by the Malice of evil Sp?rits, and the Infirmities of frail Creatures? Is not this imputing too much to the Creature, and derogating frcm the infinite Wifdom, Goodnefs, and Power of the Creator? Is not this faying in effect, that the Almighty- Creator, the Father of Mercies, and the Go^ L 2 of V (76 ) of all Companions, whofe Mercies are over aU his Works, is either unwilling, or unable, to effect the eternal Purpofes of his infinite Love? that the Devil is more powerful to deftroy, than God to fave ? And after all, what diffi- culty is there in comprehending, or what pof- iible Danger in aiTerting, that all the inferiour Creation, that fell with and in our nrfr, Parent, and fufFer for our Tranfgreffion, mall at laft be rcflored to their primitive Happinefs, and be delivered from their prefent Bondage of Cor- ruption into the glorious Liberty of the So?2S of God? And why (as St. Paul fays to King A- grippa, Acts xxvi. 8.) fiould it be thought a thing incredible, that God mould do this, es- pecially as Reafon and Nature pronounce fuch a Renovation, not only poffible but probable, and Revelation declares it to be certain ? As for the wondrous Works of the Lord (faith the wife Son of Sirach, xviii. 6.) there may nothing be taken from them, neither may any thing be put unto them, neither can the ground of them be found out. Nothing can be added to their original Perfection, nor {hall any thing be abl« to defttoy it, neither can any human Under- standing comprehend their ellential Ground and Root in the Archetypal World, in which (not- withstanding any Violence or accidental Dis- order in their prefent external Form) they Hand immoveably fix'd in their proper Rank and Or- der, in and through which they fhall in God's due time be reftored to the Splendor and Dig- nity of their nrft Creation. And (77 ) And this, Madam, opens to us a new Scene of Wonder and Love, worthy the moll: feri- ous Attention of a rational and religious Mind, That there fhall be an univerjal ' Rejiitution of all that fell by Adams Tranfgreffion j when all that was loft in the fir fi Adam mall be renewed in the fecond : that there mail be new Hea- vens and a new Earth, which fhall be the Ha- bitation of Righteoufnefs. God has plainly and abundantly promt fed by the Month of all his holy Prophet sf nee the World began, Acts iii. 19, 20, 21, J/'Axv. 17. lxvi. 22. 2 Pet. iii. 13. 1 Cor. xv. 2r, 22. Rev, xx\. 1. And if the whole material World fhall be reflored to its primitive Perfection - 3 if there mail be a Re- novation of the face of the Earth. Pfal. civ. 30. there muft be of confequence a Reno- vation of all its feminal Powers, of all the various Productions of Fruits, Flowers, Ani- mals, and all the different Inhabitants of tha feveral Regions of Nature. All the Difcord of Elements, all the Malignity of the Crea- tures fhall intirely ceafe and be done away. All Nature fhall put off the Corruption, Defor- mity, Darknefs, and Confuilon of their pre- fent State, and be reftored to the Purity, Splen- dor, and Beauty of their firft Creation. I fup- pofe you will reply, and fay, as many eminent Writers have done before you, that all thofe PafTages of Scripture which fpeak of an intire Renovation and Rejiitution of all things , of ;;aiti 9 is that very ^Creature that waiteth for the Manifeflation of the Sons of God ; that very Creature that pall be deli- vered from the Bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God. Whatever part of the Creation, therefore, fufrers under any fliape or degree of Imperfection, Mifery, Corruption, and Mortality, may be juftly con- sidered as groaning and travailing in pain, and by confequence as Candidates for Redemp- tion and Immortality. Now, as it is plain, that no one part of the Creation is exempt- ed from the Bondage of Corruption ; fo it fee ins equally plain, that no one part mail be ex- cluded from the XJniverfal Deliverance, and that the Redemption from the Curie, muft be as universal as the Curfe itfelf 5 fo that whatever iuffers by the Fall, fliall be re (to red at kit into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God. And this may help us to an eafy Expla- nation of an Exprefiion, that cannot otherwife be eafily reconciled to the ordinary Forms of Speech. ThePaffage is Marktvi. 15. where the Apoftles are commanded to preach the Go/pel to every Creature ; from whence fome of the Legen- dary Writers of the Church of Rome have jus- tified the Preachments of their Saints to the Birds, Beafts, and Fifhes, and thereby given the Precept a ridiculous Turn, and furnifhed occafion of Mirth andDeriiion to Infidels and M 2 Fools: ( 8+) Fools : But in this View it appears capable of a plain and natural Meaning. Go ye forth into all the Worlds and preach a joyful Mejjage of Redemption to the whole Creation. And I muft needs fay, it has often puzzled me to think, why the fame Expreffion in the Ori- ginal mould be thus differently rendered in Eng//Jl\ fo as to be called every Creature in one place, and the whole Creation in another; which, tho' really and truly the fame thing, yet have a quite different manner of Appear- ance in the different manner of Expreffion., but on my Principles eafily reconciled. Accordingly I mall endeavour to give you a plain and natural Paraphrafe of this fa- mous Paffage in the Epiille to the Romans, ch. viii. ver. 19, 20, 21, 22. without troubling you with critical Remarks upon the Original, or Authorities from the Ancients, both which concur to efLblith the Truth for which I am contending. : — " The Struggles and Dif- " treifes of every part of the viliHe Creation u are flrong Indications of a univerlal Dege- " neracy and Curfe, from which they feem (c to labour and figh for Deliverance, and " which they mall certainly obtain at the glo- " rious Appearance of their great Redeemer, 11 who fhall come in the Glory of his Father, " and of his holy Angels, and all his Saints with him, to triumph over Sin and Death, to repair the Ruins of fallen Nature, and eftabhih the Kingdom of God upon this " very Head ; the Goodnels of my Intention, for the Defects of my Underftanding : for whatever Caule I may have given you to condemn my Sentiments, or defpife my Judgment, I /hall never give you any to nifpect my Sincerity, when I profefs myielf, with the higheft Efteem and Regard, Madam, Ripon, Your Faithful and Obedient 1742. Humble Servant. FINIS. Date Due FORM 33S 40M 9-42 m ■ 591. 5 B758P 508415 Bougeant A philosophical amusement upon the language of beasts and birds DATE ISSUED TO 591. 5 - B758P 508415 ■ i ^^^BBSSm