have in Des Cartes's Principles of Philofophy, Part 2. All the Matter of this vifible World is by him fuppos'd to have been at firft divided by God into Parts nearly equal to each other, of a mean Size, viz. about the Bigness of thofe whereof the Heavenly Bodies are now compounded; all together having as much Motion as is now found in the World; and thefe to have been equally mov'd feve rally every one by it felf about its own Center, and among one another, jo as to compofe a fluid Body; and alfo many of them jointly, as in company, about feveral other Points fo far diftant from one another, and in the fame Manner difpos'd as the Centers of the fix'd Stars now are. So that God had no more to do than to create the Matter, divide it into Parts, and put it into Motion, according to fome few Laws, and that would of it felf produce the World, and all Creatures therein.

For a Confutation of this Hypothefis, I might refer the Reader to Dr. Cudworth's Syftem p. 603, 604. but for his Ease I will transcribe the Words: God, in the mean Time, ftanding by as an idle Spectator of this Lucus Atomorum, this fportful Dance of Atoms, and of the various Results thereof. Nay, thefe mechanick Theifts have here quite outstripp'd and outdone the Atomick Theifts themselves, they being much more extravagant than ever thofe were; for the profeffed Atheists durft never venture to affirm, that this regular System of Things refulted from the fortuitous Motions of Atoms at the very first, before they had for a long Time together produced many other inept Combinations, or aggregate

Forms

Forms of particular Things,and nonfenfical Systems of the Whole; and they fuppos'd alfo, that the Regularity of Things here in this World would not always continue fuch neither, but that some Time or other, Confufion and Disorder will break in again. Moreover, that befides this World of ours, there are at this very Instant innumerable other Worlds irregular, and that there is but one of a thousand, or Ten Thousand among the infinite Worlds that have fuch Regularity in them; the Reason of all which is, because it was generally taken for granted, and look'd upon as a common Notion,that τῶν ἀπὸ τύχης καὶ τοῦ αὐτομάτου οὐδὲν ἀεὶ οὕτω γίνεται, as Ariftotle expreffeth it; none of those Things which are from Fortune, or Chance, come to pafs always alike. But our mechanick Theifts will have their Atoms never fo much as once to have fumbled in these their Motions, nor to have produc'd any inept Syftem, or incongruous Forms at all, but from the very first all along to have taken up their Places, and ranged themselves fo orderly, methodically and directly, as that they could not poffibly have done it better had they been directed by the most perfect Wisdom. Wherefore thefe Atomick Theifts utterly evacuate that grand Argument for a God taken from the Phanomenon of the Artificial Frame of Things, which hath been fo much infifted upon in all Ages, and which commonly makes the strongest Impreffion of any other upon the Minds of Men, &c. the Atheists, in the mean Time, laughing in their Sleeves, and not a little triumphing to fee the

Caufe

Cause of Theifm thus betray'd by its profefs'd Friends and Afferters, and the grand Argument for the fame totally flurr'd by them, and so their Work done, as it were, to their Hands.

Now as this argues the greatest Infenfibility of Mind, or Sottishnefs and Stupidity in pretended Theifts, not to take the leaft Notice of the regular and artificial Frame of Things, or of the Signatures of the Divine Art and Wisdom in them, nor to look upon the World and Things of Nature with any other Eyes than Oxen and Horfes do; fo are there many Phænomena's in Nature, which being partly above the Force of these mechanick Powers, and partly contrary to the fame, can therefore never be folv'd by them, nor without final Caufes, and fome vital Principles: As for Example, that of Gravity, or the Tendency of Bodies downward, the Motion of the Diaphragm in Refpiration, the Systole and Diastole of the Heart, which is nothing but a Mufcular Conftriction and Relaxation, and therefore not mechanical but vital. We might also add, among many others, the Interfection of the Planes of the Equator and Ecliptick, or the Earth's diurnal Motion upon an Axis not parallel to that of the Ecliptick, nor perpendicular to the Plane thereof: For tho' Des Cartes would need imagine this Earth of ours once to have been a Sun, and fo it felf the Centre of a leffer Vortex, whofe Axis was then directed after this Manner, and which therefore ftill kept the fame Site or Po-' fture, by Reason of the ftrait Particles finding no fit Pores, or Traces, for their Paffages through

it,

it, but only in this Direction; yet does he himself confefs, that because these two Motions of the Earth, the Annual and Diurnal, would be much more conveniently made upon parallel Axes, therefore, according to the Laws of Mechanism, they should be perpetually brought nearer and nearer together, till at length the Equator and Ecliptick come to have their Axes parallel, which, as it hath not yet come to pafs, fo neither hath there been for thefe laft Two Thousand Years

(according to the best Obfervations and Judgments of Aftronomers) any nearer Approach made of them one to another. Wherefore the Continuation of these two Motions of the Earth, the Annual and Diurnal, upon Axes not parallel, is refolvable into nothing but a final and mental Caufe, or the ro BéλTisov, because it was beft it should be fo, the Variety of the Seasons of the Year depending thereupon. But the greatest of all the particular Phænomena, is the Formation and Organization of the Bodies of Animals, confifting of fuch Variety and Curiofity, that these mechanick Philofophers being no way able to give an Account thereof from the necessary Motion of Matter, unguided by Mind for Ends, prudently therefore break off their System there, when they should come to Animals, and so leave it altogether untouch'd. We acknowledge indeed there is a Pofthumous Piece extant, imputed to Cartes, and entitled, De la Formation du Fatus, wherein there is fome Pretence made to folve all this fortuitous Mechanifm. But as the Thethereof is built wholly upon a false Suppo

ory

fition,

fition, fufficiently confuted by our Harvey, in his Book of Generation, That the Seed doth materially enter into the Compofition of the Egg; fo is it all along precarious and exceptionable: Nor doth it extend at all to Differences that are in feveral Animals, nor offer the leaft Reason why an Animal of one Species might not be form'd out of the Seed of another. Thus far the Doctor, with whom for the main I do confent. I fhall only add, that Natural Philofophers, when they endeavour to give an Account of any of the Works of Nature, by preconceiv'd Principles of their own, are for the most Part grofly mistaken, and confuted by Experience; as Des Cartes in a Matter that lay before him, obvious to Senfe, and infinitely more eafy to find out the Caufe of, than to give an Account of the Formation of the World; that is, the Pulfe of the Heart, which he attributes to an Ebullition and fudden Expansion of the Blood, in its Ventricles, after the Manner of the Milk, which being heated to fuch a Degree, doth fuddenly, and as it were all at once, flush up and run over the Veffel. Whether this Ebullition be caus'd by a Nitro-Sulphureous Ferment lodg'd efpecially in the left Ventricle of the Heart, which mingling with the Blood, excites fuch an Ebullition, as we fee made by the Mixture of fome chymical Liquors, viz. Oil of Vitriol, and deliquated Salt of Tartar; or, by the vital Flame warming and boiling the Blood. But this Conceit of his is contrary both to Reafon and Experience: For, firft, it is altogether

unrea