power and majesty of nature, in every particular inftance, is beyond all belief, to a man that confiders only fome parts, and has not a view of the whole in his mind. And a little after, he inftances in that m inimitable variety in the faces of men, of which not one of fo many thoufands is fo like another as not to be easily dif tinguish'd. If we extend our views and thoughts farther, and confider, that the number of fix'd Stars, especially fince the improvement of Telescopes, is not so much as pretended to be guessed at; and that the Planets about them may be replenished with creatures, both animate and inanimate, as different in kind, as they are diftant in place, from thofe with which we are acquainted, is very probable; and there may be as many more kinds of them, and as many more individuals of each kind as the places they are lodged in will contain: What an astonishing multiplication of their numbers and variety will this then amount to? 'Tis here the excess of power and wisdom, fo infinitely beyond our capacity, and not the

want

m Jam in facie vultuque noftro, cùm fint decem, aut paulò plura membra, nullas duas in tot millibus hominum indifcretas effigies exiftere: Quod ars nulla in paucis numero præftet affectando.

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want of it, which dazzles our understanding; as the exceffive light of the Sun blinds our eyes. But

3. On the other hand, if we pry into the exquifite Minuteness of the feveral parts of which each distinct creature, either animate or inanimate, is compofed, this will still heighten our admiration of the infinite skill of the Artificer, who framed them. There are millions of entire and perfect animals, endued with life and motion, so very small, that they cannot easily be difcerned by the naked eye; which yet, by the help of Microscopes, are discovered to have their feveral organical parts as curiously framed, and fitted to their feveral motions and uses, as thofe of a much larger fize: And how furprizingly small must those parts be, fingly taken, when a compounded body, made up of fo great a number, is hardly big enough to be vifible? The like may be faid for the fine texture of the minute parts of larger animals, and even of plants and all other diftinct kinds of vegetables, of which the firft ftamina are so small, as to be imperceptible to our unaffifted fenfes. And even the more fimple and seemingly less compounded bodies, of how infinitely small particles do they confift? Who can by his fenfes difcover

discover the figure of the constituent parts of fluids, which yet are not fo closely united, but that there is much vacuity between them? Who can difcern the texture of the parts of Water, which makes it fo difficult to be compreffed by any human force? Or, who ever faw the figure of the particles of air or wind? which though compreffible, yet how great is their force of refiftance? So that the minima naturæ are as much beyond our capacities to discover, as the magnitude of the Univerfe. What an infinite Wisdom then must it be, how intenfe, as well as extenfive, which at once fo intimately reaches, and fo accurately manages both these extremes? For,

4. If we confider the beauty, order and regularity of every diftinct fpecies of things, the accuracy of the Divine Artificer will fill farther appear. Though the number of his works be fo incomprehenfibly great, and their kinds fo various, yet each of them fingly is directed, performed and finished, with as much fkill and exactnefs, as if it were the only thing artended to. Every one of the particulars is wrought with more art and curiofity than any human Artist, though he were to spend all his time and pains upon it, can attain to imitate. What our bleffed Saviour fays of the flowers

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flowers of the field, that even Solomon in all bis glory was not arrayed like one of thefe, is no hyperbolical expreffion. The most curious polishing, gilding or painting of human art, cannot vye with that of fome small infects, feeds and flowers. An excellent author, well fkilled in thefe matters, has told us, that "the obfervations which have been made in these latter times, by the help of the Microscope, difcover a vast difference between natural and artificial things. Whatever is natural and beheld through that, appears exquifitely formed and adorned with all imaginable elegancy and beauty. There are fuch inimitable gildings and embroideries in the fmalleft feeds of plants, but especially in the parts of animals, in the head or eye of a small fly; fuch accuracy, order and fymmetry in the frame of the most minute creatures, a loufe, for example, or a mite, as no man were able to conceive without feeing of them: Whereas the most curious works of art, the sharpest, finest needle doth appear as a blunt rough bar of iron coming from the furnace or the forge. The most accurate engravings, or embossments Seem

n Bp. Wilkins of Nat. Rel. lib. 1. ch. 6.

feem fuch rude, lungling, deformed works, as if they had been done by a mattock or a trowel. So vaft a difference is there betwixt the skill of Nature and the rudeness and imperfection of Art. Nor is the order; regularity and proportion, constantly observed in the feveral parts of the vifible creation, lefs to be admired than the beauty and elegance of each of them. That fo many degrees of creatures, animate and inanimate, should be always constantly kept in their proper rank, fo that they appear to be the fame through all generations, notwithstanding every thing is in fome fort of perpetual motion, is utterly repugnant to the nature of chance; and must argue a wife Director, that orders all things in number, weight and measure. Again,

5. The harmonious Correfpondence of each part of Nature to other, fhews a comprehenfive Wisdom, that has one entire view of all things at once, fuch a skill as has no occafion to mend or new model one part of its work, to make it fit for another; but which makes both great and fmall parts answer one another fo exactly, that notwithstanding all the multifarious motions, and directions of motion, in the world, there is no diforder

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