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whose pupil he was, resigned to him the Lucasian professorship of mathematics. He served repeatedly

Sir Isaac Newton.

in parliament as member for the university; was appointed warden of the mint in 1695; became president of the Royal Society in 1703; and two years afterwards, received the honour of knighthood from Queen Anne. To the unrivalled genius and sagacity of Newton, the world is indebted for a variety of splendid discoveries in natural philosophy and ma

Birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton.

thematics; among these, his exposition of the laws which regulate the movements of the solar system may be referred to as the most brilliant. The first step in the formation of the Newtonian system of

philosophy, was his discovery of the law of gravitation, which he showed to affect the vast orbs that revolve around the sun, not less than the smallest objects on our own globe. The work in which he explained this system was written in Latin, and appeared in 1687 under the title of Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica-[The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy]. To Newton we owe likewise extensive discoveries in optics, by which the aspect of that science was so entirely changed, that he may justly be termed its founder. He was the first to conceive and demonstrate the divisibility of light into rays of seven different colours, and possessing different degrees of refrangibility. After pursuing his optical investigations during a period of thirty years, he gave to the world, in 1704, a detailed account of his discoveries in an admirable work entitled Optics: or a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections, and Colours of Light. Besides these, he published various profound mathematical works, which it is unnecessary here to enumerate. Like his illustrious contemporaries Boyle, Barrow, and Locke, this eminent man devoted much attention to theology as well as to natural science. The mystical doctrines of religion were those which he chiefly investigated; and to his great interest in them we owe the composition of his Observations upon the Prophecies of Holy Writ, particularly the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St John, published after his death. Among his manuscripts were found many other theological pieces, mostly on such subjects as the Prophetic Style, the Host of Heaven, the Revelations, the Temple of Solomon, the Sanctuary, the Working of the Mystery of Iniquity, and the Contest between the Host of Heaven and the Transgressors of the Covenant. The whole manuscripts left by Sir Isaac were perused by Dr Pellet, by agreement with the executors, with the view of publishing such as were thought fit for the press; the report of that gentleman however was, that, of the whole mass, nothing but a work on the Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms was fit for publication. That treatise accordingly appeared; and, contrary to Dr Pellet's opinion, the Observations upon the Prophecies,' already mentioned, were likewise sent to press. An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture, also from the pen of Sir Isaac, first appeared in a perfect form in Dr Horsley's edition of his works in 1779. We subjoin a specimen of his remarks on

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[The Prophetic Language.]

For understanding the prophecies, we are, in the first place, to acquaint ourselves with the figurative language of the prophets. This language is taken from the analogy between the world natural, and an empire or kingdom considered as a world politic.

Accordingly, the whole world natural, consisting of heaven and earth, signifies the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people; or so much of it as is considered in the prophecy. And the things in that world signify the analogous things in this. For the heavens, and the things therein, signify thrones and dignities, and those who enjoy them; and the earth, with the things thereon, the inferior people; and the lowest parts of the earth, called Hades, or Hell, the lowest or most miserable part of them. Whence, ascending towards heaven, and descending to the earth, are put for rising and falling in power and honour; rising out of the earth or waters, and falling into them, for the rising up to any dignity or dominion, out of the inferior state of the people, or falling down from the same into that inferior state; descending into the lower parts of the earth, for descending

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to a very low and unhappy state; speaking with a faint voice out of the dust, for being in a weak and low condition; moving from one place to another, for translation from one office, dignity, or dominion to another; great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, for the shaking of dominions, so as to distract or overthrow them; the creating a new heaven and earth, and the passing away of an old one, or the beginning and end of the world, for the rise and reign of the body politic signified thereby.

In the heavens, the sun and moon are, by the interpreters of dreams, put for the persons of kings and queens. But in sacred prophecy, which regards not single persons, the sun is put for the whole species and race of kings, in the kingdom or kingdoms of the world politic, shining with regal power and glory; the moon for the body of the common people, considered as the king's wife; the stars for subordinate princes and great men, or for bishops and rulers of the people of God, when the sun is Christ; light for the glory, truth, and knowledge, wherewith great and good men shine and illuminate others; darkness for obscurity of condition, and for error, blindness, and ignorance; darkening, smiting, or setting of the sun, moon, and stars, for the ceasing of a kingdom, or for the desolation thereof, proportional to the darkness; darkening the sun, turning the moon into blood, and falling of the stars, for the same; new moons, for the return of a dispersed people into a body politic or ecclesiastic.

politic heaven and earth; a forest, for a kingdom;
and a wilderness, for a desolate and thin people.
If the world politic, considered in prophecy, con-
sists of many kingdoms, they are represented by as
many parts of the world natural, as the noblest by
the celestial frame, and then the moon and clouds are
put for the common people; the less noble, by the
earth, sea, and rivers, and by the animals or vege-
tables, or buildings therein; and then the greater
and more powerful animals and taller trees, are put
for kings, princes, and nobles. And because the whole
kingdom is the body politic of the king, therefore
the sun, or a tree, or a beast, or bird, or a man,
whereby the king is represented, is put in a large
signification for the whole kingdom; and several
animals, as a lion, a bear, a leopard, a goat, according
to their qualities, are put for several kingdoms and
bodies politic; and sacrificing of beasts, for slaughter-
ing and conquering of kingdoms; and friendship be-
tween beasts, for peace between kingdoms. Yet some-
times vegetables and animals are, by certain epithets
or circumstances, extended to other significations; as
a tree, when called the tree of life' or of know-
ledge; and a beast, when called 'the old serpent,' or
worshipped.

There is a question with respect to Sir Isaac Newton, which has recently excited so much controversy in the literary world, that we cannot avoid taking Fire and meteors refer to both heaven and earth, some notice of it in this place. It is well known and signify as follows:-Burning anything with fire, that during the last forty years of his life, the inis put for the consuming thereof by war; a confla-ventive powers of this great philosopher seemed to gration of the earth, or turning a country into a lake of fire, for the consumption of a kingdom by war; the being in a furnace, for the being in slavery under another nation; the ascending up of the smoke of any burning thing for ever and ever, for the continuation of a conquered people under the misery of perpetual subjection and slavery; the scorching heat of the sun, for vexatious wars, persecutions, and troubles inflicted by the king; riding on the clouds, for reigning over much people; covering the sun with a cloud, or with smoke, for oppression of the king by the armies of an enemy; tempestuous winds, or the motion of clouds, for wars; thunder, or the voice of a cloud, for the voice of a multitude; a storm of thunder, lightning, hail, and overflowing rain, for a tempest of war descending from the heavens and clouds politic on the heads of their enemies; rain, if not immoderate, and dew, and living water, for the graces and doctrines of the Spirit; and the defect of rain, for spiritual barrenness.

have lost their activity; he made no farther discoveries, and, in his later scientific publications, imparted to the world only the views which he had formed in early life. In the article Newton' in the French Biographie Universelle, written by M. Biot, the statement was for the first time made, that his mental powers were impaired by an attack of insanity, which occurred in the years 1692 and 1693. This averment was by many received with incredulity; and Sir David Brewster, who published a Life of Newton in 1831, maintains that there is no sufficient proof of the fact alleged. Undue importance, tion in a religious point of view; for the theological we humbly conceive, has been attached to this quesstudies of Newton were by no means confined to the concluding portion of his life, nor is the testimony of even so great a man in favour of Christianity of much value in a case where evidence, and not authority, must be resorted to as the real ground of decision. That Newton's mind was much out of order at the period mentioned, appears to us to be satisfactorily proved even by documents first made known to the world in Brewster's work, independently of those published by M. Biot. The latter gives a manuscript of the Dutch astronomer Huygens, which is still preserved at Leyden, and is to the fol

In the earth, the dry land and congregated waters, as a sea, a river, a flood, are put for the people of several regions, nations, and dominions; embittering of waters, for great affliction of the people by war and persecution; turning things into blood, for the mystical death of bodies politic, that is, for their dissolution; the overflowing of a sea or river, for the invasion of the earth politic, by the people of the waters; dry-lowing effect. On the 29th of May 1694, a Scotch- | ing up of waters, for the conquest of their regions by the earth; fountains of waters for cities, the permanent heads of rivers politic; mountains and islands, for the cities of the earth and sea politic, with the territories and dominions belonging to those cities; dens and rocks of mountains, for the temples of cities; the hiding of men in those dens and rocks, for the shutting up of idols in their temples; houses and ships, for families, assemblies, and towns in the earth and sea politic; and a navy of ships of war, for an army of that kingdom that is signified by the sea.

Animals also, and vegetables, are put for the people of several regions and conditions; and particularly trees, herbs, and land animals, for the people of the earth politic; flags, reeds, and fishes, for those of the waters politic; birds and insects, for those of the

man of the name of Colin informed me that Isaac
Newton, the celebrated mathematician, eighteen
months previously, had become deranged in his
mind, either from too great application to his
studies, or from excessive grief at having lost,
by fire, his chemical laboratory and some papers.
Having made observations before the chancellor of
Cambridge, which indicated the alienation of his
intellect, he was taken care of by his friends; and
being confined to his house, remedies were applied,
by means of which he has lately so far recovered
his health, as to begin to again understand his own
Principia.' This account is confirmed by a diary
kept by Mr Abraham de la Pryme, a Cambridge
student, who, under date the 3d of February 1692
(being what was on the continent called 1693, as

the English year then commenced on 25th March), relates, in a passage which Brewster has published, the loss of Newton's papers by fire while he was at chapel; adding, that when the philosopher came home, and had seen what was done, every one thought he would have run mad; he was so troubled thereat, that he was not himself for a month after.' This, however, is the smallest part of the evidence. Newton himself, writing on the 13th September 1693 to Mr Pepys, secretary to the admiralty, says, I am extremely troubled at the embroilment I am in, and have neither ate nor slept well this twelvemonth, nor have my former consistency of mind.' Again, on the 16th of the same month, he writes to his friend Locke in the following remarkable terms:'Sir-Being of opinion that you endeavoured to embroil me with women, and by other means, I was so much affected with it, as when one told me you were sickly, and would not live, I answered, 'twere better if you were dead. I desire you to forgive me this uncharitableness; for I am now satisfied that what you have done is just, and I beg your pardon for my having hard thoughts of you for it, and for representing that you struck at the root of morality, in a principle you laid in your book of ideas, and designed to pursue in another book, and that I took you for a Hobbist. I beg your pardon, also, for saying or thinking that there was a design to sell me an office, or to embroil me. I am your most humble and unfortunate servant-IS. NEWTON.'

The answer of Locke is admirable for the gentle and affectionate spirit in which it is written :

'Sir-I have been, ever since I first knew you, so entirely and sincerely your friend, and thought you so much mine, that I could not have believed what you tell me of yourself, had I had it from anybody else. And though I cannot but be mightily troubled that you should have had so many wrong and unjust thoughts of me, yet, next to the return of good offices, such as from a sincere good will I have ever done you, I receive your acknowledgment of the contrary as the kindest thing you could have done me, since it gives me hopes that I have not lost a friend I so much valued. After what your letter expresses, I shall not need to say anything to justify myself to you. I shall always think your own reflection on my carriage both to you and all mankind will sufficiently do that. Instead of that, give me leave to assure you, that I am more ready to forgive you than you can be to desire it; and I do it so freely and fully, that I wish for nothing more than the opportunity to convince you that I truly love and esteem you; and that I have still the same good will for you as if nothing of this had happened. To confirm this to you more fully, I should be glad to meet you anywhere, and the rather, because the conclusion of your letter makes me apprehend it would not be wholly useless to you. But whether you think it fit or not, I leave wholly to you. I shall always be ready to serve you to my utmost, in any way you shall like, and shall only need your commands or permission to do it.

My book is going to press for a second edition; and though I can answer for the design with which I writ it, yet since you have so opportunely given me notice of what you have said of it, I should take it as a favour if you would point out to me the places that gave occasion to that censure, that, by explaining myself better, I may avoid being mistaken by others, or unawares doing the least prejudice to truth or virtue. I am sure you are so much a friend to them both, that were you none to me, I could expect this from you. But I cannot doubt but you would do a great deal more than this for my sake, who, after all,

have all the concern of a friend for you, wish you extremely well, and am, without compliment,' &c. To this Sir Isaac replied on the 5th of October:— 'Sir-The last winter, by sleeping too often by my fire, I got an ill habit of sleeping; and a distemper, which this summer has been epidemical, put me farther out of order, so that when I wrote to you, I had not slept an hour a-night for a fortnight together, and for five days together not a wink. I remember I wrote you, but what I said of your book I remember not. If you please to send me a transcript of that passage, I will give you an account of it if I can. I am your most humble servant-Is. NEWTON.'

On the 26th September Pepys wrote to a friend of his, at Cambridge, a Mr Millington, making inquiry about Newton's mental condition, as he had lately received a letter from him so surprising to me for the inconsistency of every part of it, as to be put into great disorder by it, from the concernment I have for him, lest it should arise from that which of all mankind I should least dread from him, and most lament for-I mean a discomposure in head, or mind, or both.' Millington answers on the 30th, that two days previously, he had met Newton at Huntingdon; where,' says he, upon his own accord, and before I had time to ask him any question, he told me that he had writ to you a very odd letter, at which he was much concerned; and added, that it was a distemper that much seized his head, and that kept him awake for above five nights together; which upon occasion he desired I would represent to you, and beg your pardon, he being very much ashamed he should be so rude to a person for whom he hath so great an honour. He is now very well, and though I fear he is under some small degree of melancholy, yet I think there is no reason to suspect it hath at all touched his understanding, and I hope never will.'

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It thus appears that, in consequence of excessive study, or the loss of valuable papers, or both causes combined, the understanding of Newton was for about twelve months thrown into an intermittent disorder, to which the name of insanity ought to be applied. That his intellect never attained its former activity and vigour, is made probable by the following circumstances. In the first place, he published after 1687 no scientific work except what he then possessed the materials of. Secondly, he tells at the end of the second book of his 'Optics,' that though he felt the necessity of his experiments, or rendering them more perfect, he was not able to resolve to do so, these matters being no longer in his way.' And lastly, of the manuscripts found after his death, amounting, as we learn from Dr Charles Hutton, to upwards of four thousand sheets in folio, or eight reams of foolscap paper, besides the bound books, of which the number of sheets is not mentioned,'* work on the Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms,' none was thought worthy of publication except his and Observations on the Prophecies.'†

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* Hutton's Mathematical Dictionary, article Newton. + Should the reader desire to investigate the question more

fully, he will find it amply discussed in Biot's Life of Newton,

of which a translation is published in the Library of Useful Knowledge; Brewster's Life of Newton, pp. 222-245; Biot's reply to Brewster, in the Journal des Savans for June 1832;

Edinburgh Review, vol. lvi. p. 6; Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. xii. p. 15; and Phrenological Journal, vol. vii. p. 335.

almost divine, guided by the light of mathematics purely his own, first demonstrated the motions and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, and the causes of the tides; who discovered, what before his time no one had even suspected, that rays of light are differently refrangible, and that this is the cause of colours; and who was a diligent, penetrating, and faithful interpreter of nature, antiquity, and the sacred writings. In his philosophy, he maintained the majesty of the Supreme Being; in his manners, he expressed the simplicity of the Gospel. Let mortals congratulate themselves that the world has seen so great and excellent a man, the glory of human nature.'

JOHN RAY.

to the individual enjoying that high distinction. His claims to the regard of posterity are not more founded on his intellectual capacity, than on his moral excellence. He maintained a steady and uncompromising adherence to his principles, at a time when vacillation and change were so common as almost to escape unnoticed and uncensured. From some conscientious scruples, which he shared in common with many of the wisest and most pious men of his time, he did not hesitate to sacrifice his views of preferment in the church, although his talents and learning, joined to the powerful influence of his numerous friends, might have justified him in aspiring to a considerable station. The benevolence of his disposition continually appears in the generosity of his praise. the tenderness of his censure, JOHN RAY (1628-1705), the son of a blacksmith and solicitude to promote the welfare of others. His at Black Notley, in Essex, was the most eminent of modesty and self-abasement were so great, that they several distinguished and indefatigable cultivators of transpire insensibly on all occasions; and his affecnatural history who appeared in England about the tionate and grateful feelings led him, as has been middle of the seventeenth century. In the departremarked, to fulfil the sacred duties of friendship ment of botany, he laboured with extraordinary is friend with wreaths which he himself might even to his own prejudice, and to adorn the bust of diligence; and his works on this subject, which are more numerous than those of any other botanist have justly assumed. All these qualities were reexcept Linnæus, have such merit as to entitle him fined and exalted by the purest Christian feeling, to be ranked as one of the great founders of the and the union of the whole constitutes a character science. Ray was educated for the church at Cam-which procured the admiration of contemporaries, bridge, where he was a fellow-pupil and intimate of and well deserves to be recommended to the imiIsaac Barrow. His theological views were akin to tation of posterity."* For the greater part of his the rational opinions held by that eminent divine, popular fame, however, Ray is indebted to an admirand by Tillotson and Wilkins, with whom also Rayable treatise published in 1691, under the title of was on familiar terms. The passing of the act of The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the uniformity in 1662 put an end to Ray's prospects Creation, which has gone through many editions, in the church; for in that year he was deprived of and been translated into several continental lanhis fellowship of Trinity college, on account of his guages. One of his reasons for composing it is thus conscientious refusal to comply with the injunction, stated by himself: 'By virtue of my function, I susthat all ecclesiastical persons should make a decla-pect myself to be obliged to write something in ration of the nullity and illegality of the solemn divinity, having written so much on other subjects; league and covenant. In company with his friend for, being not permitted to serve the church with my Mr Willughby, also celebrated as a naturalist, he tongue in preaching, I know not but it may be my visited several continental countries in 1663; both duty to serve it with my hand in writing; and I before and after which year, his love of natural his- have made choice of this subject, as thinking myself tory induced him to perambulate England and Scot-best qualified to treat of it.' Natural theology had land extensively. The principal works in which the results of his studies and travels were given to the public, are, Observations, Topographical, Moral, and Physiological, made in a Journey through part of the Low Countries, Germany, Italy, and France (1673); and Historia Plantarum Generalis [A General History of Plants']. The latter, consisting of two large folio volumes, which were published in 1686 and 1688, is a work of prodigious labour, and aims at describing and reducing to the author's system all the plants that had been discovered throughout the world. As a cultivator of zoology and entomology also, Ray deserves to be mentioned with honour; and he farther served the cause of science by editing and enlarging the posthumous works of his friend Willughby on birds and fishes. His character as a naturalist is thus spoken of by the Rev. Gilbert White of Selborne, who was addicted to the same pursuits: Our countryman, the excellent Mr Ray, is the only describer that conveys some precise idea in every term or word, maintaining his superiority over his followers and imitators, in spite of the advantage of fresh discoveries and modern information.** Cuvier, also, gives him a high character as a naturalist; and the author of a recent memoir speaks of him in the following merited terms: His varied and useful labours have justly caused him to be regarded as the father of natural history in this country; and his character is, in every respect, such as we should wish to belong

* Natural History of Selborne, Letter 45.

previously been treated of in England by Boyle, Stillingfleet, Wilkins, Henry More, and Cudworth; but Ray was the first to systematise and popularise the subject in the manner of Paley's work, the unrivalled merits of which have caused it to supersede both the treatise now under consideration, and the similar productions of Derham in the beginning of the eighteenth century. But though written in a more pleasing style, and at a time when science had attained greater extension and accuracy, the Natural Theology' of Paley is but an imitation of Ray's volume, and he has derived from it many of his most striking arguments and illustrations. Ray displays throughout his treatise much philosophical caution with respect to the admission of facts in natural history, and good sense in the reflections which he is led by his subject to indulge in. Several extracts from the work are here subjoined.

[The Study of Nature Recommended.]

Let us then consider the works of God, and observe

the operations of his hands: let us take notice of and

* Memoir of Ray, in The Naturalist's Library, Entomology, vol. vii. p. 69.

Derham's works here alluded to are, Physico-Theology, or a Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of a God, from his Works of Creation (1713); and Astro-Theology, or a Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of a God, from a Survey of the Heavens (1714). The substance of both had been preached |

by the author in 1711 and 1712, in the capacity of lecturer on Boyle's foundation.

admire his infinite wisdom and goodness in the formation of them. No creature in this sublunary world is capable of so doing beside man; yet we are deficient herein we content ourselves with the knowledge of the tongues, and a little skill in philology, or history perhaps, and antiquity, and neglect that which to me seems more material, I mean natural history and the works of the creation. I do not discommend or derogate from those other studies; I should betray mine own ignorance and weakness should I do so; I only wish they might not altogether justle out and exclude this. I wish that this might be brought in fashion among us; I wish men would be so equal and civil, as not to disparage, deride, and vilify those studies which themselves skill not of, or are not conversant in. No knowledge can be more pleasant than this, none that doth so satisfy and feed the soul; in comparison whereto that of words and phrases seems to me insipid and jejune. That learning, saith a wise and observant prelate, which consists only in the form and pedagogy of arts, or the critical notion upon words and phrases, hath in it this intrinsical imperfection, that it is only so far to be esteemed as it conduceth to the knowledge of things, being in itself but a kind of pedantry, apt to infect a man with such odd humours of pride, and affectation, and curiosity, as will render him unfit for any great employment. Words being but the images of matter, to be wholly given up to the study of these, what is it but Pygmalion's frenzy to fall in love with a picture or image. As for oratory, which is the best skill about words, that hath by some wise men been esteemed but a voluptuary art, like to cookery, which spoils wholesome meats, and helps unwholesome, by the variety of sauces, serving more to the pleasure of taste than the health of the body.

[Proportionate Lengths of the Necks and Legs of
Animals.]

I shall now add another instance of the wisdom of nature, or rather the God of nature, in adapting the parts of the same animal one to another, and that is the proportioning the length of the neck to that of the legs. For seeing terrestrial animals, as well birds as quadrupeds, are endued with legs, upon which they stand, and wherewith they transfer themselves from place to place, to gather their food, and for other conveniences of life, and so the trunk of their body must needs be elevated above the superficies of the earth, so that they could not conveniently either gather their food or drink if they wanted a neck, therefore Nature hath not only furnished them therewith, but with such a one as is commensurable to their legs, except here the elephant, which hath indeed a short neck (for the excessive weight of his head and teeth, which to a long neck would have been unsupportable), but is provided with a trunk, wherewith, as with a hand, he takes up his food and drink, and brings it to his mouth. I say the necks of birds and quadrupeds are commensurate to their legs, so that they which have long legs have long necks, and they that have short legs short ones, as is seen in the crocodile, and all lizards; and those that have no legs, as they do not want necks, so neither have they any, as fishes. This equality between the length of the legs and neck, is especially seen in beasts that feed constantly upon grass, whose necks and legs are always very near equal; very near, I say, because the neck must necessarily have some advantage, in that it cannot hang perpendicularly down, but must incline a little. Moreover, because this sort of creatures must needs hold their heads down in an inclining posture for a considerable time together, which would be very laborious and painful for the muscles; therefore on each side the ridge of the vertebres of the neck,

nature hath placed an aponeurosis, or nervous ligament of a great thickness and strength, apt to stretch and shrink again as need requires, and void of sense, extending from the head (to which, and the next vertebres of the neck, it is fastened at that end) to the middle vertebres of the back (to which it is knit at the other), to assist them to support the head in that posture, which aponeurosis is taken notice of by the vulgar by the name of fixfax, or pack-wax, or whitleather. It is also very observable in fowls that wade in the water, which, having long legs, have also necks answerably long. Only in these too there is an exception, exceeding worthy to be noted; for some waterfowl, which are palmipeds, or whole-footed, have very long necks, and yet but short legs, as swans and geese, and some Indian birds; wherein we may observe the admirable providence of Nature. For such birds as were to search and gather their food, whether herbs or insects, in the bottom of pools and deep waters, have long necks for that purpose, though their legs, as is most convenient for swimming, be but short. Whereas there are no land-fowl to be seen with short legs and long necks, but all have their necks in length commensurate to their legs. This instance is the more considerable, because the atheists' usual flam will not here help them out. For, say they, there were many animals of disproportionate parts, and of absurd and uncouth shapes, produced at first, in the infancy of the world; but because they could not gather their food to perform other functions necessary to maintain life, they soon perished, and were lost again. For these birds, we see, can gather their food upon land conveniently enough, notwithstanding the length of their necks; for example, geese graze upon commons, and can feed themselves fat upon land. Yet is there not one land-bird which hath its neck thus disproportionate to its legs; nor one water one neither, but such as are destined by nature in such manner as we have mentioned to search and gather their food; for nature makes not a long neck to no purpose.

[God's Exhortation to Activity.]

Methinks by all this provision for the use and service of man, the Almighty interpretatively speaks to him in this manner: I have now placed thee in a spacious and well-furnished world; I have endued thee with an ability of understanding what is beautiful and proportionable, and have made that which is so agreeable and delightful to thee; I have provided thee with materials whercon to exercise and employ thy art and strength; I have given thee an excellent instrument, the hand, accommodated to make use of them all; I have distinguished the earth into hills and valleys, and plains, and meadows, and woods; all these parts capable of culture and improvement by thy industry; I have committed to thee for thy assistance in thy labours of ploughing, and carrying, and drawing, and travel, the laborious ox, the patient ass, and the strong and serviceable horse; I have created a multitude of seeds for thee to make choice out of them, of what is most pleasant to thy taste, and of most wholesome and plentiful nourishment; I have also made great variety of trees, bearing fruit both for food and physic, those, too, capable of being meliorated and improved by transplantation, stercoration, incision, pruning, watering, and other arts and devices. Till and manure thy fields, sow them with thy seeds, extirpate noxious and unprofitable herbs, guard them from the invasions and spoil of beasts, clear and fence in thy meadows and pastures, dress and prune thy vines, and so rank and dispose them as is most suitable to the climate; plant thee orchards, with all sorts of fruit-trees, in such order as may be most beautiful to the eye, and most comprehensive of plants; gardens for culinary herbs, and all kinds of

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