Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

finity of Animals with which it is stocked. Every Part of Matter is peopled: Every green Leaf fwarms with Inhabitants. There is fcarce a fingle Humour in the Body of a Man, or of any other Animal, in which our Glaffes do not discover Myriads of living Creatures. The Surface of Animals is alfo covered with other Animals, which are in the fame manner the Basis of other Animals, that live upon it; nay, we find in the most folid Bodies, as in Marble it felf, innumerable Cells and Cavities that are crowded with fuch imperceptible Inhabitants, as are too little for the naked Eye to difcover. On the other Hand, if we look into the more bulky Parts of Nature, we fee the Seas, Lakes and Rivers teeming with numberlefs kinds of living Creatures: We find every Mountain and Marsh, Wilderness and Wood, plentifully ftocked with Birds and Beafts, and every Part of Matter affording proper Neceffaries and Conveniencies for the Livelihood of Multitudes which inhabit it.

THE Author of the Plurality of World's draws a very good Argument from this Confideration, for the Peopling of every Planet; as indeed it feems very probable from the Analogy of Reason, that if no Part of Matter, which we are acquainted with, lies wafte and useless, thofe great Bodies which are at fuch a Distance from us should not be defart and unpeopled, but rather that they should be furnished with Beings adapted to their respective Situations.

EXISTENCE is a Bleffing to thofe Beings only which are endowed with Perception, and is in a manner thrown away upon dead Matter, any further than as it is subservient to Beings which are confcious of their Existence. Accordingly we find, from the Bodies which lie under our Obfervation, that Matter is only made as the Bafis and Support of Animals, and that there is no more of the one, than what is neceffary for the Exiftence of the other.

INFINITE Goodness is of fo communicative a nature, that it seems to delight in the conferring of Existence upon every Degree of perceptive Being. As this is a Speculation, which I have often purfued with great Pleasure to my felf, I fhall enlarge farther upon it, by confidering that Part of the Scale of Beings which comes within our Knowledge,

THERE

THERE are fome living Creatures which are raised but juft above dead Matter. To mention only that Species of Shell-fish, which are formed in the Fashion of a Cone, that grow to the Surface of feveral Rocks, and immediate

ly die upon their being fever'd from the Place where they grow. There are many other Creatures but one remove from thefe, which have no other Sense befides that of Feeding and Tafte. Others have ftill an additional one of Hearing; others of Smell, and others of Sight. It is wonderful to obferve, by what a gradual Progrefs the World of Life advances through a prodigious Variety of Species, before a Creature is form'd that is compleat in all its Senses; and even among these there is fuch a different Degree of Perfection in the Sense which one Animal enjoys beyond what appears in another, that though the Senfe in different Animals be diftinguished by the fame common Denomination, it seems almost of a different Nature. If after this we look into the feveral inward Perfections of Cunning and Sagacity, or what we generally call Inftinct, we find them rifing after the fame manner, imperceptibly one above another, and receiving additional Improvements, according to the Species in which they are implanted. This Progrefs in Nature is fo very gradual, that the most perfect of an inferior Species comes very near to the most imperfect of that which is immediately

above it.

THE exuberant and overflowing Goodness of the Supreme Being, whofe Mercy extends to all his works, is, plainly feen, as I have before hinted, from his having made fo very little Matter, at least what falls within our Knowledge, that does not fwarm with Life: Nor is his Goodness lefs feen in the Diversity, than in the Multitude of living Creatures. Had he only made one Species of Animals, none of the reft would have enjoyed the Happiness of Existence; he has, therefore, Specified in his Creation every Degree of Life, every Capacity of Being. The whole Chafm in Nature, from a Plant to a Man, is filled up with diverse kinds of Creatures, rifing one over another, by fuch a gentle and eafy Afcent, that the little Tranfitions and Deviations from one Species to another, are almoft infenfible. This intermediate Space is fo well hufbanded and managed, that there is scarce a Degree of Perception

H 4

ception which does not appear in fome one Part of the World of Life. Is the Goodnefs or Wisdom of the divine Being, more manifested in this his Proceeding?

THERE is a Confequence, befides those I have already mentioned, which feems very naturally deducible from the foregoing Confiderations. If the Scale of Being rifes by fuch a regular Progrefs, fo high as Man, we may. by a Parity of Reafon fuppofe that it ftill proceeds gradually through thofe Beings which are of a fuperior Nature to him; fince there is an infinitely greater Space and Room for different Degrees of Perfection, between the Supreme Being and Man, than between Man and the most despicable Infect. This Confequence of fo great a Variety of Beings which are fuperior to us, from that Variety which is inferior to us, is made by Mr. Locke, in a Paffage which I fhall here fet down, after having premifed, that notwithstanding there is fuch infinite Room between Man and his Maker for the creative Power to exert itself in, it is impoffible that it should ever be filled up, fince there will be ftill an infinite Gap or Distance between the highest created Being, and the Power which produced him.

THAT there fhould be more Species of intelligent Creatures above us, than there are of fenfible and material below us, is probable to me from hence; That in all the vifible corporeal World, we fee no Chafms, or no Gaps. All quite down from us, the Defcent is by eafy Steps, and a continued Series of Things, that in each Remove differ very little one from the other. There are Fishes that have Wings, and are not Strangers to the airy Region: and there are fome Birds that are Inhabitants of the Water: whofe Blood is cold as Fishes, and their Flesh so like in Tafte, that the Scrupulous are allowed them on Fish-days. There are Animals so near of Kin both to Birds and Beafts, that they are in the middle between both: Amphibious Animals link the Terreftrial and Aquatick together; Seals live at Land and at Sea, and Porpoifes have the warm. Blood and Entrails of a Hog, not to mention what is confidently reported of Mermaids or Sea-Men. There are fome Brutes, that feem to have as much Knowledge and Reafon, as fome that are called Men; and the Aniwal and Vegetable Kingdoms are so nearly join'd, that if

you

you will take the lowest of one, and the higheft of the other, there will fearce be perceived any great Difference between them: and fo on till we come to the lowest and the most inorganical Parts of Matter, we shall find every where that the feveral Species are linked together, and differ but in almoft infenfible Degrees. And when we confider the infinite Power and Wisdom of the Maker, we have Reason to think that it is fuitable to the magnificent Harmony of the Univerfe, and the great Defign and infinite Goodness of the Architect, that the Species of Creatures fhould also, by gentle Degrees, afcend upward from us toward bis infinite Perfection, as we fee they gradually defcend from us downwards: Which if it be probable, we have Reafon then to be perfuaded, that there are far more Species of Creatures above us, than there are beneath; we being in Degrees of Perfection much more remote from the infinite Being of God, than we are from the loweft State of Being, and that which approaches nearest to nothing. And yet of all thofe diftinct Species, we have no clear diftinct Ideas.

IN this Syftem of Being, there is no Creature fo wonderful in its Nature, and which so much deserves our particular Attention, as Man, who fills up the middle Space between the Animal and Intellectual Nature, the vifible and invifible World, and is that Link in the Chain of Beings, which has been often termed the Nexus utriufque Mundi. So that he who in one refpect being af fociated with Angels and Arch-Angels, may look upon a Being of infinite Perfection as his Father, and the highest Order of Spirits as his Brethren, may in another respect fay to Corruption, thou art my Father, and to the Worm, thou art my Mother and my Sifter.

菠菜

Monday

&&

No. 520. Monday, October 27.

[ocr errors]

Quis defiderio fit pudor aut modus

Tam chari capitis!

Mr. SPECTATOR,

TH

Hor.

THE juft Value you have expreffed for the Matrimonial State, is the Reason that I now venture to write to you, without fear of being ridiculous; and confefs to you, that though it is three Months fince I loft a very agreeable Woman, who was my Wife, my Sorrow is ftill fresh; and I am often, in the midst of Company, upon any Citcumftance that revives her Memory, with a Reflection what she would fay or do on fuch an Occafion: I fay, upon any Occurrence of that Nature, which I can give you a fenfe of, though I can• not exprefs it wholly, I am all over Softnefs, and am obliged to retire, and give way to a few Sighs andTears, ◄ before I can be easy. I cannot but recommend the Subject of Male Widowhood to you, and beg of you to touch upon it by the first Opportunity. To thofe who ⚫ have not lived like Husbands during the Lives of their Spouses, this would be a tastelefs Jumble of Words; ⚫ but to fuch (of whom there are not a few) who have enjoy'd that State with the Sentiments proper for it, you will have every Line, which hits the Sorrow, at⚫tended with a Tear of Pity and Confolation. For I know not by what Goodnefs of Providence it is, that every gufh of Paffion is a step towards the Relief of it; and there is a certain Comfort in the very A&t of Sorrow, which, I fuppofe, arifes from a fecret Consciousness in the Mind, that the Affliction it is under flows from a ⚫ virtuous Caufe. My Concern is not indeed fo outragious as at the first Transport; for I think it has fubfided rather into a foberer State of Mind, than any actual Perturbation of Spirit. There might be Rules formed for ⚫ Men's Behaviour on this great Incident, to bring them

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

6 from

« AnteriorContinuar »