branches or buds, n o, more than another, that all the tree, in the end, would be regular.

We need not perplex ourselves to find out, what should give one a greater advantage of growth than another. The least thing in the world may be sufficient, when they are so small and tender: ten thousand things might be thought of.

Many plants do actually always continue to grow regular; as most herbs and weeds, that are but of one year's growth, and some trees; and, of those that err from their seminal pattern, some keep nearer to it than others.

We therefore conclude, that the first trees, that ever were, were regular trees, or at least regular parts of trees, so contrived, with vessels, pipes and valves, that, as it receives more sap, it continually desires to shoot forth towards B. And infinite wisdom so contrived the curious workmanship of the inlets, receptacles, passages and outlets, from A to B, that that which is, by degrees, added at B, by the gentle motion of the sap, from A to B, through the pipes, shall be cast into the same form, and shall come out in the same fashion, as if it were cast into a mould. It is also so contrived, that, as it continues to proceed towards B, the course of some of the passages shall be directed so, as to cause it to shoot forth on the side at n, and at every such regular distance, just as the engineer contrives his clock to strike at uniform distances, and the sap proceeds forwards in the branch, n o, in the same manner as it did in the trunk A B; and in like manner breaks out at the sides, at regular distances from r to s, and then branches forth, in like manner, at the sides of rs, and so on, in infinitum, to the world's end. And the trees, that grow now, are nothing but the branches of those first trees; which, although the communication with the original branch has ceased, yet still continue to grow and to be diversified into more branches, in the same regular and uniform method, in infinitum; and the seeds, from whence our trees proceed, are no new plants, but branches of the old, a continuation of the same plant, in its infinite regular progress-branches not yet expanded. The trees, or seeds, or whatever they were, that God first created, were only the beginning of this progress, enough to set it a going. So it is contrived, that, at such due and uniform distances, these little continuations of the branches of the

tree, while they are very tender, shall be wrapped in the curious covering and shelter of leaves, flowers and fruits, and some only of leaves and flowers, and shall drop off; so that when the seed drops off, it is only the regular continuation of these branches. And as it drops into the ground, though the continuation is uninterrupted, yet, receiving sap from the ground, it will not cease to grow: which is no more strange, than that the branch of an apple-tree, if cut off and cast into the ground, will continue to grow.

The leaves are still nothing but branches of the tree, that grow not so big, and so contrived as to cleave together after such a manner. So likewise is the flower, and the fruit too is a compages of branches, yet otherwise modelled. There is nothing belonging to a tree but branches; and all, that the first trees, which God created, had to do, was to proceed to the end of the world, in such regular branches, having various stated periods, at the same stated distances: at which periods, there happen remarkable changes, and unusual phenomena, among the branches, as there may be various periods in an engine of human contrivance: some returning every second, every minute, every quarter of an hour, hour, day, month and year. As for the leaves, flowers and fruits, they are not to be looked upon as a continuation of these regular branches, but as part of the substance of the trunk to which they grow.

There is but here and there one of these buds, that grow thus regularly and expand themselves. Perhaps some die, most of them continue in their littleness and imperfect state; the sap not running plentifully enough into them, having more free passage elsewhere, or being by some means diverted; and so, the part growing bigger, they are at last covered in it, and lie latent, until by some means the passage of the sap elsewhere is stopped, as by lopping of the tree, or otherwise; and then the sap, flowing more plentifully into them, causes them to spring forth, and make their way out of the bark. It may lie, like a seed in the tree, for many years, and, upon such an occasion, spring forth. Hence it is, that those little twigs, how small soever, though but of one year's growth, that grow out of great trees, yet always have their beginning and rise close by the very heart of the tree; because all the

rest that is above it has grown and been added, since the tree was so small as to bear buds at that place. We had as good think that trees grow out of the ground, without seeds, as that branches grow out of the trunk without buds; for the buds are but another sort of seeds, that cleave to the tree, and the seeds are but another sort of buds, that drop into the ground.

67. THUNDER. It is remarkable of Thunder, how long one part of the sound will be heard after another, when it is evident that the sound is made all in an instant, by the Lightning, which continues no longer. This arises from the length of the stream of Lightning, whereby one part is a great deal farther from us than another, so that the sound is a great while coming successively. Hence it is, that in claps of thunder, that are near us, the first noise that we hear seems to be very near the Earth, and then it seems to go further and further from us, and the last will be a murmuring up in the clouds; for although the noise that was made in the clouds, and the noise near the earth, was made together as at an instant, yet that in the clouds is much farther, and therefore is longer coming, and is a much lower sound when it sounds.

The rapid vibration of the air jars and jumbles, breaks and condenses, the bubbles of the cloud; whence it is, that, soon after hard claps of thunder, rain falls in greater plenty.

I regard Thunder as a meteor by far the most wonderful and least explicable of any whatsoever. But that we may make some approaches to the knowledge of the true nature of it, we shall lay down these following propositions.

For

1. The Streams of Lightning are not caused by any solid burning, or red-hot mass of matter, exploded with such swiftness as to cause it to appear as if there were one continued stream of light; nor are the effects of Lightning caused by the violent stroke of any such solid mass. if Lightning were such a body projected, it would be projected according to the laws of projected bodies; whereas the path of the Lightning is exceedingly far from it, being very crooked and angled. If Lightning were a solid body, projected from the cloud at A, towards E, with such a prodigious celerity, it proceeds according to the direction A, very nearly, and turns short at E in the free air, and so at F, B and C; for, when it is projected with such a

prodigious force, it must also be a prodigious force, that must change the course of it so short, and not the force of the free and yielding air.-But if any should suppose, that the change of the course of the Lightning might be caused, by some very violent eruptions of fire, at these angles, where the course is changed, that gives the thunderbolt a new projection:-to this I reply, that the fiery stream of Lightning is smooth and even; but if there

were any such new eruptions, they would be seen by a sudden and extraordinary expansion of the light, in those places. But what proves, that this cannot be the reason of the crookedness of the path of the Lightning, is that, as the flash of the Lightning is repeated once or twice, however crooked and angled the path is, yet it is every time the same: a stream of Lightning darts from the clouds two or three times over, and every time exactly in the same path. And sometimes there is a continued stream, for some time, with a tremulous motion. Now if these repeated flashes were one bolt exploded after another, and the reason of the Lightning's changing its course were new eruptions of fire, how should every bolt proceed, so exactly, in the same path.-And further, the effects of Lightning, upon earthly bodies, can in no wise be accounted for, by the violent projection of a solid mass, and do plainly show that they are not produced by such a cause. There is no such effect, as is caused by the explo

sion of a cannon ball. It is not worth while to stand to particularize, for it is exceedingly evident that none of the effects of Lightning arise from any such cause. Nor

2. Are those streaks of Lightning caused by a vein of combustible matter's taking fire, and the fire's running from one end of the vein to the other almost instantaneously. This would not produce any of those effects, which are caused by lightning, except we should suppose that these veins enter into the hearts of trees, rocks, and metals, and bodies of animals. If it were, it would be a wonder that the lower ends of these veins never took fire from fires that are upon earth. But

3. Lightning seems to be this: An almost infinitely fine, combustible matter, that floats in the air, that takes fire by a sudden and mighty fermentation, that is some way promoted by the cool and moisture, and perhaps attraction, of the clouds. By this sudden agitation, this fine, floating matter, is driven forth with a mighty force one way or other, which ever way it is directed, by the circumstances and temperature of the circumjacent air; for cold and heat, density and rarity, moisture and dryness, has almost an infinitely strong influence upon the fine particles of matter. This fluid matter, thus projected, still fermenting to the same degree, divides the air as it goes, and every moment receives a new impulse by the continued fermentation; and as its motion received its direction, at first, from the different temperature of the air, on different sides, so its direction is changed, according to the temperature of the air it meets with, which renders the path of the lightning so crooked. The parts are so fine, and are so vehemently urged on, that they instantaneously make their way into the pores of earthly bodies, still burning with a prodigious heat, and so instantly rarifying the rarifiable parts. Sometimes these bodies are somewhat bruised; which is chiefly by the beating of the air that is, with great violence, driven every way by the inflamed matter.

RESOLUTIONS

Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God's help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake.