BESIDESwhat has been said in the precedingChapters, touching theSOUL, itsPowersandFaculties; when we duly consider the beautifulFormand amiableFigureof theBody, so nicely adapted to the sublimeQualitiesof theSoul, with its curiousStructure, and majestickStature, erected toHeaven, whither its natural Tendency leads; besides the proportionableSymmetryand exactCommensurationof all itsParts: Surely we cannot, I hope, without the greatest Amazement, contemplate and admire the incomparableArt, and incomprehensibleSkill, of the greatArtificer: And with magnificentDavid[10], break out inEulogiesof Praise, and ardentExclamationsof Love and Admiration.
BUTmore especially:first, when we distinctly view the slenderFilaments, the minuteVessels, the elaborateContextures, and variousConfigurationsof the differentOrgansof thisBody.Secondly, When we duly consider the Power of its naturalFaculties, the Situation of theEntrails, the Rise of theNervesfrom theBrain, the Ducts or Conduits of theArteriesfrom theHeart, and the Original of theVeinsfrom theLiver.Thirdly, When we call to remembrance, and ponder what I have been hinting upon, to wit, thePowerof the naturalFacultiesof theSoul, by which they execute their relativeFunctions; besides, theÆtherial Spirit(the Seat and Vehicle of ournatural Heat) dividing it self into athree-fold Diversity, and appropriating to itself as manyResidences, viz. theAnimalin theBrain, theVitalin theHeart, and theNaturalSpirit in theLiver: And then again, how thesethree, by a Fomentation ofnative Heat, andnutritious Humours, cherish and refresh the wholeBodysupplying everyPartwith requisite Strength and Vigour.Fourthly, When at last we contemplate that Piece of incomprehensibleArtifice, which gives a respectiveSpeciesandFormto every particularPart, and implants a peculiarFacultyin every distinctMember, inducing such an Excellency into the wholeBody; that is, theFormationandDelineationof theFoetusin theWomb.
THISis such a great and curiousMaster-piece, that allOthers, as well as thePhysician, will find it not only theirDuty, but also their great Satisfaction and Pleasure,to know and examine into this inimitableMachineof the divineArchitect.
THEgreatGalenwas converted at aDissection, and durst not but acknowledge aSupreme Being, upon that Survey of his admirableHandy-work; saying,[11]“How much is it our special Duty therefore to admire the Wisdom and Providence of the Workman? Since, tho’ it is far more easy to set forth in Words the Beginning of Things, than to form the Work; yet our Expressions and Words fall so much short of the Wisdom of him that made us, that we are not able to explain, what gave him so little trouble to make.â€
ANDasthiswas a Man who had not been toodevout, so if the mostProfligatewould seriously weigh and consider the elegantConstitutionof such a vast Variety of differentTextures, the Nicety of theseOrganical Works, the Curiosity of theseEmbroideries, and the Exactitude of theseFigures, which appear and seem rather to be fitted for Admiration than Use; they would readily conclude with that greatNaturalist, that these Things are the evidentCharacteristicksof some divine and omnipotentPower, in that they are no ways to be accounted for by suchnatural Causes, as may be thought sufficient to explain thePhænomenaof ignobler Beings.
THISBody, therefore, being the Vessel and Receptacle of theSoul, the Engine and Instrument, in and through which it operates; I judge it to be our incumbentDuty, to take special Care, and nice Observation of bothSoulandBody: Since (in this Life) theonecannot consist without theother, or discharge its respectiveOffices; theonealways requiring theMinistryandAssistanceof theother, which theomniscientArtificerhas so wisely ordered and ordained from all Eternity.
HOWEVERyet, I cannot agree with St.Cyprian, that the animated and sensible Body is only used by theSoul, as mechanicalInstrumentsare by theWorkman; since I think a more properSimilemay be drawn from theSunandMoon: For tho’ theMoonborrowsLightof theSun, she is not altogether devoid of such aPowerorInfluenceas is proper to herself, being guided and sustained by apeculiar Motion, whilst she absolves herown Circle; takingLightfrom theSun, no otherways than as aLooking-Glass, polish’dBrass, orCopper, takes Splendor orRefulgencyfrom an oppositeFireorLight: For notwithstanding she exhibits noLight, unless illuminated by theSun; however yet, she is not idle or desidious in accomplishing hermonthly Course, and measuring her ownSpaceof the Heavens, and that without any Assistance of theSun. So theSoulinvigorates and affords Strength to theBody, which however is not altogether without its own implantedFacultiesand naturalPowers; thefour QualitiesofHumours, with which ev’ryBodyabounds, capacitating and adapting it to all Things within its ownSphere.
FARTHER, as theSunsuffersEclipses, and is obscured by the Intervention of theMoon; and theMoonagain (in like manner) is eclipsed and obscured by the Objection or Interposition of theEarth, theSunalways running thro’ theEcliptick Linein the same Degree, and the Moon inopposite Degrees: SoBodyandSoulare subject to their own Impediments andEclipses; sometimesdefending, and sometimesoffendingone another; bothsympathizingmutually, andparticipatingequally of one another’sPortion. As it is evident from the very Words of ourdyingSaviour, who, by reason of his Human Weakness, broke out into these[12]Words,My Soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto Death: WhichDeath, in the nextVerse, he, in a manner, deprecates of theFather. For though he was not yet insulted, or laid hands upon, yet his wholeMindandThoughtsrunning upon his approachingDanger, he was seiz’d with such Horror andTrepidity, as express’d abloody Sweat, which streamed from hiswhole Body: so that the Acerbity of hisGriefmust (of consequence) have been communicated toboth Parts; and beginning in theSoul, did thence redound into theBody.
HENCEarises a rational and naturalArgument, that asSoulandBodydo not onlyactin and thro’ one another, but alsosuffermutually, alwayssympathizingwith each other, and bearing equalSharein theTroubles,Misfortunes, andInquietudesof this Life; and that as theybothinseparably constitute theMan: So, by reason of that naturalSympathy, and proximousAffinity, as theSoulenjoysImmortality, the renew’dBody(by the Mystery of theResurrection) will be a futurePartakerof thesame Reward; and consequently thewhole Manmust enjoyoneand thesame StateofBeatitude; orotherways, as he shall have promerited. Whence I proceed to