THEFEMALE PHYSICIAN.SECT.I.
THEFEMALE PHYSICIAN.
THEFEMALE PHYSICIAN.
THEFEMALE PHYSICIAN.
THE
FEMALE PHYSICIAN.
SECT.I.
REASON, and the mere Contemplation ofNature(abstracted from the Light and Assistance ofRevelationorFaith) afford us sufficient convincing Arguments, for theExistenceof this great and incomprehensibleBeing; asHeathensthemselves do testify.
ACCORDINGtoPlato(that most excellent HeathenishDivine) Philosophical Demonstrations are the onlyCatharticks(i. e.Purgers) of theSoul; being the most proper means to cleanse it fromError, and give us an exact Relish of SacredTruths. Wherefore I shall strictly confine myself toThese, in proving theBeingof thisExistence, from theMaximsof all the four principalSectsof Heathen Philosophers; whichI shall discuss in the briefestTerms, by only touching upon a few of their respectiveProofs;viz.
THENaturalistinsists chiefly upon three Heads; That ofMotion, theFinal, and theEfficient Cause.
UPONthe Axiom ofMotion, thatSectcould not exceed, or go beyond thePrimum Mobileamongcreated Beings; and therefore allows, that there is somethingaboveit, which movesitselfand is not moved byAnother.
UPONthat of theFinal Cause, they could find nocreated Beingcapable of directing thatNature, which directs and appoints allCreaturesto aim at some peculiarEnd; and thence conclude, that thisNatureis directed by somethingsuperiorto itself.
UPONthat of theEfficient Cause, they confess, from the many Vicissitudes ofcreated Beings, that they’ve all had aBeginning: and (because noBeginningcan be without anEfficient) acknowledge, thatsomethingmore excellent than allcreated Beings, hath created them.
THEMetaphysicianuseth a vast Variety of sublimeArguments; whereof I shall only give a few Instances:viz.
I.THATeveryfinite Beingmust needs proceed fromsomethingelse, limiting it in thatFiniteness, in which itsNatureconflicts.
II.THATallMultitudemust proceed fromUnity, as theMotionsof thelower Orbsproceed from that of theone highest; or as the many particular distinctActionsand differentMotionsof the Man, proceed from (theirSuperior) theSoul.
III.THATtheSubordinationof theCreatures, one serving another, and all concurring to theCommon Good, must needs proceed from theDisposalof some most wiseGovernour.
IV.THATthe wonderful and incomparableArt, observable in theMakeandFormof every the minutest Part of the least and most despicableCreature, must necessarily proceed from some very great and omnipotentArtificer.
V.THISSectacknowledges also theImmortalityof theSoul, asCicerowitnesses; because it is animmaterialSubstance, and independent of theBody: And consequently they allow it to proceed from animmortal Author, and to return to thesame, after aDissolutionfrom the Body.
ASto theMoralist, his way ofReasoningis plainer to our common Capacities.
I.HEproves thisArgumentfrom thenatural DispositionandPropensityof the worst of Men, evenAtheiststhemselves, upon the Approach of Death or any heavyCalamity, to acknowledge some superior divine Power; asSenecawitnesseth ofCaligula, &c.
II.FROMtheultimate Endand chiefGoodof Man; which (according toPlato) is nothingTerrestrial: OurSoulsbeinginsatiablein this Life, have a constantTendencyto that particularEnd, for which we arecreated; which (in his Words) consists only in beinginseparablyunited toGod.
III.FROMVirtueandVice, theRewardsandPunishmentsdue to these fromNatureandReason; which agree withEquityandJustice, that they, wholive well, should berewardedwith this theirultimate Endandfinal Felicity: And those who liveotherwise, should bepunishedby theLossthereof forever. Thence they (of consequence) acknowledge, that there must be a just and powerfulJudge, above allcreated Beings, to inflict this impartialSentence.
THEMathematicianacknowledgesThatto be someBeing superiorto all others; whoseCenterhe finds every where, and whoseCircumferencehe can limit or discover no where. But because thisSectborrows the better Part of theirProofsfrom the otherthreementioned, I shall go no farther; designing nothing butBrevitythro’out this Work, especially upon aThesisso manifest asThis: Which indeed I should not so much as have touched upon, considering how elegantly and copiously many verylearned Divines, and other eminentWriters, have treated thatSubject; were it not that some subsequentHypothesesdepend immediately upon it. Wherefore I proceed to