12.

poor and unworthy Conceptions of
his Maker: For can any thing be too
hard for him, (*) who hath measur'd (*) Ila. 40.
the Waters in the Hollow of his
Hand, and meeted out Heaven with
a Span, and comprehended the Duft
of the Earth in a Measure, and
weigh'd the Mountains in Scales, and
the Hills in a Balance ? For him,
whose immortal Spirit is in all
things: Effentially prefent both to
the Habitations of the Living, and
also to the Darkfom Receptacles and
Dormitories of the Dead? For Him,
who knows our Divided, as well as
United Particles; and diftinguisheth
all the Dufts and Atoms of our Sub-
stance, as they lye under their various
Disguises in the Wilderness of Forms;
For him, whom Vacuity or Emptiness
it felf obey'd; at his Command bring-
ing forth of its Fruitless and bar-
ren Womb, fuch a multitude of Be-
ings, as none, but Himself, can num-
ber? Can any thing (I fay) be too
hard for Him, who is thus irresistable
in Power, and in Knowledge infinite?
Far be it from Chriftians to think fo
meanly of their God: The very Hea-
thens will stand up, and teach them a
D2
better

1

better Leffon. Nihil est, quod Deus efficere non poffit, & quidem fine ullo Labore, fays their Orator; and their Poet,

Ω Πάτερ ἡμέτερε κρονίδη, υπατί
Κρειόντων,

Ευ γυ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν ὅτι πέν@ ἐκ κι ἐπιεικτόν.

A

The Sence of both which is in the (s) Pfal. Language of () Holy Writ, The 97. 9. Lord is High above all the Earth, He is Dan.4.35⋅ exalted far above exalted far above all Gods. He doth ac cording to his Will, in the Armies of Heaven, and amongst the Inhabitants of the Earth, and none can stay his Hand, or fay unto him, What doft thou? Tho' therefore our Bodies are turn'd into Putrefaction, or crumbled into Duft, and made the sport and paftime of the Winds and Whirlwinds: Nay, though their Particles are all feparated from one another, and lye fcatter'd and difpers'd up and down in different Quarters of the Earth; yet can God, who is equally prefent to them all, moft eafily gather them up with his Hand, and unite them under the fame Vital Principles again.

Of

Of this we carry Evidence enough, even in our own Bofoms: It being as easy to conceive the Reformation of our Bodies at the laft Day, as their Formation at, first in the facred Closets of the Womb. For how were their parts Organiz'd, and Fashion'd, their Bones ftretcht out and knit together, and wrought over with the unimitable Embroydery of Skin, Sinews, Veins and Arteries? The Contemplative Prophet could, after the utmost Scrutiny, give no account at all of this matter; but was forc'd to (t) confefs, (t) Pfal. that this Knowledge was too wonderful and excellent for him, and that he could not attain unto it. Nay, this would fhine with irrefiftable Clarity and Brightness into our Souls, if we would acquaint our felves with, and feriously confider the wonderful Productions and Operations of Nature. The Botanists reckon about Six thou See Mr. fand kinds of Vegetables, that adorn Boyle's the Surface of the Earth; and in what ment. Nat. bulky, huge, ftupendous Subftances Philp. 12. do many of them arife? They grow, and are strong; yea, their lofty Heads afcend into the Heaven, and the Beasts

139.

Experi

2d Edit.

1

of the Field have fhadow under them, and the Fowls of the Air fix their Habitations, and dwell among their Branches. But are these immense, tall, prodigious Bodies produced out of fuch defpicable, fmall, unlikely Principles by the Agency of Second Causes; and can we think it impoffible for the immediate Power of God, to reproduce our Bodies out of the fame matter they were conftituted with before? The Swallows at the Beginning of Winter, retire by multitudes into the Dusty Beds, where they lie clofe, and fleep together in their Chaos, till hearing the Voice of returning Nature at the Spring, they awake out of their dead Sleep, and take Wing, and fly among the Fowls of the Air again. The Loadstone is of fo wonderful a Nature, that it not only draws to it self a folid, maflie Body of Steel, but likewife if this Steel be ground to Powder, and that Powder scatter'd up and down, and buried in a lump of Clay, it will, if gently mov'd upon the Superficies of the Cake, attract into a Lump all those Dufts so strangely buried and difpers'd. Mercury, though mortify'd

into a thousand Shapes, will affume its own again, and return into its Numerical Self. And (which is more wonderful yet) the Chymifts allure

us,

That the Forms of Things are

kept invifible in Store, though the Materials of them be never so much alter'd, and that by vertue of those Forms, the things themselves will be reftor'd to their former Being; which they make good by an Experiment now grown common in the World. But does Nature thus preferve from the Jaws of Corruption; and is the Hand of the God of Nature fhortned, that it cannot fave! Can the restore Life, and Motion, and Wing to fenfeless Matter; and cannot the Almighty command our dead Bodies to revive and live again? Can Nature to our Amazement, recollect the scatter'd, dif fpers'd Atoms into one Body? And cannot He, from whom the derives all her Power, reunite our eftrang'd and divided Particles? Can the Sons of Art call forth thofe Forms, which seem to be utterly deftroy'd, and cause them to rife up even from their Afhes, in their Verdant Beauty and Colours: And cannot the Voice