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tions of cunning and fagacity, or what we generally call Instinct, we find them rifing after the fame manner, imperceptibly one above another, and receiving additional improvements according to the fpecies in which they are implanted. This progrefs in Nature is fo very gra dual, that the most perfect of an inferior fpecies comes very near to the most imperfect of that which is immediately above it.

The exuberant and overflowing goodnefs 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 goodnefs less seen in the diverfity, than in the multitude of living creatures. Had he only made one fpecies of animals, none of the reft would have enjoyed the hap pinefs 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 divers kinds of creatures, rifing one over another, by fuch a gentle and eafy afcent, that the little tranfi

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tranfitions and deviations from one species to another, are almost infenfible. This ntermediate space is fo well husbanded and managed, that there is fcarce a degree of perception which does not appear in fome one part of the world of life. Is the goodness or wifdom of the Divine Being, more manifefted in this his Próceeding?

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 progress, 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 fupreme 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

Maker for the creative power to exert itfelf in, it is impoffible that it fhould 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 should be more species of intelligent creatures above is, than there are of fenfible and material below us, is probable to me from bence; That in all the vifible corporeal world, we fee no chafms, or no gaps. All quite down from us, the defcent is by easy steps, and a continued feries, of things, that in each remove differ very little one from the other. There are files 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 fifbes, and their flesh fo like in tafte, that the fcrupulous are allowed them on fif 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 terrestrial and aquatic· together; Seals live at land and at fea, and porpoifes have the warm blood and entrails of a bog; not to mention what is confidently. reported of mermaids or fea-men. There are Jome brutes, that feem to have as much G 4 know

knowledge and reafon, as fome that are called men; and the animal and vegetable kingdems are fo nearly joined, that if you will take the lowest of one, and the highest of the other, there will fcarce 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 universe, and the great defign and infinite goodness of the architect, that the Species of creatures should also, by gentle degrees, afcend upwards from us towards his infinite perfection, as we fee they gradually defcend from us downwards: which if it be probable, we have reason then to be perfuaded, that there are far more Species of creatures above us, than there are beneath; we being in degrees of perfecti-· on much more remote from the infinite Being of God, than we are from the lowest state of Being, and that which approaches nearest to nothing. And yet of all these diftin&t Species, we have no clear distinct ideas.

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In this fyftem of being, there is no creature so wonderful in its nature, and which fo much deferves our particular attention, as man, who fills up the middle space between the animal and intellectual nature, the visible and invisible 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 respect is affociated with Angels and Arch-angels, may look upon a Being of infinite perfection as his father, and the highest order of fpirits as his brethren, may in another respect say to corruption, thou art my father, and to the worm, thou art my mother and my fifter. O

Facies non omnibus una,

Nec diverfa tamen·

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Ovid.

HOSE who were skilful in anatomy among the ancients, concluded from the outward and inward make of an human body, that it was the work of a Being tranfcendently wife and powerful. As the world grew more enlightened in this art, their difcoveries gave them fresh opportunities of admiring the conduct of Providence in the formation of an human

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