human body. Galen was converted by his diffections, and could not but own a Supreme Being upon a furvey of this his handy-work. There were, indeed, many parts of which the old Anatomists did not know the certain ufe; but as they faw that moft of those which they examined were adapted with admirable art to their feveral functions, they did not queftion but thofe, whose uses they could not determine, were contrived with the fame wisdom for refpective ends and purposes. Since the circulation of the blood has been found out, and many other great discoveries have been made by our modern Anatomists, we fee new wonders in the human frame, and discern several important uses for thofe parts, which ufes the ancients knew nothing of. In short, the body of man is such a subject, as stands the utmost teft of examination. Tho' it appears formed with the niceft wisdom, upon the most fuperficial furvey of it, it ftill mends upon the fearch, and produces our furprise and amazement in proportion as we pry into it. What I have here faid of an human body, may be applied to the body of every animal, which has been the fubject of anatomical obfervations.

The

The body of an animal is an object adequate to our Senfes. It is a particular fyftem of providence, that lies in a narrow compass. The eye is able to command it, and by fucceffive enquiries can fearch into all its parts. Could the body' of the whole earth, or indeed the whole univerfe, be thus fubmitted to the exami nation of our fenfes, were it not too big and difproportioned for our enquiries, too unwieldy for the managemant of the eye and hand, there is no queftion but it would appear to us as curious and wellcontrived a frame as that of an human body. We fhould fee the fame concatenation and fubferviency, the fame neceffity and usefulness, the fame beauty and harmony in all and every of its parts, as what we discover in the body of every fingle animal.

The more extended our reafon is, and. the more able to grapple with immenfe objects, the greater ftill are thofe difcoveries which it makes of wisdom and providence in the work of the creation. A Sir Ifaac Newton, who ftands up as the miracle of the prefent age, can look through a whole planetary fyftem; confider it in its weight, number and mea

fure;

fure; and draw from it as many demonftrations of infinite power and wisdom, as a more confined understanding is able to deduce from the fyftem of an human body.

.

But to return to our fpeculations on anatomy. I fhall here confider' the fabric and texture of the bodies of animals in one particular view; which, in my opinion, fhews the hand of a thinking and all-wife Being in their formation, with the evidence of a thousand demonftrations. I think we may lay this down as an incóntefted principle, that chance never acts in a perpetual uniformity and confiftence with itfelf. If one fhould always fling the fame number with ten thousand dicé, or fee every throw júft five times lefs, or five times more in number than the throw which immediately preceded it, who would not imagine there is fome invifible power which directs the caft? This is the proceeding which we find in the operations of nature. Every kind of animal is diverfified by different magnitudes, each of which gives rife to a different species. Let a man trace the dog or lion-kind, and he will obferve how many of the

works

works of nature are published, if I may ufe the expreffion, in a variety of editions. If we look into the reptile world, or into thofe different kinds of animals that fill the element of water, we meet with the fame repetitions among feveral fpecies, that differ very little from one another, but in fize and bulk. You find

the fame creature that is drawn at large, -copied out in feveral proportions, and ending in miniature. It would be tedious to produce inftances of this regular conduct in Providence, as it would be fuperfluous to thofe who are verfed in the natural hiftory of animals. The magnificent harmony of the univerfe is fuch, that we may obferve innumerable divifions running upon the fame ground. I might alfo extend this fpeculation to the dead parts of nature, in which we may find matter difpofed into many fimilar fyftems as well in our furvey of stars and planets, as of ftones, vegetables, and other fublunary parts of the creation. In a word, Providence has fhewn the richness of its goodness and wisdom, not only in the production of many original fpecies, but in the multiplicity of Defcants which it has made on every original fpecies in particular.

But

But to pursue this thought ftill farther: every living creature, confidered in itfelf, has many very complicated parts, that are exact copies of fome other parts which it poffeffes, and which are complicated in the fame manner. One eye

would have been fufficient for the fubfiftence and preservation of an animal; but, in order to better his condition, we fee another placed with a mathematical exactness in the fame most advantageous fituation, and in every particular of the fame fize and texture. Is it poffible for chance to be thus delicate and uniform in her operations? Should a million of dice turn up twice together the fame number, the wonder would be nothing in comparifon with this. But when we see this fimilitude and resemblance in the arm, the hand, the fingers; when we fee one half of the body entirely correfpond with the other in all thofe minute strokes, without which a man might have very well fubfifted, nay, when we often fee a fingle part repeated an hundred times in the fame body, notwithstanding it confifts of the most intricate weaving of numberless fibres, and thefe parts differing ftill in magnitude, as the convenience

of