AS Man was set on the Theatre of this World, to the End that he might admire, delight, and confide in God his great Creator; so was the Humane Body made for the Divine Soul, and the respective Members for the Body: which all voluntarily concur in the Discharge of their peculiar Functions, for the Benefit and Use of the Whole.

AND so was every Stem endued with its own Faculty, and every Creature with its own Nature; which made Aristotle[[1]] most pertinently say, “That there’s nothing so minute in the Nature of Things, nothing so abject or despicable, but may reasonably afford Men something of Admiration.”

NOW, I think, we may be soon brought to this Admiration, when we only view those Things which are so evidently exposed to our Eyes: such as the Elements, the Heavens, the Rising and Setting of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, the Diurnal and Nocturnal Vicissitudes, the four Seasons of the Year, comprehending the two Æquinoctials of Spring and Fall, and the two Solstices of Summer and Winter; by whose Decourse or Descent Grass fades, and Herbs decay; and again, by their Ascent or Influence, spring up and revive.

AND again, when we consider the Animals, the Faculties and Propension of their respective Natures, how they are endued with peculiar Sense, because denied particular Reason; and how wisely they are all dispos’d, some inhabiting the Waters, some enjoying the free Air, and others possessing the Desarts; some reptile and creeping, some gradient and walking, some solivagant and wandering, some wild and fierce, and others innocent and tame: I say the marvellous and inimitable Artifice of Nature in these, and all other natural Works, is not only to be admir’d; but also the Majesty, Glory, Fullness, and Magnificence of the Great Creator and Institutor of this Nature is to be most highly ador’d; in whom all things originally center, as their common Source and Divine Fountain, and to whom all things are finally reduced, as the Primigenious Essence and Archetype of Nature.

CHAP. III.
Of MAN.

MAN, to whom all sublunary Beings were subjected, is most excellently qualified, far above all other Creatures of this World: In him is not only the vegetative Life of Plants, and the sensitive Life of Animals, but also the Angelical Reason, the Divine Understanding, the true Conjunction and glorious Possession of all Things: He is not only endued with Reason and the Gift of Speaking, but also with a Mind and a Soul, which participates of a Celestial Nature and Divinity itself; which can relate to the Nature of nothing else, and be compared to none but God himself: In and thro’ whom he has a Similitude with all things, an Operation with all, and Conversation with all: He symbolizeth with all Matters in proper Subjects; with the Elements in a fourfold Body; with Plants in a vegetative Virtue; with Animals in a sensitive Faculty; with the Heavens in an Etherial Spirit; with Angels in Wisdom and Understanding, and with God himself (as it were) in containing and comprehending all things, except the Divine Being. Hence nothing can so expresly represent God as the Soul of Man, by which he is dignified and railed to the very Image and Similitude of himself. And in MAN the mirificent Wisdom shines the more conspicuously; in that the whole World, and the Fabrick of all its Contents, however concise and artificial, can in no respect compare with the noble Structure of this Microcosm, Man. It is so marvellously concise, and so wonderfully artificial, that it seems no otherways, than as if the Maker (designing this for his Master-piece) would have his chief Glory, Esteem, and Reputation to depend upon it, and derive itself from Hence; or, as if the Maker (designing this for one signal Instance of his Divinity to Men) would have us brought, merely by the Understanding and Knowledge of ourselves, to the true Knowledge and due Reverence of Himself, our great ARTIFICER.

THAT we may be the more duly and sensibly affected towards him, and the more admire and reverence the Wisdom of his Nature, as he bountifully produced all things for the Use and Utility of MAN; so he most appositely disposed the Herbs of the Field, some to our Nourishment, some to our Remedies, and some to both Necessities: assimilating and assigning them to our singular Members, so that their Powers and Virtues are physically convey’d to such Parts of our Bodies, as they are adapted to by Nature.

AND in the same manner he imbued the Roots of the Ground with such natural Qualities, that they by their respective innate Faculties, succour and relieve those Members, to which they are specifically destinated; and such Members sensibly attract and imbibe from them, not only wholesome Nutriment, but also healthful Remedies peculiarly appropriated to themselves by Nature.

BUT the immortal SOUL, which is only peculiar to MAN, whereby he so perfectly assimilates and resembles God; and its Gifts and Graces, whereby he excels and out-shines all other sublunary Creatures; is more properly the Subject of the Divine, than the Physician; wherefore I shall but touch it transiently.