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Likelihood have had many of thefe fuperfluous and unneceffary Parts.

But now feeing there is none of our Mem bers but hath its Place and Ufe, none that we could spare, or conveniently live without, were it but those we account Excrements, the Hair of our Heads, or the Nails on our Fingers ends; we must needs be mad or fottifh, if we can conceive any other than that an infinitely Good and Wife God was our Author and Former.

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III. We may fetch an Argument of the Wifdom and Providence of God from the convenient Situation and Difpofition of the Parts and Members of our Bodies: They are feated moft conveniently for Ufe, for Ornament, and for mutual Affiftance. Firft, for Ufe; fo we fee the Senfes of fuch eminent Ufe for our Well-being, fituate in the Head, as Sentinels in a Watch-Tower, to receive and convey to the Soul the Impreffions of External Objects. Senfus autem interpretes ac nuntii rerum in capite tanquam in arce mirificè ad ufus neceffarios & facti & collocati funt. Cic. de Nat. Deorum. The Eye can more eafily fee Things at a Di ftance, the Ear receives Sounds from afar : How could the Eye have been better placed, either for Beauty and Ornament, or for the Guidance and Direction of the whole Body ? As Cicero proceeds well, Nam Oculi tanquam Speculatores altiffimum locum obtinent,ex quo plurima confpicientes funguntur fua munere: Et Q3

Aures

Aures que fonum recipere debent, qui natura in fublime fertur, rectè in altis corporum partibus collocate funt; itemque Nares, eò quòd omnis odor ad fuperiora fertur, rectè furfum funt. For the Eyes, like Sentinels, occupy the highest Place, from whence feeing many things they perform their Functions: And the Ears, which are made for the Reception of Sounds, which naturally are carried upwards, are rightly placed in the uppermoft Parts of the Body; alfo the Noftrils, because all Odors afcend, are fitly fituate in the fuperior Parts. I might inftance in the other Members: How could the Hands have been more conveniently placed for all Sorts of Exercises and Works, and for the Guard and Security of the Head and principal Parts? The Heart, to dif penfe Life and Heat to the whole Body, viz near the Center and yet because it is harder for the Blood to afcend than defcend, fome what nearer the Head. It is alfo obfervable, that the Sinks of the Body are removed as far from the Nofe and Eyes as may be, which Cicero takes Notice of in the fore-mentioned Place. Ut in Edificiis Architecti avertunt ab Oculis & Naribus Dominorum ea que profluentia neceffariò effent tetri aliquid habitura, fic natura res fimiles procul amandavit à fenfibus.

Secondly, For Ornament. What could have been better contrived, than that thofe Members which are Pairs, should stand by one another in equal Altitude, and anfwer on each Side one to another? And,

Thirdly,

Thirdly, For mutual Affiftance. We have before fhewed how the Eye ftands most conveniently for guiding the Hand, and the Hand for defending the Eye; and the like might be faid of the other Parts, they are so situate as to afford Direction and Help one to another. This will appear more clearly, if we imagine any of the Members fituate in contrary Places or Pofitions Had a Man's Arms been fitted only to bend backwards behind him; or his Legs only to move backwards, what Direction could his Eyes then have afforded him in Working or Walking? Or how could he then have fed himfelf? Nay, had one Arm been made to been forward, and the other directly backward, we had then loft half the Ufe of them, fith they could not have affifted one the other in any Action. Take the Eyes, or any other of the Organs of Senfe, and fee if you can find any fo convenient a Seat for them in the whole Body, as that they now poffefs.

IV. From the ample Provision that is made for the Defence and Security of the principal Parts: Those are, 1. The Heart; which is the Fountain of Life and Vegetation, Officina Spirituum vitalium, principium & fons caloris nativi, lucerna humidi radicalis; and that I may speak with the Chymifts, ipfe Sol Microcofmi, the very Sun of the Microcofm, or little World, in which is contained that Vital Flame or Heavenly Fire, which Prometheus is fabled to have stole from Jupiter; or as Ariftotle Q4 phrases

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phrafes it, that 'Αιάλογον τῷ τῶν ἀπλανῶν ςοιχείῳ, Divinum quid refpondens Elemento Stellarum. This for more Security is fituate in the Center of the Trunk of the Body, covered first with its own Membrane, called Pericardium, lodged within the foft Bed of the Lungs, encompass'd round with a double Fence, (1) Of firm Bones or Ribs to bear off Blows: (2.) Of thick Mufcles and Skins, befides the Arms conveniently placed to fence off any Violence at a Distance, before it can approach to hurt it. 2. The Brain, which is the Principle of all Senfe and Motion, the Fountain of the Animal Spirits, the chief Seat and Palace Royal of the Soul; upon whofe Security, depends whatever Privilege belongs to us as Senfitive or Rational Creatures. This, I fay, being the prime and immediate Organ of the Soul; from the right Constitution whereof proceeds the Quickness of Apprehenfion, Acutenefs of Wit, Solidity of Judgment, Method and Order of Inven tion, Strength and Power of Memory; which if once weakned and difordered, there follows nothing but Confufion and Disturbance in our Apprehenfions, Thoughts and Judgments, is environed round about with fuch a potent Defence, that it must be a mighty Force indeed that is able to injure it.

1. A Skull fo hard, thick, and tough, that it is almost as easy to fplit a Helmet of Iron as to make a Fracture in it. 2. This covered with Skin and Hair, which ferve to keep i warm, being naturally a very cold Part, an

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alfo to quench and diffipate the Force of any Stroke that shall be dealt it, and retund the Edge of any Weapon. 3. And yet more than all this, there is still a thick and tough Membrane which hangs loofer about it, and doth not fo clofely embrace it, (that they call dura Mater; and in cafe the Skull happens to be broken, doth often preferve it from Injury and Diminution: And, laftly, a thin and fine Membrane, ftrait, and closely adhering, to keep it from quafhing and fhaking. The many Pairs of Nerves proceeding from it, and afterwards diftributing and branching themselves to all the Parts of the Body, either for Nutrition or Motion, are wonderful to behold in prepared Bodies, and even in the Schemes and Figures of Dr. Willis and Vieuffens.

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I might inftance (3.) in the Lungs, which are fo ufeful to us as to Life and Senfe, that the Vulgar think our Breath is our very Life, and that we breathe out our Souls from thence. Suitable to which Notion, both anima and spiritus in Latin, and Tveuua in Greek, are deriyed from Words that fignify Breath and Wind: And efflare or exhalare animam fignify to die. And the old Romans used to apply Mouth to Mouth, and receive the laft Gafps of their dying Friends, as if their Souls had come out that way. From hence, perhaps, might firft fpring that Opinion of the Vehicles of Spirits; the Vulgar, as I hinted before, conceiving that the Breath was, if not the Soul itself, yet that wherein it was wafted and carried away. These Lungs,

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