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Infects hunt thefe Animalcules, and other fmall Creatures that occurr in the Water, and devour them: And I am apt to think, although I have not yet feen it, that the Pulex aquaticus arborefcens, liveth upon these or more minute and tender Animalcules, and that it is to catch them that it so leaps in the Water.

This to me feems a wonderful Work of God, to provide for the minutest Creatures of the Waters Food proper for them, that is, minute and tender, and fit for their Organs of Swallowing.

As for noxious Infects, why there should be fo many of them produced, if it be demanded,

I answer, 1. That many that are noxious to us, are falutary to other Creatures; and fome that are Poifon to us, are Food to them. So we fee the Poultry-kind feed upon Spiders. Nay, there is fcarce any noxious Infect but one Bird or other eats it, either for Food or Phyfick. For many, nay most of thofe Creatures whofe Bite or Sting is' poisonous, may fafely be taken entire into the Stomach. And therefore it is no Wonder, that not only the Ibis of Egypt, but even Storks and Peacocks prey upon and destroy all Sorts of Serpents, as well as Locufts and Caterpillars.

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2. Some of the moft venomous and pernicious of Infects, afford us noble Medicines, as Scorpions, Spiders, and Cantharides.

3. These Infects feldom make use of their offenfive Weapons, unless affaulted or pro

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375 voked in their own Defence, or to revenge an Injury. Let them but alone, and annoy them not, nor difturb their Young, and unlefs accidentally, you shall seldom fuffer by them.

Laftly, God is pleased fometimes to make ufe of them as Scourges, to chastize or punish wicked Perfons or Nations, as he did Herod and the Egyptians. No Creature fo mean and contemptible, but God can, when he pleafes, produce fuch Armies of them as no humane Force is able to conquer or destroy, but they fhall of a fudden confume and devour up all the Fruits of the Earth, and whatever might ferve for the Suftenance of Man, as Locufts have often been obferved for to do.

Did these Creatures ferve for no other Ufe, as they do many; yet those that make them an Objection against the Wisdom of God, may (as Dr. Cockburn well notes) as well upbraid the Prudence and Policy of a State for keeping Forces, which generally are made up of very: rude and infolent People, which yet are neceffary, either to fupprefs Rebellions, or punish Rebels and other diforderly and vicious Perfons, and keep the World in quiet.

From that Part of this Difcourfe which relates to the Body of Man, I fhall make these practical Inferences,

Infer. 1. First, Let us give Thanks to Almighty God for the Perfection and IntegriB b 4

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ty of our Bodies. It would not be amifs to put it into the Euchariftical Part of our dai, ly Devotions: We praife Thee, O God, for the due Number, Shape and Ufe of our Limbs and Senses; and in general, of all the Parts of our Bodies; we blefs thee for the Sound and healthful Conftitution of them: Pfal. x. It is thou that haft made us, and not we ourselves; in thy Book were all our Members written. The Formation of the Body is the Work of God; and the whole Procefs thereof attributed to him, Pfal. cxxix. 13, 14, 15. The Mother that bears the Child in her Womb, is not confcious to any thing that is done there; fhe understands no more how the Infant is formed, than itself doth. But if God hath bestowed upon us any peculiar Gift or Endowment, wherein we excell others, as Strength, or Beauty, or Activity, we ought to give him fpecial Thanks for it, but not to think the better of ourselves therefore, or defpife them that want it.

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Now because these bodily Perfections, being common Bleffings, we are apt not at all to confider them, or not to fer a juft Value on them; and because the Worth of Things is beft difcerned by their Want, it would be ufeful fometimes to imagine or fuppofe ourfelves, by fome Accident, to be deprived of one of our Limbs or Senfes, as a Hand, or a Foot, or an Eye; for then we cannot but be fenfible, that we fhould be in worse Con

dition than now we are, and that we should foon find a Difference between two Hands and one Hand, two Eyes and one Eye, and that two excell one as much in Worth as they do in Number; and yet if we could fpare the Ufe of the loft Part, the Deformity and Unfightlinefs of fuch a Defect in the Body, would alone be very grievous to us. Again, which is lefs, fuppofe we only, that our Bodies want of their juft Magnitude, or that they, or any of our Members are crooked or distorted, or difproportionate to the reft, either in Excefs or Defect; nay, which is least of all, that the due Motion of any one Part be perverted, as but of the Eyes in Squinting, the Eye-Lids in Twinkling, the Tongue in Stammering, thefe Things are fuch Blemishes and Offences to us, by making us Gazing-Stocks to others, and Objects of their Scorn or Derifion, that we could be content to part with a good Part of our Eftates to repair fuch Defects, or heal fuch Infirmities. Thefe Things confidered, and duly weighed, would furely be a great and effectual Motive to excite in us Gratitude for this Integrity of our Bodies, and to esteem it no fmall Bleffing, I fay a Bleffing and Favour of God to us; for fome there be that want it, and why might not we have been of that Number? God was no way obliged to bestow it upon us.

And

Part II. And as we are to give Thanks for the Integrity of our Body, fo are we likewise for the Health of it, and the found Temper and Constitution of all its Parts and Humours; Health being the principal Bleffing of this Life, without which we cannot enjoy, or take Comfort in any thing befides.

Neither are we to give Thanks alone for the firft Collation of thefe Benefits, but alfo for their Prefervation and Continuance. God preferves our Souls in Life, and defends us from Dangers and fad Accidents, which do fo befet us on every Side, that the greatest Circumfpection in the World could not fecure us, did not his good Providence continually watch over us. We may be faid to walk and converfe in the midft of Snares; befides, did we but duly confider the Make and Frame of our Bodies, what a Multitude of minute Parts and Veffels there are in them, and how an Obstruction in one, redounds to the Prejudice of the whole, we could not but wonder how fo curious an Engine as Man's Body could be kept in Tune one Hour, as we use it, much lefs hold out fo many Years? How it were poffible it fhould endure fuch Hardships, fuch Blows, fo many Shocks and Concuffions, nay fuch Violences and Outrages as are offered it by our frequent Exceffes, and not be difordered and render'd ufelefs; and acknowledge the tranfcendent Art and Skill of him who fo

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