And first , it may seem an ingrateful and unfilial thing , to dispute against Nature , that is taken by Mankind for the Common Parent of us all . But though it be an undutiful thing , to express a want of respect for an acknowledg'd Parent , yet I know not , why it may not be allowable to question One , that a Man looks upon but as a pretended one , or at least does upon probable grounds doubt , Whether she be so or no ; and , 'till it appear to me that she is so , I think it my duty to pay my gratitude , not to I know not what , but to that Deity , whose Wisdom and Goodness , not only design'd to make me a Man , and enjoy what I am here bless'd with , but contriv'd the World so , that even those Creatures of his , who by their inanimate condition are not capable of intending to gratifie me , should be as serviceable and useful to me , as they would be , if they could and did design the being so ; and you may be pleas'd to remember , that , as men may now accuse such an Enquirer , as I am , of impiety and ingratitude towards Nature : So the Persians , and other Worshipers of the Coelestial Bodies , accus'd several of the Ancient Philosophers , and all the Primitive Christians , of the like Crimes , in reference to the Sun ; whose Existence , and whose being a Benefactor to Mankind , was far more unquestionable , than that there is such a Semi-Deity as Men call Nature : And it can be no great disparagement to me , to suffer on the like Account with 〈◊〉 good Company , especially , when several of the considerations that Justifie them , may also Apologize for me . I might add , that , it not being half so evident to me , that what is called Nature is my Parent , as that all Men are my Brothers , Act. 17. by being the Off-spring of God ; ( for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Aratus is adopted by St. Paul ) I may justly prefer the doing of them a service , by disabusing them , to the paying of Her a Ceremonial Respect . But setting Allegories aside , I have sometimes seriously doubted , whether the Vulgar Notion of Nature has not been both injurious to the Glory of God , and a great Impediment to the solid and useful Discovery of his Works .

And first , it seems to detract from the Honour of the great Author and Governor of the World ; that Men should ascribe most of the admirable things that are to be met with in it , not to him , but to a certain Nature , which themselves do not well know what to make of . ●Tis true that many confess , that this Nature is a thing of His establishing , and subordinate to Him ; but , though many confess it when they are ask'd , Whether they do or no ? yet , besides that many seldom or never lifted up their eyes to any higher Cause , he that takes notice of their way of ascribing things to Nature , may easily discern , that , whatever their words sometimes be , the Agency of God is little taken notice of in their thoughts : And however , it does not a little darken the Excellency of the Divine management of things , that , when a strange Thing is to be effected or accounted for , men so often have recourse to Nature , and think she must extraordinarily interpose to bring such things about : Whereas it much more tends to the Illustration of God's Wisdom , to have so fram'd things at first , that there can seldom or never need any extraordinary Interposition of his Power . And , as it more recommends the skill of an Engineer , to contrive an Elaborate Engine , so as that there should need nothing to reach his ends in it , but the contrivance of parts devoid of understanding ; than if it were necessary , that ever and anon a discreet Servant should be employ'd , to concur notably to the Operations of this or that Part , or to hinder the Engine from being out of order : So it more sets off the Wisdom of God in the Fabrick of the Universe , that he can make so vast a Machine , perform all those many things which he design'd it should , by the meer contrivance of Brute matter , managed by certain Laws of Local Motion , and upheld by his ordinary and general concourse ; than if he imployed from time to time an Intelligent Overseer , such as Nature is fancied to be , to regulate , assist , and controul the Motions of the Parts . In confirmation of which , you may remember , that the later Poets justly reprehended their Predecessors , for want of skill , in laying the Plots of their Plays , because they often suffered things to be reduced to that Pass , that they were fain to bring some Deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Stage , to help them out .

And let me tell you freely , that , though I will not say , That Aristotle meant the mischief his Doctrine did , yet I am apt to think , that the Grand Enemy of God's Glory made great use of Aristotle's Authority and Errors , to detract from it .

For as Aristotle , by introducing the Opinion of the Eternity of the World , ( whereof he owns himself to have been the first Broacher ) did , at least in almost all Mens Opinion , openly deny God the Production of the World : So , by ascribing the admirable Works of God , to what he calls Nature , he tacitly denies him the Government of the World . Which suspicion , if you judg severe , I shall not , at more leisure , refuse to acquaint you , ( in a distinct Paper ) why I take divers of Aristotle's Opinions relating to Religion , to be more unfriendly , not to say pernicious , to It , than those of several other Heathen Philosophers .

And here give me leave to prevent an Objection , that some may make , as if , to deny the receiv'd Notion of Nature , a Man must also deny Providence ; of which Nature is the Grand Instrument . For in the first place , my Opinion hinders me not at all from acknowledging God to be the Author of the Universe , and the continual Preserver and Upholder of it ; which is much more than the Peripatetick Hypothesis , which ( as we were saying ) makes the World Eternal , will allow its Embracers to admit ; and those things which the School-Philosophers ascribe to the Agency of Nature , interposing according to Emergencies , I ascribe to the Wisdom of God in the first Fabrick of the Universe ; which He so admirably contrived , that , if He but continue his ordinary and general concourse , there will be no necessity of extraordinary interpositions , which may reduce him , to seem as it were to Play After-Games ; all those Exigencies , upon whose account Philosophers and Physicians seem to have devis'd what they call Nature , being foreseen and provided for in the first Fabrick of the World ; so that meer Matter , so ordered , shall in such and such Conjunctures of Circumstances , do all that Philosophers ascribe on such occasions to their almost Omniscient Nature , without any knowledg of what it does , or acting otherwise than according to the Catholick Laws of Motion . And methinks the difference betwixt their Opinion of God's Agency in the World , and that which I would propose , may be somewhat adumbrated , by saying , That they seem to imagine the World to be after the nature of a Puppet , whose Contrivance indeed may be very Artificial , but yet is such , that almost every particular motion the Artificer is fain ( by drawing sometimes one Wire or String , sometimes another ) to guide , and oftentimes over-rule , the Actions of the Engine ; whereas , according to us , 't is like a rare Clock , such as may be that at Strasbourg , where all things are so skilfully contriv'd , that the Engine being once set a Moving , all things proceed according to the Artificers first design , and the Motions of the little Statues , that at such hours perform these or those things , do not require , like those of Puppets , the peculiar interposing of the Artificer , or any Intelligent Agent imployed by him , but perform their functions upon particular occasions , by vertue of the General and Primitive Contrivance of the whole Engine . The Modern Aristotelians and other Philosophers would not be tax'd as injurious to Providence , though they now ascribe to the ordinary course of Nature , those regular Motions of the Planets , that Aristotle and most of his Followers ( and among them the Christian School-men ) did formerly ascribe to the particular guidance of Intelligent and Immaterial Beings , which they assign'd to be the Movers of the Coelestial Orbs. And when I consider , how many things , that seem Anomalies to us , do frequently enough happen in the World , I think it is more consonant to the respect we owe to Divine Providence , to conceive , that as God is a most free , as well as a most wise Agent , and may in many Things have ends unknown to us : He very well foresaw , and thought fit , that such seeming Anomalies should come to pass , since he made them ( as is evident in the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon ) the Genuine consequences of the Order , He was pleas'd to settle in the World ; by whose Laws the Grand Agents in the Universe were impower'd and determin'd , to act according to the respective Natures he had given them ; and the course of things was allowed to run on , though that would infer the happening of seeming Anomalies , and things really repugnant to the Good or Welfare of divers particular Portions of the Universe . This , I say , I think to be a Notion more respectful to Divine Providence , than to imagine , as we commonly do , that God has appointed an Intelligent and Powerful Being , called Nature , to be as his Vice-gerent , continually watchful for the good of the Universe in general , and of the particular Bodies that compose it ; whilst in the mean time , this Being appears not to have the skill , or the power , to prevent such Anomalies , which oftentimes prove destructive to multitudes of Animals , and other Noble Creatures , ( as in Plagues , &c. ) and sometimes prejudicial to greater Portions of the Universe , ( as in Earth-quakes of a large spread , Eclipses of the Luminaries , great and lasting Spots on the Sun , Eruptions of Vulcan , great Comets or new Stars that pass from one Region of Heaven to another . ) And I am the more tender of admitting such a Lieutenant to Divine Providence , as Nature is fancied to be , because I shall hereafter give you some Instances , in which it seems , that , if there were such a thing , she must be said to act too blindly and impotently , to discharge well the Part she is said to be trusted with .

I shall add , that the Doctrine , I plead for , does much better than its Rival comply with what Religion teaches us , about the extraordinary and supernatural Interpositions of Divine Providence . For when it pleases God to over-rule , or controul , the establish'd course of things in the World , by his own Omnipotent Hand , what is thus perform'd may be much easier discern'd and acknowledg'd to be miraculous , by them that admit , in the ordinary course of Corporeal Things , nothing but Matter and Motion , whose Powers Men may well judg of ; than by those who think there is besides , a certain Semi-Deity , which they call Nature , whose Skill and Power they acknowledg to be exceeding great , and yet have no sure way of estimating how great they are , and how far they may extend . And give me leave to take notice to you , on this occasion , that I observe the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles , pleaded by Christians on the behalf of their Religion , to have been very differingly look'd on by Epicurean and other Corpuscularian Infidels , and by those other Unbelievers who admit of a Soul of the World , or Spirits in the Stars , or , in a word , think the Universe to be Governed by Intellectual Beings , distinct from the Supream Being we call God . For this later sort of Infidels have often admitted those matters of Fact , which we Christians call Miracles ; and yet have endeavour'd to solve them by Astral Operations , and other Ways not here to be specified : Whereas the Epicureàn Enemies of Christianity have thought themselves oblig'd , resolutely to deny the matters of Fact themselves ; as well discerning , that the things , said to be perform'd , exceeded the Mechanical Powers of Matter and Motion , ( as they were managed by those , that wrought the Miracles , ) and consequently must either be deny'd to have been done , or be confess'd to have been truly Miraculous .

But there may hereafter be occasion , See the III , the IV , and also the last Section of this Treatise . both to improve the things already said , and add others , to satisfie Theological scruples about our Hypothesis .

I formerly told you , that 't was not only to the Glory of God , ( as that results from his Wisdom , Power , an● Goodness , express'd in the World ) that I suspected the Notion of Nature , that I am examining , to be prejudicial , but also to the Discovery of his Works . And you will make no great difficulty to believe me , if you consider , that , whilst Men allow themselves so general and easie a way , or rendring accounts of things that are difficult , as to attribute them to Nature ; shame will not reduce them to a more industrious scrutiny into the Reasons of Things , and curiosity itself will move them to it the more faintly : Of which we have a clear and eminent Example , in the Ascension of Water in Pumps , and in other Phaenomena's of that kind , whose true Physical Causes had never been found out , if the Moderns had acquiesced , as their Predecessors did , in that imaginary one , that the World was Govern'd by a Watchful Being , call'd Nature , and that she abhors a vacuum , and consequently is still in a readiness , to do irresistibly whatever is necessary to prevent it : Nor must we expect any great Progress , in the discovery of the true Causes of natural Effects , whilst we are content to sit down with other , than the particular and immediate ones .

'T is not that I deny , that there are divers things , as the number and situation of the Stars , the shapes and sizes of Animals , &c. About which , even a Philosopher being ask'd can say little , but that it pleased the Author of the Universe to make them so ; but when we give such general Answers , we pretend not to give the particular Physical Reasons of the things propos'd , but do in effect confess we do not know them . To this I add , that the veneration , wherewith Men are imbued for what they call Nature , has been a discouraging impediment to the Empire of Man over the inferior Creatures of God . For many have not only look'd upon it , as an impossible thing to compass , but as something of impious to attempt , the removing of those Boundaries which Nature seems to have put and setled among her Productions . And whilst they look upon her as such a venerable thing , some make a kind of scruple of Conscience , to endeavour so to emulate any of her Works , as to excel them .

I have staid so long , about removing the first of the two scruples I formerly propos'd against my present attempt , that , not to tire your Patience , I shall in few words dispatch the second , which is , That I venture to contradict the sense of the generality of Mankind : To which I answer , That in Philosophical Inquiries , it becomes not a Naturalist to be so solicitous , what has been , or is believ'd , as what ought to be so ; and I have also elsewhere , on another occasion , shew'd , how little the sense of the generality of Men , ought to sway us in some Questions : But that which I shall at present more directly reply , is , First , That 't is no wonder , Men should be generally prepossest with such a Notion of Nature , as I call in question , since Education ( especially in the Schools ) has imbued them with it from their Infancy , and even in their maturer years they find it taken for granted , and imployed not only by the Most but by the Learnedst Writers , and never hear it call'd in question by any ; and then it exceedingly complies with our Innate Propensity , to think that we know more than we do , and to appear to do so . For to vouch Nature for a Cause , is an Expedient , that can scarce be wanting to any Man , upon any occasion , to seem to know what he can indeed render no good reason of .

And to this first part of my Answer , I shall subjoin this second . That the general custom of Mankind , to talk of a Thing as a real and positive Being , and attribute great matters to it , does but little weigh with me ; when I consider , that , though Fortune be not any Physical thing , but a certain loose & undetermin'd Notion , which a Modern Meta-Physician would refer to the Classis of his non Entia , yet not only the Gentiles made it a Goddess , ( Nos te facimus , Fortuna , Deam , Coeloque locamus , ) which many of them seriously Worship'd , but eminent Writers , in Verse and in Prose , Ethnick and Christian , Ancient and Modern , and all sorts of Men , in their common Discourse do seriously talk of It , as if it were a kind of Antichrist , that usurped a great share in the Government of the World ; and ascribe little less to It , than they do to Nature . And not to speak of what Poets , Moralists and Divines tell us of the Powers of Ignorance and Vice , which are but Moral defects : Let us consider what things are not only by these Men , but by the generality of Mankind seriously attributed to Death , to which so great and fatal a Dominion is assign'd ; and then if we consider too , that this Death , which is said to do so many and such wonderful things , is neither a Substance , nor a Positive Entity , but a meer Privation ; we shall , I trust , the less believe , that the Feats ascribed to Nature do infer , that there is really such a Physical Agent as is suppos'd .

And now having , as I presume , clear'd our Enquiry , as far as 't is yet necessary , [ and 't will be further done hereafter ] from those Prejudices , that might make the Attempt be censur'd before it be examin'd , I proceed to the Inquiry it self ; wherein I shall endeavour ( but with the brevity my want of leisure exacts ) to do these six things . First , To give you a short account of the great Ambiguity of the word Nature , arising from its various acceptions . Secondly , To shew you , that the Definition also , that Aristotle himself gives of Nature , does not afford a clear or satisfactory Notion of it . Thirdly , To gather from the several things , that are wont to be affirmed of , or attributed to , Nature , the received Notion of it , which cannot be well gathered from the Name , because of its great ambiguity . Fourthly , I will mention some of those Reasons , that dissuade me from admitting this Notion of Nature . Fifthly , I shall endeavour to answer severally the chief things , upon which Men seem to have taken up the Idea of Nature , that I disallow . And , Sixthly , I shall propose some of the chief Effata or Axioms , that are wont to be made use of , concerning Nature in general , and shall shew , how far , and in what sense I may admit them .

And here it may be opportune , to prevent both mistakes and the necessity of interrupting the Series of our Discourse , to set down two or three Advertisements .