wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted, and

Chap. Tin the Divine ArchiteSionical Art, 159other of thefe two things muft needs be acknowledged, that either the vegetativeor plaftick power of the foul, by which it fabricates and organizes itsown body, is more excellent and divine than the rational ; or eife, in nattira Harv. deoperibm neque prudentiam nee intelleElum inejfe, fed ita folum videri conceptui ^'"^ ^"'mal,nojiro, qui fecundum aries noftras & facultaies, feu exemplaria a nobifmetipfis ''^'mutuata, de rebus nature divinis judicamus ; quaji principia nature aiiivaeffe£iu5 fuos eo nwdo producerent, quo nos opera nofira artifidalia folemus : Thatin the works of nature there is neither prudence nor underflanding^ but only itfeems fo to our apprehenjions, who judge of thefe divine things of nature accordingto our own arts and faculties, and patterns borrswcd froyn ourfelves ;as if the aStive principles of nature did produce their effeSfs in the fame rnantieras we do our artificial works. Wherefore we conclude, agreeably to thefenfe of the befl: philofophtrs, both ancient and modern, that nature is fucha thing, as though it aft artificially, and for the fake of ends, yet it dothbut ape and mimick the divine art and wifdom, itfelf not underftandingthofe ends which it ads for, nor the reafon of what it doth in order tothem ; for which caufe alfo it is not capable of confulcation or deliberation,nor can it &Q. eleflively, or with difcretion,13. Bat becaufe this may feem ftrange at the firft fight, that nature fh'ouldbe faid to aft fWa tk, for the fake of ends, and regularly or artificially,and yet be itfelf devoid of knowledge and underftanding, we fhall thereforeendeavsur to perfuade the poffibility, and facilitate the belief of it, byfome other inftances ; and firft by that of habits, particularly thofe muficalones of finging, playing upon inftruments, and dancing. Which habitsdireft every motion of the hand, voice, and body, and prompt them readily,without any deliberation or ftudied confideration, what the next followingnote or motion ftiould be. If you jog a fleeping mufician, and:fing but the firft words of a fong to him, which he had cither himfelf compofed,or learnt before, he will prefently take it from you, and that perhapsbefore he is thoroughly awake, going on with it, and finging out theremainder of the whole fong to the end. Thus the fingers of an exercifedlatonift, and the legs and whole body of a fkilful dancer, are direfted tomove regularly and orderly, in a long train and feries of motions, by thofe.artificial habits in them, which do not themfelves at all comprehend thofelaws and rules of mufick or harmony, by which they are governed. Sothat the fame thing may be faid of thefe habits, which was faid before ofnature, that they do not know, but only do. And thus we fee there is noreafon, why this plaftick nature (which is fuppofed to move body regularlyand artificially) ftiould be thought to be an abfolute impoflibility, fincehabits do, in like manner, gradually evolve themfelves in a long train orferies of regular and artificial motions, readily prompting the doing of them,without comprehending that art and reafon, by which they are direfted.The forementioned philofopher illuftrates the feminary reafon and plafticknature of the univerfe, by this very inftance : r\ TOimv hi^yaa. a\n^)