Set-m. LXXXIII. in tide Crccl.ion f the Wora 62 z. Select the choiceft piece of it, Min, who is the to and perfection Of this Vifible World. What is faid of the Elephant, orBehemath, lob 40. 19. in refped of the vaft bignefs and firength of his Body, is only abfolutely true of Man, that he is divini opifrcü Caput, the chief of the ways of God, andupon Earth there is none like him. Man is Munch atriufque nexus, the band of both Worlds, as Scaliger calk him, is whom the world of Bodies, and the Worldof Spirits do meet, and unite; for in refped to his Body, he is related to this vifible World, and is of the Earth; but in refpeót of hisSoul, he is allied to Heaven, and defcended from above. WI have looked above us, and beneath us, and about us, upon the feveral ieprefen- tations of God's Wifdom, and the feveral parts of the Creation ; but we have not yet confider'd the beft piece of the vifible World, which we may fpeak of, without flattery of our felves, and to the praife of our Malter. God, when he had made the World, he made man after his own image. When he had finned the other part of the Creation, he was pleated to fet up this Piéture of himfelf in it, as a Memorial of the Workman. Now we (hall a little more particularly eonfider this piece of God's Workmanfltip, being it is better known and more familiar to us, as it is more excellent than the reft, and confequently a higher inftance of the Divine Wifdom. It is obferved by fome, that concerning the parts of the Creation, God fpeaks the word, let there de light, and let there be a firmament, and there was fo : hut when he comes to make Man, be doth, as it were, deliberate, and enter into confultation about him ; AndGod fail, let as make man in our image, after our likenefs ; and let him have dominion, Gen. a. 2.6. as if Man, above all the reft, were the Effeét andRefult of Divine Wifdom, and the Creature of his Counfel. Man may be confider'd either in himfelf, and in refpeét Of the Parts of which he confifts, Soul and Body ; or with relation to the Univerfe, and other parts of the Creation. r. Confider him in himfelf, as compounded of Soul and Body. Confider Man in his outward and worfe part, and you (hall find that to be admirable, even to áflonifhment ; in ref-pea of which, the Pfalmift cries out, Pfal. x39. r 4. I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works, andthat my foul knoweth right well. The frame of our Bodies is fo curioufly wrought, and every part of it fo full of Miracle, that Galen (who was otherwife backward enough to the Belief of a God) when he had anatomized Man's Body, and carefully furvey'd the frame of it, viewed the fitnefs and ufefulnefs of every part of it, arid the many feveral intentions of every little Vein, and Bone, and Mufcle, and the beauty of the whole ; he fell into a pang of Devotion, and wrote a Hytnn to his Creator. And thofe excellent Books of his, de :flit partium, of the ufefulnefsand convenient contrivance of every part of theBody, are a molt exaét demonfiration of the Divine Wifdom, which appears in the make of our Body, of which Books, GaJTendus faith, the whole Work is writ with a kind of Enthufiafm. The Wifdom of God, in the frame of our Bodies, very much appears by a curious confiders - tion of the feveral parts of it ; but that requiring a very accurate skill in Anato- my, I chufe rather wholly to forbear it, than by my unskilfulnefs to be injurious to the Divine Wifdom. But this domicilium rorparis, this Houfe of our Body, tho' it be indeed a curious piece ; yet it is nothing to the noble Inhabitant that dwells in it. This Cabinet, tho' it be exquifitively wrought, and very rich ; yet it comes infinitely fliort ire value of the yewel that is hid and laid up in it. Howdoes the glorious faculty of Reafon and Underftanding exalt us above the refit of the Creatures ! Nature bath not made that particular provifion for Man, which it bath made for other Creatures, becaufe it bathprovided for him in general, in giving him a Mind and Reafon. Man is not born clothed, nor armed with any confiderable Weapon for defence ; but he bath Reafon and Underftanding to provide thefe things for him- felf ; and this alone excels all the advantages of other Creatures ; he can keep himfelf warmer and fifer, he can forefee Dangers and provide againfi-them ; he can provide Weapons that are better thanHorns, and Teeth, and Pads, and by the advantage of his Reafon, is too hard for all other Creatures, and can defend hivaelf ago na their Violence. L I 1 1 If
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