REMARKS On the NEW PHILOSOPHY OF DESCARTES. In Four PARTS. 

I. Of the Principles of Humane Knowledge.  
II. Of the Principles of Material Things.  
III. Of the Principles, as they relate to the Visible World.  
iv Of the Principles of the Earth.    
Done by a Gentleman.  
— Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere Causas.  Virgil. 
LONDON: Printed by J. Gardyner, and Sold by Richard Ellison, in the Pall-Mall, near St. James' House, M DC C.   

THE AUTHOR'S EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO HIS Royal Highness THE PRINCE OF DENMARK.  
PRINCE'S, Great Sir, of superlative Esteem have to their Glory promoted the Excellencies of Science, and are accordingly conspicuous in Records of Fame: If they have been Illustrious in their sphere, the Court; they have not judged themselves greater under a Canopy of State, than when their Grandeur has Flourished, with the Encouragement and Growth of the Arts of Knowledge.  
And tho' Princes, as to the conduct of their Affairs, may by their Prudence select their proper Ministers, and Courtly observance of such on whom they confer the Grace of Officiary Dignities: 'Tis not to be denied, That Science, without other Courtship than its own Merit; aught to be an especial Favourite of the Soul, and chief so valued by the most Eminent of Men.  
A Motive of such high Importance, that it caused the Great Alexander to declare, That he had rather be a Prince of Science, than Commander of the vast Dominions Possessed by him: And doubtless, he in great part, made good the Expression, both as to his own Abilities, and the Improvements he received from his Tutor Aristotle; whose Learned Works had never been so far diffused in the World, had they not been encouraged and assisted by the Countenance and Power of his famous Pupil.  
The next great Example was Julius Caesar, who is mentioned, by Plutarch, as a Parallel in Valour and Warlike Conquest's to the Mighty Alexander; but far surpassing the conduct of his Arms and Counsels of State, as to the perpetual Memorial of his Glory and Erudite Accomplishments; Men famous in Mathematical Science were Authorised by him, to amend the then Erroneous computation of the Sun's Annual Revolution; to which at this Day, in the Julian Year, we own our Calendar, and the Month of July dedicated to his everlasting Renown, in the Year that was Rectified by his Imperial Command: A work transcending the greatest of his Earthly Fame, as to the height of the Sun, the Sovereign of Light, his Name is exalted in Story.  
If the Great Julius Caesar from his Sovereign Dignity and vast Ingenuity of Mind, was signally accomplished to patronise so sublime a Performance; what could recompense the Deserts of such famous Persons, who were his subservient Assistants, or as it were the Ministers of Heaven, in order to give the Sun's Ecliptic Year a renovated Conduct and Glory: Of which Persons Sosigenes, a Mathematician of Egypt is chief mentioned.  
But were his Astronomical Abilities compared with admired Tycho, who was of Noble Extraction in the same Nation where the many great Predecessors of your Royal Highness had Dominion and Birth; 'tis not to be doubted that the accurate Skill and Observations of Tycho the Dane had exceeded Sosigenes the Egyptian: And possibly, had he been consulted, might have furnished the World with a more perfect Computation of the Year, than is, either the Julian or Gregorian Account. His admirable Skill, Vigilancy and Experience, employed Twenty Years in Astronomical Science, did in a manner Crown his vast Endeavours: There being no Observations, at this Day, that can compare with those made by unparallelled Tycho.  
And 'tis not improbable, amongst his Astrological Predictions, were they known to us, that he signally Presaged the happy Alliance of Your Royal Highness both to the Danish and English Throne: And how, in future Time, you would be no less a Favourer and Promoter of the Excellencies of Mathematical Learning, than any of Your Monarchial Predecessors.  
Nor can the extraordinary Dignity be unknown to Your Royal Highness, by which that Science does, beyond all others, advance the Elevation of the Eyes and Heart, in order to the Divine Contemplation of the wonderful Movements and Being's of the Celestial Orbs, however far distant from us.  
If the Sun Revolves in his Diurnal Circumference more than Sixteen Millions of English Miles; to what admirable, tho' less proportion, does then amount the Period he makes in every Hour, and Minute of Time.  
Insomuch, that it may be Affirmed, that by Astronomical Calculations in a high Measure, we are Divinely taught to be more perspicuous Admirers of the Heavenly Works and Conduct of the Almighty, than otherwise could be discerned by us: Which wonderful Movements of the Sun, Planets and Stars, together with the Benignities of Heaven incident to their Illuminations, Causes and Effects, are, to our Admiration, with such a stupendious Facility Disposed, and Ordained above; that it can be attributed to no other Original, than the Operations of Incomprehensible Providence.  
But of what Substance, and Manner of Existence, the Celestial Luminaries, together with the Incommensurable Orbs, Height and Distances in which they Revolve, may be defined; are Thoughts that have been the inextricable Astonishment of Learned Pens, as they have been posed to determine the Nature of their Essence and other Proprieties.  
Notwithstanding, it appears, That by Writers of Refined Judgements, the Sun, Moon, and Stars, with whatsoever may be denominated the Orbs above; are deemed, in a manner, by them either spiritual Appearances, or equivalently such, for want of other extrordinary Epithet, or Definement suitable to the Nature of their Essence and Motion; by reason that their Substance does not admit any visible Change, or Alteration in them: Which would be perceptible, were they not essentially distinct from all Elementary Compositions.  
These Instances in brief, I thought fit to present to Your Royal Highness, as preparatory to Your Inspection of such Particulars as I have Written in this Book, on the Philosophy, and Mathematical Passages Inscribed by Des-Cartes: Which are Humbly Dedicated to the perusal of Your Royal Highness, by  
Your Most Dutiful Humble Servant, ED. HOWARD.   

THE PREFACE TO THE READER.  
THE Dignity of Philosophical Science, has always been Celebrated by the most Eminent of Men in all its Capacities: For as Men, are endued by the Gifts of the Mind, above all other Animated Creatures; Philosophy does by its Excellency highly advance the useful Speculations and Comprehension of one Man superior to another. If Princes, or Supreme Magistrates; it wonderfully Improves the Conduct and Prudence of their Rule, and fits their subordinate Ministers with such signal Qualifications as naturally lenify the course Ignorance of vulgar Men, and Attract their Obedience. Tho' Iron be a harsh and rugged Metal, the Loadstone can affectedly draw it: And doubtless Philosophical Knowledge, when duly Communicated, has a more complete and genuine Sympathy on the Souls of Men; as it usefully displays the benign and facile Conduct of Providence, in disposing the Government and Contexture of the Universe, with its admired Appurtenances: In which may be observed such a perspicuous and endeared compliance to Order and Rule, that Nature seems but an Empress of Philosophical Science, as she Ordains, by Causes and Effects, the Obedience of her numberless Subjects.  
From whose great Example may well be supposed, That the Wise and Learned of Men Instituted Civil and Doctrinal Societies, as the most natural Directors and Conservators of Humane Being.  
Nor can the total World be more aptly denominated than the vast Presence-Chamber of Nature; in which, by a general admittance to the Eyes of Mankind, may be perceived her outward Ornaments of State and Greatness: But in that mighty Room she is most significantly attended by the Nobless in Knowledge, who clearest discern Philosophical Grandeur; and especially how, and where it is most requisitely Eminent when wedded to Mathematical Science the Queen of Truth: Without which Solemnity, it is impossible to celebrate Nature, or Providence, the sublime Disposer of her wonderful Operations, demonstrably admirable; and consequently that the Hours of Time, by which we subsist, together with its commodious Seasons, could not, otherwise be computed by us: Whereas, contrarily, ungracious Ignorance, as also heedless neglect and contempt of Science, are usually such Concomitants as chief proceed from customary Sloth and illiterate Modes of Conversation; even in Persons of superior Degree, who should be, to the exalting of the Dignity of their Souls, leading Examples and especial Incouragers of such Parts of Knowledge, as might Embellish their Esteem, and Patronise the Endeavours of others: But too many of these, however big in Looks, Estate, and Interest, and accordingly their outward Mien and Appearance; cannot but inwardly Blush, if deeply considered by them, how diminitively they are Ensouled, if compared with the Intellectuals of many of their Inferiors; or as if they were Born merely to Enjoy the Affluence and Pleasures of Life, without recompensing their value, by fitting of their Understandings in order to a due Intelligence of the Causes and Bounties of Nature, from whence they proceed.  
If the Titles that such Men have to their external Grandeur, Quality, or Estate, were questioned or debased, they would doubtless resent it accordingly; if not hold themselves obliged to clear their Repute and Interest, in all those Considrations.  
But were they required to make Out their Claims to Polite Literature, they could not but Concede, That there are more Knights of St. George than Honourers of Science.  
Nor can it be denied, That whensoever the Eminencies of Science are not commendably Patronised, the Inconvenience must necessarily arise from the too frequent Depravitiess of Conversation and Manners that to cover Foppish, or Debauched Ignorance, would disguise the want of Apprehension by endeavouring to Ridicule Knowledge by absurd and licentious Railleries'.  
Not that it is to be expected, that all Persons of Dignity, or such as are advanced to Degrees of Trust, or Magistracy in the Nation; should be all Proficients in Philosophical and Mathematical Erudition: Thou more advantageous and usefully becoming, in them, relating to their National Affairs and Stations, on whatsoever account; than to others of inferior concernment and manner of Life. Wherefore, 'tis very conducing both to the Service of the Public, and lasting Applause and Fame of such Persons; if they are not Scientifically capacitated, or their Abilities otherwise employed, that they would be Renowned Incouragers of Learning, together with convenient Bounty; by which means such Persons might be supported in Schools, and Places set apart for that purpose, that are sufficiently accomplished to Instruct others in the beforementioned Sciences: Which in a short time might exalt the Academical Fame of England to a Second Athens.  
How many Petitions have contitinually been presented to the Royal Magistrate, and favoured by Persons of nearest Access to the Throne, that tend to private Advantages and Exaltatious to Stations of Superiority and Profit; but amongst all these Addresses, few to be observed, that would advance the public Honour and Emoluments, that deservedly appertain to the Advancement of the Skill, and Arts of Knowledge? Which is no small reason, that the most considerable Parts and Exercise of Humane Understanding are so thinly discerned, or too commonly decayed amongst us.  
If Scientifical Abilities have a cursory deference and value, from some Persons who are not Learned enough to prove their Esteem of Performances of excellent Importance; the Applause that it receives from not a few of them, is no better than the bare Encomium of Virtue: Which caused the Pcet Juvenal to reflect on the unworthy of his Time, when he says, that— robitas laudatur et alget: As if Men were obliged to Improve the Knowledge of Others, at the Cost of their Diligence; or enough rewarded, if not Voted down by the Ignorant: Which cold regard, or at best, but a lukewarm respect to Science; is no small Cause, that many of our youthful Nobility and Gentry so rawly return from Academies and Tutors: From whence it afterwards proceeds, that they far more incapably enter upon the Service of the Nation, at Land, or Sea, than otherwise they might: And for no other Reason, than because Philosophical and Mathematical Excellencies are not more familiarly Taught and Practised.  
'Twere too much, in this Place, to recount the many commodious Applications and Uses of those Sciences, in reference to Public and Private Affairs: Which are, on divers Accounts, so very considerable, as they might deserve the diligence of a Learned Pen, to enumerate their Conjoined value; by which the Causes, Effects, Motions, and Operations of Nature would be more experimentally and certainly understood.  
And what ought more sublimely to be considered, the continued Blessings of Providence, in their most natural Methods, bestowed on Mankind, would be without Philosophical and Mathematical Knowledge, insensibly perceived, if not supinely inadverted by us. And tho' the Sun's Times faithful Accountant, together with the Moon and Stars, in their outward appearance, invite the Wonder of our Eyes; and what is far more incomprehensible, the manner of their Existencies and diversified Progressions in their Orbs above: Yet in none of these supreme Considerations, could they be rationally admired, however vast their Distance from us; did not Science exalt our Intellects to such approximate and necessary Computations, as render them, tho' no farther apprehended by us, the effectual Supporters of our Worldly Being's  
And if a Catechism were pertinently Compiled of the Works of the Omnipotent, joined to that of his Holy Word, and duly explained by National Authority: It might assure a more palpable Conviction, even to obstinate Opposers, that God does Exist, than can be deduced from the simplicity of mere Belief, howsoever conveyed.  
Nothing being so demonstrably evident, to Humane Comprehension, as what is apparently manifest to the Eye and Senses; to which purpose, the Divine Application of the undeniable Assurance and Proof to be attained by the Sciences precedently mentioned, would undoubtedly incline the most prudent of Men devoutly to acquiesce, and profligate from their Souls, the too common inconsiderate Tenants, and Atheism of others: As also, to their superlative Glory, conspicuously distinguished from such numbers of Mankind, that no farther employ their Understandings, than by Indulging the sensual Satisfactions and Pleasures of Life: Amongst whom, may be found such an impious sort of Men, that to Varnish their evil Examples, and stains of Manners, would seem refined under the Name of Wits: And thereby arrogate to themselves an Arbitrary Decision, or neglect of whatsoever they please to disallow, or is above their Capacities to value: And these, for the greatest part, are antipathized to all polite Science; or determine it, as a Point resolved by them, far inferior to their lose Drolleries, Lampoons, scurrilous Reflections, and Abuses impudently pointed against the ingenious Desert, and Performances of others; as on the Feet of their ignominious Verse, they run in the Nation.  
And strange it is, that such ungracious Associators should not only have their ordinary Countenancers and Abetters; but also their Leaders, Men of Title, who, as their Captains-general, command their undisciplined Lists: As if by their endeav urs, Ignorance, and contempt of Knowledge, might be no less prevalent, than when the barbarous Goths and Vandals demolished Records of precedent Literature.  
But, Heaven be thanked, the present Age does yet abound with such laudable Ingenuities and Patrons of Erudition, as enough defeat the Malice and Ignorance of illiterate Opposers: The only remaining means, and strong reserve, by which the value of Philosophy, with all its Accomplishments, may receive suitable Acceptance and Protection.  
To which worthy Personages, next to his Royal Highness the Prince of Denmark, together with such of eminent Quality, who have Encouraged the Impression, is chief presented the considerable Importance of this Book: Not doubting, that it may be inspected, by a Judicious Eye, no less valuable in English, where it dissents from Des-Cartes, than his did receive Applause when published with the best of his Eloquence and Reasons, in French, or Latin.  
Notwithstanding 'tis very observable, That some fantastical Judgements no less propensely value French Authors than the reception they give to the Mode of clothes that are devised by Tailors at Paris.  
But as to the Productions of the Mind, by advancement of Science, 'tis palyably known, That the most Learned and Accurate Productions and Inventions of the French have not been only Equalled but Improved by English Writers: To which purpose, I will, instead of many, Insert a few Examples.  
Vieta, who is acknowledged the first Author of the commodious Use of literal Algebra, had he lived contemporary with our English Harriot, must have granted, That the most curious Part, or in which consists the main Secret of that profound Science, was discovered and completed by him. And so well perceived by Des-Cartes, that he, in the manner of a Plagiary derives the most exquisite Part of his Algebraical Skill and Process, from our Learned Harriot: And so published to the World, in the History of Algebra eruditely compiled by Dr. Wallis.  
To Harriot may be added our famous Oughtred, whose deep Mathematical Knowledge and Perfection of Theorems, was never exceeded by any French Writer.  
In the Judgement of Vieta, it was thought impossible, by knowing the simple Anomaly of the Sun, or Planets, Geometrically to find the Equated; the contrary of which is evidently proved by the Learned Bp. Seth Ward in his Book Entitled Astronomia Geometrica.  
If the Ingenious Peter Ramus was the first Deviser of the Analysis in Numbers of the Cubick Root; the Operation is much facilitated by the accurate Invention of Mr. Joseph Raphson, in his Converging Series, to his praise now extant.  
And what yet more superlatively Exceeds to the Honour of this Island, both Ancient and Modern Inventions; is admirably evident in the Structure of Logarithms Compiled by the famous Lord Napier: By which the former Difficulties of Mathematical Computations, in every kind, are totally waved; and in their stead facile Calculations by Logarithms, resolved with ease and delight. If Philosophically compared French Authors with English; or instead of more, Des-Cartes be mentioned, according to the Esteem allowed him by some Persons: The Works of our Incomparable Bacon may be Instanced as an experimental Confutation of the Failings of the other; with no less assurance, than that probable Truth condemns Fiction: Nothing being more gracious in a Philosopher, than a natural discovery of Causes and Effects: Or indeed, when the Parts of a Naturalist and Philosopher are duly joined: Which actually elevated the admirable Reputation allowed to the Georgics of Virgil; because in them he manifestly discloses the Effects and Operations of Nature, obviously agreeable to common Observation: And I cannot liken any Works more eminently to the excellency of his, than the natural manner of Philosophy delivered by unparallelled Bacon.  
Whereas, if we confide on the Principles of Des-Cartes, we must rely on fictitious Inventions, instead of warantable Experience; as will appear by the ensuing Remarks on the Parts I Treat of.  
No Man can doubt, that any Thing is more requisite, or deservedly commendable, than the Endeavours whereby to fathom such Depths of Science, as pertinently contribute to the profoundest Search and Satisfaction of the Humane Mind: Amongst which, none are more considerable than such as most Emphatically conduce to the Apprehending the wonderful Manner by which the animated Being and Life, with all their Proprieties, exist in the Body of Man.  
And what Parts of Contemplation, or refined Literature, can so naturally enbellish the Intellect, as the rational discernment of the Being of the Humane Soul; and how it operatively conspires with its Corporeal Residence? The understanding of which, if sufficiently acquired, may be deemed the Quintessence, or Soul of Philosophical Knowledge; as it instructs us to comprehend the Nature of the Soul, that appertains to our Persons.  
Many are the Opinions of Philosophers, not necessary to be mentioned here, by which they differ not more from themselves than Des-Cartes does from all of them, concerning the Manner of Existence and operating of the Soul in the Humane Body: The main of whose Tenent, or Idea, as he calls it, is, That the Humane Mind being a Thinking Substance, committed to the Body, by God, may sensibly apprehend Objects, without the use of the Senses, or being precedently entertained by them: By which Opinion of his he opposes common Experience, together with that noted Philosophical Axiom, That nothing is in the Intellect, which was not first in the Senses.  
If a Man becomes accidentally Blind, there is not therefore with the loss of his Sight any such Curtain drawn before his Imagination, that totally obscures the Memorial of Things formerly impressed on his Intellect by the Senses. So that the Maxim of Des-Cartes is far more Blind, than a sightless Man; as he states his Inference: ' Tho' upon this obscure Principle he erects the main Foundation of the first Part of his Philosophy, as it relates to Humane Cognition.  
Notwithstanding, he is so fond of the New-fashioned Ideas and Notions which he there not a little magnifies, that he exposes them, (as he finds occasion) to the view of his Reader in other Parts of his Works, besides those I have to do with; witness the Fourth Particular of the First Chapter of his Dioptrics, or of Light and the manner of Vision by the Telescope, where he has this unintelligible Expression: If we consider, says he, the distinction that a Man Blind, from his Nativity, can make betwixt the Colour of Trees, Water, Stones, and the like, merely by the use and touch of the Staff he walks with; no less certainly, than seeing Men can discern Red, Yellow, or Blue, in any visible Object; although their differences could be no other, in such Bodies, than diversities of Motion, or the resistance they make to the Blind Man's Staff.  
It has been an undoubted Maxim, That whosoever is Blind, is no judge of Colours: But by the acquaint Philosophy of this Author it seems a resolved Point, That a Man may see without the use of Eyes: So that a sightless Man, who cannot make a safe Step without a Guide, may, if conducted to walk to the end of a Street, declare certainly of what Shape, Figure, or Colour, every Post is that he touches with the Staff that supports him.  
I confess, as I Read this Particular, I expected, that he would have somewhat more exalted the Conceit, by Affirming, That a Blind Man might perfectly inspect through the Glasses of the Telescope, he there Writes of; and next give an account of the Bigness, Diameters, and various appearances of the Stars, colours of the Rainbow, and other Meteors: In Sum, he might have as well Asserted, that the Ear could perform the Office of Seeing, as by feeling it could be executed, in any kind, by a Blind Man's management,  
Nor less unintelligible is the general Definition he gives, in the beforementioned Head, of Colours; which he Terms not other than various Modalities, by which they are received in Objects of Colour. Whereas they are certain Proprieties inseparably appertaining both to animated, and inanimated Bodies; as sure as a Brown Horse is naturally different from a Grey, or Chesnut: And 'twere a weak Imagination, to estimate Colour, otherwise than Nature has appropriated it to particular Subjects: And whosoever would fancy the contrary, let him try, whether he can wash a Blackmoor's Face until it becomes White.  
Another passage he Inserts in the 4th Chapter of his Dioptrics, where he states his. Idea of the Soul, as a distinct Substance separated from the Senses, by supposing, that 'tis the Soul alone, and not the Body, that is sensibly concerned: As he would infer from Ecstasy, or distracted Contemplation; in which Circumstance he conceives, that the Soul is totally abstracted from the Corporeal Parts: Whilst the Body remains stupefied, or bereaved of Sense; no less than when by Wounds, or Diseases, the Brain is prejudiced.  
But could be Think, that in any such disturbance of Body and Mind, the Soul does more than live as well as the Body; since, in that condition, 'tis impossible for the Soul to act deliberately, of any Thing, whilst the Senses are disabled, or not assisting her Operations? Yet in this plight of Body and Mind, he is very inclinable to determine the Soul, a separate Thinking Substance, but incapable of sensibly executing her Intellectual Faculty; which is much the same, as to allow her, in this Case, a nonsensical Existence; or not able to apprehend any Object without the concurring of the Senses.  
This Objection is undeniably manifest; if pertinently considered the main Potentials, by which are actually effected and completed the essential Capacities of the Life of the Intellect and Senses, as they animatively conspire in the Body of Man:  
For as there are always Extant a sufficient Quantity of the most refined Spirits, or Quintessence naturally extracted from the Corporeal Temperament, and in a wonderful and indiscernible Method diffused into the Cells and Crannies of the Brain; by which means, as the excellent Lord Bacon observes, they are able to Move the whole mass, or weight of the Body, in the most swiftest Operations and Exercise: Yet by no search, or anatomical Inspection are these admirable Particles, or Quintessences of our Nature, at all discernible: Tho' not to be denied, that they consist of quantitative Parts; because nothing but Quantity can operate on quantitative Dimensions, as signified by Humane Composition.  
Wherefore, the wonderful Being and active Force of the material Spirits, or Quintessence of the Corporeal Temper, can have no other apt Epithet, than was given by Democritus to his Notion of Atoms, which he conceived by Reason and Experience to be Things really Existing, but not to be perceived by the Sense of Seeing This Notion well apprehended is more than sufficient to convict the Tenent, of Des-Cartes, whereby he would define the Humane Soul to be a distinct Thinking Substance in the Body of Man, where it has Being, Action and Life; yet discharged, in point of Thought, from the Accomplishment it has in the temperial Excellency that it admirably exerts and partakes; so that, in that Sense, it may be termed the Soul of the Body's temperature.  
If at any time, the Seat of the Intellect in the Brain is perplexed, confused, or detrimentally wounded, or stupefied, the Soul is obstructed for want of its contiguous Passage in the Nerves, Arteries, and Sinews, however subtle the contexture which they derive from the Brain to the Parts of the Body: Which could not be, is the Soul, according to this Author, were in Substance essentially distinct from the most refined Operations and Attributes, that sensibly emerge from the Corporeal Composition. Let a Man Contemplate of any Object, or Employment of his Senses, he shall find, is duly considered, That in the same moment there is a ready Emanation of the Spirits of the Mind, to the same purpose, which are most contiguous to the several Uses, Parts, and Temperatures of the Body; tho' not otherwise Spiritual: Wherefore, the Soul may not be improperly termed equivalently such, as by her imperceptible Essence, She has, in a manner, an ubiquitary Efficacy in the total Body, and every of its Parts and Members.  
If the Souls of all Mankind be committed to Bodies, by God, as so many Thinking Substances; it must necessarily follow, that they all had a precedent Creation; and therefore could lose nothing of their Perfection, until joined to the Body.  
But if according to the Opinion of Some, the Soul is traductionally produced, and born with the Body, as the disparities and temperatures of Men, both in Mind and Person, seem to be exerted, either from Affinity in Blood, or parentally propagated by the Connexion of the Bodily Parts and Senses; it must according to that Tenent, be materially produced.  
Wherefore 'tis far more probable, if the Soul be granted a Thinking Substance united to the Senses, by the Ordainment of the Almighty: Than to allow it, as does Des-Cartes, separately and actively intelligent in the Body of Man.  
Of what kind of Substance this Author would define the Humane Soul, is not Intelligible from any Definition given by him; but as he Affirms it Active and Motional: And therefore consisting, suitably to his Tevent, of quantitative Parts, it must be Elementarily Composed, and consequently Mortal by Nature: By reason that there is no sublunary Substance, that has not a mutable and perishable Being. So that within the Compass of the World, and Course of Providence, there is no Immortal Thing that can be, by Man, apprehended. Which may be naturally Argued from the Doctrine of Des-Cartes, as it relates to the Humane Soul.  
Notwithstanding, to Improve his Philosophical System, I will conclude, That as a Learned Catholic, 'twas granted by him, that the eternalizing of the Humane Soul, however Composed, or operative in the Body of Man, was wholly to be referred to the Decree of the Omnipotent.  
In his Second Part, he grossly defines and mistakes the Nature of Body, by Affirming, That it does not consist, as as one Thing may be said to be more Ponderous, Hard, or distinctly Coloured than another, but as it is differently extended in Length, Breadth and Depth; which is a very incompatible Tenent, or all one as to Assert, That Air, Water, Man and Beast, are not otherwise distinguishable, than as any one of them are heavier, or less than another; tho' absolutely bereaved of their other Proprieties: Which shows, That there is neither Head, or Tail, in the Shape of his Treatise, on this Subject.  
In his Third Part, amongst divers of his questionable Positions and Phaenomena's, which I conceive are considerably taxed by me, he does in a high degree, essentially debase the conspicuous Sphere of Glory and Light visibly beheld in the wonderful appearance of the Sun; which according to his Definition, is no other than a flaming Substance that flashingly Moves continually from one place to another within its Circumference; but with such resemblance to our common Fire, that it dissolves whatsoever Matter is contiguous to its Movement: Notwithstanding he would distinguish it from the Notion we have of Fire, as it is said and maintained by consuming of such Materials as are not too hard to be dissolved.  
And is not this a pretty kind of distinction by which he gives a different denomination to the flaming Substance, as be terms it, of the Sun, from the combustible Nature of Tarrestial Fire, tho', in effect, he grants that the Operation is the same in both: There being little difference betwixt Dossolution caused by a flaming Substance, and burning, as Matter may be understood either way altered or consumed.  
The Fuel, on which be conceives the flaming Substance of the Sun, to operate, is no other than, what be calls his first Element, or imaginary material Fund, as be determines, and orders it, of the World's original Being Above and Below; So that by a thorough-paced fiction he Constitutes the Heavens and Earth materially the same.  
And if so, he must grant that their Substance may be equally subject to the variable Alterations generatively, or corruptly understood, no less than Terrestrial Being's; which is contradictory to common Experience: There being no such etherial Changes as are frequently visible in Things Below: Which is an undeniable Argument that the Substance of the Earth could never be derivatively the same with that of the Heavens, or originally so Composed. Of which the Reader may be satisfied, at large, when he Inspects my particular Remarks, that confirm my general Exception, amongst other Things, against the Fourth Part of his Philosophy, where he makes the Earth, as it were, a diminutive Brat engendered by Seeds descending from Skies.  
To be plain, these Parts of his Philosophy, which Include the whole, depend on so many fabulous Phaenomena's and improbable Conjectures, diversely introduced by him, that it is impossible to apprehend any direct Foundation on which he erects the Babel of his Hypothesis in reference to the Heavens and Earth. So that it were prolixly improper, should I load my Preface by discussing of such Particulars that require a more ample Debate in their proper Places.  
It being more suitable to the Nature of a Preface to intimate briefly such Observations as may give the Reader a taste of what he is more largely to consider: Wherefore I shall refer him to my Remarks as in course they are to be Read; where I believe he may find them as pertinently Compendious as my endeavours could accomplish, or perhaps his Ingenuity may expect.  
And for my own Vindication, I can sincerely avow that I discharged, from my perusal of his Tractates, such opinionative Reflections as usually flow from the Pens of opposite Authors: Being so fully prepared both as to the Repute of the Person and the value that I propensly allowed to his great Abilities; That I did, in a manner, not doubt that I should be proselited by his Principles.  
But finding, upon a Mature and thorough Consideration, that his Maxims, in divers Particulars, not only checked with my Understanding, but also against the Proofs that might be adjusted against them: I could not but infer that in a Judicious Conception he was not the same Des Cartes, or Grandee of Knowledge, that had been, by many, attributed to his Character.  
So that I might well pronounce— Quantum mutatus ab illo Hectore. Not that I presume on my Success farther than he contributes to his own Defeat, by intruding such Notions, Ideas, Systems and Existency of Things, that could by no Method of Providence, or Nature, have Being in the World.  
Notwithstanding all which, he confidently assures his Reader that he takes himself to be no Author of Novelties, or Principles disagreeable to the most famous of Ancient Philosophers: Tho' palpably manifest that he neither mentions Plato, Aristotle, or any others of Old, or Modernly Renowned, that he does not sharpen his Pen to Confute: Tho' the Proofs that he offers are as far short of the Validity of many of theirs, as Fiction is from best Probability, or experimental Assurance: As may be seen by some Examples given by me.  
To Conclude, had not these Motives prevailed on my Judgement, and what is more the demonstrative Evidence that I have Instanced from Proof; I had been far more inclinable, as I considered, on many Accounts, the Learned Deserts of this Author, to have annexed to his Esteem my Praise, instead of my Opposition.  
Farewell.   

REMARKS On the First Part of the New PHILOSOPHY OF DESCARTES. Concerning the Principles of HUMANE KNOWLEDGE. PART. I.  
NOTHING is more commendable than the Exercising of the Humane Mind in such requisite Contemplations, as most Effectually conduce to the Improvement of the Understanding in things of special Importance.  
And tho' Man does Exist in a World whose Structure is no less admirable to his Speculation then how he came to have Being in it, or Originally Ensouled above other Creatur's: Yet Nature, is no such Stepdame as not to Communicate, by her Works, such plentiful discoveries to the Rational Faculty as have an ample perspicuity and genuine tendency to Improve our Apprehensions.  
A Treasure of Science that ought to be far more valuable, by the Judicious, than an excess of Worldly Riches that may fill the Coffers of such as are meanly Apprehensive, or ungratefully Inconsiderate of the bounties of Providence that in a Natural Course Replenish the Earth they Possess.  
So that in Effect they are no farther sensible of the Conduct of Nature, in whatsoever they most advantageously Enjoy, than a Man might be of a tale in a Romance that Represents some, above others, Indiscretely Fortunate. How precious should then be considered the deserts of such Persons, who by their Elaborate Endeavours, and Learned Proficiencies so nearly trace the footsteps of Nature, that they render their Knowledge Approximate to her closest Recess: Whose mighty Door is no way so perspicuously opened as by the Key of Philosophical Science, which if duly apprehended, or more regardfully Incumbent on the Souls of Men; it would discountenance not a few, that out of more than necessary respects to their Worldly Interest and concerns of Life, bereave themselves of time and advertency in reference to such common Objects as by Ordainments from above have a present Operation on our Senses: To which purpse more Emphatically in the ensuing Discussions.  
But here it may be observed, that notwithstanding that by the Natural facility of Providence much is conveyed to common Understanding; 'tis not to be concluded from thence, that all are equally discernible: Which, in Effect, were to Affirm, that in the numbers of Men, every Man was alike Intelligent, or no less capable of Philosophical, or Mathematical Literature, than such as are Eruditely famous in both.  
It being very evident, that as some Persons are by Nature Exalted to predominant Accomplishments in order to the Government of Inferiors; so there is an undeniable superintendency conferred on others as being gifted from Above to be Supreme in Science, if their Superiority be Legitimately qualified. But if Arbitrary or Transgressing from genuine and natural probabilities, or methods of certainty, it than degenerat's, in its best Interpretation, to a studied fiction, or artifice of Learned Tyranny; by imposing, at will, on the Judgements of others.  
Nor is it to be admired from the unwary condescensions of Men; that a Person of reputed Capacity should subject their Opinions to the Dictatorship in Science that he is prone to Attribute to himself: Insomuch that the Errors that drop from his Pen, instead of being taxed, find a passable Reception.  
Whether this Reflection is applicable, as too much an opiniator, to the otherwise Ingenious Des-Cartes, I leave to a serious Examination of his Principles by the Reader of what here follows: Which shall contain the main Essentials of this Part of his Works I now treat of; taking due care to deliver the meaning of his Words as plainly in English as they are to be found in the Latin.  
His first considerable Assertion is, That in search of Truth, we may not improperly doubt of the imaginary and sensible Existence of Things: (his reason is) Because the Senses of a Man awake may err, as well as when by Dream he imagines any Thing that never had Being suitable to his Imagination.  
To which may be replied, That notwithstanding that it may be granted, that both waking and dreaming the Fancy may represent Objects that never were truly such; it being very possible, that a Man may contemplate on a Chimaera, a Monster, or the like, that never had Being in the World: But that being done, and the Imagination examined, 'twill be found, that such Particulars had a precedent residence in the Senses; however disorderly or uncouthly the Figures of different Bodies imaginably appearing: For Example, 'tis impossible, otherwise, to imagine a Substance partly composed of Man and Beast, such as the Centauris, or other seeming Mixtures of Creatures which had no other rise than from Poetical Fables: Yet these being substantially represented by the Fancy either waking, or sleeping; the sensitive Part of the Imagination will peremptorily determine, That the different Shapes and Figures of any such Things that the Fancy seems to Unite, had a precedent Residence in the Senses; as their Species had been discernible in Part, or in their whole Shape and Figure: It being no less easy to imagine half a Man, or half a Horse, than it is to conjoin their Proportions by the licence of Fancy as it may Intrigue with our Senses: So that whether this Learned Monsieur were sleeping or waking when he inscribed this Query, 'tis certain, That he declined the sensible Method of his Intellect, as he undertakes to separate the Mind from participating with the Senses: Yet on this improbable Distinction, is grounded much of his subsequent Matter. Who affirms immediately after, That of Things which we sometimes judge most certain, and such as may be properly termed Mathematical Demonstrations, or Principles of themselves manifest, we have afterwards doubted; because, says he, we have observed some such Propositions that have been erroneously delivered.  
But can it be argued from any Mathematical Problem, That whosoever doubts or commits that mistake is not therefore certain of his Senses; which were all one as to assert, That he who is not Mathematically knowing (of which Science too many in the World are ignorant) cannot assure himself, that he is in any other kind sensible. For Illustration, let a Mathematical Line be supposed, and according to the Axiom of Euclid granted to signify length, but no breadth, which may be allowed a very necessary and refined Maxim as being, in a Mathematical Sense, the abstracting of Matter from Lines considered in themselves, that in substance they may not be Part of their Measure: But as a Line is beheld in any kind represented or delineated, it is impossible for the Eye to perceive it in any other capacity, than as it appears to have both Longitude and Latitude; for else it could not be the Object of Sight, which clearly explains the Difference betwixt Geometrical Science and Sense; the one being made evident by the Instructions and Rules of Practice, the other annexed as a Propriety to Nature; by whose assistance a Man may certainly be said to see and feel tho' totally ignorant of any Mathematical Theorem.  
There is nothing more evident, than that every Man is endued with freedom of Will, by the Concession of God, and their natural Compositions, to employ their Senses in the most obvious and certain way of Management; but far from being alike capacitated in the Gifts and Contemplation of the Mind: One may perform whatsoever can be required from his Senses as perfectly as another, notwithstanding there be a vast disparity in their Understandings; which in effect is granted by this Author, as he words the Particulars I hitherto treat of: And mentions nothing more of Moment to be observed, until he comes to his seventh Head, where he states the most Capital Principle, as he conceives, in order to the erecting of the Proofs he subsequently offers: But whether to be allowed that Validity, he seems to magnify, will soon appear.  
Rejecting, says he, all Things of which we can in any manner doubt, as also supposing them false; we may easily suppose, That there is no God, no Heaven, no Bodies; and that we have neither Hands or Feet, or any Bodies: But not that we, who so imagine, are nothing; because it is absurd to conceive, That whatsoever thinks does not Exist at the Time of its Thinking: Wherefore he concludes, That he is, and that he Thinks, is of all the most certain Truth that can be acquired by Philosophical Order.  
Who would not judge, That so wild an Invention as this, in order to Improve Knowledge, might not rather proceed from some Person in Bedlam, than from Des-Cartes? Of whom if Interrogated, how he comes to suppose, That a Man may point-blank, on the account of his Fiction, deny the Being of a God, together with all the visible Particulars already mentioned? As to the Existence of the Deity, he that considers the necessity of its Concession, as he beholds the wonderful Conduct of the Universe, with so many miraculous Objects as are contained therein, will as soon give credit to any Forgery of Fables, as to doubt of the World's Omnipotent Creator. And no less impossible to acquiesce in his other Suppositions; there being no Body that has his Eyes to See, and Hands and Feet, can doubt, That he discerns That which is called Heaven above his Head, and that he feels with Hands, and treads on the Earth with Feet. But, if you'll pass the Supposition of Des-Cartes, he will assure you, That both Seeing and Feeling is not so Intelligible, as Ego cogito, and Ego sum: Whereas, in truth, I neither can understand, That I either Live or Think, but as my Senses Conspire with my Intellect: If not, one may as well conclude, That he may live without Thinking of whatsoever he knew before, or was sensibly requisite to his Being and Life.  
So nakedly has this Author stripped the Humane Soul from the necessity of participating with the Body; and This he farther undertakes to Affirm by his next Step, where he positively expresses, That there is no other Method of defining the Nature of the Mind, and its distinction from the Body: Adding, That it may be done by Examining what we are, and supposing all Things false that are divers from us; whence (says he) we may perspicuously apprehend, That no extension, Figure, local Motion, nor any Thing like these, Attributed to the Body, could appertain to our Nature: On which account he concludes, That mere Cogitation is more to be preferred, in point of certainty, than any Corporeal Thing that could be Apprehended.  
To which I Answer, That had it been demanded, of this thinking Gentleman, Whether at the time he writ This Treatise, he did not Contemplate of some Bodily Notion? For how could he Pen the Wording in any Kind of Extension, Figure, local Motion, or the like, and be without Thought of their Being, when he named them such?  
Had he been in that Season, to have Answered This Querie, it must have posed his Contemplating in the singular way he proposes. And if the Author of this Conceit could not perform what he requires, it could not be Doctrinal to others: It being as Impossible totally to separate the Mind from the Senses, as to think of a Nonentity, or what has no Existence; which were a contradiction to Nature and the sensible Impression adherent to the Intellect with the Being of Things; and such s cannot be apprehended by it, otherwise than as they are Compossed of quantitive and Bodily Parts.  
Can I imagine another World as vast as This, with as many Individual Being's and Creatures of all Sorts, as are contained within the Compass of the Universe we Inhabit; I could think of no other in all its Parts, than such a One, or in likeness, the same with This, that had with all its Particulars, been the precedent sensible Object, of my Understanding. So heterogeneous to the Nature of Humane Comprehension, is the Principle of Des-Cartes, whereby he endeavours to separate the Imagination from the Commixture it has with our Senses.  
These Discussions, if duly considered, are sufficient to defeat the farther Progress of his Maxims; which, in Effect, will be liable to the same Confutation: But to give him the Scope he takes, together with the Advantage he can make by it; let us admit the Question he makes, in his Ninth Particular, which he conceives very Emphatical to the purpose; and where he has this passage; supposing, by a kind of Interlude of his Fancy, himself to See, to Walk, and have Being, and all these Corporeally performed, yet makes no certain Conclusion from thence: Because (says he,) I may sleeping think I See, or Walk, notwithstanding my Eyes be not open, and that I move not from the Place I was in, and perhaps as if I conceived that I had no Body: All which if referred to the Operation of the Mind, whereby he Imagined or Thought that he saw and walked, he determines certain.  
And I Affirm no less, if to the Imagination be annexed, the Impression made in it, by the Senses. For so I can Think that I saw, or walked when I Slept; which Imports no more, than that there was a Residence in my Intellect, conveyed by my Senses of my Seeing, and observing of my walking Person when I was really Awake. So that it must be a very empty Notion to conceive, That I can be Personated merely by the working of my Brain, without Comprehending any concern of the Senses: For Example, Seeing, or Moving must needs have a necessary Relation to my Bodily Parts, and the Senses that appertain to Motion; as I cannot move on the Ground, but as, on it, I feel I move. So that all that can be Implied from this visionary Conceit of Des-Cartes, is, That the Fancy imaginarily Retained, what before had been actually performed by the Senses.  
He proceeds to Explicate, That misconception, by not orderly Philosophising, is the absolute Cause that the Mind is not accurately distinguished from the Body.  
And here, methinks, he imposes too critical a Task to be practically Discharged by the common Use of Humane Understanding, considering how few the World affords that are philosophically Accomplished, or sufficiently Instructed to that purpose: Or if they were, could they be therefore convinced, That his manner of distinguishing the Mind from the Body, is not a more refined Conceit than can be exerted by any Imagination that resides in Bodily Composition? Is it not manifest, that Elementary Substances are the Ingredients of our Constitutions as they temper our Flesh and Blood? And can the Soul that resides within their Circumference, and Acts by them, contemplate herself discharged from them; yet at the same time, as is acknowledged by Des-Cartes, employ her Imagination in Representing such Objects as could not be known to her, but as the Senses had made their Impressions, on Things, on the Intellect, that in their material Proprieties and Shapes had been precedently apprehended by them: And it were unnaturally absurd to annex Thought to any other Method actuated by the Brain of Man: It being no less Insignificant to allow the Mind a distinct Exercise within the Body, the Region of her Dominion, than to suppose a Prince to Govern without the requisite Assistance of his Subjects.  
Thus far, I conceive, stand sufficiently Taxed the groundless Mistakes, if not Fictions of this Learned Author: Whose Defects did chief Emerge from his attributing to his Abilities, as if proceeding from him as the first of Men, that by their Grandeur could remove such Difficulties, that, in their Nature, are too perplexed for the Resolution of the eruditest Pen, as they relate to the manner of Being and Acting of the Humane Soul: Which if considered absolutely spiritual; the Question may be, How any Thing, perfectly spiritual, can be Enclosed, Actuate, and Exist in a Corporeal Substance? Since in a Philosophical Construction, nothing can act on Body, or have Being with it, in any consideration; but what is composed of Bodily Parts. If contrarily, the Mind or Soul of Man, be deemed a material Essence, the Attribute of Immortality conferred on its Dignity by common Opinion, will be debased by That Definition; notwithstanding it may be affirmed, That whatsoever its Substance is, or manner of being in the Humane Body; it is equally facile to the Omnipotent to eternilize its Existence, as to Transform by Resurrection, the Dust of a rotten Carcase to the material Figure and Parts of the Body that had been so consumed.  
In the next place he takes for granted, That the Mind may with that simplicity understand itself, as it may doubt of all Things else.  
But how can that bare Intelligence be Attributed to the Mind, that cannot by what has been before discussed, so much as Ruminate of any Thing of which it does not participate with the Senses? The Reason he gives to the contrary, is, That the Mind finding in its self many Ideas, which so long as it contemplates, and of nothing, without itself, either Affirms, or Denies, it cannot be deceived. But can he prove that the Mind, at that time he proposes, has no Comixture with the Senses: The Argument he gives to make good his Assertion, is, That the Mind being furnished with divers Notions, composeth Demonstrations, to which so long as it attends, it assures itself that they are true. And what these Ideas are he Exemplifies, by Affirming, That the Mind is replenished with Ideas of Numbers and Figures; besides common Notions, amongst which this, that if to Equals be added Equals, there shall remain Equals, and the like; on which ground he proves, That the three Angles of every plain Triangle are Equal to two Right. Which cannot be denied by any Man that understands Mathematical Certainties.  
But must every Man that Reads Des-Cartes, be so skilled in that Science as to be able to Demonstrate, That the three Angles of a Triangle are equal to two Right Ones; which many thousands of Men are not able to perform? And if not, they will be little advantaged by the Notions here mentioned of this Author. However, to treat him in his own Method, and for satisfaction of such as are mathematically knowing; Can it be denied, That taking the half of Four, there will equally remain Two: And this must properly signify the Substracting from some Numerical Quantity, as it really Relates to its Arithmetical Proportion or Measure; it being impossible to take the half of Nothing: Wherefore the Maxim must have reference to some substantial Thing; or as the Figure of Four had been precedently seen, or written, to whatsoever purpose it might sensibly Relate; and if so, the Demonstration cannot merely proceed from the Mind without the concurrence of the Sense; as I cannot tell One, Two, Three, and not be apprehensive, that I count Something. And he that would determine to the contrary, may as well Affirm, That a Man can tell Cash without the Use of his Feeling and Fingers; or fancy Money in a Bag and be able to compute its Sum by the notional operation of the Mind, according as it is applied by this Author.  
Who to exalt the height of his Ideas, tho' far incompatible to what he designs 'em, he undertakes to prove, That amongst the Troops of Fancy, which may be exerted by the Brain, there will be found one of that sublime Tendency, that the most perfect Existence, or Being of a God, may be employed by it; together with such a necessary and eternal Being, as distinguishes it from the possible, or contingent Existence that may be attributed to all other Things.  
If This Doctrine be true; I may consequently determine, That the Methods of Providence by which the Universe and whatsoever it contains Subsist, are but so many Contingencies; or that 'twas accidental that the Sun did yesterday Ascend to the Meridian, if not Deified by an Idea of his Existence: Whereas there must be such a determined and necessary Being of Providence, by the Decree of the Almighty, in the Conduct and Preservation of the Universe, with whatsoever it contains, that it cannot have a Period otherwise than by a total Cessation of its natural Effects and Operations, as so many Bounties conferred from above, on the vast Circumference of the World, together with every Individual Thing that appertains to it.  
Not that it can be denied, That by the usual Effects of Nature, no Minute does pass in which there are not produced Innumerable Alterations as in course, Generation and Corruption succeed one another in the various Changes of all Things that have Life and Growth: Yet, not to be implied, That by any Idea of them that can be imagined, according to This Author, is to be understood that they accidentally subsist, or vary in their manner of Being, which would, by Construction, Impute Contingencies to the Incomprehensible Wisdom and Methods of Providence tending to the Conservation and Production of Men and Creatures.  
But to return to the remaining Part of his Fourteenth Particular, where he undertakes, with ample Assurance, to exalt his Idea of the Being of a God, by the Proof that is to be made, that the three Angles of a Triangle are equal to two Right, from whence as a parallel certainty he concludes the Existence of God supremely Perfect.  
But can it be Affirmed of any Idea, as he terms it, That because it is a Mathematical Truth, That the three Angles of a Triangle are equal to two Right; that it is sufficient to prove, from That Theorem, the miraculous Being and Perfection of Omnipotency. And thus he again supposes, That all Men must be so far Geometrically Knowing, or they will be deficient, or without demonstrative Conviction that the Deity does Exist.  
If This Doctrine were true, it were no less requisite that all Mankind should have Recourse, betimes, to the School of Euclid; where they might be Instructed as fully of the necessary Proportions of all the Angles and sides of that Figure, together with what its Area contains in Feet, Inches, or the like; naturally and usefully applicable to Corporeal Measures: Which were very disconsonant to his Idea of any Perfection in a Triangle, as he would parallel it to the proving of the Existence of the Deity; which cannot be likened to any Commensurable Figure, or Being: Because two Immensely Infinite to come within the Precinct or Computation of Lines. And he that most exactly discerns the Properties of a Triangle, in every of its Capacities, can but apply it to Commensurable Parts and Proportions, as before expressed, and nothing more absurd than to assimilate their Proofs, on any account, to the undeniable Existence of the Omnipotent so fully evident to the Eye and Sense, in the sublime Wonders beheld within the Compass of the Universe: Insomuch, That it is very Emphatically expressed by the Poet, where he Affirms, That God has taken care to Inform us by miraculous Mediums suitable to these Words— Os homini sublime dedit Caelumque videre, jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus. As much more obvious to general Apprehension than any Geometrical Problem. Can it be unknown to the Intelligent Des-Cartes, how vast a multitude of Humane Kind are scarce able to Define a Triangle as a Figure consisting of three Angles; and far less apprehensive of the Truth of its useful Attributes; if not Regardlessly unconcerned, whether there is such a Thing or no; or not at all conducing to the Exerting of Omnipotence? For which they conceive they are, by the Goodness of Providence, furnished with more palpable Motives: And such as are approved by himself, as shall be observed in convenient Place.  
In the mean time he much Insists on his Triangular Idea, as a Truth that gives a main Rise to the Proof of the necessary Existence of Omnipotence; because as he Affirms, That there is no other Idea to be found so absolutely certain; and yet he Grants, in effect, That it is no more than that, in a Triangle, the three Angles are equal to two Right: The disparity whereof, as he renders the Application, has been, I presume, sufficiently noted already. Notwithstanding, it may not improperly be farther demanded, Why a Person of his exquisite Science should not allege other Mathematical Certainties, rather than fix, as he seems to do, on the peculiar Example he gives of a Triangle? Yet not to be questioned that the manifest Perfection of a Circle, in being a Round without any Point that can signify its Beginning or End; together with the admirable Equality; not to be found in any other Figure, that every Line, as so many wonderful Attributes, has to each other, if drawn from its Centre to its Circumference; is a more Sublime resemblance and Proof of an Infinite Being, than is consistent with a Triangle. All which, but most especially its Circular Perfection, if considered by its proper Excellency, is no other than an Indeterminate Individual, or Geometrical Wonder, not to be Attributed to any other Figure: No Man having ever been able to give it an exact Measure, or such as may be deemed its Square; tho' the accurate Endeavour of the Famous in Mathematical Science. Whereas the Triangle is every way comensurable by the Sides and Angles it contains.  
If a Unite be considered in its Arithmetical Capacity, it is a nearer Parallel to the proving of an Incomprehensible Existence of God, than can be deduced from the Idea he undertakes to give of a Triangle: Nothing being more admirable than the Entireness of the number One; in being both its own Root and Square, and also its Cube and Root; and in the same manner continues, in a Geometrical Progression, to the highest of Powers: Nor can it be wholly Divided or Substracted by any other Number: Which Excellencies solely appertain to Unity.  
Yet from none of these Examples, howsoever certain in themselves, can be asserted the Existence of God by such an Idea, of any of them, as may Universally prove the necessary Existence of the Deity, both as they are the Truths of Science; and therefore not every Man's sensible Conviction, as also that they are only applicable to Things of a material Being; As I cannot term the Square, Cube, or any figurative Dimensions, the Comprehension or Measures of Nothing: Which, in effect, is required by Des-Cartes, as he would Abstract his Speculation from all concomitancy with the Bodily Senses: And consequently imputes it as a Fault, or Neglect in not distinguishing accordingly, the perfect Idea of God, as it Impresses on the Mind the necessary existency of the Almighty.  
But the main Objection is, and far from being Answered by him, That the Imagination cannot be separated from Objects of Sense: For let a Man Contemplate with the utmost exactness that his Mind can afford, it will certainly terminate on one Thing or other, that resembles Material Parts; tho' by Supposition as vastly Extended as 'tis possible to Imagine: Wherefore had this learned Gentleman thoroughly considered the Speculative Part, of his Idea, when he Inscribed its Notion; as sure as he was of Humane Composition, he would have annexed a Corporeal Representation, in some kind, to what he calls his Idea; or he must, as Insignificantly, or as near to nothing have employed the Labour of his Brain, as if he could have Contemplated of a Vacuity: All which is equally absurd to whomsoever will allow to himself the liberty of Thinking.  
On which consideration, and fully to confute his Supposition of bare Ideas of the Mind: It has pleased the Almighty by the wonderful and no less apparent Prospect of the Universe, with every Thing contained within its Boundless Complex; to convince us, That nothing is comprehended by it, but what may imply the Denomination of Corporeal Miracles: Yet so admirably different, that what is of Elementary Form and Substance, within the Residence of Earth and Air, seems perfectly distinguished by the manner of Being and Essence, of the Sun and Stars, tho' of Bodily Resemblance: Yet none of them have other appearance, in the most Refined Conception we have of their Natures, than Objects of our Senses. And tho' the Original of the Universe, or the Individuals it Comprehends, be not manifest by any external Assurance; 'tis perfectly evident, That they had a Beginning from an Omnipotent Cause; by reason that our not knowing how they had Primitive Existence; is an undeniable Conviction, That in being Miraculous to our Understanding, or as so many Actual Works, wonderfully visible; they could not be produced, or continued, otherwise than by an Omnipotent, Incomprehensible Will and Providence. So far does the Observation of admirable Facts, that by Divine Conduct are openly exposed to the Eyes of our Reason and Sense, exceed the most Refined Dictates of Science; as they direct the Sublime Ascents of our Conceptions by a more exact Progression, than Geometrically can be given to the highest of its Powers. How impertinent is it then to departed from the Road of Common Sense, by supposing such an Idea in the Mind, as from any Mathematical Problem might guide us to the Proof of a Deified Existence? tho' contrary to the palpable Method of the Omnipotent, Ordained by the Miracles of his Works: Which enormous Mistake is evidently This Author's, in a great Part of his Treatise, as he mainly endeavours to Parallel his Demonstration of the Existence of God with Mathematical Certainty.  
Which Science, tho' above all to be preferred, for the Dignity of its unerrable Maxims, and particularly so esteemed by me: Yet I cannot but judge it Incompatibly applied, even by this learned Author, to the purpose he would intent it; and deserves a Remark accordingly.  
He yet farther proceeds to heighten his Notion of Ideas; amongst which he selects the Idea of something most tightly perfect; by which he would have understood the necessary Existence of God. I will favour the Ambiguity of his Expression so far as not to believe, That he meant by his Idea a necessitated Existence, which could imply, that the Deity had an Exigency of Being from some other Thing: Because, whatsoever is necessitated cannot have, of itself, an entire voluntary Existence; or, as one 'Cause might Necessitate the Being of another; which cannot be applied to Supreme and Infinite Perfection. Nor was it possible for him or any Man to Imagine, by the most Refined Contemplation, That the necessary Existence of God can be more clearly understood, then by the Actual Prospect he has given us of his All-Sufficiency, and wonderful Providence annexed to the Conservation of the Universe, and All it contains. And if otherwise Interpreted, the Being of God, as separated from the Miraculous Prospect and Munificence we actually receive from the excellency of his Works, that fill the World we Inhabit: Were in effect to Attribute to the Deity a solitary Existence, or not the Author of the Innumerable Effects of Infinite Goodness that have an Emanation from him. So that 'tis not any Idea, of necessary Existence by which God can be apprehended; but rather the necessitated Being that the Total Comprehension of Heaven and Earth does receive from his Ordainment.  
Which appears to be very significantly the Sense of This Author; as upon farther consideration he thickens his Idea in his 17th Particular, where he has this Expression: If any Man has the Idea of a Machine, or Fabric produced by most curious Artisice, he will concede, That it Merits the utmost Inquisition of his Thought, whereby to be Informed of the Authentic Cause by which it was so accurately Effected; and such as could by no Device, or Humane Skill, receive Perfection.  
What could these Words Import, other than his substantial Idea of the Constituted Being and Conservation of the Universe, in Reference to God the Author?  
And having added to his Idea, the weighty Consideration of the World's Existence, he might well acknowledge, That it is the substantial Union of Matter and Form, that gives admirable Subsistence to every Individual Thing, Circumscribed by the mighty Universe; wherein is visibly presented, by the wondrous Proprieties of Composition and Conduct, an Incomprehensible Founder.  
Which Perfections not to be Imitated by any Parallel Structure, or performed by Humane Industry or Art; he fully annexeth to their Excellencies, the necessary Dependency and Manifestation of Omnipotent Power. By which Method, according to the soundest Speculation of Des-Cartes, may be perspicuously Exerted the otherwise Indefinable Being of the Almighty: Because, as he grants, the Extent of Humane Composition, in Soul and Body, cannot farther Ascend than by Objects of Sense, or such as have visible Limitation, to the Admiration, tho' not to the perfect Definition of their sublime Cause; which can be no other than God as far exceeding all Imaginable expressing and height of Rational Accents.  
And is not this Doctrine more readily apprehended by all that may, (if they please) be ocular Spectators, or by any means sensible Discerners of the Works of the World, that, by Omnipotent Appointment Surround them above, and below; than from the dry Idea of a Triangle, whose three Angles amount to two Right: And from thence deduce the Truth of God's necessary Existence; which if possible, by Mankind, so to be Demonstrated, 'twere no less requisite for Women than Men, to be able to Resolve the Problem; if they would Assert their Belief of the Being of a Deity: It being highly necessary, in order to that especial Concern, that there should be a sufficient Number of Female Geometricians: Which I confess might add Certainty to their Instructions, tho' not otherwise Divine, when they Preach in the Society of Quakers.  
Wherefore I may well admire, That such a Confufed and Impracticable Principle should be entangled, by this Author, with Mathematical Verity; of which Science he had, as to other Uses, a Learned Accomplishment: It being his real mistake, or too much Curiosity, where he undertakes to Confirm, by a Mathematical Inference, That God does Exist; instead of the open Evidence, that is visible to Mankind, from the Miraculous Consistence of the World, and the Works it comprehends. Wherefore 'tis judiciously Affirmed by Incomparable Bacon, That he had rather be Imposed on by the Jewish Talmud, or Koran, then deny, That the Universe, with whatsoever it contains, is without the Rule of a Mind, or, which is all one, the Sovereignty of the Deity.  
But the Authority of this Quotation, together with the Reasons I have before Inserted, are very disagreeable to the Mental Idea of Des-Cartes, by which he rather Infers the Being of the Deity by his Notion of the Structure of the World, than by the Prospect we have of its actual Conduct and admirable Composure. On which he grounds this Interrogation; from whence (says he) had any Man Being, that has an Idea of God's Perfections, unless from something more perfect than himself? Which doubtless is true, if understood of the apparent means described in the wonderful Figure and Facts comprehended by the Universe, as the Effects of an Omnipotent Cause. And thus may Thought ascend, by a miraculous Scale, to the acknowledgement of the Immense Power and Providence of God actually manifest by Works. But not as this Author Affirms, From being as he calls it, naturally Enlightened or Capacitated from a mere Idea of the Mind, whereby to conclude, That Man has a present, or primivitive Existence from any Thing more perfect; as he Insinuates: Since 'tis very possible, That from an Idea, more natural than his, may be Imagined that Humane Composition and Life, might be produced in a Course of Nature, which some have been prone to Determine, from Materials very much inferior to the Subsistence of Mankind, either in Soul or Body.  
And this is frequently discernible as from Elementary Commixtures and Operations, Animals proceed from Vegetables, and the contrary. Insomuch that Aristotle, in his last Chapter, of the Generation of Animals, conjectures; That the Origine of Men as well as other Creatures, might have in Time past, an Earthly Production; and which he in another Place, supposes, by a long backward Computation of Time, to have probably been an Artifice of Nature heretofore known and omitted. Yet none of these Methods, however they were, but must have had the allowance of Providence, without which there can be Nothing, in any kind, completed. Notwithstanding, it cannot be Affirmed, with Des-Cartes, That although we have not, as he allegeth, Being from ourselves; 'tis no assurance, That we can derive our immediate Existence, from something more perfect than our Natures: Which if an univocal Truth, relating to God, the most Supreme and Perfect of Being's; it may be objected whether so many Imperfections as are naturally Adherent to our Compositions, could be consistent with any Perfections that were bestowed by the Almighty; or by which we must not have been more excellently tempered in the best of our Faculties, than really we are: If not every Individual of Mankind equally perfect in all Parts of Knowledge, had the Humane Mind been so committed to our Bodies by Supreme Allowance: The contrary of which may be Asserted from Common Experience; as sure that Particulars of Mankind are not more different in their External Features, than they are in the Internal Proprieties of the Soul.  
However Des-Cartes is pleased so far to Dissent from the Universal Sway of Experimental Science, that he undertakes to Philosophise against the Rules, and Dictates of Nature, by devising of Principles whereby he would totally sever the Mind from the Body: And with that Parity too, that he excepts no Imbecility incident to Sex and Age; if the Mind be clearly evacuated, by a Dose of his Idea, from Corporeal Thought, should it tend to the Soul of Being, Operation and Management, that is ineffably conferred by Providence on the Works of Nature: Yet all these mighty Limits, howsoever appearing providentially impassable; must be so refinedly penetrated by his Idea, that it may not encounter a Substance, tho' no grosser than the least Particle of Epicurus' Atoms. But how to fix the Imagination on any Thing of Infinite Perfection, so as to surpass the Boundaries of the Universe; and in that vast Journey of Thought, exempt from the Intellect, all Bodily Perception; were no less absurd than the Epithet of an Incorporeal Phantasm: Which every Man that does Think, either Sleeping, or Waking, may sensibly confute: It being impossible to imagine, by any strength of Thought, the Perfections of God farther than our Compositions of Body and Soul, are capable to extend.  
Yet this manner of Humane Intelligence, is so peremptorily thwarted by the Suppositions of this Author; That he undertakes so to disjoin the correspondency that the Intellect has with the Senses, That, according to his Maxims, Men cannot be assured, that either God or their Souls Exist; if their Imagination be not very singularly applied by expelling at pleasure, all conception of Bodily Objects; or that there is any such Thing as Corporeal Residence, or Motion; or that the Heavens are Replenished with Stars; or that there is Earth, or that Men have Bodies and sublunary Existence; or at most but Moral Certainties, That we sensibly perceive, there are any such Things: Unless by his manner of Idea, the Mind may be so stripped from its Corporeal Appurtenances, That it may Reign with such simplicity in its Kingdom of Thought, that it may have nothing to do with Dominion over the Senses, or Body wherein it has Being. On which distinct Method of Thinking he conceives does depend the Natural Propriety of the Soul, as it may, by Imagination, be separated from the Body. To come therefore to the Improbability of his Assertion: Let it be granted, That he, or any other Man, could reject by Speculation all Bodily Particulars that are visibly and sensibly perceived within the Compass of the World; were it possible, at the same time, to entertain Thought by no Representation of other Things of a Corporeal Nature; which would amount to the creating of Thought somewhat more Fictitious than when ensouled by Poets their Invention of Gods and Goddesses: Because they did not transport their Fictions beyond, or without the resembling of Something in Being before. But exceeded by the Imaginary Suggestions of this Author, who gives no rise to his Thought from any Thing by likeness precedently known to himself, or any Body else: Yet from this pure Conceit does he argue the clear Existence of the Humane Soul, and the Knowledge that it may perfectly have of the Being of God.  
I should not have made this Discussion here, being much to the purpose of which I have already Treated; had not Occasion been given, by what succeeds, so far to Impress, its necessary Reiteration.  
To proceed therefore with him to his 21 Particular, where he undertakes to prove, That from the Evidence we have of Something more perfect than ourselves, we may clearly determine the manner of our Duration, and Temporary Continuance; as also the natural Subsistence of all other Things; because, as he allegeth, no such Particulars depend on themselves. Which is a clear Truth, if he would intent by his Notion the Intermediate Conduct of Providence in the Modalities, Production and Conservation it gives, in a usual Course, to Things within the Boundaries of the Universe. In which may be discerned, That some Individuals are more or less durable, or subject to Decay, Alteration and Periods of their Existence: Yet all these Varieties are not openly to be understood otherwise than, in a natural Method, they may be Effects of Elementary Operations; and this is no less than experimentally certain, as sure as there is Heat, Cold, Dryness, and Moisture: And consequently, the Ingredients of Bodies as they have temperatures from them; which is notoriously manifest in the Complexions, Dispositions, and Tempers of Men and other Creatures. But without these necessary Mediums, to lift up our Imagination, after the manner of his Idea, to a mere Notion of a sublime Cause that gives Being and Conservation to all Things; were to departed from the immediate School of Providence, by undertertaking to be our own Instructers of what we cannot without its natural Information, by any contemplative Thought, or imaginary Speculation, howsoever Refined, possibly apprehend. Yet on this incomprehensible Way of Thinking, is generally Erected the main Fund, and Tendency of his Principles, whereby he undertakes to Improve Humane Understanding.  
I find nothing more Intervenes, in this Part of his Treatise, that requires in Substance any farther Remark: Wherefore to avoid Repartition, I pass on to his 25th Head, where he has this Expression.  
If God, from himself, or others, Reveals any Thing, that exceeds the genuine strength of our Understandings, such are the Mysteries of the Trinity, and Incarnation of Christ, We ought not to refuse their Belief; nor admire, That many Things are both in the Immense Nature of God, as also in those created by him, that surpass our Capacities.  
All which I readily acknowledge, tho' I cannot but admire, that so speculative a Person as Monsieur Des Cartes, should not annex to his Belief of this threefold Mystery, the admirable facility of Providence, by which the most Essential Part of That stupendious Article of Humane Faith, comprehended in Christ the Second Person in the Mysterious Creed of Christianity, is so far, for our more sensible Conviction, of familiar Resemblance to the Works of the Omnipotent, as they are composed of Bodily Life and Figure, relating to Man and Creatures; that by this Dispensation the Redeemer of Mankind is represented in the Form and Substance of Flesh, as the most captivating Object of our Devotion and Sense: It being impossible to conceive, how any Idea of Worship can so Mystically fasten the Mind, that it may be totally barred from Conspiring with the Senses in the admittance of Corporeal Objects. Which may be no inconsiderable Reason, why Christian Profession has allowed the Representations of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, to impress their Memorial on the Heart of the Believer.  
How little does the manner of this Author's Idea, so magnified by his Pen, conduce to the proving, That God does Exist; or that the Worship of Christ, otherwise than a Miraculous Work, proceeding from Omnipotent Power, should be the Object of Humane Devotion? With this Distinction, That although every Fact of the Almighty comprehended by the Universe, be equally wonderful; we are obliged, by Precepts, to pay the Duty of our Souls to no other than Christ.  
Which this Author seems to acknowledge, where he excepts his bare Idea, of the Being of a Deity, from the stupendious Coexistence of God in the Substance of Flesh: As if but beholding to his Speculation for the Belief of the One, and to Religion for the Other. From whence it may be concluded, That it was the Design of Des-Cartes to decline the common Road of Providence, in hopes to be celebrated for a singular Conceit of his Brain, whereby he would Instruct others to believe, That the Method of God's Works, tho' as broadly visible as the Features of the World's Face, were too narrow to exert from them, his Idea of the Almighty. Because, as he Affirms, 'Tis possible to Imagine, That there is no Heaven, no Earth, no Bodies of Men; and yet by a naked Idea, in the Mind, be assured, That God does Exist, tho' none of his Works had Being at all.—  
But Passages of this Nature, having been precedently taxed, the Reader is referred to them.  
The next Point that he comes close up to, is, That we ought not to weary the Brain with disputing of what is meant by Infinite: Because he judges it absurd in Man, who is of a Finite Being, to determine any Thing of an Infinite.  
To which purpose he gives several Instances; As the vain Discussion, or Quere, Whether if a Line be supposed Infinite, the middle Part of that Line be not also Infinite? Because, with such Things, (says he) we ought not to be concerned, unless we Judge our Mind also Infinite.  
Which I fully grant Judiciously Advised: But find it very dissentaneous to a main Notion of his, formerly mentioned, whereby he Affirms, That 'tis very facile by a mere Idea of the Mind, tho' acting within the Limitation of the Body, to imagine the Infinite Existence of the Deity, by no other Speculation than may be made on the Wings of Thought, when on its Contemplative Journey. But how to be clear from all Corporeal Impediments, both within, and without the Body, notwithstanding he here allows it confined to a Finite Imagination; appears too like a Contradiction, in the Terms he delivers; or which is much the same, that in one Place, of his Writings, he spoke of an Infinite Idea, and of a Finite in another: How therefore to reconcile him to himself, on that account, is not to be apprehended.  
And this may be aptly Inferred from what he adds in the Paragraph I treat of, where he Affirms, That no Extension can be Imagined so Vast, that a Greater cannot be given; which is as numerically certain, as that Archimedes, by sixty three Ciphers and a Unite before them, produced a greater Number than could be Equalled if the Total World from the Centre of the Earth to the Sphere of the fixed Stars, were Replenished with the numerous Particles of Sands of the Sea. If Thoughts could be Multiplied so as they might exceed the Sum before mentioned, as many more might be added to their Number: Yet every particular Thought would be severally terminated by some Object of Sense. On the contrary, the Notion of Infinite may rather pass for a manner of Speaking than actually explicable by the Humane Intellect: And thus Immense, Infinite, and the like, are attributed to God, not as their meaning is otherwise to be understood than as they have Reference to the Works of the Almighty; of which, because no account is to be given how they either began or are continued; our highest Admirations, not to be expressed by Accents of Speech, aught to exalt our Wonder, Incomprehensibly annexed to a Word of Infinite Denomination.  
And this, in Substance, he soon after concedes; where he holds it very advisable, that we should not Inquisitively Reason of Natural Things, or the End to which they are Ordained, farther than God and Nature have Constituted and Proposed them to our Observation, lest we should seem to arrogate to ourselves any participation with his Counsels: To which he judiciously adds, That God is to be acknowledged the Efficient Cause of all Things, yet so, as that he has not extinguished the Natural Light of our Understandings in being familiarly acquainted with such Attributes and Effects of his Omnipotent Power, as he has manifestly exposed to our Apprehensions: All which are undoubtedly requisite to our Duty.  
But how does this concentre with his single Idea of God, as here he requires the concurrence of our Reason and Senses, to the useful Exposition of such Objects as are manifest to us?  
And what can be employed from thence, other than that the abundant Operations and wonderful Effects of a Supreme Cause are evident in the apparent Being and Works, within the Compass of the Universe, that must necessarily depend on it; without which it were impossible for us to have the plenitude of a sensible Conviction? Insomuch, that I think it not improper to insert the Opinion of certain a ginger; who Affirms, That if the fixed Stars had not a constant Distance, or that the Diurnal Motion of the Celestial Spheres did not perpetually move in Time, no Individual Thing would last a Moment; which Notion, of this ginger, if but conjecturally Allowed, has a far more significant Relation to the Proof of the Existence of God, as a Supreme Cause, than can be appropriated to any Idea of the Mind that abstracts the Immense means and Facts of Providence from the obvious Concurrence they have with our Contemplation of the Being of the Almighty, and the superlative Disposer of whatsoever we can behold, or Imagine: And I should be glad if the contrary had not been the mistake of the Learned Des-Cartes.  
His next Considerations is, That God is supremely True, and the Illuminator of our Understandings; and therefore cannot deceive us, or at All the Cause of those Errors that we are of ourselves obnoxious to. Which is undeniable, if by the Enlightening of our Minds, he means the Conviction we have from the Works and Operations of Providence, that conspicuously assure us, That Omnipotence is their Supreme Cause and Author. But if he explains fully his meaning, as he seems to do, by what follows in his next Particular; his Sense is, That if we have a clear and distinct discernment of any Object, by the Faculty of Knowing given as from God, we cannot be deceived. Insomuch that he Affirms, That God were a Deceiver, if he had bestowed on us a perverse and false Conception of Things, instead of a true One.  
If This Opinion of his were sound, and that God had so empowered the Humane Mind, that it could, of itself, serenely distinguish Truth from Falsehood: What Reason can be given why All Men should not equally be perspicuously Intelligent, as most suitable to the Capacious Munificence of the Almighty? And consequently every Man's Reason and Senses irresistably compliant: Since 'tis not Imaginable, That such a Gift, Authorized by God, could be less than Universal and perfect, as it must needs affect the Understandings of All Mankind; and next complete an Equality of Knowledge and Goodness, with all other requisite Endowments of the Soul: The possibility of which is strenuously asserted by this Author in his 30th Particular, where he Affirms, That these admirable Gifts may be accomplished as well Sleeping, as Waking, if duly adverted how our clear Thoughts may be distinguished from such as are confused. Which Direction of his, if rendered practicable, would amply tend to Humane Felicity, by cleansing the Minds of Vicious Persons, Fools, and Knaves; nay, abrogate the use of Bedlam, by a Recipe from the Pen of Des-Cartes: Who Affirms, That 'tis but being thoughtfully Industrious and Imaginatively separate, either Sleeping, or Waking, the Purity of Thoughts from such as are confused.  
But were it Interrogated, Whether any Sorts of Men, (before mentioned) since none are excepted by him, might not Affert, with as much Confidence as he undertakes to direct them; That they had either Dreaming, or Waking, a clear Idea of Truth, in one Kind or other; which could not be mistaken if avowed by them that the Notion was clear and distinct, and therefore perfect? Because not otherwise, as he alleges, the Gift of God, whereby the Mind of Man, is Enabled to separate, by pure Imagination, Truth from Falsehood.  
If Distinction of Thought, from Thought, by any Power of the Mind, can be termed a certain Representation of Truth, and principally meant of God, or whatsoever is ordained by him; it must as has been already proved, be grounded on some admirable Prospect of the Works of the Omnipotent, and thence conclude as a mighty Truth, That he wonderfully Exists, or it could fix on nothing.  
In Sum, should a Man endeavour to Refine the clearest Conception that he could possibly have of a Spiritual Existence, his Imagination might not be so Immensely dilated as to meet with no Corporeal Stop from the prone Concurrence of the Intellect with the Senses, and the familiar Admittance that is yielded, by the Mind, to their Objects: Yet such a Man might assure himself, That he as certainly discerns the Truth of Bodily Objects Entertained by his Imagination, as can be pretended, by any Method of Thinking, prescribed by this Author.  
And thus ' 'tis. too commonly the Fate of many to be seduced by the over-curiosity, and search made by particular Persons who would build their Esteem on the Novelty of their Tenants; the usual allurements of Inconstancy in the Humane Soul: Till rejected by Time they are held no farther useful than Almanacs out of Date.  
Whether the same Success may not be expected, relating to some Parts of the Writings of Des-Cartes, where he undertakes to Improve Knowledge by Methods more Consonant to Fiction than Science, not a little to the disrepute of, otherwise, his vast Abilities; I leave to the Reader to determine.  
In his 9th page, he gives us this Caution, That notwithstanding God can be no Deceiver, yet, frequently it happens that we deceive ourselves; which is no less Divine as to God, then certain that Mankind are diversely Erroneous; as more or less their Frailties are incident to their Dispositions and Natures.  
But if granted according to his often repeated Maxim of Humane Knowledge, That Perfection of Thought is so clearly applicable to the Humane Mind, that the cumber of sensible Objects, may, by Idea, be totally emptied from it, and nothing remain but perfect Intelligence: How, according to that Tenent, can he Affirm, That the Mind does admit Deception? If suitable to his common Notion, not seldom Instanced by him, the Mind may be so notionally and wonderfully Illuminated, that it cannot be without Certainty; because its perfect Apprehension must be given from something more perfect, which is God: And no Body can think otherwise, if the means, that God has Ordained by his Works, be regardfully considered; On which account, 'tis not to be understood, how his manner of Thought can have else any contiguity with our Reason, or Senses. And which, I suppose, has been enough before Confuted. In his following Words he endeavours to be plainer understood by granting, That in the Intellect is Volition, as well as Imagination, which by its Impulse on the Humane Mind, renders it erroneously obnoxious. But can it be consistent with the Notion, so much applauded by him, of a perfect Idea of Truth essential, as he defines it, to the Humane Mind, and notwithstanding that Perfection, to admit the possibility of being Imposed on by the Will: Is, in effect, to acknowledge, That there is no such perfect Determination in the Mind whereby to distinguish Truth from Falsehood; or if there were, how can it be supposed, That the Certainty of the Imagination, when filling of the Mind, would not subject the Will to the reality of Truth conceived by it? Which to deny, were no less absurd than to Assert, That the Soul, by its own consent, did Rebel against its main Prerogative, and Renounce the highest Propriety of its Dominion: So that no Notion of Truth, in a Natural Course, can have any stedfest Assurance in the Mind, if liable to the Refractory Contradiction it may have from the Will: Insomuch, That had he named the Notional Idea, he so much contends for, an irresistible Inspiration; he must have been more Divinely understood by his Reader: By which he might have inferred, That by a zealous Contemplation of the Mind, there would have been wanting no perfect Certainty or Conception, of all Matters tending to Holy Religion and Life: Things very necessary, and exceedingly conducing to Universal Satisfaction and Repose of the Soul, if such an agreeable and unerrable Idea could manifestly have Issued from the mere Result of Thought; without being beholding to any Intermediate Work, or Conduct of Providence to sublimate the Speculation. But enough has been before Inserted, in Opposition to the manner of Thinking, prescribed by his Pen; and for which, as his main fund, he requires no more than that a Man should Imagine, That there is something, in being, more Perfect than himself: All which he assures might be accomplished by all Mankind, as a Gift, from above, conferred on the Soul; did not the peremptory. Sway of the Will resist the clear discernment of Truth Inherent in the Mind. For whose single and unconfinable Perfections, notwithstanding he had averred them before, he soon afterwards acknowledges their Limitation in these Words.— The Intellect, (says he,) extends its preception but to few Things offered unto it.  
What he would mean by Things offered unto it, unless actual Objects, is not to be understood; neither does he signify how he would otherwise be apprehended by the Epression; which can have no numerical, or specifical Construction, except he had Nominated any real Thing or Object represented by the Imaginary Faculty of the Mind. From whence it may be concluded, That, he does, in this Place, in his own terms, however dissentaneous to what he had formerly Asserted, enough concede, That there can be no other than a limited Idea to Things consisting of Matter, Form, and Bodily Parts: It being no less Unnatural than Impossible, That the Intellect should, at one Time, be conversant with Objects of Sense, and at another, be wholly intent on mere Speculation without them.  
Yet he undertakes to Inform, How this unnatural repugnancy of Thought may pass on the Authority of his Tenent; by Impeaching of the Humane Will, for Arbitrary Compelling of the Mind to be Confused and Finite; whereas it would otherwise distinguish by clear and distinct Certainty whatsoever was imagined by it.  
And yet he could not but know that it is Inconsistent with the Essential Method of Rational Understanding, to aver, That the Judiciary Part of the Mind can be so compulsively managed, or straightened by the Will: Notwithstanding that the contrary is far more Intelligible, in respect that there can be no actual tendency of Thought, in the Soul of Man, but must have a necessary Consent of the Will: It being absurd to Imagine, That a Man can Think of any Thing without its Assent and Concurrence; which were no better Sense, than if one could be said to Think, and not be a voluntary Thinker.  
If duly considered, the Faculties by which the Understanding is completely Executed; 'tis very demonstrable that the Mind is not more Annexed to the Will, than furnished by the Memory; whose Office is to keep the main Records of the Soul, and from their numerous Catalogue present such Memorials as are occasionally proper to Attract the compliance of the Understanding and Will. There being no real Thought on whatsoever Object employed, other than what has been, in Substance, or Similitude, by the Memory precedently retained.  
And therefore unwarrantably Asserted the Supposition of this Author, whereby he would Infer the separate Actings of the Faculties of the Soul, or the possibility of clear Perception without their Concurrence.  
True it is, that Humane Understanding is too frequently Swayed, Impedited, and Corrupted, by the impetuousness of the Will, as it conspires with the Appetite and Senses, which by their plausible, and importunate Temptations, so prevail on the Understanding, that its Rational Excellence is, in many Kind's debased, as it allows their Sensual Admittance; but still no otherwise than as it consents with the Will: And therefore not, truly inferred by this Author, that the Intellect is so wildly guided, and imposed on by the Will, that it absolutely resigns, or deserts its Rational Throne; or any clear Intelligence that by the Gift of the Almighty is naturally Inherent in the Mind of Man: But rather betrayed by the Treachery of the Will and Senses, to impair by its frail compliance the requisite Intelligence and Prerogative that ought to be inseparable from its Supreme Dominion.  
Wherefore this Learned Monsieur, after he thoroughly laboured the most concise Criticisms of his Brain, by endeavouring to prove That the Faculty of clear, and distinct Perception was Inherent in the Mind; He does notwithstanding acknowledge, in divers Passages of the Treatise I deal with, That the Mind cannot so exert its Jurisdiction as not to be Perplexedly, or Confusedly prevailed on by the Will: Which he fully Attributes to the Inveiglement of the Understanding caused by the Conspiring of the Will with the Senses, and the natural Freedom by which it Operates on the Intelligent Capacity of the Humane Soul: Which is, in Substance, the complete Sense of several Particulars Written by him; but most especially in his 38 Head, where he grants, That the perspicuity of Discernment conferred on the Soul, by Divine Appointment is no farther Absolute than as it meets with a voluntary Assent, by which it is either made our perfect Apprehension, or on the contrary, evaded by the Actual Freedom of the Will: For which he gives this Instance, in this manner Embellished; The Will, (says he) together with the Senses, aught to complete the Allegiance they own to the Sovereignty of the Humane Intellect, as God's select and natural Vicegerent over the Body and Members; which being frequently violated by the irregular Conduct of the Will and prevalent Compliance it obtains from the Appetite and Senses; the genuine Duty is renounced that aught to be perfectly paid to the native Monarchy of the Mind; and instead thereof, a Foreign and Sensual Usurpation raised by the confused Mobile of the Senses.  
This Paraphrase may be Emphatically allowed on his Words; nor can it be denied, That the excellent Faculty, with which the Understanding is imbued is not by innumerable Depravations erroneously misguided by the proneness of the Dispensation it gives to the Importunate Sensualities Incident to Humane Constitutions: Which is very manifest in the different Qualifications and Tempers of the Body and Mind; as by common Experience, some Individuals of Mankind excel in Prudence and Moralities of Life the Dispositions of others. Insomuch, that it may be questioned, Whether, or no, from a Natural Course of Providence the different temperatures of Body and Mind do not proceed? And therefore more prevalent, if not hardly to be Resisted.  
All which, upon the Matter, is precedently acknowledged by himself, where he confesses, That notwithstanding the Soul of Man is Enlightened by God, with clear Perception, it is liable to the depraved Conduct of the Will and Senses. But how he can exempt the Understanding from such a contiguous Depravation, and require its separate Intelligence; yet grant, as he does, That the Humane Body and Soul are Conjoined and Exist, as all Things do, by the Ordination of God; tho' no one Body and Soul but operatively different from others, and no less various than Corporeal Features are ocularly distinguished. So that the Soul, tho' given by God, has no absolute assurance of unerrable Perfection; notwithstanding that, according to his Doctrine, it cannot be destitute of perfect Discernment tending to all requisite Certainty in whatsoever it Determines.  
But had he been asked, Why every Thinking Man who grants that he Exists, and all Things else, by the admirable Dispensation of the Omnipotent, should not be proportionably completed by his Understanding and Senses, whereby there might result an unerrable Perception or Notion of Things evident from such as are confusedly understood? The Quere would doubtless pose as Learned a Thinker as was this Author. As also, if supposed such a positive Certainty in Humane Understanding, as he undertakes to Assert, Why it should be thought to be so insufficient a Gift of God, that it should not at all Times be able to overrule, or not absolutely suppress the Imperfect Assaults and erroneous Temptations of the Will and Senses?  
Notwithstanding that Experience assures, That there is no Universal Humane Perfection, either known or practised: And as certain it is, That he would not have presented the World with so many Inventions of his Brain, whereby to explain the Principles he Avows; if he had thought, That every Man's Intelligence, or Capacity of Thinking, had been evident, or not wanted the Instructions of his Pen: It being absurd to conceive, That the Soul should be sufficiently Capacitated from God, to distinguish betwixt certain and uncertain Cogitations, and want any Advertisement from Man more Methodically to advantage its Intelligent Faculty: Of which, he amply concedes, That no Man can be assured of its perspicuous Execution, by reason of the powerful Reluctancy and Impediment it receives from the Will and Senses.  
To as little purpose does he offer his Distinction betwixt the Act of Volition and the Assent to be deceived, that proceeds from the Inclination that the Understanding has to be swayed by the Senses: But how any Man can be said to Assent without the voluntary Freedom and Concurrence of his Will; is more like a Contradiction than rationally to be Apprehended. And must, in his own Phrase, tend to the defeating of the Amplitude of Knowledge bestowed by God on the Humane Mind, if rendered conditional, or subordinate to our voluntary Compliance.  
By which manner of Discussions, he has confusedly Involved the Serenity he would ally to his Principles, in order to the unerrable Perception Attributed by him, to the Intellectual Faculty. Yet after several Passages of this Nature, he seems to Recant them in his 43 Particular, where he peremptorily Affirms, That it is as impossible to the mistaken, if we yield our Assent to such Things as we clearly understand, as to believe, That God is a Deceiver.  
If this Tenent were true, the Brain of every Man would, as it were by Divine Decree, be filled with Certainties: But how assured of this Infallible Discernment; the Answer that must be given, from the Principle of Des-Cartes, is, by clearly distinguishing of Things by the perspicuous Faculty of the Humane Intellect: Because, (says he) it rarely happens, That any Man will yield his spontaneous Aslent to any Thing of which he has not a veritable assurance from his Understanding: But if duly considered how numerously the World is Replenished with Mankind, of all Ages and Complexions, that give up their Assents to the Dictates of others, as they conceive them to be more Intelligible than themselves; and yet, in so doing, however they err, may not be less confident of direct Perception than any of their Tutors.  
To be plain, were there such an absolute Gift conferred on the Soul by Divine Appointment; 'tis not to be denied, That Men, Women and Children, would be equally Gifted, and accordingly distinguish by the undeniable Clearness of their Intellects, all Notions of Things certainly to be apprehended, or dubiously to be rejected: Because God, as he Affirms, Has endued the Soul with a separate Jurisdiction, and perfect Determination without the Assistance or Concurrence of the Will and Senses; and therefore as a complete Donative from Above, might have a ripe Discernment before the Bodily Parts grow to Perfection.  
And if so, there is more Reason to expect, That it should Actuate, alike perspicuously, the Intellectual Faculty in the Youth, Age, and Sexes of Mankind, than that they should be differently Judicious, or disagreeably subject to the imbecilities of their Natural Compositions, as they appear to common Observation: Yet this Conclusion has as near a Resemblance to his Premises as Grass to Grass.  
This Reflection may well have a pertinent Allowance; if considered with what confidence he Averrs, That God has so disposed the Soul in the Body of Man, that it can exactly distinguish of Truth and Falsehood in every Consideration: Whereas the contrary is rather manifest as our Corporeal Existencies are providentially sustained: By which it appears, that, in Course of Nature, the Life is no otherwise Ensouled in the Body, than as it is Complicated with the Affections and Tinctures of the Senses: And from whence the Act●ons of the Mind suitably Exert their Operations: And this is very apparent from the Natural Concourse of Elementary Ingredients that mix with our Dispositions and Moralities of Life. So that 'tis not to be doubted, That by a Natural Conduct, and Capacity appropriated to their Bodily Constitutions, some Men are more Scientifically Intelligent, Discreet, and Temperate than others: As contrarily, the vast Numbers of Inconsiderate, Imprudent Idiots, and Frantic Persons in several Kind's, are every where Evident; which can have no other 'Cause than Issuing from the Irresistible Source of their Corporeal Tempers, together with the Tides of Commotion and Disturbance, on which the Soul, as on so many Impetuous Billows, is more or less perpetually Fluctuated. Wherefore 'tis not a little bold in this Author, who peremptorily Affirms, That there is a clear and distinct Perception, on all Accounts, Resident in the Understanding, if as he requires, the Prejudices we have from our Constitutions, and Bodily Imperfections were distinctly avoided by separating the Intelligence of the Mind from all Intermixture of the Senses; as a Faculty, conferred by God, on the Humane Intellect: Which to deny, according to his Notion, were all one as to term God a Deceiver. I called this his Tenent bold before, and I may add to it Presumption, and Ignorance, beyond expectation in so Learned a Writer: Might he not as well have Affirmed? that a Man can have an unerrable Prospect and Conception of the manner of the Existence of the Omnipotent, as also of the Original Being of the Universe, together with Mankind, and every Individual Animal and Thing within its total Extent; had there been such a Divine Gift bestowed on the Intellectual Faculty: And must have been far more Infallibly manifest in the Uniting of Religion tending to the Worship of God; which doubtless, as the most necessary Intelligence, would have been Conferred by the Almighty, whereby he might be more unanimously Adored by all Mankind. But this is not so Decreed by God, nor in the Power of Man to accomplish by Resisting, as he Insinuates, the Prejudices and Incapacities incident to our Innate Tempers of Body and Mind. Not that I deny, that there is a constant visible Conviction palpably discernible in the Works of the Almighty, by which the total World is Miraculously Constituted; from whence may be fully concluded, without any help of the Method, or Idea of Thought delivered by Des-Cartes; that God does Exist, and is to be Worshipped: And he that otherwise Infers must Repine against the Measures of Knowledge Providentially Ordained; which were all one with the Incongruous and Exorbitantly absurd Assertion of this Author, That implies a Deceptiom in God, if, in effect, he did not deceive the determined Progression of his Providence, in its Natural Conduct and Operation; by dispensing to All Mankind an unerrable Apprehension of every Truth, that aught to be most requisitely understood, however disproportioned to the Tempers of Mind and Body; or experimentally repugnant to the Ordained Course of Nature, differently manifest in the Faculties of the Soul, Science, and Gifts; as they are variously specified and proportioned in Humane Persons. Not that the Intellectual Capacity is thereby so generally or naturally Disproportioned as not palpably to discern all requisite Truth's expanded in the Miraculous Works of the Omnipotent; which otherwise had been Impertinently exposed to the sensible Conviction of our Understanding: Insomuch, that every vulgar Sense, if not Slothful, or Regardless, or not naturally deprived of their Intellectual Faculty, or not made so Happy as to be induced by proper Instruction, and Teaching; cannot but acknowledge from the Facts and Conduct of Providence, that they are the Effects of an Infinite Cause; and consequently no other than so many Infallible Convictions that the Deity does Exist, and aught to be Adored.  
And whosoever Affirms to the contrary, does in effect Arraign Providence, or term it a Deceiver, together with such visible Wonders as are Externally manifest, and whereby we receive sensible Apprehension of the Being of a God, tho' Invisible to our Eyes.  
Wherefore the Tenent of this Author, That there is a Power in the Mind of Man to distinguish, by mere Idea, Truth from Falsehood, must be a very Imperfect Notion; there being nothing more difficult, if not Impossible, than for the Humane Soul to be so far Disrobed of its habitual Impediments, the Senses; as clearly to discern at all Times, the most requisite Truths: Because, if at any one time the Idea of the Mind, as he defines it, be less Perfect than at another; it is impossible for any Man, by that manner of Speculation, to be secure, That he does not Erroneously Contemplate, by not effectually separating the Purity of mere Imagination from all the Defects Incident to Humane Nature.  
Notwithstanding, if you will rely upon the Notion of Des-Cartes, he tells you, That God were a Deceiver, unless the Soul of Man, given from above, were not, by Executing his Manner of Idea, an Infallible Discerner of Truth from Error. Which he is no more able to prove, than if he had undertaken to convince the World, That by Imagination the Soul may discharge itself from its Co-habitation with the Senses; or that in a Notional Conception both Parts of a Contradiction may be determined true: Which is the same with his peremptory Contradiction of the open and powerful Truth of God's Existence, manifest in the Being of the Universe, and all it contains, by Affirming, That 'tis possible, by mere Thinking to apprehend that there is a Deity; without the wonderful Objects and Means of Providence evidently conveyed to the Eyes of our Reason and Senses.  
True it is, That the Intelligible Faculty has a fervent and Indefatigable Desire of apprehending in the most Spiritual and divinest Conception, such Things as might sublimely accomplish the Understanding: Which restless Endeavour in the Humane Soul is no less apparent than endlessly continued in various Searches and Inquisitions whereby to Determine, on the most considerable Accounts, whatsoever, the divided Tenants and Notions of Men would most satisfactorily Reconcile.  
But such is the Infelicity of the Soul, that as it is Encumbered or Clogged with the Senses; it cannot, by its best Conceptions, be absolutely divided from them; and therefore uncapable of acquiescing in agreeable Concord, otherwise than as the Soul is United with them in the most sensible and familiar way of Conviction.  
Had Des-Cartes been asked Whether or no it was not far more facile to Demonstrate the Geometrical Measure of so many Acres of Land, than Mathematically to Compute the Immense Distance, from us, of the Sphere of the fixed Stars? He would soonhave granted, That an Account of the Former was much easier to be performed than of the Latter. How much more remote, from the most accurate Prospects of our Understanding, are the Infinite Attributes of the Omnipotent! Or not possibly to be discerned by any Idea of Mind, otherwise than as they are effectually Published, to our Useful and Holy Admiration, in the Miraculous and Immense Consistency of the Total World.  
The next considerable Undertaking of this Author is, briefly to deliver such Notions of which All our Thoughts are most especially produced or compounded: And how by them are to be distinguished such as are Clear, from others Obscure, or by which we are deceived.  
To which purpose his main Maxim in his 48 Particular, he thus expresses,— Whatsoever they are (says he,) that Relate to our Perception, are to be considered as Things, or as certain Affections of Things, or as eternal Verities having no Existence without our Cogitation. Of those that are to be considered as Things, the most general are to be comprehended by the Denominations of Substance, Duration, Order, Number and the like, as they may be understood to appertain to All other Things. And these he annexeth unto two Generalities, the One of which he defines, in reference to Things as they are only conceived by Thought of the Mind, or, as he terms them, wholly belonging to a thinking Substance; the Other, as it respects Materiality, or Body: But Perception, Volition, with all their Modalities, he refers to what, he calls the Substance of Thinking, either as to Magnitude, or Extension; as they may be considered in Length, Breadth, Height, Figure and Motion; Situation, Divisibility, and the like. Other Things there are which by experience we find, that do neither solely appertain to the Mind, nor to the Body; and which proceed from the strict Intimacy and Union that the Mind has with the Body; as the Diversities of our Appetites and Passions, which have no Consistence with sole Cogitation.  
And this is the full Sense, of the Place I treat on, as near as his Words can be properly Englished.  
The first Remark that ought to be Judiciously tendered on this Part of his Treatise, is, Whether according to sound Reason, or essential Rules of Philosophy, he has duly defined what he calls Substantial Thinking, by the Epithet he gives it, appropriated to the Mind?  
But if to a Thinking Substance be annexed, according to him, the Essence or Propriety of Thought; the Quere may be, How any Thing that is Substantial can be genuinely supposed to Employ Thought, otherwise than on something that is also Substantial? And if so, why not likewise Corporeal? Except he could sensibly make it appear, That Substance can be separated from Corporeal Existence: Which he has not been able to Explicate, notwithstanding that he has attempted to do it with the most Refined Method of his Philosophical Science; as may be seen in this Tract of his, which has occasioned my Remarks, and I doubt not, in the Sense of a Judicious Reader, precedently by me disproved.  
But to go with him as far as his Assertions require; and next suppose, That the Humane Soul is a Substance; but in what manner Substantial, is not Defined by this Author, in any Kind, either as Incorporeal, suitable to the Dialect of the Schools; or otherwise as the Rational, Sensitive and Vegetative Soul are in the Body entirely United.  
The Proof that he offers for giving to it a Substantial Denomination is grounded on the Proprieties or Qualities, he annexeth to it: Because whatsoever is not something can neither have those nor any other Attributes: All which in his 13 Particular, he farther undertakes to Explain; and where he expresses.— That Substance is not to be understood but as it Relates to some Attribute or other, which chief declare its Nature and Essence; and to which they appertain: Adding, That as Length, Breadth and Depth, constitute the Nature of Body; so by Thought is Constituted the Nature of Substantial Thinking. From whence he concludes, That whatsoever can be Attributed to Body presupposeth Extension, or the manner only of something Extended; but what are to be found in the Mind, are so many various Modalities of Cogitation. The Example he gives is, That Corporeal Figure cannot be understood but in the Thing that is Extended; nor Motion but in whatsoever is moved; contrarily, Extension may be understood, by the Mind, without either Figure, or Motion.  
This Paragraph, tho' written by the Pen of Des-Cartes, cannot have so favourable an Interpretation as might render it Congruous to common Understanding.  
That the Rational Soul may be Substantial is not Philosophically to be denied: Nor so Defined does it lessen the possibility it has of being Immortal; because equally in the Power of the Almighty to give the Souls of all Mankind Immortality, together with the completing of the Dust of rotten Carcases, according to the Doctrine of the Resurrection, unto the same Bodies they Animated in Life-time, and to Restore to them, each Individual Soul that was precedently theirs.  
But to Affirm, with this Author, That mere Cogitation, is a Substance of itself in the Humane Intellect, is a very Irrational Conjecture: For how can Thought have any Similitude with Sense, but as thereby it may be Imagined to Relate to some sensible Object? Nor can it Actuate in any other Kind, if the Soul be Substantial; it being Impossible, That Substantial Cogitation, whatever Phrase he gives it, can, otherwise, be Impioyed than on something that must Assimilate its own Nature: And that must be either Consistent of Bodily Parts, or of Substance equivalent to it. Nor is it possible to apprehend, how any Thing called Substance can be distinguished from what is quantitively Corporeal; or not have suitable Attributes, in every Consideration. So that his Idea of a mere Thinking Substance, in the Soul of Man, can have no significant Congruity with Thought: It being totally Irrational to suppose, That any deliberate Conception of the Mind should be fixed on no Object.  
Should a Man Contemplate on France, or Holland, who had never been personally in either of those Countries; he must distinguish, as he had received Information, or Read of them, the Nature and Situation of those Regions, together with such necessary Considerations as were requisite for him to understand; or he could not have any Intelligible Apprehension of any of those Places: So that the Position of this Author, That there is in the Soul such an abstracted manner of Cogitation, or Threadbare way of Thought, which by his Notion, is Defined a Thinking Substance; were no other than to allow the Soul a Substantial Nature, but a very Impertinent or Idle Being in the Body: Or which is much the same, to be capacitated to Think, tho' without Cogitation of any Thing besides itself: Yet on this separate way of Thought, depends the whole Structure of his Idea, whereby he would prompt the Intellect to distinguish betwixt Thoughts Confused, or such as Intrigue with the Senses, from those that have a sole and pure Residence in the Mind.  
As frivolous, if duly Examined, are the Modalities of mere Cogitation delivered by him, where he Intimates, That whatsoever can be Corporeally applied, must be understood to have Extension and Bodily Parts; and must therefore Relate, in one Kind or other, to the Thing moved or extended. And is it possible to Imagine, That the Soul should be endued with Speculative Thinking, yet unperceptible of any proper Object to entertain its sensible Contemplation? All which is required by Des-Cartes, who positively Affirms, That Extension may be understood by the Mind, without Figure, or Motion: By which he would imply, That clear Cogitation may be apprehended without Application to any Imagined Thing or Conception by the Sense, That it is really such: Which Words of his, if rightly considered, imply a very singular Contradiction; it not being in the Power of Thought exactly to Judge of any Thing but as it appears in Extension, Figure, or, if moved, in Motion: How else can any of these Particulars be Mathematically computed; which could not but be known to so great a Geometrician as was this Author?  
In his 14 Particular, he confidently enough offers to Explain his most sublimated Notion of Thinking, in these Words,— It is very facile, (says he) to distinguish betwixt two clear and distinct Ideas; the One relating to a cogitative Created Substance, the Other to a Corporeal Substance; if distinction be made of all Attributes of Cogitation, from those of Extension: And thus he supposes, That a Man may have a perspicuous and distinct Idea of an uncreated and independent Thinking Substance, by which he means God. But should I Interpret, according to him, the Deity to be a Thinking Substance; I must also Imagine the Deity of such a Substance as may be comprehended by sensible Cogitation: And next, notwithstanding all the Refined Caution given by Des-Cartes; I can have no other than a Corporeal Notion of God, or in Resemblance to Bodily Substance; because, in any other Consideration, it were Incompatible with the Humane Soul, as it Acts its Cognition by the aid of the Senses.  
I may therefore well admire, Why he Defines the Deity an Uncreated Substance, and not Explicate to his Reader what Kind of Substance he intends by the Definition: Which can be no otherwise Interpreted than that he took care to avoid the Critical Objection, or Absurdity, in the Opinion of not a few Eruditely accomplished; by not supposing, That there may be such an Existence that can be truly Denominated both Incorporeal and Substantial: By reason that Matter and Form, Extension, and Parts, are the Proprieties of Substance, as it can be conceived by Thought; and whatsoever is said to be Incorporeal can have none of those Attributes; because nothing but Body is capable of them.  
Wherefore 'tis no less naturally Improper to Assert the Being of an Incorporeal Substance, than to Affirm, That there may be such a Thing as body, without Body; which how far repugnant to the common Dictates of Reason and Sense, is obvious to every Man's Understanding. And which could not but be foreseen by Des-Cartes, who, to avoid that grand Reflection, covers his Idea of God with the general Notion of an Uncreated Substance; notwithstanding that it is equally Impossible to Imagine a Substantial Existence, however it came to pass; without the Qualifications of Body, before mentioned. Because the Term given by him, of Substance Uncreated, takes nothing from any Corporeal Propriety that might appertain to it. Insomuch, That whether Substance be deemed Created, or Uncreated, it may be Denominated Corporeal, for aught that, by this Author, is proved to the contrary: Who, by his Undertaking to call the Soul of Man a separate Thinking Substance, tho' confined to the Body, and perfectly Impower'd to distinguish, after his Method, Truth from Falsehood; does in effect appropriate to God, whom he supposes to have committed that Animated Substance into the Body of Man; no other difference of Epithet than by denominating the Deity an Uncreated Substance: The grossness of which Tenent, if uncensured, were enough to Infect the Brain of Man; by Insinuating, That neither the Almighty, or any Humane Individual, with whatsoever may be named Animal, or Vegetal, is other than Corporeally Existing: The Reasons already given being of sufficient Validity to Convict Mankind, That there can be no evident Distinction made, betwixt the Word Substance and Body.  
How much more Judiciously safe, had it then been, for the Learned Des-Cartes, had he Asserted the Infinite Consistence of the Omnipotent, rather by the Epithet of Incomprehensible Admiration; than to have delivered, it's more than wonderful Being, by the Philosophical Notion of something substantially Existing? Because the Word Substance takes from the Immense Nature of the Almighty; as it may relate to Body and Commensurable Parts, whereby he has exposed it, to no small contest; for Reasons already Inserted: It being a far surer Aphorism to define what the Deity is not, than by any Term of Science to express what it is, or any clear Idea of its Miraculous Being.  
In his next Head, which is the 55 of his Discussions, he farther dilates on his Thesis of mere Cogitation; as he would separate it from all Corporeal or sensible Concomitancy: And this he attempts to Explain, by Affirming, That Duration, Order, and Number, may be distinguished without annexing of them to any conceived Substance. Which if duly considered, are but so many Insignificant Varations of his former Positions: For how can any Corporeal Thing be said, perfectly to endure, or to have Orderly, or Numerical Being; unless the Substance, or Body, to which they appertain, be also understood in every of these Considerations?  
Can it be properly Justified, That any quantitive Thing is to be apprehended as to the time of its continuing such; but as there may be perceptibly deduced from it, a real Intelligence why it so long in that manner Remained, or was Altered, or Changed into another?  
Is't possible to perceive the Flame of a Candle extinguished, and not at the same time Discern, That the Matter that fed the Flame is alterable with it? Yes certainly, did it burn by Hours or Minutes accounted from a Watch or Dial.  
And is it not plainly manifest, by the precedent Example, that Duration, Order, and Number, essentially appertain to the entire Consistency, or Alterative Nature and Qualification of the Matter unto which they belong?  
A Tree may be older than I can Compute, tho' not to the Man who, in past time, did plant it: But if its Decay, or Withering, in any of its Parts, be visible to me: I may be able to account the Day or Season in which I perceived it did Alter. Wherefore to conclude, as does this Author, That Duration, Order, and Number, are but the Modalities of Substance, is a very fantastical Conceit; since they must have an Inseparable Tendency, more or less, by their Co-herent Attributes, to the Perfection, or Imperfection of whatsoever does Exist.  
If a sixpence be broken into two Parts, there will remain in either of those Pieces, a different Proportion in Number, Orderly Figure, and Duration, than when it was whole. And tho' this is but an Artificial Instance, as it may have Reference to any Thing broken or severed; 'tis not impossible that, by Time, might naturally be produced the same Effect; because whatsoever does Corporeally subsist, must be subject to Alteration in all its Capacities.  
So that what he simply calls the Modalities of Being, is indeed Essential to Substance and its Bodily Parts; or no other than necessitated Change, sooner or later, of all Individual Things that are extant to Humane Observation. The Stars that Illustrate, as the most Refined Jewels of Illumination, the Firmament above, and least apprehended, by Thought, to vary in any of their Proprieties; cannot be certainly exempted from Present or Future Alteration; either as they have, or may vary in their Order, Influence, Motion, or what besides may be Incident to their Essence and Nature.  
How Insignificantly then is argued by this Author, That neither Order, Number, or Continuation, in any Thing that Exists, is otherwise to be understood, than as so many Modalities of Substance? Tho' to every Man's Reason there can be no Variation or Change in any of These, but there must be also a substantial Alteration in whatsoever may be called Body, or Substance.  
In his 56 Particular he undertakes to make out what he farther means by the Modalities he gives to Things; which he grants, In some respects, may be Interpreted Attributes, or Qualities; and as Substance may be said to be Affected or Varied by them not Improperly called Modalities: But most generally, he allows them, when considered as Inherent in Substance, the Terms of Attributes.  
And what would he infer from this puzzle of Words, and perplexing of Terms, otherwise than he has precedently mentioned? For if Modalities, Qualities, and Attributes, may be applied to Substance in all its Capacities, Proprieties, and possible Variations; how is he able to make good his former Assertion, where he denominates them the mere Modalities of Cogitation? So that whatsoever Alteration is either Naturally, or Essentially Incident to Substance, is no farther Real, in the Judgement of Des-Cartes, than what may have the empty Notion of Modality; tho' both in substance and manner of Being, the Thing does not continue the same as it was before: Which is a perfect Contradiction to sensible Evidence, if duly apprehended the precedent Instances; which, as I conceive, are amply satisfactory.  
There yet remains a Part of this Head that may well be Interpreted somewhat Crazy. Notwithstanding that he undertakes to explicate the soundness of its Importance as he intends: To which purpose his Expression stands briefly thus,— In God, (says he) cannot be any Modalities or Qualities, but only Attributes; because in him, there can be no Variation: And no less Excellency of Subsistence, does he appropriate to Things Created; if no different Modalities, or Diversity of Existence and Duration is to be found in them; and consequently exempts from them all Qualifications and Modalities, and instead of those, he Dignifies their Being by the Name of Attributes annexed to their Natures.  
If this Doctrine could be verified, there might be no distinction betwixt the Substance of God, as Defined by this Author, and any other Thing of whose Existence and Duration we have no variable Prospect: Of which the Universe, for aught can be proved to the contrary, affords many. And who can doubt, but it may be so Affirmed, not only of Stars, that have unchangeable Magnitudes above us; but also of the most Durable Rocks of Adamant, which by their Permanency and lasting Continuance, admit of no certain Computation, whereby may be Employed their Temporary Alteration, or Change? And 'tis no wonder, if with the Modern Philosophical Mine, pretendedly discovered by this Author, there be discerned some Rubbish amongst the Diamonds which he endeavours to polish by his Brain.  
For what is more gross, than to render, as he does, the Attributes of an Uncreated Substance, or of God, the same with Created; and next to grant, That there is no other Distinction betwixt Substance and Substance but as they differ in Attributes; which if true, there could be no exact distinguishing of Uncreated, and Created Existence: By reason that a Corporeal Being might, according to his Affirmation, have the same Attributes. Nor is there any Discussion more Philosophically difficult, than to explicate, how Substance and Body may be differently apprehended by any Intelligible Distinction of Science: But whosoever will rely upon the Opinion of Des-Cartes, must wipe out of the Essence of his Intellect all actual Perception of Objects represented by the Senses; and next be so far reconciled to his Idea, as to Denominate the Humane Soul a peculiar Substance committed to the Body by God, but nothing allied to Corporeal Nature; tho' naturally actuating the Body of Man: As if it were no Contradiction to determine, That Substance, not to be understood Body, can operate on Body. To evade which obvious Objection, he frequently labours, as may be observed by the Remarks precedently made on his Treatise, to sublimate his conceived Idea, by supposing, That the Faculty of separate Thought was so disposed by God as a perfect Thinking Substance Inherent in the Mind: To which, as a Gift of Perfection, he Imputes unerrable Conception; ask no other Conditions, whereby to remove the Misapprehensions and Frailties of Thought, than very considerative and discreet Thinking: Which is the utmost performance that can be rationally attained by any Contemplative Act; but not with that complete Assurance required by him, whereby Thought may arrive to such a Veritable Certainty, That it may not at all be Complicated with the Senses; or beholding to them for any Object of their Conveyance to the Judgment-Seat of the Understanding: Which is no less Inconsistent with Humane Capacity, than to believe with Des-Cartes, That it is possible so to Discipline the Mind, as to be one of his Thinking Proselytes: Tho' not able to Demonstrate, That there is any sensible Certainty in that speculative Mode of Thought, which by a main Artifice of his Brain he endeavours to promote.  
Nor less discrepant from the soundest Opinion grounded on Divine and Philosophical Science, is the Denomination he gives to the Deity, which he defines, an Uncreated Thinking Substance; or as he would intent, the Almighty an eternal Thinker: Which is very like a Contradiction in Terms: It being impossible to allow to Thought, by common Acceptation, other than a temporary Attribute; or not to be otherwise Defined than Exerted in Past, or Present Time: Which, if applied to God, were all one as to Impute to the Deity a temporary Thought; and must Imyly Solicitude and Care suitable to the Nature of Contemplating on something to be Improved or Perfected by Thinking, that was not before exactly considered: Which how far destructive to the Attribute of Omnipotent Perfection, I suppose was not duly weighed, by this Author, when he penned this Paragraph. I find a Conceit in Plato much more passable, than what is written by Des-Cartes, who being asked, What God did? His answer was, That the Deity exercised Geometry. On which, the Learned Gassendus, has this Comment, That Geometry as it Relates either to Contemplation, or Action, may not be incongruously understood of God; as he may be said to Contemplate, and chief consider himself in that Act, Emphatically expressed, in the Being given by the Omnipotent to the Universe; together with the proportional Conservation it has from Supreme Power and Conduct.  
Which is a better Exposition than that of a thoughtful Deity, delivered by this French Philosopher; who makes no such sublime Distinction betwixt an Uncreated and Created thinking Substance, as does in any kind Attribute to God, what he means by Uncreated Thinking, or how, or in what manner to be apprehended; as it may be applied to the Deity: So that according to the Latitude of this Author's Idea of Thinking; perfect Thought may be Inherently Attributed to the Humane Mind, no less than to the Almighty; with this only difference, That Man is not an Original but a Created Thinker: And 'tis as possible, if granted, as this Writer determines, That perfect Thought, bestowed on the Soul by God, may be filled with Perfection, as it solely resides in the Intellect, no less Created than if it had been eternally such.  
To conclude, it is far more congruous to the Propriety of the Deity, if said, That he has for ever determined, than by any Notion Affirmed a Thinker: It being not to be denied, That Thought can have other Construction but as Employed, by its Past, Present, or Future Contemplation on something in Being: Which cannot be an Object of Omnipotent Thinking; because nothing could really Exist that was not, by him, so foreseen and Established.  
Whereas Humane Reasoning must necessarily proceed from Principles deduced from apposite Conclusions gradually made and depending on Antecedents and Consequents of Proof in every Consideration: Which can have no resemblance to the Science of God; whose perfect Knowledge is perpetually the same: And therefore admits of no successive Degrees, or Qualifications, tending to the Method of Argumentative Confirmation.  
In his 60 Particular he attempts to surprise his Reader, but how Improperly may be gathered from the Expression he delivers in these Words,— Whosoever (says he) does acknowledge, That God could make us certainly Intelligent of whatsoever we may distinctly Apprehend; must, for Example, grant, That we may have an Idea of Substance extended, or Corporeal; although we do not, as yet, assuredly know that any such Thing does really Exist; tho' certain of the possibility of its Existence.  
And I may well Reply, That 'tis as far from my expectation to find in Des-Cartes, so weak an Argument, in order to the Grandeur of the Matter, he would prove; by his Affirming, That we can have no absolute Assurance, unless the Intellect be immediately Impower'd by God, that Bodily Substance and Extension have other than a possibility of being such: Which has so very opposite a disparity to natural and sensible Conviction, that it appears no less Irrational, than if he had undertaken to Argue Mankind into the Belief, That it is possible to have Senses and yet be destitute of their Use.  
Can a Man live and not be sensible, That Substance, in its Bodily signification, has a proper Being? Or can he feel, and eat the Food that nourishes his Corporeal Composition, and not be Knowing, otherwise than by mere Cogitation, that he subsists by it, or that there is any such Thing, but in possibility Existing? Yet so determined, by the Dictates of this Author, however Contradictory to common Sense; or as Unsound, in his Way of Reasoning, as if he had declared, That a Man might have Corporeal Life, but be dead as to all Bodily Consideration; whilst by sole Ccogitation in the Mind, he may have only a living Notion of the possibility of the Being of Substance and Body; as they may be distinguished by their natural Capacities.  
Which Opinion of his he would Confirm, as he presumes, with no greater difficulty, Than as any Man may judge that he is a real Thinker, and by that Thought exclude from himself all other Substance, either Thinking or Extended. On which Supposition or Consistency of Thought, as he intends it, he certainly concludes, That every Man may distinguish himself, not only from every Thinking Substance, but also from all others of Corporeal Denomination.  
Had a Poet been Author of this Conceit, he had not farther surpassed the Excesses of Fiction, than this French Writer has done by the liberty he allows to his Invention, deviated from Principles of Reason and Philosophy: For what is more preposterous to Both, than to conclude as he does, That it is possible for a Thinking Man to separate himself, by mere Thought, from the substantial Similitude he has to all others of Humane Nature; as also from whatsoever can be said Corporeally to Exist. And may not the same Person by as good consequence Determine, That he is a Thinker in Body, without being sensible, that any Bodily Life, Composition, or Parts, appertain to him? Which requires no plainer Confutation than what has been already observed on Passages of this Author, precedently tending to the same purpose; as may be discerned by whomsoever shall heedfully inspect these Papers.  
All which, in effect, is conceded by himself, before he comes to a Period of the Head I Treat of; where he thus Expresses.— That although we suppose, That God has so strictly Joined to the Cogitative Substance other Corporeal Substance, that they cannot be more firmly Connected; and from their Conjunction Constituted their Union: Notwithstanding they may remain absolutely distinct, because God may reserve a Power to separate their Being's, tho' Corporeally Enclosed: Or to confer Conservation on both as United, or separated; however they participate, by Existence, with the Extent of the Body.  
These words, in Sum, can have no other Signification than what may be construed a Distinction without an apparent Difference, and therefore Logically Unintelligible; there being no Notion more perplexed than his manner of Uniting Substance to Substance, in a Corporeal Figure, and yet expect, that they ought to be requisitely distinguished.  
The Reason he gives in Sum, is, That it may be so Ordained by God, That whatsoever are Conjoined by him takes not from his Power to disunite their Conjunction, by capacitating their Separation; or as the Soul may singly Act without any Assistance or Concurrence of the Senses appropriated to the Body.  
If this be the best Argument that he can Allege, by which he would heighten the Notion, so much Celebrated by him, of the Minds operating by a distinct and clear Idea from all Corporeal Concomitancy; it is more than Intricately, in this Place, urged by him; who grants the firm Union, Constitated by God, of Soul and Body; yet will needs Imagine; that their Separation is also determined by God: And thus, by Des-Cartes, the Act of God is rendered contradictory to it self.  
B●… now does he undertake to Explain his Proposition? Why verily, by no better Assurance than that it is possible for the Almighty so to dispose the Humane Mind, that it may operate divided from the Body and sensible Parts; tho' naturally United to all of them: Which, in effect, does annex Contradiction to the Act of God; it being palpably evident, That the Understanding Faculty does actuate its Intelligence with the Concurrence of the Senses: But no such manifest Assurance, that by any separate Power of the Mind the same can be Effected. Let a Man Imagine, by his utmost Force of mere Thought, That by the Speculative Act of the Mind, is represented the Shape, Proportion, Likeness, and Colour, of any Object, whether it be Moving, Standing, or Lying; 'tis not in his Power so perfectly to discern all their several Proprieties, as if they were visibly perceived by him, and considered as proper Objects to entertain all other requisite Parts of his Senses: But very Impossible to Contemplate, of any of these, by any separate Act of the Understanding distinct from Sensation: Because there could be no Idea or Notion of such Things that had never been conveyed to the Intellect by the consent of the Senses; as by Seeing, Feeling, Smelling, Tasting and Hearing, are occasionally completed the useful Appurtenances to the Humane Intellect: Wherefore it might be well admired, Why the useage of Eyes, Hands, and Ears, with other of the Senses, should be naturally Incident to the Bodily Parts and Composition of Man; if the Mind could solely be perfectly apprehensive without them? And doubtless these Excellent Gifts had been Insignificantly conferred on Mankind; if Thought, abstracted from Sensation, might be alone exactly apprehensive. Nor can sufficient Reason be given, Why the Mind should not have been solely bestowed, however Ordained to Exist; if by its single Intelligence it could have performed the divers Operations, and Actual Capacities that are jointly Exerted by the Soul and Senses?  
'Tis not to be denied that the Existence of the Mind, unconfined to Body, had been as easily accomplished by Providence, had it been so determined, as it is now Resident with the Society of the Senses: And questionless, if so established, had, exalted Humane Felicity to a paramount degree: Nothing tending more to the detriment of Mankind, than the complicated and prone Inveiglement of the Soul by the Allurement of the Senses: So that could the Mind have been exempted from Corporeal Conjunction, it had certainly, by a glorious Act of Providence, been discharged from its Bodily Confinement; together with the exorbitant, and wicked Temptations, it receives from the Appetites and Senses. But this being repugnant to it's Decreed, and natural Station in the Body of Man; no room is to be found there for the Idea of Des-Cartes, by which he does incompatibly infer, That the Humane Soul is of a distinct Substance, tho' Co-herent to the Body of Man, and actually concomitant with Corporeal Operations.  
In his 64 Particular, he farther attempts to Explain what he would mean by his Definition of a distinct Thinking Substance; his Allegation is, That Cogitation and Extension may be understood as one and the same Mind may have diversity of Thoughts; or as one and the same Body, retaining its own Quantity, may be diversely Extended; at one time in Longitude, at another in Latitude, or contrarily less in Latitude than in Depth, and the like, by which they may be distinguished; as also considered as Modalities of the Substance to which they belong.  
Can this be Judged a proper Method, in order to the Improving of Humane Understanding, according to the undertaking of this Author; as he Defines the varied Proprieties of Substance, whether in Length, Breadth, or Depth, no other than different Modalities applicable to the same Substance? Whereas the contrary is Mathematically certain; because the Extent and Proportions, in one and the same Body, must necessarily have a Commensurable Alteration.  
If the Basis of a solid Substance be supposed to be lengthened one Foot more than it was before; the Latitude and Depth of the same Body cannot but have as to its Proportion, an Essential Variation: Which evidently proves, That what he Terms mere Modality, or accidental Change of local Parts in the same Substance, is neither Arithmetically, or Geometrically true: It being no less absurd to Affirm, That the half of a Number is all one with the whole; or that the different Situation, Measure, and Being of Substance, were neither a quantitative or formal Alteration in reference to the reality of Place, Figure, or Motion; as they ought to be apprehended in all their Capacities. On which consideration, the Idea of this French Writer, is foe far from tending to a significant Modality, as he would apply it; that it rather vanishes as a fictitious Comment, or Shadow of his Brain.  
To be plain, should a Man Collect a numerous Sum of Refined Notions, with the most Artful Curiosity that could employ his Imagination, whereby he would dignify the Humane Intellect; he might find the Undertaking no less difficult, to the finest Thread of his Reasoning; than to Invent a more wonderful Passage into an obscure Labryinth than could be ever attained by rational Conduct: There being no passabler or clearer Prospect by which the Soul of Man may discern the Manner of its actual Being and Exercising of the Intellectual Faculty; than as it is operatively Conjoined, with the temper of the Body and Senses: To whose united Concurrence may be Attributed, more or less, the qualified Abilities of the Understanding in every Consideration. Do we not Experimentally know, That Judgement, Wit, Passions, Affections, virtuous or vicious Inclinations, with all the Moralities of Life, are Influenced by the Mind; as it does participate with the Elementary Composition Inherent in the Body and Senses: Insomuch, That their several Inclinations may be termed the Effects of Heat, Cold, Moisture, or Drought, as they adhere to our Natures.  
Is not a Wise Man distinguished by the Judicious Temper of his Thoughts; the vain by their Levity and insipid Conversation? No less discernible than one Man's strength of Mind, or, Corporeal Vigour, has a natural Variation from another: To which may be Emphatically added, the experimental Observation as it respects the Intellectual Faculties; of which some are Impower'd with a more considerable vivacity of Apprehension, Judgement and Wit, in Age; than was manifest in Youth: But in others, contrarily, a Decay, or Withering of their Understandings no less apparent than the Wrinkles of their Brows and Cheeks: Which could proceed from no other 'Cause but as the Vigour of the Mind does naturally Impair, in divers examples of Age; with the Strength and Temper of the Arteries, Nerves. Members and Senses, that appertain to the Body: Yet not universally so, because, not seldom observed, That some Persons, who have lived to Antiquity of Years, have rather been completed, in all Kind's, by their Intellectual Abilities; for which there can be given no better Reason, than, that notwithstanding they have some Corporeal Deficiencies incident to Age; yet none in the Principal Assistants of the Brain, and its Contiguity with the Senses.  
All which is far more evidently demonstrable than a supposed Thinking Substance, separately acting in the Body of Man, according to the Tenent of Des-Cartes; together with his Imaginary Modalities, by which he would insinuate a distinct Thinking Faculty to the Humane Soul, without any specifical Assistance received from the Senses: A Notion no less absurd, than 'tis impossible to Think, and not be exactly sensible of the Thing, or Object Thought on: Either as it had been at the same time conveyed to the Understanding by some One, or more of the Senses; or their Impression, by the Memory before retained.  
Which fully Confirms the Philosophical Maxim; That nothing is in the Intellect, but what was before in the Senses: Yet not so to be Applied, or Instanced here, as might, in any respect, derogate from the Excellency of the Humane Soul, or its Immortal Estate, when Life departs from the Body; it being in the Power of the Almighty to Eternalise its Being; howsoever it was Composed, or the manner of its Existence when Resident in the Body of Man.  
I find no other Discussions in this Treatise of Des-Cartes, that require a more pertinent or accurate Observation, than may be Employed from what is already Written: Wherefore to avoid unnecessary Repetition, I descend to his Conclusion; where he briefly Sums the most considerable Principles on which he had founded his precedent Arguments; committing them, as very advisable, to the perusal of his Reader.  
The First of his Counsels is, That we should be very cautious, how we adhere to Former Opinions that have not been strictly Catechised and found true by a subsequent Examination: Which I confess is plausibly Advised.  
But how does he make good these Admonishments? Why, by heedfully regarding, as he prompts us, such Notions we have in ourselves, by which, he would suppose, We are enough enabled to arrive to clear and distinct Knowledge.  
Here he Epitomizes the main Force and Application of his Former Ideas, in order to erect perfect Understanding in the Humane Intellect; and by which he undertakes so to Cleanse it, that the Senses may have nothing to do with its orderly Perception: As if the Determination made by the Intellect, with the Assistance of the Senses; were no less detrimental to the Principality of the Mind, than the lose Advice of a City-Mobb would be to their Monarch: Whereas, by a surer Inference, the bare Idea of the Mind, introduced by Des-Cartes; if duly considered, does Imply such a Licence of Thought, as is no way consistent with the orderly Rule of Man's Understanding: It being possible, That the Body-Politick of Reason, or perspicuity of Thought, in its orderly Method, should be performed without the Concurrence of the Senses; no more than a Man can be assured, he lives, and not sensibly demonstrate, both in Soul and Sense, that he does so. But so fully, I conceive, has been, by what is Written before, refelled the Conceit, of this Author, relating to his so often Inserted, or rather devised Tenent, or Manner of certain Thinking, under the Notion of an Idea; that it appears too like a Fable Invented by himself.  
Towards the Close of his Treatise which he takes to be, on divers accounts, a very Irrefragrable Advancement to Humane Understanding.  
He much Celebrates this Instance, viz. That amongst all the Notions, by which Man is enabled to discern Propositions of Eternal Verity; there is none more signally applicable than the certain Affirmation, That out of Nothing, comes Nothing: Which Allegation, of his, if maturely considered, will be found Improper, nay, absurd: As what can be more opposite to Reason and Sense, than to suppose, That a Notion, or Thought of the Mind, can have nothing for its Object? Because whatsoever is conceived, by Intellectual Thinking, must be really Existent; it being all one as to Imagine, That Nonentity, or Vacuity, has a Natural and Certain Being, notwithstanding that the Universal World is replenished with Bodies of divers Kind's, and no room left either in the Universe, or Brain of Man for the Conception of Nothing. So that to derive a Notion from what can be Interpreted by no Word, Etymology, or substantial Thought; is no other than as if Monsieur Des-Cartes had Imagined himself Nothing, in Body and Mind, when in order to manifest a certain Truth, he Penned his Contemplation of Nothing.  
And 'tis much to be admired, That this Author, who endeavours to Embellish his Opinion by a new Way of Reasoning, should comply with the Obsolete, and no less Impertinent Position of some Former Philosophers; by which they would Infer, That the Term or Accent of Speech, that Verbally did Relate to Nothing, was contradictory to whatsoever had Essential Being: Whereas there can be no Contrariety or Opposition, betwixt Nothing and any Thing that may be said, either as a Cause, or Effect, to have real Existence. On which ground it may aptly be required, That the pretended Philosophical Tenent, that would Assert, That out of Nothing, comes Nothing; should be as clearly Expunged out of all Discussions of that Nature, as if a Man should undertake to Argue, that one Impossibility could produce another: Or Celebrate a Nonentity, under the Notion of Eternal Truth, and Crown it on the Pate of Nonsense. Besides all which Absurdities, 'tis very apparent, That this supposed Principle is absolutely Inconsistent with the most general Belief of Mankind, that allows Perfect Creation, from Nothing, of the Total World: Which how Incompatible with the Tenent, here mentioned of Des-Cartes, I leave to the Judicious Peruser of this Treatise.  
And thus I Conclude my Remarks on the First Part of his Philosophy, called, The Principles of Humane Knowledge.   

REMARKS On the Second Part of the New PHILOSOPHY OF DESCARTES. Concerning the Principles of MATERIAL THINGS. PART. II.  
THE Magnitude of the Title appertaining to the Second Part of the Philosophy of Des-Cartes, creates in his Reader, an Egregious Expectation of a superlative Method, and undoubted Assurance; whereby the Humane Mind might satisfactorily apprehend the admirable Consistence of the Material World, providentially Disposed for the vast Habitation and Benefit of Man and Creatures.  
Which is so Important a Knowledge, That the Misdemeanour of the Intellectual Faculty cannot be excused from being Impeached by the Assembly of the Senses; if negligently Regardless, or not industriously Apprehensive, as far as can be Extended its Solid Contemplation; How Mankind is sensibly Sustained by the peaceable Order and Conduct of Nature: And next to that Philosophical Speculation, the Soul of Man ought to bewail its Infelicity, in Bodily Life; when perniciously allured by Covetous, or Ambitious Desires, to Possess more of the Earth he treads on, than aught to be his, to the Detriment or Ruin of others: Instead of deducing from the regular Constitution of the World, in which he Subsists, How unnaturally he Lives, by Infringing the Rights of Humane Society: Which ought to have an Impression on the Soul, in a Philosophical, and Moral Conception. This is as a Proaemium fitly annexed to the ensuing Treatise, I thought not Improper to Insert; before I come to the First Particular of Des-Cartes, which as a Platform or main Fund to his subsequent Notions, he Compiles; by undertaking to Explain the Reasons by which the Existence of Material Things may be certainly understood.  
His first Words are these,— Although there is no Man that does not fully convince himself, That Material Things do really Exist, notwithstanding that it has been dubiously rendered by me, in the precedent Discussions, or accounted amongst the Prejudices incident to the Childhood, or Greenness of our Years; it is now Incumbent, on me, to search for the Reasons that may produce its perfect Intelligence: To which purpose he infers, That whatsoever we apprehend, must necessarily proceed from something, that is not the same with the Humane Mind; nor is it in our Power, as he Affirms, to think of one Thing more than another; but as from some other Thing we are Affected, or receive Impression on the Senses: And makes this Quere, Whether that Thing be not God, or differently to be conceived?  
This Part of this Head, may be pertinently Answered, by demanding, On what ground Des-Cartes undertakes to conclude, that the Soul is so disposed, as it operates on the Senses by the Idea it has from God? Which perfectly contradicts the Notion delivered by him in the 7th Particular of his First Part, and Remarked by me, accordingly; where he declares, That it is in our Power to reject whatsoever we doubt of, or feign that it is false; and thus we may suppose, that there is no God, no Heaven, no Bodies, and that we have no Hands, no Feet, or Bodies Constituted.  
But in his Second Part, which I now deal with, he restores the Senses, that he had Abdicated before, to the uses of the Mind. By which it appears, that he was conscious of his former Mistake; and that 'tis not possible to discourse, as he does, in this Part, of Material Principles, without allowing the Association of the Mind to its sensible Discernment.  
The Reason that he mentions is, That because we sensibly, and distinctly perceive, from the Impulse of the Senses, any certain Matter extended into Length, Breadth and Depth, whose Parts are diversely Figured, and variously Moved; as also how they affect us with different Conceptions that we have of their Colours, Smells, Griefs, and the like: If God should Imbue the Mind with an Idea of such Extended Matter, and afterward should cause any other Thing so to dispose the Humane Intellect, that it might fix its Imagination on what had neither Extension, Figure, or Motion; no reason can be given, why God might not be thought a Deceiver.  
This Passage can have no excusable Defence, if judiciously Examined: The Question he offers being so ill Stated, or Inconsistent with the accurate Part of Reasoning, That it cannot amount to Refined Sophistry. For however he might conceive. That the Soul, together with its Mental Idea, might be placed in the Body by God; it could not be without assurance, that the World is replenished with Corporeal Being's that cannot be Denominated such, but as Length, Breadth and Depth, Colour, Taste and Smell, are their natural Proprieties: So that where the Intellect and Senses are jointly Illuminated, in whatsoever Method, by the Act of God; they must be far more certain than to admit any room for Misconception, or the If, or Quere, Inserted by Des-Cartes; by which he would Infer, That could a Man, Ensouled by God, Imagine by any other means, that there is no such Thing as Longitude, Latitude, Depth and the like, appertaining to Corporeal Substance; he might call God a Deceiver: Which were all one as to suppose, That a Man duly apprehensive, of any Object, should by the Will of God, voluntarily Determine, that he is not; which is no less Irrational, than Impossible to all of competent Understanding: But no disallowable Tenent if applied to other Particulars of Mankind, whose Intellects are not of sufficient Ability, if not naturally stupid, or accidentally unsound, or phrenetically distempered; as is the condition of such as are Distracted, and, in a manner, totally destitute of the Use of their Rational Faculty: And who can doubt, that not a few of these, want Capacity to define Length, Breadth and Depth, as Inseparable to Bodily Existence? Which could not have been, if Mankind were Universally endued by an Impartial Course of Nature, Ordained by God, and so committed to the Humane Body: Where it must have had a more excellent Residence than could be impedited, or debased by Corporeal Attributes; and must have likewise been completed with as perfect an Idea, in every respect, as this Author endeavours to prove: But not being performed, his manner of Argument turns the point of a Dilemma against his Assertion, by which he would annex a more general and perfect Idea to the Soul of Man, than is experimentally Certain; and whereby, in effect, he Terms God a Deceiver; because, according to his Doctrine, every Soul, within a Humane Body has not a patallel Idea of exact Knowledge.  
A Blessing much to be wished, or rather Implored by Prayer, were it not repugnant to the Methods of Providence omnipotently determined; by which the Intellectual Faculty is differently Empowered, as its Corporeal Dominion is more or less Absolute; either as it commands, or is weakened in Rule, by the Conspiracy of the Senses: Which cannot be otherwise, the Mind being surrounded and continually endangered by the frail Composition and Temperatures of the Bodily Parts, in which it operatively Resides.  
On the contrary, were there such a clear Idea, from above, infused into the Soul of Man, as is Instanced by Des-Cartes; by which every requisite Notion, or Truth, might be perfectly apprehended: It were not consistent with the Justice of the Almighty, if every Individual of Mankind were not equally Intelligible; on which account, one Man, might be as wise, in every Consideration, as any other: And if so, there would be less necessity for Superior Magistracy, or Rule; could every Man be alike Discreet in governing of Himself.  
In the mean time, Des-Cartes has introduced a new Character, on the Stage of Philosophy, more complete in Thought than is univocally Consistent with the Figure of Humane Composition; by which is Personated the Dress and Mode of the Mind, as it is Clothed by the Senses: From whence 'tis apparently manifest. That the Powers of the Rational Soul are frequently exerted suitable to the diversity of Tempers that sensibly Exist, Improve, or Decay, in the Body of Man.  
And this as Naturally Certain as Animal Creatures of the same Kind, vigorously Grow, or Impair; or are more Subtle, Active and Strong, proportionable to the Elementary Mixtures by which they Subsist. And therefore as highly presumptuous, as to Argue against the Methods of Providence, if discussed, Why Men and Creatures are so Constituted in their Several Capacities of Being, and Life? Which is above the search of Man's Reasoning, and only known to the Omnipotent Disposer of whatsoever the Universe contains. All which, if duly considered, sufficiently explodes the Novel Scene of this Part of the Philosophy of this Author, together with the Actual Character he gives to Mankind, in his Modalities of Intellectual Apprehension, as 'tis Personated by his Pen.  
His Second Particular gins with a Truth, but ends with a Falsehood: Where he grants, That the Mind, or Soul of Man, is more strictly United to its peculiar Body, than to all other Bodies: The Reason he offers is, Because we have an Apprehension of Griefs, and other sensible Advertencies that happen unthought on by us; of which the Mind, he conceives, could not be Intelligent, as it is merely Cogitative, but as it is Conjoined to a Certain extended and movable Substance called the Humane Body.  
The Antecedent Part of this Head is undoubtedly true; which signifies no more, than that our Souls have more to do with our own Bodies, than with any other: And who could have expected, that Des-Cartes could have presented his Reader with so vulgar a Speculation? Which has no other Tendency, than that every Man is as far apprehensive as the Compliment of his Soul and Senses will extend; and thus are Griefs, Passions, Affections, sensibly distinguished by us, when Appertaining to others: Because the Rational Faculty sympathetically complies with the Senses in Conveying their Intelligence to Things, of that Kind, without us; as he that has felt a Wound or Pain in any of his Corporeal Parts, will judge of the same in others. But how to think of any Thing that appertains to ourselves, and not to perform it by help of the Mind, as a sensible Thinker; is a Riddle not to be unfolded by the Writings of Des-Cartes.  
In his Third Particular he attempts to clear the Point; but, in effect weakens it, by this Feeble Proposition of his: The Perception of the Senses does not direct us to Discover what is really in Things, but as they are rendered profitable, or detrimental to Humane Composition: Unless sometimes, or by accident, we are Taught by the Senses what those Bodies are, and how they Exist. And therefore (says he,) we must Depose the Senses, and solely Judge by help of the Intellect according to the Ideas that are Incident to it, by Nature.  
Whosoever is Master of a Grain of Reason, must be convinced, That a Contradiction is Employed by the manner of Argument, here urged by this Author: Who grants, That by the Conjunction of the Soul and Senses, we perfectly Discern what is Beneficial, or Hurtful to us; but in that Act, do not certainly apprehend what those Things are: Which is all one as to Affirm, That we may be Intelligent, yet not undoubtedly assured of what we understand: Unless the Intellect be Refined by Idea, after his manner, as the most natural Way of being clearly Apprehensive; and with such disparagement to the Senses, That they may be, in his Opinion, neglected: Tho' common Experience might have convinced him, that they are, by Nature, Constituted Assistants and real Proofs of whatsoever is openly and demonstratively understood.  
But it seems he omitted these Considerations: And therefore in his next Particular, which is his 4th, he positively directs, as he would intent the Use of his Idea, by which he Argues, That the Nature of Matter, or Body, does not Consist in that it is Hard, Ponderous, or any other Manner affecting the Senses; but only as it is a Thing extended in Length, Breadth and Depth: And for durition, or hardness, the Sense discovers it no farther, than as the Parts of a Hard Body Resist the Motion of our Hands meeting with it.  
Here he would exalt his Idea to the height of Dominion in the Mind, and levelly the Senses below the Capacities that Nature has allowed them: Nothing being more Philosophically Irrational than the Supposition he Inserts, That the Nature of Body is only to be understood as it has Longitude, Latitude and Depth; and why not also as it is Weighty, Hard and Coloured? Is not Air as much a Body as Iron, and yet perfectly distinguished by the compact Durition of the Latter, as its Essential Propriety? And as absolutely different in Colour, could the diaphanous Substance of Air be as visible to the Eye; and although it be not, we may conceive the Distinction, much surer, than we could by intruding on the Mind a conceited Idea; because we are sensibly Assured, That no Corporeal Thing can have Being in Nature, without its colourable Property: And this as familiarly Certain, as that a Bay-Horse cannot be Denominated a Horse, if his natural Colour could be separated from his Substance.  
There are many Things that may be said to have Colour, that are not genuinely their own: And so a painted Cheek, whether in Man or Woman, is no Dye or Complexion of Nature, but Artificically Coloured: And we Judge of Pictures as they Resemble the Life by the Colours applied to them by the Skill of the Painter.  
And 'tis no less evident, that Des-Cartes has presented his Reader with a very Fictitious Varnish of his Pen; if he meant no other distinction of Colours, Relating, or Applied to Material Substances, than in this Place he mentions: And in Sum concludes, That Weight, Colour and such like Corporeal Qualities may be separated from their Inherence in Matter; so that the Nature of the Substance, to which they belong, does not depend on any of them.  
And is not this a concise Manner of Idea, in this Author, by which he would have us believe, That Bodily Substance may have Existence, and be sensibly perceived without being discerned by its genuine Shape, and Figure? If Colour, Hardness and Weight, with other Qualities appertaining to Matter, are defined Accidents in a Philosophical Sense; yet allowable such as, when natural, are inseparable Proprieties from Bodies to which they appertain? And 'tis some wonder, that this Learned Monsieur should forget, on this occasion, That noted Logical Maxim, 
— Quod omni sola et semper accidit subjecto.  So that the Idea of this Author, as it is here Applied by him, is so far from a Weighty, or indeed a Colourable Notion, That 'tis as surely Confuted as a White Plum may be distinguished by the Act of Nature, from a Black one.  
The next Step he takes, is to present his Reader with the Doubts of some Persons, who Determine, That Bodies may be so Rarified, or, Condensed, that they may have, by Rarifaction more Extension than when Condensed. To which Number of Dubitants I desire to be added: Because I conceive nothing more clear than the doubt he Delivers.  
Is it not very evident, That Snow when dissolved, by Rarifaction, into Water is substantially Extended farther than before; as it may be observed falling from a Hill into a River? And is it not as manifest, That some Parts of Wood, when Thinned and Rarified by Fire, convert to Smoak? So that 'tis impossible to deny, that Corporeal Alteration is not Incident to Rarifaction, which gives it a variable and different Extension, if compared to the space it Precedently filled; and this amounts to Demonstration, instead of Opinion.  
But he that will be Proselyted, by the Doctrine of Des-Cartes, must, in this Case be such a compliable Sceptic as to Renounce his sensible Conviction, and accord with him where he contends to Argue, That whosoever, will attentively Think and admit nothing but what he clearly understands, will Judge, That no more is Effected by Rarifaction and Condensation than Change of the Corporeal Figure. And this, in few words, is the sum of what is contained in his Fifth and Sixth Particular, that is worth a Remark.  
The Reason he offers is, That Rarified Bodies, having many Pores, are there Replenished with other Substances; and by that means become Condensed.  
This Conceit of his is as distant from Proof, as Fiction is from Truth: And nothing more obviously Answered; since 'tis Philosophically Certain, That Condensation is added to Bodies which are made more or less Solid, as their thinner Parts are proportionately expelled by Rarifaction: And thus a tenuous Substance is gradually rendered more compact, and hardened by the Fire; as is, in divers Kind's, Experimentally Observable: Which however producing Alteration of Figure in their Corporeal Extent; 'tis as they receive Solidity or Durition from the Capacity that their tenuous Parts have in order to Rarifaction: So that 'tis not, as this Writer Infers, from any Intervals, or Crannies in Bodies, filled with other Bodies, that causes Condensation; but so much of the Tenuity of their Compositions as being vanished by Rarifaction, leaves them more compactly Hardened.  
Suppose he had been asked, Whether the thin Substance of Air, or Fluid Body of Water, did Exist with any such Pores or Inlets in them that might be Receptacles for other Bodies? He could not probably have solved the Question, notwithstanding 'tis very apparent, That Air is Thickened by Moisture that exhaled, by the Sun, is mingled with it. But Water being a grosser Substance, is Condensed as its Thinner Parts are by Heat extracted from it; and this may be discerned in every standing Pool, or Puddle.  
All which is Equivalently acknowledged by him in his Entrance to his Seventh Head, Where he grants, That there are no Pores in Air, or Water, that may add to their Amplitude, by giving Reception to other Bodies whereby they may be more Replenished: Yet would have it pass, in being supposed, for a Rational Fiction; but I expected his Proof, and therefore must be excused, if I reject his Fable.  
As for Corporeal Extent, caused by Rarifaction; he seems to allow none otherwise than as he would a new Body so Extended: Which is not Universally true; and may be so understood from the Example given already, of Snow Dissolved, by Rarifaction, to Water; which, when Snow, was but Water Congealed: So that it cannot be properly said to have a new Body but altered to the Fluid Substance which it had before.  
The like may be Affirmed of Lead, or other Materials, that when melted, and enlarged by Extension, do not lose the Denomination of the same Corporeal Substance; in which Sense, Led, when Dissolved, is as truly Led, as it was in its precedent Existence.  
Examples might be added, on this Subject, did the Reply that I have made require farther Illustration; wherefore I proceed to his next Point, which he thus States:— Quantity and Number differ, only in Reason, from the quantitative or numbered Thing; This Position he procceds to Explicate by Affirming, That the whole Nature of Corporeal Substance, may be considered, as contianed in the space of ten Feet, altho' we attend not the Measure of any such Number of Feet: And by Converse, (says he,) the Number Ten may be understood, as well as a Quantity of so many Feet, although we are regardless of its Determinate Substance.  
Here the gentile Monsieur renews his Address, to his Mistress of Thought, under the Notion of Idea: Which he endeavours to Complete by such a refined Mode of Philosophical Courtship, That like a Platonic Lover, he separates Sense from the Motives he Endears. But I presume, that his Amour has met with divers coy Reprimands from Reason, the most Celebrated Mistress and Beauty of the Understanding.  
And 'tis no presumption, I conceive, if I Attribute a rational Success to my Pen, which has, more than often, refelled the Cartesian Idea in divers preceding Discussions: Wherefore I might refer my Reply to what I have already Written: Did not the respect that I have to the Abilities of this Author, tho' none to his Mistakes, oblige me to prolong my Inspection; together with an earnest Desire of being convinced, might I find Cause, from his Proposals. But instead of meeting with any Motives of his, sufficient to reconcile me to his Assertions, I may justly observe an Erroneous Relapse to his former Principles.  
And thus in his 8th Particular, that occasions my Debate; He supposes, That the whole Nature of Corporeal Substance contained in a space of Ten, or any Number of Feet, may be understood without any Computation of it, as locally Commensurable; and this to be accomplished by a sole Idea of the Mind, in his Opinion. But is it possible to promote mere Thought, by an Insensible Act, suitable to the purpose he intends it? Can a Man that never understood how a Plain Superficies may contain Body, or is produced according to his Example, to a space of Ten Feet; Conceive, or Delineate such a Figure, without knowing that it is Completed by Multiplying of 5 by 2?  
Should a Mathematical Tutor Inform his Pupil, That it would be sufficient for his Instruction, if by Mental Speculation he Imagined that there was, in Nature, such a Thing as a Plain Superficies, tho' he did not apprehend that Longitude and Latitude were its Numerical Proprieties: Can Science be Improved by such an Impertinent and Idle Idea that can signify nothing either to Theory, or Practice?  
On the contrary, every Man must be as competently Intelligent, as was this Author, of the Qualifications of Lines that appertain to superficial Content; and as certainly too, as the Dimensions of any Number of Acres may be figuratively Included in a Square or Parallelogram, or he will profit little on this Question, by Reading of Des-Cartes:  
Who next proceeds to inform us, That notwithstanding 'tis a certain Truth, (and so I think too,) that nothing can be taken from Quantity, or Extension, but the Substance, to which they belong, must also be Leslened: And convertibly, not the least Part of Substance can be exempted; but as much of Quantity and Extension will be taken from it.  
This Opinion of his he alleges as opposite to the Tenent of others, of whom he says, there are some that consider Corporeal Substance as distinct from its Quantity: Which Conception of theirs causes them confusedly to think, that the same Substance may be termed Incorporeal.  
Whether there was ever Man of such a wild Imagination may well be questioned: Since nothing can be more absurd than to Imagine, That Substance might remain, in any Kind Substance, without its proper Quantity; and next, notwithstanding that Contradiction, or as he calls it confusion of Thought, to suppose, the same Substance Metamorphosed, by a mysterious Way of Thinking, to Incorporeal; which is no less contradictory to the natural Being and Definition of Substance, than if a Man should determine, that Body could cease to be Body: Because Substance is inseparable from Quantity, as its Corporeal Propriety; and therefore by no Notion, or Object of Sense, can be deemed Incorporeal. But notwithstanding that the Incomprehensible Idea of Incorporeal Substance is reproved by Des-Cartes, as Notionally Confused; the Sense that he delivers in the 64th Particular of his First Part, or Treatise of Humane Cognition, is allied to the same Absurdity, as may be observed from my Remarks on that Head: Where he supposes That Cogitaion and Extension may be considered as Modalities of Substance; because, as he Affirms, The Humane Mind may have diversity of Thoughts; by which the Cogitative Substance, as he Defines it, may at one time Employ its Idea of Things, clearly distinguished, without the Assistance of the Senses; at another, operate in Conjunction with the sensible Parts of the Body: Is not this such a manner of Idea as would render the Thinking Substance of the Mind with, or without Quantity; as pleases the Thinker? Which little differs from the Irrational Notion of Incorporeal Substance; if any Thing, by excluding of Quantity, might be possibly Imagined substantial.  
From whence it may be inferred, That the Criticism offered by Des-Cartes, in this Place, in order to refel the Opinion of others, does considerably reflect on his own.  
And thus I proceed to such of his Particulars as occasion my Remarks; which I shall Insert no oftener than the Subject requires.  
In his 11th Head, he reminds us of the Idea that we may have of Body, by the Example he gives of a Stone, from which we may reject all that is not Essential to the Nature of Body: As if a Stone be melted, or pulverised, it does not therefore cease to be Corporeal: We may also reject Colour, because we frequently observe Stones that very pellucidly shine, as if they were without Colour. And so we may reject Gravity, Lightness, Heat and Cold, with All other Qualities; because they are either not considered in the Stone, or being Changed, the Corporeal Nature of the Stone is not altered with them.  
Here methinks he makes a great Pother to little purpose; or no other than to prove that which no Man ever denied: If there can be any Thing more Experimentally manifest than That Substance, by what means soever varied or Changed, will still retain Quantity, as its Corporeal Propriety, not to be separated from it by Force or Fire: So that the Essential Nature of Body cannot be destroyed, tho' it be lessened or divided into Innumerable Particles of the same Substance: But not so continue in the Qualities of Colour, Weight, Heat, Cold, Moisture, or the like, that were its former Appurtenances: Because Alteration must necessarily Change its accidental Qualifications, consonant to the Philosophical Maxim, a non esse tale ad esse tale: Which signifies, that it is otherwise, than it was in Figure or Dimension, together with such like External Qualifications as it precedently had, and are naturally diversified according to Corporeal Alterations.  
But amongst the Examples which he presents to his Reader, as so many select Jewels of Thought, I cannot but observe the blemish that I find in the Diamond of his Idea; where he supposes, That the Substance of such a Stone may be so Transparent that its Colour might not be visible: But how any Thing can be so refinedly splendid as not at all perceptible by its Colour; is not less absurd, than to Affirm, that something is seen without being discerned: It being Optically, and Physically, impossible to be sensible of any Object of Sight, unless its Colour be sufficiently visible with its Substance.  
True it is, That a Diamond may be severed into Parcels of its Substance, and that its Splendours will proportionably lessen with its Corporeal Parts: But not suitable to the Alterations made as to Figure, Colour, or Extent, in Bodies of weaker Complexion and Substance: For Example, Straw, or Stubble, will sooner yield, in all their Capacities, to the Alteration enforced by Fire, or to any natural Method of Change; than Wood or Coal. So that 'tis not provable, as Affirmed by Des-Cartes, That with every Corporeal Mutation may equally be rejected the abovementioned External Attributes, that did appertain to their Substance; and nothing continue with them but Length, Breadth and Depth, the common Proprieties of Body.  
To which he adds this Incompatible Proposition; That by Idea of Space, not Corporeally Replenished, may be comprehended an Idea of what is called Vacuity. Was ever Fiction so perfectly supposititious as to Fancy, That Space had a Being, and not the Local Continent of Substance? Or that the Universe, the vast Womb of Nature, might, by its miscarrying admit of Vacuity? Which, properly Construed, amounts to the Production of nothing. Wherefore the Appellation, or Word Vacuity, can signify no more than a cursory Accent of Speech: Or such an empty Idea, as I may modestly say, is not seldom obtruded into the Writings of this Author.  
Some of his subsequent Particulars, where he differenceth Space from Place, are indeed more nice, if not frivolous, than could be Thought to drop from the Pen of the Learned Des-Cartes, who takes it for granted, That if any Corporeal Thing be removed from the Local Being, in which it was; we are not therefore to conceive, that its Extension does departed with it.  
Which Position of his may be pertinently waved, by Affirming the contrary to be true: As what is more Essentially annexed to the Comprehension of Body; than its due and proportionable Extension as it Relates to the Place by which it is contained? Wherefore if a Stone be moved from the Local Situation it precedently had; it's Extension or proper Space, as its natural Capacity, does Inseparably remove with it; and not remain, as this Author would Imply, as the same Extension, or Place, might be possessed with other Bodies: Or under the confused Notion of Space not filled, with any Thing readily Imagined, we may be so vain to suppose, as he gives Licence to the Conception, That Indeterminate Space, if so Apprehended, may be thought Vacuity: Which he Infers, by Reflecting on the misapprehension we may have, that the same Local Extension does not Remain, tho' the Body, to which it appertained, be Removed.  
A manner of Inference Philosophically unfound; because, no Corporeal Substance can be taken from its due Place, unless its proper Extension, and Space, to which it belongs, be movable with it: Not that it may not leave behind, or after its Removal, the like Local Capacity; as it may at large, be said to have been contiguous to that Substance: Or instead of its continuance there, the Space, that it before possessed, is immediately replenished by the Accession of some one, or more Bodies: And this perpetually Executed by the Act of Nature, touched by the Sceptre of Eternal Providence: Which otherwise, must cease to be, or vanish with the World, her Universal Habitation, by Annihilating her Existence. And therefore exorbitantly Impossible to allow any Epithet to Vacuity, That by all the Representatives of Nature is determined to have no Propriety within her spacious Dominion.  
As improper is the Example he gives, in the same Paragraph, Of a Person supposed to be seated in a Ship, and moves not although the Ship removes whilst he sits still.  
But were his sole Corporeal Extensions, in Length, Breadth and Depth, in Motion, as he late in the Ship; his Local Space would Remove with him, without depending on the Sailing of the Ship.  
Before he makes a Close on this Head, he gives a more than ordinary Instance of a Ship under Sail, and the Earth in Motion, at the same time, which, according to the Copernican System he would Insinuate; but in general Affirms, That if a Ship sails as far from East to West as the Earth Revolves from West to East, according to its Motion in the Ecliptic, as the Copernicans Imagine, a Man sitting in the Ship does not Change his Place, because the Local Determination both of the Motion of the Ship and Earth is to be considered as relating to some Immovable Points of Heaven.  
This Ship according to his Supposition of the Earth's Motion, must be committed to the desperate Conduct of a Copernican Pilot: For if the Ocean, together with all the Rivers and Streams that the World affords, be Affirmed to complete in Conjunction with the Earth, one Globulous Circumference and Figure; as is the Opinion of many Learned Philosophers: The rapid and mounting Motion that the Sea must have, in being contiguous to the Earth's Revolution, considering that it is naturally Lighter, and therefore Higher than the Earth, would soon overwhelm the Ship, with vast Mountains of boisterous Waves, in spite of the best Mariners Skill and Compass; and doubtless, in that Irresistible Storm the Man he supposes seated in the Ship would be totally tossed from his Station. So that, if granted the Copernican Hypothesis as it Implys the Conjoined and Revolving Motion of the Superficies of the Earth and Ocean, 'tis impossible to conceive how a Naval Voyage could be at any time performed; or the Intercourse and Trade of Nations by Sea at this Day, or heretofore practicable; an Objection that gives no Inconsiderable Confutation to the Copernican System: Which whether or no perceived by this Author, he seems, at least, in this Place to be Indifferent, as to that Opinion, by granting, where he Concludes this Particular, That it may be Thought if we please, that in the Compass of the Universe there are no such Imaginary Points, and consequently no Permanent Place as to the Being of any Thing; otherwise than by Thought we so determine.  
To which it may be Answered, That as to any fixed Points, in any Celestial Orb, there is no Cause to Imagine them, but as they Relate to the Commensurable Motion of some other Thing, or by conceiving Imaginary Points in the Orbits of the Sun and Planets: Yet not at all true, if otherwise Applied; because it is Philosophically certain, That Motion, generally Considered, must be made from Point to Point gradually Moved with whatsoever is Moving; otherwise there could be no Mathematical Computation, or Time, estimated as Proprieties of Motion: In which Sense it may be likewise Asserted, That the Sun and Stars no less than every other Thing, may be judged to Remove with such Movable Spaces as naturally appertain to the Measure of their Extensions, however their Diurnal, or Annual Revolutions, may be terminated by such Points as may be deemed fixed in Orbits above. In sum whatsoever is Moved, must have an actual Beginning and determinate Period, or in a Philosophical Sense, a quo, et ad quem: Which is no other than the Movable Progression, from Space, to Space, of any Individual Thing with all its Parts: Yet so as it may be said, tho' in Motion, still to continue the Place Incident to its proper Extent: And therefore incongruously Conceded by Des Cartes, That by Licence of Thought we may Think, that there is no such Thing as Permanent Place appertaining to any Thing; which in some Sense is as unnaturally Absurd, as it one should undertake to Contemplate, that there is no Corporeal Being: Since Body cannot be understood, either Moving, or not Moving, but as contained by Place, nor Place without Local and Bodily Existence.  
The difference that he makes in his 14th Particular, betwixt Place, and Space, is, That in his Sense Locality more expressly signifies Situation, than Magnitude or Figure; and contrarily, these are more noted by us, when we speak of Space: And thus we frequently mention one Thing as succeeding to the Place of another, although it be not of the same Magnitude or Figure.  
All which, amounts to no more than a Quibble of so many Words, that aught to have one and the same ordinary Application: And therefore very incongruously Asserted by this Author, That by Place is more appositely understood Situation, than Magnitude or Figure But how can any Thing be said to be duly Situated, unless its natural proprieties be Locally understood? Nor less dissentaneous is it to common Experience, should his Notion be allowed, or manner of Thought; by which might be supposed, That one Substance could genuinely supply the room of another, tho' not of the same Magnitude, or Figure: Which is a contradictory Supposition; because naturally repugnant, or rather Impossible, that any one Thing should be said to possess the Local Being of another, and not have its proper Attributes.  
In his 12th Head, he had allowed, That if any Corporeal Thing were removed from the Space, or Place, in which it was; that we may believe the Local Being that it had before, possessed by some other Body, or Bodies, or termed Vacuity: Which as a Notion fit to be Enrolled amongst Modern Absurdities was Remarked accordingly.  
But in his 17th Particular, having precedently granted, That in a Philosophical Conception there could be no such Thing as Vacuity, or where no Substance does Exist: He seems in few words, to Recant what he Inscribed in his 12th Head; acknowledging That by customary Manner of Speaking, is not to be understood by the Term, or Word Vacuity, That Place, or Space can be Apprehended by it, in which there is nothing; but in which there are none of those Things that we conclude aught to be there: And thus a Vessel is said to be empty, that appointed to contain some other Thing, is filled only with Air; or a Fish-Pool empty, though full of Water, because no Fish in it.  
So that in effect, he grants, That the Cursory wording of Emptiness, or Vacuity, under the Phrase of nothing, aught to be referred to the Predicament of Nonsense.  
But vulgar usage of Words is, and will be more practicably Retained, by the generality of Mankind, than any Concise, or Philosophical Language of the Schools: Wherefore this Author might have spared much of the Instructions of his Pen on this Subject; because surer known to Men of Science than any Reception it may probably meet with in the Dialect of common Persons.  
It was ever an undoubted Maxim, That Vacuity is Inconsistent with the Essential Being of Nature; because Substance must be Attributed to whatsoever Exists by her Prerogative; and this as an old Truth, is sufficiently acknowledged by Des-Cartes: Notwithstanding that throughout his New Model of Philosophy, there are few Tenants of the Erudite Ancients, however Celebrated by Time, that he does not undertake to Confute.  
But where he Refells the obsolete Opinion, or rather Conceit of Epicurus, and some of his Predecessors, concerning the World's Original from the accidental Concourse of Indivisible Atoms, his Pen Conspires with the Vogue of Learned Antiquity; which unanimously determined, That there could be no natural Existence but in Quantitative and Corporeal Being's. So that the Opinion of Innumerable Atoms, or Thing next to nothing, as they were deemed Inconsistent, or Exempted from having divisible Parts; in Future Time became the Subject of Invention, or such Poetical Allusions, as by the fantastical Poem of Lucretius are committed to Perusal. There we may Read how, by admirable Conceit, Things, called Atoms, destitute of Corporeal Proprieties, had Motion and Flight as their Wings were Imped by the Artifice of Fiction: And next, to fill the World with their supposed procreative Faculty, how they met and embraced like Male and Female.  
I confess, That a fabulous Process of the Original of the Universe may be more excusable; because the most exquisite, and penetrating Ingenuities of Mankind have been to wonder, posed in the account they have given of the World's Beginning; insomuch that the utmost Inquisition they could make has led them to such an Ecstasy, or Stand of Thought, That they have only been able to admire the Constituted Perfection of the World, they Inhabit, instead of discerning in what manner it was produced.  
Whether the Imagination or Principles of Des-Cartes, as they have Reference to this stupendous Subject, will expand a prospect to the Eye of the Intellect more requisitely open than hath, as yet, been explicated by the profoundest Industry of Humane Science; will be seen, in such of his following Particulars, where he Treats of the vast Consistency and Appurtenances of the Visible World.  
And thus I come to his 21st Particular, by which he would have us understand, That the World we Inhabit is boundless in Extension: Because, as he states his Argument, wheresoever we suppose its Limits, we must necessarily grant, That beyond those Imaginary Limitations are real Spaces, and such as contain Corporeal Substances indefinitely Extended.  
Against which, I offer a brief and obvious Exception, by sensibly proving, That as we cannot Imagine any Indefinite Extension or Space in the World in which we have Being, so were another World equally Vast and Contiguous to this, it were impossible to apprehend a boundless Corporeal Space within its total Continent: By reason that uncircumscribed Space cannot be the Receptacle of Material Substance; because whatever includes Body must have commensurable Attributes, or such as, in a Geometrical Sense, may be defined a Superficies terminated by Length and Breadth: Which demonstrably profligates his pretended Idea of Indefinite Space or Extension. So little is, in this Case, the Doctrine of Nature beholding to the Philosophy of Des-Cartes.  
His next Conception, produced by his fruitful Idea, is, That Heaven and Earth are of one and the same Matter, and that there is no possible Being of more than one World.  
The first of this Head he no otherwise proves, than as he takes it for granted, That if there were Infinite, or Innumerable Worlds, they would be all of the same Matter; wherefore he concludes there can be but One.  
The Objection that may be made against his Affirmation, that the Matter of Heaven and Earth is the same; is, because Heaven can be no otherwise understood than as it has a Select and Primary Distinction from all Bodies of Elementary Composition: Which is apparently manifest in its Figure, Motion and Height, absolutely different, and far more Excellent than can be compared with other Substance: Wherefore Zanchius, writing of the Works of God, gives to its most Sublime and Refined Perfection, a spiritual Epithet; to which purpose the Learned Pena, in his Preface to Euclid, defines it an Animated Spirit universally diffused: To these may be added the Authority of Jamblichus, a very considerable Author, who in admiration of its Substance, allows to its Perfections, the nearest Attributes to Incorporeal Existence.  
And who can doubt that the Judgement, of any one of these erudite Persons, in being more speculatively Refined, and naturally suitable to the wonderful Objects, Immensly distant from the Earth we tread on, should not have a deference from our Understandings highly Superior to the gross Definition given them by Des-Cartes? Who determines, That the Substance of Heaven and Earth alike proceeds from the Heap of Nature's common Materials.  
And whereas he Asserts, in the latter Part of this Head, That it is not possible to Imagine more Worlds than One.  
I think the contrary may be as certainly Affirmed, as that the World we reside in, has a natural Confinement: A Truth no less facile to Thought, than 'tis easy to delineate a Circle that in any Point shall touch another, and yet leave, betwixt them, no Intervening Space that is not substantially repleted.  
But this Speculation, however readily exerted, cannot be the proper Entertainment of the Mind; unless I imagine a Similitude of Things and Being's, Correspondent to the World in which I am: As by the diligence of Thought I might observe, in a devised World, the same Persons, Creatures, Trees, and Fields, with such other Objects, that had been visible to me in this. Wherefore I take liberty to think, contrary to the Opinion of this Author, That the Intellect strengthened by the Senses, is sufficiently enabled to Transport its Prospect to the plurality of Worlds. To avoid which Imaginative Power of the Mind, he annexes to his Idea of Matter undeterminate Extent. A Notion absolutely Inconsistent with the Nature of Substance in all its Capacities; which cannot have an Indefinite Being: And therefore no less absurd than if supposed, that Matter, or Substance, could be actually Infinite.  
In some of his following Particulars, he bestows many Words on the Motion of whatever may be deemed Matter, or Substance; but finding nothing of Consequence to observe in most of them, or that occasion any considerable Remark in being Dissentaneous to what he delivers: I pass to his 25th Particular, in which he Comprehends the main Fund of what he intends by Corporeal Movement; the Instance which he gives, is, That any one Body, or Substance, in his Sense, may be said to Move out of the Vicinity of other Bodies, that were contiguous to it before, and as at rest, into the Vicinity of others.  
By this Definition, he proclaims an endless War in the Campains of Nature; where the opposite Commotions and Powers of Individual Bodies, endeavour to possess the natural Being's of their quiet Neighbours. From which Problem, could it be proved, might be deduced a better Disciplined Argument, in behalf of Exorbitant Potentates, when Molesting, or Intruding into the peaceable Vicinities, and Provinces of others, than has, as yet, been urged on their Part: Because it might be dextrously grounded on the Toleration and Conduct dispensed, by Imperial Nature, amongst her subordinate Dominions.  
This War of Nature, denounced by so Eminent a Philosophical Herald as Des-Cartes, could not but Incense many Combats in the Schools of Science: But how far prosperous there, or disallowed, is not requisite, in this Place, to Discuss.  
I shall therefore Employ the Force of my Understanding, without being obliged to the Assistance of any Tribe or Scholastical Association, to attack his Arguments, where they deserve the most Emphatical Opposition.  
My first Assault, on this Head, shall be against the main Fort of his New-modelled Fortification; where, to defend his Principles, he Exerts the Artillery of his Idea, which, according to the Level of his Notions, must batter to pieces the entire Confederacies of Nature; and so separate their Societies and Rooms in the Universe: That unless a more pathetical Expedient can be found than what he offers; Towns and Countries, with whatever they contain, may as soon be Removed out of this World, and Situated in another, as one Corporeal Substance can Usurp the Province, or Being of another: Because no quantitative Matter but must, if Moved into the Place of any other, possess the Space that naturally appertained to its Existence.  
And whether, could he suppose, That a Bodily Thing could Remove, that is, by any means, Expelled, by the Motion of another Substance from its proper Apartment? Since neither his Brain, or any other Man's, can by an empty Idea so diminish the World as that any Particle of it might be conceived to vanish to Vacuity. Nor less Intolerably opposite to the Proprieties of Nature, is the Maxim he Inserts of the Translation of Material Things, into the proper Residence or Place of others.  
Not that 'tis deniable, that Bodies are alterably Moved, or Changed by Effects of Rarifaction or Condensation, and other ordinary Methods of Nature, as to their manner of Extension and Figure; but not as to the Space that Circumscribed their Substances; because it is Impossible for them, for Reasons before mentioned, to be naturally provided for, by any other Room, for their Existence: And thus if any Receptacle, or Vessel, be supposed filled with Earth, or Water, and those Materials afterwards Removed; the Air will as completely replenish the same Compass or Space, as if it had been filled by the others before.  
The last Example, given by me, aught to be understood of a preternatural, or violent Motion, enforced by the Hand of Man, or other Accident; by which a Substance that might be precedently in its proper Sphere, or Place of Rest, is forcibly dispossessed of its Room by some other; when Nature to prevent Vacuity, her main Abhorrence, supplies the Place of the Body, Irresistibly Removed, with another Substance: Which in her natural Method is never effected by her ordinary Alterations caused by Generation, Corruption, Rarifaction, Condensation, and the like; or by which the more Weighty Body is Expelled by the Lighter: No more possible than that the Earth, or any Part of it, should mount from its Centre unto the Ambient Air above it.  
Wherefore the general Maxim of Des-Cartes, by which he would Infer the Transition of Bodies into the Vicinities and-Spaces of others; is no less absurd than contradictory to the Established Course and Laws of Nature in order to her Preservation of Things either as they Move or Rest: Which should 〈◊〉 otherwise admit, or according to this Author, there must be a Confused Interruption, if not a Penetration of Bodies, Philosophically impossible, not only of those that surround the Earth we Inhabit, but also of the Celestial Luminaries that Immensely Move above our Heads; if they Revolved into higher or lower Vicinities and Orbs than are naturally their own.  
So perplexedly Inconsistent is the Opinion of this Writer, with the Being's of whatsoever the World contains. As Incompatible, to common Understanding is the Notion that he delivers in his 26th Particular, where he undertakes to prove, That there is not more Action required to Motion than to Rest: Which seems, at first sight, a Paradox of a Novel Edition. But had he seriously considered, after the Inscribing of this Sentiment; and next had been asked, whether his Pen had not been more commodiously Enclosed in his Desk, and his Hand in his Pocket, than acttually Employed when he Writ this uneasy Sense? he would have clearly distinguished betwixt Motion and Rest; as Words that Imply their difference both in Name and Nature.  
And 'tis some wonder, that Des-Cartes, who largely abounds with Fanciful Niceties, should have so narrow a Perception as not to discern the broad Contrariety that Interprets Motion and Rest sensibly opposite. To which purpose, Aristotle defines Rest as the privation of Motion in whatsoever is naturally apt to Move. Wherefore the proper tendency that Things, in Motion, have to acquiesce in their genuine Place, is rendered by some Philosophers, as their final Perfection: Because nothing can be said to Move, but it does also to its utmost Power, expedite its Innate Propensity to be sedate in its due Station.  
If a Stone falls from any considerable Height, Experience assures, that it swiftest Moves when nearest to the Earth, the Centre of its Being: But of its self incapable of Active Movement when it comes to its resting Place; all which is Heterogeneous to the Doctrine of this Author, who allows to the Acquiesence of any Thing no less Motion than it had when it Moved.  
The Instance he gives is, Because we persuade ourselves, that our Bodies, at our Will, Move and Rest, for no other Reason than that they adhere to the ground in being heavy: And continues to say, That our Corporeal Weight, and other Causes, not Animadverted by us, resisting the Motion that we would incite in our Members, effect our Fatigues or Weariness, whilst we Impute more Action, or greater Force to Instigate our Motion, than to cause it to Cease.  
Here he creates an Idea, not unlike to the Poetical Fable of Ixion's, embracing of a Cloud instead of Juno; for what can be more obscure to sensible Conception, than to Infer, as he does, That the Body by suspending of its Motion, does as indefatigably Move as when tired by Action? Which is much the same as if he had undertaken to prove, that 'tis possible for a Man to feel as uneasy a Movement sitting still as when he was weary of Walking. Nor is the Weight of the Animated Body, as to itself, or as it may be Diseased by Motion, the only Cause of the Appetite it has to be relieved or eased by Rest; but as Nature compels it, in being ponderous, to promote its lowest Acquiescence in its immovable Place Essentially Centred in the Bosom of the Earth, as the Body has Room or Capacity to Descend: Nor would its Motion, till thither arrived, be Impedited or Fatigued by the Labour of its Corporeal Parts, any more than a Stone, as it falls downward, can be weary of the Motion of its Substance. So totally Irresistible is the Power of Nature, that no longer appropriates either Rest, or Life, to any Individual Thing, than is necessarily consistent with its Place and Being.  
If by her Indulgence she has Impower'd Mankind and other Animated Creatures with Corporeal Faculties and Parts, whereby they may diversely Execute their Local Movements, as her gracious Distinction and necessary Endearments peculiarly conferred for the convenient Support and continual Subsistence of Living Individuals; 'tis contrary to the gross Alloy of their Bodily Compositions. Thus the Body of Man or Animal, may Move on the Surface of the Earth, or by the extraordinary Energency of Life be exalted towards a Mountain's top, when their Corporeal Substances, could they departed from the Conduct of Life, would with far more Acceleration tumble downwards.  
Let a Man, of the most expert and vigorous Agility, take a Leap upwards, his Person shall come to the ground by swifter and easier Degrees than his Activity, by its utmost Force, could Ascend.  
Wherefore 'tis no painful Action, as this Author Insinuates, by which a living Substance acquires its Rest; but rather a natural and Irresistible Motion that inclines it to attain its proper Residence: Which proceeds from no other 'Cause than the Quantitative Magnitude and Weight that Imposes the Descent of every Corporeal Thing, as near as it can be promoted, to the Inferior Place of its Repose.  
If a Feather falls from any Height, allowing for the hindrance that its Levity may receive from the Commotion of the Air; it will Descend no less proportionably to its Weight than a Lump of Lead must do if dropped from the same Altitude. And this is Mathematically certain, because no Substance, whatever, can be said to Move but as it has Commensurable Parts.  
These Examples are sufficient to Totter his Arguments on the Fund he erects for them: Of which there remaineth One that he concludes this Head with, and in his Sense, very apposite to his purpose. I wish that I had so found it, because I love not to Dispute where it can reasonably be avoided. His Words are these,— There is as much Action required to the Removing of a Ship, that stands Still on Water any Length Forward, as it is to Move it as far Backward. From whence he would conclude, That a Corporeal Substance, in being Moved from and to the Place where it Rested before, is equally Active.  
Who could have expected that a Notion so Counter to direct Sense should be Inscribed by Des-Cartes: Since 'tis not the Motion of the Ship, as he puts the Case, but the force of Hands that compels its Movement from and to the Place where it remained before. And therefore a pretty kind of Supposition; or if Termed a Ridicule, the Application might well be excused, by which he would Intrigue his Reader to be Conceited with him, that any Corporeal Thing might Philosophically Move, tho' naturally it did not Move at all.  
Which perfect Contradiction, to approved Reason and Principles of Science, is very apparent in the Example he gives of the Ship enforced to Remove; which, of itself, might have stood Still; or contrarily, had it not been supported by Water, would have sunk, in being ponderous, as far downwards as it could Descend.  
Which gives us a sound Assurance That the Proprieties of Motion and Rest, of old determined, will not be discomposed by the Novel Institutions of this Author; whereby he would Change the very Grammatical Construction in the Words of Motion and Rest, by Converting their Significations into mere Modalities, or diversified Actions of the Thing Moving, or as it ceases to Move.  
But had it been demanded of him, Whether, if supposed he were fast-a-sleep when he Dreamt of this Tenent, his Body had no less Action than as if he had Imagined it to be really Walking or Running? I believe he would have otherwise distinguished Motion and Rest than fancied, by him, in this Treatise.  
Nor is the Similitude Incompatible with the Explanation he offers at the End of the Page I writ of; where he tells us, That by Motion is to be understood Corporeal Transition, or as he calls it Translation, out of the Vicinity of Contiguous Bodies into the next Approximation of others; but not out of one Place into another: Which is allowable if applied to the fixed Capacities of Nature, as potentially she may be Imagined to Circumscribe every Individual Substance; tho' not, in common Understanding, actually True: Because no Corporeal Thing can properly Move, unless its Commensurable Place does Remove with it.  
In which Sense, no Substance can be conceived to Move into the Vicinity, as he Terms it, of another, but it must necessarily carry its Bodily Space and Comprehension with it: No otherwise than a Man can be said to step into his Neighbour's Ground out of his own, and not Transfer with him the Inseparable Space that before Circumscribed his Body; tho' the Ground, that contained his Person, could not Remove with him into his Neighbour's.  
Yet nothing can be deduced, from any of these Instances, that Implies, That Rest and Motion are equally Active, and not Contrarieties; or only different Modalities, according to him, of whatsoever does Move or cease its Motion.  
But if his Idea of Corporeal Movement be followed to the Vicinity unto which he guides it; 'tis possible it might have acquiescence there; since he undertakes not to prove, that it actually Moved after it came thither.  
Other Particulars I find of his, relating to his preceding Notions of the Motion of Bodies; and to which he has annexed the delineating of a few Schemes, or Diagrams. But finding in them no Demonstrative Proof, or other concernment than what I have before Discussed, or Answered: I therefore avoid the perplexing my Reader with such obscure Diversities, which in my Judgement, he delivers on this Subject, or as extravagantly distant from either Philosophical, or Mathematical Certainty, as Fiction is from Truth: And thus I come to his 31st Head, which I had also omitted, had I not observed, that he there attempts to unveil more speciously his Mysterious Idea, than he had formerly done: The Proposition he endeavours to prove, is, That in one and the same Body there may be Innumerable diversities of Motion.  
Notwithstanding, he grants, That no Individual Body can be understood, to have more than one proper Motion; because, as he Affirms, it must be understood, when Moving, to recede from several Bodies resting contiguous to it: However it may participate of Innumerable Motions if it be part of other Bodies that have diversities of Motion.  
The Example he gives, is, Of a Man walking in a Ship, having a Watch in his Pocket; the Wheels of the Watch Move but by one proper Motion, but participate of another, whilsi being Conjoined to the Person that walks they compose one Part of Matter, and another as they are Adjoined to the Ship, as also to the Ship fluctuating on the Water, and likewise as it is joined to the Sea, and lastly as it is so to the Earth, if the whole Earth be Moved.  
To which, if Replied, That in the entrance he makes into this Particular, he starts an Argument against himself; the Consequence will make it good.  
For although it be true, That all Corporeals, whether Animate, or Inanimate, of ponderous Compositions, have a natural and direct Inclination to Move downwards; but not their sole motional Property: A Man by the Power and Faculty that enables him locally to Move, can step upwards as well as downwards; and by innumerable Actions and Motions of his Parts can abundantly vary his Postures, together with his Feet, Limbs, and Fingers: Empowered with useful diversities that admirably proceed from the Provendential Support, that is, to wonder, bestowed on Humane Life; which could not without those accomplishments, conveniently Subsist: To which purpose, enough has been Inserted in my precedent Remarks.  
But as to the other Part of this Head, where he insists, instead of other Proof, on the Example he gives of the Instrumental Movement of the Wheels of a Watch in the Pocket of a Man, as participating of the Motion of the Person, and also of the Ship: Is sufficient without troubling my Reader with other of his Instances of like signification, to terminate my Reply: Which briefly is thus,— The Argument he offers, is neither rationally, or Philosophically applicable to what he Asserts; if considered, That the Motion of the Parts and Wheels of the Watch are totally Artificial, and therefore cannot be naturally Contiguous to the Motion of the Man or Ship: No more than Invention attained by Art can be certainly deemed the Method of Nature, that allows no participation to the Motion of Things, but as they are genuinely disposed and influenced by her proper Conduct: Which cannot be equivalently Counterfeited by Humane Artifice, no more than 'tis possible for the Brain of Man to create a Fabric suitable to the Structure of the World, together with the Innumerable Materials and their distinct Capacities and Operations, contained by it.  
A Speculation of such undeniable Excellency, That had it been thought on by Des-Cartes, his Reason and Abilities in Science had otherwise disposed the Credit of his Pen, than to have Inserted the Incongruous Comparison by which he would Parallel, in his Sense of Motion, the Performance of Art, with the Action produced by Nature. Which is very different from the Epithet he gives to Motion and Rest in his 38th Paragraph, where he determines, That, by the Ordainment of God, Matter together with Motion and Rest were, as to their ordinary Course, originally Constituted. From whence he concludes, That all Parts of Material Things, were primarily so disposed by the Will of the Almighty, as by their divers Conservations, the World's total Matter might be continually preserved by the same determined Method, that every of its Particulars received when first Created.  
From which Immutable Decree of the Omnipotent he derives several Laws or Rules of Nature.  
The First of which he considers as her constant Industry and Prerogative, whereby she would, as far as her Regalia's extend, unalterably continue every particular Thing in its Manner of Being: And thus, whatsoever Moved, should, by her Intention, be always Moved. So that if any Part of Matter represented its Motion in a Square, or other suitable Figure, it would so perpetually continue, did not some other Thing interrupt its Movement.  
All which might be conceded, were not Nature obliged to dispense with, for Universal Convenience, such Alterations, in her Methods of Rule, that she accommodates to the frail Disposition of her Elementary Subjects; whose Distempers, unless so prevented, would be more disorderly, or confused.  
For which Reason, she necessarily waves her Original Intention as to the permanent continuance of her Subordinate Individuals; by Exercising, in a manner, against her Will, a Tyrannic Power, by which she kills some Being's, to give Life and Repose to others: Which could not otherwise have room to Exist, were the Compass of the World far greater than its conceived Dimension.  
And thus we ought to apprehend the various Effects of Motion, as also such Alterations as relate to Generation and Corruption, by which Things cease to be, and others have Being. Tho' neither Motion, or any of its Concomitants, or Tendencies, here mentioned, can be reasonably supposed, according to the Opinion of this Author, to endeavour incessant Movement, did not some other intervening Thing put an end to their Motion by obstructing its farther progress: Which were to Affirm, That Motion were void of Design, if any Thing Moved regardless of its proper Residence.  
If granted, That the Motion of one Thing may cause the Motion of another to cease; 'tis not to be understood as any hindrance that its natural Capacity can receive, or the Intendment it has to Arrive where it ought to remain.  
It being absurd to suppose, That Motion, as it is appropriated to Material Composition, of which only we can be sensible, should be actually, or potentially Imbued with a perpetual motional Faculty; which were to allow it Indeterminate, and therefore Infinite; contrary to the undoubted Philosophiaal Maxim, non datur Infinitum actu in rerum Natura: And as experimentally certain, as that a Man cannot always Run, or Walk.  
The Second Law, which he Attributes to Nature, he thus delivers, Every Motion, of itself, is in a straight Line, and therefore whatsoever circularly Moves, always endeavours to departed from the Centre of the Circle it describes.  
Before I enter my Replication to this Head, which, in some respects, is very questionable; I think fit to Inform the Reader, how he does here Dissent from what he delivered in his 32d Particular, where he grants, That Motion may be, not seldom, exceedingly Contorted, Twisted, or Wrested; which he must intent by such a lineal Movement as might be neither Direct, or Circular. And therefore it must have such a kind of obliqne Curvitude as cannot be comprehended by the Definition of regular Curv's, or such as may be termed Geometrically Commensurable; which by Learned Mathematicians is solely Attributed to the Circle, Parabola, Hyperbola, and Ellipsis: The Reason they give is by demonstrating, That no other Curvitudes can, in every of their Points, have a due Relation to straight Lines; as it may be equally proved.  
On which Mathematical Certainty is grounded their rejecting of all other Curv's, as Mechanical; because, in particular, they cannot be Geometrical by right Lines applied to such Figures; and therefore not to motional Things and Parts, by Indistinct Commensurations; and such as may express their common equality.  
Whosoever desires to be assured by Geometrical Delineament and Proof, to this purpose, he may Inspect the Commentary of Van-Schooten, a Dutch Mathematician, on the Geometry of this Author. In the mean time this Observation is sufficient to explain the egregious Mistake of this Writer, as to the Place beforementioned: Where contrary to the actual Performance and Method of Nature, that allows to every Thing Moved Commensurable Space and Parts; he Allies the possibility of Motion to such a perverse and irregular Figure, as would render it absolutely confused, instead of being orderly consistent with the Certainty of Measure.  
But now in the abovementioned Second Law of Nature, as he defines it, he thinks 'tis very manifest, That Motion, by its simplicity of Operation, should be conits simplicity of Operation, should be continued in a straight Line, but never in a crooked.  
Which is true, if meant of such Things, that by their Inherent Proprieties of Length or Weight, Ascend, or Descend; which are always continued in a straight Line: But are not so in every Thing that Moves, as may be evidently perceived in that admirable Providence by whose Conduct the Celestial Motions of the Sun and Planets have a constant Circular Revolution. Which sublime Manner, and excellency of Motion, is no otherwise naturally theirs; than suitable Gravity, or Lightness, is the Cause that Things so composed Move upwards, or downwards.  
These Examples are sufficient to refel his general Hypothesis, by which he would limit the genuine Action, of whatsoever does Move, to a direct Line; without excepting the Orbs above, That he well understood did Move otherwise.  
To which purpose, he delineates a Diagram the same in Effect, with this that follows.  
Let a Stone be supposed to Move by any Force, according to his Example, in a Sling, as E A Circularly Moved in the same instant in which it is in the Point A determined to Move, any whether, in a Right Line towards C; so as the Right Line may be the Tangent of the Circle. It cannot be imagined to terminate Motionally Contorted, tho' it first comes from L to A, by a crooked Line; because nothing of that Curvitude can be understood to remain in it whilst it is in the Point A. But should it then be out of the Sling, it would not Move forward towards B, but towards C.— From whence he concludes, That whatsoever does Circularly Move, would always endeavour to departed from its Centre.  
Here he undertakes to give Nature a Law against her natural Legalities; if not such a fictious Swing as would whisk her ordinary Operations, out of their usual Course, into the Region of Fables.  
It being very Demonstrable that both Parts of the Proposition, to which this Diagram Relates, are erroneously Applied.  
As to the First by which he would prove, That all Motion does of itself proceed in a right Line; 'tis broadly untrue, if considered, that 'tis no less Naturally than Mathematically Certain, That whatsoever Moves, must be progressive with the Proper Superficies and Space, in every Kind, that appertains to its Substance: When a Man Walks does he not suitably Move to the Height, Breadth, and Depth, which, at that Instant, exposed the Proportions of his Figure? The same may be Affirmed of the Motion of Animate, or Unanimated Bodies.  
On which ground, Geometricians determine, That a Line, of itself, has no Commensurable Proportion compared to a Superficies; and therefore to no substantial Velocity, or Motion, in any Consideration; otherwise than as, betwixt two different superficies, lines may be allowed a Relative Proportion; as in Squares, Parallellograms, and other Figures, that assimilate in Height, and Breadth. Wherefore to Assert as he does, That by Intendment of Nature, all Corporeal Motion is comprehended in a straight Line; were all one as to Affirm, that a Mathematical Line, which, by Euclid is defined to consist merely of Points, that have no Parts, otherwise then supposed, should singly Measure a Superficies the Continent of Body. Not but in a genuine Philosophical Sense, a Material Composition may have a direct Motion, allowing its requisite Extension, Place, and Superficies transferred with it, either upwards or downwards, according to the Nature of its Substance, but no other lineal Rectitude, as is already Demonstrated: Where I Instanced the natural Tendencies that Things Light, or Ponderous, have to their proper Stations; and therefore Inconsistent with the Example he gives in the Diagram of a Stone Enforced, by other Material Thing, or in a manner slinged from its direct Movement into the obliquity of a winding Figure; which must so detain it as never to departed, or 'tis not to be doubted, that the Weight of the Stone would cause it to Move downward towards its resting Place: On which account, the Stone may be supposed to be taken from the Sling and fling at the Head of his Argument.  
As intolerably extravagant is his other Principle, or rather Conceit that he annexes to the Law of Nature; whereby he would take it for granted, That whatsoever does circularly Move, has, in its self, an Inherent proneness to Recede from its Centre: Which is totally opposite to the Supreme Perfection of Circular Motion, if compared with whatsoever is directly Lineal: Because it is the Measure of Lineal Movement without separating its Terminations as the other does. Which is obviously evident in the Motion of a Wheel, where the Terms of its Motion are not so distinct that any one can be thought separated from the other. But when a weighty Thing directly moves from a Superior Place to an Inferior, it may truly be Affirmed, that the Terms, of any such direct Motion, are by their Interval and Distance considerably separated; which Separation Imports Composition of Terms; but none to be found in Circular Movement, as is manifest by the precedent Example.  
Wherefore Aristotle acutely Defines the excellency of Circular Motion, by considering, that it is more Absolute, or simply Complete, than can be Attributed to any other Figure; by reason it is more Equal, and therefore less obnoxions to Irregularity, and consequently more durable: From whence he concludes. That it was the most perfect and first of Motious: As likewise a possibility of Being Eternal; because no Part of a Circle can be said to be its Beginning or Period; and where neither the First and Last, of any Thing, is discernible; it may be allowed, in a manner, Eternal. To which purpose, the Poet Virgil compendiously expresses the admirable Revolution of the Hours, Days, and Seasons of the Year, by no more Words than, In se ciroumvolvitur Annus.  
Which shows, that Circular Motion is not effected by any forcible Cause or Inclination that any Thing Moved can, by that means, be endued with, whereby to departed from its Centre, according to the devised Maxim of this Author: But rather a continued Providential and Natural Method in order to the Computation of Time, together with the Innumerable Benefits that from thence accrue to Mankind, with whatsoever the World Comprehends. And if otherwise reputed, 'twere as easy to believe that Providence might receive a forcible Period; or that the Sun and Planets have as natural a propensity to drop from the Orbs in which they Revolve, as the Stone might have to fall out of the Sling, in the precedent Diagram. So that the Principle which he would Entitle to the Law of Nature, does more concentre with the Tenent of a Philosophical Renegado, outlawed by her regulr Ordainments, than could be expected from the Pen of Des-Cartes.  
I endeavoured to be as piquant, as I might be, in my Remark on this Subject, because he owns it for a main foundation on which he Erects not a few of his ensuing Discussions.  
The Third Law that he gives to Nature, is, That any one Substance, meeting with a Stronger, loseth nothing of its Motion by its Occurrence to one of greater strength, but lessens its Motion by as much as it Transfers to the other.  
Here he continues a perpetual War amongst the Subjects of Nature; and with that exorbitant violence, that he allows Victory to the Stronger on all considerations: Whereby he Interprets the ordinary Course of Things, tending to the Universal Preservation and Conduct of Nature, no other than so many Hostilities Executed by the Strong against the Weak.  
If Bodies are altered by the movable Effects of Rarifaction and Condensation, they are not so Moved, or Produced by a preternatural and varied Violence; but rather usefully Conveyed and Disposed to such Receptacles of Nature where their Being's were wanted, and could not be supplied without the convenient Alterations of Material Things. The like may be said of Generation and Corruption Incident to all Elementary Compositions.  
And tho' Nature, in some Sense, may have the Artribute of Perpetuity; there can not be the same permanency allowed to Particulars within her Dominion, whereby they might be equally Everlasting with herself; which would levelly her Incessant Prerogative, in common with her Subjects, or imply the Dissolution of her superlative Dominion: Too profound to be fathomed by the most skilful Brain of Man, or be disordered by any Speculation inconsistent with her Perfections: Which had this Author requisitely considered, he would not have enterprised the embroiling of her Rule with so many turbulent Diversities, or Anarchical Violence, that may be Imputed to his Principles as they derogate from her operative Contrivements, and Motion of Things in Reference to their due continuations and apt disposure, agreeable to the Capacities of their Existence.  
But notwithstanding he has frequently Catechised Nature according to the Model of his invented Principles, and especially, in this Place, where he attempts to enact Laws as if Confirmed by the touch of her Sceptre: As also to present his Reader with several subsequent Rules, by which he would be understood to have prevented what might be Alleged against them.  
All which I inpected with the clearest Eye of my Understanding, being no less desirous that my Pen should have been convinced by his, than he endeavours the Estimation of his own.  
But finding, by the strictest Inquisition I could apply to his offered Probations, That I was led into a Wilderness of Notions, out of which no Thought of mine could give me Passage: I concluded, That it would be no small ease to my Reader, and myself, if I omitted such of his Intricate Discussions, and delineated Schemes, as might have perplexed the utmost Diligence of the considerate Peruser. For which I have, in some Part, his own consent; as may be seen in his 53d Particular, where he acknowledges that his precedent Rules, as to the Nature and Motion of Corporeal Substances, are not easily understood. And where there is not a facility of Perception, relating to the intended purpose; it can have no other Construction than Impertinent, or Trivial, or at least, not worth a laboured Explanation.  
And thus I pass to his Conclusion, where I observe, in general, That he is more confident of his Premises than was to be expected from so Ingenious a Writer.  
In the Assertion he closes with, he delivers this Affirmation, That no other Principles are admitted by him than are both Physical and Mathematical Certainties; because by them not only all the Phaenomena's of Nature are explained, but also Certain Demonstrations given from them.  
If this peremptory Assurance be true; the Author of these Remarks has taken no small pains to little purpose; but if not so, the commendation he has bestowed upon his Undertaking will be as little to his advantage, as the Indulgent Applause, usually is, that Men Attribute to their peculiar Wit or Science: To which I might Reply, without disrespecting this Author, or the Modesty that becomes my Pen, That I am not more in the Right than he is in the Wrong, wheresoever I have differed from him, either on the Philosophical or Mathematical Account: As in reference to both, I may, without Ostentation, Aver, That his Ideas, Propositions and Allegations, as they are taxed by me; are rather Improbabilities, if not fictitiously introduced by him than naturally Allied to Proof or the Being of Things.  
For tho' Mathematical Operations cannot be Refin'dly Contemplated, but as they have an Immaterial, or Spiritual Eminency relating to the proportionable Dimensions which they unerrably give to whatsoever may be regularly Defined of substantial Existence: Yet by a distinct Excellence, partake not at all of Matter howsoever Commensurated by them. And thus may a Proposition in Euclid be proved, if only, in Thought, delineated: But when applied to any Material Being, the Substance unto which it Relates, must as really, and in the same manner Exist, as is suitable to the Certainty of its Demonstration.  
But not to be so understood by the Doctrine of Des-Cartes, who sets Nature at Work as he fancy's her Operations. Insomuch that a Substance cannot directly Move towards its proper Place of Being, but he conceives it more or less obstructed by some other Body, or whirled in a Line, of a different Denomination, to another Point of the Compass, or not to be Imagined whether: Much of the same Similitude with the Figure of the Stone in the Sling, as it is inserted in the preceding Diagram.  
All which exorbitant Modalities and Motions of Things, as he supposes them to Act as they are either Hard, Flexible, Condensed, or Fluid; are rather singular Fictions, or forcible Contrarieties, Complicated by his Brain, than concentring with the prone Facility of Natural Operations: Absolutely Inconsistent, by a Philosophical Maxim, with the prodigious and continual Violence imposed on Causes and Effects; as by this Author is devised the Conduct of Nature. Yet after all, he is no less confident than to Affirm, that his Philosophical Hypothesis is Mathematically Certain in every Consideration: Which, without other rebuke to the Phrase of his Boasting, is as far from being proved by Rules of Science, as Fiction may be from undoubted Truth: Or as if he had undertaken to have delineated, out of Euclid, a Coat for the Moon, that should have demonstrably fitted her Figure in every Change of her Appearance.  
If I have dealt freely with Des-Cartes where his Notions and Proofs were questionable; 'tis agreeable to his Example, who spares no Author where he thought him Taxable. Tho' I have been favourable in not extending my Exceptions so far as I might have taken occasion: Which I hope the Reader will excuse, or think himself obliged; because I Entertained him with no more Words than I thought sufficient to give a Period to my Remarks on the Second Part of the Philosophy of Des-Cartes.   

REMARKS On the Third Part of the New PHILOSOPHY OF DESCARTES. As they Relate to the VISIBLE WORLD. PART. III.  
IF admirable, even to ecstasy of Thought, by what manner of natural Operation, or superlative Act of Providence, the Humane Composition, in Soul and Body, was Originally produced to that transcendent Degree, That his Intellectual Faculty, by lineal Descent and Right, continues him an absolute Monarch of Understanding, in Reference to the Government of himself and other Creatures: 'Tis highly incumbent on Man, to be not only gratefully considerate of his being such; but also to acknowledge his utmost Celebration of the Supreme Cause of his wonderful Existence. Which mighty Consideration ought to transport the Prospect of Thought far beyond the Excellency conferred on Mankind in Soul and Person: Which can be but narrowly compared with the vast complex of the Universal World and the Innumerable Wonders surrounded by it.  
Wherefore, if the best Inspection made by the Humane Intellect, in Contemplating the manner of its rational Being, be posed, by its own Riddle, above its Power to unfold: How stupendiously must then be Involved the most elaborate Attempt of Man's Understanding; when to the peculiar Wonder that is Exerted from his own Existence, he adds the Innumerable Miracles conspicuously visible in the Structure of the Universe? And what is yet more Transcendent, the admirable Author of what we are, and all we behold, seems Enveloped, from the Eye, by his wonderful Fabric and Works.  
If the Learned Des-Cartes, in the beginning of this Treatise, seems not a little fond of his own Applause, by signifying to his Reader, That he has Invented certain Principles, by which, he conceives, That Nature is unveiled in her, as yet, unknown Recesses: He is far more modest, in his subsequent Expressions, where he bows the Knee of his Philosophy to the Infinite Power, Amplitude, and Beauty, of the Works of the Almighty: Concluding withal, That it is highly requisite to avoid all such confident Imaginations, whereby we might undertake, by uncertain Suppositions, to limit Omnipotent Power, or Abstract in any Kind, from its Incomprehensible Performance.  
This Conclusion I submit to, but cannot approve the confidence of his Introduction contained in the Entrance he makes into this Paragraph; as the Reader may perceive by the Remarks I have made on his First and Second Treatise; where, I presume, I have effectually demonstrated, That his Principles could not have an entire Birthright from the Womb of Nature: Which, in substance, he does acknowledge by the Advice he gives, before he ends this Page, That we ought not to believe, That, by Divine Determination, the World was Created merely for our sakes; or that it is possible, by any Thought of ours, to apprehend the End for which it was Ordained: Adding this Reason, That many Things are now in Being, and heretofore, that were never seen or understood by Man, or any Use they could yield to him.  
In his 4th Particular of this Third Part of his Philosophy, he confidently assures us, That his Principles are so vast, and fruitful, that they not only Imply many more than are to be perceived in the World we behold; but also far more numerous than we can Imagine: To which purpose, he gins, in his Method, with the Phaenomena, or the main natural appearances; the Causes of which he commits to his subsequent Investigations, or as, he intends them, Proofs of such Effects as he, in this Place mentions.  
And next; he pertinently Rebukes the too common Ignorance of such that by their ocular simplicity erroneously judge, that the Sun and Moon, as they seem to appear, are therefore much bigger than other Stars. Which vulgar Mistake is easily prevented by duly apprehending the Distance of the Sun and Moon from the Earth, and comparing of their Diameters as they are now observed; to all which I fully agree.  
Wherefore to recount how far remote the more than wonderful Celestial Luminaries are from our Earthly Habitation; I will not dispute the Computation, he delivers, by opposing against his Account, the Elder Observations of Learned Astronomers: But rather so to compare Ancient and Modern Calculations, as thence may be apprehended the Indefatigable Endeavour and Industry of Men to render a sublime Account of the wonderful Height, Figure, Being's, and Motions, that, to the amazement of our Eyes, continue their shining Bounties innumerably influenced for the Support of Humane Life, with whatsoever subsists within the Compass of the World: Which universal and admired Munificence, being highly considered by Persons famously Erudite, both in past and latter Times, exalted the Ambition and Gratitude of their Science to be as far, as was possible for them, requisitely Intelligent of the conspicuous Embellishments of the Skies; that they might be, from thence, the more Supremely sensible of the Blessings they received from Above.  
But whilst in this Transcendent Inquisition of Thought, they Employed the best of their Skill and Diligence, 'twas soon found too distinctly Excellent to be exactly Computed, howsoever they varied the Schemes of their Hypothesis: As not being able by Art, Conception of the Mind, or any Instrumental Assistance, tho' proper for Commensuration of Things familiarly near to our Eyes and Senses, to reach, suitable to common Certainty, the most Approximate top of the Spheres of Heaven.  
The distance of the fixed Stars are allowed by exquisite Astronomers, as also by this Author, to be too Immensely remote for any accountable Measure that can be given of them. And therefore I shall only take notice of the Sun and Planets, together with their Magnitudes, and Distance from the Earth; but as to their Distance from us, because it is usually by Astronomers accounted by Diameters, or Semidiameters, of the Earth, yet seldom declared by them, the Sum of their Measures as they may be applied to Leagues, Miles, or the like: I think fit for the advantage of the Reader, to Impart how much in English Miles, as the most useful Computation, a Diameter of the Earth does amount to. Which I proved by this Method; it having been Experimented by Judicious Observators, That one Degree of a great Circle above, correspondent to the Superficies of the Earth, Answers to a direct Journey of 73 Miles, which multiplied by 360 Degrees, allowed to the orbicular Form, or Circle of the Earth, the Sum will be 26280 Miles for the total Compass of the Earth: And because the proportion of the Diameter of a Circle to its Circumference is, by approved Mathematicians, accounted as 7 is, very near to 22: According to which Method I computed a Diameter of the Earth to contain about 8327 Miles; and her Semidiameter somewhat more than 4163 Miles.  
To apply which to Ancient Astronomical Observations, or such of the accurate Arabians, mentioned by Learned Gassendus, as observed suitable to the Ptolemaick Principles, they are thus Inserted according to the Mediocrity of each Planet's Distance from us.  
Distant from the Earth. In Semidiemeters of the Earth. Distance in English Miles. The Moon. 49 203987 Mercury. 115 478745 Venus. 618 2572734 Sun. 1165 4849895 Mars. 4584 19083192 Jupiter. 10423 43380949 Saturn. 15800 65775400  
After these, the most signal Astronomer was Nicholas Copernicus, a Canon of Torunense, who lived about 190 Years past: Some of whose Observations, as I read, were made at Frueburg in Prussia in the Year 1525, where the Elevation of the North Pole is 54 Deg. 19m m: He was a Man of vast Ingenuity, however questionable his Hypothesis of the Motion of the Earth; but if applied to the Sun instead of the Earth, there is no better Astronomical System, and so approved, by the Learned at this Day. Nothing Remarkable is found in him as to the Magnitude and Distance of the fixed Stars, more than that the Earth was as a Point if compared with the great Orb above; judiciously conceiving them too Remote for his applying to them any certain Rule or Demonstration whereby to compute their mighty Distance: Of the Planets, he chief regarded the Sun and Moon; defining the Sun to be 3240 times bigger than the Earth; and the Moon no less than 860 greater, in which Computations he doubtless Erred, as may be seen by the following Examples; but most egregiously mistaken in the Account he gives of the Moon; she being certainly discerned much less than the Earth ever since the approved Invention and Use of the Telescope:  
His next famous Astronomical Successor was Tycho-Brahe, a Noble Man of Denmark; who is said to have been learnedly Accomplished, as also furnished by his large Expense, with abundance of Instruments excellently proper for his great Undertaking: Wherefore the Computations he mentions are highly esteemed at this Day.  
The Observations he made of the Distance, and Magnitude of the Planets, are these according to their Mean, or Mediocrity of Distance.  
Distant from the Earth. In Semidiameters of the Earth. Moon. 56½ Mercury. 1150 Venus. 1150 Sun. 1150 Mars. 1745 Jupiter. 3990 Saturn. 10550  
Whosoever is desirous to Convert the Planetary Semidiameters into English Miles, may readily perform it by the preceding Example.  
The Magnitude of the Planets compared to the bigness of the Earth, are these that follow,  
Moon. Lesser. 42 Twenty Times. Mercury. 19 Venus. 6 Sun. Greater. 139 Mars. Lesser. 13 Jupiter. Greater. 14 Saturn. 22  
By these disagreeable Computations, of so many eminent Persons, may well be discerned how far beyond, the reach of Science, are the shining Wonders above our Heads: Not more Impossible to be exactly Computed, than if a Man should undertake to touch the Centre of a Star with the end of his Finger; or to extend a Line, by any prospect of Art, to the nearest Verge of boundless Omnipotence.  
Nor is it in the Power of Geometry in many Cases, tho' more clearly demonstrative than other Sciences, to express its due signification and Extent by numerical Computations, as is evident by abundant Theorems: Of which, these may be thus signally Inserted.  
The like might be Affirmed of a Line divided according to the 11th of the 2d Book of Euclid, by extreme and mean Proportion, so that the Square of the greater Segment may be equal to the Product of the whole Line and lesser Segment: Which may be lineally Demonstrated, tho' incapable of being Equalled by any numerical Sum, or the literal Powers of Algebraical Equations: Which admirable Dignity of Lines, caused incomparable oughtred to Entitle the latter Proposition, almost Divine; and as much is here proved in commendation of the Precedent.  
These Instances I think sufficient to express the excellency of Geometry; and withal of such occasional Importance, in reference to my Remarks on some Passages of this Author, that it Incites me to apply, according to the nearest Epithet and Derivative of the verbal Name of Geometry; it's most undoubted, and perfect Use, to the dimension of a plain Superficies: Which, in the Sense of the great and wise Philosopher Socrates, in whose celebrated School the admired Euclid was said to Instruct, is surest employed on such Supputations that have convenient Extents and Periods on the Ground we tread, and possess; and therefore more sensibly Computed, by the familiar Measure that may be taken from our Steps and Paces, when any Portions of Land are, by that Method, to be disposed or accounted. But no such lineal Certainty, was ever Invented, that could so elevate the Side of a Triangle, that it might undoubtedly ascend to a Celestial Superficies, or Angles to be taken from above, by any Instrumental Perfection, whereby the Geometrical Proportions, of its other Sides might be duly resolved. All which may be undeniably concluded by whomsoever shall Inspect the Planetary Magnitudes, and Distance from us; as I have before Inscribed them out of the different Records of famous Astronomers: From whence it may be evidently Asserted, That no Geometry, or Science of theirs, could demonstrate their Systems, or Astronomical Calculations. Notwithstanding, 'tis Ordained by the Almighty in Power and Conduct, that the Sun, in giving comfortable Light to our Eyes and Splendour to our Days, should be more Certain in Motion, and usefully computable, by never progressing from his Ecliptic Line, than any other of the Celestial Luminaries. And thus by the Prince of Stars, the Sun, are the Accounts of Time and seasonable Blessings of the Year continually dispensed.  
Which is Emphatically expressed by Ovid, in the Second Book of his Metamorphosis, in these Verses.  
— Purpurea velatus veste sedebat  
In solio Phoebus, claris lucente smaragdis:  
A dextra laevaque dies, et mensis, et annus,  
Saeculaque, et positae spatiis aequalibus horae:  
Verque novum stabat cinctum florente Corona:  
Stabat nuda Aestas, et spicea serta gerebat:  
Stabat et Autumnus calcatis sordidus uvis:  
Et glacialis Hyems canos hirsuta Capillos.  
But 'tis to be noted, That although the Sun, by the Munificence of Heaven, is the refulgent means whereby the Solemnities of Time are distinguished, and celebrated by us: Yet no such absolute exactness, tending to the Measures of his sublime Motion, can be computed by us, as may render his just Place, or Movement equal to his Revolution in his mighty Orb, Termed by Astronomers the difference betwixt his mean and apparent Motion: Which proceeds from his slower Progress in one Semicircle of his Annual Course than in the other; or because his proper Journey in the six Northern Signs of the Eccliptick is somewhat longer, before dispatched, than in the Southern; which is a certain Proof, that the Centre of his Excentricity is different from the Centre of the World.  
But no such Incongruity has ever been observed betwixt the due Motion of the Sun, and that which appears to us, as renders it Insufficient for the convenient Use of the Dial, Hourglass, or Clock: Which ought to be signally considered, as a peculiar Benefit of uncomputable Providence, that permits us not to Err, where we can give no exact Account, in the necessary Computation, even by ordinary Means, of our Hours, by Day and Night.  
He were much to blame that instead of being pertinently satisfied with the Extent of Science in Things of nearest concernment, or because the Sun, so far as is requisite for him to understand, Illuminates his Time; would therefore Judge, to the grievance of his Brain, That he could as approximately compute the Arithmetical Distance of the Orb of Light, from any Part of the Superficies of the Earth, as by a Quadrant he could find the Sun's Horizontal Exaltation or Hour of the Day: Tho' Experience assures, that the most transcendent Skill has been variously frustrated in the Attempt; as may be perceived by Examples in this Treatise, by me Inserted. Wherefore the sublimest Admiration of the far distant Wonders above us, is more certainly our Duty than any Task that can be given to Science, by which Men would reckon the remote Distance of the Neighbourhood of Heaven. But notwithstanding these discouragements, it may be allowed commendable in such, That by the Eruditeness of their Skill would Ascend to the most complete and nearest Admiration of Things, no less obvious than perspicuously visible, as a welcome Discovery to all Mankind.  
These considerable Particulars I thought fit to mention, as a proper Parenthesis, before my return to Des-Cartes; whom I find, as if somewhat deterred by the Mistakes of others, to offer his uncertain Computation; and which he only Applies to the Distance of the Moon and Sun, from the Earth. Which converted into Miles by the Rule before given: The Moon's Distance from the Earth is 249810 Miles. And the Sun's Distance, by taking a mean proportional Number betwixt 600 and 700 Diameters, because he Inserts no certain Number; I conceive to be nearest the Truth of what he intends: Which mean Proportional is very near 648, which multiplying 8327, the Earth's Diameter in Miles, as before found, the Distance of the Sun from the Earth is 5315896 English Miles. Which Distances, according to this Author, Relate to the Copernican System of the Earth's Motion: The Truth of which Hypothesis will be effectually questioned by what succeeds.  
But these Distances, if true, and compared with the appearing Diameters of the Sun and Moon, as they may be perceived by the Telescope, will prove the Sun much greater than the Earth, and the Moon much lesser: And so they were found by the Observations of Tycho, precedently Inscribed.  
The Distance of the Five other Planets, from the Sun, as they relate to the beforementioned System, he thus accounts: Mercury above 200 Diameters of the Earth, Venus above 400; Mars 900, or 1000; Jupiter above 3000; Saturn 5, or 6000 Diameters of the Earth, distant from her. The Copernican Hypothesis is so much the same with his; and so frequently Inscribed in Almanacs, that I shall desire my Reader rather to Inspect any one of them there, than to trouble myself with delineating of a Diagram, to so thread bore a Purpose here.  
The difference that he allows the Stars, not only as some of them are greater than others, but as the Planets receive their Illuminations communicated to them by the Light of the Sun; Concenters with the general Opinion of all Astronomers.  
Nor will I directly oppose the Imagination he Annexes, by which he Attributes to every of the fixed Stars, a particular Fountain of Light; and as distant from the Sun, as the Sun is from us: Concluding, That were we Situated as near the six'd Stars as we are to the Sun, we might observe any one of their Magnitudes as much Illuminated as the Sun appears to our Sight.  
On which ground, 'tis possible he may be, tho' but in Conceit, as much in the right, as any certain Argument, or Proof that can be urged to the contrary; by reason of the wonderful appearance, and immense remoteness of the fixed Stars from us. Notwithstanding that the famous Tycho, as far as his accurase Observation could elevate his Computation, determines in general, that the fixed Stars are not nearer the Earth than 13000 of her Semidiameters.  
But in the 11th and 12th Particulars of this Treatise, this Author delivers a more unparallelled Paradox than ever was Imputed to a Learned Pen: The First is, That the Earth, tho' a very opacous Body, is as perfectly enlightened by the Beams of the Sun, as the Moon; wherefore he conceives the Earth to be also a Planet: And why might he not have Affirmed the same of Glass, Iron, or any other solid Substance? since we are assured by common Experience, That every one of these are not only capable of being Illuminated by the Sun, but will also have their Shadows: So that according to his Opinion, any gross opacous Matter may be estimated on a shining Day, no less a Madam, in Composition and Feature, than the Moon or Planet Venus.  
It seems he forgot that these Stars continue their Light, whilst the Earth has not Sun-Light longer than the Sun shines on her. But why he so cheaply compares the Dominion of the bright Queen of Night, with the dull Earthly Lamp, on which we Inhabit, I cannot guests; unless by some one of those, which he calls distinct, and unerrable Ideas, he imagined, That his Person was elevated to a Market in the Moon, and there observed some Utensils, in a John of all Trades-Shop, marvellously reflecting the Illuminations and Beams of the Sun: And surely he might as well allow the possibility of these Examples, with whatsoever besides has Being on Earth, as perfectly Existing in the Moon: Since by his Tenent; a very capacious World may be thought encompassed by Her.  
His other egregious Mistake depends on the Former, which is, That he fancies, that the Earth performs the Part of the Sun, by Illuminating the Face of the Moon, beheld by us, when she is in her New Estate, or Conjunction with him.  
Which Notion is very false, both in a Philosophical and Astronomical Consideration: Nothing being more unnatural, than to Attribute Planetary Light, either Communicable, or Inherent, to the unrefined Body of the Earth; which can be no otherwise understood, by reason that there is no such Thing as a pure Element of Earth; but rather its Substance grossly Commixed and Corrupted, by the Intercourse of the other Elements: And thus Air, Earth, Fire, and Water; as Use and Observation assure us, are impurely mixed. And should the Earth, as she does, and must necessarily so Subsist, receive Light or Flame from the Sun, in common with the Planets: Her corrupt Frame and combustible Materials would have been long ago totally burning; to the utter dissolution of the Figure and Composition that she now possesses: However Antecedent to the Opinion, of some Learned Divines, that defers her Conflagration to the Day of Judgement.  
And this might have been effected with as much Facility, as a Burning-glass kindles a Pipe of Tobacco: Especially if granted, the Earth a Planet, according to this Author, and always Moving; because Motion where it is sufficiently continued, Inflames every Thing that is materially capable to be set on fire; as is visible in the Axletree of a Wagon caused by the Movement of the Wheel that round it turns.  
The like might be determined in reference to the Moon, and other Motional Stars; if their Compositions were Elementarily mingled: But their Substance is more Sublime, and Excellent; if not superlative to any Definition that can be given of their Nature and Manner of Existence: As I doubt not is Emphatically proved by my Remarks on the 21th Particular of the Second Part of this Author's Philosophical Treatise: To which I refer the Reader.  
And whereas he would confirm his Assertion, by pretending, That the Earth Illuminates, some part of the Moon, when she is in Conjunction with the Sun: 'Tis no less diametrically opposite to what we behold, in that State of the Moon, than it is to Astronomical Certainty; and why might not the Moon as well receive Light from the Earth, according to his Doctrine, when at her Full she is sometimes so Eclipsically opposite to the Sun, as twice a-Year he passes by the Nodes, or is near unto them, called the Dragon's Head and Tail, that she appears totally Darkened? Which can be no otherwise caused, than as the Earth is betwixt her and the Sun: But could she then receive any glimpse, or sign of Light from the Earth, it would be as discernible as at any other Time: Which enough Confirms, That the Earth is no Luminary Planet, and therefore none at All; as will be proved by what is to come.  
In the mean time, 'tis not improper, on this Occasion, to Explain the Phases, or Figure of the Moon, especially when in Conjunction with the Sun; which, without the trouble of a Diagram, may be thus readily Expressed.  
'Tis not to be doubted, That the Moon, as she moves round the Earth, has always one half of her Illuminated by the Sun; but not so as that half is always visible to us: Tho' sometimes more, or less, or nothing of her Enlightened Half appearing towards us; by reason, that as so many Semicircles, or as it were Semiglobes of the Moon's Compass, are turned to the Eye, or Earth; they cannot, considering their Curvitures, be discerned, in Plain, by the Eye. And this differently happens, as the Light of the Sun to Sight, may be obstructed by the Convex, or Mountainous Part of the Earth; or by the Intervening of Aerial, Vapours which cause the Face of the Moon, that is turned towards us, to be Represented more Dark and spotted, than otherwise, she would appear. Which several Phases, or Figures, observable in every State, or Age of the Moon, almost never the same; proceed from no other Cause, than the diversity and swiftness of her Motion, far exceeding all other Stars; as is well known to Astronomers.  
Whence it is, that after her Monthly Change and Renovation of her Figure, she sooner or later Describes, as it were, a Glimpse of Light in a small Arch of her Circumference: And suitably increased and varied, according as the Diversities of her Motions, and other accidental Occurrences, permit her to be beheld by us.  
Which Manner of Appearance, in the bloom of her Light, does sufficiently demonstrate, That her Figure and Motion are Orbicular, and not Elliptical; as some of the Copernicans, or Cartesians, too confidently Determine.  
The next Application of my Pen shall be in fitting my Observations to such Particulars, as suitable to the main Intention of my Discussions, aught to be most considerably Inspected, either as orderly Examined, or as I find them dispersed in his Treatise; omitting such Things as are either Inconsiderable in themselves, or not to be repeated, because formerly Answered by me.  
Of which the First requires a Supreme Mention, as it egregiously directs the Prospect of the Humane Intellect to the contemplating of the resplendent Fountain of Light, diffused by the Sun; by whose munificent Beams our Days are Blessed; and the Moon and Stars, the wonderful Torches of Night, kindled for the direction of our Eyes.  
How difficult is it therefore to conceive the remote Nature or Being of so Transcendent a Miracle notwithstanding that we receive its commodious Benefits, as they grow with our Hours? Which shows how far, beyond the reach of our Understandings we are made happy from Above. On which account I cannot but admire the cursory Definition that is delivered by Des-Cartes, by which he would Attribute to the Sun an Epithet not more Refined, than what may be signified by his general Notion of a flaming Substance: But grants, as he cannot do otherwise, That the Sun does not Inflame in resemblance to Fire we use: If it did; our Earthly Habitations and Subsistence would be consumed to Ashes.  
But, notwithstanding, the Word Flame, as he Inserts it, is not allowable, because we cannot be sensible of any Thing that flames, but we must also apprehend, that it has a burning Capacity: And so we understand the Flame that proceeds from Lightning that bursts through Clouds with Thunder. But no such kind of violent Heat or Burning can have Emanation with the Innumerable Rays or Beams of the Sun. There are divers Things that may be said to have Heat, and yet no Flame: As the Warmth that a Man feels, or resides in the Temper of his Body: And thus Heat may be properly termed a Corporeal Quality; as also, that it may be communicated from one Material Being to another: But in the Sun there can be neither Flame, or Heat, diffused from his Substance; which is very evident in Mountainous Situations, that, however high they Extend, and therefore nearer to the Sun, are far Colder than Inferior Regions: Which could not, be if the Substance of the Sun were naturally Hot, or a Flame, in any kind, as defined by this Author.  
Against whom the general Opinion of most approved Philosophers is fully opposed by denying, That the Elementary Qualities of Heat, Cold, Moisture and Dryness, are either Inherent or directly proceeding from the pureness of Light transmitted from the Sun and Stars: As also that Experience assures us, That sometimes, when the Night is abundantly enlightened by the Moon and Stars, their Nocturnal Motions account colder Hours than if the Night had been Dark and Clouded. And comparatively the same may be not seldom observed in a shining Day, when the Aerial Cold is not at all profligated by the Splendours of the Sun; but rather continues more frigid than if his Diary of Hours had, for that time, Revolved in a Mist.  
How then does it come to pass, that the Sun and Stars, which only dispense their Illuminations to the Day and Night, and refinedly Existing above whatsoever Purity that can be supposed most Excellent in Elementary Compositions; should notwithstanding be conceived to Influence such Qualities, or other Substances, which they have not in their own?  
The best Account given by the Erudite in Philosophical Science is, That the shining Radiations of the Sun and Stars by their Motion, together with such Parts of the Air and other Bodies most contiguous to their Revolutions, and the commixture of Celestial Beams conveyed, do operate in a wonderful Method, on inferior Substances, which is the soundest Reason, that they can render, or cause of the Variations of Heat, Cold, Moisture and Dryness, that as so many accidental Effects, and admirable Operations, are beneficially disposed from above.  
On which stupendious Consideration, the safest Determination should be rather sublimely to admire, than to Define the miraculous shining of the Stars and Sun; or Term their Illuminated Substance, according to the Tenent of Des-Cartes, no other than may be likened to a Flame produced by Fire: Nothing being more unadvisably Rash, than to be inquisitive of such Existencies, Causes and Effects, that, by the Conduct of Heaven, are concealed from us.  
His other Mistake, and I presume so to name it, is, That he Affirms the Sun as absolutely fixed to a Point, in his Orb, as the Stars are in the Firmament above him: By which determination he takes from the Sun the Glory of his Ecliptic, or Annual Progression. And as to his Substance, and Manner of Being, he defines it no other than very fluidly Composed and Movable; as also perpetually Discipated and extinguished by some circumjacent Matter: But so as when any Part is dispersed or extinguished, the Sun is immediately replenished with other: And I conceive he would be thought to Imagine the same manner of Existence relating to the Number of Stars and Planets. But as to the Term of Fluid, which he applies to the Substance of the Sun; it can neither in a Grammatical, or Philosophical Sense, be otherwise Construed than as the Word is appropriated to some moist, or wet Matter that Moves with a feeble Current: And thus as he states the Case, something is always sliding into the Sun, whilst as much slips from his Substance.  
But could he judge, or any Man for him, That the Alteration he mentions in the Sun, might not too nearly resemble, or be properly Interpreted an Elementary Change, in as mean a Source as concurs with Corporeal Alterations familiaar with us: It being impossible so to distinguish the Supplement, or Diminution of any Material Thing, that it may not have a Natural Tendency to Generation, or Corruption; which must be Employed, as the Proprieties of Substance, wheresoever it is alterably varied in Proportion or Figure.  
The fixed Stars he grants, more Immensely distant from us than can be probably Computed; and I believe he is in the right. But I think he may be as much in the wrong by his Inventing of so many separate Orbits, Motions, and Distances, upwards and downwards, from one another; as by Imagination he has removed some Thousands of Stars from the Constellations to which all Former Astronomers determined them fixed: As also, by defining of them no other, to whomsoever will accept his Hypothesis, than in Grandeur and Refulgency equal to the Sun, were they as near our Eyes; but wherever they are, he continues them fastened to their single Circumferences in the same manner as he allows the Sun: So that, according to his Opinion, had we longer Optics, we might behold every one of them, in a separate Sphere, as fully Conspicuous as the Days bright Phoebus. But after all, he offers not so much as a plain Triangle to prove his Conceit.  
Some Schemes he has raised in which he so confusedly Represents, and as it were Embroiders the abovementioned Spheres of Stars; and by so many Obliquities and Figurative wind, together with their Curvitures on all sides, upwards, and downwards, that there cannot be discerned, amongst them, one Section of a Cone, or conical Figure, that can be Geometrically described.  
The Substance of the Heavens, as also their Vicinities, he calls Fluid; into which he Infuses abundance of liquid Matter, that may be compared to a Whirl-pool, and these he denominates Vortices: And next, let's go, amongst them, as he finds occasion, such deminutive Substances, which he Terms Moving Globuli; or rather swimming Spawns of Matter, much of fictitional Resemblance to the devised Atoms of Epicurus.  
By these Things, fancifully Employed, he undertakes to Revolve all the Motional Stars, together with the Earth, which he takes for a Copernican Planet, instead of the Sun, that he exempts from Motion whether Diurnal or Annual.  
His Diagrams, to this extravagant purpose, I leave to the Inspection of the Reader, as they are to be found in his Book; being not desirous to Cumber mine, or punish my Brain and Fingers, by copying of such of his Draughts that I conceive are Improperly Applied.  
The main concern that I shall chief insist on, shall be the Plea that he makes for the Motion of the Earth instead of the Sun; which I shall question, before a very Supreme Tribunal, as he ought to be Philosophically and Mathematically accountable.  
That the Earth is Globulous, or naturally Round by the Coition and Knitting of its Parts to its Centre; is also Astronomically proved, because to such as directly Travel towards the North or South Points of the Meridian, the Pole appears either more or less Elevated or Depressed: Moreover that going farther Eastward, or Westward, the Eye may behold some Stars Rise sooner, or Set later than others. To which may be added, that the Moon, the more Easterly Eclipsed, is, by her proper Motion, as it were backward from West to East, more Hours from the Meridiam, or Midnight, than Westerly Eclipsed.  
By the Globe of the Earth is comprehensively meant, as Cosmographers Determine, its being surrounded, or being continued with the Orbicular Superficies of Water, as its Parts appertain to one and the same Centre with the Earth: To which may be added the common Experience of Navigators, who Sailing from a Port discern the Convex Superficies of the Water above the Land.  
That the Earth is placed in the Centre of the World is Philosophically proved; because whatsoever is ponderous, within the Compass of the Universe, naturally tends downwards, or which is all one, to the Centre of the Earth; from whence should she Ascend 'twere no less than to Recede from her Centre, on which she is poised by her own Weight, in Moving upwards; all which were absurdly Impossible.  
By undoubted Astronomical Observations 'tis certainly proved, that the Earth is the Centre of the Universe: Otherwise the World could not be divided into two Hemispheres; because neither more nor less than six Signs of the Zodiac, above the Earth, are at any time visible: As also, that the Moon could not be Eclipsed in Diametrical opposition to the Sun, if the Earth did not Intervene.  
And tho' the Globe of the Earth does Circumferentially contain near 26280 English Miles; it is but, as it were, a Point if compared to the Firmament, or Orb of the Sun, above: To which may be added the obvious Observation Demonstrated by the Hour-Lines of every Dial; from whence it is very perceivable, that the Shadow Moves no less Regularly, about such Centres, than it surrounds the Centre of the Earth.  
Nor could any Artist, for the Use of his Profession, raise a direct Perpendicular applied to any Height, or Levelly; if his Hand, Line and Plummet, were rapidly Revolved by the Motion of the Earth: Which must, by its swift Acceleration, were there Truth in the Copernican Hypothesis, Move, according to Learned Computation, at least 1111 of our Miles in one Minute of an Hour: A Revolution far more allowable to the Sun, as his Substance is defined, in a manner Spiritual, by erudite Authority, than to the heaviest of Bodies, the Earth. Some undertake to allege, That the Motive was, because that by his System he avoided some Epicycles and Circles that had been with greater difficulty used by Ptolemy: Which may be allowed on that Consideration, or as, mutatis mutandis, Astronomers at this Day apply his Theory to the Sun instead of the Earth.  
And if Affirmed, as the Copernicans usually argue, That extraordinary Motion ought rather to be Conceded to the Earth than the Sun, by reason that the Earth is so very small, if compared to the vast Dimension of the other: The Answer is, That a swift Horse will sooner dispatch a long Journey, before an Ant can go a Yard.  
Whosoever would adhere, notwithstanding the convincing Allegations here mentioned, to the Copernican, or Cartesian System; might find his Opinion Ridiculed by very young Experience: Insomuch that the Boy, who found the Roost or Nest of a Bird this Minute, might seek it, if he could, above a Thousand Miles at the next. Nor could the Bird find, by the swiftness of its Wing, when the Earth rapidly moved Eastward, better than the Boy, its Roost, or Nest; as it designed to fly towards either Westward. And doubtless the Brain of the Boy, and Bird, might be giddily discomposed by the hasty Progression of the Earth, which could not but totter every Thing that belonged to her Surface: And much more easily Imagined, that Men had their Heels struck up as she Revolved, than that one of Mankind could, in that wonderful Circumstance, Stand, or Walk, on her Superficies. But what might become of Houses and Edifices, if Revolving with the Durnal Motion of the Earth? Why surely the best that could be hoped from the Hypothesis, by the World's Inhabitants, would be, That their Chimneys might smoak when arrived with them, to their Antipodes: Since, as sure as Check, the Copernican System would whirl 'em thither.  
But 'tis a Doubt, they would be confusedly shattered and tossed from their Foundations, before swinged to that Point of the Earth's Diameter. If Men will not be laughed out of the Conceit of the Earth's Motion; they may, if they please, consider the soundness of the Reasons here offered, in a Philosophical and Astronomical Sense: And 'tis probable they may, that way, confute their precedent Tenent.  
And tho' by this Calculation, the Earth is Imagined to be in the Equator; 'tis not to be doubted, if the Earth were thought to describe, by her Elliptical Declination, any Parallel to the Equator, that there could be wanted suitable Proportions; if applied by whomsoever understands the Doctrine of the Sphere. At present 'tis enough proved, by me, how much, in any time given, the Earth, by Moving, must transfer and alter the Zenith and Elevation of the Pole, as may be perceived by the Diagram here delineated: And perfectly Demonstrates the Copernican Absurdity, or rather the Impossibility of Motion in the Earth; however complied with by the Opinion of Des-Cartes: So that the Earth may be confined to her immovable Station, to the expunging of the Planetary Room given her, in any Scheme, by this Author, betwixt Mars and Venus; from whence, by his Hypothesis, he removes the Sun, and places him below the Planets as their common Centre. But the Proofs that I have Inserted, are, I presume, in all kinds, so perspicuous, that I need not Catechise any Delineation or Diagram of his in order to a clearer Confutation: So that if the Earth does not Move, and surely no Proof of his has been weighty enough to Remove her, she must be no Vagrant from her Place, whatsoever becomes of his Hypothesis.  
For which Reason, I hold it Impertinent farther to Employ my Ruling-Pen, Compass, or spherical Calculation in Opposition to his Planetary Theory: Had he not added to his Novel System the Superfetation of Comets, which he denominates Planets, with no less assurance than if by a Convention of Stars it had been signified to him, That they ought to be Naturalised into their Number; tho' formerly reputed spurious intruding Foreigners, and confined by the Learned Ministry of Science, to Exercise their Motions and Posutres far below the nearest Palace of Heaven; till advanced by Des-Cartes to Superior Orbs: Who assures us, That 'tis expedient to allow, to their irregularity and rambling Above, as vast a Sphere as can be supposed betwixt Saturn, the sublimest of Planets, and the six'd Stars. But by what means he exalts their Substance to that Height, shall be considered, when I Treat of the Materials with which he undertakes to furnish, and, in a manner, Compose the visible World.  
Which he tells us, in his 54th Particular is by such an unerrable Idea committed to his Understanding, That it were all one as to question an Inspiration dispensed by the Almighty, as to doubt of the Principles and Causes that he delivers: Tho' he could not but know, that he was their first Communicator. But had he been asked, Why God should so limit his Providence as not precedently to Illuminate other Men, with as much scientifical Certainty as he imputes to the Novel Discoveries made by his Pen? He might have been somewhat out of Countenance, or posed to Reply: Which in effect he confesses afterwards, where he acknowledges, That it is not safe to be confidently conceited, or too far presume on private Opinion; but rather as a Philosopher, or by way of Hypothesis to propose such Notions, which if supposed untrue, they may be equivalent to Truth, if deduceable from them such Things as may be experimentally useful.  
Here he seems to depose Fiction from the Throne of Reason, by depending on such Certainties that are above whatsoever Fund, can be erected by Humane Imagination; and this he briefly signifies, by attributing Creation to the World with such absolute Perfection, that originally completed the Sun, Moon and Stars: As also, that the Earth was primarily embellished with Vegetables of all Kind's, maturely perfect: And that the first of Mankind which he believes, was Adam and Eve, were Created in the exactest Bloom of Man and Woman: Of all which he grants himself Religiously, and Rationally assured. But notwithstanding he advises us, as our more ready Expedient, rather to consider by what means Things might be produced, than in what Method they were originally Created by God.  
In my Opinion, he had better have acquiesced on the Miracle of the Creation, than to have prepared the expectation of his Reader, as he does in this Paragraph, by inviting him to attend on the Seminary of his Brain, from whence he under taketh to Expose the Principles, Beginnings, Ingredients, Vegetations, etc. of whatsoever the Universe contains; as likewise out of what Materials the Humane Composition was first effected: Avowing, that his Principles are very Concedable.  
And so I grant, could any one Miracle be understood by undertaking to prove it by admitting of another: It being as Impossible to Explicate, by any material Process, the Original Production of an Atom, as any Star of the First Magnitude.  
And such I doubt may be found, not a few, of his Incomprehensible Suppositions; as unaccountable, perhaps, to Man's Understanding, as if he had undertaken to Enumerate the Points that are contained in the unknown Circle of the Universal World. The main Phoenomena's of his stupendious Philosophy, Relate to the Primitive Existence of Matter; which Matter, he abundantly divides into diversities of Parts, and them again as variously divisible: To these he appropriates different Motions; but supposes, that every Substance of which the visible World is Composed, might, by Divine Appointment, be very near equal: Of which he Imagines, that the Heavens and Stars were produced; and of the most fluid Materials; applying the more Gross or Thick to inferior Things.  
All which, in his Opinion might be no less orderly determined; than if they had Originally slipped out of Chaos with all their several Capacities and Motional Dexterities.  
Thus far I have Extracted the quintessence of his Hypothesis; or indeed but a revived Model, as it may be well understood, of the Doctrine of Epicurus; there being little difference betwixt his Theory of Atoms and setting them on work, as he opens the Door of Chaos, than as diminutive Particles of Nature, they are busily Modelled by Des-Cartes.  
And I think, that the Poetical Fancy of Ovid may be admitted to share, in Principles, with both, where he expresses the first Start of the World's Individuals out of the confused Seeds of deformed Chaos in these Verses:  
Unus erat toto Naturae vultus in Orb  
Quem dixere Chaos; rudis indigestaque moles,  
— congestaque eodem  
Non bene Junctarum discordia semina rerum.  
But should the fanciful Monsieur Des-Cartes be questioned for the Chaos of his Principles out of which he deduces the Constituted World; the Infancy of Nature would be as oddly understood from his Positions, as in the fantastical Doctrine of Epicurus, or in the Lines of Poetical Ovid.  
Wherefore, as I conceive his Maxims to be too innumerably perplexed and entangled for my Brain, or a better to explicate; I shall wave them accordingly by confining my Observations to a cursory Consideration of some Particulars that I judge most useful, and therefore fit to be separated from the rest.  
The Primitive Ingredients annexed by this Author to the Original Consistence and forming of the Visible World, together with every Individual Substance, within its vast Circumference, are comprehended in three Elements not otherwise different than as they are more or less fluid.  
The First of which he conceives so forcibly acting, that in meeting with other Bodies it is divided into very diminutive and numberless Particulars: Accommodating its various Figures to the replenishing of all Angles that were caused by them.  
The Second Element he supposes divided into very small spherical Particles; but of certain, and determinate Quantity; and divisible into many less.  
The Third he defines more Gross, or Thick; consisting of Figures not very inclinable to Motion: Of the first of these he conceives the Sun and fixed Stars Composed; the Heavens, or Firmaments above of the Second; the Earth, together with the Planets and Comets, made up of the Third.  
Which Catalogue of Elements he thinks very significant; because, as he conceives, that only the Sun and fixed Stars properly emit Light; the Heavens transmit it; and by the Earth, Planets, and Comets, remitted, which difference he judges may be discerned; and therefore believes it well referred to Three Elements.  
If Nature has accommodated us with Four Elements, of which we are as certainly Intelligent as that Heat, Cold, Moisture, and Dryness, are incident to her genune Production of Things: This Author has exempted one out of her Catalogue; and what is more, has complicated a Trinity of Elements into one Substance, which he not otherwise distinguishes, than as in some Operations and Capacities, it is more Fluid than in other; as he applies it to the primary Production of the Visible World, and whatsoever had Being in it. So that the First Star that twinkled in the Universe, was, in his Judgement, but such a refined Part of Fluid Matter, which if sufficiently thickened might have grossly produced an Elephantick Constellation in the Firmament. But of such Particulars more hereafter, or when I Inscribe my intended Remarks on the Fourth Part of his Philosophy, where he Treats of the Earth and its Appurtenances.  
In the mean time, I shall briefly Elevate my Observations to the height of his Suppositions as they tend to the Method delivered by Des-Cartes, whereby he would conceive in what manner the fixed Stars and Sun might be Originally formed and completed.  
In the beginning, he means of the World, the Matter of the First Element increased, by reason that the Particles of the Second Element, by their assiduous Motion did impair one another: From whence it ensued, that the Quantity of the Second Element was greater in the Universe than was necessary to fill up such exiguous Spaces that were between the spherical Particulars of the Second Element, as they were mutually Incumbent: So that whatsoever did remain, after those Spaces were so replenished, had a Recourse to certain Centres: And there Composed the most Fluid spherical Bodies, the Sun on one Centre, and fixed Stars on others: But afterwards when the Particulars of the Second Element were more attrited, or worn, and receding equally from their Centres, they left such spherical Spaces as were, from all Circumjacent Places, by the flowing thither of the First Element, exactly filled.  
His Words I have delivered in as clean English as I could fit, or contract them to his purpose; but that being done, I must confess that I cannot Construe their meaning: It being very unconceivable, how he could furnish his Brain with a speculative Idea of such Particles of Nature separately and fluidly Moving; since whatsoever is Fluid must necessarily Imply a continued material Emanation of the same Substance; as in purest Water it is impossible to imagine any separate Fluidity in any of its Particles; no more than the most diminutive Bubbles, when discerned on a flowing Spring, or River, can be said to be separately Fluid. And next to Affirm, as he does, That such Materials could movingly Atteriate or Rub one another less; there being no such Capacity in any Fluid Substance: Wherefore if he had used the Epithet of washing, or dashing, of greater into smaller Particulars, tho' somewhat Improper; the Expression had been more pardonable than his calling them Rubbers of one another into any Fluid Diminution. And what is more, he undertakes by their reciprocal Motions to fill up every Corner amongst them: But how to find an Angle in any continual Fluid Matter, cannot be understood by Geometrical Delineation; wherefore I wonder to find in so knowing a Mathematician, as was this Author, so undemonstrable a System.  
But howsoever Interpreted, he undertakes abundantly to Replenish, with such petit material Quantities, no less than three of the Superior and vastest Heavens: And next by his Invented Vortices, which in a Grammatical Sense, may be denominated Whirlpools, he Circumvolves Clusters of them, until he has disposed them capacious enough to be Metamorphosed, by Motion, into the Figures of the Stars and Sun.  
Against the main of his Opinion that the Heavens are fluidly Composed, on which the rest of his Phaenomena's depend, there is farther to be objected, That it is unnatural, and clearly Inconsistent with undeniable Philosophical Principles; and as contradictory to ocular Evidence: By which we are assured, as perfectly, as by Sight we can discern, that the Sun and Stars must be of the same Celestial Substance with the total Heavens; and which is not denied by Des-Cartes otherwise than as he supposes some Parts of it, which he calls the first or most fluid Element; and therefore ought not to be so defined by him: Because whasoever is Fluid is also dissipable, and consequently may be more Extended, Dilated, or Contracted; but neither of these are to be observed in the Figure or Appearance of the Sun, that always continues exactly Spherical; tho' at some times, the clearness of his Figure is not equally perceivable by reason of Exhalations and Vapours that interpose, betwixt his Splendours and the Eye of the Beholder. Moreover if any Part of the Celestial Substance were fluidly dissipable; Nature would be necessitated, to prevent Vacuity, the detested Opposite to her Existence; that some inferior Matter, or Body, should Ascend to supply that place in the Heavens where the Parts were separately removed: Which were repugnant to Providence, that has ordained, that no other than the Substance of Heaven, by any Natural Motion, shall possess the Supreme Part of the Universal World: If it could, the Elementary and Corporeal Mixture of Bodies below, might be corruptly intermingled with the refined Nature of the Heavens, which are apparently unalterable, undiminish'd, and as totally uncorrupted: In which Sense it may be concluded, That the Heavens are Immutable, and therefore Impatible; as being of supremest Excellency, or not at all partaking with the distempered Compositions, or Ingredients that constitute other Bodies.  
If the Heavens are determined to be of the most tenuous Subtlety and Perfection, as necessarily they must be, because far supremer than all other Being's of the Visible World, and therefore a Propriety inseparably conferred on the Superiority of their Existence; insomuch as they never can Descend; which is absolutely contrary to all other Quantitative Magnitudes that Move downwards, or, like the heavy Composure of the Earth, naturally tend or reside in the lowest Place: Yet in a wonderful manner the Substance of the Heavens may be deemed no less Tenuous than excellently Solid, by reason that the entireness of their simplicity admits not other Substance to be Coherent or Moving with them: For which Reasons, had this Author defined, in the same manner, the Substance of the Heavens, it had been far more concedable, than to have determined them, in any kind, Fluid; as being an Epithet not at all Concentring with the Notion we ought to have of the sublimity of their Motions, and refin'dness of their Appearance. To Sum, in a Word, my Objection, nothing can be Termed Fluid, but must have a moist Propriety, and Moisture, in whatsoever Substance, is nearly Allied to Water, and therefore of some weight: Whereas it is possible to allow Admirable, or Incomprehensible Tenuity, not at all ponderous; which claims a Dignity perferrable to any Opinion that can be alleged to the contrary.  
The other Mistake of this Author is, That he is positive in Affirming That the Motions of the Particles, or Globuli, as he names them, of the Celestial Substance, have a natural propensity, to departed from their Centres: Notwithstanding, he grants them, however diminutive, to be spherically Figured; by which Inclination or Endeavours of theirs to be excentrically Removed; he Affirms, That the Light of the Stars and Sun is both attained and consistent with them.  
Which Maxim of his, in effect, were all one, as if he had determined circular Motion to be preposterously and forcibly Conferred; as he would suppose the prone inclination of Things to relinquish Central and Circular Movement: A Tenent highly unnatural, and contrary to the Method of Providence, that doubtless does, in a manner, Celebrate the most sublime and excellent Substance of the Heavens with the most perfect Motions. How Stars than should attain their wonderful Light, or exactness of their Figure, by an irregular Motion; were to debase the Omnipotent Cause of their Illuminated Existence: As I have remarked, on his Notions of the Laws of Motion, in the former Second Part of this Treatise.  
As also, by what I proved a little before, in this Part, by undoubted Principles of Philosophy in opposition to his Idea, or Supposition, of the exorbitant Motion of such Fluid Globulous Particles of Matter, that by their Flux and Reflux, he would imagine the Light of the Sun continually preserved and replenished: Is the reason, as I precedently instanced, why I think them impertinent, and consequently avoid the giving of myself the trouble of delineating divers of his perplexed Diagrams; as being sufficiently, I believe, confuted, together with his Methods of Motion, and the Funds on which he erects them: All which, to the best Eye of my Understanding, seem no less obscure, or uncomputable, than if a Man should undertake to Demonstrate the several Movements, Obliquities, Situations and Figures of innumerable multitudes of the most diminutive Sands, when scattered, by Winds, throughout the largest African Desert.  
On which account, I may well omit such Theories, Systems and Schemes of his, that I take to be insufficient, or such as, in his own Words, he declares rather probable than Certain: Wherefore the passing from whole Pages of them, to what may be more Intelligible, or sensibly communicated; cannot be unacceptable to my Reader, if I that way exempt the Labour and Toil of his Eyes, from Inspecting of such Things, as might, in no kind, satisfy his expectation, or deserve the pains of the Inscriber.  
And thus I pass to his 115th Particular, where he undertakes to tell us, how a fixed Star may be converted into a Comet.  
The Cause he renders, of such a blazing Prodigy, being no other, Than that it is a Globulous, Opacous, and hard Substance congeriously Composed of abundance of Spots rapidly moved by some whirling Vicinity, or Vortex, of his Denomination; which moved irregular, and if so descending, passes to inferior Vortices, where making a stop he determines it a Comet.  
But if it afterwards descends to a certain distance from any Star, to which the Centre of that Vortex does belong, it than remains there, and Revolving about it, is an absolute Planet: This, in brief, is the substance of this Head, as he delivers it.  
What considerate Man is there, that by reading of those Words, would not Interpret them of a complicated, dark, or heavy Sense; if compared to the admirable Celerity, of their Import, by creating of a Comet, or on his Conditions, a Planet? Unless by favouring the Pen of the Learned Des-Cartes, some gentle Reader might deem it the most sublime Stuff that ever was written by any Author. And such, I doubt, are the Ingredients by which he Composes, in any of his Considerations, the Substance of a Comet.  
But if there are in the Heavens no such Materials, of which he undertakes to Metamorphose fixed Stars into Comets, or into Planets, and constitute Vortices and Globuli, together with the Motions he annexes to them; all that he has written on that Subject, may signify no more than Vapours of his Brain; and Comets not other than spuriously produced by sublunary Exhalations sublimely elevated, as not a few of the Learned have Written; and perhaps, as surely so Composed, as that the Body of Des-Cartes consisted of Elementary Parts; into what Vapourous, or Crude Imaginations must then vanish his Hypothesis of Comets!  
That there is no such Substance in the Heavens, as he distinguishes them by his Trine of Elements, before mentioned, is very manifest, both as he defines them Fluid, and from the Motion he annexes to them: Which if granted to Move as supplemental or diminishing of any Material Thing, they must partake of Elementary Nature and Mixture: Because whatsoever is dilated, or contracted, must likewise vary Extension; and nothing but what is Elementary can be so understood, or be properly the Object of Sense: On which ground, the most Judicious Philosophers have defined the Heavens, with all their orbicular Vicinities, of a distinct Essence from the rest of the World, which cannot be Affirmed of the Vortices or Globuli devised by this Author, of which he declares some more fluidly, thin, opacous, gross, or thicker than others: And where lives the Man, that pretends to the least Philosophical Sense, that would admit any of these Definitions or Qualifications, otherwise than as Elementary Proprieties incident to the alteration and corruptible Tempers of Things in that manner Constituted?  
But so much has already been Written to this purpose, of the Nature of the Sun and Stars, to which I can add nothing here, unless I reiterate my former Discussions; tho' I am as little a Friend to Repetitions, as I am to tedious Penmen: A Reflection that might be pinned on some Treatises of this Author, without being prone Satirical: Who seems to vary his Fluid Phaenomena's, Vortices and Globuli, in several Diagrams; but if duly considered, are to no better purpose, than where the Fund of any one of them proves unfound, the others are disproven: And I have dealt with some of his Tractates accordingly, by waving divers of his Particulars, where I thought they might be, in a small compass, significantly Answered.  
The Substance of what he delivers of the various Appearances and prodigious Motions of Comets is briefly thus; granting that by the most accurate Observation that can be made of them, no exact Rule is to be given of their Transmigrations from one part of Heaven to another, as in a few Months or Days they frequently vanish from our Sight; and sometimes not much more, or at other times, Move less than amounts to a middle part of Heaven; as also, that when they are first seen they usually seem of greatest Extension: But towards their Period, gradually diminish, and as in the beginning of their Appearance, their Motion is swiftest; about the end, they are observed to Move slowest.  
All which admirable Diversities and Phaenomena's, he considers as caused by such Vortices and Globuli, as I have already mentioned, and for the Reasons given by me, shall totally be declined, together with the Imaginary Proofs that he would deduce from them.  
But in their stead, as far more explicitly satisfactory, I shall present my Reader with the most considerable Opinions of Learned Philosophers, in reference to the Cause, Effects, Being and Motion of Comets.  
That they are Prodigies of an extraordinary Nature, is unanimously determined by the Famous in Science.  
Seneca, of all the Latin Writers most spiritually Ingenious, writes to this purpose, in the 7th Book of his Natural Questions.— As of many Things, says he, that we grant in Being, we are Ignorant, and in particular of the Mind, or Soul within us, by which our Persons and Actions are guided: As also, of what, or how produced that Mind or Soul: How then can we undertake certainly to know other mysterious Existencies, so far removed from us, when the Mind within us, as to its own Being, is a Mystery to itself?  
And therefore not to be admired, if Comets, the most rare and surprising Objects, are so visible to us, that by no certain Rules, their Intervals, Beginnings and Periods, are understood by us.  
And well may the Humane Mind, as Seneca infers, if deficient by not apprehending the manner of its Existence, as imperfectly consider Things above us; and especially such as are highly distant from our Eyes, and use of our Senses. Wherefore Aristotle, in his Treatise, de Coelo, acutely determines, That Celestial Objects, as they are, of all others, most Remote from sensible Perception, so no less distant from any evident Demonstration, or Science, that can be Affirmed from their Observation. That Comets are produced from Elementary Exhalations, as their Principal Cause, is the general Opinion of many of the Learned Ancients and not a few of like Repute amongst Modern Authors: Because in Figure they diversely vary as their Substance Inereases, or Diminishes, according to the time of their Appearance, until their Matter, as it were consumed, they totally vanish: Which they frequently do, when in their highest Elevations; and therefore never observed to Rise or Set as does a Star or Planet, and consequently not of their Substance, no more than a Star can be defined mixed or elementarily Existing. Whereas, to the contrary, 'tis ocularly evident, that the Matter of Comets is gradually Extinguished; which proceeds from no other 'Cause than that Comets are natuturally alterable, and decay as to their extent, bigness, fading of their Colour, and shining Appearance; in such a manner as can be Attributed to no other 'Cause than the variety of their Elementary Compositions; which nothing can have but what may tend to a corruptible Period: More properly ascribed to the extraordinary Phoenomena's of Meteors, then converted, from the Substance of Stars, into Comets, or changed from thence to an absolute Planet; suitable to the wonderful Supposition of Des-Cartes.  
The exalting of Comets to Celestial Rooms and Etherial Movements, may be imputed to the mistaken Supputations of their Heights and Distance from us; either as they have not been or cannot be exactly observed: In respect that the Progressions of Comets are so instantly and perplexedly various; as precipitately, in some Moment's of Time, they are motionally downwards; and, in other, as immediately Ascendant: From which uncomputable difficulties the endeavoured Calculations of Famous Astronomers, as to the exactness they intended, have been doubtless frustrated.  
Which may well be admitted, if judiciously weighed, how hard 'tis to give a true Account of Things far above us: Insomuch that it is almost as facile to Compute their remoteness by the Eye, as to render it Arithmetically or Instrumentally Certain. Should a Jacob's Staff be made ten times longer than Salisbury Steeple, it might prove too short by any Proportions, it could give, were it applied to the surveying of the Distance of a Comet from the ground we tread on; tho' no other than a Meteor in the supremest Region of the Air: Because we do not certainly know, how far the Lowest, Middle, or Sublimest Part of the Areial Region is distant from us.  
Suppose a high Cloud did Diametrically Intervene betwixt the Sun and us, and let a Man be imagined, as near as possible, by the most approved Instrument to take its central Altitude above the Horizon: And the very next Moment that the Cloud removes, let him also, in the same manner observe the Horizontal Height of the Sun; 'tis not to be doubted, that he might find, by comparing, little difference betwixt their Altitudes.  
And if this be probable, we may be assured of the uncertainty of Astronomical Observations that would higher Ascend.  
The uncertainty of the Place of Comets, and their Distance from us is also more or less by reason of the different Inequalities of the Superficies of the Earth, which is a main Cause of the Erroneous Computation both of their Quantity and Distance; by reason that the Eye ought to be in the Centre when Observation of Comets is any ways performed: As also, that the Eye is hindered, or obstructed by Reason of such gross and fuliginous Matter as is naturally incident with Comets: Since all Vision by optic Principles, must necessarily be disposed and formed according to the Disposition of the Medium by which it is received and conveyed to Sight: And thus the irregular and various Disporportions that appear in the Figure, Quantity and Distance of Comets, are diversely beheld, or in a manner by Refraction, not unlike the viewing of a piece of Money in Water, it seems to be greater than it is, and at the top, when it is really at the bottom: According to which Similitude the parallactical Angle, or the difference betwixt the true and apparent Place of a Star, tho' the best Geometrical Method in order to its Calculation, is very uncertainly found by accurate Astronomers, when applied to Comets; and notoriously evident if compared their Observations; which are so exceedingly Discrepant, that even to Infinite Degrees and Miles their Computations differ as they Relate to the Magnitude and Distance of Comets from the Earth. All which may be egregiously apprehended if conferred the Observations of Famous Tycho with other Learned Astronomers that were before, and after him, of Eminent Reputation.  
To which may be added the ocular Experience of Ages past, whereby 'tis assured, that Comets together with their blazing, are Dissipated and Extinguished, when they nearly approach to the Ecliptic or Equator: Which is contrary to the Motion of the Planetary Luminaries that regularly Move in respect of those Circles, about the Sun; from whose Beams they receive the brightness of their Splendours: So that Comets either in Place, Nature, or Motion, can be no other than elevated Meteors and therefore of no Similitude with, or Derivation from Celestial Substance; or at all Composed by such unexplicable Methods as are Instanced by the Scheme, Diagrams and Notions of Des-Cartes.  
Lastly, the Matter of Comets may be indisputably Affirmed, elementarily Mixed, and obnoxiously Distempered and Composed, from the malevolent Effects that, too frequently are consequent to their Appearance: As Plagues, Famine, Destruction of Cattle by kill Diseases, scarcity of Grain, and the like: And sometimes superlatively omnious as they presage the Death of some Prince: Whose Period as Ptolemy is quoted by Albertus Magnus, is most especially signified, when a Morning Comet is in the Sign that did Ascend at his Nativity. In Sum, that Comets are terribly Prodigious, and extraordinary Prognostics dispensed from Above; or as severe Emblems of the displeasures and punishments of Heaven inflicted on the Iniquities of Kings and Subjects; are no less true than signally Recorded by credible Historians. Of which wonderful Examples, together with their portentous Attributes, I find nothing said, in this Treatise, by this Author; tho' otherwise, perhaps, too far inquisitive of the Production and Nature of Things, however Remote from common Understanding.  
And here I would Close my Remarks on the Third Part of his Philosophy; were not I obliged to Note, or indeed Reprehend his Conclusion; in which he infers, in Confirmation of his former Doctrine, That the Planets, although inclined to Circular Motion, never perfect any such Movements, either in Longitude, or Latitude.  
To which I Reply, by a necessitated Reiteration, being not desirous, that his Conclusion should have the better of my Pen, by which I have judged, or rather proved, his Premises taxable: Wherefore I thus briefly repeat my former Assertion, which was, That the Attributing in his Method, of imperfect Motions to the Planets, by contriving their Movements in Figures not exactly Circular, was an erroneous lessening of the Perfection of Providence; which could not but ordain, to the most Refined Existencies of Stars and Planets, such Movements as might be comprehended by the most absolute of Figures, which must be the Circle: Because there cannot be otherwise so useful a Computation of their Motion, as, is Demonstrated by many celebrated Astronomical Observators; by whom the new Mode of confining the Planetary Motions to an Oval, or Ellipsis, was never thought o● or wanted by them. Nor can I apprehend, how the Account of our Days and 〈◊〉 could be so commodiously rendered, as by Circular Motion they are computed. Which might be some Reason, why judicious Euclid did not mention, in any Part of his Elements, the Ellipsis, or any sort of Curv's, frequently found in the Schemes and Diagrams of Des-Cartes; as either certainly to be Enumerated, or Geometrically explicable: Whereas in his Third and Fourth Book he demonstrates Circular Commensurations, and also such Lines as usefully relate, or may be applied to them.  
'Tis said of Plato, who being asked, what God did? Answered, that he exercised Geometry; as by Man might be considered the Proportions of his Conduct, and Motion of his Works: But had Des-Cartes been so Interrogated; he must have Replied, according to his Hypothesis, That the irregular Figures, Schemes and Delineaments, that abundantly replenish his Diagrams, aught to be received as the Geometry of Heaven: However inconsistent with the soundest Notions, that Men can have, of the Conduct, Order and Motions above us.  
Other Objections might have been Inserted, as due Reflections on the Ideas, Principles, devised Theories, and Problems of this Author; which, to deal freely with my Reader, have more reference to the boundless Sphere of Fiction, than to any common Place of Science, or methodical Probation. Wherefore I have been thirftily cautious, and I presume not Indiscreet, by separating such Things from other of his Imaginations, on which I could more commodiously ground my Remarks, and thereby facilitate their Use to public Understanding: An Instance not improperly Annexed to the Close I give to the Third Part of the Philosophy of Des-Cartes.   

REMARKS On the Fourth Part of the New PHILOSOPHY OF DESCARTES. Of the Principles of the EARTH. PART. iv  
WITH no small Labour and Diligence, according to the best of my Understanding, I have thoroughly Inspected, and carefully Contracted my Remarks, to such Particulars as I judged of most familiar Consideration, to whomsoever should peruse what I have Written. And as in my precedent Tractaets I omitted such Maxims, Arguments, Premises, Conclusions, Schemes and Diagrams, of this Authos, which I conceived rather obscure Repetitions, or posingly Composed, than obviously perspicuous to the Apprehension of the Reader; an Oversight that ought to be highly avoided by a judicious Writer. The same rational Method, or separating of divers complicated Tenants, Assertions, and pretended Proofs of this, otherwise, Learned Frenchman, from what I have more Compendiously, and I presume, usefully Inserted; I shall continue in this Fourth Part of my Observations on his Philosophical Principles.  
The Works of his Composing, that I have to do with, being so frequently intermixed with divers Modalities by him Proposed and Invented, that neither concentre with Old, or New Probabilities; that should the ablest Penman undertake to Paraphrase, or Comment on them, 'twere much the same as the attempting to explicate one Solecism by alleging another.  
'Tis said of Lucretius, That he was the first of Philosophical Poets; and it may be as pertinently Affirmed, of this Author, that he is the first of Fictitious Philosophers: The main Bulk of whose Treatises, for the most part, are rather thickened by his affected Imaginations, than rational Conjectures deducible from Rules of Science; which in divers Places of his Writings, however indulgent to his Devising, he is so ingenuous as to acknowledge; but with this confident manner of excuse, That he supposes his Inventions ought to be more allowable than whatsoever can be urged against them; which I have, as I believe, and shall endeavour farther to disprove. And thus I proceed to consider his Hypothesis of the Being and Production of the Earth.  
In the first Page and entrance, he makes into his Fourth Part of his Philosophical Treatise, he transfers the Principles which he had applied to the Constituting of Superior Being's, in his Third Part, to the original Forming and Existence of the Earth we Inhabit: Which, in his First Paragraph, according to his designed Imagination, in Substance is thus: Let us feign (says he) That the Earth was primarily Constituted solely of the Matter of the first Element, (which has been mentioned by me, in the Third Part of his Philosophy) as was the Sun, tho' much less; as likewise to have a vast Vortex, or whirling Substance, about her; the Centre of which Vortex was the Centre of the Earth: But as some Particulars, or Globuli, as he calls them, were channelled, or hollowed, and some, but not all, very diminutive, of that First Element, they adhered, and so were converted into the Matter of the Third Element; (which I likewise noted in the foreg-oing Tractate,) and from thence, first of all, were the opacous Spots engendered on the Superficies of the Earth, resembling those we behold continually to generate and dissolve about the Sun. And next tells, how such Particulars were Thinned, or Condensed, Ascending, and Descending, some to Etherial Parts; some to the Higher, others to the Lower Region of the Air: As also, how the thicker of their opacous Spots covered, and darkened the whole Surface of the Earth.  
Thus I have briefly summed his Sense; the doing of which, has caused such a wonderful Confusion in the utmost extent of my Intellect, that I cannot there find room for the whirling of his Vortices and Globuli: Or were the Brain of Man as big as the Earth, it might prove too small for the comprehensive Understanding of his Hypothesis: By which he displays his Scene of Chaos, together with the diffusion from its Womb of such Particles, or Seeds of Nature, That by their Motions and continued Involutions, and Revolutions, Thin, or Thicken, without the operative concurrence of Heat, Cold, or any other Elementary Quality; until a sufficient quantity of them meet in a Lump, that might produce the Figure and Magnitude of the Earth.  
But from what shadow of Reason, or Philosophical Authority could Des-Cartes fancy, That either the Universe, or Earth, part of the whole, might be Constituted, or any ways generated by Motion unless of Bodies Composed of such Elements that are common to our Apprehensions? Because nothing if not so tempered, is capable of Motion, or computable by Time, the natural Propriety of Motion; and therefore not of such Chimerical Maaterials, or unqualified Particles of Nature, as he numbers in the actings of his devised Triplicity of Elements: Which if granted, 'twere, in effect, to Assert, That Motion, Time, and the Elements we usually understand, and by which we subsist, were operative and original Causes of the World's Existence: So that the Earth, together with Mankind, and whatsoever it contains, might have had, in the Opinion of this Author, a capacity of subsisting, or wonderfully forming itself, without a miraculous Creation.  
Nor can his Supposition be excused, by alleging, That the Almighty might Ordain the Fabric and Structure of the Earth, by any Motion of Substances that were not Elementary: Because impossible to conceive any other temperature of Things, that could be motionally capacitated to produce other Being's. But of what Composition, or how established, the Heavens above; are Thoughts too remote and spiritual, as I have proved, by Learned Authority, in the precedent Treatise, to be definitively reached by the Humane Intellect: Notwithstanding which sublime Consideration, the Earth is placed by Des-Cartes above; and instead of the Sun, as a Planet, according to the Copernican System, in as lofty a Room as is the Orbite betwixt Mars and Venus.  
In answer to which, enough I believe has been objected in the former Third Part: But now, having supposed the Matter of the Earth before intermingled with that of the Heavens; he tells us, how the Materials of the Earth delapsed, or slipped from above, towards the Inferior Place, according to his Phaenomena, of the Sun; and next distinguishes the Earth into three Regions.  
The First of these which he calls the most Inward, he supposes to contain so much of the Matter of the First Elements, not otherwise there Moving, or of other Nature, than as it was in the Sun; except that its Substance was less pure: But thinks that the Earth in passing from the Sun; and surely, in his Sense upwards, because by his Hypothesis he has preferred the ministerial Situation of the Terrene composition, much Superior to Phoebus the King of Illuminating Being's, as also that it continually became spotted, and could not be purged or cleared of them: From whence says he, I am easily persuaded, That the Earth was then full of the Third Element, did not it follow, that she could not, if at that time so solid, be so near the Sun, (he means downwards) as now she is. To which purpose, he has devised a Right-worshipful Scheme; but left by me, to the Inspection of such as have no other Employment for their Eyes.  
The Second Element of the Earth, he determines opacous and thickly Substantiated, as consisting of divers Minute Particles that appertained to the first Element: And this, in his judgement, Experience assures by the Spots in the Face of the Sun, which excepting their refin'dness and subtlety, are the same with those of the Earth: Yet notwithstanding hinder the Light that would else more appear in the Sun.  
But concludes, after some offered Reasons, which I do not mention, because I think 'em Irrational, That these two Elements have little to do with us; because no living Man ever ascended to their Stations.  
But by what Authority does he present us with a Theory of Things that he confesses no Body could ever be assured of: And for that Reason, I might pass from them with no less neglect than the Man, who reading an Inscription at Athens that was Dedicated to the unknown God, thought it had little to do with his Contemplation: And no more my concern what this Author delivers here; these Elements having been sufficiently, I doubt not, Remarked by me, in the Third foregoing Part of his Philosophy.  
Notwithstanding I will briefly add something, avoiding, if possible, Reiteration of Words, on the same Subject already written: Or only by way of Interrogation, were Des-Cartes present, desire to be informed in what Mint of Nature, he Coined these Elements, and as her Bank-stock Pays them off, in Parcels, to his Reader? In doing of which, he introduces, and a while continues, the original Empire of Nature, in Power and Credit, numerously attended by very inconsiderable Subjects, which he calls petty Globuli, surrounding her Throne, and immediately committed to the Government, and disposal of revolving Vortices that whirled them, without any orderly Method, or Proportion, either East, West, South, or North; or sometimes only upward, to the height of Heaven, and as soon precipitately downward; by which medley of Motion he conceives abundance of their Fluid Substances exceedingly thinned; whilst others were as nimbly thickened. As if the Hands of Nature had been busily employed in kneading of their Clusters till thoroughly condensed.  
Yet grants them so insipidly tempered, that by no proper Term, Naturally, or Philosophically Intelligible, he determines them either light or heavy; as he distinguishes their Elements from whatsoever is Elementarily Composed: And thus, according to his Method, he imagines, That Nature made her first Entrance out of the Closet of Chaos; and having not thoroughly washed her Face, he supposes some of her Spots might afterwards visibly remain in the Figure and Substance of both Sun, Moon and Earth.  
If next he had been asked, on what account he attributes Spots to the Luminary of Day, or Night, together with the Terrene Sphere of our Being; that are within no compass of reasonable Apprehension, he must have returned a motley Answer. Since undeniable, That whatsoever is capable of Spots, as its propriety, must be naturally coloured, and therefore of a mixed, Elementary Composition; by reason that nothing can be observably spotted, but is also coloured by mixed Ingredients, and consequently the Object of Sight.  
But the Sun and Moon, were never held, by found Opinion, Elementarily Constituted; wherefore not of any of his supposed Elements, no more than 'tis possible to conceive, how Air could be alterative, or operate on Air, or Water on Water; without partaking of Elementary Mixtures: A Truth confirmed by Experience in every Thing that is Thinned, Thickened, Ascends, or Descends; as sure as Earth is more ponderous than any of the other Three Elements ordained by Providence to exert all such Operations of Nature, as are with clearest Evidence understood by us. From whence may be concluded, that the seeming Spots in the Sun, or Moon, are no other than meteorous Exhalations or Vapours that interpose betwixt the Luminaries and the Eye of the Beholder; as surely as we frequently discern more or less clear, in Appearance, the Sun and Moon, and therefore no Spots Inherent in their Substance.  
As for the Spots that he annexes to the outward Complexion of the Earth, what Man ever heard of any of their Colours, except of such Things as have Being and Growth on her Surface; as Trees, Plants, Men, Women, Beasts, Grain, and such other Things, as might from Causes, be produced? How to Reply, had he been thus Interrogated, I dare Answer for him, he could not have told.  
And thus I come to the farther Examination of his Third Element, by which he undertakes to Exspand the Original of all Things within the Compass of the Earth.  
To which purpose, I will briefly Sum the Order and Materials, by which he forms his Phaenomena's of the Earth's Production.  
All which he supposes, were produced of the Fragments of a certain Thinn and Fluid Composition, which he Entitles, The primary Element of Nature: These Imaginary or Globuli- Fragments, proceeding, (as he derives them) from Spots in the First Element, and descensively operating on the next, termed by him a Second Element, they confusedly, and exceedingly disordered in Motion and Figure, tended downward, from their first sublime Height, till at last they became more congeriously Thick, suitable to the grossness of the Earth's Composure, and Settlement; where it now remains.  
So very intricately obscure, or vainly perplexed, does this conceited Monsieur debase the original Wisdom and Conduct of Nature, both as to her own Establishment, and the Production of her Works; which could never be so disproportionably and irregularly effected by the prudent Diligence and Intendment of her Operations: Which, as this Author commits them to her peculiar Conduct, I do not see why they should not have been, by her Management, as highly refined and continued, as he delivers the Materials of her first purest Celestial Element: And consequently of them, so sublimately ordained, have produced the Substance of Man and Woman, that being exalted to a Superior Room in the Etherial Heaven, the Eyes of Beauty might have there shined instead of Stars, now beheld, of the first Magnitude: And next to these, why should she not have gradually Illuminated the Substance of Animals, with all other Materials and Plants, that being naturally cleansed from such Terrestrial Ingredients, Alterations and Mixtures, that are now in them, they might have remained splendent Parts above, instead of being Revolved and whirled in globulis, or dispersed Fragments of Nature, downwards, until they closed in a Lump that completed the Earth, in Figure, disposition of Parts, and Situation, suitable to the Opinion of this Author?  
Such Queries may not be unfitly urged against his total Hypothesis, with all its Appurtenances; to which I add these palpable Objections.  
First, that it is egregiously preposterous, if not an Impeachment or lessening of the Dignity of Nature, supposing that by her voluntary Actings she debased the superiority of her Existence, by crumbling of her Materials into innumerable Bits, or Particles, in all kinds, of impurer Substance, and next dispose them, by a rambling, or giddy Progression, so grossly to meet as they might constitutively finish and sustain the small inferior Bulk of the Universe called Earth; or rather denominated the spurious Daughter of Nature, if so engendered by her actual consent.  
Whereas contrarily, 'tis the inseparable Attribute of Nature, intentionally to Conserve, whatsoever depends on her Regalia's, in its proper and utmost Perfection. And although, that by such Elementary Compositions and Mixtures, as are understood by us, she is necessitated to vary her Conduct, as Things are, in course, Generated, or Corrupted, in order to produce such Existencies that could not be continued in themselves; and therefore Providentially convertible into other Being's: Yet she constantly preserves her most genuine Progression, which is, that nothing shall so alter as not to have Matter and Form incident to their Corporeal Proprieties: Not unlike a Sovereign Ruler, within whose Dominions there is no period of his numerous Subjects by Death, because enough are begotten that succeed them.  
But no such Procreation could be consistent, or produced, as an Elementary Triplicity is devised by Des-Cartes; and not at allaccomplished or seasoned with such natural Ingredients as are the Elementary Adjunct to Bodily Existences: But rather of such a simplicity and incommunicable Qualification, that 'tis as reasonable to imagine, That Earth should proceed from mere Air, or Water from Fire, as that his imperfect, and uncompounded Elements, should, by their Vortices, and Globuli, arrive to any Corporeal Production: Because the Principles of all Things could be no other than Contarrieties, and therefore Elementary: Insomuch, that had not Providence otherwise disposed natural Operations than are contrived by this Author; neither the Heavens above, however excellent and refined their Essence, or the Earth we possess, with all its Appurtenances, could have been effected.  
The next Objection, is briefly thus,— Suppose, it were conceded. That his Hypothesis, relating to the Constituting of the Earth's Existence, were allowable; could it be conceived, that the diversities of Being and Motion which he annexes to his Particles of Nature, should be either operative or motional before the Sun, Stars, World, or any Elementary Composition, a main Cause of Motion, Version and Alteration of Bodies, as naturally they ought to be understood, did really Exist? Because nothing can Move upwards or downwards, but what is Corporeally mixed; and therefore consisting of Commensurable Parts, whose Movements must be gradually computed by Time, Nature's unerrable Accountant: But by the Incomprehensible Phaenomena's of this Author, the World was filled with temporary Motions, before it or Time was, or could be summed by computable Progression of any Thing, that could be its porportionable Measure; according to his Suppositions: Which Impossibility is so disregarded by this Writer, that Time, were his Notions true, might have continued, some thousands of Ages, before it could be understood to have Being, or his small Globuli, Circumvolved by their Vortices, could have constituted and filled the local Situation of one Mile of Earth, with all its Materials, from top to bottom, with their diminutive Particulars.  
Which Absurdities, if well considered, might have deterred, as Learned a Person as Des-Cartes, from posing his Intellect, with so many unexplicable Imaginations, whereby he would assimilate, however far above Thought, the stupendious Consistence of the World to miraculous Systems invented by his Brain.  
As for the Elements that he undertakes to deliver as the first Principles whereby the Earth was Constituted, which, as I have already proved, are neither Philosophical, or Natural; he tells us in his 13th Particular, That the more Solid, or thicker of them, are not always Inferior, in Place or Motion, to those that are thinner; the Reason he gives is, That notwithstanding they are uniformly Revolved, they so adhere to one another, by the Irregularities of their Figures, that the Globuli of one Element cannot extricate themselves from the Compulsions upwards, or downwards, of another.  
This Gentleman, who had not otherwise differenced his principal Materials, by which he would Constitute the Structure of the Earth, than as the Parcels of his small Globuli, were more or less extended, gins now, in effect, to grant them Elementarily mixed, as every Thing must be that is Thinner or Thicker than another, or different in Weight and Measure: But so as by his turbulent Vortices, the lighter were mingled with the heavier, in such a complicated manner, that they could neither Ascend or Descend, as they ought to have done by their Qualifications. But gives no certain reason, why they might not always have continued so Intermingled, and Confused; and therefore never have separated from one another? Since he determines no Cessation of the impetuous Movement of them caused by his whirling Vortices: How then could the Earth be Composed, or Constituted, by such Irregular Particles of Nature, that neither by their Motion, or different Temperatures, could be disincumbered from one another, and consequently so exactly Embodied as might complete the total Substance of the Earth?  
In his 14th and 15th Particulars, he undertakes to Describe what he means by diversities of Bodies, which he supposes formed in that, which he denominates his Third Region of the Earth; and these, he believes might be produced as the Globe of the Earth, distinguished into three Regions, having been devolved towards the Sun, and the Vortex, in which it was before, taken from it, variety of Bodies were distinguished in it: Whose Productions he designs to explain afterwards; but first, he delivers three or four Axioms, on which they depend.  

The First is the general Motion of his Celestial Globuli.  
The Second is their Gravity.  
The Third Light.  
The Fourth Colour.   
His First Position I am obliged to reflect on, and more severely, could it be avoided, than I am willing to do; out of the respect that I have to this Learned Author. But having Geometrically proved, by what I have Written on the Third Part of his Philosophy, That there can be no Motion, either Diurnal, or Annual, to be Attributed to the Earth, the Copernican way, instead of the Sun: I cannot but add, That it is far more egregiously Supposititious, that the imperfect Agitation of his Globuli, which he Inserts, in the Page I writ of, should perform their Annual or Diurnal Motion about the Sun, correspondent to his Imaginary System: It being highly improbable, that such different Particles, which he defines Globuli, both in Substance, Bigness, Quantity and Measure; as also, irregularly Moving, by his Concession, should completely finish the Diurnal or yearly Motion of the Sun; because not to be thought, that they could Revolve suitable to any Figure Geometrically computable: And therefore impossible, even to Absurdity, the fictitious Circumvolution that he appropriates to his Region of Globuli, than if without them, he directly had Asserted the Motion of the Earth: Because the Earth, allowed by the Learned, to be Circularly Formed, is more capable of Revolution, than that such diminutive Substances, as are disagreeably Composed, both in Quantity and Figure; should so perfectly unite their Movements as exactly to Represent, or Conspire with the Earth's Motion, in the room of the Sun, either Hourly, Daily, or Yearly, appertaining to Elliptical Circulation.  
In order to which performance of his devised Globuli, he makes yet more gross their Incomprehensible Phaenomena's; by Affirming, That they incline to Move in a straight Line, tho' he grants them not figuratively such; as if Things could be propense to Move directly, if naturally obliqne in Proportion and Figure: Notwithstanding that 'tis impossible, that whatsoever Moves, should describe any other Superficies, or Figure, than is suitable to its Corporeal Parts. Nor can any Thing be said in a proper Sense, to incline to Move in a straight Line, but as it must be either upwards, or downwards; according to the Nature of its Gravity, or Levity.  
To be plain, the most favourable Salvo that can be applied to this Broken Head of his Hypothesis, is, that he judges it safer, for his manner of Copernicanism, to substitute his whirled Globuli as Assistants, by their Movements, to the Motion he allows the Earth: Because, as I conceive, he might apprehend, that Objections to be made against the Earth's Revolution; as also, that by such an Hypothesis, the Situation of Countries and the Elevation of the Pole must infallibly alter, as has been already demonstrated, might be rebated, or not so unanswerably Alleged. Tho' to Men of competent Apprehension, the Absurdities are the same, whether the Earth alone, or his Globuli and the Earth, in any Kind, Intrigue, or conjoin their Circulations.  
Can a Man that has seasoned his Intellect with the least Relish of Mathematical Principles, conceive it possible for the confused Phaenomena's of Vortices and Globuli, mentioned by Des-Cartes, to absolve the mean or equal Motion, which, Astronomy assures, is annually consummated in the Ecliptic? Or, that the ponderous Structure of the Earth, should be so regularly elevated from her Centre, as that any Point of its Superficies, or its Vortices, and Globuli, in the Sense of this Author, might at one time have an Apogaeon height, or utmost Distance from the Centre of her Orb, and at another a Perigaeon-nearness unto it: Which were much the same, as to think it feasible for clusters of Flies, no bigger than Gnats, when they numerously seem to Circulate in Sunshine, to remove the weighty firmness of the terrene World; or perform, instead of the Sun, the Elliptical Revolution of the Day, or Year.  
Yet on this preposterous and feeble Conduct, is erected the main Hypothesis of this French Writer, both as to the Composition, Being and Motion of the Earth, with all her Circumjacent Particulars: Which shows, that he takes to himself an unpresidented Dictatorship in Science, whereby he would celebrate the Fictions of his Brain, without any requisite or probable assurance, that they ought to be Conceded.  
To which purpose, he Inserts the various Actings of his several Elements, tho' by no Body, but himself, so named; and by these, so Invented by him, together with Vortices and Globuli formed from them, he judges, That the Earth, with whatsoever it Comprehends, might be totally Constituted; as he their prime Artificer has contriv'dly set them at work.  
The first Action tending to the completing of the most refined Substance, or Parts of the Earth, he considers, as produced by the Motion of the most tenuous Matter of what he Terms a Third Element; which he supposes so very pure, that, even to Transparency, it may cause Bodies, tho' appertaining to Earthly Composition, very clearly to Shine.  
And thus we have the Earth, according to the Doctrine of Des-Cartes, both a motional and illuminating Planet. But should I account the numerous diversities of the fictitious Motions, and shifted Inventions by which this Author confers a shining Capacity on some Particulars of the Earth's Substance, I might more than fire, if not abuse, the Patience of an indefatigable Reader. Neither could I do other than impertinently load my Pen with repeated Objections, and manifest Confutations of his Theories of Motion, as they have been diversely applied by him on this, or other Subjects: The Movements of Things, in his Method, as he annexes their Qualities and Motions, being neither exactly agreeable, to straight Lines, or their proper Tendencies, or to such Curv's, as might be of Mathematical Construction; and therefore inconsistent with the Geometry of Nature: Which, as to her Works, must proceed from a regular Process; to which purpose, enough has been already written by me.  
I will therefore, in this place, briefly Inspect the Fond of the shining Attributes that he confers on some Particulars of the Earth, as they are stated by him.  
The principal Reason that he offers, is, That 'tis experimentally found, that pure Liquor in the Earth, of tenuous Consistence, is also pellucidous, or shining.  
Which cannot be true, if by clearness he means an Illuminating Quality: No more than the purest Water that can be Imagined, may be said to Shine, because it is clear. And who ever beheld any shining Part of the Earth otherwise than by diffused Beams of the Sun ' Moon, or Stars, it might be enlightened; tho' without any Illumination as to its own Capacity?  
Where are the Eyes that in a gloomy Day or Night, ever observed the shining of a Molehill on the Surface of the Earth: Or such little Morsels of the Ground as Worms deject; which might be composed of such Materials, as he describes his diminutive Globuli to consist of, for any reason given, by him, to the contrary?  
To confirm these Objections, this one, that includes many, may pertinently be added.  
If, as he imagines, the diaphanous Parts of any of his Celestial Elements, as they are defined by him, should by any intelligible Movement so operate, as they might be so qualitatively Constituted, as to embue any particular Substance, or Places of the Earth with a shining Capacity; since he has undertaken to Metamorphose our terrene Habitation into a Planetary Composition: How can it be probably apprehended, that his Fluid Globuli, by their feeble Commotions, should be conjoined to the Surface of the Earth, notwithstanding that the condense, or crusty Parts of her Surface are thickly hardened and nourished by the Roots of Grass, Trees, Minerals, Stones of all kinds, diversely tempered, and not possibly penetrable by any compulsive Motion of his diminutive, and impotent Globuli; unless so much of the gaping Superficies of the Earth could be supposed to receive their Fluid Descents, to no other purpose, than she does Rain when distilled by the Dissolution of Clouds? Which being done, there could but a dewy gloss appear on the Ground, that might not more imbrighten any Part of the Earth's Figure, than when, in some moist Seasons, the Glow-worm, with her Light, is engendered.  
So that whosoever would persuade himself, that the terrene World, or any Part of it, was ever primarily completed or motionally disposed by the Globuli and Vortices comprehended in the Diagrams and Theories of Des-Cartes, may as readily believe, that the Globe of the Moon was originally produced by the efficacious Seeds of a Carret-Bed.  
Nor does he deny, in some respects, the incongruity of his Principles, as in his 18th Particulars, he confesses, The Materials, by which he moulds the Frame of the Earth's Composure, and first Existence, to be confusedly operative; by granting, that the liquid Parts, which he Attributes to the prime Formation of the Earth, were disorderly complicated with his Celestial Globuli. Yet might by their Operations, in his judgement, upwards, downwards, or transversly, be separately distinguished by the Similitude he Porduces of a Glass of Wine in the Must, having Dregs not only on the top, and bottom, correspondent to Gravity and Levity, but also on the sides of the Glass: When afterwards the Wine being clear, notwithstanding that it before consisted of various Particulars, it becomes pellucidous, or shining: and not more gross or thicker in any one Part than in another.  
Here he presents his Reader with a Philosophical Wether Glass; by which he would determine the temper of the Season, when the Earth was forming by his diversified Globuli, and whirling assistance of his Vortices: Which petty Operators, as he states the Metaphor of their Condition and Conduct, might be as drunk (as Flies may be supposed) when some of them are, as it were, giddy on the top of a Glass of strong Liquor, or lean to its Sides, for supportance, whilst others more ebrietously replenished, heavily sink to the bottom: All which may be assimulated, without any wrong to the Brain of this Author, unto the giddiness of his Phaenomena's: It being impossible to conceive, from what rational Course of Nature he could produce the Substances, together with the Movements of his debauched Globuli, by which he constitutes the Being of the Earth: Considering, that he deduces their original Descent from what he Terms his first pure Element.  
In his 19th Head, he positively assures us, That the Third, and main effect of his Celestial Globuli are so perfectly operative, that they convert liquorous Drops residing in Air into rotund Figures, the reason as he States it is, because those Celestial Globuli find more Passages into a watery Drop than into the Circumjacent Air: And by that means, as near as may be, Move in right Lines, or in such as most approximate unto direct lineaments; whence it is manifest, in his Opinion, That such Globuli, that are in the Air, are less motionally hindered, as they meet with a watery Drop, according to the continuance of their Motions in a straight Line, or nearest unto it, if that Drop of Liquor be exactly spherical, than if it had taken any other Figure. But if any Part of the Superficies of that Drop, be extended beyond a spherical Figure, the Celestial Globuli by their more forcible discursions, made in the Air, more strenuously assault the watery Drop, than were it other Substance, and immediately thrust it downwards towards the Centre.  
The Reader, I presume, will excuse me, if in this Place, and some others of his Writings, I deliver the Notions, of this Author, in more uncouth Accents than I would willingly commit to his Perusal: It having been my care, no less than necessary Diligence, to render as genuinely, as might be, his Latin Expressions into English.  
If my Remarks on his precedent Praticular had any sharp Allusion, dressed in a plain and familiar Application; I cannot rebate, on this occasion, the point of their tendencies: Wherefore, if proved by me, in the foregoing Head, tho', by a comical Similitude, that his Hypothesis had inebriated his Globuli: I may as judiciously Assert, That his Sense, in the Particular, I now Treat of, may be, by no extravagant Similitude, termed unnatural, or Philosophically, and Mathematically Intoxicated; unless I could Affirm, in his behalf, that his Globuli, which, as he supposes, might by the force of their whirling Vortices, so dispose their Materials to the Constituting of the Earth, that the very Grapes that caused drunkenness in the Head of the Patriarch Noah, were engendered by some of their giddy Compositions.  
And as sure, as the Earth is now in Being, Nature might be deemed out of her Wits, if according to his disorderly Process, she could be thought to Design the Production of the earthly World.  
Or what can be more improbable, than the Tale he tells, of his Celestial Globuli converting of liquorous Drops, hanging in the Air, into round Figures?  
And what Reason does he give; why, no better than as he supposes, That his Globuli may find more passage in watery Drops than in the circumjacent Air?  
But does not common Experience confute this Imagination? Let a strenuous Hand fling a smooth Pebble-stone into the Air, and afterwards into Water, will it as soon pass any Part of the Superficies of Water as of the Air? Or will it not, the Water being of a more condense Substance than Air, have, proportionably, a longer Motion and Passage, by the resistance of its thicker Body, than might be given by the Tenuity of the Air? A Truth so practically evident, that it could not be unknown to many of the young Contemporaries at School with Des-Cartes; wherefore I wonder to find him of a contrary Opinion here.  
As little concentring, in any kind, with sound Principles, are the Proprieties that he annexes to his Globuli; which, if, in their Motion, engaging with any Part of a watery Drop that is extended beyond a spherical Figure, they immediately, with greater force, assail it, and by compulsion enforce it towards its Centre.  
But if any Part of it be nearer its Centre than another, his Celestial Globuli, contained in that watery Drop, forthwith employ their utmost Force to expel it from its Centre; and next altogether concur to make one spherical Drop.  
Here by a perverse Contradiction he notoriously thwarts the surest Maxims of Philosophy, as they pertinently Relate to the Nature and Motion of Corporeal Being's. Nor is there any Thing more irrational, if not Philosophically absurd, than to define, as he does, globulous Materials, and debar them of Motion natural to their Figures: It being not possible to imagine, that whatsoever is rotund should be more propense to Move in a straight Line, or the nearest unto it, than in a circular Revolution. If a Ball be let fall from the Hand, will it it not rotundly Move suitable to its Figure? And could this Author imagine, That a Demonstration so experimentally obvious would be waved by any Principle of his Geometrically Inconsistent; or that the exactness of Things circularly Moved, of all others most perfect, should incline to deviate from their Centres? Or if that were granted, is it at all probable, that they could have freer migrations, according to this Author, through any one of his supposed watery Drops, than in the tenuous Substance of the Ambient Air? Which being done, they are, in his Sense, sometimes compulsively enforced towards their Centres, if their Figures be not absolutely spherical; but if exactly round, as forcibly removed from their Centres. And thus he Implicates, if not so, crossly Involves Contradictions, that he determines the operations of Nature, more consonant to the exerting of a Step-dame's Arbitrary Conduct, than suitable to the comely Effects, by which she regularly produces the Motion and Being of Things.  
All which must be conceded as Principles of Nature, incident to her Rule and regular Intention; as surely as some of her Materials are more substantially heavy, or lighter than others; and will therefore have a natural Recourse, upwards or downwards, to their Centres accordingly.  
Wherefore it may be admired in what Fit, or Heat of Fancy, the Brain of this Monsieur was Inveigled when by so many perplexed Words, as also opposite Terms and Methods, he did, in a manner, angrily Impose the Limitations of his Measures, on the stupendious Productions of the Works of Nature: Insomuch, that his Maxims, if soberly considered, signify, little other, than a designed Rape committed on the Grandeur of her Figure and Beauty, together with the providential Facility, by which she completes and preserves her Legitimate Conduct and Operations. So that his Invented Elements, with all his Diagrams of Vortices and Globuli, seem fictitiously devised, or appertaining to the Imaginary System of some other World; since not at all probable, that they could belong to the Composure of this.  
But enough has been in this Place, and occasionally before, I believe, satisfactorily Inserted, on this Subject, that it were impertinently tedious if more be added.  
There remains one Particular, that ere I conclude on this Head, requisitely deserves a considerable Remark; because it Includes a very curious and subtle Mathematical Problem: Which he thus expresses; the Angle of Contact by which the Tangent Line touches a Circle, and by which only it is distant from a right Line, is less than any Rectilineal Angle whatsoever, and in no Curve Line, besides the Circle, is every where equal: Wherefore he Affirms, That a straight Line cannot more equally, and less every where inflect, or bend, from its Points, than when it degenerates into a Circular.  
I have read in the History of Algebra, written by Dr. Wallis, who mentions the controverted Question, concerning the Angle of Contact made by a straight Line where it touches the Circle; but in his Opinion, thinks it nothing, if not a right Angle, in being perpendicular to the peripherial Point of the Circle; because not otherwise, numerically Computable: He also Inserts his Disceptation, as I remember, by Letters that passed betwixt him and a certain Learned Person, who undertook to defend, against him, the Determination of the famous Mathematician Clavius, in whose Judgement, the Angle of Contact was properly something, tho' not Commensurable; and therefore not otherwise definable, than as being less than any acute Angle whatsoever; which I take to be the more probable Opinion: By reason that it could not be denominated Angular without it appertained to something, tho' but of general or tacit Application. And thus, in the Judgement of Euclid, the Angle of Contact has a singular Attribute, where it touches the periphery of the Circle, but not otherwise accountable or to be summed by Number: The Reason is, that in every Circle, whether equal, or unequal, the Point in the Circumference touched by a right Line will be the same in all of them; because no other Line can fall between the Point of Contact, in any of their Peripheries: And could it be Commensurable, it would be of one Equality: Whereas, contrarily, in every direct Figure, or where two right Lines touch one another, the Angle they make may be Geometrically lessened by any intervening Line, or Lines, that meet in the Angular Point: But not so to be understood of the Angle of Contact, which has no proportion in its self, if compared with any other figurative Angle.  
To which purpose, the Learned Proclus signally Determines, That the Point in the Circle, where the Angle of Contact meets with a straight Line, is mixedly Composed of a direct Line, and the Curviture of the Circle; and therefore not Commensurable by any distinct Line, that can be numerically computed. So that the Angle of Contact may be well Termed singular, by reason it has no proportional Similitude, or Quantitative Propriety, correspondent to any other Angular Delincament. And the more Admirable, because the wonderful Extent, and Power of Geometry, computatively Explains by the vastness of its Science, all other Angles, Mathematically qualified, except that which is lineally annexed to the touch of the Circle. And what is yet more wonderful, the tangent Line that Includes, and makes the Angle of Contact, is perfectly Commensurable, tho' not the Angle where it touches the Circle; a Geomemetrical Secret that has not a little perplexed, if not posed the Pens of famous Mathematicians.  
Or this Proposition may be thus demonstrated; the Angle at D, made by the pricked Line D C, in the Triangle A, D, C, is a right Angle, as is always the Angle in the Semicircle; therefore the Angle; A, C, D, is less than a right Angle, tho' it may be allowed greater than any acute Angle, and the Angle at C made by the tangent Line, less than any acute Angle that can be given: Otherwise, the Point where the tangent Line touches the Circle, could not be, in that Point, singular; as before demonstrated. So that in the Triangle A, C, D, if D be a right Angle, the Angle at C must be less than a right Angle; because in every plain Triangle, the three Angles are but equal unto two Right▪ Which confirms the former Demonstration.  
And from which may be concluded, that of what demonstrative Quantity, the Angle of Contact does actually consist, is, as yet concealed from Geometrical Inquisition: Or not to be discovered, until a certain Proportion can be found betwixt a straight and a curve Line; which perhaps may never be Demonstrated: If not as impossible, as to prove, a Curve commensurately distinguished from a Curve.  
I confess, I am not a little beholding to this Learned Monsieur, for the occasion he has given me to discuss, I conceive not unsatisfactorily to the Judicious, the Question concerning the Angle of Contact so much controverted by Celebrated Geometricians: And which, by a certain fineness in Science, is more pertinently applied to the purpose, he would intent it, than any Mathematical Proposition, Theorem, or Diagram of his that I have met with.  
But I cannot thank him for the Conclusion he deduces from thence; or because he takes it for granted, That a straight Line by reason of the near approximation that it has to the Circle, in the Point of Contact, never less inflects from every of its Points, than when it degenerates into a circular Figure.  
By which Inference he does highly disparage the Contexture and Theory which he devices for the Motions of his Vortices and Globuli, in order to their material completing of the Universal World: If their Motions, in any kind, tending to a direct Line, be allowed to degenerate; when from that manner of Movement they convert to circular Revolution. Which were all one as to charge the motional Exactness and Conduct of Nature, providentially disposed, with Mistake, or Imperfection, relating to her Operation and Works: Because no figurative Motion can be imagined so absolutely complete, excellent, and of certain continuance, as is circular Movement: By reason that no Part of a Circle can be Termed its Beginning or End. Whereas contrarily, no Motion can be made in a straight Line, but must have separate, intervalled and terminated Parts: Which enough disproves the Allegation of this Author; as sure as that by Geometrical Dignity and Proof, the Circle has a superlative perfection above all other Figures. And were it not to be so acknowledged, there is little reason, why the Wisdom of Providence should annex the admirable Computation of Days and Years to circular Revolution. But so much has been said, by way of Confutation, in my former Remarks, on this Subject, that I need not renew them here.  
Nor is it requisite, that I should farther reflect on his elaborate Expressions, Draughts, Schemes and Delineations, by which he undertakes to confirm the Motion of Things, in order to the Constructure of the Universe, together with the Being of the Earth; since, I doubt not, I have refelled his total Hypothesis on which his Principles are grounded. Wherefore I shall pass from all of them, to the Entertaining of my Reader with some especial Thoughts, relating to the Original of the World, and Earth, we inhabit, as are Ancient or Modern, of most erudite Reputation.  
I. Concerning the Magnitude of the Universal World, the Questions are; Whether it be Infinite, or Finite, materially replenished or not?  
II. As to its Duration, or Continuance; Whether it had any temporary Beginning, or eternally Constituted?  
III. As to Number; Whether it be one, or numerously Existing? Tho' as to Number, there can be no Controversy, if the World be granted Infinite; because there can be but one Infinite.  
iv Another grand Querie is, From what Cause, or Matter, was the World Originally Composed?  
V And next, From whence, or in what manner that Cause and Matter did proceed? Of these, Disputes have been raised, till ceased by Conceding of One, or more Eternity of Causes.  
All which Particulars have been tightly Treated of, by great Philosophers; if the labour of their Search, could have been as satisfactorily repaid, by discerning of what they so earnestly sought: But they soon found that Infinite Science is inconsistent with Finite Understanding: It being impossible, that in the most exquisite Imagination of Mankind, there should be an Idea, or Phantasm, of any Thing of Infinite Denomination, or Being, either as to Magnitude or Time: Because neither Magnitude, or Time can be Infinitely Computed: Insomuch, that nothing, but what is Infinite, can have an Infinite Conception.  
So that should a Man, of the most subtle and refined Reason, undertake to argue from one Effect of an immediate Cause, and next to a Remoter; and by that manner of Reasoning continually Ascend; he would find, That his Imagination could have no eternal Progression, but would fail, as if tired, by its stupendious Journey; or how to proceed farther, not at all impower'd to direct itself.  
Nor is it consequently absurd, in the Judgement of Learned Philosophers, if the Structure of the Universe be thought either Finite, or Infinite; by reason that both, or either of those ways, of its Constituting, are alike possible to the Conduct and Operation of the Almighty; as the World now is, or might so have been, formerly beheld, with whatsoever it contains.  
If nothing can properly be said to Move, but as it is Moved by some Cause of Motion, which must be granted Supreme and Eternal: A main Querie depends on that Concession; which is, Whether Matter, the subject of Motion, must not be also allowed Eternal; in which Sense, the World might be held perpetually and motionally Existing: Contrary to the Opinion of Some; who determine, That the Omnipotent Cause, or Deity, was eternally immovable, or not at all Operative, until the World's total Creation was miraculously completed: But the Objection, against that Opinion, will be more difficultly Answered; if urged, That whatsoever may be thought eternally immovable, cannot be probably conceded the primary Cause of Motion; which implies a temporary, or Finite Beginning, as applicable to any Date of the World's Creation: A Consequence, in the Judgement of some, that Confirms the perpetuity of the World's material Consistence; as also, That, by Omnipotent Power it was always in Motion till gradually perfected as it now Exists: It being, not at all, Inconsistent with Divine Power, if so ordained, That Matter should be unaccountably motional, in order to the stated Disposure, and exact Consummation of whatsoever has Being, within the vast Circumference of Heaven and Earth: Yet no such Thing as Infinite Matter, in any consideration, rationally to be supposed the Original, out of which proceeded the World's Existence, with all its Particulars: By reason that it were a Geometrical Contradiction, should Matter be defined Infinitely subsisting: Since absolutely certain, that whatsoever may be Termed Matter, Substance, or Body, must also be quantitively Commensurable: Wherefore, in this Case, the World might be, before Time was, materially Consistent; if duly distinguished betwixt Infinite, and eternal Duration; which by Omnipotent Will and Power might be effected, by determining a perpetual continuance of Matter, tho' not Infinitely Existing.  
The great Philosopher Aristotle not a little concentered with the same Opinion, as he thought it more probable to appropriate Eternity to the material Being of the World; in opposition to the Sentiments of some Philosophers, who thought it was generated, according to the Opinion of Plato, by a certain Mutation from what it had been, to what it afterwards was, or now is.  
But although, in the Judgement of Aristotle, the substantial Existence of the World was deemed Everlasting; he could not believe, that its Matter was actually Infinite; because whatsoever is material must be quantitive, and therefore Mathematically computable, as before Instanced: So that if Aristotle be reconciled to Aristotle, he may be understood, to deny the Being of the World from any precedent Alteration, or Change that could proceed from its natural Composure, or any generative Faculty, that could be supposed in it, at all produced: But in this Belief▪ he does not absolutely oppose its total Creation.  
If he firmly conceived, That it was never effected by any generative Method; he does not, by that Tenent peremptorily descent from the possibility of its Existence, by a miraculous Creation: To which purpose, in his Second Book of the World, he Affirms, That the World, is the Ordainment of God: And in his Twelfth Book of Metaphysics, he positively Asserts, That the World, and whatsoever it contains▪ depends on God as its Original Cause. Which duly apprehended, is more contiguous to Divine Allowance, than the Universal Principels of Catholic Des-Cartes; who having filled the World with one pure Element, and by that determination left no Space or Room, whereby there may be imagined any natural Operation, by which the different Qualifications and Proprieties that he confers on his Vortices and Globuli, could be possibly deduced.  
Insomuch, that it may be Affirmed, That his petty Phaenomena's, together with his Hypothesis of the World's Production, are more Irrationally fabulous, than the little imperfect Notions of Atoms, exposed in the Writings of Epicurus; who teaches, That the World, before it had Beginning, did consist of most diminutive Places, that were not replenished with Bodies; his Reason is, That had such Places been filled with any Corporeal Being's, there could not have been Room for the Motion of his Atoms; because one Body might oppose, in the Space it possessed, the Movement of another; and so frustrate in every kind, the progression of his Atoms, in order to the Constituting of Heaven and Earth: The Modalities of which Particles of Nature, by Epicurus denominated Atoms, together with their motional Attributes, may methodically be read in the Writings of the Philosophical Poet Lucretius, to which I refer the Reader.  
And next to proceed with Monsieur Des-Cartes, I find that he has not only elaborately Intrigued, if not unsuccessfully perplexed his Brain, as I have precedently proved, by forming of such Materialities, and their Movements, whereby he would Embody the Fond, Situation and Existence of the Terrene World; but also, as he Employs his farther Speculations on the Elements of Air and Water, as being of nearest vicinity to the Earth we Inhabit.  
The Air, by his Definition, is of a tenuous and fluid Substance, congeriously composed of his Third Element, already mentioned; and therefore declares it thin, and pellucidous. That the Air consists of a Fluid tenuity is undeniable; but not to be allowed glistering or shining of itself; which is very evident, as we ocularly discern the capacious Complex of the ambient Air, more, or less, Enlightened; and consequently Warmer, or Colder its Temperature and Effects as it proportionably receives, and is qualified, by Illuminations from Above.  
And therefore not true, as inferred by this Author, that because the Air is of a liquid and tenuous Consistence, that it is therefore naturally, and not accidentally Lucid: If otherwise, why might not this opiniative Monsieur as well Attribute Inherent transparency, or shining, unto Water; that is so nearly allied to Air, in being of a fluid and thin Substance? But who ever observed any shining in either of these Elements in a cloudy Day, or Night? So that Experience assures, That neither Air, or Water have, in themselves, any Illuminating Propriety; unless he could convincs us, That a congeries of his Globuli, of which he Asserts the vast quantity of Air and Water is Composed, were glisteringly parcell'd, like studded Diamonds: But allowing, neither them, nor their Vortices, and Elements from whence he derives them, any such Capacity, or so much as a Being, in rerum natura, I cannot but totally reject them, wheresoever I find them, as formerly I have done.  
My next remarkable Consideration shall refer to his 48th Particular, where he delivers the two main specifical Qualities that he annexes to the Nature of Water; some of which he determines flexible, others inflexible; and if separated one from another, some of them compose, or produce Salt Water, whilst others sweet, or fresh.  
This Principle of his can never be so perfectly Seasoned, as that it shall not taste of a Paradox, in the very Sense of the Word; as it is applied by common Understanding: For what is more distasteful to obvious Intelligence, than to Attribute to the Fluidity of Water, a flexible, or inflexible Qualification? Whereas Water, by its appropriated Inclination may be properly said to flow, but not to bend, or considered as absolutely Inflexible: A Stick, or Cane may be bowed by the Hand; but can a Man so grasp a quantity of Water, as he may be thought to Inflect, or bend the liquid Material; or feel, in any of its fluid Substance, such an Inflexible Part; that he could not squeeze, or if he did, immediately observe it stiffened into a Salt Composition? Can this be readily performed by Manual Operation, it would doubtless advantageously facilitate the Salt-Manufacture, and gratify the Inventor with a Pension and thanks from the Public, for his beneficial Project.  
But I cannot perceive any such assurance in the Writings of this French Gentleman; if not rather, an Imaginary Perfection conferred by him on the Actings of his Globuli; as he supposes them sometimes to thin Water into Air, or thicken Air into Water: Much like the pretended Experiments of Empirics, who boastingly teach, That their Operations consist of such a quintessence of Things, as were never understood before: Whereas indeed, 'tis a devised Tale of so many Nonentities, as to any Use, or Effect, that could be actually performed by any real process of such Authors.  
The next Exterior and Contiguous Element to Air is Water, as it is, by Philosophers, Elementarily understood; of which, In his 49th Particular he offers a very considerable Account, as he applies it to the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea: The external Superficies of the Earth being, in some sort, surrounded by the Ocean, whereby the Globulous Form of the Earth is more exactly completed.  
There is no Speculation, within the Precincts of Nature, that has more perplexed Learned Authors, than the Discovery they would attain, of the Causes that effect the Flux and Reflux of the Sea, every six Hours of Day and Night; as it is variously observed in different Climes, and Situations of the Earth.  
But as to the Ocean in general, the same Compass of Time, relating to its Floating and Refloating is usually expended: Whereas in the Baltic, as also, in some other Seas, there are no such Egressions and Regressions of the Waves of the Sea; which failure is by some thought to proceed from the narrowness or straightness of the Shores, and the adjoining Caverns of the Earth, not large enough to receive, or be filled with the huge Billows of the rolling Water: Or because the coldness of those Parts of the World, obstruct the Rarifying of Exhalations requisitely conducing to the sufficient Tumefy, or Swelling of the Waves that flow to their Shores.  
Whether these Reasons, or more that might be added, have an effectual tendency in order to the various Fluxions, and Refluxions of the Ocean, observable in many Places of the Earth, I will not dispute; being more inclinable to believe, that it is a Secret more deeply absconded by Nature, than can be penetrated by the most accurate Inquisition of Humane Science.  
Notwithstanding it may be Affirmed, That the remote Cause may probably be derived from the Etherial vigour of divers Stars; but most especially from the Moon, when gradually arising above the Horizon she disperses her Beams obliquely on the Ocean, and by that means warms, as also exhales from the bottom of the Sea, such Exhalations, that being Dilated, Tumefyed, and consequently so weightily Increased, as, in a manner, they Revolve to Shores.  
The next Diversity may be apprehended from the Degrees of Motion made by the Moon, as she departs from the Meridian, towards the West Part of the Horizon; by which Movement, she disperses her Rays and Light, less obliquely, and therefore not so efficaciously transmitted to the Sea, or generative of Vapours; whence follows such a remission of the Tumidity of the Ocean, that it seems to Reside, and by so doing causes an Ebb or withdrawing from the Land.  
Other Varieties of the Flowing and Ebbing of the Ocean, as they depend on the Motion of the Moon by Day, or Night, might be mentioned here: But I conceive the Instances I have given are enough, and which I thought conveniently interposed; because the most Remarkable Opinion amongst Philosophers, before I came to the Judgement of Des-Cartes, on this profound Subject.  
To which purpose, he relies on the Phaenomena of his Vortices and Globuli, together with the Motion of the Earth and Sea, contiguous unto it, and a Scheme delineated to that end. On all which, I am obliged to Insert no other Remark; than by insisting on my absolute denial of the total Hypothesis of his Vortices and Globuli, as also of the Earth's Motion, either Diurnal, or Annual; which by the Diagram that I have given, in the Third Part, I doubt not, is Geometrically demonstrated: So that it were a needless Repetition should I reiterate the same Confutation.  
In his 51st Particular, I confess, he has a Conceit, which, as to the Flux and Reflux of the Ocean, could I Correspond with the dependence it has on his other Systems, appears to be Mathematically acceptable; by the Instance he gives, and seeming probation, why in Equinoctial Times, or when the Moon is either at Full, or at New; the Flowing of the Sea is greater than at other Seasons: Which he thinks he Confirms, by alleging, That the Moon, at such Times, and condition of her Light, has always a Vicinity to the Plane of the Ecliptic, and that the Earth, which he supposes motional, makes its Diurnal Progression, according to the Plane of the Equator: From whence, says he, it comes to pass, that those two Planes Intersect one another, but in Solstitial Times are remotely distant: Concluding from thence, that the greatest Tides and Float of the Sea are in the Spring, and Autumn of the Year.  
This Theorem, howsoever it may appear to have some fineness, suitable to the Copernican Dialect, much endeared by this Author, does undeniably Subvert that whole Hypothesis: For were it granted true, That the Earth, by its Diurnal Motion, did vicinely Revolve, (as he Asserts) at the Time of the Equinoctial, to the Plane of the Equator; the Point, or Zenith over our Heads, must in that Instant be removed, or under the Equinoctial, and consequently some other Point, in that great Circle of the Sphere, be made our Zenith: The like may be Affirmed, if the Earth were Imagined to be, by her Annual and Diurnal Motion in any Parallel to the Equator: In all of which diversities, both the Zenith, as also the Elevation of the Pole, must more, or less, vary or alter, in every Minute and Day of the Year throughout the World; contrary to Astronomical Proof and Observation: By which, it is very manifest, that both the Zenith and Elevation of the Pole are constantly the same, suitable to the Situation of Climes, to which they appertain: All which, in the former Treatise, is lineally proved by me; as certainly as that there is such a Figure as a spherical Triangle.  
If waved the improbable conjecture of the Motion of the Earth, by allowing the long received Hypothesis of the Sun's Diurnal and Annual Revolution in the Ecliptic: 'Tis not to be doubted, that when the Sun is in either of the Equinoctial Points, that the Moon is more approximately and directly impower'd by the vicine Illuminations that she than receives from the Sun; by reason that the Ecliptic, only in those Seasons, meets the Equator in one and the same Point: And tho' when in opposition to the Sun, that is to say, at her Full, or greatest plenitude of Light, she has a greater horizantal Distance, visible to the Eye, at that instant of Time, than at an other: Yet receiving, in that remote Aspect, a more direct Illumination than she does in other positions of her Orb, she operates more powerfully on the Ocean; because the Sun has, at that time, no declination from the Equator.  
The like effect may be attributed to the newness of her Light, the Sun being in the Equator, when, in Conjunction with him there, she is Illuminated nearest to a direct or perpendicular Line, wherefore her Beams must necessarily operate more vigorously on the Sea; and thus, by the observable, Propriety that she has to dilate, and increase Moisture, the Waves and Tides of the Ocean may well be granted more Impetuously high and swelled, at Equinoctial Times, than at other Seasons: As also, that the Earth, allowed the Centre of the Equator, as it is contiguously surrounded by the Ocean, cannot but more efficaciously receive in that Estate and Position of the Luminaries, and especially of the Moon, a transcendent flowing of the Waters of the Main, that are nearest to the Verge of the Earth's Circumference.  
In a word, when all is said that can be thought, on this Subject, there is no such Cause, to be proved, that in all Parts, in every National Being and Situation of the Earth, can be certainly applicable to the Flux and Reflux of the Sea, which is Experimentally found so variously different, both as to Time and Continuance, in all Parts of the Habitable World. Which cannot proceed from any uncertain Operation descending from above; but rather caused by intervening Obstructions arising from the diversities of the Temper of the Air, and Wind that alter and compel, more or less, the Motions of the Watery Element.  
Other Reasons and Discussions of Authors tending to the Resolution of the fathomless difficulty appertaining to the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea, might be here added: But finding them to be rather disputative than clearly demonstrative: I shall not burden the Ingenuity of a Reader, by Inscribing their perplexities with my Pen: Having, I conceive, delivered what is of greatest probability on this wonderful Subject.  
Of what Extent or Compass the Sea is I find not, in this, or other Writers. But that it is larger than the Earth, is evident; because it surrounds the Terrene World: And 'tis not to be doubted, that whatsoever contains is greater than any Thing contained by it.  
But as to the Depth of the Ocean, 'tis Computed, by some accurate Navigators, not to be more than two and a half of English Miles: Which is very strange, if the Depth of the Sea be taken for its Diameter. Considering that the Sea, for the reason here mentioned, is bigger than the Earth; but much less, if by its Depth be accounted its Diameter: As may be seen by the Computation, of the Diameter of the Earth, that I have formerly Inserted.  
Thus far of the Earth, and its Exterior Parts.  
As to the Inferior, I observe divers Particulars mentioned by Des-Cartes; and which he supposes might be caused and produced by Materials, according as he imagines their Operations and Effects: But these being Things of small Consideration, or Improvement to Knowledge; as also that their Nature and Uses are, for the most part, as familiarly understood, as that there are Plants and Minerals of several Tempers, and natural Proprieties: I shall therefore pass from them, to Things of more Moment; and next, as very commodious Interials of the Earth, relating to the necessary supportance of Humane Life, examine the Philosophy of this Author, where he Inserts his Reasons, why Fountains and Springs that Emerge from within the Earth, should taste liquidly fresh; notwithstanding that in some Depths, or Wells, the Water is Salt.  
To be sure he continues the Phaenomena's of his imaginary Elements, Vortices and Globuli, in order to the producing of Things, as well under as above the Surface of the Earth: And thus we have, from him, Fountains and Rivers replenished with Water. To which purpose, he has exposed to the Eye, some impressed Diagrams, by which he undertakes to explain such liquid Emanations underground, in the Cranie's of the Earth, in Similitude to the Circulation of Blood in the Veins and Arteries of Men and Animals.  
But this fanciful Monsieur, having not been able, as I have frequently observed, to Demonstrate either the necessary Being, Motion, or Capacity of such Materials, as he very confidently Introduces: I am apt to conclude, That if the Earth had not been naturally Impower'd by other means, than such as are tendered by Des-Cartes, whereby to sustain, and engender her liquid Existencies, in all the necessary Parts and Compositions of her Body: She had been endued with no more Moisture, than is to be found in the Sunburnt Sands of Africa.  
Real Causes there are, that may be defined perfectly Elementary, and therefore not allied to any Impotent Existencies, or such as may be termed procreative Fathers and Mothers, on whose Mixtures depend all Terrestrial Matter or Substances delivered with a simple Elementary Name, by this Author.  
And thus, in the Sense of approved Philosophy, Springs and Fountains, together with the sweetness of their Waters, may be derived from Exhalations, which being Condensed in the hollow Passages of the Earth, are converted into Water; as may be observed of a kind of Breathe evaporated from a Pot of Liquor, that by the frigidity of its Cover are thickened into small Drops of a liquid Nature.  
From whence it ensues, that great quantities of Sea-Water flowing in many Caverns of the Earth, such tenuous Parts are exhaled from them that being moistly Condensed are turned into Fountains.  
He bids us not wonder, as indeed we need not, if in the bottom of some Wells, there may be found Salt-Water: Which he thinks might there remain, because the brinish liquidity is not strained or cleared from the Water of the Seas as it passes to such Profundities.  
That Water in some Wells is Salt, notwithstanding they are far distant from the Sea, is not to be doubted; but the reason he gives for their being so, is not certain: Because it is very likely, that the Sea-Water might not pass to any remote Parts within the Earth, and not be altered or purified from their saltness, by meeting, as also mixed, with abundance of fresh Water that passes and repasses within the Earth.  
Nor is it impossible, that divers hot Substances, as Minerals, and the like, contained in profound Places of the Earth; might not so efficaciously rarify such quantities of Water, that the residue would remain thickened, and therefore more aptly inclined to saltness.  
But as the Supremer and not less Important Cause of the saltness of Water in Wells, especially of some that are farthest distant from the Sea, may be reasonably thought to proceed from the powerful Exhalations effected by the Sun and Stars; by whose Influence and Heat, the tenuous Parts of Water are Extracted, tho' from deepest Wells, leaving such a crassitudeness, in the residue as gives to it a Salt Qualification. Nothing being more certain, than that whatsoever is thickened, and thereby rendered more dryly adust, especially where Earth has any Commixture with it; saltness, as its concomitant Quality, will be there found.  
The same Reason may be given for Salt, discovered in Mountains, mentioned by this Author.  
Nor is the Cause at all different, if not more obviously exposed, from whence proceeds the briny Relish of the Superficies of the Ocean: Which openly Revolving under the Celestial Luminaries, has its tenuous Parts supremely Exhaled, and consequently the Regions replenished with Clouds; which being dissolved into Drops of Rain, there is no Salt Acerbity to be perceived in them; which proves, That the Moisture exhaled from the Sea is of a more tenuous Substance than that which is left behind, and therefore of a fresher Taste.  
To which may be added experimental assurance, that the Sea is less brackish at bottom than on its superficial Parts: Which sufficiently confirms, that the Saltness of Sea-Water is produced by the Motion and Heat that is Influenced by the Sun and Stars.  
That the Waters of the Ocean are rather accidentally than naturally Salt; as also, that they purge themselves in their passage to Shores, may be signally noted from the Experiment made by Julius Caesar; who when Besieged in Alexandria, caused Pits to be digged in the Shore of the Sea, which relieved his Army with Water potably fresh; by reason that the Sea-Water had its Saltness, in a manner strained, as it passed through the Sands on the Shore.  
That the Southern Ocean is salter than the Northern, can be effected from no other Cause, than that the Sea, in that Part of the World is Warmer than the other; correspondent to the Air and Winds, that coming from the South are Hotter, to Sense, than those which are blown from the North.  
There is no Question more Controverted by Philosophers, than the Causes that limit and confine the Ocean, tho' by its Elementary Propriety higher than the Superficies of the Earth, and perpetually supplied with innumerable Springs, Fountains, Rivers and Floods, that vastly Unite their Currents, as they elapse from the inward and outward Parts of the Earth: Yet do not so replenish the Sea, however by Nature elevated above the Terrene World, that it executes that Prerogative by a general Inundation: Or by particular Exorbitancy, gain more on any Part of the Earth's Surface than it loses in another.  
The Reason of which, as it is rendered by some of erudite Proficiency, is, because great quantities of the Water of the Sea, are received by Caverns within the Earth; as likewise, that the Ocean is much commixed with Terrene Materials, which depress, in divers Places of the Sea, the outrageous height and swelling of its Waves, before they arrive to Shore's: As also, that the hard Composition and Dryness of the Earth, contiguously resist the Attacks made by the Water.  
These Instances, I doubt not, are sounder Probabilities, tending to the Decision of the Grand Question, (before mentioned) than any to be deduced from the Reasons given by Des-Cartes: Which are so complicated, if not intricately perplexed, that he might have spared his endeavour to explain them by any Draughts, or Schemes; which, if duly Inspected, would rather expose their Obscurity, than Intelligibly clear them to the Sense of the Peruser.  
And thus I pass to what he Writes of Things contained in the Internal Parts of the Earth, together with their Causes: The most principal of which relate to Earthquakes, the Eruption of Flames out of Mountains, such as are observed of Aetna in Sicily, and Vesuvius, in Campania. Of these, proceeding from subterraneous Effects, Operations and Causes; I cannot find, if granted his Principles, That a more accurate Discovery is explicated by his Pen, than what has been Written of their wonderful Productions and Consequences by others.  
Much he Inscribes of Stones, Minerals, and in Sum, without enumerating of their several Denominations, of the principal Things that are contained in the Bowels of the Earth. But most especially, he Treats of the Magnet, or Loadstone, together with its admired Proprieties.  
This precious Stone, above all value for its commodious and extraordinary Use; whose transcendent Excellencies until discovered, in some few Ages past, was wanted to the Conduct of most Approved Navigators: Who, before understood the Sympathetick Virtues and wonderful Attraction of the Magnet, as by its affectionate Touch, the Points of a Needle are directive on the Ocean; were too frequently, without a Guide, benighted, and wanderingly tossed on the watery World; or necessitated to Furl their Sails, and fix Anchors in the bottom of the Main, until discerned the Munificent appearance of some noted Star, whose Motion, being Calculated, directed their Journey on the Waves of the Sea.  
Whereas now, the Pilot more certainly Sails by the Compass that contains his Magnetical Needle, than, he could, before its Invention, by any other Computation. By what means, or happy Accident, this admirable Benefit, whose secret Cause and Efficacy is so occultly reserved by Nature, from the eruditest Search of the Learned, was first Discovered; seems rather the beneficial Act of Providence, than concentring with Humane Invention.  
Notwithstanding all which, Des-Cartes is so fond confident of his suppossed Phaenomena's, in every consideration, that he doubts not to promulge, as he would be taken for a paramount Minister to the Counsels of Nature, such Secrets, that being enclosed in her Cabinet, could only be Revealed by him. To which purpose, he presents his Reader with no less than Thirty Four Particulars, whereby he would explain the mysterious Sympathy of the Loadstone and Iron.  
On which I am obliged to bestow no other Remark, than by taxing of their dependencies on the Construction and Management he gives to his fabulous Elements, Vortices and Globuli; by which he attempts to Constitute the World, and all its Individuals, together with their occultest Qualifications, and manner of Existence: As surely as he Imagines, that in this Place, he has Deciphered every Syllable relating to the obscurest Contexture, Being, and Nature of the Magnet; the most useful Jewel of Stones, with all its Excellencies.  
Had it not been as easy for this Author, having furnished his Brain with so many Notions, Theories and Systems, by which he undertakes to penetrate and display the total Recesses of Nature, to have given a Philosophical Reason, Why the Remora, tho' one of the least of Fishes, adhering to the Stern or Rudder of a great Ship, should stop her Course, when under Sail, in a Tempestuous Sea? Or, Why the Eyes of a Crabfish should burst the Stone engendered in the Bladder of Man? Yet these Experiments are related by undoubted Authors; but so as they are referred to ocult Causes, or such as are impossible to be extricated by Humane Comprehension: On which account Pliny, the great Naturalist, acknowledges, that there are many Things, wholly absconded, by the Majesty of Nature.  
From whence I conclude, That had this Learned Monsieur been as modest, in his Opinion, he had never propo'sd any Maxims of his, in order to Frame the miraculous Consistence of the Universal World, by Materials and Operations of his devising: For doing of which, however the labour of his Pen, and pregnancy of his Fancy, might in those respects, acquire Applause: Yet, in a Judicious construction, they cannot be allowed any other Encomium, than may be given to Ovid, for the first Line, or Introduction, to his fictitious Poem; where he tells his Reader, that In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas Corpora— To be plain: I would as soon rely on the Metamorphosis of that Poet, by which he fabulously produces the Universe, with all its Appurtenances; as confide, on that account, on the Principles engendered by the Brain of Des-Cartes. Not but I grant, that the most accurate Thinker, even where Causes of Things are obscurely Enveloped, will signally attain the nearest room to Philosophical Reputation.  
Notwithstanding, the endeavours of Men are so far unfortunately obstructed; that where Knowledge is most desired, and would requisitely be embraced, the greatest difficulties not seldom Interpose: Insomuch that the Faith we assign to the Zenith of our Salvation above; Encounters, too often, the Soul with dubious Sentiments, that in a natural Conception are more remote from our Apprehension; than the absconded Cause that guides the Magnetical Needle to Epitomise a Line that would direct its Points towards the vastly distant Poles of the World.  
The main Supposition of this Author, and on which chief his beforementioned Thirty Four Particulars, relating to the especial Inclination of the Magnet, or the Needle touched by it, to regard the Northern and Southern Points of Heaven; is, That he supposes two Poles in the Magnet that respect those Parts, or Poles on which he imagines the Earth to Move. But how the Loadstone should be accomplished with two such Poles, that Sympathetically affect those Points of the World, he offers no natural Reason for their Consistence or Operation.  
Some of the Learned have thought, that by a secret Sympathy Influenced by Northern and Southern Stars, the Magnetical Needle points towards them.  
Others have more naturally, appropriated the Cause to vast quantities of Iron situated, as some think, under the North, or South Pole of the World: From which Opinion, perhaps as probable as any other, may be inferred, That if one end of the Needle does steadily Point Northward, the other will as certainly Point Southward; because the Needle will be then demonstratively in the same Plane, with the Meridian Line, if not accidentally hindered:  
But notwithstanding the strong Inclination, or sympathetical Affection, that the Magnetic Needle has directly to represent the two Polar Points of the World: 'Tis frequently observed, that in some Places of the Earth, ' tho not far distant from one another, it considerably differed, if compared with what it does in other Situations.  
And what is more admirable, if placed, as near as could be judged, on the same foot of Ground, it has at one time more or less varied, than at another: And thus it is frequently observed that very near the same Place, higher, or lower, or on the contrary Sides of a Wall or Window, that the Magnetical Needle hath pointed on contrary sides of the Meridian: Which might be from different Azimuths, as the Compass was placed; much like to the Substile of a declining Dyal on several Plains.  
Whether caused by some Aspects and Motions of Stars, Alterations of the Air, Water, Earth, and Seasons of the Year, or Metals concealed within the Surface of the Earth: If not, as some have Imagined, diverted, or variously drawn aside by quantities of Iron that in Towns and Cities, were more, or less, when Observation has been made, near their Precincts: As was the Opinion of Learned Gilbert, who is said to have spent 50000 Crowns on his endeavour to find out the Secret. But whatever were the Cause; I think it not improper to mention the signal Observation made by practical Mr. Gunter, in the 279 Page of his Book, where he Writes, that being informed in what place Mr. Bourough, in the Year 1580, had observed the Variation of the Compass at Limehouse near London, compared with the Azimuth of the Sun, to be 11 dig. 15 m. That he on the 13th of June, 1622, made Observations on several Parts of the Ground in that Place; and could find the greatest Variation of the Needle to be but 6 deg. 10 m. Which differs from the Observation made by Mr. Bourough 5 deg. 5 m. And tho' betwixt these Observations there was 42 Years difference; it may be demonstratively concluded from them, that if the Earth be supposed to Move, as Des-Cartes Imagines, it could not vary its Poles, nor the Magnetical Needle, if granted, with him, to have Poles also, by the Virtue it receives from the Touch of the Magnet; because both these Learned Authors made their Experiment in the same Place.  
Having considered these Observations, and not knowing whether, or not, the Variation of the Compass had been observed at Windsor, where I now Reside, I made, from a high and convenient Place, these following Observations, by comparing the Magnetical Azimuth of a Needle six Inches long, and I believe exactly touched, with the Azimuth of the Sun, from the Meridian Eastward; or all one, as to Calculation, if numbered from the Meridian Westward, and found the several Variations of the Compass in this present Year, September the 9th, 1699, betwixt the Hours of Four and Five in the Afternoon, according to the several Altitudes of the Sun, as in this Table Inserted.  
If the mean proportional Alt. ☉ Azm. Azm Variat. gr. m. gr. m. gr. m gr. m. 19 11 57 66 32 9 32 17 1 57 69 40 12 40 14 48 57 72 49 15 49 12 33 57 75 54 18 54 10 17 57 80 24 23 24 Number be computed betwixt the first Variation and the last, as they are Inscribed in this Table, it will be found 14 deg. 51 m. which differs but 3 deg. 37 m. from Mr. Bourough's Observation: Which might be his Method, as he might observe betwixt Hours: Or else, from a suitable Altitude of the Sun, made his Observation; which is more probable, the Needle standing at one and the same Point, as it will do for some time, at least, if it be exact; than that his Observation, at one and the same Place at Limehouse, should differ so many Degrees, as are above noted, from the Variation of the Compass found there by Mr. Gunter: In Sum, I found that Mr. Gunter's Observation of the Variation of the Compass, at the first place he observed when the Sun was at 19 deg. of Altitude, for he mentions several; differed but 3 deg. 20 m. from the first of mine, as his Needle might Point Westward from the Meridian, and mine Eastward, which was at 19 deg. 11 m. of the Sun's Altitude: From whence I conclude, That had he made his Observation at the same Altitude and Declination of the Sun, as was done by me, there had been proportionably the same difference, if compared with my Table; supposing his Magnetical Azimuth to have continued at 82 deg. 2 m. as it was first in his; and his Observations, at his first Station, at Limehouse, as many as mine.  
In a Word, having duly pondered the Calculations made by myself and others, whereby to attain the exact Determination of this Great, and as yet unresolved Secret of the Variation of the Compass: I considered, that as the Magnetical Needle did Point, for the most part certainly, at so many Degrees of Variation, as it will do for a considerable space of Time, if the Needle be as perfect as it ought to be; that there could be no surer Method, than to find such a Theorem, as should, as near as possible, demonstrate the Annual Variation of the Compass: To which purpose, I devised this Process:  
If betwixt the Sun's Declination of 30 m. from the Equator, as also his Altitude, suppose 30 m. or less, if thought necessary, be taken the mean proportional Sine, betwixt his Azimuth at 30 m. of Declination and Altitude, and the Compliment in Degrees, of the most constant standing of the Magnetical Azimuth; and next that the same be done from his greatest Declination, wanting 30 m. and 30 m. of Altitude, and the difference taken betwixt both the Mean Proportionals so found; it is probably, the most certain way to find the Variation of the Compass, in any one Place, throughout the Year.  
Example.  
By my Observation at Windsor, Sept. 9th, 1699: I found the most constant and fixed Point of the Magnetical Needle to be 33 deg. Eastward from the Meridian, or the same if accounted Westward from the Miridian, whose Compliment to 90, is 57 deg. The Mean proportional Sine betwixt the Sun's greatest Azimuth at 30 m. Of Altitude and Declination and the Magnetical Azimuth was 66 deg. 19 m.: And the Mean proportional Sine betwixt the Magnetical Azimuth, and his Azimuth of greatest Declination wanting 30 m. and Altitude 30 m. was 51 deg. 21 m.: The difference betwixt which Mean Proportionals is 11 deg. 58 m.: Which I take to be the most approximate Variation of the the Compass at Windsor, in the Place where I observed, that can be given throughout the Year.  
After these Observations, I continued the Needle for several Weeks in the same Place, and found the difference of its Pointing very inconsiderable, or not varying a Degree from whence it had stood before; as also, that it sometimes returned to the very Degree, to which it had precedently pointed: Which as I discerned was upon Change of Wether; and inclined me to conclude, That as Clocks and Watches go truest in a serene Season, and temperature of the Air, that the Magnetical Needle might likewise somewhat vary: It being not less probable, that it might be so affected, considering its Elementary Temper, as well as other mixed Bodies. And I am very apt to impute its temporary Variation, chief to that Cause, rather than to any other: Tho' I well know, that not a few pretend to other Reasons; or such as I have already Instanced.  
As also how they infer, That in Places remote from Towns and Cities, the Magnetical Needle does more, or less vary: Which Observations were they Judiciously made, and Methodically collected and compared, might doubtless be a performance that would be gratefully received; and in some respects forward the Curiosities of Men to a more requisite Reasoning, or useful discovery of the Causes and Effects, that are admirably Employed in the Proprieties of the Loadstone.  
But if Des-Cartes had been asked the Cause of these Diversities, or Variations in the Magnetical Needle, however impossible as he grounds his Opinion, by reason of the Observations I have Inserted; he would confidently have referred them to the Consistence and Qualifications that the Magnet, in his Sense, receives from some one or more of his Invented Elements; by which he supposes that particular Parts of the Loadstone are channelled, or craggy, more or less, suitable to such striated, or hollow Particles of the Earth that respect its two Poles North and South.  
But how comes the Earth to have two such Poles, if by Poles be understood, as in an Astronomical Sense they ought, Points in the Axis of a Sphere, or Planetary Orb? I may conclude, that if the Earth be Immovable, as I presume has been egregiously proved in the Third Part of my Remarks, than the Earth has no such Poles, as he would provide for her.  
Or were I a Cartesian Proselyte, and should grant, according to his Hypothesis, That the Earth is Imbued with a Diurnal and Annual Motion suitable to the Vortex, by which, in the Opinion of this Author, she does Revolve: Must I not also Affirm, That if the Magnet has correspondent Poles with the Earth, that it also Concenters, in all respects, with the same Motion? But where is the Man that ever observed, or can reasonably Infer, That any such Movement is Incident to the Loadstone, more than to a Flint, or Peeble?  
The most probable Reason that is given for the diversified Variation, at several times and places, observed, of the Magnetical Needle, as it experimentally relates, to different Points of the Compass, may, in Sum, be referred to what this Author citys from our Countryman the Learned Gilbert; who chief imputes the Cause of the diversities to some Inequalities or alterable Tempers in the Superficies of the Earth: Or because there are more Loadstones in some Parts of the terrene World than in other: To which may be added, agreeable to the Opinion of Des-Cartes, that in some Seasons, more Iron is digged out of the Earth, and conveyed to distant Places, or Regions for public and private Uses: Which might contribute much to the changeable Variations of the Magnetical Needle; as they have been by Learned Observators, at several times, differently Computed.  
Upon the whole Matter, tending to the great Secret of the Needle touched by the Magnet, I find not, that the Inferences, above mentioned, are more passable with me, than any Allowance of mine, correspondent to the Opinion, of this Author of Poles in the Earth, or Affinity with them in the Loadstone, or Virtue, on that account, conferred by him on the Needle.  
Wherefore I judge, that I may with founder confidence adhere to the Reasons and Observations, precedently offered by me, than on any determination of the Magnetical Secret, tendered by this Writer: The Maxims and Principles of Des-Cartes being so entirely deduced and connected by him, that if one of his Particulars be Answered, he gives no labour to his Opposer to have to do with more. Which I confess I take for a favour, tho' possibly against his Intention. And should I have been more Elaborate in my pursuit, or Conviction of his Tenants, as I perceive them perplex'dly delivered, and entangled both in the Sense, Method, Figures and Schemes, by which he does, in a manner, no less pose himself than his Reader; my Replications would have been no less ungrateful to a Judicious Peruser, than if I had elaborately undertaken by one obscurity to manifest another: So that I may safely conclude, that the occult Quality, in reference to the Magnet, with all its Proprieties, is not more darkly reserved by Nature, than 'tis enveloped in the Writings of Des-Cartes. Nor need I repeat, that if I have rendered Invalid his First main Particular; by proving, as I have done, neither the Earth, or Magnet has any such Poles, or Motion, Incident to his Hypothesis; I may undoubtedly allege, that his other Positions are totally Ineffectual.  
And thus I pass to his 184th Particular, where he mentions some other Things, as Jet, Rosin, Wax, Vitriol and the like; to which he annexes, in resemblance of the Magnet, a Propriety whereby they Attract other diminutive Bodies: But of these not having made such perfect Experiments, as might render them clearly Intelligible, or grounded no less evidently, in his Judgement, than he has signified by the Composition, and Motions of Things, deducible from his supposed Elements, already disproven by me: He does, to as little purpose, Instance their Names and Natures. And therefore require no farther Discussion: It being my essential Design to limit, chief my Remarks to such Heads and Places of his Tractates, that I judge usefully conducing to the Improvement of Science, or whatsoever by the Humane Mind would be most desirably understood: To which purpose, I will take occasion from the hint he delivers of his Intention to complete this Fourth Part of his Philosophy, wherein he has given, (after his manner) the Earth a Formation and Being, together with divers Things relating to its external, and internal Comprehension; by adding his Treatments of the Original Production of Animals, Plants and Mankind.  
The last of which I shall principally insist on; tho' waved, or deferred by him, in his 188th Particular, to some future Treatises, of which he was not fully resolved, or, at that time, furnished with leisure, or thoughts proper for his designed Enterprise on those Subjects: Yet I find, that the Substance, of what he omits here, and especially that of the Original of Humane Production, is to be read in the 29th Page of his Distertatio de Methodo, or the right use of Reason, in order to the Investigation of the Truth of Science: Which I conceive was written before the Principles of his Philosophy; or indeed an Epitome, for the most part, of what is to be found in them.  
Wherefore, I shall briefly select from thence, so much of his Method, tending to the primitive Existence of Mankind; as also by what Cause, or operation, individual Man was originally Constituted in his admirable Form, and, more than wonderful Intellectual Capacity.  
The Sum of all which he comprehends in these Words: viz. That God did form the first Being of the Humane Body in all things correspondent to what it is now; both in the External structure of Members, as also in the Internal and Organical Parts, produced out of the same matter, by which is meant by Des-Cartes, his first Element, as before remarked by me. The method by which he supposes that God completed the primary formation of Man, he takes to be no other than a corporeal substance, without either Sensitive, or Animated Proprieties, or, such as are observable in Plants, or Beasts, but only endued in the Heart with a kind of Fire without light, which he compares to a Hay-rick, distemperately warm before it is thoroughly dry; or the calefaction that is in new Wine, before separated from its Dregs.  
But how he comes to give an Existence to Fire, in the original production that he confers on the Humane Body; is no less contradictory to Sense, than if he had Affirmed, that Flame could be infused into any Corporeal Thing without its Illuminating Capacity.  
True it is, that Hay ill-digested will smoak in the Stack, or Mow; and if not prevented set the whole on Fire: And likewise experimentally certain, that New Wine will ferment, until cleansed by its Operation; the latter, by reason of its predominant Quantity of Moisture, not capable of being inflamed, as will the former; that by prevalent dryness, opposing of its Moisture, smokes and burns, by degrees, unless hindered, the Hay's distempered Substance.  
And is it not a mean conceited Similitude offered by Des-Cartes, by which he would render the Corporeal Figure of Original Man, as distemperately Consistent, tho' the immediate Manufacture, as he dilivers it, of the Omnipotent? Yet being so far effected, could have no other Representation, than as the Material Composition might be Imagined to fumigate, or Smoke at the Nose and Mouth, in resemblance to the distemperatures of Hay and Wine, mentioned by him, yet not potentially operative, either by Rarifaction or Condensation; tho' impossible to be supposed where any Thing is capacitated to Evaporate, Thicken, or Harden, that it should not be naturally endued with suitable Qualifications: Which is grossly denied by this Author, as he conceives, That Fire might be so diffused, by the Act of God, into the Substance and Composition of Original Man, that it might be destitute of its proper Effects; either as to Alteration, or Diminution of the Matter that contained it: And if so, he must be very obscurely conceited, that would imagine a blind Fire uselessly Constituted in the first Humane Body by Omnipotent Power.  
The Material Substance out of which he concludes the primary Being of Man's Corporeal Shape and Proportion, is doubtless abstracted by him from his primary invented Element, and which he denominates the sole Materiality of whatsoever the World contains.  
But that Element, according to his Definition, being exceedingly Fluid and Tenuous, and no room left, by reason of its plenary Existing for any other Thing, or Substance throughout the Universe, as I have precedently mentioned; 'tis very Incompatible with common Understanding, that this simple Matter, and therefore incapable to produce any other Substance different from its own; should by Des-Cartes be presumed, if pardoned the Expression, to fill the Hands of the Almighty in order to Constitute the total World withal it's admired Particulars, in a natural Method: Which seems no less Improbable, than if a Man should undertake, by grasping of Air, to make it of as solid a Substance, as is the Flesh and Bones of Man.  
But waving that Absurdity, as also, that Fire without Light, was originally conveyed by God, according to his Supposition, into the then, unliving Heart of Man, only to warm that principal Part; If Fire could be thought so to reside, contrary to its elementary Nature and consuming Propriety, until this Author imagined the whole Humane Body first Animated, by the infusing of the Soul by the Act of the Almighty: What could be employed by it, more than, that Fire was Ineffectually disposed into the lifeless Heart of Man by Divine Appointment; yet not at all operative, otherwise than by impertinently warming of the Part without either vegetative, or sensitive Heat, as he defines it? Which were all one as to conceive, That the Omnipotent seemed to do something, by an extraordinary Method, tho' nothing farther Excellent, in reference to the Original Figure of Man's Corporeal Being, than if a skilful Statuary had Composed the likeness of the Humane Body in any Material Substance.  
Wherefore the Fable of Prometheus tending to his forming of Man out of Elementary Ingredients, not a little resembles the devised Part of the Almighty, as it is delivered by this French Philosopher; with this difference, that Prometheus is said at once to complete, by a Celestial Expedient, his Artificial Man; whereas several Operations are allowed by Des-Cartes, even to the Work of the Omnipotent; tending to the primary Production of the Humane Body and Soul.  
Nor do I preceive, That this Author, if allowed the fineness of his Invention, does more sublimely Celebrate the introducing of the Soul of Man into his imaginary Material Machine, than is Divinely Attributed to the Fable of Prometheus, the Son of japetus, in the Metamorphosis of Ovid; where 'tis thus Expressed,—  
Natus Homo est: sive hunc divino semine fecit  
Ille opifex rerum, mundi melioris origo:  
Sive recens tellus, seductaque nuper ab alto  
Aethere, cognati retinebat semina coeli:  
Quam satus japeto mistam fluvialibus undis  
Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum.  
This Fable may be taken as an Imitation of Providence, by the Artifice of Prometheus: Who, having moulded the Statue of Man, could not perfect his Work, until he had stole Celestial Fire; and by conveying it into the Material Figure, which he had Composed, the Life and Soul of Man was at once produced: Which was very agreeable to the Religion of the Ancients, which Celebrated their Gods, and Goddesses, in the Form of Men and Women; and Ensouled them with no greater difference, compared with Mankind; than as they allowed to their Deities Immortal Reason and Life. To which Ovid seems refin'dly to allude in one of his Elegies, where as a sublime Encomium of the excellency of the Faculties and Gifts, incident to the Humane Soul, he derives its Descent from above, by Affirming, That— Sedibus aethereis spiritus ille venit.  
This Expression of the Poet is not more Poetical, than Admirable, as he intends the Soul to the Perfection, Reason and Conduct, evidently discernible in Stars, the shining Ornaments of Heaven: But should the Soul be supposed originally Infused by God, as a thinking Substance into the Body of Man, suitable to the Imagination of Des-Cartes, and not absolutely capacitated to discharge itself from the innate Depravations and prone Allurements of the Senses, 'twere some disparagement to its Accession to the Body by the Gift and Ordainment of Divine Providence.  
Yet such an uncertain and complicated Soul is, by this French Writer, appropriated to the Body of Man, where, in some Actions, he makes it a mere thinking Substance; but in the sensible execution of Thought, he allows it Co-operative and inseparable from the Senses: And this, to the utmost force of his Brain, he Asserts in the 187th Particular of this Part I Treat of, where he delivers these Words— The nature of the Mind is such, that by it alone may be apprehended divers Corporeal Motions, as also Sensations in many respects. The Example he gives, is of Words spoken, or written, which may affect us with Troubles, Griefs, Perils, Sadness, or the like; as also, how their contrary Accents in reference to Content, Pleasure, and Satisfaction, are verbally understood by us.  
Which signifies no more, however he strains his Inferences, than, that there is an Inseparable Concomitancy of the Contemplations of the Mind, and their applications to the Senses. If I open a Book, and view in it a whole Page of Letters; by a mere superficial Inspection of what is there Written, or Printed, I can understand nothing; but if I Construe those Words, as their tendency and meaning Imply, I am soon Intelligent, whether they relate to Sorrow, Gladness, Pain, or Grief; either as to myself, or any other Person: Because I am perfectly apprehensive of their Motives, Causes and Effects; as they sensibly Incite my Conception of them. The Reason is plain, if considered the reciprocal Allowance and Reference, that any one of our Senses has to another; it being as easy for me to determine, by seeing a Bone, or Lump of Flesh at distance, that they are really such as if they had been touched, or handled by me. If I hear of an Arm or Leg, by any means, severed from the Body of Man; the Connexion that the Senses have with the Imagination, as undoubtedly assure me of the manner of the Wound, Grief, and Part cut off, as if I had occularly beheld it. Not that I can directly judge the Quality, or full extent of the Pain that is not distinctly felt by myself: Yet as the Part is an Object of Sense, and in which I, as well as another Man, may be in the same kind, grievously Afflicted; 'tis very possible, that by a natural Sympathy, which is reciprocally Conferred on the sensitive Parts of the Bodies of Men; I may, in effect, be as sensibly Intelligent of the Pain, or Grief, in any Member of another Person; as if with the Point of a Weapon, I should wound the same Part of my own Body.  
And did not the Soul and Senses thus apprehensively Conspire; there would not be that Reluctancy, Defence, and Prevention, used by us, for the safety of our Corporeal Parts; nor should we be so actually sensible that Mortality is the inevitable consequence of unsupportable Violence, Wounds, and Maladies, that surrender our Bodies to Death. And this clearly invalidates the Allegations and Instances, that he gives, on this Head, together with the Example he mentions of a Sword that may so hurt, or dismember any Part of the Body, that we may in Mind, be grievously apprehensive of the local Motion of the Force, or Blow, as it wounds the Part; tho' the Motion of the Sword and Body hurt, be very different: From whence he concludes, That the Humane Mind by a bare speculation of local Motion, together with its forcible onset made on the Body, may judge of all Corporeal Afflictions and Sensations whatsoever.  
And is not this a pretty kind of Quibble in Des-Cartes, by not considering, That it was not the Motion of the Blow, or the wounded Part that represented to the Intellect, or Mind, the hurt received; but as the Pain of the Member, or Part, assured the Imagination unto which it was inseparably united? It being very possible, for a Man to be sensibly apprehensive of a Wound, or Blow, tho' he does not conceive, or see the Motion of the Weapon that gave it: But as he is sensible of the Pain, he could not doubt, that it was effected by forcible means, tho' not otherwise relating to the Wound; or more diversified from sensible Conception, than, on this occasion, this Author does render the Mind, or what he calls a Thinking Substance, by a modality of Thinking without Sense.  
Nor is it Imaginable, how any Thing, that is not Elementarily Composed, can operate on the Humane Body that is so constituted: Wherefore the Word Substance, applied to the Soul, cannot be understood Incorporeal, by the determination of Des-Cartes, who, wheresoever he treats of Substance, appropriates unto it quantitative and dimensive Parts, both in a Plilosophical and Mathematical Consideration: And particularly, in the last Page of this Fourth Part of his Philosophy, condemns the Doctrine of Atoms, delivered by Democritus; because he allows them no Commensurable Quantity.  
Had it been demanded of this French Philosopher, What kind of Substance must be the Essence of the Soul, when separated by Death, from the Body, in whose Elementary Composition it did precedently Exist? He could not define it otherwise than quantitative, as every Thing, called Substance, is by his Opinion allowed to be; and therefore the same after the period of the Body's Life. And consequently, no less agreeable to his Doctrine, if Affirmed, That the thinking Substance, called by him the Humane Soul, must have, when separated from the Body, a Circumscribed, or Elementary Being, suitable to the Nature of Substance, as it may be conceived quantitatively Dimensive. Which Objection should a Cartesian endeavour to evade by Affirming, That the Soul separated from the Body is progressive to the Sphere of Spirits, or Things superlatively refined and stripped from Matter; and unto which some allow Definitive, not Circumscribed Being's; he must next grant, That the Soul cannot have Existence there, otherwise than in a Material Superficies proportionable to its Substance, and there eternally Circumscribed, where Spirits and Immaterial Being's are without such Limits; which were all one as to reside temporally amongst spiritual Existencies. To avoid which Absurdity, he cannot be thought to mean otherwise, than that the Soul, upon its immediate departure from the Body, is Metamorphosed into a Spirit: And next, that it has a spiritual Passage through all Elementary Bodies that intervene betwixt it and its immaterial Residence appointed by God.  
But here may arise a Querie, Whether Motion can be Attributed to any Thing without Body? Or in what manner it can Move, where Bodies are, or be in Motion, without removing of them? Which, in that Circumstance, would render a Soul, however deemed spiritual, Commensurably Moving; as by Parts of Time it might have an intermixed Progression, with other Substances, as its temporary Measure.  
Certain it is, that Stars, the Luminaries of Heaven, if duly considered their wonderful Motion, unalterable Essence, and continuation, may be allowed our most visible and perpetual miraculous Objects; or somewhat more than, in Nature, can be properly worded. But should those Etherial Being's be supposed, in any Place, where Elementary Substances might Exist; it were impossible they could move uncommixt with Things of different Nature from theirs: Wherefore it must be granted, That the Orbs above, together with the Stars and Planets, are of one simple Essence, or Manner of Existence; and therefore cannot Mingle, or Move with other Matter distinct from their own: Tho' by Divine Appointment, as Parts of the same miraculous Substance, they are only Illuminated.  
But should the Soul of Man be Assimilated, by any refined Contemplation to the Nature to the Etherial Luminaries, for want of a more obvious, or excellent Comparison; 'tis not easy to conceive, how in its Passage from the Body, when Life departs, it should remove to its appointed Residence, separated from Intervening Substances, which in their Temperatures and Parts are of the same Elementary Composition with the Humane Body that had been actuated by it.  
Which Objection was doubtless considered as causing some Hesitation in the Thoughts of Des-Cartes; who, notwithstanding the pretended curiosity of his Imagination, in reference to the Soul disposed, according to his Method, into the Original Formation, by God, as he delivers the Operation of the Humane Body: He does not at all express the Manner of its departure, from its Corporeal Station, at the period of Life: Or by what means transferred, or removed to its Immortal Residence; which was to be expected from the process he delivers: Who having determined, that the Humane Soul is a thinking Substance, and notionally Active in the Conduct of the Living Body, he might as well have Inserted the Method of its Progression after Death, from its Bodily Habitation; and how, being a Substance it arrived to its Immortal Abode, without being Complicated, Moved, or Moving, in its Passage, with any material Thing by any resemblance to what it performed, when acting in the Enclosure of the Body of Man.  
All which, according to the liberty he gives to his Invention, might have been as successfully delivered by him, as the dispatch he gives to his Globuli and Vortices by variety of Schemes, and Diagrams, that have no better proof than the Suppositions of Des-Cartes: But it seems, he thought it safer for his Pen to Inscribe his Imagination of the Soul, primarily conveyed, by the Act of the Almighty into the Humane Body, than by what subsequent Means, or Passport from above, its Substance arrived, after the Death of the Body, to its determined Existence. Of which I find no mention in any of his Works; other, than that he leaves the Manner of the Soul's passing from the lifeless Body, together with its Journey to its Immortal Residence, to the miraculous Conduct of the Almighty.  
And I think it devoutly Judicious, if, according to his Example, I silence my Querie, on this Incomprehensible Subject: Since by the Will of the Omnipotent Disposer and Conservator of the Universal World, together with the Being of Mankind in Soul and Body, our rational Abilities more aptly tend to admire, than determine the Manner by which we are Ensouled to live, or after Death to remain Immortal.  
A Contemplation sublimely incumbent on the Humane Mind, that is enough Capacitated to understand its Intellectual Dignity; however its Essence and Operations, within us, are superlative to our Apprehensions, or exact Definitions to be given of them.  
Wherefore I doubt not that my Discussions, on this great Particular, are no less valid, where I differ from him, than what I have Remarked on not a few of his main Principles, Maxims, Notions, Hypotheses, and Schemes; or demonstratively waved, or rejected the Insufficiency of others, on whatsoever account: So that I dare Affirm, that I have not omitted any significant or useful Animadversion.  
And had I more particularly insisted on any Speculations, or Matter seemingly varied and Instanced by him; I had, in effect, but increased Words to one and the same tendency: And therefore, where, in Substance, my Observations, on some Things include other, I desire that my Reader would ingenuously consider them, as they ought to be understood.  
And tho' this Author is very inclinable to Celebrate his own Esteem by frequently Affirming, That his Assertions and Tenants, are Philosophically and Mathematically certain: I will boast of no Success of mine, to the contrary, farther than is Equivalent with the Proofs I have made, and to which I refer the Judicious Peruser.  
And thus I conclude the Fourth and last Part of my Remarks on the Plilosophy of Des-Cartes.  
FINIS.