"Life advances through a prodigious Va- s ER M•

riety of Species, before a Creature is form- VII. "ed complete in all it's Senfes. And even

among these, there is such a different DeCK gree of Perfection in the Senfe, which one "Animal enjoys beyond what appears in "another; that though the Sense in diffe

rent Animals be diftinguished by the fame common Denomination, it yet seems al"most of a different Nature. If after this

we look into the several inward Perfections "of Cunning and Sagacity, or what we ge "nerally call Inftinct, we find them rifing "after the fame Manner, imperceptibly one "above another, and receiving additional

Improvements, according to the Species "in which they are implanted. Infomuch "that there are fome Brutes that feem to "have as much Senfe, and Reason, and Know" ledge, as fome that are called Men. This Progress in Nature is so very gradual, that the "moft perfect of an inferior Species, comes very near to the most imperfect of that " which is immediately above it: And the lit"the Transitions and Deviations from one Spe"cies to another, are almoft infenfible.

If then the Scale of Beings rifes by fuch a regular Progrefs fo high as Man we M 2 ་ may,

SERM." may, by. a Parity of Reason, suppose that VII." it ftill proceeds gradually through Beings

"of a fuperior Nature to him; fince there " is an infinitely greater Space and Room, "for different Degrees of Perfection between "the Supreme Being and Man, than between Man and the most despicable In"fect.—Not that it is poffible, that the "Space between Man and his Maker, fhould

ever be filled up; fince there will still "be an infinite Gap or Distance, between "the highest created Being, and the Power "which produced him. Befides, it is re"markable, that in all the Species of Crea"tures we know, there are fome that par"take of different Natures, and unite, as it

were, two different Kinds together. The "feveral Elements, the Air, the Water, and "the Earth, (though they are each of them "ftored with Inhabitants, proper and peculiar

to itself) have yet, it is obfervable, fome "that form an Alliance amongst them, by a "Capacity of living either in the one or ano"ther. There are Fish that can fly and visit "the Air; and there are Birds, of many "Kinds, that can fwim and dive. There are "Bats and other Animals, of fo near a Kind "both to Birds and Beafts, that they are in

"the

"the Middle between both: And there are SER M. "Seals and Porpoifes, Sea-Calves and Sea- VII. Hogs, and many others of such an amphi"bious Kind, as to be partly Beafts and partly Fish, and able to live either in the Sea or upon Land. Now Man being alfo "a compound Creature, evidently made up "of two different Natures, the Animal and Intellectual; one of which (the Animal) hé

may observé to exift with the Intellectual, in "all the fenfible Creatures below him: Why "fhould not the Intellectual also exist apart "without the Animal, in certain Beings above

him; and he himself, fill up the middle
Space between both Natures, being, as it

were, the Link in the Chain of Beings, that "unite the visible and invisible World toge"ther? Infomuch that he who in one Re

spect may fay to Corruption, Thou art my "Father, and to the Worm, Thou art my "Mother and my Sifter, Job xvii. 14. may "in another Refpect be affociated with Angels and Archangels, may look upon a

Being of infinite Perfection as his Father, "and the highest Order of Spirit as his "Brethren *."

ADDISON in the Spectator, No. 519. See alfo Bishop BULL'S Sermon, Vol. II. p. 440-443.

SEKM.

To this let me add, that the Earth, where' VII. Man is appointed to live, is the loweft and groffeft Part of the Creation: This the Sceptick himself, I believe, will allow; and must own, that there are far more noble and fpacious Regions above us, which yet must be void of intelligent Beings, if there are no Creatures fuperior to Man; But furely, if this World which we ourselves inhabit, be fo amazingly stocked with Infinity of Animals; if every Part of it be peopled, and every green Leaf fwarm with inhabitants; if no part of Matter we are acquainted with here; lie waste and useless, but is plentifully ftocked with numberless Creatures; how prepofterous must it be to conceive, that thofe vaft Bodies, which are at such a Distance from us, fhould be defert and unpeopled; that they should remain unfurnished with Beings fuited and adapted to their respective Situations? What a ftrange Vacuum muft we imagine in Nature, if, in their best and most elegant Parts of the Creation, there fhould be no Beings of Understanding to admire the Beauties and Wonders of the Place, and to laud and magnify the Wisdom of the Creator? It is true indeed, God himfelf does not receive any additional Happiness from his Creatures Praises

His Felicity arifing wholly and altogether S ER M. from himself. But then, neither are we to VII. suppose that he created either the Heavens or the Earth, for his own Benefit or Use; but purely for the Sake of fome intelligent Beings, which he has made to inhabit them. "It is not therefore to be imagined, that "the univerfal King and Sovereign of the "World, has no Servants to wait on him "in his Presence-Chamber, and to adore his

Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness above; "when we see so many paying their Devo"tions to him, at fo great a Distance here "below. Natural Reafon therefore directs " and leads us to acknowledge, that there are "certain intelligent Creatures in the upper "World, who, as they are more remote "from the Dregs of Matter, wherein we'

are immersed, so are they of a more pure, "refined, and excellent Subftance; and as "far exceeding us in their Way of under"standing and glorifying God, as they are "of nearer Admiffion to the Place, where "his Glory is more especially manifested *.” And it was probably the Force of human Reason, that led the antient Heathen Philo-/ lofophers to confefs the Existence of many

*See Bishop BuLL's Sermons. Vol. II. p. 446, 447

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Inperior