almost infinitely dilatable, and also the Peritoneum, not to mention the Skin and the Cuticula; how were it poffible it fhould contain the Child, nay fometimes Twins, with all their Appurtenances, the Secundines, the Placenta, the Liquors or Waters, and what else is neceffary for the Defence, Nutrition, Refpiration, and foft and convenient Lodging of them, till they come to their due Perfection and Maturity for Exclufion? How could the Child have room to grow there to his Bignefs, and ftir and turn himself as is requifite? Add hereto another Observation of Blafius's, particularly relating to this Subject. He hath observed, that the Veffels of the interiour glandulous Substance of the Womb are ftrangely contorted and reflected with Turnings and Meanders, that they might not be too much strained, but their Folds being extended and abolished, they might accommodate themselves without Danger of Rupture to the neceffary Extenfion of the Uterine Subftance at that Time.

Another remarkable Proof of Counsel and Design may be fetch'd from the Formation of the Veins and Arteries near the Heart, which I meet with in Dr. Lower's Treatife De Corde. Just before the Entrance of the Right Auricle of the Heart, (faith he) to wit, where the afcending Trunk of the Vena Cava meeting with the defcending, is ready to empty itself into the faid right Auricle, there occurrs in it a very remarkable Knob or Bunch [Tuberculum] raifed up from the fubjacent Fat, by the Interpofition

355 pofition whereof the Blood falling down by the defcending Vein, is diverted into the Auricle, which otherwife encountring and bearing upon that of the afcendent Trunk, would very much hinder and retard the Motion of it upward towards the Heart. And because in an erect Site and Figure of the Body there is a greater and more eminent Danger of fuch an Accident, therefore the Vena Cava in Mankind hath this Tubercle far greater, and more extant than it is in Brutes, fo that if you thruft your Finger into either Trunk, you can hardly find Paffage or Admittance into the other.

But in Quadrupeds, as in Sheep, Dogs, Horfe, Kine, in which the Courfe of the Blood from either Extreme of the Body is more equal, and, as it were, in a plainer Level, and be caufe the Heart, by reafon of its Bulk and Weight, hanging downwards, both Trunks of the Vena Cava have fome little Declivity to wards it, there is no need of fo great a Bar and Diverfion in them; yet are they not altogether devoid of it.

Moreover, left the Blood here in its Conflux. fhould make a kind of Flood or Whirlpool, whilst the Auricle being contracted doth not give it free Ingrefs, therefore, in this place, the Vena Cava in great Animals, as well Man as Quadrupeds, is round-about Mufculous; as well that it may be reftrain'd and kept within its due Limits of Extenfion, as that it may more vigorously and strongly urge and impell the Blood into the Cavity of the Auricle.

Befides, there is no lefs Providence and Caution used, that the Blood, when it is forcibly caft out of the Left Ventricle of the Heart, be not unequally diftributed to the fnperiour or inferiour Parts. For whereas this Gate or Orifice of the Heart opens right upwards, if that Channel, which receives the firft Impulfe of the Blood, did lead in a ftraight Line up to the Region of the Head, it could not be, but that it must be poured too fwiftly upon the Brain, and fo the inferiour Parts of the Body muft needs be defrauded of their vital Liquor and Aliment. Which Inconvenience, that the Divine Architect of the Body might wholly obviate and avoid, in Animals whofe Hearts are more ftrongly moved, He fo artificially contrived the Trunk of the Aorta, which is next the Heart, that the Blood runs not directly into the Axillary and Carotide Arteries, but doth as it were fetch a Compafs: For in the middle Space between the Ventricle and thofe Arteries, it is very much inflected or bent; whence it comes to pafs, that that crooked Angle fuftains the Force and firft Stroke of the ejected Blood, and directs the greatest Torrent of it towards the defcending Trunk of the Aorta, which otherwise would rush too forcibly into the fuperiour Branches thereof, diftending them immoderately, and foon opprefs and burden the Head. So far Dr. Lowther.

To elude or evade the Force of all thefe Inftances, and innumerable others, which might be produced, to demonftrate, that the Bodies

of

of Men and all other Animals were the Effects of the Wisdom and Power of an Intelligent and Almighty Agent, and the feveral Parts and Members of them defigned to the Ufes to which now they ferve, the Atheist hath one Subterfuge, in which he most confides, viz. That all thefe Ufes of Parts are no more than what is neceffary to the very Existence of the Things to whom they belong: And that Things made Ufes, and not Ufes Things.

Nil ideo natum eft in corpore ut uti Poffemus, fed quod natum eft id procreat ufum. Saith Lucretius, Lib.

4.

And having instanced in feveral Members, he concludes,

Omnia denique membra

Ante fuere, ut opinor, eorum quàm fuit ufus.

I fhall give you their Senfe, together with the Confutation of it in Dr. Bentley's Words, borrowed out of his Fifth Lecture, &c. and fuperadd fomething of my own.

Thefe things (Jay* they) are

mistaken for Tokens of Skill and *The Atheists. Contrivance, whereas they are but

neceifary Confequences of the prefent Existence of those Creatures to which they belong. For he that fuppofeth any Animals to fubfift, doth, by that very Suppofition, allow them every Member and Faculty that are neceffary to A a 3

Sub

Subfiftence. And, therefore, unless we can prove à priori, and independent on this Ufefulness, now that things are once fupposed to have exifted and propagated; that among almost infinite Trials and Effays at the Beginning of Things, among Millions of monftrous Shapes and imperfect Formations, a few fuch Animals as now exift could not poffibly be produced, these After-Confiderations are of very little Moment: Becaufe, if fuch Animals could in that way possibly be formed, as might live, and move, and propagate their Beings, all this admired and applauded Ufefulness of their feveral Fabricks is but a neceffary Condition and Confequence of their Existence and Propagation.

This is the laft Pretence and Sophistry of the Atheists against the Propofition in my Text, [Acts xvii. 27.] That we received our Life and Being from a Divine Wisdom and Power. And as they cannot juftly accufe me of concealing or baulking their Grand Objection; So, I believe, thefe following Confiderations will give them no Reafon to boaft, That it cannot receive a juft and fatisfactory Answer.

(1.) First, therefore, We affirm that we can prove, and have done it already by Arguments à priori, (which is the Challenge of the Atheists) that thefe Animals that now exift, could not poffibly have been formed at firft by Mations of Trials. For feeing they allow by their very Hypothefis, (and without ftanding to that Courtefy, we have proved it before) that there

can