Communication or Commixture, here is ftill the fame Almighty Power neceffarily requir'd for the enlivening this Semen, that there was for the enlivening that Part of Matter which conftituted Adam's Body; for the Semen is no nearer Life, for having an Human Shape lurking in it, than was the Dust from which Adam was taken.

Lastly, If Adam had the Power of Life communicated from God alone in a Supernatural Manner, it is impoffible to conceive how he cou'd recommunicate the fame, without lofing it himself, and fo dying; as tis fabulously related of the Eagle and Pelican, in the Production and Nourishment of his own Offspring; and this not for want of Power in God, but Capacity in Adam; for the Power is no less than Creative, or which is the fame, Miraculous; and juft thus I find it exprefs'd by Eftibius himfelf; He that cou'd make Man, Pag.163. nay this whole visible World out of

nothing, and make Iron Swim, contrary to its nature, cou'd by his Word give Life to dead, ftupid, and infenfible Matter. I fuppofe Eftibius will not difpute it, whether the Creative Power be communicable to a Creature; and I can affure him the fame is true of the Miraculous Power. In Scripture we find, that God often ufes a Creature as the Inftrument, or rather Sign

and Token of a Miracle; but in all fuch Cafes the Efficiency is peculiarly his own, and nothing can unfix the Laws of the Creation, but the Immediate Power, that enacted and ratify'd them.

By all which it appears, that had Eftibius understood the true Meaning and Extent of his own Hypothefis, he wou'd not have made the Objection of Generation; for that wou'd have led him to affert that Life can no more be a Seminal Product, than an Immaterial Subftance can; but that the fame Power which first enliven'd Adam's Body, must go along with all his Seminal Communications, in order to enliven every fucceeding Fetus: And confequently upon this, had the Syllogifm been objected to him, he must have faid, that Man's generating Man is a Figurative Expreffion, of the Part for the Whole. He might have farther alledg'd, that in a Controversy of this Nature, whether Life is produced immediately by God or the Parent, in which the Senfes are not Judges, and much lefs is the Generality of Mankind; that it is highly ridiculous, and unbecoming a Philofopher, to appeal to a vulgar Expres fion, intended to denote no more than what is fenfible in the Cafe: viz. That upon Coition of Male and Female, Man is begotten. But I am at a perfect Lofs for a Plea,

a Plea, for Eftibius's ufing the Argument on his own behalf; and this in a Chapter of Philosophy, where he fhou'd not have acted either the Pedant, or Sophist, in playing upon Words, and perverting the Senfe of a vulgar and harmless Expreifion, the Father begets the Son, which I dare fay was never calculated for a Maxim in Controversy. Eftibius feems not to have smelt out any thing of this Matter, or elfe fure, of all his Arguments he wou'd not have honour'd this poor Quibble, fo much Pag.138. beyond its deferts, as to give it the Character of being built on a folid Foun dation.

Pag.139.

By this time I prefume I may trust any Man to answer this mighty Syllogifm to himself, and proceed to confider Eftibius's Paraphrafe and Illustration upon it: First, he fays Man cannot be faid to generate First Matter; and for this most profound, as well as unanswerable Reason, that it is ingenerable: In the next Place, inquiring into the Generation of Second Matter, he deals a little difhonourably with us, in forcing us to hold Three diftinct Souls; one extinct upon the fupervening of another;

Ibid.

or rather he deals not at all with us, unless that be a Confutation of our Opinion, to joyn with us in confuting another.

P 4

But

But in the next Paragraph he seems to aim at fomething; to those who say a Man generates a Man, by caufing the Union of Soul and Body; What Reasoning is this, in the name of Wonder! replys Pag. 140.. Eftibius, to generate an Union, which

is an Accident, &c. But foftly, Sir: Are not all the Changes that Matter is fufceptible of, accidental to it? And reflect, I beseech you, if not in too much haste, What is Life according to You, but a Power, and what is a Power but an Accident; and how is this Accident produc'd in Human Body, in the ordinary Course, but by Generation? If this Reafoning be so very strange and amazing, you however ought to be no Stranger to it.

Other Pfychomuthifts fay, that Man in Generation fupplys Materia proxima ; to which you reply you reply, that a New Ibid. Form, as well as Matter, is requifitez and to which I rejoyn, that no Matter is fupply'd without Form; and in the Human Seed, fome People talk of an Homunculus delitefcens.

Here Eftibius thinks fit to interrupt the Chain of his Reasoning, with an Authority or two; the first is from Ariftotle, in thefe words; Τὸ μὲ ἄῤῥω παρέχει τότε είδα κ τ αρκω κινήσεως, τὸ GO, den 7 5 Dñnu to Câμce in That is to say,

Pag. 141.

fays

fays my Author, Man in Generation gives the Form, Image, or Beginning of Motion, [or Life;] the Female Supplys Body, or Matter; plainly intimating, that between both Matter and Form, call'd Soul and Body, are Supply'd. I cannot charge Eftibius with the Fault that Horace found in fome Tranflators, who were fo over-faithful to the Original, as to render word for word; for he, I must own, has taken the Liberty which Horace wou'd not, I conceive, allow to Translators, quidlibet andendi; for I can call it no lefs, to make Ariftotle speak what he never meant, nay contrary to his own Meaning in abundance of Places: And to prove this, it is fufficient to obferve, that Ariftotle never fpeaks, throughout his Works, of the Generation of Human Soul: but fuppofing, and proving it to be of a fimple uncompounded Nature, as I have clearly prov'd from him, must of neceffity except the Human Soul, from being generated in common with Bodies. But to this Eftibius replys, If Aristotle will contradi& himself, who can help it? Are not his Words exprefs and particular? Man in Generation gives the Form, &c. Very true, Eftibius, your Words, are indeed exprefs and particular of Human Generation. But who taught you to tranflate apple, Man; not your Lexicon I am

fure,