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his Death, but to be reduced to the State and Condition of Irrational Beings. And I leave him to judge for himself, (fince there appears in Men the Knowledge of a GoD, but by no means in Beafts) whether the Opinion of Chriftians are fo abfurd, when they maintain, that Death does entirely annihilate Beafts, but that the Souls of Men do ftill remain; forafmuch as the Knowledge of an eternal GoD does exert itself so much more adoreably in a Being that is framed for Eternity, and fo adapted to glorifie that God for

ever.

1

CONTEMPLATION XXIII.
Of PLANT S.

SECTION I. Tranfition to PLANTS in general.

N

OW for the farther Confirmation of what we aim at in all these things, let us pafs on to the Plants, and tho' a great many of them be ftill unknown, yet, what the Experiments of Enquirers have difcover'd thereof of late Years, is fufficient to prove, that a wonderful Power and Wisdom does appear, in adapting them all to their refpective Ufes.

Now if we fhould take notice of nothing more, than what is already fufficiently known both to the Learned and Unlearned, namely, that we fee a little Seed first taking Root downwards in the Earth, and then shooting up a Trunk or Body in the Air, and in fome producing Branches, and in others

others Leaves, Flowers, and Fruit, in which again there is Seed, by this means multiplying the Plant, which when dead, revives again in the Pofterity of the fame Species; let every one confider with himself, whether he could expect fuch a conftant Circulation and Series of Plants in Seeds, and again of Seeds in Plants, that has lafted fo many Ages without any Variation; and all the Inftruments neceffary thereto, from mere Chance, and a confufed concourfe of Atoms.

SECT. II. Without Earth and Water no Plants will Spring from their Seeds.

LET an Infidel or Sceptick examine farther the Earth and the Rain-Water (of which when we treated about Water itself, we fhewed that all Plants do moftly confift) after as many different Ways as he can poffibly; and then let him fee, whether he can with any reafon prove from thence how it comes to pass, that when we fow the Seed of a fine and sweet smelling Flower, or of nourishing Corn, and another of a poisonous Plant in the fame fort of Earth, each of 'em will produce a Plant according to its own Nature, differing fo much in Figure, in Strength, and other Properties; and let him fay, whether it does appear to him with any kind of probability, that all this is done without Wisdom; and the rather, forafmuch as Earth and Water being excepted, Experience has fhewn in fo many Cafes, as the Learned Malpighi abferves, de Sem. Veget. p. 12. that neither Urine nor Lye, nor Spirit of Copperas, nor Chalk, nor Salt-petre, if in too great abundance, nor Atimony, nor burnt Hartfhorn, nor many other things when mingled with Water, and the Seed foaked in fuch Water, or when water'd with the fame after they fpring up, can produce any encrease or growth

thereof.

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thereof. Nor, according to the Obfervations of the said Author, can Seeds produce their usual Plants in fimple Water only: They that would be fuller informed of this Matter, may confult that accurate Writer in the Place above quoted.

Now when fo Understanding and Learned an Enquirer has made fo many Experiments about Plants in vain; and confequently, fince 'tis not fo eafy for any one to discover wherein confift those Properties that are requifite for producing Plants out of their Seeds, and yet we fee, that they are in a manner found alone in Matters fo contemptible to the Vulgar, and trampled under foot as Water and Earth; let any one that does ftill doubt of the gracious Direction of the great Preferver of the World, ask himself, whether he could beftow upon a fimple Seed, or upon Water and Earth, a Figure or Form, by which the whole World may be preferv'd from Death: And in cafe he can't (as hitherto no Body ever had fuch a Faculty) whether he has not juft caufe, from all these things, to acknowledge a Wisdom far fuperior to his own, and to that of all Mankind and at the fame time too, a Goodness and Bountifulness that has bestowed upon all Creatures their Food and Support.

SECT. III. Every Seed has its Seed-Plant.

;

Now they that would fee how far the Knowledge of Men has attained, in respect to the Parts of which Plants confift, and the Use thereof in their Encrease and farther Oeconomy, may confult thereupon the Learned Writings of Grew, Malphigi, and in fome Cafes of Leuwenhoek alfo, and others and one would think that towards the Conviction of an Atheist,there would be nothing more required,

than

;

than to refer him to the Obfervations of thofe Perfons: Atleaft, that which can't occur to him without great Astonishment is, that he will find in the Accounts they have given about Seeds, that having enquired into a vaft Number thereof, they have difcover'd and feen in every single Seed an involved Stamen of the future Plant, which by Malphigi is named Planta Seminalis, or the Seed

Plant.

SECT. IV. The Seed-Root and Pluma in a Bean.

To fay fomething thereof, which every one may easily try; take fome great dry Beans, and fteep 'em 24 Hours in Water, then take them out and lay them in a place that is dry, but not cold, fo long till, as the Gardeners term it, they begin to fhoot out; Strip the Skin off of one of 'em, and you will find the Body of the Bean confift of two Parts, lying with their Planes against each other, and having a little white Stalk or Sprig by which they are joined together; for Inftance Tab. XVIII. Fig. 4. a a a, and a a a, are the two Parts of the flit Bean; dc is the white Root-Sprig faften'd to both the fides, and which afterwards in the Earth becomes the Root of the Plant. Now let an unhappy Sceptick fay, fince this Root d o, muft first grow and fpring out before it can be nourished by the Earth, and be turned to a Root for the whole Plant, whether he can imagine that it comes to pass without any propofed Defign, that in the Body of the Bean, and in both the Parts thereof, there is another Root placed, reprefented here by bbbb; which is carried on to the white tittle Point c, on each fide with a Branch dd, and thereby furnishes this little Root Sprig dc, dc, with nutricious Juices, in order to communicate there

to

to the beginning of its Encreafe, and the Power of becoming a Root, before it be able to draw any Nourishment out of the Earth.

From this little fprouting Root dc, there proceeds to the other fide another little Body e, which being the Trunk or Stalk in Miniature, does confist of a very little Stalk and Leaves; upon which account it is called by Dr. Grew, the little Pluma, or Feather; and the faid Sprout of the Root d c, and this little Feather e, do make together the Stamen of the following Plant.

SECT. V. Each Plant has two Roots.

So that almost every Plant (as Experience teaches us, that the fame thing happens in almoft all the known Seeds after the fame nianner) is thus furnish'd with two Roots; the first of which is that defcrib'd here by bb and bb, and which spreads itself thro' the Body of the Seed, being therefore call'd the Seed-Root feeding the little Root Sprout dc, and the Pluma e, fo long till the first of thofe is big enough to draw Nourishment to itself out of the Earth, and then it becomes the second and laft Root, causing the Pluma, now become a larger Trunk, to grow up to a compleat Plant. From whence it is farther apparent, that the Matter of the Seed itself, or of the Bean by which the first Seed-Root bb, bb, is extended, performs almoft the fame therein (by making the Root-Sprout dc, put forth at first) as the Earth does afterwards when it becomes a larger Earth-Root; that is, does feed and increase the whole Plant.

This Seed-Root bb, bb, appears more plainly in large Beans, and in the Seeds of Lupins, than in many others, according to the Obfervation of the faid Dr. Grew. And in cafe one cuts a fresh

cropt

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