113 



powers, chain the limbs perpetually? Why does not 

 the stupor, that deadens all the senses, hold fast its 

 possession ? When the thoughts are once disadjusted 

 why are they not always in confusion? How is it> 

 that they are rallied in a moment, and reduced fro^ 

 the wildest irregularity to the most orderly array ? 

 From an inactivity resembling death, and from extra- 

 vagancies little differing from madness, how suddenly 

 is the body restored to vigour and agility ? How in- 

 stantaneously is the mind re-established in sedatenesa 

 and harmony? Surely this is the Lord's doing. And 

 it is marvellous in our eyes. 



14. That all motion is performed by means of the 

 muscles, all men are now agreed. And it is supposed 

 that the motions of the muscles proceed from the 

 influx of the animal spirits ; which, entering them by 

 means of the nerves, swell and shorten the belly of 

 the muscle, and thereby draw the extremities together 

 and move the parts connected therewith. But a!l this 

 likewise is mere conjecture. God only knows his 

 own work* 



\ 



15. That some motions are voluntary, and some 

 are not, is another amazing proof of the Creator's 

 wisdom. Those which are absolutely necessary for 

 the conservation of the machine, as the beating of the 

 pulse, and the circulation of the blood, go on by a 

 kind of mechanic law, which no way depends upon 

 our will ; while a thousand other motions begin and 

 end, by a single act of our will, when we please. But 

 how this bodily motion is connected with that act 

 of our mind, who is able to explain ? 



16. There is a manifest congruity between the sta. 

 ture of man, and his age, during tho time of his 

 growth. And as five feet and a half may be thought 

 the ordinary height of man, so may seventy years 

 the ordinary period of his life. Yet some vastly ex. 

 ceed in both respects. And as we know Thomas 



