No. 589. of Trees than any thing yet mentioned. It was thought the Fate of these Nymphs had so near a Dependance on some Trees, more especially Oaks, that they lived and died together. For this Reason, they were extreamly grateful to such Persons who preserved those Trees with which their Being subsisted. Apollonius tells us a very remarkable Story to this Purpose, with which I shall conclude my Letter. A certain Man, called Rhæcus, observing an old Oak ready to fall, and being moved with a sort of Compassion towards the Tree, ordered his Servants to pour in fresh Earth at the Roots of, and set it upright. The Hama dryad, or Nymph, who must necessarily have perished with the Tree, appeared to him the next Day, and after having returned him her Thanks, told him, she was ready to grant whatever he should ask. As she was extreamly Beautiful, Rhacus desired he might be en tertained as her Lover. The Hamadryad, not much displeased with the Request, promised to give him a Meeting, but commanded him for some Days to abstain from the Embraces of all other Women, adding, that she would send a Bee to him, to let him know when he was to be happy. Rhacus was, it seems, too much addicted to Gaming, and happened to be in a Run of ill Luck when the faithful Bee came buzzing about him; so that instead of minding his kind Invitation, he had like to have killed him for his Pains. The Hamadryad was so provoked at her own Disappointment, and the ill Usage of her Messenger, that she deprived Rhacus of the Use of his Limbs. However, says the Story, he was not so much a Cripple, but he made a Shift to cut down the Tree, and consequently to fell his Mistress,' Monday No. 590, No. 590, Monday, September 6. Monday, -Assiduolabuntur tempora motu Et nova sunt semper. Nam quod fuit ante, relictum est; -Ov. Met. The following Discourse comes from the same Hand with the Essays upon Infinitude. WE consider infinite Space as an Expansion without a Circumference: We consider Eternity, or in finite Duration, as a Line that has neither a Beginning nor an End. In our Speculations of infinite Space, we consider that particular Place in which we exist, as a kind of Center to the whole Expansion. In our Specula tions of Eternity, we consider the Time which is present to us as the Middle, which divides the whole Line into two equal Parts. For this Reason, many witty Authors compare the present Time to an Isthmus or narrow Neck of Land, that rises in the midst of an Ocean, im measurably diffused on either Side of it. Philosophy, and indeed common Sense, naturally throws Eternity under two Divisions; which we may call in Eng lish, that Eternity which is past, and that Eternity which is to come. The learned Terms of Eternitas a Parte ante, and Æternitas a Parte post, may be more amusing to the Reader, but can have no other Idea affixed to them than what is conveyed to us by those Words, an Eternity that is past, and an Eternity that is to come. Each of these Eternities is bounded at the one Extream; or, in other Words, the former has an End, and the latter a Beginning. Let us first of all consider that Eternity which is past, reserving that which is to come for the Subject of another Paper The Nature of this Eternity is utterly incon ceivable by the Mind of Man: Our Reason demonstrates to us that it has been, but at the same Time can frame no Idea of it, but what is big with Absurdity and Con tradiction. We can have no other Conception of any Duration Sept. 6, 1714, No. 590. Duration which is past, than that all of it was once Monday, present; and whatever was once present, is at some Sept. 6, certain Distance from us; and whatever is at any certain 1714, Distance from us, be the Distance never so remote, cannot be Eternity. The very Notion of any Duration's being past, implies that it was once present; for the Idea of being once present, is actually included in the Idea of its being past. This therefore is a Depth not to be sounded by Human Understanding. We are sure that there has been an Eternity, and yet contradict our selves when we measure this Eternity by any Notion which we can frame of it. If we go to the Bottom of this Matter, we shall find, that the Difficulties we meet with in our Conceptions of Eternity proceed from this single Reason, That we can have no other Idea of any kind of Duration, than that by which we our selves, and all other created Beings, do exist; which is, a successive Duration, made up of past, present, and to come, There is nothing which exists after this Manner, all the Parts of whose Existence were not once actually present, and consequently may be reached by a certain Number of Years applied to it. We may ascend as high as we please, and employ our Being to that Eternity which is to come, in adding Millions of Years to Millions of Years, and we can never come up to any Fountain-head of Duration, to any Beginning in Eternity: But at the same time we are sure, that whatever was once present does lye with in the reach of Numbers, tho' perhaps we can never be able to put enough of 'em together for that Purpose, We may as well say, that any thing may be actually present in any Part of infinite Space, which does not lye at a certain Distance from us, as that any Part of infinite Duration was once actually present, and does not also lye at some determined Distance from us. The Distance in both Cases may be immeasurable and indefinite as to our Faculties, but our Reason tells us that it cannot be so in it self. Here therefore is that Difficulty which human Understanding is not capable of sur mounting, We are sure that something must have existed from Eternity, and are at the same Time unable to to conceive, that any thing which exists, according to our No. 590. Notion of Existence, can have existed from Eternity, Monday, 1714. It is hard for a Reader, who has not rolled this Thought Sept. 6, in his own Mind, to follow in such an abstracted Specula tion; but I have been the longer on it, because I think it is a demonstrative Argument of the Being and Eternity of a God: And tho' there are many other Demonstrations which lead us to this great Truth, I do not think we ought to lay aside any Proofs in this Matter which the Light of Reason has suggested to us, especially when it is such a one as has been urged by Men famous for their Penetration and Force of Understanding, and which ap pears altogether conclusive to those who will be at the Pains to examine it. Having thus considered that Eternity which is past, according to the best Idea we can frame of it, I shall now draw up those several Articles on this Subject which are dictated to us by the Light of Reason, and which may be looked upon as the Creed of a Philosopher in this great Point First, It is certain that no Being could have made it self; for if so, it must have acted before it was, which is a Contradiction. Secondly, That therefore some Being must have existed from all Eternity, Thirdly, That whatever exists after the manner of created Beings, or according to any Notions which we have of Existence, could not have existed from Eternity, Fourthly, That this eternal Being must therefore be the great Author of Nature, the Antient of Days, who, being at infinite Distance in his Perfections from all finite and created Beings, exists in a quite different manner_from them, and in a manner of which they can have no Idea, I know that several of the School-men, who would not be thought ignorant of any thing, have pretended to explain the Manner of God's Existence, by telling us, That he comprehends infinite Duration in every Moment; That Eternity is with him a Punctum stans, a fixed Point; or, which is as good Sense, an Infinite Instant; That nothing with Reference to his Existence is either past or to come: To which the ingenious Mr. Cowley alludes in his Description of Heaven, Nothing No, 590. Monday, Sept. 6, 1714. Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, For my own Part, I look upon these Propositions as Words that have no Ideas annexed to them; and think Men had better own their Ignorance, than advance Doctrines by which they mean nothing, and which indeed are self-contradictory. We cannot be too modest in our Disquisitions, when we meditate on him who is environed with so much Glory and Perfection, who is the Source of Being, the Fountain of all that Existence which we and his whole Creation derive from him, Let us therefore with the utmost Humility acknowledge, that as some Being must necessarily have existed from Eternity, so this Being does exist after an incomprehensible manner, since it is impossible for a Being to have existed from Eternity after our Manner or Notions of Existence, Re velation confirms these natural Dictates of Reason in the Accounts which it gives us of the Divine Existence, where it tells us, that he is the same Yesterday, to Day, and for Ever; that he is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending; that a thousand Years are with him as one Day, and one Day as a thousand Years; by which, and the like Expressions, we are taught, that his Existence, with Re lation to Time or Duration, is infinitely different from the Existence of any of his Creatures, and consequently that it is impossible for us to frame any adequate Conceptions of it. In the first Revelation which he makes of his own Being, he intitles himself, I am that I am; and when Moses desires to know what Name he shall give him in his Embassady to Pharaoh, he bids him say that, I am hath sent you. Our great Creator, by this Revelation of himself, does in a manner exclude every thing else from a real Existence, and distinguishes himself from his Creatures, as the only Being which truly and really exists. The ancient Platonick Notion, which was drawn from Speculations of Eternity, wonderfully agrees with this Revelation which God has made of himself. There is nothing, say they, which in Reality exists, whose Existence, as we call it, is pieced up of past, present, and to come, Such a flitting and successive Existence is rather a Shadow of Existence, and something which is like it, than Existence |