HAVING this infallible Assurance of the Origin of the Earth and of Mankind from Scripture, we proceed to refute the same Doctrine of _Aristotle_’s by natural Reason. And we will first consider the Form of the Earth, and then Mankind; and shew, from plain Evidence and Observation, neither of them to have been Eternal. ’Tis natural to the Mind of Man to consider that which is compound, as having been once more simple; whether that Composition be a Mixture of many Ingredients, as most Terrestrial Bodies are, or whether it be Organical; but especially if it be Organical: For a Thing that consists of a multitude of Pieces aptly join’d, we cannot but conceive to have had those Pieces, at one time or another, put together. ’Twere hard to conceive an eternal Watch, whose Pieces were never separate one from another, nor ever in any other Form than that of a Watch. Or an eternal House, whose Materials were never asunder, but always in the Form of an House. And ’tis as hard to conceive an _Eternal Earth_, or an _Eternal World_: These are made up of more various Substances, more Ingredients, and into a far greater Composition; and the living Part of the World, Plants and Animals, have much more Variety of Parts and multifarious Construction, than any House, or any other artificial Thing: So that we are led as much by Nature and Necessity, to conceive this great Machine of the World, or of the Earth, to have been once in a State of greater Simplicity than now it is, as to conceive a Watch, an House, or any other Structure, to have been once in its first and simple Materials. This I speak without Reference to immediate Creation, for _Aristotle_ did not own any such thing, and therefore the Argument stands good against him, upon those Grounds and Notions that he goes; yet I guess what Answer would be made by him or his Followers to this Argumentation: They would say, there is not the same Reason for Natural things, as for Artificial, though equally compounded. Artificial Things could not be from Eternity, because they suppose Man, by whose Art they were made, pre-existent to them; the Workman must be before the Work, and whatsoever hath any thing before it, is not Eternal. But may not the same thing be said of Natural things? Do not most of them require the Action of the Sun, and the Influence of the Heavens for their Production, and longer Preparations than any Artificial things do? Some Years or Ages would be necessary for the Concoction and Maturation of Metals and Minerals; Stones themselves, at least some sorts of them, were once Liquors, or fluid Masses; and all Vegetable Productions require the Heat of the Sun, to predispose and excite the Earth and the Seeds. Nay, according to _Aristotle_, ’tis not Man by himself that begets a Man, but the Sun is his Coadjutor. You see then ’twas as necessary that the Sun, that great Workman of Nature, should pre-exist to Natural things, produc’d in, or upon the Earth, as that Man should pre-exist to Artificial.