icable insect.

13. The consequence of so great a variety of beings which are superior
to us, from that variety which is inferior to us is made by Mr. _Locke_,
in a passage which I shall here set down, after having premised that
notwithstanding there is still infinite room between man and his Maker
for the creative power to exert itself in, it is impossible that it
should ever be filled up, since there will be still an infinite gap or
distance between the highest created being, and the power which produced
him.

14. _That there should be more_ species _of intelligent creatures above
us, than there are of sensible and material below us, is probable to me
from hence; that in all the visible corporeal world, we see no chasms or
no gaps. All quite down from us, the descent is by easy steps, and a
continued series of things that in each remove, differ very little one
from the other. There are fishes that have wings, and are not strangers
to the airy region; and there are some birds, that are inhabitants of
the water, whose blood is as cold as fishes, and their flesh so like in
taste, that the scrupulous, are allowed them on fish-days_.

15. _There are animals so near of kin both to birds and beasts, that
they are in the middle between both; amphibious animals, link the
terrestrial and aquatic together: seals live on land and at sea, and
porpoises have the warm blood and entrails of a hog. Not to mention what
is confidently reported of mermaids or sea-men, them are same brutes,
that seem to have as much knowledge and reason, as some that are called
men; and the animal and vegetable kingdoms are so nearly joined, that if
you will take the lowest of one, and the highest of the other, there
will scarce be perceived any great difference between them; and so on
till we come to the lowest and the most most inorganical parts of
matter, we shall find every where that the several_ species _are linked
together, and differ but, in almost insensible degrees_.

16. _And when we consider the infinite power and wisdom of the Maker, we
have reason to think that it is suitable to the magnificent harmony of
the universe, that the great design and infinite goodness of the
architect, that the_ species _of creatures should also, by gentle
degrees, ascend upwards from us toward his infinite perfection as we see
they gradually descend from us downward: which if it be probable, we
have reason then to be persuaded; that there are far more_ species