§ 68. He next consider'd the Stars and Spheres, and saw, that they had all regular Motions, and went round in a due Order; and that they were pellucid and shining, and remote from any approach to Change or Dissolution: which made him have a strong suspicion, that they had _Essences_ distinct from their Bodies, which were acquainted with this _necessarily self-existent Essence._ And that these understanding Essences,were like his understanding Essence. And why might it not be suppos'd that they might have incorporeal Essences, when he himself had, notwithstanding his Weakness and extream want of sensible Things? That he consisted of a corruptible Body, and yet nevertheless, all these Defects did not hinder him from having an incorporeal incorruptible Essence: From whence he concluded, that the Celestial Bodies were much more likely to have it; and he perceived that they had a Knowledge of the _necessarily self-existent Being_, and did actually behold it at all times; because they were not at all incumbred with those Hinderances, arising from the Intervention of sensible Things, which debarr'd him from enjoying the _Vision_, without Interruption.
§ 69. Then he began to consider with himself, what should be the reason why he alone, above all the rest of living Creatures, should be endu'd with such an Essence, as made him like the Heavenly Bodies. Now he understood before the Nature of the Elements, and how one of them us'd to be chang'd into another, and that there was nothing upon the Face of the Earth, which always remain'd in the same Form, but that Generation and Corruption follow'd one another perpetually in a mutual Succession; and that the greatest part of these Bodies were mix'd and compounded of contrary Things, and were for that reason the more dispos'd to Dissolution: And that there could not be found among them all, any thing pure and free from Mixture, but that such Bodies as came nearest to it, and had least mixture, as Gold and Jacinth are of longest Duration, and less subject to Dissolution; and that the Heavenly Bodies were most simple and pure, and for that reason more free from Dissolution, and not subject to a Succession of Forms. And here it appear'd to him, that the real Essence of those Bodies, which are in this sublunary World, consisted in some, of one simple Notion added to Corporeity, as the four Elements; in others of more, as Animals and Plants. And that those, whose Essence consisted of the fewest Forms, had fewest Actions, and were farther distant from Life. And that if there were any body to be found, that was destitute of all Form, it was impossible that it should live, but was next to nothing at all; also that those things which were endu'd with most Forms, had the most Operations, and had more ready and easie entrance to the State of Life. And if this Form were so dispos'd, that there were no way of separating it from the Matter to which it properly belong'd, then the life of it, would be manifest, permanent and vigorous to the utmost degree. But on the contrary, whatsoever Body was altogether destitute of a Form, was [Greek: Hylè], Matter without Life, and near a-kin to nothing. And that the four Elements subsisted with one single Form only, and are of the first Rank of Beings in the sublunary World, out of which, other things endu'd with more Forms are compounded: And that the Life of these Elements is very weak, both because they have no variety of Motion, but always tend the same way; and because every one of them has an Adversary which manifestly opposes the Tendency of its Nature, and endeavours to deprive it of its Form; and therefore its Essence is of short Continuance, and its Life weak: But that Plants had a stronger Life, and Animals a Life more manifest than the Plants. The reason of which is, because that whenever it happen'd, that in any of these compound Bodies, the Nature of one Element prevail'd, that predominant Element would overcome the Natures of the rest, and destroy their Power; so that the compounded Body would be of the same Nature with that prevailing Element, and consequently partake but of a small Portion of Life, because the Element it self does so.