And now, if we reflect upon the whole Matter, we shall here find another large Tribe of the Creation, abundantly setting forth the Wisdom and Glory of their great Creator. We praise the Ingenuity and Invention of Man, for the Contrivance of various pneumatick Engines; we think them witty, even for their unsuccessful Attempts to swim in, and sail through that subtle Element the Air; and the curious Mechanism of that Artist is had in Remembrance, and praised to this Day, who made a Dove, or an Eagle[a] to fly but a short Space. And is not therefore all imaginable Honour and Praise due to that infinite Artist, that hath so admirably contrived and made, all the noble Variety of Birds; that hath with such incomparable Curiosity and Art, formed their Bodies from Head to Tail, without and within, that not so much as any Muscle, or Bone, no, not even a Feather[b] is unartificially made, misplaced, redundant, or defective, in all the several Families of this large Tribe? But every Thing is so incomparably performed, so nicely fitted up for Flight, as to surpass even the Imitation of the most ingenious Artificer among mortal rational Beings.
FOOTNOTES:
[b] Deus non solùm Angelum, & Hominem, sed nec exigui & contemptibilis animantis viscera, nec Avis pennulam, nec Herbæ flosculum, nec Arboris folium sine suarum partium convenientiâ dereliquit. Augustin. de Civ. Dei, L. 5. c. 11.