Anyway, I'm reading through John Ray's The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation (London, 1691) at the moment, so I can finish writing chapter 5 (which deals with natural theology among early members of the Royal Society of London, including John Ray). It's fascinating reading. I love these 17th-century books - the writers sometimes come out with the most amazing statements. I found this cracker from John Ray in a section where he's arguing against the great Robert Boyle. Boyle's mechanical philosophy involves the idea that the universe was formed by matter in motion governed by laws instituted by God, and the continuing preservation of the universe (i.e. God's general Providence) also taking place by these laws.
Ray disagrees that matter and motion are sufficient to do this on their own without some kind of external input. On the idea of the laws, he wrote:
And as for any external Laws or established Rules of Motion, the stupid Matter is not capable of observing or taking notice of them; neither can those Laws execute themselves.
I love it! Can't you just imagine all those particles of matter bumping around in the void, blissfully ignorant of the laws yelling at them to get into line?
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