[XXI.]
MADAM,
Your Author is so much for Spirits, that he doth not stick to affirm,[1] That Bodies scarce make up a moity or half part of the world; but Spirits, even by themselves, have or possess their moity, and indeed the whole world. If he mean bodiless and incorporeal Spirits, I cannot conceive how Spirits can take up any place, for place belongs onely to body, or a corporeal substance, and millions of immaterial Spirits, nay, were their number infinite, cannot possess so much place as a small Pins point, for Incorporeal Spirits possess no place at all: which is the reason, that an Immaterial and a Material Infinite cannot hinder, oppose, or obstruct each other; and such an Infinite, Immaterial Spirit is God alone. But as for Created Immaterial Spirits, as they call them, it may be questioned whether they be Immaterial, or not; for there may be material Spirits as well as immaterial, that is, such pure, subtil and agil substances as cannot be subject to any humane sense, which may be purer and subtiller then the most refined air, or purest light; I call them material spirits, onely for distinctions sake, although it is more proper, to call them material substances: But be it, that there are Immaterial Spirits, yet they are not natural, but supernatural; that is, not substantial parts of Nature; for Nature is material, or corporeal, and so are all her Creatures, and whatsoever is not material is no part of Nature, neither doth it belong any ways to Nature: Wherefore, all that is called Immaterial, is a Natural Nothing, and an Immaterial Natural substance, in my opinion, is non-sense: And if you contend with me, that Created Spirits, as good and bad Angels, as also the Immortal Mind of Man, are Immaterial, then I say they are Supernatural; but if you say, they are Natural, then I answer they are Material: and thus I do not deny the existence of Immaterial Spirits, but onely that they are not parts of Nature, but supernatural; for there may be many things above Nature, and so above a natural Understanding, and Knowledg, which may nevertheless have their being and existence, although they be not Natural, that is, parts of Nature: Neither do I deny that those supernatural Creatures may be amongst natural Creatures, that is, have their subsistence amongst them, and in Nature; but they are not so commixed with them, as the several parts of Matter are, that is, they do not joyn to the constitution of a material Creature; for no Immaterial can make a Material, or contribute any thing to the making or production of it; but such a co-mixture would breed a meer confusion in Nature: wherefore, it is quite another thing, to be in Nature, or to have its subsistence amongst natural Creatures in a supernatural manner or way, and to be a part of Nature. I allow the first to Immaterial Spirits, but not the second, viz. to be parts of Nature. But what Immaterial Spirits are, both in their Essence or Nature, and their Essential Properties, it being supernatural, and above natural Reason, I cannot determine any thing thereof. Neither dare I say, they are Spirits like as God is, that is, of the same Essence or Nature, no more then I dare say or think that God is of a humane shape or figure, or that the Nature of God is as easie to be known as any notion else whatsoever, and that we may know as much of him as of any thing else in the world. For if this were so, man would know God as well as he knows himself, but God and his Attributes are not so easily known as man may know himself and his own natural Proprieties; for God and his Attributes are not conceiveable or comprehensible by any humane understanding, which is not onely material, but also finite; for though the parts of Nature be infinite in number, yet each is finite in it self, that is, in its figure, and therefore no natural Creature is capable to conceive what God is; for he being infinite, there is also required an infinite capacity to conceive him; Nay, Nature her self, although she is Infinite, yet cannot possibly have an exact notion of God, by reason she is Material, and God is Immaterial; and if the Infinite servant of God is not able to conceive God, much less will a finite part of Nature do it. Besides, the holy Church doth openly confess and declare the Incomprehensibility of God, when in the Athanasian Creed, she expresses, that the Father is Incomprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible, and that there are not three, but one Incomprehensible God: Therefore, if any one will prove the contrary, to wit, that God is Comprehensible, or (which is all one) that God is as easie to be known as any Creature whatsoever, he surely is more then the Church: But I shall never say or believe so, but rather confess my ignorance, then betray my folly; and leave things Divine to the Church; to which I submit, as I ought, in all Duty: and as I do not meddle with any Divine Mysteries, but subject my self, concerning my Faith or Belief, and the regulating of my actions for the obtaining of Eternal Life, wholly under the government and doctrine of the Church, so, I hope, they will also grant me leave to have my liberty concerning the contemplation of Nature and natural things, that I may discourse of them, with such freedom, as meer natural Philosophers use, or at least ought, to do; and thus I shall be both a good Christian, and a good Natural Philosopher: Unto which, to make the number perfect, I will add a third, which is, I shall be,
Madam,
Your real and faithful
Friend and Servant.
[1] Ch. Of the Magnetick cure of wounds.
[XXII.]
MADAM,