Part 25

Although your _Author_[1] is of the opinion of _Plato_, in making _Three sorts of Atheists: One that believes no Gods; Another, which indeed admits of Gods, yet such as are uncarefull of us, and despisers of small matters, and therefore also ignorant of us: And lastly, a third sort, which although they believe the Gods to be expert in the least matters, yet do suppose that they are flexible and indulgent toward the smallest cold Prayers or Petitions_: Yet I cannot approve of this distinction, for I do understand but one sort of Atheists; that is, those which believe no God at all; but those which believe that there is a God, although they do not worship him truly, nor live piously and religiously as they ought, cannot, in truth, be called Atheists, or else there would be innumerous sorts of Atheists; to wit, all those, that are either no Christians, or not of this or that opinion in Christian Religion, besides all them that live wickedly, impiously and irreligiously; for to know, and be convinced in his reason, that there is a God, and to worship him truly, according to his holy Precepts and Commands, are two several things: And as for the first, that is, for the Rational knowledg of the Existence of God, I cannot be perswaded to believe, there is any man which has sense and reason, that doth not acknowledg a God; nay, I am sure, there is no part of Nature which is void and destitute of this knowledg of the existence of an Infinite, Eternal, Immortal, and Incomprehensible Deity; for every Creature, being indued with sense and reason, and with sensitive and rational knowledg, there can no knowledg be more Universal then the knowledg of a God, as being the root of all knowledg: And as all Creatures have a natural knowledg of the Infinite God, so, it is probable, they Worship, Adore, and Praise his Infinite Power and Bounty, each after its own manner, and according to its nature; for I cannot believe, God should make so many kinds of Creatures, and not be worshipped and adored but onely by Man: Nature is God's Servant, and she knows God better then any Particular Creature; but Nature is an Infinite Body, consisting of Infinite Parts, and if she adores and worships God, her Infinite Parts, which are Natural Creatures, must of necessity do the like, each according to the knowledg it hath: but Man in this particular goes beyond others, as having not onely a natural, but also a revealed knowledg of the most Holy God; for he knows Gods Will, not onely by the light of Nature, but also by revelation, and so more then other Creatures do, whose knowledg of God is meerly Natural. But this Revealed Knowledg makes most men so presumptuous, that they will not be content with it, but search more and more into the hidden mysteries of the Incomprehensible Deity, and pretend to know God as perfectly, almost, as themselves; describing his Nature and Essence, his Attributes, his Counsels, his Actions, according to the revelation of God, (as they pretend) when as it is according to their own Fancies. So proud and presumptuous are many: But they shew thereby rather their weaknesses and follies, then any truth; and all their strict and narrow pryings into the secrets of God, are rather unprofitable, vain and impious, then that they should benefit either themselves, or their neighbour; for do all we can, God will not be perfectly known by any Creature: The truth is, it is a meer impossibility for a finite Creature, to have a perfect Idea of an Infinite Being, as God is; be his Reason never so acute or sharp, yet he cannot penetrate what is Impenetrable, nor comprehend what is Incomprehensible: Wherefore, in my opinion, the best way is humbly to adore what we cannot conceive, and believe as much as God has been pleased to reveal, without any further search; lest we diving too deep, be swallowed up in the bottomless depth of his Infiniteness: Which I wish every one may observe, for the benefit of his own self, and of others, to spend his time in more profitable Studies, then vainly to seek for what cannot be found. And with this hearty wish I conclude, resting,

Madam,

_Your faithful Friend_

_and Servant._

[1] _Ch._ Of the Image of the Mind.

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,_

Though I am loth (as I have often told you) to imbarque my self in the discourse of such a subject, as no body is able naturally to know, which is the supernatural and divine Soul in Man; yet your _Author_ having, in my judgment, strange opinions, both of the Essence, Figure, Seat and Production of the Soul, and discoursing thereof, with such liberty and freedom, as of any other natural Creature, I cannot chuse but take some notice of his discourse, and make some reflections upon it; which yet, shall rather express my ignorance of the same subject, then in a positive answer, declare my opinion thereof; for, in things divine, I refer my self wholly to the Church, and submit onely to their instructions, without any further search of natural reason; and if I should chance to express more then I ought to do, and commit some error, it being out of ignorance rather then set purpose, I shall be ready upon better information, to mend it, and willingly subject my self under the censure and correction of the holy Church, as counting it no disgrace to be ignorant in the mysteries of Faith, since Faith is of things unknown, but rather a duty required from every Layman to believe simply the Word of God, as it is explained and declared by the Orthodox Church, without making Interpretations out of his own brain, and according to his own fancy, which breeds but Schismes, Heresies, Sects, and Confusions. But concerning your _Author_, I perceive by him, first, that he makes no distinction between the Natural or Rational Soul or Mind of Man, and between the Divine or Supernatural Soul, but takes them both as one, and distinguishes onely the Immortal Soul from the sensitive Life of Man, which he calls the Frail, Mortal, Sensitive Soul. Next, all his knowledg of this Immortal Soul is grounded upon Dreams and Visions, and therefore it is no wonder, if his opinions be somewhat strange and irregular. _I saw, in a Vision,_ says he,[1] _my Mind in a humane shape; but there was a light, whose whole homogeneal body was actively seeing, a spiritual substance, Chrystalline, shining with a proper splendor, or a splendor of its own, but in another cloudy part it was rouled up as it were in the husk of it self; which whether it had any splendor of it self, I could not discern, by reason of the superlative brightness of the Chrystal Spirit contain'd within._ Whereupon he defines _the Soul_ to be _a Spirit, beloved of God, homogeneal, simple, immortal, created into the Image of God, one onely Being, whereto death adds nothing, or takes nothing from it, which may be natural or proper to it in the Essence of its simplicity._ As for this definition of the Soul, it may be true, for any thing I know: but when your _Author_ makes the divine Soul to be a Light, I cannot conceive how that can agree; for Light is a Natural and Visible Creature, and, in my opinion, a corporeal substance; whereas the Soul is immaterial and incorporeal: But be it, that Light is not a substance, but a neutral Creature, according to your _Author_; then, nevertheless the Immortal Soul cannot be said to be a light, because she is a substance. He may say,[2] The Soul is an Incomprehensible Light. But if the Soul be Incomprehensible, how then doth he know that she is a light, and not onely a light, but a glorious and splendorous light? You will say, By a Dream, or Vision. Truly, _Madam_, to judg any thing by a Dream, is a sign of a weak judgment. Nay, since your _Author_ calls the soul constantly a light; if it were so, and that it were such a splendorous, bright and shining light, as he says; then when the body dies, and the soul leaves its Mansion, it would certainly be seen, when it issues out of the body. But your _Author_ calls the Soul a _Spiritual Substance_, and yet he says, she has _an homogeneal body, actively seeing and shining with a proper splendor of her own_; which how it can agree, I leave to you to judg; for I thought, an Immaterial spirit and a body were too opposite things, and now I see, your _Author_ makes Material and Immaterial, Spiritual and Corporeal, all one. But this is not enough, but he allows it a Figure too, and that of a humane shape; for says he, I _could never consider the Thingliness of the Immortal Mind with an Individual existence, deprived of all figure, neither but that it at least would answer to a humane shape_; but the Scripture, as much as is known to me, never doth express any such thing of the Immortal Soul, and I should be loth to believe any more thereof then it declares. The Apostles, although they were conversant with Christ, and might have known it better, yet were never so inquisitive into the nature of the Soul, as our Modern divine Philosophers are; for our Saviour, and they, regarded more the salvation of Man's Soul, and gave holy and wise Instructions rather, how to live piously and conformably to God's Will, to gain eternal Life, then that they should discourse either of the Essence or Figure, or Proprieties of the Soul, and whether it was a light, or any thing else, and such like needless questions, raised in after-times onely by the curiosity of divine Philosophers, or Philosophying Divines; For though Light is a glorious Creature, yet Darkness is as well a Creature as Light, and ought not therefore to be despised; for if it be not so bright, and shining as Light, yet it is a grave Matron-like Creature, and very useful: Neither is the Earth, which is inwardly dark, to be despised, because the Sun is bright. The like may be said of the soul, and of the body; for the body is very useful to the soul, how dark soever your _Author_ believes it to be; and if he had not seen light with his bodily eyes, he could never have conceived the Soul to be a Light: Wherefore your _Author_ can have no more knowledg of the divine soul then other men have, although he has had more Dreams and Visions; nay, he himself confesses, that the Soul is an Incomprehensible Light; which if so, she cannot, be perfectly known, nor confined to any certain figure; for a figure or shape belongs onely to a corporeal substance, and not to an incorporeal: and so, God being an Incomprehensible Being, is excluded from all figure, when as yet your _Author_ doth not stick to affirm, that God is of a humane figure too, as well as the humane Soul is; _For_, says he, _Since God hath been pleased to adopt the Mind alone into his own Image, it also seems to follow, that the vast and unutterable God is of a humane Figure, and that from an argument from the effect, if there be any force of arguments in this subject._ Oh! the audacious curiosity of Man! Is it not blasphemy to make the Infinite God of a frail and humane shape, and to compare the most Holy to a sinful Creature? Nay, is it not an absurdity, to confine and inclose that Incomprehensible Being in a finite figure? I dare not insist longer upon this discourse, lest I defile my thoughts with the entertaining of such a subject that derogates from the glory of the Omnipotent Creator; Wherefore, I will hasten, as much as I can, to the seat of the Soul, which, after relating several opinions, your _Author_ concludes to be the orifice of the stomack, where the Immortal Soul is involved and entertained in the radical Inn or Bride-bed of the sensitive Soul or vital Light; which part of the body is surely more honoured then all the rest: But I, for my part, cannot conceive why the Soul should not dwell in the parts of conception, as well, as in the parts of digestion, except it be to prove her a good Huswife; however, your _Author_ allows her to slide down sometimes: For, _The action of the Mind_, says he, _being imprisoned in the Body, doth always tend downwards_; but whether the Soul tend more downwards then upwards, Contemplative Persons, especially Scholars, and grave States-men, do know best; certainly, I believe, they find the soul more in their heads then in their heels, at least her operations. But, to conclude, if the Soul be pure and single of her self, she cannot mix with the Body, because she needs no assistance; nor joyn with the Body, though she lives in the Body, for she needs no support; and if she be individable, she cannot divide her self into several Parts of the Body; but if the Soul spread over all the Body, then she is bigger, or less, according as the Body is; and if she be onely placed in some particular part, then onely that one part is indued with a Soul, and the rest is Soul-less; and if she move from place to place, then some parts of the Body will be sometimes indued with a Soul, sometimes not; and if any one part requires not the subsistence of the Soul within it, then perhaps all the Body might have been able to spare her; neither might the Soul, being able to subsist without the body, have had need of it. Thus useless questions will trouble men's brains, if they give their fancies leave to work. I should add something of the Production of the Soul; but being tyred with so tedious a discourse of your _Author_, I am not able to write any more, but repose my Pen, and in the mean while rest affectionately,

Madam,

_Your faithful Friend_

_and Servant._

[1] _Ch._ Of the Image of the Mind.

[2] Of the Spirit of Life.

XXIII.

_MADAM,_