Confederate Spirit should transport the Witch through the Air to the place of general Rendezvous there is no difficulty in conceiving it and if that be true which great Philosophers affiâ—… concerning the real separability of the Soul from the Body without Death there is yet less for then 't is easie to apprehend that the Soul having left its gross and sluggish Body behind it and being cloth'd only with its immedâ—…e Vehicle of Air or more subtile Matter may be quickly conducted to any place by those officious Spirits that attend it And though I adventure to affirm nothing concerning the truth and certainty of this Supposition yet I must needs say it doth not seem to me unreasonable Our experience of Apoplexies Epilepsies Extasies and the strange things Men report to have seen during those Deliquiums look favourably upon this Conjecture which seems to me to contradict no Principle of Reason or Philosophy since Death consists not so much in the actual separation of Soul and Body as in the indisposition and unfitness of the Body for Vital Union as an excellent Philosopher hath made good On which Hypothesis the Witch's anointing her self before she takes her flight may perhaps serve to keep the Body tenantable and in fit disposition to receive the Spirit at its return These things I say we may conceive though I affirm nothing about them and there is not any thing in such Conceptions but what hath been own'd by Men of Worth and Name and may seem fair and accountable enough to those who judg not altogether by customary Opinions There 's a saying of the great Apostle that seems to countenance this Platonick Notion what is the meaning else of that Expression Whether in the Body or out of the Body I cannot tell except the Soul may be separated from the Body without death Which if it be granted poâ—…sible 't is sufficient for my purpose And 2. The Transformations of Witches into the shapes of other Animals upon the same supposal is very conceivable since then 't is easie to apprehend that the Power of Imagination may form those passive and pliable Vehicles into those shapes with more ease than the Fancy of the Mother can the stubborn Matter of the Foetus in the Womb as we see it frequently doth in the Instances that occur of Signatures and monstrous Singularities and perhaps sometimes the confederate Spirit puts tricks upon the Senses of the Spectators and those Shapes are only Illusions But then 3. when they feel the Hurts in their gross Bodies that they receive in their Aiery Vehicles they must be supposed to have been really present at least in these latter and 't is no more difficult to apprehend how the hurts of those should be translated upon their other Bodies than how Diseases should be inflicted by the Imagination or how the Fancy of the Mother should wound the Foetus as several credible Relations do attest And 4. for their raising Storms and Tempests They do it not by their own but by the power of those Evil Spirits that reside in the Air and the Ceremonies that are enjoyn'd them are doubtless nothing else but Entertainments for their Imaginations and likely design'd to perswade them that they do those strange things themselves Lastly For their being suck'd by the Familiar I say 1. we know so little of the nature of Daemons and Spirits that 't is no wonder we cannot certainly divine the Reason of so strange an Action And yet 2. we may conjecture at some things that may render it less improbable For some have thought that the Genii whom both the Platonical and Christian Antiquity thought embodied are recreated by the Reeks and Vapours of Humane Blood and the Spirits that proceed from them Which supposal if we allow them Bodies is not unlikely every thing being refresh'd and nourish'd by its Like And that they are not perfectly abstract from all Body and Matter besides the Reverence we owe to the wisest Antiquity there are several considerable Arguments I could alledge to render exceeding probable Which things supposed the Devil 's sucking the Sorceress is no great wonder nor difficult to be accounted for Or perhaps 3. this may be only a Diabolical Sacrament and Ceremony to confirm the Hellish Covenant To which I add 4. That the Familiar doth not only suck the Witch but in the Action infuseth some poisonous Ferrnent into Her which gives her Imagination and Spirits a Magical Tincture whereby they become mischievously influential and the word Vâ—…nesica intimates some such Matter Now that the Imagination hath a mighty power in Operation is feen in the just-now mention'd Signatures and Diseases that it causeth and that the Fancy is modified by the Qualities of the Blood and Spirits is too evident to need proof Which things supposed 't is plain to conceive that the Evil Spirit having breath'd some vile Vapour into the Body of the Witch it may taint her Blood and Spirits with a noxious Quality by which her infected Imagination heightned by Melancholy and this worse Cause may do much hurt upon Bodies that are obnoxious to such Influences And 't is very likely that this Ferment disposeth the Imagination of the Sorceress to cause the mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or separation of the Soul from the Body and may perhaps keep the Body in fit temper for its re-entry as also it may facilitate transformation which it may be could not be effected by ordinary and unassisted Imagination Thus we see 't is not so desperate to form an apprehension of the manner of these odd Performances and though they are not done the way I have describ'd yet what I have said may help us to a conceit of the Possibility which sufficeth for my purpose And though the Hypothesis I have gone upon will seem as unlikely to some as the things they attempt to explain are to others yet I must desire their leave to suggest that most things seem improbable especially to the conceited and opinionative at first proposal And many great Truths are strange and odd till Custom and Acquaintance have reconciled them to our Fancies And I 'le presume to add on this occasion though I love not to be confident in affirming that there is none of the Platonical Supposals I have used but what I could make appear to be indifferently fair and reasonable III. III. A Nother Prejudice against the being of Witches is That 't is very improbable that the Devil who is a Wise and Mighty Spirit should be at the beck of a poor Hag and have so little to do as to attend the Errands and impotent Lusts of a sil'y old Woman To which I might answer 1. That 't is much more improbable that all the World should be deceiv'd in Matters of Fact and Circumstances of the clearest Evidence and Conviction than that the Devil who is wicked should be also unwise and that He that perswades all his Subjects and Accomplices out of their Wits should himself
immediate Author of it some that it was made by Angels and some by the Parents Whether it be Created or Traduced hath been the great Ball of contention to the latter Ages and after all the stir about it 't is still as much a question as ever and perhaps may so continue till the great Day that will put an end to all Differences and Disputes The Patrons of Traduction accuse their Adversaries of affronting the Attributes of God and the Assertors of Immediate Creation impeach them of violence to the nature of things And while each of the Opinions strongly opposeth the other and feebly defends it self some take occasion thence to say That both are right in their Oppositions but both mistaken in their Assertions I shall not stir in the Waters that have been troubled with so much contention The Famous St. Austin and others of the celebrated Antients have been content to sit down here in a profest Neutrality and I will not endeavour to urge Confessions in things that will be acknowledged but shall note some Difficulties that are not so usually observed which perhaps have more darkness in them than these so much controverted Doctrines 1. I begin with the Vnion of the Soul and Body In the Vnions that we understand there is still either some suitableness and likeness of Nature in the things united or some middle participating Being by which they are joyn'd but in this there is neither The natures of Soul and Body are at the most extream distance and their essential Attributes most opposite To be impenetrable discerpible and unactive is the nature of all Body and Matter as such And the properties of a Spirit are the direct contrary to be penetrable indiscerpible and self-motive Yea so different they are in all things that they seem to have nothing but Being and the Transcendental Attributes of that in common Nor is there any appearance of likeness between them For what hath Rarefaction Condensation Division and the other properties and modes of Matter to do with Apprehension Judgment and Discourse which are the proper acts of a Spiritual Being We cannot then perceive any congruity by which they are united Nor can there be any middle sort of Nature that partakes of each as 't is in some Unions their Attributes being such extreams or if there is any such Being or any such possible we know nothing of it and 't is utterly unconceivable So that what the Cement should be that unites Heaven and Earth Light and Darkness viz. Natures of so diverse a make and such disagreeing Attributes is beyond the reach of any of our Faculties We can as easily conceive how a thought should be united to a Statue or a Sun-beam to a piece of Clay how words should be frozen in the Air as some say they are in the remote North or how Light should be kept in a Box as we can apprehend the manner of this strange Vnion 2. And we can give no better account how the Soul moves the Body For whether we conceive it under the notion of a Pure Mind and Knowledg with Sir K. Digby or of a Thinking Substance with Des-Cartes or of a penetrable indiscerpible self-motive Being with the Platonists It will in all these ways be unconceivable how it gives motion to unactive matter For how that should move a Body whose nature it is to pass through all Bodies without the least jog or obstruction would require something more than we know to help us to conceive Nor will it avail to say that it moves the Body by its vehicle of corporeal Spirits for still the difficulty will be the same viz. How it moves them 3. We know as little How the Soul so regularly directs the Animal Spirits and Instruments of Motion which are in the Body as to stir any we have a will to move For the passages through which the Sâ—…rits are convey'd being so numerous and there being so many others that cross and branch from each of them 't is wonderful they should not lose their way in such a Wilderness and I think the wit of Man cannot yet tell how they are directed That they are conducted by some knowing Guide is evident from the steadiness and regularity of their motion But what that should be and how it doth it we are yet to seek That all the motions within us are not directed by the meer mechanick frame of our Bodies is clear from experience by which we are assured that those we call Spâ—…taneous ones aâ—…e under the Government of the Will at least the determination of the Spirits into such or such passages is from the Soul whatever we hold of the conâ—…eyances after and these I think all the Philosophy in the World cannot make out to be purely mechanical But though this be gain'd that the Soul is the principle of Direction yet the difficulty is no less than it was before For unless we allow it a kind of inward sight of every Vein Muscle Artery and other Passage of its own Body of the exact site and position of them with their several Windings and secret Chanels it will still be as unconceivable how it should direct such intricate Motions as that one that was born blind should manage a Game at Chess or marshal an Army And if the Soul have any such knowledg we are not aware of it nor do our minds attend it Yea we are so far from this That many times we observe not any method in the outward performance even in the greatest variety of interchangable motions in which a steady Direction is difficult and a Miscarriage easie As we see an Artist will play on an Instrument of Musick without minding it and the Tongue will nimbly run divisions in a Tune without missing when the Thoughts are engaged elsewhere which effects are to be ascribed to some secret Art of the Soul if that direct to which we are altogether strangers 4. But besides the Difficulties that lie more deep we are at a loss even in the knowledg of our Senses that seem the most plain and obvious of our Faculties Our eyes that see other things see not themselves and the Instruments of Knowledg are unknown That the Soul is the percipient which alone hath animadversion and sense properly so call'd and that the Body is only the receiver and conveyer of corporeal Motions is as certain as Philosophy can make it Aristotle himself teacheth it in that Maxim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Plato affirms That the Soul hath life and sence but that the Body in strictness of speaking hath neither the one nor other Upon which position all the Philosophy of Des-Cartes stands And it is so clear and so acknowledg'd a Truth among all considering Men that I need not stay to prove it But yet what are the Instruments of sensitive Perception and particular convers of outward Motions to the seat of Sense is difficult to find and how the pure Mind can receive information from things
can subsist without it self and real separability cannot consist with Identity and Indistinction 3. The Sacred and Mosaical Philosophy supposeth the Soul to be a Substance that can come and be join'd to another For it tells us That God breathed into Adam's Nostrils the Breath of Life by which generally is understood his infusing a Soul into him And all the Arguments that are alledg'd from Scripture to prove its immediate Creation do strongly conclude it to be a distinct Substance from the Body And 4. The same Doctrine is more than once affirm'd by Aristotle himself for saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It remains that the Mind or â—…oul comes from without and is only a Divine Thing Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Mind is separate c. a thing apart from the Body For elsewhere he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Operations of the Body do not communicate with its the Soul's Operations He calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Substance or Subsistence for supposing which I am reprehended by our Philosopher And affirms further 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Mind is a Divine and Impassible Thing It appears then from the Testimonies and I could alledg more if there were occasion that Aristotle taught the real Distinction which I suppose and so according to our Author is one of them that understands not the opposition of one and many Yea 5. Our Philosopher's learned Friend and Admirer Sir Kenelm Digby is another for that ingenious Gentleman affirms in his Immortality That the Soul is a Substance and a Substance besides the Body and almost all that Discourse depends on that supposal 6. This Author himself affirms as much in his Peripatetical Institutions as ever I suppos'd For he saith 'T is most evident that the Mind is something of another kind from Quantity and Matter That 't is a substantial Principle of Man and no mode or determination of divisibility and that there is nothing common to Body and Spirit Besides which in the fifth Book of the same Institutions he discourseth of the Soul's separation from the Body and asserts it to be evident that it perisheth not with it because it hath Actions that belong not to a Body but hath of it self the Nature of a Being and its power of Existence is not taken away when the Body fails the Soul being apart from and besides it and that matter is not necessary to the Soul's Existence Many other Expressions there are in that Discourse to like purpose which speak the Soul 's Real Distinction from the Body in as great variety of Phrase as Diversity and Distinction can be spoken But all this is forgotten and now 't is a most important Error in Philosophy to suppose the Soul to be a certain Substance which may directly be made come and be join'd to another and of this none can doubt that understand the Opposition of one and many I think now by all this 't is pretty clear that my supposition of the Soul 's being a distinct Substance from the Body is not peccant except all the wiser World both Ancient and Modern have been mistaken and our Author himself But besides all 2. It seems to me evident even from the nature of the things abstracting from Authority And I think it appears 1. From all the common Arguments that prove the Soul Immaterial For Perception Perception of Spirituals Vniversals Mathematical Liues Points Superficies Congenit Notions Logical Metaphysical and Moral Self-reflection Freedom Indifferency and Vniversality of Action These are all Propertiâ—…â—…t all agreeing with Body or Matter though of never so pure and simple a Nature Nor is it conceivable how any of these should arise from Modifications of Quantity being of a divers kind from all the Effects and Phaenomena of Motion 2. If the Soul be not a distinct Substance from the Body 't is then a certain Disposition and Modification of it which this Author in the tenth Lesson of his Intitutions seems to intimate saying That since the Soul is a certain Affection which is introduced and expell'd by corporeal Action Hence he infeâ—…rs something that is not for our purpose to relate And if so since all diversities in Matter arise from Motion and Position of Parts every different Perception will require a distinct order and position of the Parts of the Matter perceiving which must be obtain'd by Motion I demand then when we pass from one Conception to another is the Motion the cause of this Diversity merely casual or directed by some Act of Knowledg The former I suppose no Man in his wits will affirm since then all our Conceptions will be non-sense and confusion Chance being the Cause of nothing that is orderly and regular But if there be a knowledg in us of that directs the Motions that make every distinct Conception I demand concerning that Knowledg whether it be in like manner directed by some other or is it the Effect of mere Casual Motion If the former we must run up in infinitum in our inquiry and the latter admits the alledg'd Absurdities There is no way then of defending the Assertion of the Souls being Matter or any modification of it but by affirming with Mr. Hobbs a certain connection between all our Thoughts and a necessary fate in all things which whoever affirms will find Difficulties enough in his Assertion to bring him to mine that there is a Vanity in Dogmatizing and Confidence is unreasonable I have insisted the longer on this because the distinction of the Soul from the Body is a very material Subject the proof of which is very seasonable for the present Age and by it I have disabled our Author's pretended Solution of the three Difficulties I mention viz. of the Origine of the Soul its Vnion with the Body and its moving of it Concerning whiâ—…â—…st he adds P. 33. That true it is one animated Meâ—…â—…oves another but not that any Substance that is a pure Soul moves immediately any Member in which the Soul is not Which last I know no Body that saith I cannot affirm the Soul moves any Member immediately but 't is like it doth it by the Spirits its Instruments Much less did I ever say That the Soul moves any Member in which it is not But the Seat-of-Sense and Original of Animal Motion is in the Brain or Heart or some other main part of which in particular I determine nothing Thence the Soul sends its Influences to govern the Motions of the Body through all which it is diffused 'T is true one animate Member moves another but the Motion must somewhere begin In Actions purely Mechanical it begins in material Agents that work upon the Body and its Parts but in those that are immediately under our Wills the Motion hath its beginning from the Soul moving first something corporeal in us by which other parts are mov'd But our Author appeals to other Animals in which he saith There 's frankly denyed a Soul independent on the
whence they were emitted This account I confess hath something ingenious in it But it is no solution of the Doubt For how those heterogenous Atoms should hit into their proper places in the midst of such various and tumultuary Motions will still remain a question Let the aptness of their Figures be granted we shall be yet to seek for something to guide their Motions And let their natural Motion be what it will gravity or levity direct or oblique we cannot conceive how that should carry them into every particular place where they are to lie especially considering they must needs be sometimes diverted from their course by the occursion of many other Particles And as for the Regular Figures of many inaminate Bodies that consideration doth but multiply the doubt 2. The union of the parts of Matter is a thing as difficult as any of the former There is no account that I know hath yet appear'd worth considering but that of Des-Cartes viz. That they are united by juxta-position and rest And if this be all Why should not a bag of Dust be of as firm a Consistence as Marble or Adamant Why may not a Bar of Iron be as easily broken as a pipe of Glass and the Aegyptians Pyramids blown away as soon as those inverst ones of smoke The only reason of difference pretended by some is that the Parts of solid Bodies are held together by natural Hooks and strong ones by such Hooks as are more tough and firm But how do the parts of these Hooks stick together Either we must suppose infinite of them holding each other or come at last to parts united by meer juxta-position and rest The former is very absurd for it will be necessary That there should be some upon which the Cohesion of all the rest should depend otherwise all will be an heap of Dust. But in favour of the Hypothesis of Des-Cartes it may be said That the closeness and compactness of the parts resting together makes the strength of the Vnion For as that Philosopher saith Every thing continues in the state wherein it is except something more powerful alter it and therefore the Parts that rest close together will so continue till they are parted by some other stronger Body Now the more parts are pent together the more able they will be for resistance and what hath best compactness and by consequence fewer parts will not be able to make any alteration in a Body that hath more According to this Doctrine what is most dense and least porous will be most coherent and least discerpible which yet is contrary to experience For we find the most porous spongy Bodies to be oft-times the most tough of Consistence We easily break a Tube of Glass or Chrystal when one of Elm or Ash will hardly be torn in pieces and yet as the parts of the former are more so are they more at rest since the liquid Juice diffused through the Wood is in continual agitation which in Des-Cartes his Philosophy is the cause of fluidity so that according to his Principles the dryest Bodies should be the most firm when on the contrary we find that a proportionate humidity contributes much to the strength of the Vnion Sir K. Digby makes it the Cement it self and the driness of many Bodies is the cause of their fragility as we see 't is in Wood and Glass and divers other Things 3. We are as much at a loss about the composition of Bodies whether it be out of Indivisibles or out of parts always divisible For though this question hath been attempted by the subtilest Wits of all Philosophick Ages yet after all their distinctions and shifts their new-invented words and modes their niceties and tricks of subtilty the Matter stands yet unresolv'd For do what they can Actual Infinite extension every where Equality of all Bodies Impossibility of Motion and a world more of the most palpable Absurdities will press the Assertors of Infinite Divisibility Nor on the other side can it be avoided but that all Motions would be equal in velocity That the Lines drawn from side to side in a Pyramid would have more Parts than the Basis That all Bodies would be swallowed up in a Point and many other Inconsistencies will follow the Opinion of Indivisibles But because I have confined my self to the Difficulties that are not so usually noted I shall not insist on these but refer the Reader that hath the humour and leisure to inquire into such Speculations to Oviedo Pontius Ariaga Carelton and other Jesuites whose management of this Controversie with equal force on either side is a considerable Argument of the unaccountableness of this Theory and of the weakness of our present Understandings I might now take into consideration the Mysteries of Motion Gravity Light Colours Vision Sounds and infinite such like things obvious yet unknown but I insist no further on Instances but descend to the second thing I propounded to treat of viz. II. The CAVSES of our Ignorance and Mistakes And in them we shall find further evidence of the imperfection of our Knowledg The Causes to be consider'd are either 1. The Difficulties and Depth of Science Or 2. The present temper of our Faculties Science is the Knowledg of things in their Causes and so 't is defined by the Pretenders to it Let us now enquire a little into the difficulties of attaining such Knowledg 1. We know no Causes by Simple Intuition but by Consequence and Deduction and there is nothing we so usually infer from as Concomitancy for instance We always feel heat when we come near the Fire and still perceive Light when we see the Sun and thence we conclude that these are the Causes respectively of Heat and Light and so in other things But now in this way of inference there lies great uncertainty For if we had never seen more Sun or Stars than we do in cloudy weather and if the Day had always broke with a Wind which had increast and abated with the Light we should have believed firmly that one of them had been the cause of the other and so Smoke had been undoubtedly thought the efficient of the Heat if nothing else had appeared with it But the Philosophy of Des-Cartes furnisheth us with a better Instance All the World takes the Sun to be the Cause of Day from this Principle of Concomitance But that Philosopher teacheth That Light is caused by the Conamen or endeavour of the Matter of the Vortex to recede from the Centre of its Motion so that were there none of that fluid Aether in the midst of our World that makes up the Sun yet the pressure of the Globuli as he calls those Particles upon our Eyes would not be considerably less and so according to this Hypothesis there would be Light though there were no Sun or Stars and Evening and Morning might naturally be before and without the Sun Now I say not that this Opinion is true and