several Faculties in which the Organ or System of Organs would be the Body the Faculty or System of Faculties the Soul so all of them taken together would be an Entire Body of the Universe Actuated by an Universal Principle as by a Common Soul that should Endow it with those several Powers and Faculties In short why may not the Universe Really be Body and Soul and every Particular Animal as a part thereof be Organ and Faculty in the same sense that in our ordinary Common way of Conceiving every Particular Animal is Body and Soul and the Parts of it Organs and Faculties But to Proceed This is Certain that what in Animals and particularly in a Man we do Commonly call a Faculty is neither that which commonly is called the Soul nor is it meerly the Body or any Part of the Body but a Result some Third thing Arising from them both in Conjunction For the Eye for Example tho' never so well Qualified doth not see unless the Mind or Soul do Attend and again the mind or Soul tho' never so Attentive cannot see unless it has the use of an Eye to see with so that the Power of seeing neither is in the Eye barely nor in the Soul barely but belongs to the Animal which is Soul and Body as arising from the presence of the Soul in such a Particular Part or Organ of the Body And the like is to be said of other Powers And yet if all the Faculties that are united in Man were supposed Separated each from other with their several Organs and so to be in the Nature of wholes and this without the supposal of any Thing else for Example that the Eye could see apart the Ear hear apart and the Tongue taste apart from the Body there would to all Appearance be so many several Animals and Consequently so many several Souls So that what is called a Faculty only while it is in a part is Denominated a Soul in the whole and then where the Body is a Compage or System of Organs the Soul must be a System of Faculties and yet be one still in the same sense as the Body is But here I must expect it shall be told me that the True and commonly Received Notion of a Soul is that it is the Principle of the Faculties called Vital and Animal and not any one of them it self or any System of them All To which I Answer that this is indeed the Popular and Common Notion but how true it is and how much Adjusted to the Nature of the Soul cannot be understood but by making some Distinction in the sense of word Soul The word Soul may be taken Two ways the one of which I will call the Philosophical the other the Popular sense of the Word First then word Soul may be taken Philosophically as a Name of all the Causes together that are necessary for the Producing of Vital and Animal Actions in the several Species of Animals and so tho' it is commonly considered as if it were some Substantial thing that Differ'd from them All yet indeed it is nothing but a Modification of their Action as they are All in Conjunction And Dicearchus who Affirmed there was no such thing as a Soul if he meant but thus was very Excusable for in this sense a Soul is nothing but a Result that is a Mode of Conceiving for this I mean by Result of all the Causes that must be Joyned for Animal or Vital Actions as they do either Qualifie or else Aid each others Influence And in this sense as a Soul in respect of the Action of a Particular Organ may be called a Faculty so in respect of the whole Body a Soul is a System of Faculties Thus Life in Animals arises from the Concurrence of many things which things therefore in that Concurrence as they are the Prince of Life so they may be called the Soul for by Soul is meant nothing but the Principle of that we call the Life if one of these is wanting that are necessary the Life ceases and we say the Soul is gone but then again supposing all the other Requisites Remaining as they ought to be and Ready to do their Parts if that one which was wanting is Restored there is again a Concurrence of all the Causes Requisite to Life and so with the Life the Soul is said to Return or come again For Example there is in Snakes in Dormice in Swallows and in other Dormitive Creatures of that kind and if we shall believe Guagninus apud Schottum Phys Curios l. 1. part 2. C. 38. § 4. in some Men too for so he says of the Inhabitants of Lucomoria a certain Country of Russia that there is an Actual Suspension of the Exercise of Life in all the Species of it during Winter while their Spirits lie Congealed and un-active so that tho' all the Organs of those Animals in other Respects are duly Qualified and Disposed yet there being not for that season sufficient Heat Imparted to them from the Sun to put their Spirits in Motion These like Mercury while Cold are wholly un active and so for several Months there is a Cessation of Life for Life is a Sort of Action in all the sensible Instances of it But then again on the other side nothing being wanting but a due Heat as unto Mercury to put it in Actual Motion as soon as the Sun Returns and with its warmth Communicates that Motion that is Requisite to the Spirits and other Parts for the Invigorating and the stirring of them there Results that Action or Exercise of Organs which we call Life and which in many Places of Holy Scripture is called the Soul tho' commonly we call the Soul the Principle not the Exercise of Life but then by a Principle we must mean the Concourse of all the Requisite Causes and so the Soul in Effect will be but a Faculty or rather a System of Faculties And so much for the Philosophical Sense of the Word Soul But besides the Former there is Another meaning of the word Soul which I call the Popular because it is the most usual and that is when it is Taken not for all the Causes together or the Result of them as in the Former but for the Principal and Chief Cause of Animal and Vital Actions which in the Holy Scriptures is called the Spirit who knoweth the Spirit of a Man that goeth Upward or the Spirit of a Beast that goeth Downward And so when a Person dies he is said to to give up his Spirit to Give up the Ghost And thus a Soul may be Conceived a System of very subtle Refined Matter such as Light but in some more in others less Refined that gives the last Disposition to a Body and its Organs for the receiveing of Vital Cogitative Influence from the Original Mind it is the Texture and Qualification of the Body and the Organs that compose it that is the Ligament and Bond
Mind is in the Center and matter in the utmost Circumference it follows that the nearer things are unto pure mind and the more they do participate of that the more they have of Rest and the less of motion but the farther off they are from pure Mind and the nearer to matter the more in motion they are And indeed all Energy in matter is Local Motion Thus all the Effects of Mechanism as they are purely material so they are performed only by Local Motion but the business of Cogitation even in the lowest step of it which is sensation as it is of nearer Relation unto mind than to matter so it is performed rather by way of mutation than of Local motion the Eye is not sensible of any motion imparted to it nor is the Ear or the Nose or any other of our Sensories and yet each is sensible of a mutation made therein or rather in the Faculty which comes from motion But tho' the more refined any Beings are and the nearer that they are to the Central Mind the more at rest they be and the less in motion in their several Actions and consequently Abstract Spirits that do not live in gross Elementary Bodies are more at rest and have less of motion in the exercises of their several Powers than Men have who are imbodied in Elementary Vehicles yet no Spirit whatsoever but only God himself who only is Pure Mind is so wholly so Absolutely at Rest as that it sees all Things at once by one Entire view and Intuition all Principles and all Conclusions in them all Ends and all Means and Motives to them without the least degree of Succession or any Addition Only the Central Being sees so and he doe's For seeing all the Circumference is in the Center so that all the Lines however divided they be in the former do meet together in the latter it is plain that an Eye placed in the Center must needs see all in the Circle as clearly as any thing in it and this too with one Individual single Intuition without Succession or Addition seeing there is nothing of Motion but all is Rest in the Center And this properly is to see in Eternity Thus God sees But all other Beings beside God as they are not God or Pure mind so they are not in the Center and not being the Center but at Distance from it some at Greater some at Lesser but All at some they All have something of Motion and consequently cannot Act or See in the same manner as Central Pure Mind by way of Absolute Rest without Succession or Addition and without Distinction of past present and to come For tho' all the Lines do meet in the Center yet there being no place without it in which they do so Creatures cannot see as God sees no more than they can be in the Center as God is It is too short and Inadequate a way of Arguing to Infer that any Creatures can see All things at once but from the notions confused enough that we Mortals have of Time and Eternity as that Time is Successive Eternity a Permanent Duration together with a Conceit that all Spirits they being things Abstract and Separate from Bodies both Are and Act in Eternity as all Imbodied Beings Are and do Act in Time Certainly every Being but God is in Time tho' not in the same Kind of Time for as God only is in the Center so he only is Absolutely in Eternity And if Time is taken for all Duration that is not Eternity God only is without Time and so without Succession of Actions But to Return SECT III. Of Mind as it Actuates a certain Particular Body Mind in this Notion called a Soul Body is a System of Organs Soul and Body an Animal Body Considered two ways To wit in Reference to External Objects and in Reference to the Internal Principle that Acts it In the First Consideration of Body the Ends and uses of Organs are shewed and withal the Reason of their variety This Illustrated by several Instances and Observations The use of Body in Relation to the Internal Principle that Actuates it is to Individuate and Singularize that Principle This set out in sensible and plain Resemblances A Comparison between Vital and Locomotive Energy with a Recapitulation of the whole Discourse as it unfolds the Mystery of Animals WE have Considered Mind in the first Step of Relation that it carries unto Matter Namely as it doe's Actuate a most subtle Matter diffused throughout the Universe in which Notion it is called Spirit simply as was showed from Malachy Ch. 2. v. 15. Come we now to Consider it in the next place as it Actuates some Particular System of Matter in a Particular Manner and so it is called a Soul and that Particular System of Matter which it doth Actuate is a Body or a Particular Vehicle and the Result of both an Animal An Animal is nothing but Soul and Body together or a Body Actuated by a Soul A Body is a System of Organs an Organ is Matter framed and Contrived after a Particular Manner for some Animal Use and End some Use End or Action of a Soul A Soul is a certain Determinate Vital Energy or a certain Portion of the Spirit of the Universe Vested in a Body or particular Vehicle in which Notion all Souls are Spirits as indeed they are stiled in the Holy Scripture wherein we Read of the Spirit of the Beast tho' it goes Downward as well as of the Spirit of a Man that goes Upward This Discourse I fear will seem a little Mysterious and therefore to Inlighten it and withal to open tho' but in general the Mystery of the Animal Nature and by Analogy unto it the Nature of other Vivents I will Resume it from the Beginning and speak more Distinctly taking my Rise from Bodies or Systems of Organs which coming under Sense are better known unto us than Spirits or Souls Body then as it is a System of Organs has a Double Relation and so may be Considered two ways either with Respect to External Objects by which it self is Affected and by means thereof the Mind or else with Respect to the Internal Principle that doth Inform and Actuate it and Act in it which Principle it doth Individuate and Singularize We will first Consider a Body in the Relation that it has unto External Objects and here we must set out the Nature that is the Ends and Uses of the Organs which compose a Body as also the Reason of the Variety and number of those Organs why any Organs at all and why many both which will be done with one Performance An Organ properly is Matter Particularly Textured and Framed for some Particular use And an Animal Organ is Particularly Textured and Framed for an Animal use I will give the Example in only Sensitive Animals and in the Acts of Sensation as being best understood but what is said of Sensation and of the Organs of
of union between this subtle Matter or Spirit and That but it is the Subtle Matter or Spirit that is the Vinculum or Bond of Union between the Body and the Original Mind In this way of Conceiving This System of Subtle Matter while it is in the Body tho' it is called a Spirit because of its subtlety in truth may be but a Soul that is a Means only of Conveying the Vital Influence into the Body from the Original Mind but then again out of the Body as the System of it may be it may become a Spirit properly so called it being then no longer a Part as a Soul must be which is only a Mediate Subject but a whole and so a Terminative Subject of the Influence of the Original Mind in short it becomes a Suppositum or Subsistent by it self That the Soul is but a Mediate Subject while it is in the Body and not a Terminative so that properly the Animal which is Soul and Body and not the Soul only is Agent in all that Passes seems Probable in that all the Ordinary Actions of the Man that commonly are said to be the Souls are plainly Organical nothing can be Instanced in as Proceeding from the Soul while it is in the Body that is not properly Animal even Intellection it self is not an Action only of the Soul or Anima but as the Latins would Express it an Action of the Animus or Understanding which is to be Conceived as an Animal and Organical Faculty that is as a thing arising Principally but not only from the Soul for so does Cotta Distinguish apud Cicerol 3. de nat Deor. when he says Probabilius videtur tale quiddam esse Animum ut sit ex Igne atque Anima temperatum It is true the Ordinary way of Conceiving is much otherwise for the Soul is Considered by the Most as if it were an Angel or Spirit that only dwelt in the Body as in a House and thus the Soul is the man the Body but as a Tabernacle or a Garment to it nor is this a meer Platonical Notion it is Conformable to the way of speaking in the Holy Scriptures as where St. Paul says I Desire to be Dissolved and to be with Christ Also where he tells the Corinthians we know if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were Dissolved c. And for certain if the Theory of the Pre-existence of Souls is a True one this Opinion is beyond dispute However I will not Determine in this matter since the Language of the Scripture is often Adapted but to the Conceptions of the Vulgar and therefore cannot be the Standard of Philosophical Truth and it is certain that even in our Saviours time a many Pythagorean and Platonical Doctrines and this in particular of the Pre-existence of Souls and the Souls being the Man had obtained to be Vulgar among the Jews As appears by that Question of the Disciples which they put to our Lord was this Man Born Blind for his own or for his Parents sin for it supposes that the Man might sin and therefore also supposes that he was before he was Born for he could not Sin if he was not in Being Besides the Genesis or way of Generation of Animals seems to Favour the former opinion more than the latter for in the latter Opinion the Soul is conceived as an Assistant rather than an Informing Form and so rather as an Animal than as a Part of one which doth not so well consist with the Method of Generation In fine the Distinction between Souls and Abstract Spirits as to their Natures cannot be set out with that Distinctness and clearness in the Latter as in the Former Opinion But Take it either way if we Distinguish Soul and Faculties and do hold that Animal Actions are the Effects of Faculties but that the Soul is the Principal cause of those Faculties why may it not be Affirmed as I Hinted before that the Mosaical Spirit is unto all the Bodies in the Universe those of Invinsible as well as of Visible Animals what the Soul Conceived of after this manner is in our selves unto ours So that All particular Animals in respect of the Universe should be but as the several Organs in any Particular Animal and then Particular Souls should be but as so many Portions of the subtle Matter through which and by means of which the Mosaical Spirit as a Soul of the Universe should Radiate into the several Bodies and give them their Faculties In short we may conceive particular Souls as so many Animi for now I Distinguish as Cotta do's between Animus and Anima and that the Anima that is the Sourse of All these Animi is but one throughout the Universe Why may not this be so And if it may it must since then the being of Subordinate Anima other than Animi would be superfluous and unnecessary and Beings are not to be Multiplied but on Necessity Besides there is Reason to think there is but one Soul Diffus'd throughout the Universe if it be Allowable to make the same Judgment in Reference to the whole that upon good Considerations may be Framed of the Parts which come Distinctly within our View For in this Terrestrial World as to the several Regions of it the Animal the Vegetable and the Mineral it is as certain that all had but one Plastic as that the Body of a Man or any other particular Animal had not more The Evidence is the same for Both. There is a sensible Analogy and Correspondence in Fabric and Conformation not only between the several Species of Animals which is very manifest in Comparative Anatomy but also in a good degree between Plants and Animals and Minerals and Plants Again there is a like Connexion between the Beings that fill those several Regions as there is between the Parts that compose particular Animals There are no Vacuities or Gaps in Nature in respect of Species no Jumps or Leaps but all in orderly Gradation Extreams are Knit and United by Participles that partake of Both and all is full without any Chasms Thus to touch it in an Example Minerals and Vegetables are Joyned by Lithodendra or Stone-Plants such as Coral and the like Vegetables and Animals by Zoophytes or Plantanimals such as the sensible Plant the Scythian Lamb and the like And in the General Kinds of Animals between Fowls and Beasts the Bat between Fishes and Fowls the Flying Fish between Terrestrial and Aquatic Animals those that are called Amphibious are Middle Uniting Species c. Farther there is a Conformity in their Origination as well as in their Structure and Fabrick for Plants as well as Animals are Produced by Semination and even Minerals and Mettals have their Matrices and tho' they have not what is properly called Seed they have something that is Analogous in their Production In fine the Transmutation of things and the Easie Transition of them from one Region unto Another evinces it The Transmutation
the Notices which we receive from Things without us that there is such a thing as a Vital Energy as we are that there is a Mechanical Because we are as much assured of the Effects of the one as we are of those of the other as much assured that there is Life Sensation and Intellection that come from a Vital as we are that there are Actual Local Motions Motions of Ascent and Descent Motions Direct and Motions Circular c. which as Motions come from Impulse the Mechanical Energy Again As it is Certain that Local Motion or that Impulse which is the nearest Physical Principle of it is not Matter or Materiate but yet is in Matter as United unto it so by this Consideration we may become as certain that Vital Energy and the Effects of it though they be Immaterial yet they may be in Matter since there needs no more of Hooks and Crooks to make the Latter than to make the Former to stick and hold together In the next place As the Mechanical or Loco-motive Energy is Diffused throughout the World for there is nothing in this that is Entirely at Rest so is the Vital Since it is certain that wherever and whenever any Matter becomes Disposed the Vital Principle is always at hand to Actuate that Matter and Act in it according as the Dispositions of it do Invite or Permit All Putrefaction or Digestion any where determines in Insects or little Animals as Experience evinces the Spirits being Unfettered and let Loose thereby And yet as the Mechanick or Loco-motive Impulse is not Received in all Textures of Matter indifferently but that as I have showed already there must for some certain Modifications of Local Motion be certain particular Textures of Matter so neither is the Vital Energy Catcht and Received indifferently by all Textures of Matter but as all Life consists in Motion or in something Analogous so for certain Gradations and Exercises of Life there must be cerain particular Fabricks and Textures of Matter called Organs and also certain particular Dispositions in the Mechanical Spirits for so I call the subtle Active Corpuscles in every Concrete that are the immediate instruments of the Vital Principle in all its Actions of Life in this Corporeal World So that as Actual Motion the Effect of Loco-motive Energy and even Loco-motive Energy it self as taken for Impulse is not Material in this Sense that it does consist of Matter yet if to be material be understood of that which is Dependent on Matter and so Dependent that it cannot be without it in the Sense of the word not only actual Motion but even Impulse the nearest Physical principle of Motion is material since neither of them can be but in and by the means of Matter In like manner the Vital Principle that Animates Corporeal Beings though it is not material in this Sense that it is only Matter or a mode of Matter yet in another it is that it so Depends in all its Animal Operations that it cannot exercise any but by means of Mater and according to the Texture and Quality of it Nothing can be plainer than this is to Sense for in all the Acts of Perception not only the sensitive but the Intellectual as the Organs are so are the Actions if the Organs are sound and duly Disposed the Actions are Conformable but if the Organs are out of Tune and Vitiated the Actions are so likewise Ay are Totally Abolished if the Organs are spoiled Besides the several Kinds and Degrees of Deliration that men themselves are Subject unto accordingly as their Spirits are ill Qualified and Distempered do further Confirm it Upon the whole as the Vital Energy it Diffused as Light is throughout the Universe so according to the several Textures of Matter that do catch it as a Speculum does the Light it Exerts it self and being Catcht and Retained by the Congruity of the Body for it is Congruity only not Hooks or Crooks that holds them together it is called a Soul and the whole Complex of Body and Soul an Animal What I have said does more particularly regard the Animals I call Visible which we are better Acquainted with than with others of a Higher Nature but yet with a very easie Application and by way of Analogy it will also open the Nature of these However this Admonition doth Remind me of the next Head to which I must pass and that is the Distribution of Animals CHAP. VII Animals are either Invisible or Visible in the Former sort I reckon Angels Good and Bad which are Etherial As also the Genii which are Aerial Animals Invisible Animals why called Spirits That there are Spirits Evinced 1. From the general Tradition of the World Mr. Hobbs's Evasion of this Argument Considered 2. From Operations that cannot be Accounted for but from such Causes 3. From Intelligences and Notifications that cannot be Resolved but upon this Hypothesis 4. From Spectra or Apparitions Of the way and manner how Spirits do Appear that it is twofold Real and Visional That Good Angels when they do Appear are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Spirits and the Bad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fantomes SECT II. I Have spoken of Animals in General but to bring a greater Light toward the Understanding of the Animal Nature I must consider its Distribution and show the General Kinds or sorts of Animals that are in the Universe And Animals in Conformity unto the Bodies that do help to compose them are either Visible or Invisible By Visible Animals I mean such as do consist of gross matter and so have Bodies that naturally come under the perception of the external sense by Invisible Animals I mean such as have Bodies so refined that naturally they come not under the perception of All or Any of the External Senses Visible Animals which are the Animals that compose this Lower Elementary World for I will not undertake to speak of any such as may be in the other commonly called the Superiour and Celestial the farther Discourse of them is properly referred unto Physicks and therefore I shall enter no farther thereinto at this time but proceed to treat of the Invisible By Invisible Animals I mean Angels good and bad which I call Aetherial Animals as also those Aereal ones some Ludicrous some Torvous that are called Genii all which with the several kinds they farther branch into I will comprehend under one name of Spirits and so speak something of their Nature Demonstrate their Reality and Existence and in fine add something concerning their Apparition and the ways of it As to their Nature in General I think I shall have said all is necessary for me to say at this time when I shall have shewed that there is a sense in which it may be truly said they are Incorporeal as said they are generally and yet there is a sense too in which they must be acknowledged to be Corporeal if the having any mixture of matter in
if at any time they appear they do it the same way that Angels are used to do since there is the same reason they should I say besides this it is certain if any Stories of such a nature are certain that pretended Ghosts have appeared so long after their decease from their several Bodies that nothing could remain of these but the Dust and it is also certain that many Persons have been seen to all Appearances while alive in their proper Shapes and Meen and with the very Cloaths they were used to wear and this could not be done by means of Vehicles framed of their Radical moisture In truth this last is a very cross Phaenomenon a Phaenomenon that renders all Apparition of Ghosts uncertain and questionable since it seems to infer that it is not the Departed Soul it self that appears whenever there is such an Apparition but some other Spirit that Personates it For my own part I see many Difficulties in the way of the real Apparition of Spirits for besides that of the assuming of Bodies many times they do Eat and Drink and perform several other Vital Actions that seem very hard to be accounted for in that way so that I am much inclined to believe that their Apparition is mostly if not only Visional not by an immediate affection of the External Sense but by affecting and striking the Imagination in the way I have mentioned before And herein I am confirm'd in that it seems to have been the common Sentiment of all the Ancients who did for this reason as I noted before call the Apparitions of Spirits Phantasmata or Idola to wit because they were rather Imaginative than Real not as Mr. Hobbs would carry it as if they thought that all Spirits were only Phantasmata or meer Fancies but because they thought that Spirits used not to Appear but by affecting and striking the Fancy And this is Evident in that they did call Apparitions not only Phantasmata or Images but also Pneumata or Spirits by the latter Expression signifying the nature of the things that did appear as by the former the way in which they appeared Thus Luke when he would intimate that the Disciples at the time they saw our Lord after his Resurrection supposed that they had seen a Spirit does not use the word Phantasma as the two other Evangelists Matthew and Mark do on the like occasion but the word Pneuma Luke 24.37 But they the Disciples were terified and frighted and supposed they had seen a Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I add that from the different Expressions that these Evangelists do use on the like occasion Matthew and Mark expressing the supposed seeing of a Spirit by seeing of a Phantasm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Luke by seeing of a Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one may infer that when they thought the Apparition to be of a Good Spirit they called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Spirit but when of a Bad they called it Phantasma as who would say a Sprite an Hob-Goblin an illusion of Devils without conceiveing what perhaps some others will judge as propable that they had an Opinion as if I do not mis-remember the Modern Platonists had that Good Spirits did use to appear really but bad ones by disturbing and troubling the Fancy Another Consideration that induces me to think the Apparition of Spirits to be mostly if not always Visional is that all Appearance will be the same in this business of Apparitions upon the Hypothesis that they are but Visional as upon that that they are real since Common Dreams in those that sleep and waking ones in the Melancholy the Maniacal and the Hysterical do seem as real to them as any things that are most so And as some Appearances will equally as well be salved upon one Hypothesis as upon the other so there are others that will be better salved upon the Visional than on the Real Hypothesis particularly this that Spectres are often said to be seen by one Person in a Room that are not by others in the same Room tho' they look where they are said to be seen A Spirit may be easily Conceived to affect and strike the Imagination of one Person without doing so to anothers but that the same External Object should be seen by one and not by another that has the same advantage is somewhat harder to think and I had almost said cannot be conceived without a double Miracle In short one can better conceive how Spirits should eat and drink c. in the Visional than in the Real Hypothesis I know it may be told me that it is more usual for Spirits to appear by Night than by Day and in Dark and Gloomy places than in open and lightsome and those who hold the real apparition of Spirits will think that they can give a better account of this Phaenomenon than others can who do believe it but Visional For they will say Those of them that do hold the Opinion of a Spirits appearing by Condensation of his own Vehicle that the Cold of the Night as also of umbragious and gloomy places where the Sun does not enter or of solitary uninhabited ones where Fire is not used does much contribute to the Conspissation of the Spirits Vehicle And Those that hold the Opinion that Spirits appear by Forming to themselves a Body of Air will say that the Spissitude of the Air which is greater by Night than by Day when the presence of the Sun attenuates it and greater in gloomy and uninhabited than in lightsom and inhabited places does make the Formation of a Body and by consequence their Apparition more agreeable and easie to them But what can be said of this appearance in the Visional Hypothesis I cannot foresee how very acceptable or otherwise such a Discourse as this will be unto others but to me it is of an Aspect that is not very Agreeable For that the Angelical Vehicle should be obnoxious to the impressions of Heat and Cold as is in the First Opinion seems somewhat a gross Conception nor can I see how the Spissitude or the Tenuity of the Air should signifie much either to further or to hinder the making a body of Air by a Spirit as it is apprehended to do in the second Opinion if a Spirit be conceived as he must to work Magically and not Mecannically in it But not to insist on this but to answer directly The Reason then why Spirits do appear in the Night rather than in the Day and in dark gloomy solitary places rather than in others is from the silence and vacancy that is at such times and in such places so that the Imagination not being possessed or diverted by External Objects is more attentive unto and Consequently more susceptive of internal impressions there being the same Reason for this Phaenomenon as there is for some others to wit our better hearing a Sound by Night than in the Day and our seeing of the
Images in a Darkned Room upon a Paper or Wall that Disappear as soon as a greater Light is admitted By these and other Considerations I am more inclined to a belief of the Visional than of the Real Apparition of Spirits the Former being accompanied with fewer Difficulties and also being a thing that is easily conceived for one that thinks will more easily admit an Angel can affect and stir the imagination which we see both many Distempers and more Meats and Drinks can do than that it should Create a Body or assume one Created or in fine be able to alter its own Vehicle so much from its proper Dimension that the squeezing of an Elephant into that of a Mouse is of no Comparison with it I confess I should be more inclined than I am to the Real Hypothesis if I could believe the Spagirical Resurrection of Plants or the Reality of Apparitions resembling Men that are said to be seen in Distilling-Vessels upon the Distillation of Human Blood of which Peter Borellus a Curious but too Credulous Author tells us in his Observations Cent. 4. Obs 62. I fear with more presumption than certainty For my part I must acknowledge my unbelief as to it I will only add for the fuller clearing of the Theory of the Apparition of Spirits that what Gravity or weight is in respect of Elementary Bodies That a strong Inclination or Habit and Will or Passion is unto Souls and Consequently that we seldom hear of the Apparition of Any but of such as went out of the Body with great Reluctance with a violent Passion of Revenge or with a strong Desire of having something done that was in their will but not in their power And of the appearing of such we often hear but whether the Apparition is of the Departed Soul it self or of its Representative only to wit some Genius Personating the Deceased and why often times it appears unto Persons no way concerned and not to those that are when it would have something revealed as also the Laws of the Spiritual World for Laws there must be which do confine and regulate the motions of Spirits these and many other points in the business of Spirits are all unknown unto me and perhaps are only known unto God I should now proceed to the Distribution of Spirits but this entirely depends upon the History of them and we know but little of that History Besides there is in what we are thought to know so much of Tale Romance and Invention that upon strict inquiry not one Relation of a hundred holds true even of their Apparitions an Observation which obliged Lucian of old and many now to Ridicule them all Wherefore I resolve to Omit as a Task too hard for me to discourse of their Kinds and their Orders only in General I will adventure to affirm if this be to Adventure to say what few will deny that that there are several Species Angels in Heaven and Devils out of it and perhaps a Lower sort of Spirits than those we commonly call Devils But for the Celestial Hierarchy as Dionysius the True or the False has set it out and the Distinction in it that he makes of Seraphim of Cherubim of Thrones of Dominations of Vertues of Powers of Principalities of Arch-Angels and of Angels as also of the Politick Government of Devils and the several Orders that are in it One had need be a Saint and as illuminated with Revelation as Dionysius himself was to understand the Former and for the Latter he must be a Conjurer of the Highest Class and possibly more than a Conjurer to have any or any certain Account of it One that is Curious may find many and very strange things upon this Subject in Cardan in his Books de varietate and de subtilitate and in Cornelius Agrippa in his of Occult Philosophy L. 1. C. 11. Fernelius also has something which he has gathered out of Plato and others concerning the Kinds of Spirits in his Treatise De Abditis rerum Causis L. 1. C. 11. but all is but Guess and Conjecture See Gaspar Schottus his Physica Curiosa L. 1. C. 12. c. CHAP. VIII Another Essay about the Nature of Animals and Spirits SECT I. The Subject farther Illustrated by a Comparison of the Universe with a particular Animal The Universe a whole Particular Animals but Members of that whole A Particular Animal is as an Organ with its faculty the Universe as a Body composed of several Organs with a Soul that endues these Organs with several Faculties A Demonstration even to sense of a common Principle that penetrates throughout the Universe In what sense a Soul is a faculty and in what a Principle of Faculties Two senses of the word Soul and how in both it may be conceived as a Principle of Faculties The Soul in its state of separation becomes a Spirit properly Soul is the name of a part a Spirit the name of a whole Substance God the Central Sun and Fountain of all Souls and Spirits The Emanation of Souls and Spirits from God or from his Spirit set out in the Comparison of Light and Colours Not only Philosophers and Poets but even many Christian Doctors and particularly St. Augustin compared God in respect of his influence in and over the Vniverse unto the Soul in a Man IN the Precedent Chapter I have offered to my Reader something concerning the nature of Animals as well those that are Invisible called Spirits as those that are Visible but the subject being Obscure I think my self obliged to turn it every way to see what further Light may be Given to it and therefore I will now Enlarge upon one Point in Relation unto it that I did but touch before whereby I hope to Illustrate it It is Received on all hands except by Cartesians that in every visible Animal as well as in Man there is a Body Composed of several Organs and there are several Faculties or Powers according to the several Organs and there is a Common Principle called a Soul that Permeating throughout the Body doth Furnish it in its several Organs with those several Faculties Now As all the Organs of any Particular Animal tho' being Compared one with Another they are several not Parts one of Another but a kind of wholes and have their several Faculties yet in respect of the Body they are but Parts and all Influenced by a Common Principle which giveth being to its several Faculties but is none of them it self Why may not all the Animals themselves as well the Invisible as the Visible that do Exist in the Universe be in respect of this but as so many Parts so many Organs some more Simple others more Compound Actuated by some Common Principle that Penetrates throughout it and yet in Respect one of Another be several wholes that have their several Powers and Faculties And then as all the Particular Animals would in truth be but as so many several Organs Endued with
of Earthly and Aqueous Bodies into Vegetables is so Obvious as I need not to Instance That of Vegetables into Animal Concretes is as certain tho' not so Obvious and Usual The Animation of Horse-hairs that fall into Pools in the Summer time may be an Example but those are more Adequate that are Given in the Generation of Barnacles and in the Animation of the Branches of certain Trees I Vouch not these Instances upon uncertain Report tho' some will believe it no other but on the credit of a Person Grave and Unsuspected I mean the Excellent Schottus who in his Physica Curiosa l. 1. C. 20. among other Examples very pertinent to this purpose relates those I have mentioned on his own Knowledge Pili says he è caudis equorum in aquam pluviam fossis ac scrobibus exceptam decidentes Animantur in graciles ac Longos vermes instar Serpentum convertuntur ut ipsemet non semel vidi Aves Anatum formà ex Ramis Arborum deciduis intra aquas in Scotià Hebridibus Insulis nasci testantur multi Scriptores Ipsemet vidi Ramorum extremitates paulatim animà sensitiva Informatas decidisso Avolasse Now so much Uniformity even in difformity such Connexion and so Easie Transition from one Region into Another cannot be conceived to be in the World without conceiving at the same time that as it had but one Author or common Plastic at first so still it has but one Principle that hath the ordering the Disposing the Framing and Actuating of it in all its Parts But to make it more Conceivable that all Particular Beings may be Animated by but One and yet being such Diversity as they are let us consider that Glorious thing we call Light which as it Proceeds and Issues from the Sun is of one Nature but meeting with divers Objects and Receiving Different Modifications according to those of the Objects it meets with is varied into a Thousand Colours of Different Natures from the Light as well as one from Another And it is even thus with the Vital Energy or Light that flows from God the Intellectual Sun and Father of Spirits for This tho' as it Proceeds and flows from him it is but of one Nature yet according to the Bodies it meets with it becomes Diversified and Varied into a Thousand shall I say or rather into Infinite Faculties and Powers that in their particular Natures are as Different from the Original Vital Energy it self taken in it self as All are one from Another In short the first Subject of Vital Energy is the Mosaical Spirit but This as it is Received in Bodies of several Fabricks Dispositions and Textures as well in Visible as in Invisible Animals become Diversified into several Powers and Faculties or which is the same in Effect becomes in Each a Principle of Actions that Differ one from Another as much as the Bodies do that Invest it and as the Motions that by means of those Bodies do Affect and Modifie it Modifications of the Cogitative Faculties or of the Immediate Principle that makes the Being Cogitative are called Ideas or Images and are the same unto the Mind in the Sense and the Understanding that Sensible Species as they commonly are called are unto the Light in the Air for as These are nothing but Modification of the Light so Those are of the Mind SECT II. Several Objections against the Former Hypothesis considered First that it makes Souls to be Faculties or Powers whereas indeed they are Actions or Acts. This Objection Answered and the notion of the Souls being a Principle and Faculty rather than an Action cleared The Second Objection that in this Hypothesis the Deity is considered as an Immanent and not what he is as a Transient cause of all things Removed and how he is both the one and the other shewed and Confirmed by the Authority of St. Austin and other Christian Fathers as well as of the Chiefest Philosophers The Third Objection that hereby God and Nature are Confounded Answered by shewing how God and Nature are Distinguished in this Hypothesis The Last and strongest Objection that if there were but one Original Perceptive Principle throughout the Universe all Animals would have the same Perceptions which they have not This Objection Removed and the Reason of Different Perceptions in Different Animals cleared THO' I have Endeavoured to Anticipate Objections in the Discourse that I have made all along as I made it yet to give them a farther clearing and thereby elucidate more fully the Hypothesis that I Espouse this Section shall be Employed in proposing in express Terms such Objections as do lye against it and in giving them the necessary Answers The First Objection against this Hypothesis is that it speaks of Souls as of Faculties or Powers and not as of things that are Essentially Active whereas a Soul is a Knowledge a Cogitation or at least a thing that is always Busie and Doing insomuch that even in sleep it does not all Rest but that Men do always Dream when they sleep tho' perhaps they are not always sensible that they do I know not how truly it is said that the Soul is always Busie and that Men do always Dream when they sleep but I could wish they did only Dream at that Time for then we should not be Troubled with so many Groundless Fantastick Opinions But to come nearer the Matter I know a person who Affirms that to his Knowledge he never Dreamt in his whole Life and certainly since we are always Conscious that we Dream when ever we do we ought to believe we have not Dreamed at all when we are not sensible we have Besides how do they know that the Soul is always Doing for my part I am much mistaken if I do not Experience in my self what I think any other may that I am able to suspend all Thought or as we commonly Express it think of nothing To be sure every one who hath made the Least Reflexion must needs know that as we have Eyes and Ears and other sensitive Organs and so do see and hear and are Conscious of other Sentiments in Case our Eyes and Ears and those other Organs which we have are Impressed by External Objects so ordinarily we do neither see nor Hear or are Conscious of any other sentiment of any External Objects if these do not Affect our Organs without the presence of Objects we are only said to have the Faculties or Powers that is we are said only to be Able to see to Hear c. but upon the presence of Objects and the Application of our Faculties or Powers we are said to have the Exercise of them and actually to See and Hear c. Thus it is in the External Sense Now since the Mind or Understanding is an Organical thing as well as the External sense I see no Reason to think but that as there is no Actual Sensation but when the Organs of the sense are stirred so
that three such Persons were not numerically one He adds let any Man who can give me any other notion of the numerical Oneness of an Infinite Mind but self-consciousness Thus this Learned Person It must be confessed that the Numerical Oneness of Spirits can be nothing else but as this Learned Author says it is every Spirits Unity he might as well have said Oneness with it self and its distinct and separate subsistence from all other Created Spirits But this is not the oneness of Spirits only but of every thing else that is one for as omne ens est unum so unum est quod est indivisum in se Divisum a quolibet Alio and therefore it doth hold in Bodies as well as in Spirits and perhaps in the Infinite first Being as well as in all Created Finite Beings But to confine my self as this Learned Author does to the Numerical Oneness of Spiriâ—… I cannot say farther of it as he has that it can be nothing else but self-Consciousness in the sense of the word as he unfolds it I say as he Unfolds it for else taking self-consciousness for a Spirits self-being so I take it the numerical oneness of a Spirit is nothing but its self-consciousness for then the meaning is that a Spirit which is a Cogitative Being is it self and not any other thing but taking Consciousness as he does for a Spirits Being sensible of its own Actions and Passions so its numerical oneness cannot be its self-consciousness For as a Being and even a Cogitative Being as a Being must be conceived to be before it can be conceived to Act so again it must be conceived to act that is to Think to Reason to Love to Hate for these are the Actions he instances in for some moment of Reason before it can be conceived to be Conscious of these its actings Now for that Moment of Reason in which a Spirit is conceived in Being without being conceived to be acting and in which it is conceived Acting before it becomes Conscious of its actings in that precedent moment which speaks order not duration it must be conceived to be one with it self and numerically different from every thing besides and therefore that it is so cannot arise from self-consciousness or its being conscious of its own actings So that if there were as in the Authors supposal three created Spirits that were as conscious to each others Thoughts and Passions as each of them unto his own there would yet be no reason that we should say as he says we must that three such persons would be numerically one for if they were how could they be Three since the number Three is not the number One and they cannot be Three in number if they are but one in number to be Three is to be more than One to be but One is not to be more than one All that could be said of them is that upon that supposal they would be intimate with one another but with numerical distinction for still one of them would not be the other and so they would remain Three Persons still not one Person Self-Unity is before Self-Consciousness and may consist with Consciousness of others Again in Dr. Sherlock's way of Discoursing which is that Three Persons so intimate to one another as he supposes would become numerically one I do not see but that instead of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity which doubtless he will own to be really as intimate to one another as he supposes his Three Finite ones to be we shall have but one Person in number In fine if Persons by being so intimate to one another do become numerically one I do not see but that by this reasoning God who is as conscious to all the Actions Passions and Thoughts of all Finite Created Spirits as these are to their own and as the Doctors Imaginary Persons are to one anothers he must be numerically one with them all But perhaps the Doctor will tell me that he affirms the Three Eternal Minds for so he calls them are numerically one God not one Person Three Persons one God but then it will be demanded of him since Three are thrice one what that is that makes each Person one in it self and distinguishes it from both the others for it must be something that is not Common which self-consciousness is in his sense of the word all being as conscious to one anothers Thoughts and Actings as each unto its own whereas that which makes a thing numerically one must be Differencing and Particular Not to insist that to be an Eternal Mind is the true Idea or notion of God and then if there be as he owns there be Three Eternal Minds really distinct it will I confess be no great difficulty to evince them Thee Persons but I doubt it will intelligibly to make it out that these Three Three Eternal Minds really distinct from one another are not Three Gods as well as Three Persons So that methinks the knot remains untied For my own part I believe as the Scriptures instruct me that there is but one God tho' Three Persons each of which is God which I say only to prevent Mistakes But I resolve to Discourse more fully of Unity or Oneness when I come to treat of the notions of Whole and Part. As for the name Person it properly belongs to Men we do not commonly apply it to Beasts or unto Angels or other Spirits but by Translation and Metaphor when they do appear in the Figure or shape of Men. Nor is Person a name of Nature taking nature in the sense of the Schoolmen for Nature is Common unto all of the kind but that only is Personal which is distinguishing and peculiar among those in the same kind Thus Man is a name of the kind or specifical Nature the Nature in common A Man an expression of the Nature as singularized but Person properly is the name of that which differences Men from one another When we speak of the Person of a Man we mean by it that Cumble of Accidents External Internal of Body of Mind Adventitious and Extrinsical Absolute or Relative whereby he is distinguished and known from others Hence Persona in Latin is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the Countenance or Face in the first place and from thence a Person in the second place because the Countenance or Face is that by which we do chiefly distinguish Men. In conformity to this Idea or notion of Person I understand Levit. 19.15 Thou shalt not favour the Person of the Poor nor honour the Person of the Mighty the word for Person is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint Translation and the meaning of the Text is plainly This thou shalt not in giving Judgment have regard to the Poverty of the one or to the Riches of another for these concern the Person not the Cause In this sense also is God said to be 〈◊〉