presence of God is but a Mode of his Essence and if we have no distinct and clear Conception of the presence of God nor consequently of his Omnipresence or the way how he is present with all his Creatures where ever they are I do not see with what Cogency or Force an Argument can be Deduced from it in this business In short since things are present one with another very differently in proportion to their several Natures it will follow that things Mental must be present with others in much another way than those that are Material and Consequently that God who is pure Mind must be present with Material Beings much otherwise than these themselves are one with another Mind can no more be present the same way that Matter is than be the same thing with Matter CHAP. IV. Of Mind in Matter SECT I. Mind as concerned with Matter comes under a double consideration 1 As it actuates a most subtle and more than Etherial Matter that is diffus'd throughout the World 2ly As it actuates some particular Vechicle or Body In the first Notion of it Mind in Matter is the Idea of the Mosaical Spirit of God This Spirit according to the Scriptural Hypothesis is the Immediate cause of all things in the first Creation and ever since The Being of this Spirit Evinced both by Authority and by Argument Dr. Mores Distinction between the Spirit of Nature which he calls Principium Hylarchicum and the Spirit of God considered AFter a Consideration of Mind as it is in it self Pure and Abstract Exempt from all Intrinsecal concernment and composition with Matter I come now to consider it as concerned with Matter that is as Acting in and by means of Matter in which consideration Mind may be called second Mind as in the former it may be termed the first Mind concerned with Matter may be considered in two respects either as it has for the Vehicle which it actuates and by which it acts all that most subtle Matter that does permeate the Universe in the utmost Extent and Capacity of it or as it actuates some particular system of Matter that may be called a Body and it is a particular Vehicle Mind in the former Consideration of it as it doth actuate and act in and by a most subtle matter diffused throughout the Universe seems to me to be the Mosaical Spirit of God mentioned Gen. 1. v. 2. And the same that in the Scriptural Hypothesis which never mentions Nature as the Efficient Cause of any thing but Represents Philosophy only as a Theology that swallows up the second Causes in Contemplation of the first is the Cause of all productions the Births the Growths and all the Alterations and Changes that come to pass in the World This in that account is the Principle of Human Souls Mal 2.15 Did he not make one Yet had he the Residue of the Spirit As if he had said he wanted not Spirit he had more left to Animate more had he been pleased to make them but he made but one and the Principal too of all Corporeal Effects even of Snow of Hail of Ice of Wind c. Psal 147.15 16 17 18. He sendeth forth his Commandment upon the Earth his word runneth very swiftly He giveth Sonw like Wool he scattereth the Hoar Frost like Ashes He Casteth forth his Ice like Morsels who can stand before his Cold He sendeth out his word and melteth them he causeth his Wind to blow and the Waters Flow. To understand this Text with the more clearness we must have Recourse unto Genesis Ch. 1. v. 2 3 6 9 12 14 20 24 26. In which we find in v. 2. mention made of the Spirit of God that moved upon the Face of the Waters as the Active Principle that wrought all and in the 3. and the following verses of the Word or Commandment of God that as a Directive Principle did regulate and order all so that the Spirit acted accordingly thus v. 3. God said let there be Light and there was Light and v. 6. God said let there be a Firmament or rather an Expanse in the midst of the Waters and it was so and v. 9. God said Let the Waters under the Heaven be gathered together into one place and let the Dry Land Appear and it was so The like in the following works Now the World in the account of the Holy Scriptures has the same for its Conserving that it had for its Procreating Cause and therefore as God at first did make All by his Almighty Spirit through his Word so the Psalmist tells us that he still doth for as at first he said Let there be so still he Sendeth forth his Commandment and as all was ordered at first by the Divine Word He said let there be Light He said let there be a Firmament c. So still his WORD Runneth very swiftly The Spirit of God doth still Execute as he did at first all the Directions and Commands are given it He Produces the Snow the Hoar Frost and Ice he maketh Cold and Raiseth Winds and causes all the Alterations that are made in the Air in the Earth in a Word in all the Elements and in all above them This is the Scriptural Hypothesis the meaning of which is that God by his infinite Wisdom as well as Power both Made and Governs the World but to Return Of this Spirit that Penetrates through all the World and that doth All in it not only Moses has written but many of the Old Philosophers have also told Velleius in Cicero l. 1. de Nat. Deor. acquaints us concerning Pythagoras Quod censuit animum esse per Naturam rerum omnem intentum Commeantem that he believed a Mind diffused throughout the whole Nature of things The same Velleius also reports concerning Zeno that he in some of his Books discoursed of what he called the Reason of the Universe Rationem per omnem pertinentem Naturam In fine to omit others Plutarch mentions a Spirit that Penetrates throughout the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And what can this Spirit be that Penetrates throughout the Universe that animates it and is as a common Reason in it for I will unite the Expressions and so compleat the Idea but the Mosaical Spirit But not only Authority Sacred and Prophane evinces that there is such a Spirit an Energetical Vital Principle diffused throughout the World but Experience also shows it if the Experience that we have of such a Principle Diffused throughout one Region of it our own may be sufficient to conclude it is so in all of which Experience I shall speak hereafter when also the Nature of this Spirit and the Influence it has upon and in things will be set out more clearly and more fully I Know the Learned Dr. More hath told us of a Principium Hylarchicum which he defines an Incorporeal Substance without Sense and Animadversion that pervades the Matter of the whole Universe and exercises
in it a Plastical Power according as the Portions of the said Matter are Predisposed and this he calls the Spirit of Nature and Distinguishes it from the Spirit of God Affirming that God doth actuate all the Matter of the Natural Corporeal World by the Spirit of Nature but that he actually acts in and governs the world of Men and Angels by the Spirit of God But I have shewed already from the Scriptural Hypothesis that it is one Spirit the Mosaical that Actuates and Acts in All in Men and other Animals as well as in the World of meer Nature as to all the operations commonly called Natural for as to those that are called Supernatural that come from the Holy Ghost or the Comforter these as they are of another Nature so the Consideration of them belongs to another place In fine the Principium Hylarchicum or Spirit of Nature as this Learned person calls it is but a Plastick Faculty of the Mosaical Spirit SECT II. An Inquiry into the Original and Rise of Motion What is meant by Motion in this Inquiry That Motion comes from Mind in Matter or the Mosaical Spirit This shewed in many instances by the Connexion between Cogitation and Motion How Motion comes from a Principle at Rest and how Matter from Mind set out in the Metaphysical Hypothesis and by other Illustrations I Think I shall not step much if I do at all out of my way to make Inquiry in this place into the Original and Rise of Motion By Motion now I mean not Actual Motion or Motion as it is the actual Translation of Bodies from place to place which some define The Successive Application of a Body in all it hath out wardly unto the several parts of the Bodies which touch it immediately which is the most usual Sense of the word But here I mean by it that Force Energy or Motive Vertue called in Latine Impetus from which this Actual Translation or Successive Application of Bodies does immediately come And my Enquiry now shall be concerning the Original of This not in particular as it is in this or that particular Body but the Rise of Impetus or Motive Force in general which having found I will first remove an Objection and then improve the Discovery to shew how Matter comes from Mind as well as how Motion doth from a Principle that is at rest It must be acknowledged that there is some appearance at first sight of cause to believe that as mind is the first subject of Cogitation and matter the first subject of Extension so since Energy or Force the immediate Principle of Action and of Actual motion is neither Cogitation nor Extension that some third substance Distinct both from mind and matter should be the first subject of it and consequently that there should be three Principles Mind Matter and the first Mover And indeed it looks as if the Scripture Hypothesis did countenance this for there mention is made of the Spirit which wrought as the first subject of motion of the Abyss of Waters wrought upon as the first Recipient Subject and of the word Reason or Wisdom which directed the Work But on second Consideration as it is clear that all that Moses says in his Genesis concerning the Spirit and the Word is not said with design to intimate that really the Spirit was only a meer sensless inartificial Force or Energy and that Wisdom or the Word was another distinct Principle that directed and guided it in all its Motions but to shew since we men in our inadequate way of Conceiving do distinguish Wisdom and Power that all the works of God were made in Both but Both united in one Demiurgical Mind or to use Seneca's Expression on Ratio faciens Thus Ratio faciens is the Idea or Notion of the Mosaical Spirit the true Natura Naturans that concurred to make the World not in the manner that God himself did who in the Mosaical Hypothesis Acted only as an External Efficient but in the way that the Soul would do in a living Creature if first by its Plastic vertue it should form all the members of the Body of it and afterwards should inform it and act in it And Gotta in Cicero has as finely as compendiously expressed the Difference between these two several ways of working even in Reference to the World When L. 3. de Nat. Deor. he says Ita prorsus existimarem si illum mundum aedificatum non quemadmodum docebo à naturâ conformatum putarem It is this Spirit that is the Original Cause of the Impetus that is the nearest cause of Local Motion and indeed it is the Original Cause of all Mundane Activity and Energy Motion comes from Energy or Action and all Energy and Action from the Mosaical Spirit not from meer matter but from mind in matter In short Impetus or Force arises from the same Principle that Cogitation or Perception does as is evident by the following Considerations First The first mention that we have of motion or Corporeal Action is in Relation to the Mosaical Spirit in Gen. 1.2 where it is said that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters It is true the word used in this Text for motion is seldom used but thrice in the whole Scripture to wit in this place in Deut. 32.11 and in Jer. 23.9 And therefore the direct particular meaning of it will not be easily agreed but that it imports some motion which is as much as I do urge it for is beyond dispute Motum aliquem Notari says Hotting in Exam. Hist Creat Quest 33. non est Dubitandum Secondly It is farther Evident from the very Ideas that we have of things For we cannot conceive mind as a Perceptive Cogitative substance but withall we must conceive it as Active and that there is something Energetical in it whereas on the other hand matter may and in its own proper Idea must be conceived as a thing that is only Passive not Active there being nothing of Active or Energetical in it as it is but spacious extensive substance and therefore Energy and Action cannot be conceived to proceed but from matter which in its self is Idle and unactive but rather from mind which is essentially active and busie Thirdly It may also be argued from the relation that Experience assures us is between Cogitation and Actual motion For we clearly perceive that all our voluntary motions do arise from Thought or Imagination we do move our selves or any particular part that hath the proper instruments of voluntary motion and these duly qualified at our pleasure when we will that is by imagination and thought We go we stand still which is by Tonic motion we put our hands feet heads eyes and other parts of our bodies into motion and regulate them in their several motions by will or thought ay even cogitation it self in all the several modes of it as it is sensation imagination or ratiocination does ever
a thing as Mind such a thing as Motion and that Matter is alter'd figured textur'd and infinite ways wrought upon moulded by means of motion Again it is certain that all things have not Mind in equal proportions but that some exert the acts of it in a higher way and degree and some in more ways for kind than others do and also certain that the exercises of Acts of Mind in all the ways and all the degrees of them in Corporeal Animals for we are not so well acquainted with others do much depend upon the Nature and Qualifications of their Organs that is upon Texture and Disposition of matter These things we are as certain of as that our selves be and have a true use of our faculties But if we advance farther and to endeavour to Enter and Penetrate into the very nature of Matter into that of Mind and into the Nature of Motion here being forsaken and destitute of sense to hunt for us we are much at a loss and as unable to proceed in our search an inquiry after them as to their just Realities as we are in that of things which are wholly out of our view It is hard to conceive just what matter is in its own Positive Reality also what Mind is and even what Motion is as taken for a subordinate Principle Nor can it be Demonstrated that as some will have it there is only one substance in the Universe and that Matter and Mind are only several Modifications of that one substance nor be Demonstrated that Matter for this I think they mean by substance is in its own Nature a vital Energetical thing and that the diverse Gradations of Life that are observed in the several species of Animals arise only from the several Modifications of Matter and of that life of nature as those Philosophers call it which is Essential thereto and is the root of those Perceptive Appetitive and Motive Powers that do dress up being in all the Shapes and Forms in which it appears upon the Stage of the World I will not build upon such Hypothesis which being unevident must needs be doubtful and uncertain if not false A Philosophy that shall be solid and sound must have its Ground-work and Foundations firmly laid which none can have but that which is bottomed rais'd and built upon evidence I mean upon the certain Testimony of our faculties And therefore since our faculties do rather go upon Notions than on Realities and do plainly Distinguish between Mind and Matter and as I will show in the Progress of this Discourse do Contradistinguish them I hold my self obliged to treat of these distinctly but still in the Real Notional way Mind then is Cogitative thinking or perceiving substance or Mind is the first subject of Cogitation Matter is Extensive spacious substance or the first subject of dimensive spacious Quantity In other but Equivalent terms Mind is Active substance Matter Passive substance I affirm that these latter Definitions are equivalent to the former because in effect it is the same to say that Mind is Active as to say it is Cogitative and the same to say that Matter is Passive as to say it is Spatious Extensive substance Nor is Mind Cogitation or matter extension as Des Cartes makes them but the former is Cogitative the latter Extensive substance We find a Reluctance in our minds to conceive that Cogitation is a substance as also to conceive Extension as one and yet we cannot conceive Mind and Matter but as substances The main Reason why I do distinguish Substance into Mind and Matter as into first Original kinds is because as I hinted before Cogitation and Extension that do Constitute their several Ideas are of no Relation one to another for what hath a Thought to do with a Cube or a Triangle or with Length or Breadth or Depth Certainly Cogitation and Extension are quite different Accidents without any thing in their Ideas that is Common to both and therefore the first subject of the one cannot be conceived the first subject of the other their subjects must be substances of quite as different kinds as themselves are at least to us since all the diversity we can conceive in substances is and must be taken from the accidents they have these being the Characters by and under which alone we do perceive and know and by consequence can only distinguish them I insist herein the more for that many think that Mind is only an Accident and that taken for a substance it is unintelligible and a meer Chimera so that tho' Matter is acknowledged by them to be a substance it will not be yielded that Abstract separate mind can be one But those that think it so if they consider'd that men have no conception of substance nor can have any of it but as it is a subject of Accidents they would soon change their Opinion For the Accident of Cogitation or of Activity that Mind is the subject of is as distinctly and clearly conceiveable as that of Extension or of Passivity which matter is the subject of Nor is the thing it self that is the subject of Extension or of Passivity any more Conceiveable but by and under this that is the substance of mind and matter are equally conceiveable and equally unconceiveable They know no more what that is in it self that is extended than what that is that is Cogitative and may be as sure that they do think as they are that they are spacious ay they cannot know that they are spacious but by thinking But of spatiosity or extension the Accident that constitutes matter I shall have occasion to discourse hereafter when I come to speak of quantity I proceed now to discourse of Mind The Idea I have given of Mind that it is the Immediate subject or as others perhaps would chuse to say the Immediate Principle of Cogitation Energy or Activity is much more easie to be conceived than that of Spinosa when he defines the human mind to be the Idea of a body or thing actually existing for Mind even the human is not so properly said to be an Idea as to be the Principle our Cause efficient of Ideas since all Ideas even in common sense are conceived and Mind is that which conceives them Thus it is in our Refracted Inadequate Real-Notional way of conceiving and for an Adequate and just one as it is above our faculties so I do not find that Spinosa or Mal. Branche after all their Ambitious Researches in that higher way have edified the World thereby to any great Degree This way of seeing all things in God and in their own proper Realities is a way much out of the way Otherwise when they keep the lower way of sense many of their thoughts are surprizing and excellent SECT II. A two fold Consideration of Mind one as it is Abstracted from Matter the other as it is Concerned with Matter What is meant by Concernment of Mind with Matter Of Mind
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
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
there is no Actual Intellection but when that of the Understanding is and that tho' we have always the Power of Understanding as we have that of seeing yet we do not actually Exercise that Power but when it is drawn into Act by some Impression upon it either from the Will within or from Objects without any more than we do Actually see c. but when the Eye c. is Affected In fine since nothing of Cogitation is done within us by the Soul Immediately but only by means of the Understanding or of the will or of the sense External or Internal and All these are rather Faculties than Actions I believe I have Reason to Conclude that the Soul is rather a System of the Faculties or else a Principle of them than that it is a Perpetual never ceasing Exercise or Action It is rather Actus than Actio in the Language of the Schools And tho' in the Opinion of these it be Essentially an Act Actus Corporis an Informing form to the Body yet in other Respects it is but Actus Primus not Actus Secundus for tho' it be an Original Principle of Action and so an Active Power yet in it self it is but a Power and not Actually Active or Acting but in the Requisite Circumstances Thus we are Obliged to speak to wit inadequately in the Notions of Power and Act or Faculties and Exercise And thus much for the First Objection The Second is that in this Hypothesis in the last Result God is made the Immanent cause whereas Really and according to the truth of Revelation Gen. 1. he is only a Transient Cause of all things But to this the Answer is Easie for tho' in Gen. 1. God is Represented as he is in Reality to be the Almighty Creator of all and so as a Transient Cause yet in this sense he is also the Immanent that by the Mosaical Spirit he giveth Life and Being and Motion unto all and this according to the Apostle who says that in him we live and move and have our being as well as to Common Metaphysicks which tell us that all Beings are either First or second Beings and that Second Beings are Participations of the First And however strange it may Look now it was certainly of Old the Common sentiment of all the Wiser part of the World the Jewish Doctors as well as Gentile Philosophers and even of many Ancient Fathers of the Christian Church it would be Superfluous as well as Tedious to mention all if I could and therefore to confine my self within Fitting Bounds I will instance two or three of the Chief for Examples The first shall be Apuleius in his Book de Mundo a Book ascribed to Aristotle and by Huetius to Posidonius and for certain it was originally Greek where he says vetus opinio est atque Cogitationes omnium hominum penitus Insedit Deum Essentiae originis haberi Auctorem Deumque ipsum salutem esse Perseverantiam earum quas effecerit rerum neque ulla Res est quae viduata dei Auxilio sui naturâ contenta sit Hanc Opinionem vates secuti profiteri ausi sunt omnia Jove plena esse It is an Ancient Opinion and imprinted on the hearts of all Mortals c. And afterwards he adds Sed cum credamus Deum per omnia permeare ad nos ad ultra potestatem sui nominis tendere quantum abest vel Imminet tantum Existimandum est eum amplius minusue rebus utilitatis dare Tho' it is true that in conclusion he compares God to a Great King that does many things by his Ministers The second shall be Seneca who in his 65th Epistle among many other expressions to the same purpose has this in so many words Quem in hoc Mundo Locum Deus Obtinet hunc in homine Animus What God is in reference to the World that same the Soul is in respect of a Man The third shall be the Emperor Marcus Antoninus who in his 4th Book Sect. 40 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Be always minding that this World is like an Animal that hath but one Substance or one Soul I had not cited this Emperor after I had cited Seneca seeing both were Stoicks but that in doing so I knew I should have occasion to refer my Reader to Mr. Gataker who in his Annotations on this passage of Antoninus has made a large Collection of Authorities to the same intendment which saves me a farther Labour The last that I will mention shall be a most Celebrated Father in the Christian Church the great St. Austin for I omit the Excellent Origen tho' as Learned as he for being more obnoxious and I will cite the Testimony he gives as I find it in a Schoolman to show that some even of the Schoolmen were in the same Opinion Orbellis then for he is the Schoolman I intend upon the first of the Sentences Dist 8. Q. 2. says just as Seneca Sicut Deus in Majori Mundo sic Anima in Minori as God is in the greater World so is the Soul in the lesser and then by a simple Conversion of the Sentences what the Soul is in the lesser World of Man that God must be in the greater and this he says is according to St. Augustine sicut enim says he Deus est in Majori Mundo sic Anima in Minori viz. in homine secundum Augustinum Only here it must be observed that when God is compared unto a Soul it must be understood with due limitation to wit as a Soul is taken only for a Principle of Powers and Actions and not as it is an informing Form or part of the Animal for that God should be a Soul in this latter sense is a notion no ways agreeing to him who in himself is all and only perfection Another Objection is that God and Nature are confounded in this Hypothesis so that it is not easie to say what is the interest of God in things and what is Natures or how they differ to which I Reply that indeed in the Holy Scriptures all is ascribed to God and the Spirit of God without any mention of Nature and yet since there are second Causes as well as a first and so there is a thing which we call Nature for by this I now mean nothing but second Causes and their working it will be very convenient to show how God how Nature does operate and how they differ and this perhaps may be done upon the proposed Hypothesis better than on any other For in this God and Nature are distinguished as the Soul of an Animal and the System of Faculties taking the Soul as it is in the common Opinion for the Principle of Faculties and Faculties for the immediate Principles of all actions of Animals and thus Active Nature is the System of all the Powers all the Faculties of the Universe and God the essential Principle of them Or