a great Naturalist viz. What kind of Matter or Thing is the Soul apart from the Body Where lies the Cogitation which she hath What doth she apart by her self without the assistance of Bodily Organs Mr. M. in this Chapter ascribes to his sort of Soul a great number and variety of Actions and Powers but he does not so much as affirm that any of them are Used or Acted without the assistance of the Bodily Organs P. 25. he ascribes Noble Faculties and Capacities to the Humane Soul which he does not say ever appear'd to the World saving in and by its Conjunction with the Body He saies The excellency of a Substance must be known by the Powers Radicated in it It seems he should first have proved or said something concerning the Substance of his Soul separated from the Body or that really there is such a Substance before he had ascribed such Excellencies to it The Observer ascribes all those Excellencies to the Person agreeing that they do belong especially to the Rational Faculty or Mind of Man which Mr. M. neither does nor can maintain to have a separate Subsistence after the Death of the Body P. 26. Mr. M. saies It is manifest that the Nature of the Soul is very vigorous and sprightly He should first have Proved That a Soul considered separate from the Body has a Nature and discovered something to us concerning it But he did well to forbear the pretending to that Performance which the Observer believes is far beyond his Ability but seeing he has not done it the Observer conceives That all his following Structure and Arguments proceed ex non concessis and therefore make no good Proof of those things which they have been alledged for But that all those things which he has ascribed to the Soul are really belonging to the Person but are principally Performed by the Rational Faculty or Mind of Man P. 27. Mr. M. saies When we are asleep the Soul is often at work in causing divers Dreams and Apprehensions in the Night And thus he ascribes to the Soul those Operations which properly belong to the Imaginations of Men and which never was known to proceed from a Soul separately considered Mr. M. says further That a Philosopher thought That Men's Dreaming when asleep was an intimation that they should Live when Dead Which Thought is here past by the Observer for a Philosopher's Dream P. 28. Mr. M. saies It is evident from his Collections here That the nature of the Soul is very active Whereas it does not yet appear That the Soul has any Nature at all if it shall be separately considered from the Body He saies further That the vigour of the Mind in dying Persons appears sometimes as strong or rather stronger than it did in their better health This Case the Observer thinks to be very rare and that when it happens it may reasonably be ascribed to such Obstructions as hinder the passage of those Spirits to and through the other Parts of the Body which forces them to a close and more full residence in and about the Brain than in their former State they us'd to have P. 29 Mr. M. saies That when the E. of Rochester was very near his End his Body very weak in all the other Parts of it his Reason and Judgment was still so strong and clear as that be became thereby more strongly perswaded of the Soul's Immortality To which the Observer Replies That the Earl might possibly be mistaken as well in the strength of his Reason and Judgment as in that of his Soul's Immortality He might have a better Opinion of his Reason and Judgment at that time than perhaps there was cause for but if that Opinion of his was true The Observer saies That the Spirits might then be more plentiful in his Brain because they had little Employment in the other Parts of his Body and because they are better preserved in the Head from all assaults of Nature by the strength and fortification of the Dura mater and the Pia mater and the strong Efforts of Nature to preserve the Head for whose Defence the other Members of Man's Body are apt and ready to expose themselves P. 30. Mr. M. saies That the Vnderstanding is a very Noble Faculty eager in its pursuits after Knowledge And then goes on to Prove this by divers Instances but without any need for his so doing because all that he has said here agrees well with the Observer's Opinion and is not opposed by him P. 13 Mr. M. asks What it is that compounds and divides things at pleasure and raises invented Beings of them The Observer Answers It is the Imagination of Man He makes several Demands What it is produces several like Effects Answered It is the Mind of Man or his Rational Faculty which dies and perishes with the Person P. 32 M. M. saies here That there is a difference betwixt Man's Imagination and his Vnderstanding Which the Observer thinks consists more in Terms and Notions suited to Men's Conceptions and Discourses than in the essential or real Differences amongst the Things or Powers He saies further That the Imagination is jaded and tired Which the Observer takes liberty to deny For that if the Eye can be satisfied with Seeing or the Ear with Hearing yet the Imagination is never tired with Conceiving or Thinking in general although it may be glutted with Thinking very long of one Subject P. 33. Mr. M. goes on here to magnify the Power of Humane Understanding from many Topicks all which it seems conduce little to the Proof of this Point for that in all this he never observes or affirms That it Acts in any thing separated from the Body nor without the assistance of Bodily Organs nor has any Man ever affirmed nor does himself say That the Humane Understanding survives after the Death of the Person Mr. M. saies further That Men cannot imagine that a little Wheat-meal in two or three Days should become capable of Mathematical Speculations By which Words it appears clearly to the Understanding of the Observer That Mr. M. is very much mistaken in the State and Case of this Argument For the Observer has never said intended or maintained That Wheat-meal in Two or Three Days time or at any time is or can be capable of understanding any thing at all and it shews want of ordinary Apprehension in Mr. M. if he ever has or does now conceive there was such an Error in that Pamphlet which he undertakes to Answer And therefore to clear up the Clouds of his Understanding in this Point The Observer will take pains to inform him That the State of the Case in this Question stands thus He conceives and affirms That God Created the Body of Man and put it into such a State of Perfection so filled with Blond and Humour and set them into such a State of Pullulation and Fermentation that the Steems thence arising became fit and capable of being tinded and
kindled by the fanning of a competent Breath or Wind which God caus'd to be Breathed into him or according to the usual Expression God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life This Breath tinded the fresh Steems of the Bloud and Humour and kindled in Adam the Flame of Life And that was continued and maintained in his Body by the continual fanning of that Breath of Life And whensoever that Breath is stopped such Flame must needs be extinguished and that Extinguishment is the very Death of the Person Now tho' this gentle Flame when the Body is well conditioned is not uritory but lambent yet thereby and by continual Motion of the pure Bloud which Daily supplies inflamed Spirits for Actuating and Enlivening the several Parts of the Humane Body upon that account it suffers a considerable and Daily waste and consumption for supply of which a little Wheat-meal or something of that Nature is often required and Daily necessary Our Daily Experience teaches us that an active and lively Spirit may be Extracted from a Decoction of the Grains of Wheat or Malt or Flesh or any like sorts of Nourishment which by Comminution is fitted for a more easie Concoction after which the fitting result is converted into Chyle and that after is changed into Bloud and is then sent up to the Heart for a Purification and thence departing is fanned and made glowing by the Breath and those inflamed Particles pass up through the Arteries into the Head and Brain where meeting with Organs prepared by God for that purpose they cause and maintain such Life Power and Activity as are suitable to those Purposes for which God at the first Created and Intended them And by such their Motion Activity and Energy amongst those Capital Organs are produced the Affectionate Sensitive Perceptive Imaginative Estemative Memorative and Voluntary Powers and Faculties of the Humane Head or Brain And such Stock of Spirits as are found redundant in that Receptacle descend from thence by the Nerves and are by them Communicated to every Part and Member of the Body to which they Communicate Life Sense and Motion but no understanding because there are no other Organs in the Body capacitated for that Performance but only in the Head These Spirits and the Bloud of which they are formed give Life Strength and Motion to every Part and Member of the Body and therefore are called Vital Spirits and yet these Spirits and the Bloud out of which they are formed have neither Sense nor Life For if a Vein be opened and the fresh Bloud be suffer'd to spurt into the Fire neither the Blood nor the Party will be sensible of Pain by the so doing Whence it appears That these Bloud and Spirits cause that Sense and Life in the Body which they themselves have not when separated from it And the like we say for the Inflamed Spirits which ascend up to the Head and actuate the Organs there found We say that the Kephaline Organs deprived of such Spirits are not intelligent but a dead and stupid Matter And that the Inflamed Spirits though of great Metle and Activity are neither Intellective nor Sensitive but that by acting the Kephaline Organs they cause and produce Life Sense Reason and Activity in the Person and thereby are performed such Actions and they produce such effects as God intended should commonly be produced in the Persons of Men. And this may be much illustrated and proved by an Argument a Simily taken from the Structure of a Musical Organ the Fabrick of which consists of a great number of Pipes well ordered and put together every of which Pipes is made to render a Singular and Particular Sound of Treble Mean Tenor or Bass All which together well Constituted and rightly Ordered by the Skill of the Artificer imployed by an Active Hand send forth such Pleasing and Harmonious Sounds as are both delightful and admirable to the Considerate Hearers and yet all this Fabrick is but a dead and stupid Matter and can do nothing of it self without being supplied with a suitable Spirit from another Agent the Bellows But upon receiving from thence a suitable Breath or Spirit for putting all its Powers and Capacities into Action it makes the most excellent Harmony of any Instrument in the World which is a Proceeding well known unto Men by daily Experience and whereby it clearly appears That the Fabrick of the Organ by it self or the Inspiring Breath or Wind of the Bellows can make no Musical Sound at all but are each of them singly utterly incompetent for that purpose The Wind proceeding from the Bellows has no such Sound in it self but by entring into the Pipes and acting them receives such a Modulation and Conformation of Sounds as the Artificer who made the Organ intended should be produced And by this Simily it plainly appears That neither the Wind by it self nor the Fabrick of the Organ by it self can perform any part of that Harmony which by the Design of the Artificer was intended to be effected So as the Wind coming from the Bellows which has no Sound at all does by its Passage into the Fabrick and Pipes thereof and the acting of them produce Sounds so melodious as affect the considerate Hearers with Delight and Wonder And now the Observer does apply this Simile to Teach and Demonstrate the great Art and Skill shewn by the great Artificer of the World in contriving the Body and especially the Head of Man in such wonderful manner as it might be continually Enlivened and Acted by such a Material Spirit as he intended for it to be continually supplied from the Bloud which was also to be supplied by Daily Nourishment provided by God and given to Man for that purpose and was always to be fanned and thereby continued in a lasting Flame so long as the Life of the Person should endure This Similitude Proves That a Material Spirit Acting in fit Organs may produce such Operations as the Spirit alone or the Organs alone have not the like Capacity to Perform quae non prosunt singula juncta juvant The inflamed Spirits of Bloud have neither Affections Senses nor Intellect nor have the Kephaline Organs these Powers of or by themselves but the Spirit Acting those Organs as the Wind does in the Organ-Pipes there is produced in both the Fabricks in Statu Composito by those Powers and Faculties so Acted that which is in no measure is found in the Constituent Parts of such a Compositum considered in a State of Separation from one another And upon this whole Discourse the Observer thinks it very clear That Mr. M. either did not understand the Intent of that Pamphlet he pretends to Answer and the Forms of Expressions there used or else he intended to Impose upon his unwary Readers and Ridicule them by his witty Expression here used If the former he seems thereby Convicted of great Ignorance and Mis-apprehension if the latter it seems he Disingenuously intended to
out all the Man's Blood at one Orifice and in the mean while intromit the Blood of a Calf or a Sheep into that Man's Body at another Orifice the Beast must Die but the Man will Live without any clear sense of the loss of his own Blood Nor will he only live or move by the Virtue of his new receiv'd Blood but he will have the use of all his Senses Speech Intellect and Memory as he had before and which without such fresh supply of Blood would have been utterly lost The Observer further consider'd That by a failure of any of the sensitive Organs the Man may and often does lose the use of that Sense so as the Spirit cannot act the Sense but only in its proper Organ and both of them must be sound for the production of it The Spirit also can Speak by the Tongue but not without it it can Imagine in the fore-part of the Brain but no where else it can Estimate and Judge in the middle-middle-part of the Head and Remember only in the back-part of it If the Blood and Spirit be over Thin and Watry Phlegmatick Scorbutick or too Hot and Fevescent too Salt or Sharp the Brain may be ill affected from any of these or the like Causes which Physicians intend to remedy by Purging or restoring to a right State the Stomack Liver or other Parts where the Sanguification is made If the Imagination be tainted they apply Fomentations Blood-letting or Plaisters to the fore-part of the Head if the Judgment be crazed they apply to the middle-part of the Head if the Memory fail they do so to the hind-part of the Head and divers times with very good success performing divers Cures thereupon He further Consider'd That in Distempers of the Brain and failures of the Understanding Physicians do Advise and Men Practise with good success the changes of Air Diet Company fresh or sweet Smells Mirth Jollity with a Cup of good Wine and good Effects have follow'd all these Prescriptions and Practices The Observer ponder'd and conceiv'd within himself That all these were Natural and proper Remedies for correcting the Distempers of the Blood and restoring the imbecillities of the Organs or removing such Obstructions as hinder'd the Operation of them but neither any of them nor altogether were likely to effect or work any thing at all upon an Immaterial Intelligent Spirit Men tell us That this Spirit Acts and Works all that it does by Intervention of the Material Spirits of the Blood but they give us no other Proof of what they say than that the Bodily Organs are not cannot be Acted but by means of these Spirits That we grant and say That there neither is nor needs an Intelligent Spirit for the Acting of them but that they of themselves do Act and are enough to Act the Bodily Organs Daily supplied as they are with Food and Nourishment from the Ambient World as a River is supplied from its Fountains and Plants with Sap extracted from the Earth If the Root cannot extract that the Plant must die if the Fountains fail the livers dry up and if the Sensitive Creatures want nourishment their Spirits fail and their Limbs and Bodies wither consume and die for want of such Supplies gas are suitable to their Natures These Considerations wrought upon the Observer to make a further search into this Disquisition He ruminated long upon it and then propounded it to other People whom he thought capable of it but found not one amongst them who had a compliance for it but maintain'd the contrary The main Argument that they rely'd upon for the defence of it was the largeness of it spread in the World and amongst the Divines and Doctors of it whence it was become so radicated that if it was an Error it was become irremediable and that the endeavouring to remove it out of Mens Minds might do more harm to the Peace of the Church than the Planting of a new Opinion tho' true could do good by the Truth of it This Argument à Commodo did not enough prevail with the Observer to give over and desert his Design and Search concerning this Point but he still Ruminated Conferr'd and Read as Opportunity serv'd him He search'd the Scriptures and Read them many times over and Noted upon a Paper whatsoever he there met with concerning this Subject He procur'd all Books that Treated of it and which he could attain by Buying or Borrowing and gave them an attentive Perusal and then Writ down his own Thoughts and Collections upon them and Publish'd that Pamphlet how opposed by Mr. M. in such a manner as the Observer cannot tell in what manner to Reply to it Mr. M. has so twisted and complicated together his Rhetorick Logick and Metaphysick that it is not easie to distinguish which of his Expressions belongs to one which to another and delivered what he saies in such an Athletick and Domineering Style that he has sometimes attracted a Sympathizing return from the Observer different from the usual course of his Nature He apprehends that Mr. M. intended with Alexander to cut in sunder the Gordian Knot of this Question by his sharp and piercing Style But he thinks he is there-from well Defended by the Shield and Buckler of Faith and Patience the Faith and Belief That he holds the Truth in this Point and a Patience supported with a knowledge That New Truths are not to be maintained without an apparent Consequence of Suffering Prov. 26.4 5. Solomon gives a double Direction in this Case one in direct Words contrary to the other and the Observer has happened to follow the Direction of both Places sometimes of the one sometimes of the other according as it happen'd and perhaps as Solomon intended The Observer did Incite Mr. B. to Write an Answer to his Pamphlet expecting from him such an one as would be Knowing Solid and Temperate instead of which Mr. M's Treatise is Printed with little of the first Requisite in it and nothing at all of the other two as tho' he did not design to draw a Sinner from the Error of his way but weakly Triumphum canere ante Victoriam He saies Men will be apt to censure all Philosophy for the ill use the Observer has made of it in his Pamphlet The Observer saies That there are ill uses made by Mr. M's Metaphysical Arguments produced concerning the uncertainty of Mens Persons happening by the Alterations pertaining to their Bodies and Souls and such other like Parts of his Treatise But those that consider the Scheme of Philosophy that the Observer has now laid down cannot without contradiction to their own Sensations pretend a probable Reason of Quarrel to it If that Herd amongst which Mr. M Officiates shall happen to make any Quarrel to it it will but prove the state of their own Ignorance and that they Err in so doing as perhaps they may be found to do in divers other Things The Observer did ever and does still
expected in a future State All what he saies more of the Soul in this Place the Observer applies to the Mind and Understanding of Man in Statu concreto P. 39 Mr. M. offers an Argument of the Soul's Immortality from the Reflection in can make upon its own Conceptions and Opinions The Observer Replies That it is a Rational Power of the Mind or Understanding of Man to make such Reflections upon it self and its own Conceptions and Conclusions whereby it is enabled to change and alter them as often as it sees cause and the Change of Occasions may require Further Mr. M. saies That indeed we cannot know what the Soul is but by these Circular and Reflex Motions To which the Observer Replies That then indeed we can have no certain Knowledge of it at all We do not doubt concerning a Reflecting Power in the Mind of Man but cannot perceive That it gives Men any more true Knowledge of the State of their Souls than they had before they considered this Reflecting Power And if Mr. M. knew how this Consideration might make them know more of their Souls than they did before he should have assisted them with Directions to attain such Knowledge of it as they are very desirous to obtain P. 35. Mr. M. saies Let the Heard of Materialists muster up their Forces and give us a Rational Intelligible Account of those Operations of the Intellect and how they can arise from the Effects of the Power of Matter and Motion As if in other Words he should ask After what manner the Animal Spirits do or can produce Reason and Intellect in the Heads of Men. Also P. 36. he demands How Matter and Motion can produce even Sense it self To this Demand the Observer Answers That he acknowledges his Ignorance how such things are Acted in the Persons or Heads of Men But he conceives this Demand ought not to have been made by Mr. M. until he had Answered those other Demands which the Observer had before made to Mr. B. concerning his sort of Soul viz. That he should Prove quod sit quid sit unde oritur quando ingreditur ubi residot quomodo operatur quo avolat To any of which Propositions Mr. M. has made no Answer altho' without so doing he can with no good Face Demand of the Observer to solve his quomodo operatur Concerning the Material Soul the Observer saies He has given and can give a Rational Account of his sort of Soul in the Things before-named viz. of the quod quid unde quando ubi quo but confesses his Ignorance concerning his Quomodo But things That those who can Prove none of those Things before-mentioned concerning their sort of Soul do very unfitly reproach the Ignorance of the Observer in this onely Point concerning the Quomodo and that their so doing suits well with our Lord's Expression concerning the Practice of pulling Motes out of another Man's Eye whilst they have Beams in their own First let them pull the beams out of their own Eyes before they undertake to charge their Brethren with lesser Failings than may be found in themselves First Let them account for their quod quid c. before they charge their Opponent for his Ignorance in the Quomodo which he esteems to be the Arcanum Artificis and Inscrutable by any Humane Power And things it Reasonable That before they urge him to an Account for the Quomodo in this Question they should make some progress upon Questions of a like but lower Nature which occur to them in the World Let them First walk into their Gardens and Orchards and in the first consider the Herbs and Flowers which they may find there of which there may be a wonderful Variety and Diversity and then inquire within themselves and confer with others concerning the Quomodo of their Production and what the Particular and Special Causes are of their difference in Bulk Height Fashion Colour Lustre Scent and the Quomodo of all their Productions the Particulars of which the Observer things to be Inscrutable In general Men know there is Root Stem and Skin enough for these Productions and that there is Spirit and Sap enough drawn from the Earth for the Enlivening and Growth of them But what the Modifications are of such Matter or Spirit or both of them together and which produce among them so great a Variety or Diversity the Observer conceives was never yet found out nor undertaken by any Man who has given an Account of his Success to the World And the like Question the Observer propounds concerning the Trees of the Orchard Men find amongst them a sufficient Matter of Root Bole Bark Branches and Twigs Also a plentiful Spirit or Sap ascending mostly between the Bark and the Tree enlivening it and fructifying the uttermost Twigs of it and causing the Production of Leaves Blossoms and Fruit but the Quomodo of this Performance he holds also to be Inscrutable And before Mr. M. demand an Account of the Quomodo the Spirits produce Intellingence in the Head of Man let him first account to the Observer or the World for the Quomodo of an Oaken Leaf by what means and after what manner the Spirit and the Matter work together for the producing of it And then consider and account for the great variety of Wood Leaves Blossoms Seed and Fruit from what particular Compositions or Modifications of Matter or Spirit such Things Varieties and Differences do proceed From these lower Inquiries let him ascend to the Consideration of the Brutal Nature and consider by what sort of Operations or Contexture of Spirit and Matter the Powers and Actions of that Nature are derived Men know that there passes a Spirit in the Seed of those Creatures into Receptacles fit for the Fermentaion Fomentation and Coagulation of them and that from those Principles the Bodies and Souls of Beasts do proceed and being afterwards brought to Perfection then to the World in their several Forms and different Structure of Body they live are nourished and grow to their several Perfections and that in their Natural State they enjoy and use Strength and Activity Local Motions Affections Desires Passions Sensations Perceptions Fancies and Memories Men see that they have Matter suitable for those purposes Flesh Bones Nerves Sinews Muscles Arteries Veins Fibres and divers other necessary Parcels of their Material Bodies and that these are enlivened and acted by the Spiritual and yet Material Powers of Bloud and Breath Out of the Mass of Bloud purified and heated in the Hearts of such Creatures there arise pure Particles of Bloud fit and ready to be inflamed and which presently are kindled and tinded by fanning of the Breath in the same or like manner as has been before described in relating the State and condition of Man in such Cases and by the Matter before described Organized and the Material Spirits of the Bloud before specified acted together in a fit and suitable Contexture one with another it is evident all the
Powers and Actions of the Brutes are thus derived But concerning the Quomodo from what sort of Contexture and manner of Mixture with what sorts of Spirits and sorts of Organs and what Quantity and Purity are thereunto required Also the how after what manner Applicando activa passivis the Bestial Powers and Actions proceed from them the Observer esteems to be the Arcanum Opificis and this Mr. M. himself confesses to be so How then can he without some measure of Effrontery demand an Account of the Observer concerning the Quomodo or manner of proceeding in Efficiency of Perception Intellect and Memory by Motion and Operation of the Spirits in the Heads of Men. Quae Supra nos nihil ad nos It is not in the Power or Intellect of Man to proceed so far in the Scrutinies of Nature but rather it seems Men must let that alone for ever and leave that Mystery undiscovered and untouched to rest in the deep Fountain of God's Knowledge and Wisdom It seems also to be worthy of further Observation That all Men who have received and believed the Opinion that there are separate Intelligent Spirits in the World which Act and Perform divers things that exceed the ordinary Capacity of Humane Power it is ordinary for such Men to Apprehend upon sight of any strange thing done the Quomodo of which they cannot Investigate or find out the Reasons of it That those Things or Actions are the Performances of such Intelligent Spirits So Plato Apprehending the Souls of Men to exceed the ordinary Capacity of Man's Understanding fram'd this Imagination concerning them That they did Pre-exist before their coming into the Bodies of Men even before the Existence of our present World That in a former World they had displeased God by their Misbehaviours and that upon Creation of our present World they were doomed and put into Bodies of Clay as into Cages or Prisons and to pass in way of Drudgery from one Body to another for their Punishment and Purgation until some of them might attain such Degrees of Purity as to ratise themselves above the Lower Regions and attain to the Places of their former Stations And that other Ordinary Souls not so Purified must still continue in the Works of their Drudgery and so pass from Prison to Prison till the time Appointed for the Duration of this World be fully Passed Finished and Ended Aristotle conceiv'd That each of the Planets was fixed in a several Orb which had a continual Orbicular Motion And when he could not invent for them a Rational or likely Cause of such Motion he satisfied himself with pretending That those Orbs were moved each by its particular Angel whom he was pleased to call by the Names of Intelligences We Read of some strange Fabricks made by the Hands of Artificers as Tripodes in the Temple of Vulcan made by Daedalus which would remove of themselves from one Place to another without any visible assistance And Architas's Pigeon made at Tarentum which would Fly high into the Air and there make divers Doubles and Turns and then return to the Place from which she parted The first of these pass'd for a Miracle done by the Power of the God Vulcan and the second for the Act of a Daemon inclosed in the Fabrick of the Pigeon In our Times Namely of King Hen. VIII liv'd Regiomontanus a great Artist of this kind who at a Royal Reception of the Emperor into Nuremburg caus'd an Eagle of Wood covered with Feathers to meet the Emperor upon the Road and return with him to the City hovering over that Royal Head or near it until he came to the Gate of it which all the Spectators took for a Miracle But when they understood it was an Artificial Fabrick they said no Man could effect such a thing by Natural Means but the Motion must needs be made by an inclosed Daemon or Intelligent Spirit From which Aspersion of Necromancy the Artist could never reclaim the People especially because that some Years after he made a Fly whose Matter and Substance was all of Iron which at a solemn Feast made by that Emperor crept from the Sleeve of the Artist who sat at the lower end of the Table and rising thence she Flew up along one side of the Table before the Guests Faces then cross'd it at the end before the Emperor and flew in like manner down the other side of the Table to the lower end where the Artist put forth his Hand and receiv'd her and she crept again under his Sleeve to her former Station This made a great noise and cry in the World against the poor Artificer whom the Emperor did with difficulty defend against the Violences and Exclamations of the People though he shew'd and demonstrated his Works and Devices made in the Bodies of these Machines For the People who could not understand that such things could possibly be done by Humane Art said Those things were but pretended to make a shew of Artificial Working whereas the Truth could not be otherwise than that such Motion or Action must needs be Performed by the Force and Power of a separate Intelligence And the Case now Disputed seems very like this Our Opponents will not believe That the Skill and Power of God can Act the Fabrick of Man's Body by the Force and Energy of a Material Unintelligent Spirit but that in the Acting of Humane Powers he must needs employ a separate subsisting and Intelligent Spirit And this is the Case which is now Disputed amongst us The Observer Maintains That God can Animate and Act the Humane Fabrick and cause to be Performed all the Actions and Powers of Man by the Force and Energy of a Material Unintelligent Spirit And this was the Issue in the very Point Disputed betwixt this Observer and Mr. B. whose Sermon p. 27. positively delivers in these Words Omnipotence it self cannot Create a Cogitative Body not that there wants Power in God so to do but that the reason of his not being able so to do arises from the incapacity of the Matter and because the Ideas of Matter and Thought are incompatible The Observer in his Pamphlet of Observations upon this Sermon Flatly deny's the Truth of this Assertion and argues against it both by Reasons and Instances in that Pamphlet To which Mr. M. in this Treatise professes to Answer and yet he is pleased to slip over this Point without taking any Notice or making any mention of it The reason of which his pretended Negligence is clearly this He durst not undertake to maintain Mr. B's Assertion and was very unwilling to own that it was an Error or that the Observer had the better of him in any thing The Laws of True and Fair-dealing requir'd of him to take Notice of this Question which was mainly Disputed by the Observer against Mr. B. in that short Pamphlet and either to have Maintained Mr. B's Assertion or confest That it was an Error And his avoiding so to do
any other sinning Creature We have before said That there are no inordinate Motions in those Spirits any more than there is in the Wind by which the Organ-pipes are Acted Neither of those sorts of Motions are voluntary but necessary and follow the Guidance of Nature which does not usually Err in her Productions Mr. M. here Quotes Cicero sentit animus se moveri sentit se vi sua non aliena moveri The Observer denies the truth of Cicero's Assertion and desires Mr. M. in his next Treatise to make some Proof that it is true without passing it upon Cicero's Ipse dixit Mr. M. agrees That we ought not to over-look the Concourse of the First Cause or his Acting with his Creatures in a way suitable to their Natures The Observer saies That if he had kept himself close to this Duty he would not have needed the Invention or Opinion of Man's being Acted by a separate Intelligent Spirit but rather would have given God the true Glory of Framing and Acting the Persons of Men by such Art and Skill of Natural Productions and Agents as Mens Minds may well Admire but never attain to the knowledge of that Skill by which these strange Things are wrought amongst us continually P. 55 Mr. M. saies If the Materiality be true no Man can Rationally believe a Future State or Retribution because the Person when he dies is not the same that he was a Month before The Observer Answers That the Man when he dies is the same Person that he was 40 Years before if he has Liv'd so long and the very same Person that came out of his Mother's Womb in common Account Understanding and Reasoning If Mr. M. should Buy a Horse and Toll him in a Market and after he has had him a while another should come and challenge him for his Mr. M. must Prove his lawful change of Property by Testimony upon Oath That this is the same Horse which he Bought and entred there into the Toll-book But this it seems Mr. M. cannot safely induce any Man to Swear because the Horse has suffered many Alterations according to his Doctrine between the time of the Tolling and that of the Challenge It seems Mr. M. would be loth to lose his Horse upon so nice and frivolous a Scruple and yet if he should prove so vain the Observer would by no means follow such a President But durst himself Swear and produce others to do so That this is the same Horse which he Bought and Toll'd in a Market Two Years ago And so for Proof of a Marriage made 40 Years ago That these Two are the same Persons whom Witnesses saw Marryed at the same time and Place And so for Trees Rivers and Mountains tho' they are always under divers Alterations and Changes yet Men often do safely may and for testifying the Truth ought to Swear That they have always during their knowledge stood in such Places or run in such Courses the same Hills Trees or Rivers that they now are Mr. M. saies Nay none of those Things are the same that they were a Week ago because of the changes of their Particles in every short space of time And it shall thereupon be left to the Reader to believe which of us he pleases P. 55 Mr. M saies That the Observer owns a Resurrection and Future Judgment t is likely to serve a turn The Observer Replies That this Parenthesis contains a very Impudent and False Assertion For it must Assert one of these two Things That either the Doctrine it self is a pretended Doctrine set up amongst Men to serve a Turn generally Or else That the Observer owns the belief of it with intent to serve a Turn his particular Turn in this Dispute or in other the like Cases It seems Mr. M. should not have a Face so well steel'd as to pretend That the Doctrine of the Resurrection is or can be pretended to be set up to serve a Turn generally in the Church because it is so throughly and undeniably Prov'd by a clear and forcible Current of the New Testament passing through all the Gospels and other Parts of it to the end and conclusion of the Revelations And that the Observer sets it up for a particular End of his own can by no means be known to Mr. M. unless he pretend to the knowledge of those Mens Thoughts he never saw or that the Spirit had communicated the same unto him He does not declare That he had this knowledge by either of these means nor by what other means he attain'd to it But if he should pretend the Revelation of the Spirit for it the Observer is able faithfully to assure him and does assure him That it was a Lying Spirit and that it never entred into the Observer's Heart to make such a false Pretence in the Face of Heaven and of the World And he does not know or believe that lie was or ever intends to be guilty of such a false Design nor he hopes of any Crime in that kind that may equal it He expects therefore That Mr. M. shall either make better Proof of this Assertion in a future Treatise or else acknowledge That he has wrong'd the Observer by this False and Injurious Charge against the Observer's own Knowledge and beyond any sort of Proof Which Mr M. can make for justifying of the same Mr. M's Arguments concerning the Knowledge of Individuation and Personality may be paralell'd by a short Story A Young Student coming home from the University was at Supper with his Father and Mother and there were two Eggs for them all The Father wish'd there had been three Eggs so that each of them might have had one The Son Replies He could make them three and taking up one Egg shew'd there was one still in the Dish Then put in the other Egg again and said Now there are two Eggs and then one and two are three The Father thereupon took up one Egg for himself and gave the other to his Wife and bad the Son take the third for himself and thus by plain Sensation confuted the Son's pretended Sophistry Mr. M. pretends That all the certainty of Humane Personality arises from the unchangeableness of the Intelligent Soul But that saies the Observer cannot be seen perceiv'd or known by any Powers of Humane Nature nor is by himself believed He saies That the Tree and the Horse have each of them a Soul or Spirit of Life as well as the Man the Tree a Vegetative the Horse a Sensative the Man a Rational one yet none of these Souls can be known in particular from others of their Kind But the certainty of their Individuations must arise from outward Signs Testimonies and Tokens which are subject to be discerned by the Sensations of Men. And this he thinks is enough to Convince the Reader That the Absurdity which Mr. M. pretends to raise from this Topick is sufficiently Answered and Confuted P. 56 Mr. M. saies There is
desire a sober knowing and Canvas of his Opinion The Primitive Greek Churches Disturbed and Divided by the Heresies of Sabellius Arius and divers others call'd upon Eleutherius then Bishop of Rome to stand up for the Catholick Doctrine and the Peace of the Christian Church So the Observer is desirous to incite and stir up the present Bishop of Worcester whose Light is now great in the Church that as he has lately Written excellently well concerning the Trinity so he will take upon him to Treat fully and purposely concerning this Question if his Age and Infirmity will permit Conferring thereupon with his most able Brethren and communicating to some of them his Labours as they are Written in single Sheets during the course of his Progress which may have a double Advantage First That any thing therein found amiss may be more easily amended or Transcribed Secondly A prevention of its passing forward with a communicative Tincture in any of those Sheets that may follow it Our Lawyers are very cautious in their Proceedings upon Questions of great Moment If the great Counsellors differ amongst themselves in a Point in Law the Matter is brought to Tryal by Process in one of the Courts at Westminster where it is Argued before the Judges of it and if they also differ upon the Point it is carried by Process into the Chequer-Chamber to be there Tryed before all the Judges of England who sit and hear it Argued before them by the ablest Lawyers on either side three four or five times at several considerable Distances Spaces or Terms that there may be time enough given for the full Inspection or Consideration of it And after they have heard what can be spoken on either side then the Judges themselves Argue the Point as largely as they please each declaring his own Opinion thereupon And then if there be a considerable number of Dissenters against the major Opinion they Adjourn the Case yet further propter difficultatem to further Days and Times having sufficient intervals such as map still give more leisure for a fuller Consideration And in fine if the dissenting Party still hold to be very considerable they Adjourn the Case before the Upper-House of Parliament and there it is again Argued by Counsel on both sides as often as the Lords think fit to Appoint Then the Judges Argue again and deliver their Opinions with the Reasons thereof then such of the Lords as please speak to it and it is at last finally Determined by the Majority of Voices in the Lords House after which it passes for Law in all the Courts of Westminster and throughout the whole Kingdom of England and stands for a Rule in the Case Disputed and in all other like Cases The Observer further saies That if the Fore-named Learned Bishop will take the pains to Examine the particulars alledged by him in this and his former larger Treatises and give such Answers to them as upon Conference he shall think fit to do And let the Staff fall which way it will he will hereafter be silent without publickly Disputing or Writing against the said Bishop's declared Opinion so delivered and confirmed as afore-said He knows that the said Bishop has Defended the Opinion of the Immortality in his Writings But he takes the Bishop for a Person of great Integrity and that he is a Old and likely as near Death as himself He knows of himself That the whole Kingdom of England offered him to give a false Verdict in this or the like Case would be utterly despises by him And he conceives full as well of the Bishop and therefore dare remit the Point now in Dispute to his Determination as afore-said P. 63. Mr. M. saies The Material Opinion cannot stand but upon the supposition of a continual Course of Miracles to make it good which is very Absurd and Vnphilosophical The Observer Replies granting the Rule That to Prove by Miracles is unphilosophical and that he holds it convenient in this Place to Examine which of the Two Opinions now in Dispute stand the most in need of Miracles to Prove the Truth of it and which of the opposite Parties make most use of that sort of Argument The Material Opinion he says has only one wonderful Work in it viz. The great Effect of God's Wisdom and Power in producing Life Growth Motion Affection Sensation Perception Imagination Judgment Memory all sorts of Thinking by his Skilful contexture of Matter and Spirit together which our Opponents are pleased to express by the Terms of Matter and Motion Mr. B. denies That the Skill and Power of Divinity can in that manner produce these Effects But Mr. M. obiter or transiently grants That the Skill and Power of Omnipotence can Effect such Things if he pleases by Natural means applicando activa passivis as we see he gives the vast Body of the Sea a Motion with divers variations which Men cannot yet comprehend So has he given the Planets Stars and other Heavenly Bodies a perpetual Motion generally regular but with such variations as Men cannot comprehend or understand Plants and Trees Flourish and Decay alternately they shoot out Leaves Blossom and Fruit in a wonderful variety the next Causes of which Men cannot find out Fowls and Brutes Live Grow Move use their Senses and Affections and such low degrees of Phantasie Memory Estimation or Choice as they have by the Virtue and Activity of the Spirits and Blood before-mentioned without Mens being able to apprehend the Quomodo of it And so we may say concerning the activity of the Wind amongst the Organ-pipes a thing which we every Day see with our Eyes hear with our Ears and handle with our Hands and yet are not able throughly to discuss and resolve the Quomodo of all those Actions and Varieties which are Performed by it The fore-going Instances have been produced to Prove a Simile that such like Things have been made and done by God and are still continued and subject to our view in the World as Wonderful Effects of the great Skill and Power of God and which Men are not able to comprehend or understand We proceed to the Immaterial Intelligent Spirit and require of Mr. M. and other Immortalists some sort of Proofs maintaining their Opinion tho' they should be but a Simile We desire them to produce at least some one Instance in Nature where God acts Matter by an Immaterial Intelligent Spirit And the Observer considers they cannot produce any one Instance of such a Conjunction out of the whole Book of Nature except this one which they have invented concerning the Constitution of Man and therefore it is no wonder that they are put to the coining of Miracles for the maintaining of the same Two of which shall here be examined The Wits of Men have never been able to conceive any more ways for the production of the Soul of Man but these Three viz. by Generation by Pre-existence or new Creation of such Souls upon every