the mind or barn-dores to receive bundles of pressures like sheaves of Corn For there being a thorow mixture of animate rational and sensitive and inanimate matter we canot assign a certain seat or place to the rational another to the sensitive and another to the inanimate but they are diffused and intermixt throughout all the body And this is the reason that sense and knowledg cannot be bound onely to the head or brain But although they are mixt together nevertheless they do not lose their interior natures by this mixture nor their purity and subtilty nor their proper motions or actions but each moves according to its nature and substance without confusion The actions of the rational part in Man which is the Mind or Soul are called Thoughts or thoughtful perceptions which are numerous and so are the sensitive perceptions for though Man or any other animal hath but five exterior sensitive organs yet there be numerous perceptions made in these sensitive organs and in all the body nay every several Pore of the flesh is a sensitive organ as well as the Eye or the Ear. But both sorts as well the rational as the sensitive are different from each other although both do resemble another as being both parts of animate matter as I have mentioned before Wherefore I 'le add no more onely let you know that I constantly remain MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXXVI MADAM THat all other animals besides man want reason your Author endeavours to prove in his discourse of method where his chief argument is That other animals cannot express their mind thoughts or conceptions either by speech or any other signs as man can do For sayes he it is not for want of the organs belonging to the framing of words as we may observe in Parrats and Pies which are apt enough to express words they are taught but understand nothing of them My answer is That one man expressing his mind by speech or words to an other doth not declare by it his excellency and supremacy above all other Creatures but for the most part more folly for a talking man is not so wise as a contemplating man But by reason other Creatures cannot speak or discourse with each other as men or make certain signs whereby to express themselves as dumb and deaf men do should we conclude they have neither knowledge sense reason or intelligence Certainly this is a very weak argument for one part of a mans body as one hand is not less sensible then the other nor the heel less sensible then the heart nor the legg less sensible then the head but each part hath its sense and reason and so consequently its sensitive and rational knowledg and although they cannot talk or give intelligence to each other by speech nevertheless each hath its own peculiar and particular knowledge just as each particular man has his own particular knowledge for one man's knowledge is not another man's knowledge and if there be such a peculiar and particular knowledg in every several part of one animal creature as man well may there be such in Creatures of different kinds and sorts But this particular knowledg belonging to each creature doth not prove that there is no intelligence at all betwixt them no more then the want of humane Knowledg doth prove the want of Reason for reason is the rational part of matter and makes perception observation and intelligence different in every creature and every sort of creatures according to their proper natures but perception observation and intelligence do not make reason Reason being the cause and they the effects Wherefore though other Creatures have not the speech nor Mathematical rules and demonstrations with other Arts and Sciences as Men yet may their perceptions and observations be as wise as Men's and they may have as much intelligence and commerce betwixt each other after their own manner and way as men have after theirs To which I leave them and Man to his conceited prerogative and excellence resting MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXXVII MADAM COncerning Sense and Perception your Authors opinion is That it is made by a motion or impression from the object upon the sensitive organ which impression by means of the nerves is brought to the brain and so to the mind or soul which onely perceives in the brain Explaining it by the example of a Man being blind or walking in dark who by the help of his stick can perceive when he touches a Stone a Tree Water Sand and the like which example he brings to make a comparison with the perception of Light For says he Light in a shining body is nothing else but a quick and lively motion or action which through the air and other transparent bodies tends towards the eye in the same manner as the motion or resistance of the bodies the blind man meets withal tends thorow the stick towards the hand wherefore it is no wonder that the Sun can display its rays so far in an instant seeing that the same action whereby one end of the stick is moved goes instantly also to the other end and would do the same if the stick were as long as Heaven is distant from Earth To which I answer first That it is not onely the Mind that perceives in the kernel of the Brain but that there is a double perception rational and sensitive and that the mind perceives by the rational but the body and the sensitive organs by the sensitive perception and as there is a double perception so there is also a double knowledg rational tional and sensitive one belonging to the mind the other to the body for I believe that the Eye Ear Nose Tongue and all the Body have knowledg as well as the Mind onely the rational matter being subtil and pure is not incumbred with the grosser part of matter to work upon or with it but leaves that to the sensitive and works or moves onely in its own substance which makes a difference between thoughts and exterior senses Next I say That it is not the Motion or Reaction of the bodies the blind man meets withal which makes the sensitive perception of these objects but the sensitive corporeal motions in the hand do pattern out the figure of the Stick Stone Tree Sand and the like And as for comparing the perception of the hand when by the help of the stick it perceives the objects with the perception of light I confess that the sensitive perceptions do all resemble each other because all sensitive parts of matter are of one degree as being sensible parts onely there is a difference according to the figures of the objects presented to the senses and there is no better proof for perception being made by the sensitive motions in the body or sensitive organs but that all these sensitive perceptions are alike and resemble one another for if they were not made in the body of the sentient but by the
motion but I deny that after holding the hand a little while still and beginning to write again a new motion of the pen is generated for it is onely a repetition and not a new generation for the Hand Pen and Ink repeat but the same motion or action of writing Besides Generation is made by Connexion or Conjunction of parts moving by consent to such or such Figures but the motion of the Hand or the Pen is always one and the same wherefore it is but the variation and repetition in and of the same motion of the Hand or Pen which may be continued in that manner infinitely just as the same Corporeal Motions can make infinite variations and repetitions of one and the same Figure repeating it as oft as they please as also making Copy of Copy And although I do not deny but there are Generations in Nature yet not annihilations or perishings for if any one motion or figure should perish the matter must perish also and if any one part of matter can perish all the matter in nature may perish also and if there can any new thing be made or created in nature which hath not been before there may also be a new Nature and so by perishings and new Creations this World would not have continued an age But surely whatsoever is in Nature hath been existent always Wherefore to conclude it is not the generation and perishing of an Accident that makes its subject to be changed but the production and alteration of the Form makes it said to be generated or destroyed for matter will change its motions and figures without perishing or annihilating and whether there were words or not there would be such causes and effects But having not the art of Logick to dispute with artificial words nor the art of Geometry to demonstrate my opinions by Mathematical Figures I fear they will not be so well received by the Learned However I leave them to any mans unprejudiced Reason and Judgment and devote my self to your service as becomes MADAM Your Ladiships humble and faithful Servant XVII MADAM YOur Author concerning Place and Magnitude says that Place is nothing out of the mind nor Magnitude any thing within it for Place is a meer Phantasme of a body of such quantity and figure and Magnitude a peculiar accident of the body But this doth not well agree with my reason for I believe that Place Magnitude and Body are but one thing and that Place is as true an extension as Magnitude and not a feigned one Neither am I of his opinion that Place is Immoveable but that place moves according as the body moveth for not any body wants place because place and body is but one thing and wheresoever is body there is also place and wheresoever is place there is body as being one and the same Wherefore Motion cannot be a relinquishing of one place and acquiring another for there is no such thing as place different from body but what is called change of place is nothing but change of corporeal motions for say an house stands in such a place if the house be gone the place is gone also as being impossible that the place of the house should remain when the house is taken away like as a man when he is gone out of his chamber his place is gone too T is true if the ground or foundation do yet remain one may say there stood such an house heretofore but yet the place of the house is not there really at that present unless the same house be built up again as it was before and then it hath its place as before Nevertheless the house being not there it cannot be said that either place or house are annihilated viz when the materials are dissolved no not when transformed into millions of several other figures for the house remains still in the power of all those several parts of matter and as for space it is onely a distance betwixt some parts or bodies But an Empty place signifies to my opinion Nothing for if place and body are one and the same and empty is as much as nothing then certainly these two words cannot consist together but are destructive to one another Concerning that your Author says Two bodies cannot be together in the same place nor one body in two places at the same time is very true for there are no more places then bodies nor more bodies then places and this is to be understood as well of the grosser as the purest parts of nature of the mind as well as of the body of the rational and sensitive animate matter as well as of the inanimate for there is no matter how pure and subtil soever but is imbodied and all that hath body hath place Likewise I am of his opinion That one body hath always one and the same magnitude for in my opinion magnitude place and body do not differ and as place so magnitude can never be separated from body But when he speaks of Rest I cannot believe there is any such thing truly in Nature for it is impossible to prove that any thing is without Motion either consistent or composing or dissolving or transforming motions or the like although not altogether perceptible by our senses for all the Matter is either moving or moved and although the moved parts are not capable to receive the nature of self-self-motion from the self-moving parts yet these self-moving parts being joyned and mixt with all other parts of the moved matter do always move the same for the Moved or Inanimate part of Matter although it is a Part of it self yet it is so intermixt with the self-moving Animate Matter as they make but one Body and though some parts of the Inanimate may be as pure as the Sensitive Animate Matter yet they are never so subtil as to be self-moving Wherefore the Sensitive moves in the Inanimate and the Rational in the Sensitive but often the Rational moves in it self And although there is no rest in nature nevertheless Matter could have been without Motion when as it is impossible that Matter could be without place or magnitude no more then Variety can be without motion And thus much at this present I conclude and rest MADAM Your Faithful Friend and Servant XVIII MADAM PAssing by those Chapters of your Authors that treat of Power and Act Identy and Difference Analogisme Angle and Figure Figures deficient dimension of Circles and several others most of which belong to art as to Geometry and the like I am come to that wherein he discourses of Sense and Animal Motion saying That some Natural bodies have in themselves the patterns almost of all things and others of none at all Whereof my opinion is that the sensitive and rational parts of Matter are the living and knowing parts of Nature and no part of nature can challenge them onely to it self nor no creature can be sure that sense is onely in
Animal-kind and reason in Man-kind for can any one think or believe that Nature is ignorant and dead in all her other parts besides Animals Truly this is a very unreasonable opinion for no man as wise as he thinks himself nay were all Man-kind joyned into one body yet they are not able to know it unless there were no variety of parts in nature but onely one whole and individeable body for other Creatures may know and perceive as much as Animals although they have not the same Sensitive Organs nor the same manmer or way of Perception Next your Author says The cause of Sense or Perception consists herein that the first organ of sense is touched and pressed For when the uttermost part of the organ is pressed it no sooner yields but the part next within it is pressed also and in this manner the pressure or motion is propagated through all the parts of the organ to the innermost And thus also the pressure of the uttermost part proceeds from the pressure of some more remote body and so continually till we come to that from which as from its fountain we derive the Phantasme or Idea that is made in us by our sense And this whatsoever it be is that we commonly call the object Sense therefore is some Internal motion in the Sentient Generated by some Internal motion of the Parts of the object and propagated through all the media to the innermost part of the organ Moreover there being a resistance or reaction in the organ by reason of its internal motion against the motion propagated from the object there is also an endeavour in the organ opposite to the endeavour proceeding from the object and when that endeavour inwards is the last action in the act of sense then from the reaction a Phantasme or Idea has its being This is your Authors opinion which if it were so perception could not be effected so suddenly nay I think the sentient by so many pressures in so many perceptions would at last be pressed to death besides the organs would take a great deal of hurt nay totally be removed out of their places so as the eye would in time be prest into the centre of the brain And if there were any Resistance Reaction or Indeavour in the organ opposite to the Endeavour of the object there would in my opinion be always a war between the animal senses and the objects the endeavour of the objects pressing one way and the senses pressing the other way and if equal in their strengths they would make a stop and the sensitive organs would be very much pained Truly Madam in my opinion it would be like that Custom which formerly hath been used at Newcastle when a man was married the guests divided themselves behind and before the Bridegroom the one party driving him back the other forwards so that one time a Bridegroom was killed in this fashion But certainly Nature hath a more quick and easie way of giving intelligence and knowledg to her Creatures and doth not use such constraint and force in her actions Neither is sense or sensitive perception a meer Phantasme or Idea but a Corporeal action of the sensitive and rational matter and according to the variation of the objects or patterns and the sensitive and rational motions the perception also is various produced not by external pressure but by internal self-motion as I have declared heretofore and to prove that the sensitive and rational corporeal motions are the onely cause of perception I say if those motions in an animal move in another way and not to such perceptions then that animal can neither hear see taste smell nor touch although all his sensitive organs be perfect as is evident in a man falling into a swoon where all the time he is in a swoon the pressure of the objects is made without any effect Wherefore as the sensitive and rational corporeal motions make all that is in nature so likewise they make perception as being perception it self for all self-motion is perception but all perception is not animal perception or after an animal way and therefore sense cannot decay nor die but what is called a decay or death is nothing else but a change or alteration of those Motions But you will say Madam it may be that one body as an object leaves the print of its figure in the next adjoyning body until it comes to the organ of sense I answer that then sost bodies onely must be pressed and the object must be so hard as to make a print and as for rare parts of matter they are not able to retain a print without self-motion Wherefore it is not probable that the parts of air should receive a print and print the same again upon the adjoyning part until the last part of the air print it upon the eye and that the exterior parts of the organ should print upon the interior till it come to the centre of the Brain without self-motion Wherefore in my opinion Perception is not caused either by the printing of objects nor by pressures for pressures would make a general stop of all natural motions especially if there were any reaction or resistence of sense but according to my reason the sensitive and rational corporeal motions in one body pattern out the Figure of another body as of an exterior object which may be done easily without any pressure or reaction I will not say that there is no pressure or reaction in Nature but pressure and reaction doth not make perception for the sensitive and rational parts of matter make all perception and variety of motion being the most subtil parts of Nature as self-moving as also divideable and composeable and alterable in their figurative motions for this Perceptive matter can change its substance into any figure whatsoever in nature as being not bound to one constant figure But having treated hereof before and being to say more of it hereaster this shall suffice for the present remaining always MADAM Your constant Friend and faithful Servant XIX MADAM TO discourse of the World and Stars is more then I am able to do wanting the art of Astronomy and Geometry wherefore passing by that Chapter of your Author I am come to that wherein he treats of Light Heat and Colours and to give you my opinion of Light I say it is not the light of the Sun that makes an Animal see for we can see inwardly in Dreams without the Suns light but it is the sensitive and rational Motions in the Eye and Brain that make such a figure as Light For if Light did press upon the Eye according to your Authors opinion it might put the Eye into as much pain as Fire doth when it sticks its points into our skin or flesh The same may be said of Colours for the sensitive motions make such a figure which is such a Colour and such a Figure which is such a Colour Wherefore Light Heat and Colour
at a far distance as well as the Eye can see for it may hear the noise of a troop afar off perception being very subtil and active Also there may several Copies be made from the Original and from the last Copy nearest to the Ear the Ear may take a pattern and so pattern out the noise in the organ without any strokes to the Ear for the subtil matter in all Creatures doth inform and perceive But this is well to be observed that the figures of objects are as soon made as perceived by the sensitive motions in their work of patterning And this is my Opinion concerning the Perception of Sound which together with the rest I leave to your Ladyships and others wiser Judgment and rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXIII MADAM I Perceive by your last that you cannot well apprehend my meaning when I say that the print or figure of a Body Printed or Carved is not made by the motions of the body Printing or Carving it but by the motions of the body or substance Printed or Carved for say you Doth a piece of Wood carve it self or a black Patch of a Lady cut its own figure by its own motions Before I answer you Madam give me leave to ask you this question whether it be the motion of the hand or the Instrument or both that print or carve such or such a body Perchance you will say that the motion of the hand moves the Instrument and the Instrument moves the Wood which is to be carved Then I ask whether the motion that moves the Instrument be the Instruments or the Hands Perchance you will say the Hands but I answer how can it be the Hands motion if it be in the Instrument You will say perhaps the motion of the hand is tranferred out of the hand into the instrument and so from the instrument into the carved figure but give me leave to ask you was this motion of the hand that was transferred Corporeal or Incorporeal If you say Corporeal then the hand must become less and weak but if Incorporeal I ask you how a bodiless motion can have force and strength to carve and cut But put an Impossible proposition as that there is an Immaterial motion and that this Incorporeal motion could be transferred out of one body into another then I ask you when the hand and instrument cease to move what is become of the motion Perhaps you will say the motion perishes or is annihilated and when the hand and the instrument do move again to the carving or cutting of the figure then a new Incorporeal Motion is created Truly then there will be a perpetual creation and annihilation of Incorporeal motions that is of that which naturally is nothing for an Incorporeal being is as much as a natural No-thing for Natural reason cannot know nor have naturally any perception or Idea of an Incorporeal being besides if the motion be Incorporeal then it must needs be a supernatural Spirit for there is not any thing else Immaterial but they and then it will be either an Angel or a Devil or the Immortal Soul of man but if you say it is the supernatural Soul truly I cannot be perswaded that the supernatural Soul should not have any other imployment then to carve or cut prints or figures or move in the hands or heels or legs or arms of a Man for other animals have the same kind of Motions and then they might have a Supernatural Soul as well as Man which moves in them But if you say that these tranferrable motions are material then every action whereby the hand moves to the making or moving of some other body would lessen the number of the motions in the hand and weaken it so that in the writing of one letter the hand would not be able to write a second letter at least not a third But I pray Madam consider rationally that though the Artificer or Workman be the occasion of the motions of the carved body yet the motions of the body that is carved are they which put themselves into such or such a figure or give themselves such or such a print as the Artificer intended for a Watch although the Artist or Watch-maker be the occasional cause that the Watch moves in such or such an artificial figure as the figure of a Watch yet it is the Watches own motion by which it moves for when you carry the Watch about you certainly the Watch-makers hand is not then with it as to move it or if the motion of the Watch-makers hand be transferred into the Watch then certainly the Watch-maker cannot make another Watch unless there be a new creation of new motions made in his hands so that God and Nature would be as much troubled and concerned in the making of Watches as in the making of a new World for God created this World in six days and rested the seventh day but this would be a perpetual Creation Wherefore I say that some things may be Occasional causes of other things but not the Prime or Principal causes and this distinction is very well to be considered for there are no frequenter mistakes then to confound these two different causes which make so many confusions in natural Philosophy and this is the Opinion of MADAM Your Faithful Friend and Servant XXIV MADAM IN answer to your question What makes Eccho I say it is that which makes all the effects of Nature viz. self-moving matter I know the common opinion is that Eccho is made like as the figure of a Face or the like in a Looking-glass and that the Reverberation of sound is like the Reflection of sight in a Looking-glass But I am not of that opinion for both Eccho and that wich is called the Reflection in a Looking-glass are made by the self-moving matter by way of patterning and copying out But then you will ask me whether the glass takes the copy of the face or the face prints its copy on the glass or whether it be the medium of light and air that makes it I answer although many Learned men say that as all perception so also the seeing of ones face in a Looking-glass and Eccho are made by impression and reaction yet I cannot in my simplicity conceive it how bodies that come not near or touch each other can make a figure by impression and reaction They say it proceeds from the motions of the Medium of light or air or both viz. that the Medium is like a long stick with two ends whereof one touches the object the other the organ of sense and that one end of it moving the other moves also at the same point of Time by which motions it may make many several figures But I cannot conceive how this motion of pressing forward and backward should make so many figures wherein there is so much variety and curiosity But say light and air are as one figure and like as a seal do
out the object of sent besides the nose but those are interior parts and take their patterns from the nose as the organ properly designed for it neither is their resentment the same because their motions are not alike for the stomack may perceive and pattern out a sent with aversion when the nose may pattern it out with pleasure And thus much also of Sent I conclude and rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXIX MADAM COncerning your Learned Authors discourse of Density and Rality he defines Thick to be that which takes up more parts of a space given and thin which containes fewer parts of the same magnitude not that there is more matter in one place then in an other equal place but a greater quantity of some named body wherefore the multitude and paucity of the parts contained within the same space do constitute density and rarity Where of my opinion is That there is no more nor less space or place then body according to its ' dilation or contraction and that space and place are dilated and contracted with the body according to the magnitude of the body for body place and magnitude are the same thing only place is in regard of the several parts of the body and there is as well space betwixt things distant a hairs breadth from one another as betwixt things distant a million of miles but yet this space is nothing from the body but it makes that that body has not the same place with this body that is that this body is not that body and that this bodies place is not that bodies place Next your Author sayes He hath already clearly enough demonstrated that there can be no beginning of motion but from an external and moved body and that heavy bodies being once cast upwards cannot be cast down again but by external motion Truly Madam I will not speak of your Authors demonstrations for it is done most by art which I have no knowledg in but I think I have probably declared that all the actions of nature are not forced by one part driving pressing or shoving another as a man doth a wheel-barrow or a whip a horse nor by reactions as if men were at foot-ball or cuffs or as men with carts meeting each other in a narrow lane But to prove there is no self-motion in nature he goes on and says To attribute to created bodies the power to move themselves what is it else then to say that there be creatures which have no dependance upon the Creator To which I answer That if man who is but a single part of nature hath given him by God the power and a free will of moving himself why should not God give it to Nature Neither can I see how it can take off the dependance upon God more then Eternity for if there be an Eternal Creator there is also an Eternal Creature and if an Eternal Master an Eternal Servant which is Nature and yet Nature is subject to Gods Command and depends upon him and if all Gods Attributes be Infinite then his Bounty is Infinite also which cannot be exercised but by an Infinite Gift but a Gift doth not cause a less dependance I do not say That man hath an absolute Free-will or power to move according to his desire for it is not conceived that a part can have an absolute power nevertheless his motion both of body and mind is a free and self-motion and such a self-motion hath every thing in Nature according to its figure or shape for motion and figure being inherent in matter matter moves figuratively Yet do I not say That there is no hindrance obstruction and opposition in nature but as there is no particular Creature that hath an absolute power of self-moving so that Creature which hath the advantage of strength subtilty or policy shape or figure and the like may oppose and over-power another which is inferior to it in all this yet this hinderance and opposition doth not take away self-self-motion But I perceive your Author is much for necessitation and against free-will which I leave to Moral Philosophers and Divines And as for the ascending of light and descending of heavy bodies there may be many causes but these four are perceiveable by our senses as bulk or quantity of body grossness of substance density and shape or figure which make heavy bodies descend But little quantity purity of substance rarity and figure or shape make light bodies ascend Wherefore I cannot believe that there are certain little bodies as atoms and by reason of their smallness invisible differing from one another in consistence figure motion and magnitude intermingled with the air which should be the cause of the descending of heavy bodies And concerning air whether it be subject to our senses or not I say that if air be neither hot nor cold it is not subject but if it be the sensitive motions will soon pattern it out and declare it I 'le conclude with your Authors question What the cause is that a man doth not feel the weight of Water in Water and answer it is the dilating nature of Water But of this question and of Water I shall treat more fully hereafter and so I rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXX MADAM I Am reading now the works of that Famous and most Renowned Author Des Cartes out of which I intend to pick out onely those discourses which I like best and not to examine his opinions as they go along from the beginning to the end of his books And in order to this I have chosen in the first place his discourse of motion and do not assent to his opinion when he defines Motion to be onely a Mode of a thing and not the thing or body it selfe for in my opinion there can be no abstraction made of motion from body neither really nor in the manner of our conception for how can I conceive that which is not nor cannot be in nature that is to conceive motion without body Wherefore Motion is but one thing with body without any separation or abstraction soever Neither doth it agree with my reason that one body can give or transferr motion into another body and as much motion it gives or transferrs into that body as much loses it As for example in two hard bodies thrown against one another where one that is thrown with greater force takes the other along with it and loses as much motion as it gives it For how can motion being no substance but onely a mode quit one body and pass into another One body may either occasion or imitate anothers motion but it can neither give nor take away what belongs to its own or another bodies substance no more then matter can quit its nature from being matter and therefore my opinion is that if motion doth go out of one body into another then substance goes too for motion and substance or body
as afore-mentioned are all one thing and then all bodies that receive motion from other bodies must needs increase in their substance and quantity and those bodies which impart or transferr motion must decrease as much as they increase Truly Madam that neither Motion nor Figure should subsist by themselves and yet be transferrable into other bodies is very strange and as much as to prove them to be nothing and yet to say they are something The like may be said of all others which they call accidents as skill learning knowledge c. saying they are no bodies because they have no extension but inherent in bodies or substances as in their subjects for although the body may subsist without them yet they being always with the body body and they are all one thing And so is power and body for body cannot quit power nor power the body being all one thing But to return to Motion my opinion is That all matter is partly animate and partly inanimate and all matter is moving and moved and that there is no part of Nature that hath not life and knowledg for there is no Part that has not a comixture of animate and inanimate matter and though the inanimate matter has no motion nor life and knowledg of it self as the animate has nevertheless being both so closely joyned and commixed as in one body the inanimate moves as well as the animate although not in the same manner for the animate moves of it self and the inanimate moves by the help of the animate and thus the animate is moving and the inanimate moved not that the animate matter transfers infuses or communicates its own motion to the inanimate for this is impossible by reason it cannot part with its own nature nor alter the nature of inanimate matter but each retains its own nature for the inanimate matter remains inanimate that is without self-motion and the animate loses nothing of its self-motion which otherwise it would if it should impart or transferr its motion into the inanimate matter but onely as I said heretofore the inanimate works or moves with the animate because of their close union and commixture for the animate forces or causes the inanimate matter to work with her and thus one is moving the other moved and consequently there is life and knowledg in all parts of nature by reason in all parts of nature there is a commixture of animate and inanimate matter and this Life and Knowledg is sense and reason or sensitive and rational corporeal motions which are all one thing with animate matter without any distinction or abstraction and can no more quit matter then matter can quit motion Wherefore every creature being composed of this commixture of animate and inanimate matter has also selfe-motion that is life and knowledg sense and reason so that no part hath need to give or receive motion to or from another part although it may be an occasion of such a manner of motion to another part and cause it to move thus or thus as for example A Watch-maker doth not give the watch its motion but he is onely the occasion that the watch moves after that manner for the motion of the watch is the watches own motion inherent in those parts ever since that matter was and if the watch ceases to move after such a manner or way that manner or way of motion is never the less in those parts of matter the watch is made of and if several other figures should be made of that matter the power of moving in the said manner or mode would yet still remain in all those parts of matter as long as they are body and have motion in them Wherefore one body may occasion another body to move so or so but not give it any motion but everybody though occasioned by another to move in such a way moves by its own natural motion for self-motion is the very nature of animate matter and is as much in hard as in fluid bodies although your Author denies it saying The nature of fluid bodies consists in the motion of those little insensible parts into which they are divided and the nature of bard bodies when those little particles joyned closely together do rest for there is no rest in nature wherefore if there were a World of Gold and a World of Air I do verily believe that the World of Gold would be as much interiously active as the World of Air exteriously for Natures motions are not all external or perceptible by our senses neither are they all circular or onely of one sort but there is an infinite change and variety of motions for though I say in my Philosophical opinions As there is but one onely Matter so there is but one onely Motion yet I do not mean there is but one particular sort of motions as either circular or straight or the like but that the nature of motion is one and the same simple and intire in it self that is it is meer motion or nothing else but corporeal motion and that as there are infinite divisions or parts of matter so there are infinite changes and varieties of motions which is the reason that I call motion as well infinite as matter first that matter and motion are but one thing and if matter be infinite motion must be so too and secondly that motion is infinite in its changes and variations as matter is in its parts And thus much of motion for this time I add no more but rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXXI MADAM I Observe your Author in his discourse of Place makes a difference betwixt an Interior and Exterior place and that according to this distinction one body may be said to change and not to change its place at the same time and that one body may succeed into anothers place But I am not of this opinion for I believe not that there is any more place then body as for example Water being mix'd with Earth the water doth not take the Earths place but as their parts intermix so do their places and as their parts change so do their places so that there is no more place then there is water and earth the same may be said of Air and Water or Air and Earth or did they all mix together for as their bodies join so do their places and as they are separated from each other so are their places Say a man travels a hundred miles and so a hundred thousand paces but yet this man has not been in a hundred thousand places for he never had any other place but his own he hath joined and separated himselfe from a hundred thousand nay millions of parts but he has left no places behind him You will say if he travel the same way back again then he is said to travel thorow the same places I answer It may be the vulgar way of expression or the common phrase but to speak properly
for as composition and division do hinder and obstruct each other from running into Infinite so doth dilation hinder the Infinite contraction and contraction the Infinite dilation which as I said before causes a mean betwixt Nature's actions nevertheless there are Infinite dilations and contractions in Nature because there are Infinite contracted and dilated parts and so are infinite divisions because there are infinite divided parts but contraction dilation extension composition division and the like are onely Nature's several actions and as there can be no single part in Nature that is Infinite so there can neither be any single Infinite action But as for Matter Motion and Figure those are Individable and Inseparable and make but one body or substance for it is as impossible to divide them as impossible it is to your Author to separate the essential proprieties which he gives from an Immortal Spirit And as Matter Motion and Figure are inseparable so is likewise Matter Space Place and Duration For Parts Motion Figure Place and Duration are but one Infinite body onely the Infinite parts are the Infinite divisions of the Infinite body and the Infinite body is a composition of the Infinite parts but figure place and body are all one and so is time and duration except you will call time the division of duration and duration the composition of time but infinite time and infinite duration is all one in Nature and thus Nature's Principal motions and actions are dividing composing and disposing or ordering according to her Natural wisdom by the Omnipotent God's leave and permission Concerning the Sun which your Author speaks of in the same place and denies him to be a Spectator of our Particular affairs upon Earth saying there is no such divine Principle in him whereby he can do it I will speak nothing against nor for it but I may say that the Sun hath such a Principle as other Creatures have which is that he has sensitive and rational corporeal motions as well as animals or other Creatures although not in the same manner nor the same organs and if he have sensitive and rational motions he may also have sensitive and rational knowledge or perception as well as man or other animals and parts of Nature have for ought any body knows for it is plain to humane sense and reason that all Creatures must needs have rational and sensitive knowledg because they have all sensitive and rational matter and motions But leaving the Sun for Astronomers to contemplate upon I take my leave and rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant X. MADAM YOur Author in his arguments against Motion being a Principle of Nature endeavours to prove that Beauty Colour Symmetry and the like in Plants as well as in other Creatures are no result from the meer motion of the matter and forming this objection It may be said says he That the regular motion of the matter made the first plant of every kind but we demand What regulated the motion of it so as to guide it to form it self into such a state I answer The Wisdom of Nature or infinite Matter did order its own actions so as to form those her Parts into such an exact and beautiful figure as such a Tree or such a Flower or such a Fruit and the like and some of her Parts are pleased and delighted with other parts but some of her parts are afraid or have an aversion to other parts and hence is like and dislike or sympathy and antipathy hate and love according as nature which is infinite self-moving matter pleases to move for though Natural Wisdom is dividable into parts yet these parts are united in one infinite Body and make but one Being in it self like as the several parts of a man make up but one perfect man for though a man may be wise in several causes or actions yet it is but one wisdom and though a Judg may shew Justice in several causes yet it is but one Justice for Wisdom and Justice though they be practised in several causes yet it is but one Wisdom and one Justice and so all the parts of a mans body although they move differently yet are they but one man's bodily actions Just as a man if he carve or cut out by art several statues or draw several Pictures those statues or pictures are but that one man's work The like may be said of Natures Motions and Figures all which are but one self-active or self-moving Material Nature But Wise Nature's Ground or Fundamental actions are very Regular as you may observe in the several and distinct kinds sorts and particulars of her Creatures and in their distinct Proprieties Qualities and Faculties belonging not onely to each kind and sort but to each particular Creature and since man is not able to know perfectly all those proprieties which belong to animals much less will he be able to know and judg of those that are in Vegetables Minerals and Elements and yet these Creatures for any thing Man knows may be as knowing understanding and wise as he and each as knowing of its kind or sort as man is of his But the mixture of ignorance and knowledg in all Creatures proceeds from thence that they are but Parts and there is no better proof that the mind of man is dividable then that it is not perfectly knowing nor no better proof that it is composeable then that it knows so much but all minds are not alike but some are more composed then others which is the cause some know more then others for if the mind in all men were alike all men would have the same Imaginations Fancies Conceptions Memories Remembrances Passions Affections Understanding and so forth The same may be said of their bodies for if all mens sensitive parts were as one and not dividable and composeable all their Faculties Properties Constitutions Complexions Appetites would be the same in every man without any difference but humane sense and reason doth well perceive that neither the mind life nor body are as one piece without division and composition Concerning the divine Soul I do not treat of it onely this I may say That all are not devout alike nor those which are are not at all times alike devout But to conclude some of our modern Philosophers think they do God good service when they endeavour to prove Nature as Gods good Servant to be stupid ignorant foolish and mad or any thing rather then wise and yet they believe themselves wise as if they were no part of Nature but I cannot imagine any reason why they should rail on her except Nature had not given them as great a share or portion as she hath given to others for children in this case do often rail at their Parents for leaving their Brothers and Sisters more then themselves However Nature can do more then any of her Creatures and if Man can Paint Imbroider Carve Ingrave curiously why may not Nature have more
Ingenuity Wit and Wisdom then any of her particular Creatures The same may be said of her Government And so leaving Wise Nature I rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XI MADAM TO your Authors argument That if Motion belong naturally to Matter Matter being Uniform it must be alike moved in every part of particle imaginable of it by reason this Motion being natural and essential to Matter is alike every way I answer That this is no more necessary then that the several actions of one body or of one part of a body should be alike for though Matter is one and the same in its Nature and never changes yet the motions are various which motions are the several actions of one and the same Natural Matter and this is the cause of so many several Creatures for self-moving matter by its self-moving power can act several ways modes or manners and had not natural matter a self-acting power there could not be any variety in Nature for Nature knows of no rest there being no such thing as rest in Nature but she is in a perpetual motion I mean self-motion given her from God Neither do I think it Atheistical as your Author deems to maintain this opinion of self-motion as long as I do not deny the Omnipotency of God but I should rather think it Irreligious to make so many several Creatures as Immaterial Spirits like so many severall Deities to rule and govern Nature and all material substances in Nature for what Atheism doth there lie in saying that natural matter is naturally moving and wise in her self Doth this oppose the omnipotency and Infinite wisdom of God It rather proves and confirms it for all Natures free power of moving and wisdom is a gift of God and proceeds from him but I must confess it destroys the power of Immaterial substances for Nature will not be ruled nor governed by them and to be against Natural Immaterial substances I think is no Atheisme except we make them Deities neither is it Atheisme to contradict the opinion of those that believe such natural incorporeal Spirits unless man make himself a God But although Nature is wise as I said before and acts methodically yet the variety of motions is the cause of so many Irregularities in Nature as also the cause of Irregular opinions for all opinions are made by self-moving matters motions or which is all one by corporeal self-motion and some in their opinions do conceive Nature according to the measure of themselves as that Nature can nor could not do more then they think nay some believe they can do as much as Nature doth which opinions whether they be probable or regular I 'le let any man judg adding onely this that to humane sense and reason it appears plainly that as God has given Nature a power to act freely so he doth approve of her actions being wise and methodical in all her several Productions Generations Transformations and Designs And so I conclude for the present onely subscribe my self as really I am MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XII MADAM I Am of your Authors opinion concerning self-activity or self-motion That what is Active of it self can no more cease to be active then to be And I have been always of this opinion even from the first begining of my conceptions in natural Philosophy as you may see in my first Treatise of Natural Philosophy which I put forth eleven years since where I say That self-moving Matter is in a Perpetual motion But your Author endeavors srom thence to conclude That Matter is not self-active because it is reducible to rest To which I answer That there is no such thing as Rest in Nature Not do I say that all sorts of motions are subject to our senses for those that are subject to our sensitive Perceptions are but gross Motions in comparison to those that are not subject to our exterior senses as for example We see some bodies dilate others consume others corrupt yet we do not see how they dilate nor how they consume nor how they corrupt Also we see some bodies contract some attract some condense some consist c. yet we do not see their contracting attracting condensing consisting or retenting motions and yet we cannot say they are not corporeal motions because not subject to our exterior senses for if there were not contracting attracting retenting or consistent corporeal self-self-motions it had been impossible that any creature could have been composed into one united figure much less stayed and continued in the same figure without a general alteration But your Author says If Matter as Matter had Motion nothing would hold together but Flints Adamants Brass Iron yea this whole Earth would suddenly melt into a thinner substance then the subtil Air or rather it never had been condensated together to this consistency we find it But I would ask him what reason he can give that corporeal self-motion should make all matter rare and fluid unless he believe there is but one kind of motion in Nature but this human sense and reason will contradict for we may observe there are Infinite changes of Motion and there is more variety and curiosity in corporeal motions then any one single Creature can imagine much less know but I suppose he conceives all corporeal matter to be gross and that not any corporeal motion can be subtil penetrating contracting and dilating and that whatsoever is penetrating contracting and dilating is Individable But by his leave Madam this doth not follow for though there be gross degrees of Matter and strong degrees of Corporeal Motions yet there are also pure and subtil degrees of Matter and Motions to wit that degree of Matter which I name sensitive and rational Matter which is natural Life and Knowledg as sensitive Life and rational Knowledg Again your Author askes What glue or cement holds the parts of hard matter in Stones and Metals together I answer Consistent or retentive corporeal motions by an agreeable union and conjunction in the several parts of Metal or Stone and these retentive or consistent motions are as strong and active if not more then some dilative or contractive motions for I have mentioned heretofore that as sensitive and rational corporeal motions are in all Creatures so also in Stone Metal and any other dense body whatsoever so that not any one Creature or part of Matter is without Motion and therefore not any thing is at rest But Madam I dare say I could bring more reason and sense to prove that sensitive and rational Matter is fuller of activity and has more variety of motion and can change its own parts of self-moving Matter more suddenly and into more exterior figures then Immaterial Spirits can do upon natural Matter But your Author says That Immaterial Spirits are endued with Sense and Reason I say My sensitive and rational corporeal Matter is Sense and Reason it self and is the Architect or Creator of all
figures of Natural matter for though all the parts of Matter are not self-moving yet there is not any part that is not moving or moved by and with the mover which is animate matter And thus I conclude and rest constantly MADAM Your Faithful Friend and Servant XIII MADAM THat Matter is uncapable of Sense your Author proves by the example of dead Carcasses For says he Motion and Sense being really one and the same thing it must needs follow that where there is motion there is also sense and perception but on the contrary there is Reaction in dead Carkasses and yet no Sense I answer shortly That it is no consequence because there is no animal sense nor exterior perceptible local motion in a dead Carcass therefore there is no sense at all in it for though it has not animal sense yet it may nevertheless have sense according to the nature of that figure into which it did change from being an animal Also he says If any Matter have sense it will follow that upon reaction all shall have the like and that a Bell while it is ringing and a Bow while it is bent and every fack-in-a-box that School-boys play with shall be living animals I answer It is true if reaction made sense but reaction doth not make sense but sense makes reaction and though the Bell hath not an animal knowledg yet it may have a mineral life and knowledg and the Bow and the Jack-in-a-box a vegetable knowledg for the shape and form of the Bell Bow and Jack-in-a-box is artificial nevertheless each in its own kind may have as much knowledg as an animal in his kind onely they are different according to the different proprieties of their Figures And who can prove the contrary that they have not For certainly Man cannot prove what he cannot know but Mans nature is so that knowing but little of other Creatures he presently judges there is no more knowledg in Nature then what Man at least Animals have and confines all sense onely to Animal sense and all knowledg to Animal knowledg Again says your Author That Matter is utterly uncapable of such operations as we find in our selves and that therefore there is something in us Immaterial or Incorporeal for we find in our selves that one and the same thing both hears and sees and tastes and perceives all the variety of objects that Nature manifests unto us I answer That is the reason there is but one matter and that all natural perception is made by the animate part of matter but although there is but one matter in Nature yet there are several parts or degrees and consequently several actions of that onely matter which causes such a variety of perceptions both sensitive and rational the sensitive perception is made by the sensitive corporeal motions copying out the figures of forreign objects in the sensitive organs of the sentient and if those sensitive motions do pattern out forreign objects in each sensitive organ alike at one and the same time then we hear see taste touch and smell at one and the same time But Thoughts and Passions as Imagination Conception Fancy Memory Love Hate Fear Joy and the like are made by the rational corporeal motions in their own degree of matter to wit the rational And thus all perception is made by one and the same matter through the variety of its actions or motions making various and several figures both sensitive and rational But all this variety in sense and reason or of sensitive and rational perceptions is not made by parts pressing upon parts but by changing their own parts of matter into several figures by the power of self-motion For example I see a Man or Beast that Man or Beast doth not touch my eye in the least neither in it self nor by pressing the adjoyning parts but the sensitive corporeal motions streight upon the sight of the Man or Beast make the like figure in the sensitive organ the Eye and in the eyes own substance or matter as being in the eye as well as the other degrees of matter to wit the rational and inanimate for they are all mixt together But this is to be observed That the rational matter can and doth move in its own substance as being the purest and subtillest degree of matter but the sensitive being not so pure and subtil moves always with the inanimate Matter and so the perceptive figures which the rational Matter or rational corporeal Motions make are made in their own degree of Matter but those figures which the sensitive patterns out are made in the organs or parts of the sentient body proper to such or such a sense or perception as in an animal Creature the perception of sight is made by the sensitive corporeal motions in the Eye the perception of hearing in the Ear and so forth As for what your Author says That we cannot conceive any portion of Matter but is either hard or soft I answer That these are but effects of Matters actions and so is rare and dense and the like but there are some Creatures which seem neither perfectly rare nor dense nor hard nor soft but of mixt qualities as for example Quicksilver seems rare and yet is dense soft and yet is hard for though liquid Quicksilver is soft to our touch and rare to our sight yet it is so dense and hard as not to be readily dissolved from its nature and if there be such contraries and mixtures in one particular creature made of self-moving Matter what will there not be in Matter it self according to the old saying If the Man such praise shall have What the Master that keeps the knave So if a particular Creature hath such opposite qualities and mixtures of corporeal motions what will the Creator have which is self-moving Matter Wherefore it is impossible to affirm that self-moving Matter is either all rare or all dense or all hard or all soft because by its self-moving power it can be either or both and so by the change and variety of motion there may be soft and rare Points and hard and sharp Points hard and contracted Globes and soft and rare Globes also there may be pressures of Parts without printing and printing without pressures Concerning that part of Matter which is the Common Sensorium your Author demands Whether some point of it receive the whole Image of the object or whether it be wholly received into every point of it I answer first That all sensitive Matter is not in Points Next That not any single part can subsist of it self and then that one Part doth not receive all parts or any part into it self but that Parts by the power of self-motion can and do make several figures of all sizes and sorts and can Epitomize a great object into a very little figure for outward objects do not move the body but the sensitive and rational matter moves according to the figures of outward objects I do not say
Ruler and Governor of all Perhaps you will say it is because I make Matter Eternal T is true Madam I do so but I think Eternity doth not take off the dependance upon God for God may nevertheless be above Matter as I have told you before You may ask me how that can be I say As well as any thing else that God can do beyond our understanding For I do but tell you my opinion that I think it most probable to be so but I can give you no Mathematical Demonstrations for it Onely this I am sure of That it is not impossible for the Omnipotent God and he that questions the truth of it may question Gods Omnipotency Truly Madam I wonder how man can say God is Omnipotent and can do beyond our Understanding and yet deny all that he is not able to comprehend with his reason However as I said it is my opinion That Matter is self-moving by the power of God Neither can Animadversion and Perception as also the variety of Figures prove that there must be another external Agent or Power to work all this in Matter but it proves rather the contrary for were there no self-motion in Matter there would be no Perception nor no variety of Creatures in their Figures Shapes Natures Qualities Faculties Proprieties as also in their Productions Creations or Generations Transformations Compositions Dissolutions and the like as Growth Maturity Decay c. and for Animals were not Corporeal Matter self-moving dividable and composable there could not be such variety of Passions Complexions Humors Features Statures Appetites Diseases Infirmities Youth Age c. Neither would they have any nourishing Food healing Salves soveraign Medicines reviving Cordials or deadly Poysons In short there is so much variety in Nature proceeding from the self-motion of Matter as not possible to be numbred nor thorowly known by any Creature Wherefore I should labour in vain if I endeavoured to express any more thereof and this is the cause that I break off here and onely subscribe my self MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXIII MADAM COncerning the comparison your Author makes between an Immaterial Spirit and Light That as Light is contractive and dilative and yet not divisible so is also an Immaterial substance Give me leave to tell you that in my opinion all that is contractive and dilative is also dividable and so is light As for example when a Candle is snuff'd the Snuffers do not onely clip the wick but also the light The like when a dark body is interposed or crosses the rays of the Sun it cuts those rays asunder which by reason they cannot joyn together again because of the interposed body the light cut off suddenly goeth out that is the matter of light is altered from the figure of light to some other thing but not annihilated And since no more light can flow into the room from the Fountain or Spring of Light the Sun because the passage is stopt close the room remaineth dark For Light is somewhat of the nature of Water so long as the Spring is open the Water flows and whatsoever is taken away the Spring supplies and if another body onely presses thorow it it immediately joyns and closes its severed parts again without any difficulty or loss The same doth Light onely the difference is that the substance of Light is extraordinary rare and pure for as Air is so much rarer then Water so Light is so much rarer and purer then Air and its matter may be of so dilating a nature as to dilate from a point into numerous rayes As for ordinary Fire-light it doth not last longer then it hath fuel to feed it and so likewise it is with the light of the Sun for Light is according to the substance that feeds it and though it is a substance it self yet it increases and decreases according as it hath something that succours or nourishes it But some may object that if Light were a body and did contract and dilate as I say it is impossible that it could display it self in so great and vast a compass and remove so suddenly and instantly as it doth To which objection I answer first That although I say Light is a real corporeal substance and doth contract and dilate it self from a point into numerous rayes as also in another Letter I sent you before That Light and Darkness do succeed each other nevertheless as for the perception of Light I am not so eager in maintaining this opinion as if it was an Infallible Truth and impossible to be otherwise but I say onely That to my sense and reason it seems very probable that it may be so that the light of the Sun doth really dilate it self into so vast a compass as we see and that light and darkness do really succeed each other as all other Creatures do But yet it seems also probable to mee that the parts of the Air may onely pattern out the figure of light and that the light we see in the Air may be onely patterns taken from the real figure of the light of the Sun And therefore if it be according to the former opinion to wit That the light of the Sun doth really dilate it self into so vast a compass My answer is That contraction and dilation are natural corporeal actions or motions and that there is no alteration of motion in Nature but is done in Time that is successively not instantly for Time is nothing else but the alteration of motion Besides I do not perceive any so sudden and swift alteration and succession of light but that it is done by degrees As for example in the morning when it begins to dawn and grow light it appears clearly to our sight how light doth come forth and darkness remove by degrees and so at night when it grows dark how light removes and darkness succeeds nay if there be any such sudden change of the motions of Light I desire you to consider Madam that light is a very subtil rare piercing and active body and therefore its motions are much quicker then those of grosser bodies and cannot so well be perceived by our gross exterior senses But if it be that the Air doth pattern out the light of the Sun then the framed objection can prove nothing because there is not then such a real dilation or succession of light but the corporeal figurative motions of the Air do make patterns of the light of the Sun and dissolve those patterns or figures again more suddenly and quickly then man can shut and open his eyes as being more subtil then his gross exterior senses But it may be said that if Air did pattern out the light of the Sun the light would increase by these numerous patterns I answer that cannot appear to our Eyes for we see onely the pattern'd figure of light and that a great compass is enlightned also that the further the air is from the Sun the darker
particular creature of Nature should have as much power to act or work as Nature her self but because neither Reason nor Art has found out as yet such a powerful opposite to Gold as can alter its nature men therefore conclude that it cannot be done Your Author relates to have seen the Gold-making stone which he says was of colour such as Saffron is in its powder but weighty and shining like unto powder'd Glass one fourth part of one grain thereof a grain he reckons the six hundredth part of one ounce being projected upon eight ounces of Quicksilver made hot in a Crucible and straight way there were found eight ounces and a little less then eleven grains of the purest Gold therefore one onely grain of that powder had transchanged 19186 parts of Quicksilver equal to it self into the best Gold Truly Madam I wish with all my heart the poor Royalists had had some quantity of that powder and I assure you that if it were so I my self would turn a Chymist to gain so much as to repair my Noble Husbands losses that his noble family might flourish the better But leaving Gold since it is but a vain wish I do verily believe that some of the Chymical medicines do in some desperate cases many times produce more powerful and sudden effects then the medicines of Galenistsi and therefore I do not absolutely condemn the art of Fire as if I were an enemy to it but I am of an opinion that my Opinions in Philosophy if well understood will rather give a light to that art then obscure its worth for if Chymists did but study well the corporeal motions or actions of Natures substantial body they would by their observations understand Nature better then they do by the observation of the actions of their Art and out of this consideration and respect I should almost have an ambition to become an Artist in Chymistry were I not too lazie and tender for that imployment but should I quit the one and venture the other I am so vain as to perswade my self I might perform things worthy my labour upon the ground of my own Philosophy which is substantial Life Sense and Reason for I would not study Salt Sulphur and Mercury but the Natural motions of every Creature and observe the variety of Natures actions But perchance you will smile at my vain conceit and it may be I my self should repent of my pains unsuccessfully bestowed my time vainly spent my health rashly endangered and my Noble Lords Estate unprofitably wasted in fruitless tryals and experiments Wherefore you may be sure that I will consider well before I act for I would not lose Health Wealth and Fame and do no more then others have done which truly is not much their effects being of less weight then their words But in the mean time my study shall be bent to your service and how to express my self worthily MADAM Your Ladiships humble and faithful Servant XIV MADAM I Have read your Authors discourse concerning Sensation but it was as difficult to me to understand it as it was tedious to read it Truly all the business might have have been easily declared in a short Chapter and with more clearness and perspicuity For Sensation is nothing else but the action of sense proceeding from the corporeal sensitive motions which are in all Creatures or parts of Nature and so all have sense and sensation although not alike after one and the same manner but some more some less each according to the nature and propriety of its figure But your Author speaks of Motion without Sense and Sense without Motion which is a meer impossibility for there is not nor cannot be any Motion in Nature without Sense nor any Sense without Motion there being no Creature without self-motion although not always perceptible by us or our external senses for all motion is not exteriously local and visible Wherefore not any part of Nature according to my opinion wants Sense and Reason Life and Knowledg but not such a substanceless Life as your Author describes but a substantial that is a corporeal Life Neither is Light the principle of Motion but Motion is the principle of Light Neither is Heat the principle of Motion but its effect as well as Cold is for I cannot perceive that Heat should be more active then Cold. Neither is there any such thing as Unsensibleness in Nature except it be in respect of some particular Sensation in some particular Figure As for example when an Animal dies or its Figure is dissolved from the Figure of an Animal we may say it hath not animal sense or motion but we cannot say it hath no sense or motion at all for as long as Matter is in Nature Sense and Motion will be so that it is absurd and impossible to believe or at least to think that Matter as a body can be totally deprived of Life Sense and Motion or that Life can perish and be corrupted be it the smallest part of Matter conceivable and the same turned or changed into millions of Figures for the Life and Soul of Nature is self-moving Matter which by Gods Power and leave is the onely Framer and Maker as also the Dissolver and Transformer of all Creatures in Nature making as well Light Heat and Cold Gas Blas and Ferments as all other natural Creatures beside as also Passions Appetites Digestions Nourishments Inclination Aversion Sickness and Health nay all Particular Ideas Thoughts Fancies Conceptions Arts Sciences c. In brief it makes all that is to be made in Nature But many great Philosophers conceive Nature to be fuller of Intricacy Difficulty and Obscurity then she is puzling themselves about her ordinary actions which yet are easie and free and making their arguments hard constrained and mystical many of them containing neither sense nor reason when as in my opinion there is nothing else to be studied in Nature but her substance and her actions But I will leave them to their own Fancies and Humors and say no more but rest MADAM Your humble and faithful Servant XV. MADAM COncerning Sympathy and Antipathy and attractive or magnetick Inclinations which some do ascribe to the influence of the Stars others to an unknown Spirit as the Mover others to the Instinct of Nature hidden Proprieties and certain formal Vertues but your Author doth attribute to directing Ideas begotten by their Mother Charity or a desire of Good Will and calls it a Gift naturally inherent in the Archeusses of either part If you please to have my opinion thereof I think they are nothing else but plain ordinary Passions and Appetites As for example I take Sympathy as also Magnetisme or attractive Power to be such agreeable Motions in one part or Creature as do cause a Fancy love and desire to some other part or Creature and Antipathy when these Motions are disagreeable and produce contrary effects as dislike hate and aversion to some part
they cannot have the same Motions for the corporeal motions do make the nature of every particular Creature and their differences and as the corporeal motions act work or move so is the nature of every figure Wherefore no body I hope will count me so senseless that I believe sense and life to be after the like manner in every particular Creature or part of Nature as for example that a Stone or Tree has animal motions and doth see touch taste smell and hear by such sensitive organs as an Animal doth but my opinion is that all Sense is not bound up to the sensitive organs of an Animal nor Reason to the kernel of a man's brain or the orifice of the stomack or the fourth ventricle of the brain or onely to a mans body for though we do not see all Creatures move in that manner as Man or Animals do as to walk run leap ride c. and perform exterior acts by various local motions nevertheless we cannot in reason say they are void and destitute of all motion For what man knows the variety of motions in Nature Do not we see that Nature is active in every thing yea the least of her Creatures For example how some things do unanimously conspire and agree others antipathetically flee from each other and how some do increase others decrease some dissolve some consist and how all things are subject to perpetual changes and alterations and do you think all this is done without motion life sense and reason I pray you consider Madam that there are internal motions as well as external alterative as well as constitutive and several other sorts of motions not perceptible by our senses and therefore it is impossible that all Creatures should move after one sort of motions But you will say Motion may be granted but not Life Sense and Reason I answer I would fain know the reason why not for I am confident that no man can in truth affirm the contrary What is Life but sensitive Motion what is Reason but rational motion and do you think Madam that any thing can move it self without life sense and reason I for my part cannot imagine it should for it would neither know why whither nor what way or how to move But you may reply Motion may be granted but not self-motion and life sense and reason do consist in self-motion I answer this is imposible for not any thing in Nature can move naturally without natural motion and all natural motion is self-motion If you say it may be moved by another My answer is first that if a thing has no motion in it self but is moved by another which has self-motion then it must give that immovable body motion of its own or else it could not move having no motion at all for it must move by the power of motion which is certain and then it must move either by its own motion or by a communicated or imparted motion if by a communicated motion then the self-moveable thing or body must transfer its own motion into the immoveable and lose so much of its own motion as it gives away which is impossible as I have declared heretofore at large unless it do also transfer its moving parts together with it for motion cannot be transfered without substance But experience and observation witnesseth the contrary Next I say if it were possible that one body did move another then most part of natural Creatures which are counted immoveable of themselves or inanimate and destitute of self-motion must be moved by a forced or violent and not by a natural motion for all motion that proceeds from an external agent or moving power is not natural but forced onely self-motion is natural and then one thing moving another in this manner we must at last proceed to such a thing whch is not moved by another but hath motion in it self and moves all others and perhaps since man and the rest of animals have self-motion it might be said that the motions of all other inanimate Creatures as they call them doth proceed from them but man being so proud ambitious and self-conceited would soon exclude all other animals and adscribe this power onely to himself especially since he thinks himself onely endued with Reason and to have this prerogative above all the rest as to be the sole rational Creature in the World Thus you see Madam what confusion absurdity and constrained work will follow from the opinion of denying self-motion and so consequently life and sense to natural Creatures But I having made too long a digresion will return to your Authors discourse And as for that he says A dead Carcass burns by the proper action of the fire I answer That if the dissolving motions of the fire be too strong for the consistent motions of that body which fire works upon then fire is the cause of its alteration but if the consistent motions of the body be too strong for the dissolving motions of the fire then the fire can make no alteration in it Again he says Calx vive as long as it remains dry it gnaws not a dead Carcass but it presently gnaws live flesh and makes an escharre and a dead carcass is by lime wholly resolved into a liquor and is combibed except the bone and gristle thereof but it doth not consume live flesh into a liquor but translates it into an escharre I will say no more to this but that I have fully enough declared my opinion before that the actions or motions of life alter in that which is named a dead Carcass from what they were in that which is called a Living body but although the actions of Life alter yet life is not gone or annihilated for life is life and remains still the same but the actions or motions of life change and differ in every figure and this is the cause that the actions of Fire Time and Calx-vive have not the same effects in a dead Carcass as in a living Body for the difference of their figures and their different motions produce different effects in them and this is the cause that one and the same fire doth not burn or act upon all bodies alike for some it dissolves and some not and some it hardens and some it consumes and some later some sooner For put things of several natures into the same Fire and you will see how they will burn or how fire will act upon them after several manners so that fire cannot alter the actions of several bodies to its own blas and therefore since a living and a dead Body as they call them are not the same for the actions or motions of life by their change or alteration have altered the nature or figure of the body the effects cannot be the same for a Carcass has neither the interior nor exterior motions of that figure which it was before it was a Carcass and so the figure is quite alter'd from what it was by the
irregular and disordered motions or strengthen the weak or reduce the straying or work any other ways according to the nature and propriety of their own substance and the disposition of the distempered parts Nevertheless those cures which are performed exteriously as to heal inward affects by an outwad bare co-touching are all made by natural motions in natural substances and not by Non-being substanceless Ideas or spiritual Rays for those that will cure diseases by Non-beings will effect little or nothing for a disease is corporeal or material and so must the remedies be there being no cure made but by a conflict of the remedy with the disease and certainly if a non-being fight against a being or a corporeal disease I doubt it will do no great effect for the being will be too strong for the non-being Wherefore my constant opinion is that all cures whatsover are perfected by the power of corporeal motions working upon the affected parts either interiously or exteriously either by applying external remedies to external wounds or by curing internal distempers either by medicines taken internally or by bare external co-touchings And such a remedy I suppose has been that which your Author speaks of viz. a stone of a certain Irish-man which by a meer external contact hath cured all kinds of diseases either by touching outwardly the affected parts or by licking it but with the tip of the Tongue if the disease was Internal But if the vertue of the Stone was such as your Author describes certainly what man soever he was that possessed such a jewel I say he was rather of the nature of the Devil then of man that would not divulge it to the general benefit of all mankind and I wonder much that your Author who otherwise pretends such extraordinary Devotion Piety and Religiousness as also Charity viz. that all his works he has written are for the benefit of his neighbour and to detect the errors of the Schools meerly for the good of man doth yet plead his cause saying That secrets as they are most difficultly prepared so they ought to remain in secret forever in the possession of the Privy Councel what Privy Counsels he means I know not but certainly some are more difficult to be spoken to or any thing to be obtained from then the preparation of a Physical Arcanum However a general good or benefit ought not to be concealed or kept in privy Councels but to be divulged and publickly made known that all sorts of People of what condition degree or Nation soever might partake of the general blessing and bounty of God But Madam you may be sure that many who pretend to know Physical secrets most commonly know the least as being for the most part of the rank of them that deceive the simple with strange tales which exceed truth and to make themselves more authentical they use to rail at others and to condemn their skill onely to magnifie their own I say many Madam as I have observed are of that nature especially those that have but a superficial knowledge in the Art of Physick for those that are thorowly learned and sufficiently practised in it scorn to do the like which I wish may prosper and thrive by their skill And so I rest MADAM Your Ladiships humble Servant XLIII MADAM YOur Author is pleased to relate a story of one that died suddenly and being disfected there was not the least sign of decay or disorder found in his body But I cannot add to those that wonder when no sign of distemper is found in a man's body after he is dead because I do not believe that the subtillest learnedst and most practised Anatomist can exactly tell all the Interior Government or motions or can find out all obscure and invisible passages in a man's body for concerning the motions they are all altered in death or rather in the dissolution of the animal figure and although the exterior animal figure or shape doth not alter so soon yet the animal motions may alter in a moment of time which sudden alteration may cause a sudden death and so the motions being invisible the cause of death cannot be perceived for no body can find that which is not to be found to wit animal motions in a dead man for Nature hath altered these motions from being animal motions to some other kind of motions she being as various in dissolutions as in productions indeed so various that her ways cannot be traced or known thorowly and perfecty but onely by piece-meals as the saying is that is but partly Wherefore man can onely know that which is visible or subject to his senses and yet our senses do not always inform us truly but the alterations of grosser parts are more easily known then the alterations of subtil corporeal motions either in general or in particular neither are the invisible passages to be known in a dead Carcass much less in a living body But I pray mistake me not when I say that the animal motions are not subject to our exterior senses for I do not mean all exterior animal motions nor all interior animal motions for though you do see no interior motion in an animal body yet you may feel some as the motion of the Heart the motion of the Pulse the motion of the Lungs and the like but the most part of the interior animal motions are not subject to our exterior senses nay no man he may be as observing as he will can possibly know by his exterior senses all the several and various interior motions in his own body nor all the exterior motions of his exterior parts and thus it remains still that neither the subtillest motions and parts of matter nor the obscure passages in several Creatures can be known but by several parts for what one part is ignorant of another part is knowing and what one part is knowing another part is ignorant thereof so that unless all the Parts of Infinite Matter were joyned into one Creature there can never be in one particular Creature a perfect knowledg of all things in Nature Wherefore I shall never aspire to any such knowledg but be content with that little particular knowledg Nature has been pleased to give me the chief of which is that I know my self and especially that I am MADAM Your constant Friend and faithful Servant XLIV MADAM I Perceive you are desirous to know the cause Why a man is more weak at the latter end of a disease then at the beginning and is a longer time recovering health then loosing health as also the reason of relapses and intermissions First as for weakness and strength my opinion is they are caused by the regular and irregular motions in several parts each striving to over-power the other in their conflict and when a man recovers from a disease although the regular motions have conquered the irregular and subdued them to their obedience yet they are not so quite obedient as they
motion to tend to its former state Wherefore when the Line moves backwards or forwards it is not that the Line gets what it had not before that is a new corporeal motion but it uses its own motion onely as I said that exterior body is the occasion that it moves after such a manner or way and therefore this motion of the line although it is the lines own motion yet in respect of the exterior body that causes it to move that way it may be called a forced or rather an occasioned motion And thus no body can get motion from another body except it get matter too for all that motion that a body has proceeds from the self-moving part of matter and motion and matter are but one thing neither is there any inanimate part of matter in Nature which is not co-mixed with the animate and consequently there is no part which is not moving or moved the Animate part of matter is the onely self-moving part and the Inanimate the moved not that the animate matter doth give away its own motion to the inanimate and that the inanimate becomes self-moving but the animate by reason of the close conjunction and commixture works together with the inanimate or causes the inanimate to work with it and thus the inanimate remains as simple in its own nature as the animate doth in its nature although they are mixt for those mixtures do not alter the simplicity of each others Nature But having discoursed of this subject in my former Letters I take my leave and rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant VI. MADAM IT seems my former Letter concerning Motion has given you occasion to propound this following question to me to wit When I throw a bowl or strike a ball with my hand whether the motion by which the bowl or ball is moved be the hands or the balls own motion or whether it be transferred out of my hand into the ball To which I return this short answer That the motion by which for example the bowl is moved is the bowls own motion and not the hands that threw it for the hand cannot transfer its own motion which hath a material being out of it self into the bowl or any other thing it handles touches or moves or else if it did the hand would in a short time become weak and useless by losing so much substance unless new motions were as fast created as expended You 'l say perhaps that the hand and the bowl may exchange motions as that the bowls own motion doth enter into the hand and supply that motion which went out of the hand into the bowl by a close joyning or touch for in all things moving and moved must be a joyning of the mover to the moved either immediate or by the means of another body I answer That this is more probable then that the hand should give out or impart motion to the bowl and receive none from the bowl but by reason motion cannot be transferred without matter as being both inseparably united and but one thing I cannot think it probable that any of the animate or self-moving matter in the hand quits the hand and enters into the bowl nor that the animate matter which is in the bowl leaves the bowl and enters into the hand because that self-moving substance is not readily prepared for so sudden a Translation or Transmigration You may say It may as easily be done as food is received into an animal body and excrement discharged or as air is taken in and breath sent out by the way of respiration and that all Creatures are not onely produced from each other but do subsist by each other and act by each others assistance I answer It is very true that all Creatures have more power and strength by a joyned assistance then if every part were single and subsisted of it self But as some parts do assist each other so on the other side some parts do resist each other for though there be a unity in the nature of Infinite Matter yet there are divisions also in the Infinite parts of Infinite Matter which causes Antipathy as much as Sympathy but they being equal in assistance as well as in resistance it causes a conformity in the whole nature of Infinite Matter for if there were not contrary or rather I may say different effects proceeding from the onely cause which is the onely matter there could not possibly be any or at least so much variety in Nature as humane sense and reason perceives there is But to return to our first argument You may say that motion may be transferred out of one body into another without transferring any of the Matter I answer That is impossible unless motion were that which some call No-thing but how No-thing can be transferred I cannot imagine Indeed no sense and reason in Nature can conceive that which is No-thing for how should it conceive that which is not in Nature to be found You 'l say perhaps It is a substanceless thing or an incorporeal immaterial being or form I answer In my opinion it is a meer contradiction to say a substanceless thing form or being for surely in Nature it cannot be But if it be not possible that motion can be divided from matter you may say that body from whence the motion is transferred would become less in bulk and weight and weaker with every act of motion and those bodies into which corporeal motion or self-moving matter was received would grow bigger heavier and stronger To which I answer That this is the reason which denies that there can be a translation of motion out of the moving body into the moved for questionless the one would grow less and the other bigger that by loosing so much substance this by receiving Nay if it were possible as it is not that motion could be transferred without matter the body out of which it goes would nevertheless grow weaker for the strength lies in the motion unless you believe this motion which is transferred to have been useless in the mover and onely useful to the moved or else it would be superfluous in the moved except you say it became to be annihilated after it was transferr'd and had done its effect but if so then there would be a perpetual and infinite creation and annihilation of substanceless motion and how there could be a creation and annihilation of nothing my reason cannot conceive neither is it possible unless Nature had more power then God to create Nothing and to annihilate Nothing The truth is it is more probable for sense and reason to believe a Creation of Something out of Nothing then a Creation of Nothing out of Nothing Wherefore it cannot in sense and reason be that the motion of the hand is transferr'd into the bowl But yet I do not say that the motion of the hand doth not contribute to the motion of the bowl for though the bowl hath its own natural motion
heat were not corporeal but that those corporeal motions which make heat work invisibly and not visibly like as fire feeds on fuel or man on meat Also when I say Excercise amongst animals gets strength I mean that by excercise the inherent natural motions of an animal body are more active as being more industrious When I say That the passage whence cold and sharp winds do issue out is narrow I mean when as such or such parts disjoyn or separate from other parts as for example when dilating parts disjoyn from contracting parts and oftentimes the disjoyning parts do move according to the nature of those parts they disjoyn from Concerning the actions of Nature my meaning is that there is not any action whatsoever but was always in Nature and remains in Nature so long as it pleases God that Nature shall last and of all her actions Perception and self-love are her prime and chief actions wherefore it is impossible but that all her particular creatures or parts must be knowing as well as self-moving there being not one part or particle of Nature that has not its share of animate or self-moving matter and consequently of knowledge and self-love each according to its own kind and nature but by reason all the parts are of one matter and belong to one body each is unalterable so far that although it can change its figure yet it cannot change or alter from being matter or a part of Infinite Nature and this is the cause there cannot be a confusion amongst those parts of Nature but there must be a constant union and harmony betwixt them for cross and opposite actions make no confusion but onely a variety and such actions which are different cross and opposite not moving always after their usual and accustomed way I name Irregular for want of a better expression but properly there is no such thing as Irregularity in Nature nor no weariness rest sleep sickness death or destruction no more then there is place space time modes accidents and thelike any thing besides body or matter When I speak of unnatural Motions I mean such as are not proper to the nature of such or such a Creature as being opposite or destructive to it that is moving or acting towards its dissolution Also when I call Violence supernatural I mean that Violence is beyond the particular nature of such a particular Creature that is beyond its natural motions but not supernatural that is beyond Infinite Nature or natural Matter When I say A thing is forced I do not mean that the forced body receives strength without Matter but that some Corporeal Motions joyn with other Corporeal Motions and so double the strength by joyning their parts or are at least an occasion to make other parts more industrious By Prints I understand the figures of the objects which are patterned or copied out by the sensitive and rational corporeal figurative Motions as for example when the sensitive corporeal motions pattern out the figure of an exteriour object and the rational motions again pattern out a figure made by the sensitive motions those figures of the objects that are patterned out I name Prints as for example The sense of Seeing is not capable to receive the Print that is the figure or pattern of the object of the whole Earth And again The rational Motions are not alwayes exactly after the sensitive Prints that is after the figures made by the sensitive motions Thus by Prints I understand Patterns and by printing patterning not that the exteriour object prints its figure upon the exteriour sensitive organs but that the sensitive motions in the organs pattern out the figure of the object but though all printing is done by the way of patterning yet all patterning is not printing Therefore when I say that solid bodies print their figures in that which is more porous and soft and that those solid bodies make new prints perpetually and as they remove the prints melt out like verbal or vocal sounds which print words and set notes in the Air I mean the soft body by its own self-motion patterns out the figure of the solid body and not that the solid body makes its own print and so leaves the place of its own substance with the print in the soft body for place remains always with its own body and cannot be separated from it they being but one thing for example when a Seal is printed in Wax the Seal gives not any thing to the Wax but is onely an object patterned out by the figurative motions of the Wax in the action of printing or sealing When I make mention of what the Senses bring in I mean what the sensitive Motions pattern out of forreign objects And when I say that the pores being shut touch cannot enter I mean the sensitive corporeal motions cannot make patterns of outward objects Also when I say our Ears may be as knowing as our Eyes and so of the rest of the sensitive organs I mean the sensitive motions in those parts or organs When I say The more the Body is at rest the more active or busie is the Mind I mean when the sensitive Motions are not taken up with the action of patterning out forreign objects When I say the Air is fill'd with sound and that words are received into the ears as figures of exterior objects are received into the eyes I mean the sensitive motions of the Air pattern out sound and the sensitive motions of the Ears pattern out words as the sensitive figurative motions of the Eyes pattern out the figures of external objects Also when I speak of Thunder and Lightning to wit That Thunder makes a great noise by the breaking of lines My meaning is That the Air patterns out this sound or noise of the lines and by reason there are so many patterns made in the air by its sensitive motions the Ear cannot take so exact a copy thereof but somewhat confusedly and this is the reason why Thunder is represented or rather pattern'd out with some terrour for Thunder is a confused noise because the patterns are made confusedly But concerning Sound and Light I am forced to acquaint you Madam that my meaning thereof is not so well expressed in my Book of Philosophy by reason I was not of the same opinion at that time when I did write that Book which I am now of for upon better consideration and a more diligent search into the causes of natural effects I have found it more probable that all sensitive perception is made by the way of Patterning and so consequently the perception of Sound and of Light wherefore I beseech you when you find in my mentioned Book any thing thereof otherwise expressed do not judg of it as if I did contradict my self but that I have alter'd my opinion since upon more probable reasons Thus Madam you have a true declaration of my sence and meaning concerning those
as to be before for if we will do this we must not allow that the Eternal Son of God is Coeternal with the Father because nature requires a Father to exist before the Son but in God is no time but all Eternity and if you allow that God hath made some Creatures as Supernatural Spirits to live Eternally why should he not as well have made a Creature from all Eternity for Gods making is not our making he needs no Priority of Time But you may say the Comparison of the Eternal Generation of the Son of God is Mystical and Divine and not to be applied to natural things I answer The action by which God created the World or made Nature was it natural of supernatural surely you will say it was a Supernatural and God-like action why then will you apply Natural Rules to a God-like and Supernatural Action for what Man knows how and when God created Nature You will say the Scripture doth teach us that for it is not Six thousand years when God created this World I answer the holy Scripture informs us onely of the Creation of this Visible World but not of Nature and natural Matter for I firmly believe according to the Word of God that this World has been Created as is described by Moses but what is that to natural Matter There may have been worlds before as many are of the opinion that there have been men before Adam and many amongst Divines do believe that after the destruction of this World God will Create a new World again as a new Heaven and a new Earth and if this be probable or at least may be believed without any prejudice to the holy Scripture why may it not be probably believed that there have been other worlds before this visible World for nothing is impossible with God and all this doth derogate nothing from the Honour and Glory of God but rather increases his Divine Power But as for the Creation of this present World it is related that there was first a rude and indigested Heap or Chaos without form void and dark and God said Let it be light Let there be a Firmament in the midst of the Waters and let the Waters under the Heaven be gathered together and let the dry Land appear Let the Earth bring forth Grass the Herb yielding seed and the Fruit-tree yielding Fruit after its own kind and let there be Lights in the Firmament the one to rule the Day and the other the Night and let the Waters bring forth abundantly the moving Creature that hath life and let the Earth bring forth living Creatures after its kinde and at last God said Let us make Man and all what was made God saw it was good Thus all was made by Gods Command and who executed his Command but the Material servant of God Nature which ordered her self-moving matter into such several Figures as God commanded and God approved of them And thus Madam I verily believe the Creation of the World and that God is the Sole and omnipotent Creator of Heaven and Earth and of all Creatures therein nay although I believe Nature to have been from Eternity yet I believe also that God is the God and Author of Nature and has made Nature and natural Matter in a way and manner proper to his Omnipotency and Incomprehensible by us I will pass by natural Arguments and Proofs as not belonging to such an Omnipotent Action as for example how the nature of relative terms requires that they must both exist at one point of Time viz. a Master and his Servant and a King and his Subjects for one bearing relation to the other can in no ways be considered as different from one another in formiliness or laterness of Time but as I said these being meerly natural things I will nor cannot apply them to Supernatural and Divine Actions But if you ask me how it is possible that Nature the Effect and Creature of God can be Eternal without beginning I will desire you to answer me first how a Creature can be Eternal without end as for example Supernatural Spirits are and then I will answer you how a Creature can be Eternal without beginning For Eternity consists herein that it has neither beginning nor end and if it be easie for God to make a Being without end it is not difficult for Him to make a Being without beginning One thing more I will add which is That if Nature has not been made by God from all Eternity then the Title of God as being a Creator which is a Title and action upon which our Faith is grounded for it is the first Article in our Creed has been accessory to God as I said not full Six thousand years ago but there is not anything accessory to God he being the Perfection himself But Madam all what I speak is under the liberty of Natural Philosophy and by the Light of Reason onely not of Revelation and my Reason being not infallible I will not declare my Opinions for an infallible Truth Neither do I think that they are offensive either to Church or State for I submit to the Laws of One and believe the Doctrine of the Other so much that if it were for the advantage of either I should be willing to sacrifice my Life especially for the Church yea had I millions of Lives and every Life was either to suffer torment or to live in ease I would prefer torment for the benefit of the Church and therefore if I knew that my Opinions should give any offence to the Church I should be ready every minute to alter them And as much as I am bound in all duty to the obedience of the Church as much am I particularly bound to your Ladiship for your entire love and sincere affection towards me for which I shall live and die MADAM Your most faithful Friend and humble Servant IV. MADAM I Have chosen in the first place the Work of that famous Philosopher Hobbs called Leviathan wherein I find he sayes That the cause of sense or sensitive perception is the external body or Object which presses the Organ proper to each Sense To which I answer according to the ground of my own Philosophical Opinions That all things and therefore outward objects as well as sensitive organs have both Sense and Reason yet neither the objects nor the organs are the cause of them for Perception is but the effect of the Sensitive and rational Motions and not the Motions of the Perception neither doth the pressure of parts upon parts make Perception for although Matter by the power of self-motion is as much composeable as divideable and parts do joyn to parts yet that doth not make perception nay the several parts betwixt which the Perception is made may be at such a distance as not capable to press As for example Two men may see or hear each other at a distance and yet there may be other bodies between them
Motions though they proceed from sensitive matter yet are they so different from the free and Prime Natural Motions that they seem as it were quite of another nature And this distinction neglected is the Cause that many make Appetites and Passions Perceptions and Objects and the like as one without any or but little difference But having discoursed of the difference of these Motions in my former Letter I will not be tedious to you with repeating it again but remain MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant VII MADAM YOur Authours opinion concerning Dreams seemeth to me in some part very rational and probable in some part not For when he sayes that Dreams are onely Imaginations of them that sleep which imaginations have been before either totally or by parcels in the Sense and that the organs of Sense as the Brain and the Nerves being benumb'd in sleep as not easily to be moved by external objects those Imaginations proceed onely from the agitation of the inward parts of mans body which for the connexion they have with the Brain and other organs when they be distemper'd do keep the same in motion whereby the Imaginations there formerly made appear as if a man were waking This seems to my Reason not very probable For first Dreams are not absolutely Imaginations except we do call all Motions and Actions of the Sensitive and Rational Matter Imaginations Neither is it necessary that all Imaginations must have been before either totally or by parcels in the Sense neither is there any benumbing of the organs of Sense in sleep But Dreams according to my opinion are made by the Sensitive and Rational Corporeal Motions by figuring several objects as awake onely the difference is that the Sensitive motions in Dreams work by rote and on the inside of the Sensitive organs when as awake they work according to the patterns of outward objects and exteriously or on the outside of the sensitive Organs so that sleep or dreams are nothing else but an alteration of motions from moving exteriously to move interiously and from working after a Pattern to work by rote I do not say that the body is without all exterior motions when asleep as breathing and beating of the Pulse although these motions are rather interior then exterior but that onely the sensitive organs are outwardly shut so as not to receive the patterns of outward Objects nevertheless the sensitive Motions do not cease from moving inwardly or on the inside of the sensitive Organs But the rational matter doth often as awake so asleep or in dreams make such figures as the sensitive did never make either from outward objects or of its own accord for the sensitive hath sometimes liberty to work without Objects but the Rational much more which is not bound either to the patterns of Exterior objects or of the sensitive voluntary Figures Wherefore it is not divers distempers as your Authour sayes that cause different Dreams or Cold or Heat neither are Dreams the reverse of our waking Imaginations nor all the Figures in Dreams are not made with their heels up and their heads downwards though some are but this error or irregularity proceeds from want of exterior Objects or Patterns and by reason the sensitive Motions work by rote neither are the Motions reverse because they work inwardly asleep and outwardly awake for Mad-men awake see several Figures without Objects In short sleeping and waking is somewhat after that manner when men are called either out of their doors or stay within their houses or like a Ship where the Mariners work all under hatches whereof you will find more in my Philosophical Opinions and so taking my leave I rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant VIII MADAM YOur Author going on in his discourse of Imagination says That as we have no Imagination whereof we have not formerly had sense in whole or in parts so we have not Transition from one Imagination to another whereof we never had the like before in our senses To which my answer is in short that the Rational part of Matter in one composed figure as in Man or the like Creature may make such figures as the senses did never make in that composed Figure or Creature And though your Authour reproves those that say Imaginations rise of themselves yet if the self-moving part of Matter which I call Rational makes Imaginations they must needs rise of themselves for the Rational part of matter being free and self-moving depends upon nothing neither Sense nor Object I mean so as not to be able to work without them Next when your Author defining Vnderstanding says that it is nothing else but an Imagination raised by words or other voluntary signs My Answer is that Understanding and so Words and Signs are made by self-moving Matter that is Sense and Reason and not Sense and Reason by Words and Signs wherefore Thoughts are not like Water upon a plain Table which is drawn and guided by the finger this or that way for every Part of self-moving matter is not alwayes forced perswaded or directed for if all the Parts of Sense and Reason were ruled by force or perswasion not any wounded Creature would fail to be healed or any disease to be cured by outward Applications for outward Applications to Wounds and Diseases might have more force then any Object to the Eye But though there is great affinity and sympathy between parts yet there is also great difference and antipathy betwixt them which is the cause that many objects cannot with all their endeavours work such effects upon the Interiour parts although they are closely press'd for Impressions of objects do not always affect those parts they press Wherefore I am not of your Author's opinion that all Parts of Matter press one another It is true Madam there cannot be any part single but yet this doth not prove that parts must needs press each other And as for his Train of Thoughts I must confess that Thoughts for the most part are made orderly but yet they do not follow each other like Geese for surely man has sometimes very different thoughts as for Example a man sometime is very sad for the death of his Friend and thinks of his own death and immediately thinks of a wanton Mistress which later thought surely the thought of Death did not draw in wherefore though some thought may be the Ring-leader of others yet many are made without leaders Again your Author in his description of the Mind sayes that the discourse of the mind when it it is govern'd by design is nothing but seeking or the Faculty of Invention a hunting out of the Causes of some Effects present or past or of the Effects of some present or past Cause Sometimes a man seeks what he has lost and from that Place and Time wherein he misses it his mind runs back from place to place and time to time to find where and when he had it that
Animals do often see in the dark and in sleep I will not say but that the animate matter which by self-motion doth make the Perception of light with other perceptive Figures and so animal perceptive light may be the presenter or ground perceptive figure of sight yet the sensitive corporeal motions can make other figures without the help of light and such as light did never present But when the eye patterns out an exterior object presented by light it patterns also out the object of light for the sensitive motions can make many figures by one act not onely in several organs but in one organ as for example there is presented to sight a piece of Imbroydery wherein is silk silver and gold upon Sattin in several forms or figures as several flowers the sensitive motions streight by one and the same act pattern out all those several figures of flowers as also the figures of Silk Silver Gold and Sattin without any pressure of these objects or motions in the medium for if they all should press the eye would no more see the exterior objects then the nose being stopt could smell a presented perfume Thirdly They may ask me if sight be made in the eye and proceeds not from the outward object what is the reason that we do not see inwardly but outwardly as from us I answer when we see objects outwardly as from us then the sensitive motions work on the outside of the organ which organ being outwardly convex causes us to see outwardly as from us but in dreams we see inwardly also the sensitive motions do pattern out the distance together with the object But you will say the body of the distance as the air cannot be perceived and yet we can perceive the distance I answer you could not perceive the distance but by such or such an object as is subject to your sight for you do not see the distance more then the air or the like rare body that is between grosser objects for if there were no stars nor planets nor clouds nor earth nor water but onely air you would not see any space or distance but light being a more visible body then air you might figure the body of air by light but so as in an extensive or dilating way for when the mind or the rational matter conceives any thing that hath not such an exact figure or is not so perceptible by our senses then the mind uses art and makes such figures which stand like to that as for example to express infinite to it self it dilates it parts without alteration and without limitation or circumference Likewise when it will conceive a constant succession of Time it draws out its parts into the figure of a line and if eternity it figures a line without beginning and end But as for Immaterial no mind can conceive that for it cannot put it self into nothing although it can dilate and rarifie it self to an higher degree but must stay within the circle of natural bodies as I within the circle of your Commands to express my self MADAM Your faithful Friend and obedient Servant XXI MADAM HEat and Cold according to your Authors opinion are made by Dilation and Contraction for says he When the Motion of the ambient aethereal substance makes the spirits and fluid parts of our bodies tend outwards we acknowledg heat but by the indeavour inwards of the same spirits and humors we feel cold so that to cool is to make the exterior parts of the body endeavour inwards by a motion contrary to that of calefaction by which the internal parts are called outwards He therefore that would know the cause of Cold must find by what motion the exterior parts of any body endeavour to retire inwards But I desire you to consider Madam that there be moist Colds and dry Heats as well as dry Colds and moist Heats wherefore all sorts of Cold are not made by the retyring of parts inwards which is contraction or attraction neither are all sorts of Heat made by parts tending outwards which is dilation or rarefaction for a moist cold is made by dilation and a dry heat by contraction as well as a moist heat is made by dilation and a dry cold by contraction But your Author makes not this difference but onely a difference between a dilated heat and a contracted cold but because a cold wind is made by breath blown thorow pinched or contracted lips and an hot wind by breath through opened and extended lips should we judg that all heat and cold must be made after one manner or way The contracted mouth makes Wind as well as the dilated but yet Wind is not made that way as heat and cold for it may be that onely the air pressed together makes wind or it may be that the corporeal motions in the air may change air into wind as they change water into vapour and vapour into air or it may be something else that is invisible and rare as air and there may be several sorts of wind air heat cold as of all other Creatures more then man is capable to know As for your Authors opinion concerning the congealing of Water and how Ice is made I will not contradict it onely I think nature hath an easier way to effect it then he describes Wherefore my opinion is that it is done by altering motions as for example the corporeal motions making the figure of water by dilation in a Circle figure onely alter from such a dilating circular figure into a contracted square which is Ice or into such a contracted triangle as is snow And thus water and vapour may be changed with ease without any forcing pressing raking or the like The same may be said of hard and bent bodies and of restitution as also of air thunder and lightning which are all done by an easie change of motion and changing into such or such a figure is not the motion of Generation which is to build a new house with old materials but onely a Transformation I say a new house with old materials not that I mean there is any new Creation in nature of any thing that was not before in nature for nature is not God to make new beings out of nothing but any thing may be called new when it is altered from one figure into another I add no more at this time but rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXII MADAM THe Generation of sound according to your worthy Authors opinion is as follows As Vision says he so hearing is Generated by the medium but but not in the same manner for sight is from pressure that is from an endeavour in which there is no perceptible progression of any of the parts of the medium but one part urging or thrusting on another propagateth that action successively to any distance whatsoever where as the motion of the medium by which sound is made is a stroke for when we hear the drum of the
corporeal optick motions may work by rote without objects but that is irregular as in some distempers And thus Madam I have given you my opinion also to this your question if you have any more scruples I pray let me know of them and assure your self that I shall be ready upon all occasions to express my self MADAM Your humble and faithful Servant XXVII MADAM YOur desire is to know why sound is louder in a Vault and in a large Room then in a less I answer A Vault or arched Figure is the freest from obstruction as being without corners and points so as the sensitive and rational corporeal motions of the Ear can have a better perception like as the Eye can see farthest from a hill then being upon a level ground because the prospect is freer from the hill as without obstruction unless it be so cloudy that the clouds do hinder the perception And as the eye can have a better prospect upon a hill so the ear a stronger perception in a Vault And as for sound that it is better perceived in a large then in a little close room or place it is somewhat like the perception of sent for the more the odorous parts are bruised the stronger is that perception of sent as being repeated double or treble which makes the perception stronger like as a thick body is stronger then a thin one So likewise the perception of sound in the air for though not all the parts of the air make repetitions yet some or many make patterns of the sound the truth is Air is as industrious to divulge or present a found by patterns to the Ear as light doth objects to the Eye But then you may ask me Why a long hollow pipe doth convey a voice to the ear more readily then any large and open place My answer is That the Parts of the air in a long pipe are more Composed and not at liberty to wander so that upon necessity they must move onely to the patterning out of the sound having no choice which makes the sound much stronger and the perception of the Ear perfecter But as for Pipes Vaults Prospects as also figures presented in a room through a little hole inverted and many the like belongs more to Artists then to my study for though Natural Philosophy gives or points out the Ground and shews the reason yet it is the Artist that Works Besides it is more proper for Mathematicians to discourse of which study I am not versed in and so leaving it to them I rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXVIII MADAM FRom Sound I am come to Sent in the discourse whereof your Author is pleased to set down these following propositions 1. That smelling is hindred by cold and helped by heat 2. That when the Wind bloweth from the object the smell is the stronger and when it blowes from the sentient towards the obiect the weaker which by experience is found in dogs that follow thetrack of beasts by the Sent 3. That such bodies as are last pervious to the fluid medium yield less smell then such as are more pervious 4. That such bodies as are of their own nature odorous become yet more odorous when they are bruised 5. That when the breath is stopped at least in man nothing can be smelt 6. That the Sense of smelling is also taken away by the stopping of the Nostrils though the mouth be left open To begin from the last I say that the nose is like the other sensitive organs which if they be stopt the corporeal sensitive motions cannot take copies of the exterior objects and therefore must alter their action of patterning to some other for when the eye is shut and cannot perceive outward objects then it works to the Sense of Touch or on the inside of the organ to some phantasmes and so do the rest of the Senses As for the stopping of breath why it hinders the Sent the cause is that the nostrils and the mouth are the chief organs to receive air and to let out breath but though they be common passages for air and breath yet taste is onely made in the mouth and tongue and sent in the nose not by the pressure of meat and the odoriferous object but by patterning out the several figures or objects of sent and taste for the nose and the mouth will smell and taste one nay several things at the same time like as the eye will see light colour and other objects at once which I think can hardly be done by pressures and the reason is that the sensitive motions in the sensitive organs make patterns of several objects at one time which is the cause that when flowers and such like odoriferous bodies are bruised there are as many figures made as there are parts bruised or divided and by reason of so many figures the sensitive knowledg is stronger but that stones minerals and the like seem not so strong to our smell the reason is that their parts being close and united the sensitive motions in the organ cannot so readily perceive and pattern them out as those bodies which are more porous and divided But as for the wind blowing the sent either to or from the sentient it is like a window or door that by the motion of opening and shutting hinders or disturbeth the sight for bodies coming between the object and the organ make a stop of that perception And as for the Dogs smelling out the track of Beasts the cause is that the earth or ground hath taken a copy of that sent which copy the sensitive motions in the nose of the Dog do pattern out and so long as that figure or copy lasts the Dog perceives the sent but if he doth not follow or hunt readily then there is either no perfect copy made by the ground or otherwise he cannot find it which causes him to seek and smell about until he hath it and thus smell is not made by the motion of the air but by the figuring motions in the nose Where it is also to be observed that not onely the motions in one but in millions of noses may pattern out one little object at one time and therefore it is not that the object of sent fills a room by sending out the sent from its substance but that so many figures are made of that object of sent by so many several sensitive motions which pattern the same out and so the air or ground or any other creature whose sensitive motions pattern out the object of sent may perceive the same although their sensitive organs are not like to those of animal creatures for if there be but such sensitive motions and perceptions it is no matter for such organs Lastly it is to be observed That all Creatures have not the same strength of smelling but some smell stronger some weaker according to the disposition of their sensitive motions Also there be other parts in the body which pattern
but a dense or rare heavie or light matter is but one substance or body And thus having obeyed your commands I rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XLIV MADAM IAm very ready to give you my opinion of those two questions you sent me whereof the first was Whether that which is rare and subtil be not withal pure To which I answer That all rare bodies are not subtil nor pure and that all which is dense is not gross and dull As for example Puddle-water or also clear water is rarer then Quicksilver and yet not so subtil and pure as Quicksilver the like of Gold for Quicksilver and Gold may be rarified to a transparentness and yet be so dense as not to be easily dissolved and Quicksilver is very subtil and searching so as to be able to force other bodies to divide as well as it can divide and compose its own parts Wherefore my opinion is that the purest and subtilest degree of matter in nature is that degree of matter which can dilate and contract compose and divide into any figure by corporeal self-motion Your second question was Why a man's hand cannot break a little hard body as a little nail whereas yet it is bigger then the nail I answer It is not because the hand is softer then the nail for one hard body will not break suddenly another hard body and a man may easily break an iron nail with his hand as I have bin informed but it is some kind of motion which can easier do it then another for I have seen a strong cord wound about both a man's hands who pulled his hands as hard and strongly asunder as he could and yet was not able to break it when as a Youth taking the same cord and winding it about his hands as the former did immediately broke it the cause was that he did it with another kind of motion or pulling then the other did which though he used as much force and strength as he was able yet could not break it when the boy did break it with the greatest ease and turning onely his hands a little which shews that many things may be done by a slight of motion which otherwise a great strength and force cannot do This is my answer and opinion concerning your proposed questions if you have any more I shall be ready to obey you as MADAM Your faithful Friend and humble Servant XLV MADAM I understand by your last that you are very desirous to know Whether there be not in nature such animal creatures both for purity and size as we are not capable to perceive by our sight Truly Madam in my opinion it is very probable there may be animal creatures of such rare bodies as are not subject to our exterior senses as well as there are elements which are not subject to all our exterior senses as for example fire is onely subject to our sight and feeling and not to any other sense water is subject to our sight taste touch and hearing but not to smelling and earth is subject to our sight taste touch and smelling but not to our hearing and vapour is onely subject to our sight and wind onely to our hearing but pure air is not subject to any of our senses but onely known by its effects and so there may likewise be animal creatures which are not subject to any of our senses both for their purity and life as for example I have seen pumpt out of a water pump small worms which could hardly be discerned but by a bright Sun-light for they were smaller then the smallest hair some of a pure scarlet colour and some white but though they were the smallest creatures that ever I did see yet they were more agil and fuller of life then many a creature of a bigger size and so small they were as I am confident they were neither subject to tast smell touch nor hearing but onely to sight and that neither without dificulty requiring both a sharp sight and a clear light to perceive them and I do verily believe that these small animal creatures may be great in comparison to others which may be in nature But if it be probable that there may be such small animal creatures in nature as are not subject to our exterior senses by reason of their littleness it is also probable that there may be such great and big animal creatures in nature as are beyond the reach and knowledg of our exterior senses for bigness and smallness are not to be judged by our exterior senses onely but as sense and reason inform us that there are different degrees in Purity and Rarity so also in shapes figures and sizes in all natural creatures Next you desired to know VVhether there can be an artificial Life or a Life made by Art My answer is Not for although there is Life in all natures parts yet not all the parts are life for there is one part of natural matter which in its nature is inanimate or without life and though natural Life doth produce Art yet Art cannot produce natural Life for though Art is the action of Life yet it is not Life it self not but that there is Life in Art but not art in life for Life is natural and not artificial and thus the several parts of a watch may have sense and reason according to the nature of their natural figure which is steel but not as they have an artificial shape for Art cannot put Life into the watch Life being onely natural not artificial Lastly your desire was to know Whether a part of matter may be so small as it cannot be made less I answer there is no such thing in nature as biggest or least nature being Infinite as well in her actions as in her substance and I have mentioned in my book of Philosophy and in a letter I sent you heretofore concerning Infinite that there are several forts of Infinites as Infinite in quantity or bulk Infinite in number Infinite in quality as Infinite degrees of hardness softness thickness thinness swiftness slowness c. as also Infinite compositions divisions creations dissolutions c. in nature and my meaning is that all these Infinite actions do belong to the Infinite body of nature which being infinite in substance must also of necessity be infinite in its actions but although these Infinite actions are inherent in the power of the Infinite substance of nature yet they are never put in act in her parts by reason there being contraries in nature and every one of the aforementioned actions having its opposite they do hinder and obstruct each other so that none can actually run into infinite for the Infinite degrees of compositions hinder the infinite degrees of divisions and the infinite degrees of rarity softness swiftness c. hinder the infinite degrees of density hardness slowness c. all which nature has ordered with great wisdom and Prudence to make an amiable combination between her parts
the sensitive which is the Life of Nature as the other is the Soul not the Divine but natural Soul neither is this Soul Immaterial bnt Corporeal not composed of raggs and shreds but it is the purest simplest and subtillest matter in Nature But to conclude I desire you to remember Madam that this rational and sensitive Matter in one united and finite Figure or particular Creature has both common and particular actions for as there are several kinds and sorts of Creatures and particulars in every kind and sort so the like for the actions of the rational and sensitive matter in one particular Creature Also it is to be noted That the Parts of rational matter can more suddenly give and take Intelligence to and from each other then the sensitive nevertheless all Parts in Nature at least adjoyning parts have Intelligence between each other more or less because all parts make but one body for it is not with the parts of Matter as with several Constables in several Hundreds or several Parishes which are a great way distant from each other but they may be as close as the combs of Bees and yet as partable and as active as Bees But concerning the Intelligence of Natures Parts I have sufficiently spoken in other places and so I 'le add no more but that I unfeignedly remain MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XVI MADAM SEnsation in corporeal motion is first and Perception follows sayes your Author to which opinion I give no assent but do believe that Perception and Sensation are done both at one and the same time as being one and the same thing without division either in reason or sense and are performed without any knocks or jolts or hitting against But let me tell you Madam there arises a great mistake by many from not distinguishing well sensitive Motion and rational Motion for though all motions are in one onely matter yet that matter doth not move always in the same manner for then there could be no variety in Nature and truly if man who is but a part of Nature may move diversly and put himself into numerous postures Why may not Nature But concerning Motions and their variety to avoid tedious repetitions I must still referr you to my Book of Philosophical Opinions I 'le add onely this that it is well to be observed That all Motions are not Impressions neither do all Impressions make such dents as to disturb the adjoyning Parts Wherefore those in my opinion understand Nature best which say that Sensation and Perception are really one and the same but they are out that say there can be no communication at a distance unless by pressing and crowding for the patterning of an outward object may be done without any inforcement or disturbance jogging or crowding as I have declared heretofore for the sensitive and rational motions in the sensitive and rational parts of matter in one creature observing the exterior motions in outward objects move accordingly either regularly or irregularly in patterns and if they have no exterior objects as in dreams they work by rote And so to conclude I am absolutely of their opinion who believe that there is nothing existent in Nature but what is purely Corporeal for this seems most probable in sense and reason to me MADAM Your Faithful Friend and Servant XVII MADAM OUtward Objects as I have told you before do not make Sense and Reason but Sense and Reason do perceive and judg of outward objects For the Sun doth not make sight nor doth sight make light but sense and reason in a Man or any other creature do perceive and know there are such objects as Sun and Light or whatsoever objects are presented to them Neither doth Dumbness Deafness Blindness c. cause an Insensibility but Sense through irregular actions causes them I say through Irregular actions because those effects do not properly belong to the nature of that kind of Creatures for every Creature if regularly made hath particular motions proper to its figure for natural Matters wisdom makes distinctions by her distinct corporeal motions giving every particular Creature their due Portion and Proportion according to the nature of their figures and to the rules of her actions but not to the rules of Arts Mathematical Compasses Lines Figures and the like And thus the Sun Stars Meteors Air Fire Water Earth Minerals Vegetables and Animals may all have Sense and Reason although it doth not move in one kind or sort of Creatures or in one particular as in another For the corporeal motions differ not onely in kinds and sorts but also in Particulars as is perceivable by human sense and reason Which is the cause that Elements have elemental sense and knowledg and Animals animal sense and knowledg and so of Vegetables Minerals and the like Wherefore the Sun and Stars may have as much sensitive and rational life and knowledg as other Creatures but such as is according to the nature of their figures and not animal or vegetable or mineral sense and knowledg And so leaving them I rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XVIII MADAM YOur Author denying that Fancy Reason and Animadversion are seated in the Brain and that the Brain is figured into this or that Conception I demand says he in what knot loop or interval thereof doth this faculty of free Fancy and active Reason reside My answer is that in my opinion Fancy and Reason are not made in the Brain as there is a Brain but as there is sensitive and rational matter which makes not onely the Brain but all Thoughts Conceptions Imaginations Fancy Understanding Memory Remembrance and whatsoever motions are in the Head or Brain neither doth this sensitive and rational mattet remain or act in one place of the Brain but in every part thereof and not onely in every part of the Brain but in every part of the Body nay not onely in every part of a Mans Body but in every part of Nature But Madam I would ask those that say the Brain has neither sense reason nor self-motion and therefore no Perception but that all proceeds from an Immaterial Principle as an Incorporeal Spirit distinct from the body which moveth and actuates corporeal matter I would fain ask them I say where their Immaterial Ideas reside in what part or place of the Body and whether they be little or great Also I would ask them whether there can be many or but one Idea of God If they say many then there must be several distinct Deitical Ideas if but one Where doth this Idea reside If they say in the head then the heart is ignorant of God if in the heart then the head is ignorant thereof and so for all parts of the body but if they say in every part then that Idea may be disfigured by a lost member if they say it may dilate and contract then I say it is not the Idea of God for God can neither contract nor
extend nor can the Idea it self dilate and contract being immaterial for contraction and dilation belong onely to bodies or material beings Wherefore the comparisons betwixt Nature and a particular Creature and between God and Nature are improper much more betwixt God and Natures particular motions and figures which are various and changeable although methodical The same I may ask of the Mind of Man as I do of the Idea in the Mind Also I might ask them what they conceive the natural mind of man to be whether material or immaterial If material their opinion is rational and so the mind is dividable and composable if immaterial then it is a Spirit and if a Spirit it cannot possibly dilate nor contract having no dimension nor divisibility of parts although your Author proves it by the example of Light but I have exprest my meaning heretofore that light is divisible and if it have no dimension how can it be confined in a material body Wherefore when your Author says the mind is a substance it is to my reason very probable but not when he says it is an immaterial substance which will never agree with my sense and reason for it must be either something or nothing there being no medium between in Nature But pray mistake me not Madam when I say Immaterial is nothing for I mean nothing Natural or so as to be a part of Nature for God forbid I should deny that God is a Spiritual Immaterial substance or Being neither do I deny that we can have an Idea notion conception or thought of the Existence of God for I am of your Authors opinion That there is no Man under the cope of Heaven that doth not by the light of Nature know and believe there is a God but that we should have such a perfect Idea of God as of any thing else in the World or as of our selves as your Author says I cannot in sense and reason conceive to be true or possible Neither am I against those Spirits which the holy Scripture mentions as Angels and Devils and the divine Soul of Man but I say onely that no Immaterial Spirit belongs to Nature so as to be a part thereof for Nature is Material or Corporeal and whatsoever is not composed of matter or body belongs not to Nature nevertheless Immaterial Spirits may be in Nature although not parts of Nature But there can neither be an Immaterial Nature nor a Natural Immaterial Nay our very thoughts and conceptions of Immaterial are Material as made of self-moving Matter Wherefore to conclude these opinions in Men proceed from a Vain-glory as to have found out something that is not in Nature to which I leave them and their natural Immaterial Substances like so many Hobgoblins to fright Children withal resting in the mean time MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XIX MADAM THere are various opinions concerning the seat of Common Sense as your Author rehearseth them in his Treatise of the Immortality of the Soul But my opinion is That common sense hath also a common place for as there is not any part of the body that hath not sense and reason so sense and reason is in all parts of the body as it is observable by this that every part is subject to pain and pleasure and all parts are moveable moving and moved also appetites are in every part of the body As for example if any part itches it hath an appetite to be scratched and every part can pattern out several objects and so several touches and though the rational part of matter is mixt in all parts of the body yet it hath more liberty to make variety of Motions in the head heart liver spleen stomack bowels and the like then in the other parts of the body nevertheless it is in every part together with the sensitive but they do not move in every part alike but differ in each part more or less as it may be observed and although every part hath some difference of knowledg yet all have life and knowledg sense and reason some more some less and the whole body moves according to each part and so do all the bodily Faculties and Proprieties and not according to one single part the rational Soul being in all parts of the body for if one part of the body should have a dead Palsie it is not that the Soul is gone from that part but that the sensitive and rational matter has altered its motion and figure from animal to some other kind for certainly the rational Soul and so life is in every part as well in the Pores of the skin as in the ventricles of the brain and as well in the heel as in the head and every part of the body knows its own office what it ought to do from whence follows an agreement of all the parts And since there is difference of knowledg in every part of one body well may there be difference between several kinds and sorts and yet there is knowledg in all for difference of knowledg is no argument to prove they have no knowledg at all Wherefore I am not of the opinion that that which moves the whole body is as a Point or some such thing in a little kernel or Glandula of the Brain as an Ostrich-egge is hung up to the roof of a Chamber or that it is in the stomack like a single penny in a great Purse neither is it in the midst of the heart like a Lady in a Lobster nor in the bloud like as a Menow or Sprat in the Sea nor in the fourth Ventricle of the Brain as a lousie Souldier in a Watch-tower But you may say it is like a farthing Candle in a great Church I answer That Light will not enlighten the by Chappels of the Church nor the Quest-house nor the Belfrey neither doth the Light move the Church though it enlightens it Wherefore the Soul after this manner doth not move the corporeal body no more then the Candle moves the Church or the Lady moves the Lobster or the Sprat the Sea as to make it ebb and flow But this I desire you to observe Madam that though all the body of man or any other Creature hath sense and reason which is life and knowledg in all parts yet these parts being all corporeal and having their certain proportions can have no more then what is belonging or proportionable to each figure As for example if a Man should feed and not evacuate some ways or other he could not live and if he should evacuate and not feed he could not subsist wherefore in all Natures parts there is ingress and egress although not always perceived by one creature as Man but all exterior objects do not enter into Man or any other Creature but are figured by the rational and some by the sensitive parts or motions in the body wherefore it is not rational to believe that exterior objects take up any more room then if
Hell either to enjoy Reward or to suffer Punishment according to man's actions in this life But as for the Natural Soul she being material has no need of any Vehicles neither is natural death any thing else but an alteration of the rational and sensitive motions which from the dissolution of one figure go to the formation or production of another Thus the natural soul is not like a Traveller going out of one body into another neither is air her lodging for certainly if the natural humane soul should travel through the airy regions she would at last grow weary it being so great a journey except she did meet with the soul of a Horse and so ease her self with riding on Horseback Neither can I believe Souls or Daemons in the Air have any Common-wealth Magistrates Officers and Executioners in their airy Kingdom for wheresoever are Governments Magistrates and Executioners there are also Offences and where there is power to offend as well as to obey there may and will be sometimes Rebellions and Civil Wars for there being different forts of Spirits it is impossible they should all fo well agree especially the good and evil Genii which certainly will fight more valiantly then Hector and Achilles nay the Spirits of one sort would have more Civil Wars then ever the Romans had and if the Soul of Caesar and Pompey should meet there would be a cruel fight between those two Heroical souls the like between Augustus's and Antonius's Soul But Madam all these as I said I take for fancies proceeding from the Religion of the Gentiles not fit for Christians to embrace for any truth for if we should we might at last by avoiding to be Atheists become Pagans and so leap out of the Frying-pan into the Fire as turning from Divine Faith to Poetical Fancy and if Ovid should revive again he would perhaps be the chief head or pillar of the Church By this you may plainly see Madam that I am no Platonick for this opinion is dangerous especially for married Women by reason the conversation of the Souls may be a great temptation and a means to bring Platonick Lovers to a neerer acquaintance not allowable by the Laws of Marriage although by the sympathy of the Souls But I conclude and desire you not to interpret amiss this my discourse as if I had been too invective against Poetical Fancies for that I am a great lover of them my Poetical Works will witness onely I think it not fit to bring Fancies into Religion Wherefore what I have writ now to you is rather to express my zeal for God and his true Worship then to prejudice any body and if you be of that same Opinion as above mentioned I wish my Letter may convert you and so I should not account my labour lost but judg my self happy that any good could proceed to the advancement of your Soul from MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXX MADAM I Sent you word in my last I would not meddle with writing any thing of the Divine Soul of Man by reason it belongs to Faith and Religion and not to Natural Philosophy but since you desire my opinion concerning the Immortality of the Divine Soul I cannot but answer you plainly that first I did wonder much you made question of that whose truth in my opinion is so clear as hardly any rational man will make a doubt of it for I think there is almost no Christian in the world but believes the Immortality of the Soul no not Christians onely but Mahometans and Jews But I left to wonder at you when I saw Wise and Learned Men and great Divines take so much pains as to write whole Volumes and bring so many arguments to prove the Immortality of the Soul for this was a greater Miracle to me then if Nature had shewed me some of her secret and hidden effects or if I had seen an Immaterial Spirit Certainly Madam it seems as strange to me to prove the Immortality of the Soul as to convert Atheists for it impossible almost that any Atheist should be found in the World For what Man would be so senceless as to deny a God Wherefore to prove either a God or the Immortality of the Soul is to make a man doubt of either for as Physicians and Surgeons apply strengthening Medicines onely to those parts of the body which they suppose the weakest so it is with proofs and arguments those being for the most part used in such subjects the truth of which is most questionable But in things Divine Disputes do rather weaken Faith then prove Truth and breed several strange opinions for Man being naturally ambitious and endeavouring to excel each other will not content himself with what God has been pleased to reveal in his holy Word but invents and adds something of his own and hence arise so many monstrous expressions and opinions that a simple man is puzzled not knowing which to adhere to which is the cause of so many schismes sects and divisions in Religion Hence it comes also that some pretend to know the very nature and essence of God his divine Counsels all his Actions Designs Rules Decrees Power Attributes nay his Motions Affections and Passions as if the Omnipotent Infinite God were of a humane shape so that there are already more divisions then Religions which disturb the peace and quiet both of mind and body when as the ground of our belief consists but in some few and short Articles which clearly explained and the moral part of Divinity well pressed upon the People would do more good then unnecessary and tedious disputes which rather confound Religion then advance it but if man had a mind to shew Learning and exercise his Wit certainly there are other subjects wherein he can do it with more profit and less danger then by proving Christian Religion by Natural Philosophy which is the way to destroy them both I could wish Madam that every one would but observe the Command of Christ and give to God what is Gods and to Caesar what is Caesars and so distinguish what belongs to the actions of Nature and what to the actions of Religion for it appears to my Reason that God hath given Nature his eternal Servant a peculiar freedom of working and acting as a self-moving Power from Eternity but when the Omnipotent God acts he acts supernaturally as beyong Nature of which devine actions none but the holy Church as one united body mind and soul should discourse and declare the truth of them according to the Revelation made by God in his holy Word to her Flock the Laity not suffering any one single person of what profession or degree soever indifferently to comment interpret explain and declare the meaning or sense of the Scripture after his own fancy And as for Nature's actions let those whom Nature hath indued with such a proportion of Reason as is able to search into the hidden causes of natural effects
forced them forth as soon as conceived and this made the first publishing of them so full of Imperfections which I am much sorry for But since that time I have not onely reviewed but corrected and altered them in several places so that the last Impression of my Philosophical Opinions you will find more perfect and exact then the former Next I pray you to take notice Madam that in the mentioned first Edition by the word Spirits I meant Material not Immaterial Spirits for observing that Learned Men do discourse much of Animal Spirits which are Material and that also high extracts in Chymistry are called Spirits I used that word purposely thinking it most proper and convenient to express my sense and meaning of that degree of matter which I call rational and sensitive But considering again that my opinions being new would be subject to misapprehensions and mis-interpretations to prevent those I thought it fitter to leave out the word Spirits in the second as also in the last Edition of my named Book of Philosophy lest my Readers should think I meant Immaterial Spirits for I confess really that I never understood nor cannot as yet apprehend Immaterial Spirits for though I believe the Scripture and the Church that there are Spirits and do not doubt the existency of them yet I cannot conceive the nature of Immaterial Spirits and what they are Wherefore I do onely treat of natural material substances and not of incorporeal also my discourse is of the Infinite servant of the Infinite God which servant is corporeal or material Nature God is onely to be admired adored and worshipped but not ungloriously to be discoursed of Which Omnipotent God I pray of his Infinite Mercy to give me Faith to believe in him and not to let presumption prevail with me so as to liken vain and idle conceptions to that Incomprehensible Deity These Madam are my humble Prayers to God and my request to you is that I may continue the same in your love and affection which I have been hitherto so shall I live content and rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant SECT III. I. MADAM I Have discharged my duty thus far that in obedience to your commands I have given you my answers to the opinions of three of those famous and learned Authors you sent me viz. Hobbes Des Cartes and More and explained my own opinions by examining theirs My onely task shall be now to proceed in the same manner with that famous Philosopher and Chymist Van Helmont But him I find more difficult to be understood then any of the forementioned not onely by reason of the Art of Chymistry which I confess my self not versed in but especially that he has such strange terms and unusual expressions as may puzle any body to apprehend the sense and meaning of them Wherefore if you receive not that full satisfaction you expect from me in examining his opinions and arguments I beg your pardon before hand and desire you to remember that I sent you word in the beginning I did undertake this work more out of desire to clear my own opinions then a quarrelsome humor to contradict others which if I do but obtain I have my aim And so to the business When as your Author discourses of the causes and beginnings of Natural things he is pleased to say That Souls and Lives as they know no Degrees so they know no Parts which opinion is very different from mine For although I confess that there is but one kind of Life and one kind of Soul in Nature which is the sensitive Life and the rational Soul both consisting not onely of Matter but of one kind of Matter to wit Animate nevertheless they are of different degrees the matter of the rational Soul being more agil subtil and active then the matter of the sensitive Life which is the reason that the rational can act in its own substance or degree of matter and make figures in it self and its own parts when as the sensitive being of somewhat a grosser degree then the rational and not so subtil and active is confined to work with and upon the Inanimate matter But mistake me not Madam for I make onely a difference of the degrees of Subtilty Activity Agility Purity betwixt rational and sensitive Matter but as for the rational Matter it self it has no degrees of Purity Subtilty and Activity in its own Nature or Parts but is always one and the same in its substance in all Creatures and so is the sensitive You will ask me How comes then the difference of so many Parts and Creatures in Nature if there be no degrees of Purity Activity and Subtilty in the substance of the rational and in the substance of the sensitive Matter As for example if there were no such degrees of the Parts of rational Matter amongst themselves as also of the Parts of the sensitive there would be no difference betwixt Animals Vegetables Minerals and Elements but all Creatures would be alike without distinction and have the same manner of sense and reason life and knowledg I answer That although each sort or degree of animate Matter rational as well as sensitive has in it self or its own substance no degrees of purity rarity and subtilty but is one and the same in its nature or essence nevertheless each has degrees of quantity or parts which degrees of quantity do make the onely difference betwixt the several creatures or parts of Nature as well in their general as particular kinds for both the rational and sensitive matter being corporeal and so dividable into parts some creatures do partake more some less of them which makes them to have more or less and so different sense and reason each according to the nature of its kind Nay this difference of the degrees of quantity or parts in the substance of the rational and sensitive Matter makes also the difference betwixt particulars in every sort of Creatures as for example between several particular Men But as I said the nature or essence of the sensitive and rational Matter is the same in all for the difference consists not in the Nature of Matter but onely in the degrees of quantity and parts of Matter and in the various and different actions or motions of this same Matter And thus Matter being dividable there are numerous lives and souls in Nature according to the variousness of her several Parts and Creatures Next your Author mentioning the Causes and Principles of natural Bodies assigns two first or chief beginnings and corporeal causes of every Creature to wit the Element of Water and the Ferment or Leaven which Ferment he calls a formal created being neither a substance nor an accident but a neutral thing Truly Madam my reason is not able to conceive this neutral Being for it must either be something or nothing in Nature and if he makes it any thing betwixt both it is a strange Monster and will produce monstrous
or Creature And as there are many sorts of such motions so there are many sorts of Sympathyes and Antipathyes or Attractions and Aversions made several manners or ways For in some subjects Sympathy requires a certain distance as for example in Iron and the Loadstone for if the Iron be too far off the Loadstone cannot exercise its power when as in other subjects there is no need of any such certain distance as betwixt the Needle and the North-pole as also the Weapon-salve for the Needle will turn it self towards the North whether it be near or far off from the North-pole and so be the Weapon which inflicted the wound never so far from the wounded Person as they say yet it will nevertheless do its effect But yet there must withal be some conjunction with the blood for as your Author mentions the Weapon shall be in vain anointed with the Unguent unless it be made bloody and the same blood be first dried on the same Weapon Likewise the sounding of two eights when one is touched must be done within a certain distance the same may be said of all Infectious and catching Diseases amongst Animals where the Infection be it the Infected Air or a Poysonous Vapour or any thing else must needs touch the body and enter either through the Mouth or Nostrils or Ears or Pores of the body for though the like Antipathies of Infectious Diseases as of the Plague may be in several places far distant and remote from each other at one and the same time yet they cannot infect particular Creatures or Animals without coming near or without the sense of Touch For example the Plague may be in the East Indies and in this Kingdom at one and the same time and yet be strangers to each other for although all Men are of Mankind yet all have not Sympathy or Antipathy to each other the like of several Plagues although they be of the same kind of disease yet being in several places at one time they may not be a kin to each other nor one be produced by the other except the Plague be brought over out of an infected Country into a sound Country by some means or other And thus some Sympathy and Antipathy is made by a close conjunction or corporeal uniting of parts but not all neither is it required that all Sympathy and Antipathy must be mutual or equally in both Parties so that that part or party which has a Sympathetical affection or inclination to the other must needs receive the like sympathetical affection from that part again for one man may have a sympathetical affection to another man when as this man hath an antipathetical aversion to him and the same may be for ought we know betwixt Iron and the Loadstone as also betwixt the Needle and the North for the Needle may have a sympathy towards the North but not again the North towards the Needle and so may the Iron have towards the Loadstone but not again the Loadstone towards the Iron Neither is Sympathy or Antipathy made by the issuing out of any invisible rayes for then the rays betwixt the North and the Needle would have a great way to reach But a sympathetical inclination in a Man towards another is made either by sight or hearing either present or absent the like of infectious Diseases I grant that if both Parties do mutually affect each other and their motions be equally agreeable then the sympathy is the stronger and will last the longer and then there is a Union Likeness or Conformableness of their Actions Appetites and Passions For this kind of Sympathy works no other effects but a conforming of the actions of one party to the actions of the other as by way of Imitation proceeding from an internal sympathetical love and desire to please for Sympathy doth not produce an effect really different from it self or else the sympathy betwixt Iron and the Loadstone would produce a third Creature different from themselves and so it would do in all other Creatures But as I mentioned above there are many sorts of attractions in Nature and many several and various attractions onely in one sort of Creatures nay so many in one particular as not to be numbred for there are many Desires Passions and Appetites which draw or intice a man to something or other as for example to Beauty Novelty Luxury Covetousness and all kinds of Vertues and Vices and there are many particular objects not in every one of these as for example in Novelty For there are so many several desires to Novelty as there are Senses and so many Novelties that satisfie those desires as a Novelty to the Ear a Novelty to the Sight to Touch Taste and Smell besides in every one of these there are many several objects To mention onely one example for the novelty of Sight I have seen an Ape drest like a Cavalier and riding on Horse-back with his sword by his side draw a far greater multitude of People after him then a Loadstone of the same bigness of the Ape would have drawn Iron and as the Ape turn'd so did the People just like as the Needle turns to the North and this is but one object in one kind of attraction viz. Novelty but there be Millions of objects besides In like manner good Cheer draws abundance of People as is evident and needs no Demonstration Wherefore as I said in the beginning Sympathy is nothing else but natural Passions and Appetites as Love Desire Fancy Hunger Thirst c. and its effects are Concord Unity Nourishment and the like But Antipathy is Dislike Hate Fear Anger Revenge Aversion Jealousie c. and its effects are Discord Division and the like And such an Antipathy is between a Wolf and a Sheep a Hound and a Hare a Hawk and a Partridg c. For this Antipathy is nothing else but fear in the Sheep to run away from the Wolf in the Hare to run from the Hound and in the Partridg to flie from the Hawk for Life has an Antipathy to that which is named Death and the Wolf's stomack hath a sympathy to food which causes him to draw neer or run after those Creatures he has a mind to feed on But you will say some Creatures will fight and kill each other not for Food but onely out of an Antipathetical nature I answer When as Creatures fight and endeavour to destroy each other if it be not out of necessity as to preserve and defend themselves from hurt or danger then it is out of revenge or anger or ambition or jealousie or custom of quarrelling or breeding As for example Cocks of the Game that are bred to fight with each other and many other Creatures as Bucks Staggs and the like as also Birds will fight as well as Men and seek to destroy each other through jealousie when as had they no Females amongst them they would perhaps live quiet enough rather as sympathetical Friends then
that those words express nothing else but the variety of motions in Nature for men are apt to make more distinctions then Nature doth Nature knows of nothing else but of corporeal figurative Motions when as men make a thousand distinctions of one thing and confound and entangle themselves so with Beings Non-beings and Neutral-beings Corporeals and Incorporeals Substances and Accidents or manners and modes of Substances new Creations and Annihilations and the like as neither they themselves nor any body else is able to make any sense thereof for they are like the tricks and slights of Juglers 't is here 't is gone and amongst those Authors which I have read as yet the most difficult to be understood is this Author which I am now perusing who runs such divisions and cuts Nature into so small Parts as the sight of my Reason is not sharp enough to discern them Wherefore I will leave them to those that are more quick-sighted then I and rest MADAM Your constant Friend and faithful Servant XXIV MADAM YOur Author relates how by some the Immortal Soul is divided into two distinct parts the Inferior or more outward which by a peculiar name is called the Soul and the other the Superior the more inward the which is called the bottom of the Soul or Spirit in which Part the Image of God is specially contained unto which is no access for the Devil because there is the Kingdom of God and each part has distinct Acts Proprieties and Faculties Truly Madam I wonder how some men dare discourse so boldly of the Soul without any ground either of Scripture or Reason nay with such contradiction to themselves or their own opinions For how can that be severed into parts which in its nature is Individable and how can the Image of God concern but one Part of the Soul and not the other Certainly if the Soul is the Image of God it is his Image wholly and not partially or in parts But your Author has other as strange and odd opinions as these some whereof I have mentioned in my former Letters viz. the Souls being a Light her Figure her Residence and many the like Amongst the rest there is one thing which your Author frequently makes mention of I know not what to call it whether a thing or a being or no-thing for it is neither of them not a substance nor an accident neither a body nor a spirit and this Monster sor I think this is its proper name since none other will fit it is the Lacquey of the Soul to run upon all errands for the Soul sitting in her Princely Throne or Residence which is the orifice of the stomack cannot be every where her self neither is it fit she should as being a disgrace to her to perform all offices her self for want of servants therefore she sends out this most faithful and trusty officer your Author calls him Ideal Entity who being prepared for his journey readily performs all her commands as being not tied up to no commands of places times or dimensions especially in Women with Child he operates most powerfully for sometime he printed a Cherry on a Child by a strong Idea of the Mother but this Ideal Entity or servant of the Soul hath troubled my brain more then his Mistress the Soul her self for I could not nor cannot as yet conceive how he might be able to be the Jack of all offices and do Journies and travel from one part of the body to another being no body nor substance himself nor tyed to any place time and dimension and therefore I will leave him Your Author also speaks much of the Inward and Outward Man but since that belongs to Divinity I will declare nothing of it onely this I say that in my opinion the Inward and Outward man do not make a double Creature neither properly nor improperly properly as to make two different men improperly as we use to call that man double whose heart doth not agree with his words But by the Outward man I understand the sinful actions of flesh and blood and by the Inward man the reformed actions of the Spirit according to the Word of God and therefore the Outward and Inward man make but one Man Concerning the Natural Soul your Author speaks of her more to her disgrace then to her honor for he scorns to call her a substance neither doth he call her the Rational Soul but he calls her the Sensitive Soul and makes the Divine Soul to be the Rational Natural Soul and the cause of all natural actions for he being a Divine Philosopher mixes Divine and Natural things together But of the Frail Mortal Sensitive Soul as he names her which is onely the sensitive Life his opinions are that she is neither a substance nor an accident but a Neutral Creature and a Vital Light which hath not its like in the whole World but the light of a Candle for it is extinguished and goes out like the flame of a Candle it is locally present and entertained in a place and yet not comprehended in a place Nevertheless although this sensitive soul is no substance yet it has the honor to be the Inn or Lodging-place of the Immortal Soul or Mind and these two souls being both lights do pierce each other but the Mortal soul blunts the Immortal soul with its cogitation of the corruption of Adam These opinions Madam I confess really I do not know what to make of them for I cannot imagine how this Mortal soul being no substance can contain the Immortal soul which is a substance nor how they can pierce each other and the Mortal soul being substanceless get the better over an Immortal substance and vitiate corrupt and infect it neither can I conceive how that which in a manner is nothing already can be made less and annihilated Wherefore my opinion is that the Natural Soul Life and Body are all substantial parts of Infinite Nature not subsisting by themselves each apart but inseparably united and co-mixed both in their actions and substances for not any thing can and doth subsist of it self in Nature but God alone and things supernatural may for ought I know T is true there are several Degrees several particular Natures several Actions or Motions and several Parts in Nature but none subsists single and by it self without reference to the whole and to one another Your Author says the Vital Spirit sits in the Throne of the Outward man as Vice Roy of the Soul and acts by Commission of the Soul but it is impossible that one single part should be King of the whole Creature since Rational and Sensitive Matter is divided into so many parts which have equal power and force of action in their turns and severall imployments for though Nature is a Monarchess over all her Creatures yet in every particular Creature is a Republick and not a Monarchy for no part of any Creature has a sole supreme
in it self for Nature and her creatures know of no rest but are in a perpetual motion though not always exterior and local yet they have their proper and certain motions which are not so easily perceived by our grosser senses nevertheless the motion of the bowl would not move by such an exterior local motion did not the motion of the hand or any other exterior moving body give it occasion to move that way Wherefore the motion of the hand may very well be said to be the cause of that exterior local motion of the bowl but not to be the same motion by which the bowl moves Neither is it requisite that the hand should quit its own motion because it uses it in stirring up or putting on the motion of the bowl for it is one thing to use and another to quit as for example it is one thing to offer his life for his friends service another to imploy it and another to quit or lose it But Madam there may be infinite questions or exceptions and infinite answers made upon one truth but the wisest and most probable way is to rely upon sense and reason and not to trouble the mind thoughts and actions of life with improbabilities or rather impossibilities which sense and reason knows not of nor cannot conceive You may say A Man hath sometimes improbable or impossible Fancies Imaginations or Chymaera's in his mind which are No-things I answer That those Fancies and Imaginations are not No-things but as perfectly imbodied as any other Creatures but by reason they are not so grosly imbodied as those creatures that are composed of more sensitive and inanimate matter man thinks or believes them to be no bodies but were they substanceless figures he could not have them in his mind or thoughts The truth is the purity of reason is not so perspicuous and plain to sense as sense is to reason the sensitive matter being a grosser substance then the rational And thus Madam I have answered your proposed question according to the ability of my Reason which I leave to your better examination and rest in the mean while MADAM Your Faithful Friend and Servant VII MADAM HAving made some mention in my former Letter of the Receiving of Food and discharging of Excrements as also of Respiration which consists in the sucking in of air and sending out of breath in an animal body you desire to know Whether Respiration be common to all animal Creatures Truly I have not the experience as to tell you really whether all animals respire or not for my life being for the most part solitary and contemplative but not active I please my self more with the motions of my thoughts then of my senses and therefore I shall give you an answer according to the conceivement of my reason onely which is That I believe all animals require Respiration not onely those which live in the air but those also which live in waters and within the earth but they do not respire all after one and the same manner for the matter which they imbreath is not every where the same nor have they all the same organs or parts nor the same motions As for example Some Creatures require a more thin and rarer substance for their imbreathing or inspiring then others and some a more thick and grosser substance then others according to their several Natures for as there are several kinds of Creatures according to their several habitations or places they live in so they have each a distinct and several sort of matter or substance for their inspiraration As for example Some live in the Air some upon the face of the Earth some in the bowels of the Earth and some in Waters There is some report of a Salamander who lives in the Fire but it being not certainly known deserves not our speculation And as in my opinion all animal Creatures require Respiration so I do verily believe that also all other kinds of Creatures besides animals have some certain manmer of imbreathing and transpiring viz. Vegetables Minerals and Elements although not after the same way as Animals yet in a way peculiar and proper to the nature of their own kind For example Take away the earth from Vegetables and they will die as being in my opinion stifled or smothered in the same manner as when the Air is taken away from some Animals Also take Minerals out of the bowels of the Earth and though we cannot say they die or are dead because we have not as yet found out the alterative motions of Minerals as well as of Vegetables or Animals yet we know that they are dead from production and increase for not any Metal increases being out of the Earth And as for Elements it is manifest that Fire will die for want of vent but the rest of the Elements if we could come to know the matter manner and ways of their Vital Breathing we might kill or revive them as we do Fire And therefore all Creatures to my Reason require a certain matter and manner of inspiration and expiration which is nothing else but an adjoyning and disjoyning of parts to and from parts for not any natural part or creature can subsist single and by it self but requires assistance from others as this and the rest of my opinions in Natural Philosophy desire the assistance of your favour or else they will die to the grief of MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant VIII MADAM TH other day I met with the Work of that Learned Author Dr. Ch. which treats of Natural Philosophy and amongst the rest in the Chapter of Place I found that he blames Aristotle for saying there are none but corporeal dimensions Length Breadth and Depth in Nature making besides these corporeal other incorporeal dimensions which he attributes to Vacuum Truly Madam an incorporeal dimension or extension seems in my opinion a meer contradiction for I cannot conceive how nothing can have a dimension or extension having nothing to be extended or measured His words are these Imagine we therefore that God should please to annihilate the whole stock or mass of Elements and all concretions resulting therefrom that is all corporeal substances now contained within the ambit or concave of the lowest Heaven or Lunar sphear and having thus imagined can we conceive that all the vast space or region circumscribed by the concave superfice of the Lunar sphere would not remain the same in all its dimensions after as before the reduction of all bodies included therein to nothing To which I answer That in my opinion he makes Nature Supernatural for although God's Power may make Vacuum yet Nature cannot for God's and Nature's Power are not to be compared neither is God's invisible Power perceptible by Natures parts but according to Natural Perception it is impossible to conceive a Vacuum for we cannot immagine a Vacuum but we must think of a body as your Author of the Circle of the Moon neither could he think of
that there is one maximum or biggest which is the world and what is beyond that is Infinite Truly Madam I must ingeniously confess I am not so high learned as to penetrate into the true sense of these words for he says they are both divisible and indivisible and yet no atomes which surpasses my Understanding for there is no such thing as biggest and smallest in Nature or in the Infinite matter for who can know how far this World goes or what is beyond it There may be Infinite Worlds as I said before for ought we know for God and Nature cannot be comprehended ' nor their works measured if we cannot find out the nature of particular things which are subject to our exterior senses how shall we be able to judg of things not subject to our senses But your Author doth speak so presumptuously of Gods Actions Designs Decrees Laws Attributes Power and secret Counsels and describes the manner how God created all things and the mixture of the Elements to an hair as if he had been Gods Counsellor and Assistant in the work of Creation which whether it be not more impiety then to say Matter is Infinite I 'le let others judg Neither do I think this expression to be against the holy Scripture for though I speak as a natural Philosopher and am unwilling to cite the Scripture which onely treats of things belonging to Faith and and not to Reason yet I think there is not any passage which plainly denies Matter to be Infinite and Eternal unless it be drawn by force to that sense Solomon says That there is not any thing new and in another place it is said That God is all fulfilling that is The Will of God is the fulfilling of the actions of Nature also the Scripture says That Gods ways are unsearchable and past finding out Wherefore it is easier to treat of Nature then the God of Nature neither should God be treated of by vain Philosophers but by holy Divines which are to deliver and interpret the Word of God without sophistry and to inform us as much of Gods Works as he hath been pleased to declare and make known And this is the safest way in the opinion of MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XI MADAM YOur new Author endeavours to prove that Water in its own proper nature is thicker then Earth which to my sense and reason seems not probable for although water is less porous then earth in its exterior figure yet 't is not so thick as earth in its interior nature Neither can I conceive it to be true that water in its own nature and as long as it remains water should be as hard as Crystal or stone as his opinion is for though Elements are so pliant being not composed of many different parts and figures as they can change and rechange their exterior figures yet they do not alter their interior nature without a total dissolution but your Author may as well say that the interior nature of man is dust and ashes as that water in its interior nature is as thick as earth and as hard as Christal or stone whereas yet a man when he becomes dust and ashes is not a man and therefore when water is become so thick as earth or so hard as stone it is not water I mean when it is so in its interior nature not in its exterior figure for the exterior figure may be contracted when yet the interior nature is dilative and so the exterior may be thick or hard when the interior is soft and rare But you may say that water is a close and heavy as also a smooth and glossy body I answer That doth not prove its interior nature to be hard dense thick or contracted for the interior nature and parts of a body may be different from the exterior figure or parts neither doth the close joyning of parts hinder dilatation for if so a line or circle could not dilate or extend But this close uniting of the parts of water is caused through its wet and glutinous quality which wet and sticking quality is caused by a watery dilatation for though water hath not interiously so rare a dilatation as Air Fire and Light yet it hath not so close a contraction as Earth Stone or Metal neither are all bodies that are smooth and shining more solid and dense then those that are rough and dark for light is more smooth glossy and shining then Water Metal Earth or Transparent-stones and yet is of a dilative nature But because some bodies and figures which are transparent and smooth are dense hard and thick we cannot in reason or sense say that all bodies and figures are so As for Transparency it is caused through a purity of substance and an evenness of parts the like is glossiness onely glossiness requires not so much regularity as transparency But to return to Water its exterior Circle-figure may easily dilate beyond the degree of the propriety or nature of water or contract beneath the propriety or nature of water Your Author may say Water is a globous body and all globous bodies tend to a Center I answer That my sense and reason cannot perceive but that Circles and Globes do as easily dilate as contract for if all Globes and Circles should endeavour to draw or fall from the circumference to the Center the Center of the whole World or at least of some parts of the World would be as a Chaos besides it is against sense and reason that all Matter should strive to a Center for humane sense and reason may observe that all Creatures and so Matter desire liberty and a Center is but a Prison in comparison to the Circumference wherefore if Matter crowds it is rather by force then a voluntary action You will say All Creatures desire rest and in a Center there 's rest I answer Humane sense and reason cannot perccive any rest in Nature for all things as I have proved heretofore are in a perpetual motion But concerning Water you may ask me Madam Whether congeal'd Water as Ice if it never thaw remains Water To which I answer That the interior nature of Water remains as long as the Ice remains although the outward form is changed but if Ice be contracted into the firmness and density of Crystal or Diamond or the like so as to be beyond the nature of Water and not capable to be that Water again then it is transformed into another Creature or thing which is neither Water nor Ice but a Stone for the Icy contraction doth no more alter the interior nature of Water which is dilating then the binding of a man with Chains alters his nature from being a man and it might be said as well that the nature of Air is not dilating when inclosed in a bladder as that Water doth not remain Water in its interior nature when it is contracted into Ice But you may ask Whether one extreme can change into another I
effects must of necessity be infinite also the cause is infinite in its substance the effects are Infinite in number And this is my meaning when I say that although in Nature there is but one kind of matter yet there are Infinite degrees Infinite motions and Infinite parts in that onely matter and though Infinite and Eternal matter has no perfect or exact figure by reason it is Infinite and therefore unlimited yet there being infinite parts in number made by the infinite variations of motions in infinite Matter these parts have perfect or exact figures considered as parts that is single or each in its particular figure And therefore if there be Infinite degrees considering the effects of the animate and inanimate matter infinite motions for changes infinite parts for number infinite compositions and divisions for variety and diversity of Creatures then there may also be infinite sizes each part or figure differing more or less infinite smalness and bigness lightness and heaviness rarity and density strength and power life and knowledg and the like But by reason Nature or Natural matter is not all animate or inanimate nor all composing or dividing there can be no Infinite in a part nor can there be something biggest or smallest strongest or weakest heaviest or lightest softest or hardest in Infinite Nature or her parts but all those several Infinites are as it were included in one Infinite which is Corporeal Nature or Natural Matter Next you desire my opinion of Vacuum whether there be any or not for you say I determine nothing of it in my Book of Philosophical Opinions Truly Madam my sense and reason cannot believe a Vacuum because there cannot be an empty Nothing but change of motion makes all the alteration of figures and consequently all that which is called place magnitude space and the like for matter motion figure place magnitude c. are but one thing But some men perceiving the alteration but not the subtil motions believe that bodies move into each others place which is impossible because several places are onely several parts so that unless one part could make it self another part no part can be said to succeed into anothers place but it is impossible that one part should make it self another part for it cannot be another and it self no more then Nature can be Nature and not Nature wherefore change of place is onely change of motion and this change of motion makes alteration of Figures Thirdly you say You cannot understand what I mean by Creation for you think that Creation is a production or making of Something out of Nothing To tell you really Madam this word is used by me for want of a better expression and I do not take it in so strict a sense as to understand by it a Divine or supernatural Creation which onely belongs to God but a natural Creation that is a natural production or Generation for Nature cannot create or produce Something out of Nothing And this Production may be taken in a double sence First in General as for example when it is said that all Creatures are produced out of Infinite Matter and in this respect every particular Creature which is finite that is of a circumscribed and limited figure is produced of Infinite Matter as being a part thereof Next Production is taken in a more strict sense to wit when one single Creature is produced from another and this is either Generation properly so called as when in every kind and sort each particular produces its like or it is such a Generation whereby one creature produces another each being of a different kind or species as for example when an Animal produces a Mineral as when a Stone is generated in the Kidneys or the like and in this sence one finite creature generates or produces another finite creature the producer as well as the produced being finite but in the first sence finite creatures are produced out of infinite matter Fourthly you confess You cannot well apprehend my meaning when I say that the several kinds are as Infinite as the particulars for your opinion is That the number of particulars must needs exceed the number of kinds I answer I mean in general the Infinite effects of Nature which are Infinite in number and the several kinds or sorts of Creatures are Infinite in duration for nothing can perish in Nature Fifthly When I say that ascending and descending is often caused by the exterior figure or shape of a body witness a Bird who although he is of a much bigger size and bulk then a Worm yet can by his shape lift himself up more agilly and nimbly then a Worm Your opinion is That his exterior shape doth not contribute any thing towards his flying by reason a Bird being dead retains the same shape but yet cannot fly at all But truly Madam I would not have you think that I do exclude the proper and interior natural motion of the figure of a Bird and the natural and proper motions of every part and particle thereof for that a Bird when dead keeps his shape and yet cannot fly the reason is that the natural and internal motions of the Bird and the Birds wings are altered towards some other shape or figure if not exteriously yet interiously but yet the interior natural motions could not effect any flying or ascending without the help of the exterior shape for a Man or any other animal may have the same interior motions as a Bird hath but wanting such an exterior shape he cannot fly whereas had he wings like a Bird and the interior natural motions of those wings he might without doubt fly as well as a Bird doth Sixthly Concerning the descent of heavy bodies that it is more forcible then the ascent of light bodies you do question the Truth of this my opinion Certainly Madam I cannot conceive it to be otherwise by my sense and reason for though Fire that is rare doth ascend with an extraordinary quick motion yet this motion is in my opinion not so strong and piercing as when grosser parts of Creatures do descend but there is difference in strength and quickness for had not Water a stronger motion and another sort of figure then Fire it could not suppress Fire much less quench it But Smoak which is heavier then Flame flies up or rises before or rather above it Wherefore I am still of the same opinion that heavy bodies descend more forcibly then light bodies do ascend and it seems most rational to me Lastly I perceive you cannot believe that all bodies have weight by reason if this were so the Sun and the Stars would have long since cover'd the Earth In answer to this objection I say That as there can be no body without figure and magnitude so consequently not without weight were it no bigger then an atome and as for the Sun 's and the Stars not falling down or rising higher the reason is not their
the sensitive and rational Motions which do not onely make the fear and conceit but also the disease for as a fright will sometimes cure diseases so it will sometimes cause diseases but as I said both fright cure and the disease are made by the rational and sensitive corporeal motions within the body and not by Supernatural Magick as Satanical Witchcraft entering from without into the body by spiritual rays But having discoursed hereof in my former Letter I will not trouble you with an unnecessary repetition thereof I conclude therefore with what I begun viz. that I believe natural Magick to be natural corporeal motions in natural bodies Not that I say Nature in her self is a Magicianess but it may be called natural Magick or Witchcraft meerly in respect to our Ignorance for though Nature is old yet she is not a Witch but a grave wise methodical Matron ordering her Infinite family which are her several parts with ease and facility without needless troubles and difficulties for these are onely made through the ignorance of her several parts or particular Creatures not understanding their Mistress Nature and her actions and government for which they cannot be blamed for how should a part understand the Infinite body when it doth not understand it self but Nature understands her parts better then they do her And so leaving Wise Nature and the Ignorance of her Particulars I understand my self so far that I am MADAM Your humble and faithful Servant XVII MADAM I Am not of your Authors opinion That Time hath no relation to Motion but that Time and Motion are as unlike and different from each other as Finite from Infinite and that it hath its own essence or being Immoveable Vnchangeable Individable and unmixed with things nay that Time is plainly the same with Eternity For in my opinion there can be no such thing as Time in Nature but what Man calls Time is onely the variation of natural motions wherefore Time and the alteration of motion is one and the same thing under two different names and as Matter Figure and Motion are inseparable so is Time inseparably united or rather the same thing with them and not a thing subsisting by it self and as long as Matter Motion and Figure have been existent so long hath Time and as long as they last so long doth Time But when I say Time is the variation of motion I do not mean the motion of the Sun or Moon which makes Days Months Years but the general motions or actions of Nature which are the ground of Time for were there no Motion there would be no Time and since Matter is dividable and in parts Time is so too neither hath Time any other Relation to Duration then what Nature her self hath Wherefore your Author is mistaken when he says Motion is made in Time for Motion makes Time or rather is one and the same with Time and Succession is no more a stranger to Motion then Motion is to Nature as being the action of Nature which is the Eternal servant of God But says he Certain Fluxes of Formerlinesses and Laternesses have respect unto frail moveable things in their motions wherewith they hasten unto the appointed ends of their period and so unto their own death or destruction but what relation hath all that to Time for therefore also ought Time to run with all and every motion Verily so there should be as many times and durations as there are motions I answer To my Reason there are as many times and durations as there are motions for neither time nor duration can be separated from motion no more then motion can be separated from them being all one But Time is not Eternity for Eternity hath no change although your Author makes Time and Eternity all one and a being or substance by it self Yet I will rather believe Solomon ' then him who says that there is a time to be merry and a time to be sad a time to mourn and a time to rejoyce and so forth making so many divisions of Time as there are natural actions whenas your Author makes natural actions strangers to Nature dividing them from their substances Which seemeth very improbable in the opinion of MADAM Your Ladiships faithful Friend and humble Servant XVIII MADAM YOur Authors opinion is That a bright burning Iron doth not burn a dead Carcass after an equal manner as it doth a live one For in live bodies saith he it primarily burts the sensitive Soul the which therefore being impatient rages after a wonderful manner doth by degrees resolve and exasperate its own and vital liquors into a sharp poyson and then contracts the fibres of the flesh and turns them into an escharre yea into the way of a coal but a dead Carcass is burnt by bright burning Iron no otherwise then if Wood or if any other unsensitive thing should be that is it burns by a proper action of the fire but not of the life To which opinion I answer That my Reason cannot conceive any thing to be without life and so neither without sense for whatsoever hath self-motion has sense and life and that self-motion is in every Creature is sufficiently discoursed of in my former Letters and in my Philosophical Opinions sor self-motion sense life and reason are the grounds and principles of Nature without which no Creature could subsist I do not say That there is no difference between the life of a dead Carcass and a live one for there is a difference between the lives of every Creature but to differ in the manner of life and to have neither life nor sense at all are quite different things But your Author affirms himself that all things have a certain sense of feeling when he speaks of Sympathy and Magnetisme and yet he denies that they have life And others again do grant life to some Creatures as to Vegetables and not sense Thus they vary in their Opinions and divide sense life and motion when all is but one and the same thing for no life is without sense and motion nor no motion without sense and life nay not without Reason for the chief Architect of all Creatures is sensitive and rational Matter But the mistake is that-most men do not or will not conceive that there is a difference and variety of the corporeal sensitive and rational motions in every Creature but they imagine that if all Creatures should have life sense and reason they must of necessity have all alike the same motions without any difference and because they do not perceive the animal motions in a Stone or Tree they are apt to deny to them all life sense and motion Truly Madam I think no man will be so mad or irrational as to say a Stone is an Animal or an Animal is a Tree because a Stone and Tree have sense life and motion for every body knows that their Natural figures are different and if their Natures be different then