we cannot attain any Idea of or That what is absolutely Vnconceiveable is really nothing at all perhaps it may be true taking it in the most strict and proper sence of the words for though I am not of Protagoras's Mind that Man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet as I think that That which is absolutely Unconceivable in its own Nature is not possible to be Existent so what is absolutely so to us we can know nothing at all of nor reason nor argue about it since there is no doing of this but from our Ideas But I cannot see how this will be advantageous at all to the Cause of Infidelity For there is neither any one that asserts nor is the Atheist able to prove that That Being which we call God is absolutely Unconceiveable There is a vast difference between a thing 's being Vnconceivable and Incomprehensible between our having no Idea at all of a thing and our having an Imperfect one and between our knowing Nothing at all of a Being and our comprehending all the Possible Perfections and Excellencies of such a Being We readily grant that the Immense Nature of God is incomprehensible to our finite Understandings but we don't say 't is absolutely Unconceivable and that we can know nothing at all about it The common Notion which all Mankind have of a God is a sufficient Refutation of this Part of the Objection as it is also a very good Proof of the real Existence of a Deity for if there were no such Being 't is impossible to conceive how any Idea of him could ever have come into any one's Mind as I shall hereafter more largely prove 2. There is implied in this Objection That we can have no possible Idea nor Notion of the Existence of any thing that is not the Object of our Senses And from hence these Sublime Thinkers argue against the Existence of a Deity and conclude there is no God because they cannot see him and because he is not perceivable by any of our Bodily Senses Thus one of our Modern Atheistical Writers asserts That the only Evidence we can have of the Existence of any thing is from Sense And in another place Whatsoever we can conceive saith he hath been perceived first by Sense either at once or in Parts and a Man can have no Thought representing any thing not subject to Sense And he defines Sense to be Original Knowledge Which is but the Reverse of what Protagoras long ago determin'd for Plato in his Theaetetus tells us That he defined all Knowledge to be Sense Now is not this admirable Philosophy and worthy of those that pretend to a sublimer pitch of Knowledge than the Vulgar There is no Knowledge say they but Sense If so then as Protagoras saith all Sense must be Knowledge and consequently he that sees hears smells or feels any thing must immediately know all that is to be known about it By seeing the Letters of any Language or hearing the Words pronounced a Man or a Beast must needs understand all the Sense and Meaning of it and the Philosophick Nature of all Bodies will be perfectly comprehended as soon as ever they once come within the reach of our Senses This is indeed a good easie method of attaining Learning and perhaps very suitable to the Genius of these Gentlemen But I cannot account from this Notion how they come to have so much more Penetration and Knowledge than their Neighbours Are their Eyes and Ears Noses and Feeling so much more accurate than those of the Vulgar Yes doubtless these are truly Men of Sense their Lyncean Eyes can penetrate Mill-stones and the least silent whisper of Nature moves the Intelligent Drum of their tender Ears nothing escapes their Knowledge but what is undiscoverable by the nicest Sense and can only be comprehended by Reason Reason an Ignis Fatuus of the Mind whose uncertain Direction they scorn to follow while this Light of Nature Sense can be their Guide Nor will it avail them to alledge here that when they say we have no Knowledge but what we have from our Senses they mean only that all our Knowledge comes in that way and not by Innate Idea's for the Author I have mentioned above is express that we can have no thought of any thing not subject to Sense that the only Knowledge we have of the Existence of all things is from Sense and that Sense is Original Knowledge And if so there can be no such thing as comparing or distinguishing of Idea's in our Mind but the simple Idea's of Sensible Objects being impressed upon our Brain must needs convey to us by that means all the Knowledge that we can ever obtain about them and that as soon too as ever the Objects are perceived But than this nothing can be more false and absurd for 't is plain that by our bare Sensations of Objects we know nothing at all of their Natures Our Mind indeed by these Sensations is vigorously excited to enquire further about them but this we could by no means do if Sense were the highest Faculty and Power in our Natures and we were quite devoid of a Reasoning and Thinking Mind This Democritus of old was very well aware of however he comes now to be deserted by the Modern Atheistick Writers for saith he There is in us two kinds of Knowledges one Dark and Obscure which is by the Senses the other Genuine and Proper which is by the Mind And nothing can be more plain than that we have certain Knowledge of the Existence of many things which never were nor perhaps can possibly be the Objects of our Bodily Senses Protagoras himself saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed that none of the Uninitiated hear you who are such as think nothing to Exist but what they can lay hold of with their Hands and who will not allow any thing that is Invisible to have a place among Beings The Epicurean Atheist must needs grant the Existence of his Atoms and his Empty Space when yet they must be both acknowledged to be no way sensible Those that hold a Soul or Life in Matter Plastically diffused through all Parts of the Universe by which all things are actuated and regulated cannot deny but this Power is Invisible and no way the Object of Bodily Sense Nay those that assert a Corporeal Deity and say that nothing can possibly exist but Body must needs own that something of this Deity as his Wisdom Power and Understanding which is certainly the Chief and most Noble of all his Essence can no ways fall under our Bodily Senses Let him that asserts That what is not the Object of Sense is really nothing at all let him tell me if he ever saw that Power Faculty Understanding or Mind by which he is enabled to make such a Determination That there is such a Power or Mind in him 't is impossible for him to doubt or deny for that
Man and Beast and do act the Understanding or Brain to apprehend judge and remember Now by this 't is plain that he supposes Cogitation Understanding Consciousness and Liberty and all the Faculties of the Soul of Man to be nothing but the result of some peculiar Motions in a Fitly organized Body The Animal Spirits he thinks are like the Elastick Particles in the Spring of a Watch tho' they cannot tell what a Clock it is themselves yet they can by means of the Spring which they actuate do that and many other things that the Movement shall be fitted for Or to make use of a Comparison of his own The Animal Spirits may do as the Wind doth in the Chest of an Organ tho' it can make no Musick of it self yet by being communicated so as to inspire the several Pipes it may actuate them into a very fine Harmony It is not my Business nor Design to discourse here of the Soul of Man but yet I would fain beg these Corporealists clearly to explain how Self-Consciousness Reflection and Liberty of Action can possibly be accounted for by this Hypothesis For this necessarily makes Men meer Machines at long run An Engine is never the more free and conscious to its self of its own Operations for being fine and curiously contrived And the wonderful Clock at Strasburgh knows no more what it doth nor is it any more the Spontaneous Cause of its so many and curious Motions than the Ancient Clepsydra or a modern Hour-glass knoweth what it is about when it rudely measureth the Duration of any Part of Time For whatever is performed by meer Matter and Motion must needs be necessary in every step and degree of its course be the way of acting in the Engine never so curious and never so remote from the cognisance of our Senses They know well enough as I shall shew below that there is no possible room for freedom of Action Consciousness of any Operation nor for a Cogitative and Reasoning Power according to this way of explicating the Operations of the Humane Soul For in the Animal Spirits they grant there is no such thing they are only a fiery and briskly agitated Fluid which serves to actuate any Part of the Rational Machine pro re natâ And these several Parts or Organs of the Machine can no more produce any such thing without the Animal Spirits than the Hand or Dial-Plate of a Watch can or any other Part of a curious Instrument If therefore you enquire of them wherein they place this Cogitation Self-Consciousness and Liberty they will tell you 't is in the Man 't is in the whole 't is neither his Soul alone nor his Body alone 't is no Spiritual Substance distinct from Matter but 't is the whole Man that thinks reasons and acts freely by the form of the whole But this is very unaccountable and is what neither they nor any one else I believe can ever apprehend or conceive that Liberty should be the result of Necessarily moved Matter that Cogitation should arise from Senseless and Unthinking Atoms and that Knowledge and Consciousness of its own Operations should come into any Engine by its being finely and curiously contrived and be nothing but the necessary result of bare local Motion and rightly Organized Matter These Absurdities some other Corporealists clearly perceiving and being fully convinced that 't is impossible to account for Cogitation Consciousness and the like from bare Matter and Motion and to educe the Perfections of the Deity out of the Power of Matter only These I say had recourse to another way of maintaining their beloved Assertion that there is no other Substance but Body They assert that Cogitation is Essential to Matter or as Spinoza words it All Substance is essentially Cogitative and Extended so that as there is no Substance but what is Material so there is none but what is Cogitative too Indeed as I shewed you before he asserts that there is but One only Substance which is God or in other words Universal Matter and Cogitation and Extension he saith are the two Infinite Attributes or else the Affections of the Attributes of the Deity And this with a great deal of Assurance as the way of these Writers is he pretends to demonstrate Mathematically by a Pompous tho' a very Obscure Apparatus of Definitions Axioms Postulates and Propositions But it is not calling a thing a Demonstration that will make it to be so nor concluding with Quod erat Demonstrandum that will make every body acquiesce in a Proposition when it is either perfectly unintelligible or false And yet such are those that Spinoza brings to prove and support this strange Opinion The Monstrous Absurdities of which I shall now consider And First 'T is plain That if Cogitation be as Essential to Matter as Extension Then all and every Particle of it must needs be a Thinking Substance or Body by it self Distinct from all Other Particles of Matter in the World There is no one doubts but 't is so in reference to the proper and allowed Affections of Body Impenetrability and Extension Every least Particle or Atom of Matter hath these Properties as compleat within it self as they are in the whole Bulk of the Universe or in any larger Body whatsoever These are also individually distinct in each Particle so that its Properties though of the same kind are not the very same with those of other Parts of Matter Now if to each such Particle of Matter Cogitation be also added then every Atom in the Universe will be a Thinking Intelligent and Reasoning Being distinct from all the rest and have its own proper and peculiar Faculties and Operations 't will be a different Person from all Others and every Individual Particle of Matter will be so from it and from every one else in the World Every Atom also will be equal to any of the rest in respect of this Cogitative Power will have it in the very same Proportion and not be wiser or more foolish duller or more ingenious than its neighbours And if this be so as it must necessarily be if all Matter be Essentially Cogitative then there must either be no God at all or else every Particle of Matter must be a distinct God by it self and so the most ridiculous Polytheism that ever was imagin'd must be introduced and allowed of For if there be any such things as Perfect Knowledge Power Wisdom and Goodness every one of these Particles must have it For 't is impossible Infinite or Perfect Power Wisdom Knowledge and Goodness can be produced out of finite the lesser can never produce the greater nor any thing make or give that which it hath not within it self And therefore it plainly follows that either there is no Deity at all or else that every Particle of Matter must be a God by it self according to this Hypothesis For finite or imperfect Cogitation can no more be the Cause of Infinite than
have no manner of Notion of his true Nature and Perfections But 't is not the Name only nor the empty Sound of the word Deity but the Thing that is wanting in the World 't is the true Knowledge and Belief of this only that can clear a Man from the imputation of Atheism If he be not right in this Point i. e. if he have not such a belief of God as implies in it a knowledge of the Perfections of his Nature he may call himself by as fine and fashionable Names as he pleases and pretend to Deism and Natural Religion but in reality he is an Atheist and so ought to be esteemed by all Mankind for as one saith that knew very well what an Atheist was Such are Atheists as deny God's Providence or who restrain it in some particulars and exclude it in reference to others as well as those who directly deny the Existence of a Deity And Vaninus calls Tully Atheist on this very account and in another place he saith That to deny a Providence is the same thing as to deny a God This therefore being returned in Answer to the Objection That there is no such thing as an Atheist Let us now go about to examine and consider the Arguments and Objections that are usually brought by Atheistical Men against the Being of a God And these one would think should be exceeding weighty ones and no less than direct Demonstrations for if they are not such strenuous Proofs as are impossible to be refuted I 'm sure the Atheist ought to pass for the most senseless and stupid of all Mankind He slights and despises that inestimable Offer of being Happy for ever he runs the risque of being eternally Miserable he bids open defiance to the Laws of God and Man and he opposes his own Opinion and Judgment to the sober and considerate Sentiments of the judicious part of Mankind in all Ages of the World Now surely in such a case he ought to be very sure that he cannot be mistaken and to be as demonstratively certain as of the truth of any Theorem in Euclid that there is no God no Moral Good nor Evil no Revealed Religion nor any Future State of Rewards and Punishments But can any Man have the face to pretend to this Will not the common sense of all Mankind pronounce this impossible and that a Demonstration of the Non-Existence of these things is not to be obtained Can any one be directly assured that there is not so much as a Possibility that these things should be true And if so then 't is plain that for any thing he can directly prove to the contrary the Atheist may be in the wrong and consequently be Eternally damned and miserable Now would any one that can think at all run this Dreadful Hazard much less sure one that pretends to be a Man of Penetration and Judgment and to Philosophize above the Vulgar And yet this every Atheist doth and that too on no other Grounds but the Strength of some trifling Objections against and seeming Absurdities in the Notion of a God and Religion which the Extravagant Wit of wicked Men hath invented and coined to stop the Mouths of those that reprove them to stifle and bear down the Stings of Conscience and to gain some pretence to Reason and Principles in their Impious Proceedings But surely these Persons must know well enough that 't is a very easie thing to start Objections against the most plain and obvious Truths They know also that in other Cases themselves think it very unreasonable to disbelieve the truth of a Thing only because they can't readily answer all the Objections a witty Man may bring against it and because they cannot solve all the Phoenomena of it Now why should not they proceed so in Matters of Religion They know that all the great Truths of it have been demonstrated over and over by those Learned and Excellent Persons which have written in the Defence of it Nay they know too that most of their Objections have been already refuted and answered and that they adhere to a Cause that hath been frequently baffled They know the weight and importance of the Subject and that if Religion should at last prove to be true they must be for ever Miserable All this I say they very well know and therefore it looks strangely like an Infatuation upon them that they will run this Dreadful Hazard only on the Strength of a few Objections and a bare surmise only that there is no such thing as a God or Religion These Objections are their only Hold and Pretence that they can stick to and abide by and what and how Great they are I shall now proceed to Examine These I shall take in their Natural Order And 1. Consider such Objections as are brought against the Being of a God in General 2. Such as are alledged against his Attributes and Perfections 3. Such as are advanced against the Truth and Authority of revealed Religion The Groundlessness and Inconclusiveness of all which I shall endeavour as clearly as I can to Demonstrate And First I shall consider and refute the Objections and Arguments that are brought against the Being of God in General and these are as far as I can find all reducible to these two Heads It is said 1. That we can have no Idea of God 2. That the Notion of a Deity owes its Original either to the foolish Fears of some Men or the Crafty Designs of others I shall at this Time handle the former of these and Refute the Objections that are brought against the Existence of a Deity from our not being able as they say to have any Idea or Notion of him The Atheist alledges That whatsoever is Unconceiveable is really nothing at all that we can have no Idea or possible Notion of any thing that is not some how or other an Object of our Senses for all Knowledge is Sense and we can only judge of the Existence of things by its Evidence and Testimony Now God is by Divines said to be Incomprehensible Infinite and Invisible i. e. Something that 't is impossible to know any thing about that is every where and yet no where that sees every thing and yet no body can see him nor can we perceive any thing of him by any other of our Senses We cannot tell what to make of such an Account as this of a God we can have no â—â—â—tasm Idea or Conception of any such Thing and therefore we justly conclude There is no such Being in Nature And as for that precarious Notion of a God that is so much talk'd of in the World 't is nothing but a meer Phantome or Mormo devised and set up by Politick and Designing Men to keep the Rabble in awe and to scare such Fools as are afraid of their own Shadows The several Points of this Objection I shall singly consider and As to the First Part of it That what
very doubting and denying will refute him and must convince him that there must be something in him of a Real Nature that can thus Think and Consider Doubt and Deny and at last conclude That there is nothing Actually Existent but what is Sensible For what is really and absolutely Nothing can never Think Consider Doubt or Determine Now let him call this Mind or Soul of his what he pleases I do not here consider its Nature let it be a Substance distinct from Matter be it a happy Combination of Animal Spirits or the brisk Agitation of any fine and subtile Parts of Matter 't is all one to our present purpose it certainly Exists or is and yet is it by no means an Object of Sense For Animal Spirits Motion and the sinest and subtilest Parts of Matter are no more sensible to us now than an Incorporeal Substance is And as he is thus assured that there is something real in himself which yet is the Object of none of his Senses so he cannot but conclude the same of other Men that are round about him that they also have a Soul or Mind of the same Nature for he must know and be satisfied that they can think reason doubt affirm deny and determine as well as himself Now if he must grant that there are on this Account many things existent in the World which do no way fall under the cognisance of our Senses it will be strangely senseless and ridiculous to argue against the Being of a God from His not being so and to deny that there is any such thing because he cannot see Him with his Bodily Eyes because he cannot feel Him with his Hands and hear the Sound of his Voice actually speaking from Heaven For the Existence of that Divine Being whom no Eye hath seen nor can see is as plainly demonstrable from Reason and Nature from his visible Works in the World and from the inward Sentiments of our unprejudiced Minds as the Being of our Own and Others Minds is from the power of thinking and reasoning that we find in our selves and them 3. But Thirdly 't is objected further That we cannot have any Idea of God and consequently may conclude There is no such Being because he is by Divines said to be Incomprehensible and Infinite That is say they something which we can know nothing at all about for we cannot have any Phantasm or Conception of any such thing Thus saith that famous Atheistical Writer Whatever we know we learn from our Phantasms but there is no Phantasm of Infinite and therefore no Knowledge or Conception of it No Man saith he can have in his mind an Image of Infinite Power or Time And there is no Conception or Idea of that which we call Infinite In another place he asserts That the Attributes of God signifie Nothing true nor false nor any Opinion of our Brain and are not sufficient Premises to inferr Truth or convince Falshood And the Name of God he saith is used 〈◊〉 to make us Conceive him but that we may Honour him And he elsewhere saith That those that venture to discourse Philosophically of the Nature of God or to reason of his Nature from his Attributes losing their Understanding in the very first attempt fall from one Inconvenience to another without end or number and do only discover their Astonishment and Rusticity This Bold Writer doth in another place tell us That God must not be said to be Finite and so being neither Finite nor Infinite he must be nothing at all Which is the very same Dilemma that the Sceptick Sextus Empiricus makes use of against a Deity Another Modern Author of the same stamp tells us That he that calls any thing Infinite doth but Rei quam non capit attribuere nomen quod non Intelligit Give an unintelligible Name to a thing which he doth not understand All which agrees exactly with what Sextus also saith in many places of his Book and whom these Gentlemen follow pretty closely in most things without taking any notice at all of him Now to this I return That as 't is very foolish and precarious to deny the Existence of a God because He is not an Object of our Bodily Senses so to conclude that there is no such Being from our not being able perfectly to comprehend Him and to have a true and adequate Idea of him is equally absurd and unaccountable For at this rate we may soon come to deny the Existence of most things in Nature since there are very many of which we do not adequately comprehend the Nature of and know all that is to be known about them There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something Incomprehensible in the Nature of all things Are there not a thousand Beings which we are sure are truly and actually existent in Nature the manner of whose Operation and Action we cannot comprehend and whose Phaenomena we cannot Philosophically explain Let any of these Penetrating Gentlemen try their Skill at Gravity Light Sound Magnetism and Electricity and oblige the World with such an adequate Account of any one of them as shall make all impartial and curious Men acquiesce in it as satisfactory Let him clearly shew us how his own Sensations are made how the Circulation of the Blood first begins and continues its Vital Tour round his Body how Pestilential and Contagious Diseases first invade and are propagated how several Medicines that may be properly enough call'd Specifick's operate and particularly how the Cortex Peruvianus cures an Intermitting Fever In a word let him tell us how his own Body setting aside Accidents decays grows old and dies when the same Digestions and Assimulations are made to Day as were Yesterday and there is no apparent defect in the Nutriment of any one part of it He that can account for these and many other such like things which are obvious to every one's daily Observation will certainly approve himself to be a Man of very curious and acute Thought and of very deep Insight into Nature and when he hath fully convinced me that he throughly comprehends the Nature of but these few things I will allow that he hath some ground to disbelieve the Existence of whatever appears to him Incomprehensible But if a Person will candidly own as he that hath any Knowledge and Modesty must do That there are many things in the History of Nature of which he cannot meet with a satisfactory Solution and Explication he hath certainly no manner of reason to disbelieve the Existence of a God on the same account and to say There is no such Thing because his Nature is Incomprehensible to our finite and imperfect Capacities We cannot by searching find out God nor discover the Almighty unto perfection Job xi 7 But again There is a vast difference between Apprehending and Comprehending of a thing between knowing a thing really to be and knowing all that is possible to be known about that
from Body therefore some have been so foolish as to conclude that it is not the Action or Accident of that Body in which it is but a real Substance by it self And 't is upon this Account that when a Man is dead and buried they will say his Soul that is his Life can walk separated from the Body and is seen by Night among the Graves whereas Life is only a Name of Nothing and the Soul or Mind of Man is in reality Nothing else but the result of Motion in the Organical Parts of his Body 'T is like the forms and qualities of Other things depending purely on the Mechanism Modification and Motion of the Parts of Matter according as it happens to be variously disposed figured and agitated and consequently it can be nothing at all distinct from that Body whose Form or Quality it is And this Soul or Mind or any other Faculty or Quality in Man coming once to be conceived as a thing distinct from the Body and being Invisible and Insensible hath been called by such Names as we use to give to fine Subtile and aereal Bodies Such as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus and the like which do properly signifie the Wind or which is near akin to it the Breath of Man And so Mr. Hobbs tells us that in order to express our greater honour of God the name of Spirit hath been given to him likewise as better expressing to vulgar Apprehensions his fine aereal and Subtile Nature than the grosser word of Body But however Philosophers and Men of sense must take care and not be imposed upon by insignificant words so far as to imagine there can in reality be any such thing as an Incorporeal Substance for that is when throughly considered an absolute Contradiction and Nonsense 'T is nothing but an empty Name with which some poor Wretches are frighted as the Birds are from the Corn by an empty Doublet a Hat and a Crooked Stick as he is pleased to express himself And this is the summ of what this mighty Philosopher advances against Immaterial Substances Spinoza is the only Man besides which I have met with that aims at disproving the Existence of Incorporeal Beings Which in his Opera posthuma he pretends demonstratively to do But his chief and indeed only Argument is this as I hinted before that there is but one only Substance in the World and That is God Matter or Body he asserts to be one of the Attributes of this Substance or the Mode by which God is considered as Res extensa from whence he concludes that there can be no Substance but what is corporeal because Body is an Essential Property of his one only Substance the Divine Nature The Precariousness of which Obscure and Metaphysical way of Arguing I shall plainly shew below And Thus having given you the sum of what these Writers advance against the Doctrine of Incorporeal Substances I shall next proceed to Refute it and to shew you how weak and inconclusive their Arguments and Objections are In order to which I say In the First place 1. That 't is a very precarious and groundless way of arguing to deny the Existence of any thing only from our particular Apprehensions and Conceptions not being able to master it For it will not in the least follow that there can be no such thing as an Incorporeal Substance or a Spirit because some few Men pretend that they cannot conceive how any such thing can possibly be And I have already shewed that we have very just reason to allow the truth of and to be satisfied of the Existence of many things whose Nature neither we nor perhaps any one else can fully Understand and Comprehend These Gentlemen pretend that they cannot conceive or have any Idea of an Incorporeal Substance But yet they think I suppose that they have a clear Idaea and Conception of Body Tho' should you put them to describe it they would be very much at a loss For as one hath well observed Mr. Lock in his Essay of Humane Understanding Book 2. c. 23. if we carefully examine our Idea of Substance we shall find that it is a kind of complex one consisting as it were of several Idea's coexisting together which because we are apt to conceive as one thing we give it the General Name of Substance as imagining that word to express something tho' in reality we know not what which is the support of these Accidents or Qualities which occasion the Idea's we have in our Minds of it Let us therefore take any corporeal Substance as suppose Gold and inquire in our Mind what is that Support Substratum or Substance in which the Accidents of Yellowness great Specifick Weight and strange Ductility under the Hammer do inhere all which concurr to give us that complex Idea which we have of Gold Shall we not find our selves put to it how to conceive or to have a clear Idea of this If we should say that the subject of these Properties are the solid extended Parts we shall not be much the nearer Satisfaction for our Mind will be inquisitive agen what is the Support or Subject of that Extension and Impenetrability We may say indeed that 't is the Substance it self which is a word that we use and implies something or other that is the Support of these Properties but what that is we have I think no clear and certain Idea When yet we have clear and distinct Conceptions enough of these Properties which we find in this Body and from whence we pronounce it to be Gold So if on the other hand we take any Incorporeal Substance as suppose the Mind or Soul of Man and enquire what is the true Support of that Self-moving Power that Reasoning and Cogitative Faculty and that Liberty or Freedom of Action which we plainly perceive to be inherent in it we shall indeed be at a loss but yet no more than we were before in reference to Gold For as from considering the Properties peculiar to that Body we were satisfied that they must be inherent in something tho' how or in what we have no clear Idea so when we consider Life Cogitation and Spontaneous Motion in our Soul we know very well that those more real Properties must have something also for their Support or some Substance to inhere in tho' what that is and the peculiar manner of this we are wholly ignorant of But then we have as just reason to believe that this Substance is real as that the Substance of Gold is so For Cogitation Life and Spontaneous Action are Properties undoubtedly of as real a Nature as great Intensive Weight Yellowness and Ductility can possibly be And as we cannot but conclude both these to be real Substances so we cannot also but conceive them as Natures absolutely distinct and different from each other and which can have no necessary dependance upon and relation to each other for
Plutarch describing the Deity hath these remarkable words God is Mind a separated Form perfectly unmixed with Matter and without any thing that is passible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in another place he asserts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 't is impossible Matter alone can be the sole Principle of all things Plato every where distinguisheth between corporeal and incorporeal Substances calling the former by the Names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sensible and the latter always either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immaterial or intelligible and he saith That certain intelligible and incorporeal Forms are the true and first Substance and that incorporeal Things which are the greatest and most excellent of all others are discoverable by reason only and nothing else And in another place he saith That they were instructed by their forefathers that Mind and a certain wonderful Wisdom did at first frame and doth now govern all things His words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Phileb p. 28. Which sufficiently shews the Antiquity of the Notion of an Incorporeal Deity and the way also how they came by it Of the same Opinion also was Socrates as we are told by Plutarch and others Lib. de Placit Philos. 1. c. 3. Zeno and the Stoicks defined the Deity to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Intellectual and Rational Nature or as Plutarch recites their Opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Intelligent Spirit devoid of all Bodily shape Ibid. And Sextus Empericus tells us of Aristotle that he constantly asserted God to be Incorporeal and the Utmost Bounds of the Universe And Aristotle concludes his Book of Physicks with affirming that 't is impossible the first Mover or God can have any Magnitude but he must needs be devoid of Parts and Indivisible And Plutarch gives us this as the received and common Opinion of the Stoicks that God was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spirit that was extended or did penetrate throughout the whole World De Placitis Philosoph lib. 1. c. 3. p. 882. Now by these Passages and many others that might easily be produced it appears very plain that the most Ancient Writers had a good clear Notion of God and that they speak of him as of a Mind perfectly distinct from Matter or as an immaterial or incorporeal Being Many of them also deliver themselves very expresly as to the Soul of Man which as Plutarch tells us they generally asserted to be Incorporeal and that it was naturally a Self-moving and Intelligible Substance But of this more in another place And that the Ancients did believe God to be a Spirit or a most Powerful Intelligent and Perfect Immaterial Substance will yet farther appear if we consider what Notion they had of and how they defined Matter or Body Plato describes it by the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which thrusts against other Bodies and resists their Touch or Impulse Others call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which so fills up a place as at that time to exclude from it any other Body Sometimes they called it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in contradistinction to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is they distinguished it to be of a pure passive Nature and which was acted and determined only by Impulse from without it or distinct from it they knew very well that there was also besides it some Active Thing something that was the Cause of Motion and Action in the Universe For as Plutarch well observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is impossible Matter alone can produce any thing unless there be besides it some Active Cause Sextus Empiricus also gives this Definition of Matter or Body That it is that which resists other things which are brought against it for Resistance saith he or Impenetrability is the true Property of Body By these Accounts that they have given us of Matter or Body 't is very easie to understand their Notion or Idea of it which indeed was the Just and True one They thought Matter or Body to be a purely Passive Thing incapable of moving or acting by it self but wholly determined either by some Internal and Self-moving Mind or by the Motions and Impulses of other Bodies without it That it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as we now adays speak Impenetrably extended and did so fill up space or place as to exclude any other Body from being in the same Place with it at the same Time If to this you add what Aristotle and some others said of it that it was also capable of all Forms Figures and Modifications you have then the whole that ever they thought Matter could do or be Now from hence 't is exceeding clear that they could not as indeed we find actually they did not think Matter or Body the only Substance in the World and that the Deity was Material or Corporeal For they always described the Divine Nature by Attributes and Properties that were the very Reverses of what they appropriated to Matter or Body God they have told us is an Intelligent Mind pervading and encompassing all things an Active Energetical Principle the Cause of all Motion and Operation whatever Intangible indivisible invisible and no ways the Object of our Bodily Senses But yet whose Essence is plainly discoverable by our reasoning and Understanding Faculty This was as we have seen the Notion or Idea that many of the Ancient Philosophers had of the Deity and this plainly shews us that they look'd upon him to be what St. John here defines him an Incorporeal Being or a Spirit There were indeed some even then as I have before shewed who being wholly immersed in Matter themselves did assert that there was nothing else but Body in the World Such were Leucippus and Democritus and afterwards Epicurus and his Sect who perverted the Ancient Atomical and true Philosophy to an Atheistical Sense and made use of it for the banishing the Notion and Belief of a God out of their own and others Minds as indeed some others long before them had attempted to do But in this 't is very plain as an Excellent Person of our Nation hath observed that these Men did not understand the Philosophy they pretended to For it doth most clearly follow from the Principles of the True Atomical or Corpuscular Philosophy that there must be some other Substance distinct from and more Noble than Matter and which is of an Immaterial Incorporeal or Spiritual Nature And this I hope it will not be judged impertinent briefly to prove at this Time because some who seem not so throughly to understand it have of late reckoned the Mechanical Philosophy among the Causes of the growth of Atheism and Infidelity It is very much to the Purpose that the Ancient Atomists before Democritus and Leucippus did plainly assert and maintain the Doctrine of
in the World And if these can fully be made to appear I hope the Doctrine involved with them will also appear false and precarious and that the contrary Opinion of the Real Existence of Incorporeal Beings will find an easie admittance into our Faith But here I must premise as taken for granted That we are all agreed on the Definition of or know what we mean by Matter or Body viz. That it is Substance Impenetrably extended whereby we distinguish it from Spirit which is a Thinking Substance without Corporeal Extension or without having Partes extra Partes For if this be not the Notion which our Adversaries have of it as well as we 'T is in vain to dispute about it at all If therefore they have any other Idea of it that is different from this let them produce it and make it as clear and Intelligible as this is for without doing so they do nothing to the purpose And if they have not a clear and distinct Idea of Matter or Body how come they so boldly to say that Matter and Substance are all one how can they distinguish the Idea's of Body and Spirit so plainly as to be sure there can be no such thing as an Incorporeal Substance but that it implies a Contradiction Unless they fully know what Matter or Body is there may be Millions of Varieties and Degrees of Immaterial Substances or there may be no such thing as Body at all for any thing they can prove to the contrary The Atheist must then do one of these two things he must either establish a new Notion of Matter that shall be so intelligible and plain that all Mankind shall as readily acquiesce in it as they do in the old and common one or else he must resolve to keep to That The former of these he hath not yet done nor I believe is very ready to do but when he doth it 't will be time enough to consider it In the mean while I will readily join Issue with him on the common and received Notion of Body And from thence undertake to maintain That nothing is more absurd and unaccountable than their Assertion That there is no other Substance but Matter or Body in the World For First Had there been nothing else but Matter in the World from Eternity and if there be nothing else now there never was any thing else I cannot possibly see how these Gentlemen can account for Motion or shew us how Matter came first to be moved And Matter without Motion sure could never be God never be the Cause of any thing nor could it ever produce act or do any thing whatever Before Motion began Matter could have been nothing but an heavy lifeless Lump of vast extended Bulk which must have lain also for ever in the same dead and unactive Position if nothing had been superinduced to put it into Motion and Action And no one sure can be so stupid as to call this a Deity This is as Mr. Blount rudely and irreverently expresseth himself worse than to suppose a Hum-Drum-Deity chewing of his own Nature a Droning God that sits hoarding up of his Providence from his Creatures And this even he can't but acknowledge is an Atheism no less Irrational than to deny the very Essence of a Divine Being I hope therefore they will grant that Matter without Motion cannot be suppos'd to be a Deity And if so then the Divine Nature whatever it be must be something distinct from and more Noble than Matter and more akin to Motion than to Matter or Body in general or to it quatenus Matter as the Schools speak And indeed Motion taken in this sense not for a translation of Body from one place to another but for the Active Cause of Motion may be very well said to be Incorporeal or the Deity it self But how came this Motion into Matter at first and which way did Matter attain this Divine Activity or God-like Energy Here they must assert one of these three things either 1. That Motion came into Matter from something without it and distinct from it Or 2. That Motion is Essential to Matter and Co-eternal with it Or 3. That it came into it afterwards by Chance or without any Cause at all The First of these they will not say I doubt because it 's Truth but however if they do our Controversie is at an end for we believe that 't was a Divine and powerful Mind perfectly distinct from and more Noble than Matter who first made it and moved it and doth still continue to modifie and dispose it according to his Infinite Wisdom and Providence And one would think no Man can be so senseless as to maintain the last viz. That Motion came into Matter without any Cause at all and that it was Chance only that first produced it for Chance here signifies nothing in reality And truly Men that will be so ridiculously absurd as to assert that a Body or Particle of Matter that is once at rest may move by Chance only or may Chance to move of it self though there be nothing to cause its Motion deserve no serious Refutation but ought to be treated only as we do Fools and Madmen with silent Pity and Compassion And yet so very fond are some Persons of any thing that opposes Truth that they will run into the greatest Absurdities to maintain it For a late Corporealist is pleas'd to say That Matter can move of it self and to shew his deep Skill in Philosophy he tells us that Wind Fire and very fine-sifted small Dust are Matter and yet Self movers And of Wind and Fire he profoundly asserts That they cannot lose their Motion or cease Moving so long as they continue to be Wind and Fire That is As long as Wind and Fire are in Motion they cannot cease to move This indeed is a very deep and important Discovery But yet 't is what hardly any Man would have publish'd in Print but one that concludes a Body must needs move of it self only because he can't see with his Eyes the Cause or Origin of its Motion And yet even this he may often see in the case of Fire if he will but vouchsafe to observe how 't is usually kindled A little Consideration would have satisfied him also that Winds may be produced in the Atmosphere by the Air 's being moved some way by Heat Compression or some other Accidental Cause as well as in an Eolipile or a Pair of Bellows And as for his fine Dust's rising up in a Cloud of it self had he understood that the Agitation of any Fluid will keep the small Particles of any heavier Matter mixed with it from descending to the bottom of it nay and raise them up from thence too and had he not forgotten that this was the case here the Air being so agitated by the Motion of Sifting he would not sure have been so silly as to have brought these as Instances of Spontaneous Motion
towards producing of Cogitation Wisdom and Vnderstanding or to the production of Life Self Activity or Spontaneous Power And yet These are the most Great and Noble Things in the World these are the highest Perfections of the Divine Nature and in these we place the Essence of the Deity Now here Matter and Motion is more than ever at a loss and I think it demonstratively certain that it cannot account for these things Aristotle did very truly find fault with the Corporealists of his Time that they did not as ours cannot now assign 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any Cause of well and fit any Origin of or Reason for that Wisdom and Regularity that harmonious Relation and Aptitude of one part of the Creation to another which is so very conspicuous in all things supposing that there is nothing in Nature but Matter and Motion And it is most certainly true that the Idea which we have of Body doth not necessarily include Cogitation in it nor our Notion of Cogitation include Body but they are two as distinct Idea's as any we have So far are they from being the same thing that we cannot possibly conceive Cogitation with Extension No Man ever conceived a Thought to be so many Inches or Yards long to be deep thick or broad to be divisible into two or more Parts or to have any Kind of Figure or determinate Position or Extension whereas if whatsoever be unextended or not Body be absolutely Nothing as these Gentlemen assert Cogitation Wisdom Understanding and Spontaneous Power must be nothing or else they must be figurate Bodies than which nothing can be more absurd And if we farther examine our own Mind and consult our own Reason we shall find that we cannot possibly conceive how thinking Wisdom Consciousness and Spontaneous Power can possibly be the result of Bare Motion of the Parts of Matter Was there ever any one that seriously believed a Particle of Matter was any Wiser or had any more Understanding for being moved than it was before when it lay still for let it be never so briskly agitated is it not still Body there is no other Idea ariseth from hence but only that it changeth its place and is united successively to several parts of space that it will move such other Particles of Matter as 't is capable of and be retarded in its Motion by hitting or striking against them these and such like are all the Ideas that we can have of a Body in Motion but what is this to Thought and Consciousness Did ever any one but a stupid Corporealist imagine that a Particle of Matter by being moved was made Intelligent and that its travelling from place to place made it understand all things in its way and did any one ever think that the Knowledge of such a rambling Atom encreased in Proportion to the velocity of its Motion Yes doubtless and thus a Bullet discharged from the Mouth of a Cannon ought to be look'd upon as one of the most Ingenious Beings in Nature And hence it will follow that the more hast any one makes to tumble over Books or to ramble over Countries and the more precipitantly he makes a judgment of Notions or Opinions the Better Account he can give of Authors and Places and the more solid and substantial will be his Learning This indeed is the best Account that can be given of the fineness and quickness of Thought that some Men so much pretend to for this way they may come by a vast share of Penetration and be volatilized far above the dull studious and considerate Vulgar and the Event shews that they frequently make use of the Experiment But again As we cannot possibly conceive that the Motion of one Particle of Matter alone can give it Knowledge and Understanding so neither can we suppose that a Body composed of many of them can acquire any such thing barely on the Account of the Motion or Agitation of its Parts for Motion only will do no more to the whole than it did to each one singly and 't is not conceivable that Three or Three Millions of Bullets will be any wiser for being discharged together than if they were all shot singly in pursuit of Understanding Nor can any happy Combination or Constitution of Parts avail any thing in this Case any more than Motion nor can that be effectual to super-induce Wisdom and Understanding into Matter The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will be no more a God than Jupiter's Log was among the Frogs nor than the most dense and gross body in Nature For after all the various Positions Configurations and Combinations of Matter is it not Matter still will rarefying or subtilizing of Matter change its Nature and Essential Properties A Rare Body is nothing but a contexture of fine and subtile Particles which being separated farther asunder than is usual are also perhaps more briskly agitated and moved And pray what is here new what will this do towards Divinity will bare Figure and Position of Parts change the Nature of those Parts and give them Cogitation and Knowledge when they had no such thing singly and before will adding subtracting multiplying or dividing of Numbers make them any thing else more Noble than what they were before will not the Summs Remainders Products or Quotients be still Figures and Numbers like the first Digits out of which these do by Combination or various Positions arise and is it not just so with Matter will a Particle of it be made any more Wise and Intelligent for being render'd smaller than it was before and hath a little Particle more Sense than a larger will Three or Four or Four Millions of these be more ingenious than a Body or Lump that is as big as them all and will moving a few Atoms a good distance from each other Separate them into Knowledge and Disjoin them into an Understanding Power which none of them had before If Men can swallow such things as these and think at this Extravagant and Unaccountable Rate I fear all good Arguments and sound Reason will be lost upon them and they ought to be neglected as downright Stupid or Distracted And yet these and such like Absurdities must be the Natural Consequences of supposing Matter and Motion alone capable of thinking that Matter can be rarified into a Deity and that Divine and Almighty Wisdom Knowledge Goodness and Power are the result of Body luckily disposed and moved which yet was the Opinion of Hobbs and is still of many of his Admirers and Followers For notwithstanding those Excellent Demonstrations that many Learned Men amongst us have established that Matter and Motion cannot possibly produce Cogitation Consciousness Understanding and Liberty of Will There is lately an Ignorant Corporealist who asserts That the Inflamed and glowing Particles of the Blood called Spirits tho' they are not in themselves Sentient and Intelligent are yet the active Principle of Life and Motion of Sense and Understanding in