also be finite in its exterior figure as I have proved in the beginning by the example of a heap of grains of corn Certainly Madam I see no reason but since according to your Author God as the prime Cause Agent and Producer of all things and the action by which he produced all things is Infinite the Matter out of which he produced all particular Creatures may be Infinite also Neither doth it to my sense and reason imply any contradiction or impiety for it derogates nothing from the Glory and Omnipotency of God but God is still the God of Nature and Nature is his Servant although Infinite depending wholly upon the will and pleasure of the All-powerful God Neither do these two Infinites obstruct each other for Nature is corporeal and God is a supernatural and spiritual Infinite Being and although Nature has an Infinite power yet she has but an Infinite Natural power whereas Gods Omnipotency is infinitely extended beyond Nature But your Author is pleased to refute that argument which concludes from the effect to the cause and proves Matter to be infinite because God as the Cause is Infinite saying that this Rule doth onely hold in Univocal things by which I suppose he understands things of the same kind and nature and not in opposites Truly Madam by this he limits Gods power as if God were not able to work beyond Nature and Natural Reason or Understanding and measures Gods actions according to the rules of Logick which whether it be not more impious you may judg your self And as for opposites God and Nature are not opposites except you will call opposites those which bear a certain relation to one another as a Cause and its Effect a Parent and a Child a Master and a Servant and the like Nay I wonder how your Author can limit Gods action when as he confesses himself that the Creation of the World is an Infinite action God acted finitely says he by an Infinite action which in my opinion is meer non-sense and as much as to say a man can act weakly by a strong action basely by an honest action cowardly by a stout action The truth is God being Infinite cannot work finitely for as his Essence so his Actions cannot have any limitation and therefore it is most probable that God made Nature Infinite for though each part of Nature is finite in its own figure yet considered in general they are Infinite as well in number as duration except God be pleased to destroy them nay every particular may in a certain sense be said Infinite to wit Infinite in time or duration for if Nature be Infinite and Eternal and there be no annihilation or perishing in Nature but a perpetual successive change and alteration of natural figures then no part of Nature can perish or be annihilated and if no part of Nature perishes then it lasts infinitely in Nature that is in the substance of natural Matter for though the corporeal motions which make the figures do change yet the ground of the figure which is natural matter never changes The same may be said of corporeal motions for though motions change and vary infinite ways yet none is lost in Nature but some motions are repeated again As for example the natural motions in an Animal Creature although they are altered in the dissolution of the animal figure yet they may be repeated again by piece-meals in other Creatures like as a Commonwealth or united body in society if it should be dissolved and dispersed the particulars which did constitute this Commonwealth or society may joyn to the making of another society and thus the natural motions of a body do not perish when the figure of the body dissolves but joyn with other motions to the forming and producing of some other figures But to return to your Author I perceive his discourse is grounded upon a false supposition which appears by his way of arguing from the course of the Starrs and Planets to prove the finiteness of Nature for by reason the Stars and Planets rowl about and turn to the same point again each within a certain compass of time he concludes Nature or Natural Matter to be finite too And so he takes a part for the whole to wit this visible World for all Nature when as this World is onely a part of Nature or Natural Matter and there may be more and Infinite worlds besides Wherefore his conclusion must needs be false since it is built upon a false ground Moreover he is as much against the Eternity of Matter as he is against Infiniteness concluding likewise from the parts to the whole For says he since the parts of Nature are subject to a beginning and ending the whole must be so too But he is much mistaken when he attributes a beginning and ending to parts for there is no such thing as a beginning and ending in Nature neither in the whole nor in the parts by reason there is no new creation or production of Creatures out of new Matter nor any total destruction or annihilation of any part in Nature but onely a change alteration and transmigration of one figure into another which change and alteration proves rather the contrary to wit that Matter is Eternal and Incorruptible for if particular figures change they must of necessity change in the Infinite Matter which it self and in its nature is not subject to any change or alteration besides though particulars have a finite and limited figure and do change yet their species do not for Mankind never changes nor ceases to be though Peter and Paul die or rather their figures dissolve and divide for to die is nothing else but that the parts of that figure divide and unite into some other figures by the change of motion in those parts Concerning the Inanimate Matter which of it self is a dead dull and idle matter your Author denies it to be a co-agent or assistant to the animate matter For says he how can dead and idle things act To which I answer That your Author being or pretending to be a Philosopher should consider that there is difference betwixt a Principal and Instrumental cause or agent and although this inanimate or dull matter doth not act of it self as a principal agent yet it can and doth act as an Instrument according as it is imploy'd by the animate matter for by reason there is so close a conjunction and commixture of animate and inanimate Matter in Nature as they do make but one body it is impossible that the animate part of matter should move without the inanimate not that the inanimate hath motion in her self but the animate bears up the inanimate in the action of her own substance and makes the inanimate work act and move with her by reason of the aforesaid union and commixture Lastly your Author speaks much of Minima's viz. That all things may be resolved into their minima's and what is beyond them is nothing and
wherein I desire to submit to the Judgment of the Church which is much wiser then I or any single Person can be However for all what your Author says I do nevertheless verily believe there is a war between Natural motions For example between the Regular motions of Health and the Irregular motions of Sickness and that things applied do oftentimes give assistance to one side or other but many times in the conflict the applied remedies are destroyed and sometimes they are forced to be Neutrals Wherefore though the nature of Infinite Matter is simple and knows of no discord yet her actions may be cross and opposite the truth is Nature could never make such variety did her actions never oppose each other but live in a constant Peace and Unity And thus leaving them to agree I am confident your Ladiship and I shall never disagree for as long as my life doth last I shall always prove MADAM Your constant Friend and faithful Servant VI. MADAM YOur Author condemns the Schools for saying That Air is moist or that it may be converted into Water by pressing it together bringing an example of an Iron Pipe wherein Air has been pressed together which afterwards in its driving out has like a Hand-gun discharged with Gun-powder sent a bullet thorow a board or plank Truly Madam concerning the moisture of Air I am against it but the transchanging of Air into Water I do verily believe viz. that some sorts of Air may be contracted or condensed into Water and that Water again may be dilated into Air but not readily commonly and easily by Art but onely by Nature Wherefore your Authors Experiment can serve for no proof for an artificial trial cannot be an infallible natural demonstration the actions of Art and the actions of Nature being for the most part very different especially in productions and transmutations of natural things Neither can an alteration of parts cause an utter destruction of the whole because when some parts change from their figures other parts of matter change again into the like figures by which successive change the continuation of the whole is kept up Next your Author reproves the Schools for maintaining the opinion that Air is hot for says he Water Air and Earth are cold by Creation because without Light Heat and the partaking of Life He might in my opinion conclude as well that Man is cold by Creation because a Chameleon or a Fish is cold being all of animal kind But why may not some sorts of Air Water and Earth be hot and some be cold as well as some sorts of Light are hot and some cold and so several other Creatures His Reasons prove nothing for Light doth not make Heat nor is it the principle of Heat and it is no consequence to say all that is without Light is without Heat there being many things without Light which nevertheless are Hot But to say Water Air and Earth are cold because they are without heat is no proof but a meer begging of the principle for it is but the same thing as if I should say this is no Stone because it is no Glass And that Water Air and Earth do not partake of Life must be proved first for that is not granted as yet there being according to my opinion not one Creature that wants Life in all Nature Again your Author is of opinion That Water is the first and chief Principle of all Natural things But this I can no more believe then that Water should never change or degenerate from its essence nay if your Author means there shall always be Water in Nature it is another thing but if he thinks that not any part of water doth or can change or degenerate in its nature and is the principle and chief producer of all other Creatures then he makes Water rather a Creator then a Creature and it seems that those Gentiles which did worship Water were of the same opinion whereas yet he condemns all Pagan opinions and all those that follow them Moreover I cannot subscribe to his opinion That Gas and Blas from the Stars do make heat For heat is made several ways according to its several sorts sor there is a dry heat and a moist heat a burning melting and evaporating heat and many more But as for Meteors that they are made by Gas and Blas I can say nothing by reason I am not skilled in Astrology and the science of the Heavens Stars and Planets wherefore if I did offer to meddle with them I should rather express my Ignorance then give your Ladiship any solid reasons and so I am willing to leave this speculation to others resting content with that knowledg Nature hath given me without the help of Learning Which I wholly dedicate and offer to your Ladiship as becomes MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant VII MADAM HAving made mention in my last of your Authors opinion That Air is in its nature Cold I thought it fit to take a stricter view of the temper of Air and to send you withal my own opinion thereof First of all I would fain know what sort of Air your Author means for if he thinks there is but one sort of Air he might as well say that there is but one sort of Animals or Vegetables whereas yet there are not onely different sorts of animal and vegetable kind but also different particulars in one and the same sort As for example what difference is not amongst Horses as between a Barb a Turk a Ginnet a Courser of Naples a Flanders-horse a Galloway an English-horse and so forth not onely in their shapes but also in their natures tempers and dispositions The like for Cows Oxen Sheep Goats Dogs as also for Fowl and Fish nay for Men. And as for Vegetables What difference is there not between Barly and Wheat and between French-barly Pine-barly and ordinary Barly as also our English-wheat Spanish-wheat Turkish-wheat Indian-wheat and the like What difference is there not amongst Grapes as the Malago Muscadel and other Grapes and so of all the rest of Vegetables The same may be said of the Elements for there is as much difference amongst the Elements as amongst other Creatures And so of Air for Air in some places as in the Indies especially about Brasilia is very much different from our air or from the air that is in other places Indeed in every different Climate you shall find a difference of air wherefore 't is impossible to assign a certain temper of heat or cold to air in general But although my sense and reason inform me that air in its own nature or essence is neither hot nor cold yet it may become hot or cold by hot or cold motions for the sensitive perceptive motions of Air may pattern out heat or cold and hence it is that in Summer when as heat predominates the air is hot and in Winter when as cold predominates the air is cold But perhaps you
a greater noise then a huge shower of snow with falling and as for Ice being hard it may make a great noise one part falling upon another but then their weight would be as much as their noise so that the clouds or roves of Ice would be as soon upon our heads if not sooner as the noise in our Eares like as a bullet shot out of a Canon we may feel the bullet as soon as we hear the noise But to conclude all densations are not made by heat nor all noises by pressures for sound is oftener made by division then pressure and densation by cold then by heat And this is all for the present from MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XL. MADAM I Cannot perceive the Rational Truth of your Authors opinion concerning Colours made by the agitation of little spherical bodies of an AEthereal matter transmitting the action of Light for if colours were made after this manner there would in my opinion not be any fixed or lasting colour but one colour would be so various and change faster then every minute the truth is there would be no certain or perfect colour at all wherefore it seems altogether improbable that such liquid rare and disunited bodies should either keep or make inherent and fixed colours for liquid and rare bodies whose several parts are united into one considerable bulk of body their colours are more apt to change then the colours of those bodies that are dry solid and dense the reason is that rare and liquid bodies are more loose slack and agil then solid and dry bodies in so much as in every alteration of motion their colours are apt to change And if united rare and liquid bodies be so apt to alter and change how is it probable that those bodies which are small and not united should either keep or make inherent fixed colours I will not say but that such little bodies may range into such lines and figures as make colours but then they cannot last being not united into a lasting body that is into a solid substantial body proper to make such figures as colours But I desire you not to mistake me Madam for I do not mean that the substance of colours is a gross thick substance for the substance may be as thin and rare as flame or light or in the next degree to it for certainly the substance of light and the substance of colours come in their degrees very neer each other But according to the contraction of the figures colours are paler or deeper or more or less lasting And as for the reason why colours will change and rechange it is according as the figures alter or recover their forms for colours will be as animal Creatures which sometimes are faint pale and sick and yet recover but when as a particular colour is as I may say quite dead then there is no recovering of it But colours may seem altered sometimes in our eyes and yet not be altered in themselves for our eyes if perfect see things as they are presented and for proof if any animal should be presented in an unusual posture or shape we could not judg of it also if a Picture which must be viewed side-wards should be looked upon forwards we could not know what to make of it so the figures of colours if they be not placed rightly to the sight but turned topsie-turvie as the Phrase is or upside-down or be moved too quick and this quick motion do make a confusion with the lines of Light we cannot possibly see the colour perfectly Also several lights or shades may make colours appear otherwise then in themselves they are for some sorts of lights and shades may fall upon the substantial figures of colours in solid bodies in such lines and figures as they may over-power the natural or artificial inherent colours in solid bodies and for a time make other colours and many times the lines of light or of shadows will meet and sympathize so with inherent colours and place their lines so exactly as they will make those inherent colours more splendorous then in their own nature they are so that light and shadows will add or diminish or alter colours very much Likewise some sorts of colours will be altered to our sight not by all but onely by some sorts of light as for example blew will seem green and green blew by candle light when as other colours will never appear changed but shew constantly as they are the reason is because the lines of candle light fall in such figures upon the inherent colours and so make them appear according to their own figures Wherefore it is onely the alteration of the exterior figures of light and shadows that make colours appear otherwise and not a change of their own natures And hence we may rationally conclude that several lights and shadows by their spreading and dilating lines may alter the face or out-side of colours but not suddenly change them unless the power of heat and continuance of time or any other cause do help and assist them in that work of metamorphosing or transforming of colours but if the lines of light be onely as the phrase is Skin-deep that is but lightly spreading and not deeply penetrating they may soon wear out or be rubbed of for though they hurt yet they do not kill the natural colour but the colour may recover and reassume its former vigour and lustre but time and other accidental causes will not onely alter but destroy particular colours as well as other creatures although not all after the same manner for some will last longer then others And thus Madam there are three sorts of Colours Natural Artificial and Accidental but I have discoursed of this subject more at large in my Philosophical Opinions to which I refer you and rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XLI MADAM MY answer to your Authors question Why flame ascends in a pointed figure is That the figure of fire consists in points and being dilated into a flame it ascends in lines of points slope-wayes from the fired fuel like as if you should make two or more sticks stand upright and put the upper ends close together but let the lower ends be asunder in which posture they will support each other which if both their ends were close together they could not do The second question is Why fire doth not alwayes flame I answer Because all fuel is not flameable some being so moist as it doth oppose the fires dryness and some so hard and retentive as fire cannot so soon dissolve it and in this contest where one dissipares and the other retains a third figure is produced viz. smoak between the heat of one and the moisture of the other and this smoak is forced by the fire out of the fuel and is nothing else but certain parts of fuel raised to such a degree of rarefaction and if fire come near it forces the smoak into
to give such power to Matter as to an other Incorporeal substance But I suppose this opinion of natural Immaterial Spirits doth proceed from Chymistry where the extracts are vulgarly called Spirits and from that degree of Matter which by reason of its purity subtilty and activity is not subject to our grosser senses However these are not Incorporeal be they never so pure and subtil And I wonder much that men endeavour to prove Immaterial Spirits by corporeal Arts when as Art is not able to demonstrate Nature and her actions for Art is but the effect of Nature and expresses rather the variety then the truth of natural motions and if Art cannot do this much less will it be able to express what is not in Nature or what is beyond Nature as to trace the Visible or rather Invisible footsteps of the divine Councel and Providence or to demonstrate things supernatural and which go beyond mans reach and capacity But to return to Immaterial Spirits that they should rule and govern infinite corporeal matter like so many demy-Gods by a dilating nod and a contracting frown and cause so many kinds and sorts of Corporeal Figures to arise being Incorporeal themselves is Impossible for me to conceive for how can an Immaterial substance cause a Material corporeal substance which has no motion in it self to form so many several and various figures and creatures and make so many alterations and continue their kinds and sorts by perpetual successions of Particulars But perchance the Immaterial substance gives corporeal matter motion I answer My sense and reason cannot understand how it can give motion unless motion be different distinct and separable from it nay if it were yet being no substance or body it self according to your Authors and others opinion the question is how it can be transmitted or given away to corporeal matter Your Author may say That his Immaterial and Incorporeal spirit of Nature having self-motion doth form Matter into several Figures I answer Then that Immaterial substance must be transformed and metamorphosed into as many several figures as there are figures in Matter or there must be as many spirits as there are figures but when the figures change what doth become of the spirits Neither can I imagine that an Immaterial substance being without body can have such a great strength as to grapple with gross heavy dull and dead Matter Certainly in my opinion no Angel nor Devil except God Impower him would be able to move corporeal Matter were it not selfmoving much less any Natural Spirit But God is a Spirit and Immovable and if created natural Immaterials participate of that Nature as they do of the Name then they must be Immovable also Your Author Madam may make many several degrees of Spirits but certainly not I nor I think any natural Creature else will be able naturally to conceive them He may say perchance There is such a close conjunction betwixt Body and Spirit as I make betwixt rational sensitive and inanimate Matter I answer That these degrees are all but one Matter and of one and the same Nature as meer Matter different onely in degrees of purity subtilty and activity whereas Spirit and Body are things of contrary Natures In fine I cannot conceive how a Spirit should fill up a place or space having no body nor how it can have the effects of a body being none it self for the effects flow from the cause and as the cause is so are its effects And so confessing my ignorance I can say no more but rest MADAM Your Faithful Friend and Servant XXII MADAM YOur Author having assigned Indivisibility to the Soul or Spirit that moves and actuates matter I desire to know how one Indivisible Spirit can be in so many dividable parts For there being Infinite parts in Nature they must either have one Infinite Spirit to move them which must be dilated infinitely or this Spirit must move severally in every part of Nature If the first then I cannot conceive but all motion must be uniform or after one and the same manner nay I cannot understand how there can be any dilation and contraction or rather any motion of the same spirit by reason if it dilate then being equally spread out in all the parts of Matter it must dilate beyond Matter and if it contract it must leave some parts of matter void and without motion But if the Spirit moves every part severally then he is divisible neither can I think that there are so many Spirits as there are Parts in Nature for your Author says there is but one Spirit of Nature I will give an easie and plain example When a Worm is cut into two or three parts we see there is sensitive life and motion in every part for every part will strive and endeavour to meet and joyn again to make up the whole body now if there were but one indivisible Life Spirit and Motion I would fain know how these severed parts could move all by one Spirit Wherefore Matter in my opinion has self-motion in it self which is the onely soul and life of Nature and is dividable as well as composable and full of variety of action for it is as easie for several parts to act in separation as in composition and as easie in composition as in separation Neither is every part bound to one kind or sort of Motions for we see in exterior local motions that one man can put his body into several shapes and postures much more can Nature But is it not strange Madam that a man accounts it absurd ridiculous and a prejudice to Gods Omnipotency to attribute self-motion to Matter or a material Creature when it is not absurd ridiculous or any prejudice to God to attribute it to an Immaterial Creature What reason of absurdity lies herein Surely I can conceive none except it be absurd and ridiculous to make that which no man can know or conceive what it is viz. an immaterial natural Spirit which is as much as to say a natural No-thing to have motion and not onely motion but self-motion nay not onely self-motion but to move actuate rule govern and guide Matter or corporeal Nature and to be the cause of all the most curious varieties and effects in nature Was not God able to give self-motion as well to a Material as to an Immaterial Creature and endow Matter with a self-moving power I do not say Madam that Matter hath motion of it self so that it is the prime cause and principle of its own self-motion for that were to make Matter a God which I am far from believing but my opinion is That the self-motion of Matter proceeds from God as well as the self-motion of an Immaterial Spirit and that I am of this opinion the last Chapter of my Book of Philosophy will enform you where I treat of the Deitical Centre as the Fountain from whence all things do flow and which is the supream Cause Author
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
Art steal from Nature she may trouble Nature or rather make variety in Nature but not take any thing from her for Art is the insnarled motions of Nature But your Author being a Chymist is much for the Art of Fire although it is impossible for Art to work as Nature doth for Art makes of natural Creatures artificial Monsters and doth oftner obscure and disturb Natures ordinary actions then prove any Truth in Nature But Nature loving variety doth rather smile at Arts follies then that she should be angry with her curiosity like as for example a Poet will smile in expressing the part or action of a Fool. Wherefore Pure natural Philosophers shall by natural sense and reason trace Natures ways and observe her actions more readily then Chymists can do by Fire and Furnaces for Fire and Furnaces do often delude the Reason blind the Understanding and make the Judgment stagger Nevertheless your Author is so taken with Fire that from thence he imagines a Formal Light which he believes to be the Tip-top of Life but certainly he had in my opinion not so much light as to observe that all sorts of light are but Creatures and not Creators for he judges of several Parts of Matter as if they were several kinds of Matter which causes him often to err although he conceits himself without any Error In which conceit I leave him and rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and humble Servant XIII MADAM THe Art of Fire as I perceive is in greater esteem and respect with your Author then Nature her self For he says That some things can be done by Art which Nature cannot do nay he calls Art The Mistress of Nature and subjects whole Nature unto Chymical speculation For nothing says he doth more fully bring a Man that is greedy of knowing to the knowledg of all things knowable then the Fire for the root or radical knowledg of natural things consists in the Fire It pierces the secrets of Nature and causes a further searching out in Nature then all other Sciences being put together and pierces even into the utmost depths of real truth It creates things which never were before These and many more the like expressions he has in the praise of Chymistry And truly Madam I cannot blame your Author for commending this Art because it was his own profession and no man will be so unwise as to dispraise his own Art which he professes but whether those praises and commendations do not exceed truth and express more then the Art of Fire can perform I will let those judg that have more knowledg therein then I But this I may say That what Art or Science soever is in Nature let it be the chief of all yet it can never be call'd the Mistress of Nature nor be said to perform more then Nature doth except it be by a divine and supernatural Power much less to create things which never were before for this is an action which onely belongs to God The truth is Art is but a Particular effect of Nature and as it were Nature's Mimick or Fool in whose playing actions she sometimes takes delight nay your Author confesses it himself when he calls the Art of Chymistry Nature's emulating Ape and her Chamber-maid and yet he says she is now and then the Mistress of Nature which in my opinion doth not agree for I cannot conceive how it is possible to be a Chamber-maid and yet to be the Mistress too I suppose your Author believes they justle sometimes each other out or take by turns one anothers place But whatever his opinion be I am sure that the Art of Fire cannot create and produce so as Nature doth nor dissolve substances so as she doth nor transform and transchange as she doth nor do any effect like Nature And therefore I cannot so much admire this Art as others do for it appears to me rather to be a troubler then an assistant to Nature producing more Monsters then perfect Creatures nay it rather doth shut the Gates of Truth then unlock the Gates of Nature For how can Art inform us of Nature when as it is but an effect of Nature You may say The cause cannot be better known then by its effect for the knowledg of the effect leads us to the knowledg of the cause I answer T is true but you will consider that Nature is an Infinite cause and has Infinite effects and if you knew all the Infinite effects in nature then perhaps you might come to some knowledg of the cause but to know nature by one single effect as art is is impossible nay no man knows this particular effect as yet perfectly For who is he that has studied the art of fire so as to produce all that this art may be able to afford witness the Philosophers-stone Besides how is it possible to find out the onely cause by so numerous variations of the effects Wherefore it is more easie in my opinion to know the various effects in Nature by studying the Prime cause then by the uncertain study of the inconstant effects to arrive to the true knowledg of the prime cause truly it is much easier to walk in a Labyrinth without a Guide then to gain a certain knowledg in any one art or natural effect without Nature her self be the guide for Nature is the onely Mistress and cause of all which as she has made all other effects so she has also made arts for varieties sake but most men study Chymistry more for imployment then for profit not but that I believe there may be some excellent Medicines found out and made by that art but the expence and labour is more then the benefit neither are all those Medicines sure and certain nor in all diseases safe neither can this art produce so many medicines as there are several diseases in Nature and for the Universal Medicine and the Philosophers-stone or Elixir which Chymists brag of so much it consists rather in hope and expectation then in assurance for could Chymists find it out they would not be so poor as most commonly they are but richer then Solomon was or any Prince in the World and might have done many famous acts with the supply of their vast Golden Treasures to the eternal and immortal fame of their Art nay Gold being the Idol of this world they would be worshipped as well for the sake of Gold as for their splendorous Art but how many have endeavored and laboured in vain and without any effect Gold is easier to be made then to be destroyed says your Author but I believe one is as difficult or impossible nay more then the other for there is more probability of dissolving or destroying a natural effect by Art then of generating or producing one for Art cannot go beyond her sphere of activity she can but produce an artificial effect and Gold is a natural Creature neither were it Justice that a
upon Earth because he exceeds all that we might compare or liken to him And as men ought to have a care of such similizing expressions so they ought to be careful in making Interpretations of the Scripture and expressing more then the Scripture informs for what is beyond the Scripture is Man 's own fancy and to regulate the Word of God after Man's fancy at least to make his fancy equal with the Word of God is Irreligious Wherefore men ought to submit and not to pretend to the knowledg of God's Counsels and Designs above what he himself hath been pleased to reveal as for example to describe of what Figure God is and to comment and descant upon the Articles of Faith as how Man was Created and what he did in the state of Innocence how he did fall and what he did after his fall and so upon the rest of the Articles of our Creed more then the Scripture expresses or is conformable to it For if we do this we shall make a Romance of the holy Scripture with our Paraphrastical Descriptions which alas is too common already The truth is Natural Philosophers should onely contain themselves within the sphere of Nature and not trespass upon the Revelation of the Scripture but leave this Profession to those to whom it properly belongs I am confident a Physician or any other man of a certain Profesion would not take it well if others who are not professed in that Art should take upon them to practise the same And I do wonder why every body is so forward to encroach upon the holy Profession of Divines which yet is a greater presumption then if they did it upon any other for it contains not onely a most hidden and mystical knowledg as treating of the Highest Subject which is the most Glorious and Incomprehensible God and the salvation of our Souls but it is also most dangerous if not interpreted according to the Holy Spirit but to the byass of man's fancy Wherefore Madam I am afraid to meddle with Divinity in the least thing lest I incur the hazard of offending the divine Truth and spoil the excellent Art of Philosophying for a Philosophical Liberty and a Supernatural Faith are two different things and suffer no co-mixture as I have declared sufficiently heretofore And this you will find as much truth as that I am MADAM Your constant Friend and faithful Servant XX. MADAM ALthough your Author is of the opinion of Plato in making Three sorts of Atheists One that believes no Gods Another which indeed admits of Gods yet such as are uncarefull of us and despisers of small matters and therefore also ignorant of us And lastly a third sort which although they believe the Gods to be expert in the least matters yet do suppose that they are flexible and indulgent toward the smallest cold Prayers or Petitions Yet I cannot approve of this distinction for I do understand but one sort of Atheists that is those which believe no God at all but those which believe that there is a God although they do not worship him truly nor live piously and religiously as they ought cannot in truth be called Atheists or else there would be innumerous sorts of Atheists to wit all those that are either no Christians or not of this or that opinion in Christian Religion besides all them that live wickedly impiously and irreligiously for to know and be convinced in his reason that there is a God and to worship him truly according to his holy Precepts and Commands are two several things And as for the first that is for the Rational knowledge of the Existence of God I cannot be perswaded to believe there is any man which has sense and reason that doth not acknowledg a God nay I am sure there is no part of Nature which is void and destitute of this knowledg of the Existence of an Infinite Eternal Immortal and Incomprehensible Deity for every Creature being indued with sense and reason and with sensitive and rational knowledg there can no knowledg be more Universal then the knowledg of a God as being the root of all knowledg And as all Creatures have a natural knowledg of the Infinite God so it is probable they Worship Adore and Praise his Infinite Power and Bounty each after its own manner and according to its nature for I cannot believe God should make so many kinds of Creatures and not be worshipped and adored but onely by Man Nature is God's Servant and she knows God better then any Particular Creature but Nature is an Infinite Body consisting of Infinite Parts and if she adores and worships God her Infinite Parts which are Natural Creatures must of necessity do the like each according to the knowledg it hath but Man in this particular goes beyond others as having not onely a natural but also a revealed knowledg of the most Holy God for he knows Gods Will not onely by the light of Nature but also by revelation and so more then other Creatures do whose knowledg of God is meerly Natural But this Revealed Knowledg makes most men so presumptuous that they will not be content with it but search more and more into the hidden mysteries of the Incomprehensible Deity and pretend to know God as perfectly almost as themselves describing his Nature and Essence his Attributes his Counsels his Actions according to the revelation of God as they pretend when as it is according to their own Fancies So proud and presumptuous are many But they shew thereby rather their weaknesses and follies then any truth and all their strict and narrow pryings into the secrets of God are rather unprofitable vain and impious then that they should benefit either themselves or their neighbour for do all we can God will not be perfectly known by any Creature The truth is it is a meer impossibility for a finite Creature to have a perfect Idea of an Infinite Being as God is be his Reason never so acute or sharp yet he cannot penetrate what is Impenetrable nor comprehend what is Incomprehensible Wherefore in my opinion the best way is humbly to adore what we cannot conceive and believe as much as God has been pleased to reveal without any further search lest we diving too deep be swallowed up in the bottomless depth of his Infiniteness Which I wish every one may observe for the benefit of his own self and of others to spend his time in more profitable Studies then vainly to seek for what cannot be found And with this hearty wish I conclude resting MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXI MADAM YOur Author is so much for Spirits that he doth not stick to affirm That Bodies scarce make up a moity or half part of the world but Spirits even by themselves have or possess their moity and indeed the whole world If he mean bodiless and incorporeal Spirits I cannot conceive how Spirits can take up any place for place belongs onely to body
I rest MADAM Your Faithful Friend and Servant XXXI MADAM YOur Author in opposition to the Schools endeavouring to prove that there are no humors in an animal body except blood proves many humors in himself But I can see no reason why Nature should not make several humors as well as several Elements Vegetables Minerals Animals and other Creatures and that in several parts of the body and many several ways for to mention but one sort of other Creatures viz. Vegetables they are as we see not onely produced many several ways but in many several grounds either by sowing setting or grafting either in clayie limy sandy chalky dry or wet grounds And why may not several humors be produced as well of other Creatures and parts as others are produced of them for all parts of Nature are produced one from another as being all of one and the same Matter onely the variation of corporeal motions makes all the difference and variety between them which variety of motions is impossible to be known by any particular Creature for Nature can do more then any Creature can conceive Truly Madam I should not be of such a mind as to oppose the Schools herein so eargerly as your Author doth but artificial actions make men to have erroneous opinions of the actions of Nature judging them all according to the rule and measure of Art when as Art oft deludes men under the cover of truth and makes them many times believe falshood for truth for Nature is pleased with variety and so doth make numerous absurdities doubts opinions disputations objections and the like Moreover your Author is as much against the radical moisture as he is against the four humors saying that according to this opinion of the Schools a fat belly through much grease affording more fuel to the radical moisture must of necessity live longer But this in my opinion is onely a wilful mistake for I am confident that the Schools do not understand radical moisture to be gross fat radical oyl but a thin oylie substance Neither do they believe radical heat to be a burning fiery and consuming heat but such a degree of natural heat as is comfortable nourishing refreshing and proper for the life of the animal Creature Wherefore radical heat and moisture doth not onely consist in the Grease of the body for a lean body may have as much and some of them more Radical moisture then fat bodies But your Author instead of this radical moisture makes a nourishable moisture onely as I suppose out of a mind to contradict the Schools when as I do not perceive that the Schools mean by Radical moisture any other then a nourishable moisture and therefore this distinction is needless Lastly he condemns the Schools for making an affinity betwixt the bowels and the brain But he might as will condemn Politicians for saying there is an affinity betwixt Governors and Subjects or betwixt command and obedience but as the actions of Particulars even from the meanest in a Common-wealth may chance to make a Publick disturbance so likewise in the Common-wealth of the body one single action in a particular part may cause a disturbance of the whole Body nay a total ruine and dissolution of the composed which dissolution is called Death and yet these causes are neither Light nor Blas nor Gas no more then men are shining Suns or flaming Torches or blazing Meteors or azure Skies Wherefore leaving your Author to his contradicting humor I rest MADAM Your faithful Friend and Servant XXXII MADAM I Do verily believe with the Schools the Purging of the Brain against your Author For I know no reason why all the parts of a man's body should not stand in need of evacuation and purging as well as some 'T is true if the substance or nourishment received were all useful and onely enough for the maintenance subsistance and continuance of the Creature and no more then there would be no need of such sort of evacuation but I believe the corporeal self-motions in a body discharge the superfluous matter out of every part of the body if the motions of the superfluous matter be not too strong and over-power the motions in the parts of the body but some parts do produce more superfluities then others by reason their property is more to dilate then to contract and more to attract then to retain or fix which parts are the brain stomack bowels bladder gall and the like wherefore as there is nourishment in all parts of the body so there are also excrements in all parts for there is no nourishment without excrement Next your Author says That the nourishment of the solid parts is made with the transmutation of the whole venal blood into nourishment without a separation of the pure from the impure But I pray give me leave to ask Madam whether the solid Parts are not Instruments for the nourishment of the Venal blood Truly I cannot conceive how blood should be nourished wanting those solid parts and their particular motions and imployments Again his opinion is That the brain is nourished by a few and slender veins neither doth a passage or channel appear whereby a moist excrement may derive or a vapour enter And by reason of the want of such a passage in another place he is pleased to affirm That nothing can fume up from the stomack into the brain and therefore Wine doth not make drunk with fuming from the stomach into the head but the Winie spirit is immediately snatched into the arteries out of the stomack without digestion and so into the head and there breeds a confusion First I am not of the opinion that all nourishment comes from the veins or from one particular part of the body no more do Excrements neither do I believe that every passage in the body is visible to Anatomists for Natures works are too curious and intricate for any particular Creature to find them out which is the cause that Anatomists and Chymists are so oft mistaken in natural causes and effects for certainly they sometimes believe great Errors for great Truths Next as for Drunkenness I believe that many who drink much Wine are drunk before such time as the Wine spirit can get into the Arteries but if there be Pores to the Brain as it is most probable the spirit of Wine may more easily ascend and enter those Pores then the Pores of the Arteries or the Mouth-veins and so make a circular journey to the Head But as for Excrements whereof I spake in the beginning as they are made several manners or ways and in several parts of the body so they are also discharged several ways from several parts and several ways from each particular part indeed so many several ways and manners as would puzzle the wisest man in the world nay your Authors Interior keeper of the Brain to find them out Wherefore to conclude he is the best Physician that can tell how to discharge
But your Author doth wisely to commend such remedies as can never or with great difficulty be obtained and then to say that no disease is incurable And so leaving him to his unknown secrets and those to them that will use them I am resolved to adhere to the Practice of the Schools which I am confident will be more beneficial to the health of MADAM Your real and faithful Friend and Servant XLI MADAM YOur Author speaking of the Gout and of that kind of Gout which is called Hereditary says It consists immediately in the Spirit of Life First as for that which is called an Hereditary Disease propagated from Parents upon their Children my opinion is That it is nothing else but the same actions of the animate matter producing the same effect in the Child as they did in the Parent For example the same motions which made the Gout in the Parent may make the same disease in the Child but every Child has not his Parents diseases and many Children have such diseases as their Parents never had neither is any disease tied to a particular Family by Generation but they proceed from irregular motions and are generally in all Mankind and therefore properly there is no such thing as an hereditary propagation of diseases for one and the same kind of disease may be made in different persons never a kin to one another by the like motions but because Children have such a neer relation to their Parents by Generation if they chance to have the same diseases with their Parents men are apt to conclude it comes by inheritance but we may as well say that all diseases are hereditary for there is not any disease in Nature but is produced by the actions of Nature's substance and if we receive life and all our bodily substance by Generation from our Parents we may be said to receive diseases too for diseases are inherent in the matter or substance of Nature which every Creature is a part of and are real beings made by the corporeal motions of the animate matter although irregular to us for as this matter moves so is Life or Death Sickness or Health and all natural effects and we consisting of the same natural matter are naturally subject as well to diseases as to health according as the Matter moves Thus all diseases are hereditary in Nature nay the Scripture it self confirms it informing us that diseases as well as death are by an hereditary propagation derived from Adam upon all Posterity But as for the Gout your Authors doctrine is That Life is not a body nor proper to a body nor of the off-spring of corporeal Proprieties but a meer No-thing and that the Spirit of Life is a real being to wit the arterial blood resolved by the Ferment of the heart into salt air and enlightned by life and that the Gout doth immediately consist in this spirit of life All which how it doth agree I cannot conceive for that a real being should be enlightned by Nothing and be a spirit of Nothing is not imaginable nor how the Gout should inhabit in the spirit of life for then it would follow that a Child as soon as it is brought forth into the world would be troubled with the Gout if it be as natural to him as life or have its habitation in the Spirit of Life Also your Author is speaking of an Appoplexy in the head which takes away all sense and motion But surely in my opinion it is impossible that all sense and motion should be out of the head onely that sense and motion which is proper to the head and to the nature of that Creature is altered to some other sensitive and rational motions which are proper to some other figure for there is no part or particle of matter that has not motion and sense I pray consider Madam is there any thing in Nature that is without motion Perchance you will say Minerals but that is proved otherwise as for example by the sympathetical motion between the Loadstone and Iron and between the Needle and the North as also by the operation of Mercury and several others Wherefore there is no doubt but all kinds sorts and particulars of Creatures have their natural motions although they are not all visible to us but not such motions as are made by Gas or Blas or Ideas c. but corporeal sensitive and rational motions which are the actions of Natural Matter You may say Some are of opinion that Sympathy and Antipathy are not Corporeal motions Truly whosoever says so speaks no reason for Sympathy and Antipathy are nothing else but the actions of bodies and are made in bodies the Sympathy betwixt Iron and the Loadstone is in bodies the Sympathy between the Needle and the North is in bodies the Sympathy of the Magnetick powder is in bodies The truth is there is no motion without a body nor no body without motion Neither doth Sympathy and Antipathy work at distance by the power of Immaterial Spirits or rays issuing out of their bodies but by agreeable or disagreeable corporeal motions for if the motions be agreeable there is Sympathy if disagreeable there is Antipathy and if they be equally found in two bodies then there is a mutual Sympathy or Antipathy but if in one body onely and not in the other there is but Sympathy or Antipathy on one side or in one Creature Lastly concerning swoonings or fainting fits your Authors opinion is that they proceed from the stomack Which I can hardly believe for many will swoon upon the sight of some object others at a sound or report others at the smell of some disagreeable odour others at the taste of some or other thing that is not agreeable to their nature and so forth also some will swoon at the apprehension or conceit of something and some by a disorder or irregularity of motions in exterior parts Wherefore my opinion is that swoonings may proceed from any part of the body and not onely from the stomack But Madam I being no Physicianess may perhaps be in an error and therefore I will leave this discourse to those that are thorowly learned and practised in this Art and rest satisfied that I am MADAM Your Ladiships humble Servant XLII MADAM YOur Author is inquiring whether some cures of diseases may be effected by bare co-touchings and I am of his opinion they may for co-touchings of some exterior objects may cause alterations of some particular motions in some particular parts of matter without either transferring their own motions into those parts for that this is impossible I have heretofore declared or without any corporeal departing from their own parts of matter into them and alterations may be produced both in the motions and figures of the affected parts but these cures are not so frequent as those that are made by the entring of medicines into the diseased parts and either expel the malignant matter or rectifie the
For which I would not spare any labour or pains but be as industrious as those that gain their living by their work and I pray to God that Nature may give me a capacity to do it But as for those that will censure my works out of spite and malice rather then according to justice let them do their worst for if God do but bless them I need not to fear the power of Nature much less of a part of Nature as Man Nay if I have but your Ladiships approbation it will satisfie me for I know you are so wife and just in your judgment that I may safely rely upon it For which I shall constantly and unfeignedly remain as long as I live MADAM Your Ladiships most faithful Friend and humble Servant SECT IV. I. MADAM I Perceive you take great delight in the study of Natural Philosophy since you have not onely sent me some Authors to peruse and give my judgment of their opinions but are very studious your self in the reading of Philosophical Works and truly I think you cannot spend your time more honourably profitably and delightfully then in the study of Nature as to consider how Variously Curiously and Wisely she acts in her Creatures for if the particular knowledg of a man's self be commendable much more is the knowledg of the general actions of Nature which doth lead us to the knowledg of our selves The truth is by the help of Philosophy our Minds are raised above our selves into the knowledg of the Causes of all natural effects But leaving the commending of this noble study you are pleased to desire my opinion of a very difficult and intricate argument in Natural Philosophy to wit of Generation or Natural Production I must beg leave to tell you first that some though foolishly believe it is not fit for Women to argue upon so subtil a Mystery Next there have been so many learned and experienced Philosophers Physicians and Anatomists which have treated of this subject that it might be thought a great presumption for me to argue with them having neither the learning nor experience by practice which they had Lastly There are so many several ways and manners of Productions in Nature as it is impossible for a single Creature to know them all For there are Infinite variations made by self-motion in Infinite Matter producing several Figures which are several Creatures in that same Matter But you would fain know how Nature which is Infinite Matter acts by self-motion Truly Madam you may as well ask any one part of your body how every other part of your body acts as to ask me who am but a small part of Infinite Matter how Nature works But yet I cannot say that Nature is so obscure as her Creatures are utterly ignorant for as there are two of the outward sensitive organs in animal bodies which are more intelligible then the rest to wit the Ear and the Eye so in Infinite Matter which is the body of Nature there are two parts which are more understanding or knowing then the rest to wit the Rational and Sensitive part of Infinite Matter for though it be true That Nature by self-division made by self-motion into self-figures which are self-parts causes a self-obscurity to each part motion and figure nevertheless Nature being infinitely wise and knowing its infinite natural wisdom and knowledg is divided amongst those infinite parts of the infinite body and the two most intelligible parts as I said are the sensitive and rational parts in Nature which are divided being infinite into every Figure or Creature I cannot say equally divided no more then I can say all creatures are of equal shapes sizes properties strengths quantities qualities constitutions semblances appetites passions capacities forms natures and the like for Nature delights in variety as humane sense and reason may well perceive for seldom any two creatures are just alike although of one kind or sort but every creature doth vary more or less Wherefore it is not probable that the production or generation of all or most Creatures should be after one and the same manner or way for else all Creatures would be just alike without any difference But this is to be observed that though Nature delights in variety yet she doth not delight in confusion but as it is the propriety of Nature to work variously so she works also wisely which is the reason that the rational and sensitive parts of Nature which are the designing and architectonical parts keep the species of every kind of Creatures by the way of Translation in Generation or natural Production for whatsoever is transferred works according to the nature of that figure or figures from whence it was transferred But mistake me not for I do not mean always according to their exterior Figure but according to their interior Nature for different motions in one and the same parts of matter make different figures wherefore much more in several parts of matter and changes of motion But as I said Translation is the chief means to keep or maintain the species of every kind of Creatures which Translation in natural production or generation is of the purest and subtilest substances to wit the sensitive and rational which are the designing and architectonical parts of Nature You may ask me Madam what this wise and ingenious Matter is I answer It is so pure subtil and self-active as our humane shares of sense and reason cannot readily or perfectly perceive it for by that little part of knowledg that a humane creature hath it may more readily perceive the strong action then the purer substance for the strongest action of the purest substance is more perceivable then the matter or substance it self which is the cause that most men are apt to believe the motion and to deny the matter by reason of its subtilty for surely the sensitive and rational matter is so pure and subtil as not to be expressed by humane sense and reason As for the rational-matter it is so pure fine and subtil that it may be as far beyond lucent matter as lucent matter is beyond gross vapours or thick clouds and the sensitive matter seems not much less pure also there is very pure inanimate matter but not subtil and active of it self for as there are degrees in the animate so there are also degrees in the inanimate matter so that the purest degree of inanimate matter comes next to the animate not in motion but in the purity of its own degree for it cannot change its nature so as to become animate yet it may be so pure in its own nature as not to be perceptible by our grosser senses But concerning the two degrees of animate Matter to wit the sensitive and rational I say that the sensitive is much more acute then Vitriol Aqua-fortis Fire or the like and the rational much more subtil and active then Quicksilver or Light so as I cannot find a comparison fit to express them