_MADAM,_
My Discourse for the present shall be of _Infinite_, and the question
shall be first _Whether several Finite parts, how many soever there be,
can make an Infinite._ Your Author says,[1] _that several Finite parts
when they are all put together make a whole Finite_; which, if his
meaning be of a certain determinate number, how big soever, of finite
parts, I do willingly grant, for all what is determinate and limited,
is not Infinite but Finite; neither is there any such thing, as Whole
or All in Infinite; but if his meaning be, that no Infinite can be made
of finite parts, though infinite in number, I deny it; Next he says
_there can be no such thing as One in Infinite, because No thing can
be said One, except there be another to compare it withal_; which in
my opinion doth not follow, for there is but One God, who is Infinite,
and hath none other to be compared withal, and so there may be but one
Onely Infinite in Nature, which is Matter. But when he says, _there
cannot be an Infinite and Eternal Division_, is very true, _viz._, in
this sense, that one single part cannot be actually infinitely divided,
for the Compositions hinder the Divisions in Nature, and the Divisions
the Compositions, so that Nature, being Matter, cannot be composed
so, as not to have parts, nor divided so, as that her parts should
not be composed, but there are nevertheless infinite divided parts
in Nature, and in this sense there may also be infinite divisions,
as I have declared in my Book of Philosophy[2]. And thus there are
Infinite divisions of Infinite parts in Nature, but not Infinite actual
divisions of one single part; But though Infinite is without end, yet
my discourse of it shall be but short and end here, though not my
affection, which shall last and continue with the life of
Madam,
_Your Faithful Friend_
_and Humble Servant._
[1] _Elem. of Philos. c._ 7. _a._ 1 2.
[2] _P._ 1. _c._ 8.