_MADAM,_
Touching the State or Condition of the Supernatural and Divine Soul,
both in, and after this life, I must crave your excuse that I can give
no account of it; for I dare affirm nothing; not onely that I am no
professed Divine, and think it unfit to take any thing upon me that
belongs not to me, but also that I am unwilling to mingle Divinity and
Natural Philosophy together, to the great disadvantage and prejudice of
either; for if each one did contain himself within the circle of his
own Profession, and no body did pretend to be a Divine Philosopher,
many absurdities, confusions, contentions, and the like, would be
avoided, which now disturb both Church and Schools, and will in time
cause their utter ruine and destruction; For what is Supernatural,
cannot naturally be known by any natural Creature; neither can any
supernatural Creature, but the Infinite and Eternal God, know thorowly
everything that is in Nature, she being the Infinite servant of the
Infinite God, whom no finite Creature, of what degree soever, whether
natural or supernatural, can conceive; for if no Angel nor Devil can
know our thoughts, much less will they know Infinite Nature; nay, one
finite supernatural Creature cannot, in my opinion, know perfectly
another supernatural Creature, but God alone, who is all-knowing; And
therefore all what is said of supernatural Spirits, I believe, so far
as the Scripture makes mention of them; further I dare not presume to
go; the like of the supernatural or divine Soul: for all that I have
writ hitherto to you of the Soul, concerns the natural Soul of Man,
which is material, and not the supernatural or divine Soul; neither
do I contradict any thing concerning this divine soul, but I am
onely against those opinions, which make the natural soul of man an
immaterial natural spirit, and confound supernatural Creatures with
natural, believing those spirits to be as well natural Creatures and
parts of Nature, as material and corporeal beings are; when as there
is great difference betwixt them, and nothing in Nature to be found,
but what is corporeal. Upon this account I take all their relations of
Dæmons, of the Genii, and of the Souls after the departure from humane
Bodies, their Vehicles, Shapes, Habitations, Converses, Conferences,
Entertainments, Exercises, Pleasures, Pastimes, Governments, Orders,
Laws, Magistrates, Officers, Executioners, Punishments, and the like,
rather for Poetical Fictions, then Rational Probabilities; containing
more Fancy, then Truth and Reason, whether they concern the divine
or natural Soul: for as for the divine Soul, the Scripture makes no
other mention of it, but that immediately after her departure out
of this natural life, she goeth either to Heaven or 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
Horse-back. Neither can I believe Souls or Dæmons 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 sorts of Spirits, it is impossible they should
all so 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 _Cæsar_ 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._