_MADAM,_
Your _Author_ is so much for Spirits, that he doth not stick to
affirm,[1] _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, or a corporeal substance, and millions of
immaterial Spirits, nay, were their number infinite, cannot possess so
much place as a small Pins point, for Incorporeal Spirits possess no
place at all: which is the reason, that an Immaterial and a Material
Infinite cannot hinder, oppose, or obstruct each other; and such an
Infinite, Immaterial Spirit is God alone. But as for Created Immaterial
Spirits, as they call them, it may be questioned whether they be
Immaterial, or not; for there may be material Spirits as well as
immaterial, that is, such pure, subtil and agil substances as cannot
be subject to any humane sense, which may be purer and subtiller then
the most refined air, or purest light; I call them material spirits,
onely for distinctions sake, although it is more proper, to call them
material substances: But be it, that there are Immaterial Spirits,
yet they are not natural, but supernatural; that is, not substantial
parts of Nature; for Nature is material, or corporeal, and so are all
her Creatures, and whatsoever is not material is no part of Nature,
neither doth it belong any ways to Nature: Wherefore, all that is
called Immaterial, is a Natural Nothing, and an Immaterial Natural
substance, in my opinion, is _non_-sense: And if you contend with me,
that Created Spirits, as good and bad Angels, as also the Immortal Mind
of Man, are Immaterial, then I say they are Supernatural; but if you
say, they are Natural, then I answer they are Material: and thus I do
not deny the existence of Immaterial Spirits, but onely that they are
not parts of Nature, but supernatural; for there may be many things
above Nature, and so above a natural Understanding, and Knowledg,
which may nevertheless have their being and existence, although they
be not Natural, that is, parts of Nature: Neither do I deny that those
supernatural Creatures may be amongst natural Creatures, that is,
have their subsistence amongst them, and in Nature; but they are not
so commixed with them, as the several parts of Matter are, that is,
they do not joyn to the constitution of a material Creature; for no
Immaterial can make a Material, or contribute any thing to the making
or production of it; but such a co-mixture would breed a meer confusion
in Nature: wherefore, it is quite another thing, to be in Nature, or to
have its subsistence amongst natural Creatures in a supernatural manner
or way, and to be a part of Nature. I allow the first to Immaterial
Spirits, but not the second, _viz._ to be parts of Nature. But what
Immaterial Spirits are, both in their Essence or Nature, and their
Essential Properties, it being supernatural, and above natural Reason,
I cannot determine any thing thereof. Neither dare I say, they are
Spirits like as God is, that is, of the same Essence or Nature, no
more then I dare say or think that God is of a humane shape or figure,
or that the Nature of God is as easie to be known as any notion else
whatsoever, and that we may know as much of him as of any thing else
in the world. For if this were so, man would know God as well as he
knows himself, but God and his Attributes are not so easily known as
man may know himself and his own natural Proprieties; for God and
his Attributes are not conceiveable or comprehensible by any humane
understanding, which is not onely material, but also finite; for
though the parts of Nature be infinite in number, yet each is finite
in it self, that is, in its figure, and therefore no natural Creature
is capable to conceive what God is; for he being infinite, there is
also required an infinite capacity to conceive him; Nay, Nature her
self, although she is Infinite, yet cannot possibly have an exact
notion of God, by reason she is Material, and God is Immaterial; and
if the Infinite servant of God is not able to conceive God, much less
will a finite part of Nature do it. Besides, the holy Church doth
openly confess and declare the Incomprehensibility of God, when in the
_Athanasian_ Creed, she expresses, that the Father is Incomprehensible,
the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible, and
that there are not three, but one Incomprehensible God: Therefore, if
any one will prove the contrary, to wit, that God is Comprehensible,
or (which is all one) that God is as easie to be known as any Creature
whatsoever, he surely is more then the Church: But I shall never say or
believe so, but rather confess my ignorance, then betray my folly; and
leave things Divine to the Church; to which I submit, as I ought, in
all Duty: and as I do not meddle with any Divine Mysteries, but subject
my self, concerning my Faith or Belief, and the regulating of my
actions for the obtaining of Eternal Life, wholly under the government
and doctrine of the Church, so, I hope, they will also grant me leave
to have my liberty concerning the contemplation of Nature and natural
things, that I may discourse of them, with such freedom, as meer
natural Philosophers use, or at least ought, to do; and thus I shall be
both a good Christian, and a good Natural Philosopher: Unto which, to
make the number perfect, I will add a third, which is, I shall be,
Madam,
_Your real and faithful_
_Friend and Servant._
[1] _Ch._ Of the Magnetick cure of wounds.