_MADAM,_
Th'other day I met with the Work of that Learned _Author_ Dr. _Ch._
which treats of Natural Philosophy; and amongst the rest, in the
Chapter of Place, I found that he blames _Aristotle_ for saying, there
are none but corporeal dimensions, Length, Breadth, and Depth in
Nature, making besides these corporeal, other incorporeal dimensions
which he attributes to _Vacuum_. Truly, _Madam_, an incorporeal
dimension or extension, seems, in my opinion, a meer contradiction; for
I cannot conceive how nothing can have a dimension or extension, having
nothing to be extended or measured. His words are these: _Imagine we
therefore, that God should please to annihilate the whole stock or
mass of Elements, and all concretions resulting therefrom, that is,
all corporeal substances now contained within the ambit or concave
of the lowest Heaven, or Lunar sphear; and having thus imagined, can
we conceive that all the vast space or region circumscribed by the
concave superfice of the Lunar sphere, would not remain the same in all
its dimensions, after as before the reduction of all bodies included
therein to nothing?_ To which, I answer: That, in my opinion, he makes
Nature Supernatural; for although God's Power may make Vacuum, yet
Nature cannot; for God's and Nature's Power are not to be compared,
neither is God's invisible Power perceptible by Natures parts; but
according to Natural Perception, it is impossible to conceive a Vacuum,
for we cannot imagine a Vacuum, but we must think of a body, as your
_Author_ of the Circle of the Moon; neither could he think of space
but from one side of the Circle to the other, so that in his mind he
brings two sides together, and yet will have them distant; but the
motions of his thoughts being subtiler and swifter then his senses,
skip from side to side without touching the middle parts, like as a
Squirrel from bough to bough, or an Ape from one table to another;
without touching the ground, onely cutting the air. Next, he says,
That an absolute Vacuum, is neither an Accident, nor a Body, nor yet
Nothing, but Something, because it has a being; which opinion seems to
me like that of the divine Soul; but I suppose Vacuum is not the divine
Soul, nor the divine Soul, Vacuum; or else it could not be sensible
of the blessed happiness in Heaven, or the Torments in Hell. Again
he says, _Let us screw our supposition one pin higher, and farther
imagine, that God, after the annihilation of this vast machine, the
Universe, should create another in all respects equal to this, and
in the same part of space wherein this now consists: First, we must
conceive, that as the spaces were immense before God created the world,
so also must they eternally persist of infinite extent, if he shall
please at any time to destroy it; next, that these immense spaces are
absolutely immoveable._ By this opinion, it seems, that Gods Power
cannot so easily make or annihilate Vacuum, as a substance; because he
believes it to be before all Matter, and to remain after all Matter,
which is to be eternal; but I cannot conceive, why Matter, or fulness
of body, should not as well be Infinite and Eternal, as his Conceived
Vacuum; for if Vacuum can have an eternal and infinite being, why may
not fulness of body, or Matter? But he calls Vacuum Immovable, which
in my opinion is to make it a God; for God is onely Immoveable and
Unalterable, and this is more Glorious then to be dependant upon God;
wherefore to believe Matter to be Eternal, but yet dependent upon
God, is a more humble opinion, then his opinion of Vacuum; for if
Vacuum be not created, and shall not be annihilated, but is Uncreated,
Immaterial, Immoveable, Infinite, and Eternal, it is a God; but if it
be created, God being not a Creator of Nothing, nor an annihilator of
Nothing, but of Something, he cannot be a Creator of Vacuum; for Vacuum
is a pure Nothing. But leaving Nothing to those that can make something
of it, I will add no more, but rest,
Madam,
_Your faithful Friend_
_and Servant._