_MADAM,_
Yesterday I received a visit from the Lady _N. M._ who you know hath
a quick wit, rational opinions, and subtil conceptions; all which she
is ready and free to divulge in her discourse. But when she came to
my Chamber, I was casting up some small accounts; which when she did
see, What, said she, are you at Numeration? Yes, said I: but I cannot
number well, nor much, for I do not understand Arithmetick. Said she,
You can number to three. Yes, said I, I can number to four: Nay, faith,
said she, the number of three is enough, if you could but understand
that number well, for it is a mystical number. Said I, There is no
great mystery to count that number; for one, and two, makes three. Said
she, That is not the mystery; for the mystery is, That three makes
one: and without this mystery no man can understand Divinity, Nature,
nor himself. Then I desired her to make me understand that mystery.
She said, It required more time to inform me, then a short visit, for
this mystery was such, as did puzle all wise men in the world; and
the not understanding of this mystery perfectly, had caused endless
divisions and disputes. I desired, if she could not make me understand
the mystery, she would but inform me, how three made one in Divinity,
Nature, and Man. She said, That was easie to do; for in Divinity there
are three Persons in one Essence, as God the Father, the Son, and the
holy Ghost, whose Essence being individable, they make but one God;
And as for Philosophy, there is but Matter, Motion, and Figure, which
being individable, make but one Nature; And as for Man, there is Soul,
Life, and Body, all three joyned in one Man. But I replied, Man's Life,
Soul and Body, is dividable. That is true, said she, but then he is no
more a Man; for these three are his essential parts, which make him to
be a man; and when these parts are dissolved, then his interior nature
is changed, so that he can no longer be call'd a man: As for example;
Water being turned into Air, and having lost its interior nature, can
no more be called Water, but it is perfect Air; the same is with Man:
But as long as he is a Man, then these three forementioned parts which
make him to be of that figure are individably united as long as man
lasts. Besides, said she, this is but in the particular, considering
man single, and by himself; but in general, these three, as life,
soul, and body, are individably united, so that they remain as long
as mankind lasts. Nay, although they do dissolve in the particulars,
yet it is but for a time; for they shall be united again at the last
day, which is the time of their resurrection; so that also in this
respect we may justly call them individable, for man shall remain
with an united soul, life, and body, eternally. And as she was thus
discoursing, in came a Sophisterian, whom when she spied, away she
went as fast as she could; but I followed her close, and got hold of
her, then asked her, why she ran away? She answer'd, if she stayed,
the Logician would dissolve her into nothing, for the profession of
Logicians is to make something nothing, and nothing something. I pray'd
her to stay and discourse with the Logician: Not for a world, said she,
for his discourse will make my brain like a confused _Chaos_, full of
senseless _minima's_; and after that, he will so knock, jolt, and jog
it, and make such whirls and pits, as will so torture my brain, that I
shall wish I had not any: Wherefore, said she, I will not stay now, but
visit you again to morrow. And I wish with all my heart, _Madam_, you
were so near as to be here at the same time, that we three might make
a Triumvirate in discourse, as well as we do in friendship. But since
that cannot be, I must rest satisfied that I am,
Madam,
_Your faithful Friend_
_and Servant._