_MADAM,_
In your last, you were pleased to express, that some men, who think
themselves wise, did laugh in a scornful manner at my opinion, when
I say that every Creature hath life and knowledg, sense and reason;
counting it not onely ridiculous, but absurd; and asking, whether you
did or could believe, a piece of wood, metal, or stone, had as much
sense as a beast, or as much reason as a man, having neither brain,
blood, heart, nor flesh; nor such organs, passages, parts, nor shapes
as animals? To which, I answer: That it is not any of these mentioned
things that makes life and knowledg, but life and knowledg is the
cause of them, which life and knowledg is animate matter, and is in
all parts of all Creatures: and to make it more plain and perspicuous,
humane sense and reason may perceive, that wood, stone, or metal, acts
as wisely as an animal: As for example; Rhubarb, or the like drugs,
will act very wisely in Purging; and Antimony, or the like, will act
very wisely in Vomiting; and Opium will act very wisely in Sleeping;
also Quicksilver or Mercury will act very wisely, as those that have
the French disease can best witness: likewise the Loadstone acts very
wisely, as Mariners or Navigators will tell you: Also Wine made of
Fruit, and Ale of Malt, and distilled Aqua-vitæ will act very subtilly;
ask the Drunkards, and they can inform you; Thus Infinite examples may
be given, and yet man says, all Vegetables and Minerals are insensible
and irrational, as also the Planets and Elements; when as yet the
Planets move very orderly and wisely, and the Elements are more active,
nay, more subtil and searching then any of the animal Creatures;
witness Fire, Air, and Water: As for the Earth, she brings forth her
fruit, if the other Elements do not cause abortives, in due season; and
yet man believes, Vegetables, Minerals, and Elements, are dead, dull,
senseless, and irrational Creatures, because they have not such shapes,
parts, nor passages as Animals, nor such exterior and local motions
as Animals have: but Man doth not consider the various, intricate and
obscure ways of Nature, unknown to any particular Creature; for what
our senses are not capable to know, our reason is apt to deny. Truly,
in my opinion, Man is more irrational then any of those Creatures,
when he believes that all knowledg is not onely confined to one sort
of Creatures, but to one part of one particular Creature, as the head,
or brain of man; for who can in reason think, that there is no other
sensitive and rational knowledg in Infinite Matter, but what is onely
in Man, or animal Creatures? It is a very simple and weak conclusion to
say, Other Creatures have no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no tongues
to taste, no noses to smell, as animals have; wherefore they have no
sense or sensitive knowledg; or because they have no head, nor brain as
Man hath, therefore they have no reason, nor rational knowledg at all:
for sense and reason, and consequently sensitive and rational knowledg,
extends further then to be bound to the animal eye, ear, nose, tongue,
head, or brain; but as these organs are onely in one kind of Natures
Creatures, as Animals, in which organs the sensitive corporeal motions
make the perception of exterior objects, so there may be infinite other
kinds of passages or organs in other Creatures unknown to Man, which
Creatures may have their sense and reason, that is, sensitive and
rational knowledg, each according to the nature of its figure; for as
it is absurd to say, that all Creatures in Nature are Animals, so it is
absurd to confine sense and reason onely to Animals; or to say, that
all other Creatures, if they have sense and reason, life and knowledg,
it must be the same as is in Animals: I confess, it is of the same
degree, that is, of the same animate part of matter, but the motions
of life and knowledg work so differently and variously in every kind
and sort, nay, in every particular Creature, that no single Creature
can find them out: But, in my opinion, not any Creature is without
life and knowledg, which life and knowledg is made by the self-moving
part of matter, that is, by the sensitive and rational corporeal
motions; and as it is no consequence, that all Creatures must be alike
in their exterior shapes, figures, and motions, because they are all
produced out of one and the same matter, so neither doth it follow,
that all Creatures must have the same interior motions, natures, and
proprieties, and so consequently the same life and knowledg, because
all life and knowledg is made by the same degree of matter, to wit, the
animate. Wherefore though every kind or sort of Creatures has different
perceptions, yet they are not less knowing; for Vegetables, Minerals,
and Elements, may have as numerous, and as various perceptions as
Animals, and they may be as different from animal perceptions as their
kinds are; but a different perception is not therefore no perception:
Neither is it the animal organs that make perception, nor the animal
shape that makes life, but the motions of life make them. But some may
say, it is Irreligious to believe any Creature has rational knowledg
but Man. Surely, _Madam_, the God of Nature, in my opinion, will be
adored by all Creatures, and adoration cannot be without sense and
knowledg. Wherefore it is not probable, that onely Man, and no Creature
else, is capable to adore and worship the Infinite and Omnipotent
God, who is the God of Nature, and of all Creatures: I should rather
think it irreligious to confine sense and reason onely to Man, and to
say, that no Creature adores and worships God, but Man; which, in my
judgment, argues a great pride, self-conceit, and presumption. And
thus, _Madam_, having declared my opinion plainly concerning this
subject, I will detain you no longer at this present, but rest,
Madam,
_Your constant Friend_
_and faithful Servant._