nipotent Creator advised not with us, in the making of the World, and his Ways are not the lefs excellent, because they are paft finding out. In the next Place, the vegetable Part of the Creation is not doubted to be wholly material; yet he that will look into it, will obferve Excellencies and Operations in this Part of Matter, which he will not find contained in the Effence of Matter in general; nor be able to conceive how they are produced by it; and will he therefore fay, that the Effence of Matter is destroyed in them, because they have Properties and Operations not contained in the effential Properties of Matter as Matter, not explicable by the Effence of Matter in general. Let us advance one Step further, and we shall in the animal World meet with yet greater Perfections and Properties no way explicable by the Effence of Matter in general. If the Omnipotent Creator had not fuperadded to the Earth, which produced the irrational Animals, Qualities far furpaffing thofe of the dull dead Earth, out of which they were made; Life, Serife, and Spontaneous Motion, nobler Qualities than were before in it, it had ftill remained rude fenfelefs Matter; and, if to the Individuals of each Species, he had not fuperadded a Power of Propagation, the Species had perished with thofe Individuals: But by thefe Effences or Properties of each Species, fuperadded to the Matter which they were made of, the Effences or Properties of Matter in general were not deftroyed or changed, any more than any Thing that was in the Individuals before was deftroyed or changed by the Power of Generation fuperadded to them by the firft Benediction of the Almighty. In all fuch Cafes, the Super-inducement of greater. Perfections and nobler Qualities, destroys nothing of the Effence or Perfections that were there before; unless there can be fhewed a manifeft Repugnancy between them: But all the Proof offered for that, is only, that we cannot conceive how Matter, without fuch fuperadded Perfections, can produce fuch Effects; which is, in Truth, no more, than to fay, Matter in general, or every Part of Matter, as Matter, has them not; but is no Reason to prove, that God, if he pleases, cannot fuperadd them to fome Parts of Matter, unless it can be proved to be a Contradiction that God should give to fome Parts of Matter, Qualities and Perfections which Matter in general has not; though we cannot conceive how Matter is invested with them, or how it operates by virtue of these new Endowments: Nor is it to be wondered, that we cannot, whilft we limit all its Operations to thofe Qualities it had before, and would explain them by the known Qualities of Matter in general, without any such superinduced Perfections. The loofe Reasoning, the Jumble of Ideas, the Confufion of Sentiment, the evafive Diftinctions, that appear in every Sentence of this tedious Quotation, are a melancholy Proof of the Weakness of human Understanding, and the mighty Power of Prejudice, Paffion, and Self-love, to miflead and pervert it. Nothing furely, but a Love of Fame, an Impatience of Contradiction, and a Defire of Victory, could feduce fo great and excellent a Person to depart from the plain and obvious Principles of Reason and Philosophy, which himself had, in the cleareft and ftrongest Manner, afferted and maintained. If Inactivity or Refiftance to any Change of the State it is in, either of Reft or Motion, be one one of the primary and moft obvious Qualities of Matter, which, I prefume, will not be difputed; it will unavoidably follow, that every poffible Kind or Degree of Motion, all the feveral Changes and Modifications that can poffibly be made in any Part or Portion of Matter, must be derived from some immaterial and spiritual Principle, who is the Source of that moving Power, by which all the poffible Changes of State, or Place, can be effected. Either there is Inactivity or Refiftance in Matter, or there is not. If there is, it cannot poffibly move itself; fince two Tendencies or Properties, oppofite and deftructive to each other, can never fubfift in the fame Subject: If there be no Refiftance, the Action of Matter upon Matter would be wholly inconceivable, or rather impoffible, unless that other Matter could be moved by nothing at all; fo that in either Case, Matter can never become a self-moving Subftance, no not by any Power, because it implies a Contradiction. You fee then, how unreasonably Mr. Locke refolves the Poffibility of fpontaneous Motion, fuperadded to Matter, in order to form or explain the Poffibility of a material Soul or Thinking Matter, into the Omnipotency of God, who can make all Things agree, that imply not a Contradiction; but this implies a glaring Contradiction, and therefore must be given up for an Impoffibility, What then must we say? What muft be the Confequence? Why it is, it must be plainly, this; that fince Matter is abfolutely incapable of those Qualities and Operations which appear through the whole Brute-Creation, if it cannot produce Thought, Volition, and fpontaneous Motion, we must affign fome other Cause to which these Effects may properly properly be afcribed, which must be an immaterial and fpiritual Principle, truly and properly called a living Soul. I know you will be well pleafed to find what I have here advanced, confirmed by no lefs an Authority than that of the late learned Dr. Clarke, in his Demonftration, &c. Part II. pag. 300, Edit. 4. and pag. 221, Edit. 6. All Things that are done in the World (fays he) are done either immediately by God bimfelf, or by created intelligent Beings: Matter being evidently not at all capable of any Laws or Powers whatfoever, any more than it is capable of Intelligence; excepting only this one negative Power, that every Part of it will always and neceffarily continue in that State, whether of Reft or Motion, wherein it at prefent is; so that all thofe Things which we commonly fay are the Effects of the natural Powers of Matter; and Laws of Motion, as Gravitation, Attraction, or the like, are, indeed, (if we will speak strictly and properly) the Effect of God's acting upon Matter continually and every Moment, either immediately by himself, or mediately by fome created intelligent Being: Which Obfervation, by-the-bye, furnishes us, as has been before noted, with an excellent natural Demonftration of Providence: Confequently there is no fuch Thing as what Men call the Course of Nature, or the Power of Nature. The Courfe of Nature, truly and properly speaking, is nothing else but the Will of God, producing certain Effects in a continued, regular, conftant, and uniform Manner; which Courfe or Manner of Acting, being in every Moment perfectly arbitrary, is as easy to be altered at any Time as to be preserved. In fhort, the Thing fpeaks itfelf; I dare fay you require no other Evidence than your own Reafon suggefts to you ; but your Reverence for Dr. Clarke as a Philofopher, gives you the additional Pleasure of finding him clearly on the fame Side of the Question. To many a fine Lady, yea and many a fine Gentleman, I should think myself bound to make an Apology for attempting to lead them through fo many hard Words, into fuch abftracted Speculations; but to offer at any to you would be an Affront to your Understanding. You, Madam, who have improved a fine Taste by an early Acquaintance with the best Writers of our Age and Nation, who can enter into their Reafonings, and point out, with a critical Delicacy, their diftinguishing Beauties, which you even improve by repeating them; you, who can find a more agreeable Entertainment in the polite and rational Pleasures of the Mind, than in the fashionable Follies of Life; who can find more Delight in the Charms of Poetry, and the severe Speculations of Philosophy, than in the infipid Chit-chat of a modern polite Conversation, will, I hope, think it no bad Compliment to your Understanding, that I fubmit my most laboured Thoughts to your Cenfure and Correction, and even glory in your Approbation. Well, Madam, thus far I think we have pretty well cleared our way through the Intricacies of Philofophy to one certain Conclufion, That Brutes have Souls, fpiritual and immaterial Beings. Here then let us make a Stand, and take Breath; let us look forward and backward, let us furvey the Ground we have paffed, whether we have made no falfe Steps, miftaken our Direction, or deviated in the leaft from the direct Path of found Reason and true Philofophy; if not, what must be done next? Muft we fit down contented with our prefent Discoveries, or muft we venture |