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Show Our Ideas of Sub/lances. Book II. §. 15. Befides the complex Ideas we have of material fenfible Sub!lances, of wbich I have la!l: fpoken, by the fimple Ideas we ha ve taken from thofe qP:t;ations of 0ur own Minds, we cxP:riment daily in our (elves, as Thtnkmg, Under!l:andmg, Wtlhng, Knowmg, and power ofbeginnin!i Motion, f!fc. coexi(\ingin fomeSubflance, we are able to frame tbe complex Idea of a Spirit. And thus by putting together the Ideas of Thinking, PerceiVing, Libtrty, and power of moving themfelves and other things, we have as dear a perception, and notion, of immaterial Subfianccs, as w~ have of material. For ~uttingtogether. the Ideas of Thin kin~ and WIIIu1g, or thepowerofmovmgor qmenng corporeal Motion,joincd to Subfiancc, of which we have no difiind: Idea, we have the Jd<a of Spirit ; and by putting together the Ideas of coherent folid parts and a power ofheing move(!, joined with Subfionce, of which likewife .;e have no pofinve Idea, we have the Idea of Matter. The one IS as clear and di! l:i?El: an Idea, as the. other: The Idea of Thinking, and moving a Body, bemg as clear and dtfimEl: Ideas, as the Ideas of Extenfion, Solidity and being moved. For our Idea ofSubfiance, is equally obfcure,or none ;t all in both; it is but a fuppofed, I know not what, to fupportthofe Id<as w: call Accidents. ' §. 16. By the c~~p)ex Idea. of extended, figured, coloured, and all other fenfible Q!)ahttes, whtch !S aU that w.e know of it , we are as far from the. Idea, of the ~ubl\ance of Bod!: ~s tf we knew. nothmg at all : Nor ~fter all the acquamtancc and f.1m1hanty, wluch we tmagine we have w\th Matter, an~ the many .Q!!~lities Meo atTure themfelvcs they perceive and imoW·tn Bodtes, will It, perhaps, upon examination be found, that they have any more, or clearer, pnmary Ideas ~tlongrng to Body th•• they have ~elongrng to Sp~rit. ' §. 17. /he prima~y Ideas we have peculiar to Body, as contradiflingui· Jbed to Spmt, are the cohejion of [Oiid, and confeqyently feparable parts, an~ a power of communJCatrng M~twn by irnpu/ft. Thefe, I think, are the ongmal Idea~ proper and peculiar to Body: for Figure is but the confcquence of fimte Extenfion. . §. r8. I he Ideas we have belonging, and peculiar to Spirit, are lhinlzng,_ ••d Wzll, or a po\~er ofputtmg Body into motion by Thought, and, whtdltsco~fequeot to 1t, Liberty. for as Body cannot but communicate tts Mot1on by 1mpul~e, to another Body, which it meets with at refi; fo the M111d can put Bodtes 111to Motion, or fm bear to do fo, as it pi cafes. The Ideas of Ext.flence,Duration,and Mobility,aro common to them beth. §. 19. There IS no reafon why it fl10uld be thought firange, that I make Mo~zl!tY ~e!onz ~o Sptrit: For having no other Idea of Motion, but cha~ge of dtfia~c~, With other Beings, that are confidered as at refi ; and findmg that Spt~Its, as well as Bodies, cannot operate, but where chq are; and that Spmts do operate at feveral times, at feveral places I cannot but attnbute change of place to all finite Spirits: (for of the 'infinite Spmt, I fpeak not here.) For my Soul being a real Being, as well as my Dody, tscertamly as capable of dunging ot'di!l:ance with any other Body, or Bet~g, as Body it felf; and fo is capable of Motion. And if a Mathematician can confider a Certain difiance , or a change of that difiance between two Po111ts; one may certainly conceive a difiance and a change of dtfiance between two Spirits; and fo coilceive their M~tion, thetr approach, or removal, one from another §. 20. Every one fiads in himfelf, that hi; Soul can think, will, and operate on hiS Body, 111 the place where that is; but cannot operate on a Body, or m place, an hundred Miles d1flant from it. No body can imagine, Chap. XXIII. Our Ideas of Su.bffances. imagine, that his Soul can think, or move .a Bcx;lx at Oxf~rd, wb,i)Q he; at London; and cannot but know, ebat bemg uo(ted to his Body, it con~ fiantlychanges place all the whole J~urn~y, between Oxfordand London, ~sthe CQach, or Horfe,. Q~s that .carnes 11\m; aod1 I thipk, W'IY be faid to be truly all that whtle 111 monon: Or 1f that wtll t;10t be (\(\ow~ to afford us a clear Idea e~ough of Its motion, its be~ng leparated f~ow the' Body m death, I thtnk, Will: For to confider it, to go out of the Body~ ofirWieave 1t, and yet to have no Idea of its mo.tion, fecm~ to me imPQf. ' e. §. 21. If it be laid by any one, that it cannot change pl~ce, l?ecaufe it hath none, for Sptnts arc not m L"!'o, but VM; ~ f~ppofe that way oftl\1, kmg, wtll not now b~ of much we1gbt to many, in an .1\ge that is not !'luch dtfpofed to adirure,_ or fuffer themfelves to be deceived, by [>1c~ 1\I;J.IOtelh~• ble ways of fpeak1ng. But 1f any one tllin\{5 there i~ •nx fcnfe in, that dtfimchon, and apphcableto our prefent pyrpofe, I dofire him 10 p~£ it into i.ntelligible Englifi1; and then from thence draw a re,fon to fhew, that Spmts are not capable of Motion. . Indeed, t'liotion ca~not be attri·, l)u~ed to G 0 O, not hecau!e he1s a Spmt, but Qecaufe !1e i~ an Infinite. Spmt. §. u . Let us compare then our comp\eJC!tlea of Spirit, wirll our 'o~plex [dea of Body, and fee \~hether there be ~ny wore obf,ud~y i~ one, than m the other, and 10 wluch mQfi. Our Id~a Qf~ody, ~s I tpink, is an extended fohd Subfiance, cap:jb\e Qf commumcattng Mlltiop by impulfe: And our Ide~ of our Souls, i~ of a Subfial'l'e that thinks, and )1~~ i\ power of exciting Motion in Body, by Will, or Thought. l'hefe, ~ thin!r axe011r complex Ideas of Sou/and Body, 4S contradiflinguifhed:. aqd now le~ us examine which ha~mo!t obfcurity in it, and !liffi;:ulty to he apprebeQ·. <led. I know that People, whofe Thoughts are immerfed in Matter and h;lve fo fubjed:ed their Minds to their Senfes, that they feldo01 reflett on any thing beyond them, are apt to fay, they cannot comprej1enp a thinking thing, which, perhaps, is true: But I affirmhwhen they confider it well, they can no more comprehend an extended t in!l. §. 23. Ifa.ny one .fays, he knows not what'tisthinks in him; he means be knows not what the fubftanc~ is of that thinking thing: Np more, f~y I, knows he what tlw fubfiance IS of that fo!1d thmg. Farther, ifl1e fays !<e know~ not how he clunks; I anfwer, Nett her knows be lww he is ex~ nded; pow the folid parts of Body are united, or co!1ere rogerhcr 'to t;nake Extenfion. For though the pretTure of the Particles of ,Air, may ac<: ilUnt for the co!Jejio~ of fever a/ parts of Matter, that are grofli:r than tho l'anickspf Air, and have Pores. le~ :t10n the <;orpufcles of Air; yet the W~Jght, .or pretTure, of the Atr, '!VIII not expLtin 1 nor can he a caufl' of d1e coherence Qf the Particles of ~jr tlwmfelvcs. And if rhe pretTure of the .ftner, or any fubtiler J'1atter than the ,Air, may unirc, and hold {ilfr toge!h~r, the parts of a Particle of Atr , •~ )1'~11 as other )3odic< . yet \t Clnn~t make 13onds for it felt; ~nd hold rog~tbcr ~he p~r;s tl)at :Oake upev~ry the leaft cprpufcle of that materi•fohi/il. So that that Hypothells, how ingeniouny foever explained, by fl1ewing, that the parts of fenfiblcBoc)ies are held together, by the prell"ure of other external jnfenfible Bodies, rCjlcbcs not the par~s pf ~he ~her i~ felf; and by how much the more ~vjdent it proves, that the parts of other Bodies arc held togeth~ r. byth~ external pretTure of th~ ,fther; aijd can have no other conceiv~ 1:<1e caufc of tlll'ir cohefion and 11niol), by fo much tl)e mo.re it kaves us in d.ll' dark. con<;,erningthe coheljon of the p~ts of tOe Corpufc)es of the <fthcr it fe)f: )Vhich we can neithet cpnceivc wit4out parts, tllrY bc.ing · Bodies, |
