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Show 3 1 6 Knowledge of the Exljlenci! rf a GOV. Book IV. ~. t 5. Suondly, If all Matter do not think, I next ask! Whether it be .nly o.e Atom that does fo? This has as many Abfurdmes as the other ; for then this Atom of Matter, mu!t be alone eternal, or not. If this alone be eternal, then this alone, by its powerful Thought, or Will, made all the reft of Matter. And fo we have the creation of Matter by a powerful Thought, which is that the Materiali!ts !tick at. For if they fuppofe one lingle thinking Atom, to have produced all the rc£1: of Matter, they cannot afcribe that Pre-eminency to it upon any other account, than that of its Thinking, the only fuppofed difference. But allow it to be by fame other way, which is above our conception, it mufl: be flill Creation; and thefe Men mufl give up their great Maxim, Ex nih i/o nil ./it. If it be faid, that all the re!t of Matter is equally eternal, as that thinking Atom, it will be to fay any thing at plcafure, though never fo abfurd: For to fuppofe all Matter eternal, arid yet one fmall particlein Knowkdge and Power infinitely above all the re!t, is without any thelca!l:appearance of Reafon to frame any Hypothelis : Every particle of Matter, as Matter, iscapableofall the fame Figures and Motions of any other; and I challenge any one in his Thoughts, to add any Thing elfe to one above another. §. 16. Thirdly, If then neither one peculiar Atom alone, can be this eternal thinking Being; nor all Matter, as Matter; i.e. every particle of Matter can be it, it only remains, that it is fome certai11 Syjlem of Matter duly puttogether, that is this thinking eternal Being. This is that which I imagine; is that Notion which Men are apte£1: to have of G 0 D, wh~ would have him a r:naterial Being, as molt readily fugge!ted ro them, by ~he ord1nary conccu: they have of themfelve~, and other Men, which they take to lie material thinking Beings. But tl\is Imagination, how<Ner more na~ral,is no lefs abfurd than tlJet1ther: Fo~ tofuppofe.rhe eterhal thinking' Bemg, to be notlung' cliO but a compofttton of Parttcles of Matter, eaclt whereof is incogitative, is to afcribe• all the Wifdom and Knowledge of that eternal Being, ·only to the ju.xta-polition of :parts; than which nothmg can be more abfurd .. For unthinking Particles of Matter, ho1~ever put togetber,can have nothmg thereby added to them,but 3 new relation of Pofltion,which'tisimpoflible lhould give thought and knowledge tothem. ~· ~·1· 'But farther~ tillS corporeal Syf!em e1ther has all its parts at re!t, or It lS a cet'tam motH~n of the pans wherein its Thinking conli!l:s. If it be perfcCl:ly at re£1:, It IS but one lump, and fo can have no privileges above one Atdm. · If it be the motion of its parts,. on which its Thinking depends, all. the Thoughts there mu!t be unavoidably acc1dental,and limitted ; fince all the ~rt~les that by Matton caufe Thought, being each of them in it felfwuhout any Thought, cannot regulate its own Motions much lefs be regulated by :he Thought ~f the whole; li1\ce that Thou'ght is not ~he caufe of.Mouon, (for then It mu!t be antecedent to it, and fo without It,) b•~t the confe9uen~e of It, wh~reby Freedom, Power, Choice, and all rational ~nd w1fe tlunkmg or acbng, will be 'lnite taken away : So that fuch a thmkmg Bemg, w11l be no better nor W1fer, than pure blind Mat• ter; Iince to refolve all mto the. accidental unguided motions of blind Matter, or mto ~hought dependmg on unguided motions of blind Matter, IS the fame tlung ; not to mentioo the narrownefs of fuch Thought~ and Knowledge, that mu!t tlepcnd on the motion of fuch parts. But there needs no enumeration of any more Abfurdities and Impoflibili· t1es m tlus Hypothefts, .Cho~vever full of them it be,) than that beforementioned; ~nee le~ th1~ thmkmg Sy!tem be all, or a .part of the Matter of the Umverfc, It lS lmJ>oflible that any one Particle, fhould either know Chap. X. Knowledge of the Bxijlence of a GOV. know its. own, or the motion of any other , Particle, or the Whole know the motton of every Particular ; and. fo regulate its own Thoughts or MotiOns, or mdeed have any Thought refultmg from iuch Motion. §.18. Others would have Matter to ~ eterna/,notwithflanding that t/1ey all?w aneternol,cogltatlve,tmm:itcrial Being.This, tho' it take nota way the Bemg of 3 God,yetlince It demes one and the firfi great piece of his Workmanflllp, the Creatlon,let us confider it a little. Mattermufl be allow'd eternal: Why!Becaufc you cannot conceive how it can be lnade out of nothing, why do you not alfo thmk your felf eternal r You will .anfwer, perhaps, Becaufe about twen.ty or forty years Iince, you began to be. But if J ask you,what that lou 1s, winch began to be,you can li:arce tell me. The Matter whereof you are made, began not then to be : for ifit did, then it IS not eternal : But 1t began to be put together in fuch a fafhion and frame, as makes up your Body; but yet that frame of Partides is t Y?u,it makes not that thi'nking Thing You are; ( for I have no~ to ndo ~o~:1th one,. who allows.an eternal, tmmaterial, thinking Being, but would have untlunkmg Matte~ eternal too;) therefore when did th'lt thinking Tlung be~m to be! If It d1d never begin to be , then have you always been a thmkmg Thmg from Etern.lty; th~ abfurdity whereof I need not confute, till I meet With one who IS fo vo1d of Underflanding as to own' Jt.. If therefore you can allow a thinking Thing, to be made' out of nothmg, (as all Things that are not eternal mufl be,) lvhy alfo can you not allow it pofiible, for a material Being to be made out of nothin~, by an equal Power, but that you have the expenence bf the one in v1ew and not of th~ other r ~hough, when well conlidered, Creation of o~e, as well as t other, reqUires an equal Power: And we have no more reafon td boggle at the .effeCt of that Power in one, than in the other ; becaufe the mann~r of It mboth, lS equally be~ond our comprchenlion. For the Creation, or begmmng of any one dung out of nothing being once ad~ mitred, the Creation of every thing elfe, but the cag-ATOR Himfelf.· may, with' the fame eafe, be fuppofed. · • ' 9. 19. But.you will fay, Is it not impoflible to admit of the maki~g At(j thrngout o(11othmg, linccwecannotpofliblyconceiveit? I anfwer, No: I· Becaufe It IS not reafonablc to deny the power of an infinite Being, becn. ufe we cann~r comprehend its Operations. We do not deny other effeCl:s upon th1s ground,. becaufe we cannot pofiibly conceive their Pro· ducl:Jon, we cannot concc1ve how Thought (or any thing but motion in Body~ can move BoJy: and yet that IS not a Heafon fufficient to make us deny It poflible, agam£1: the conflant Experience we have of it in our felves, in all our voluntary Motions which are produced in us only by the free Thoughts of our own Minds; and are not, nor can~ot be thl'! cfieCl:s of the impulfe or determination of the motion of blind Matter, in or upon our Bod1es; for then 1t could not be in our power or choice tO' alter it. For example: My right Hand writes, whil(l my left Hand isfiill: What caufes refi in o~e, and motion in the other! ~othing but my Will, a Thought of my Mmd ; my Thought ·only choni;\lilg, the right Hand refl~ and the left Hand moves. This is matter of taCl:, which cannot be demed: Explain this,and make it intelligible, and then the next fiep will be to underfiand Creation. In rl1e mean time , 'tis an overvaluing our felves, to tc'tluce all to the narrow meafure of our Capacities; and to conclude, all dungs 1mpofiible to be done, whofe manner of doing exceeds our Comprohenfioh. This is to make our Comprehenfion infinite, or G 0 D fimte; when what he can do, is limitted to what we can con• CCIVe4lf lt. If you do not under!l:and the Operations of your own finite Mind, 3'17 ;7• ·• |