An Antidote Against Atheism/Book I/Chapter IV
Chap. IV.
1. What Notions are more particularly comprised in the Idea of a Being absolutely Perfect. 2. That the difficulty of framing the conception of a thing ought to be no Argument against the Existence thereof; the nature of corporeall Matter being so perplex' d and intricate, which yet all men acknowledge to exist. 3. That the Idea of a Spirit is as easy a Notion as of any other Substance whatsoever. what powers and properties are contained in the Notion of a Spirit. 4. That Eternity and Infinity, if God were not, would be cast upon something else; so that Atheism cannot free the Mind from such Intricacies. 5. Goodness, Knowledge and Power, Notions of highest Perfection, and therefore necessarily included in the Idea of a Being absolutely Perfect. 6. As also Necessity, it sounding greater Perfection then Contingency.
1. But now to lay out more particularly the Perfections comprehended in this Notion of a Being absolutely and fully Perfect, I think I may securely nominate these; Self-subsistency, Immateriality, Infinity as well of Duration as Essence, Immensity of Goodnesse, Omnisciency, Omnipotency, and Necessity of Existence. Let this therefore be the Description of a Being absolutely Perfect, That it is a Spirit, Eternall, Infinite in Essence and Goodnesse, Omniscient, Omnipotent, and of it self necessarily existent. All which Attributes being Attributes of the highest Perfection that falls under the apprehension of man, and having no discoverable imperfection interwoven with them, must of necessity be attributed to that which we conceive absolutely and fully Perfect. And if any one will say that this is but to dress up a Notion out of my own fancy, which I would afterwards slily insinuate to be the Notion of a God; I answer, that no man can discourse and reason of any thing without recourse to settled Notions deciphered in his own Mind: and that such an Exception as this implies the most contradictious Absurdities imaginable, to wit, as if a man should reason from something that never entered into his Mind, or that is utterly out of the ken of his own Faculties. But such groundless allegations as these discover nothing but an unwillingness to find themselves able to entertain any conception of God, and a heavy propension to sink down into an utter oblivion of him, and to become as stupid and senseless in Divine things as the very Beasts.
2. But others, it maybe, will not look on this Notion as contemptible for the easy composure thereof out of familiar conceptions which the Mind of man ordinarily figures it self into, but reject it rather out of some unintelligible hard terms in it, such as Spirit, Eternall, and Infinite; for they do profess they can frame no Notion of Spirit, and that any thing should be Eternall or Infinite they do not know how to set their mind in a posture to apprehend, and therefore some would have no such thing as a Spirit in the world.
But if the difficulty of framing a conception of a thing must take away the Existence of the thing it self, there will be no such thing as a Body lest in the world, and then will all be Spirit, or nothing. For who can frame so safe a notion of a Body, as to free himself from the intanglements than the Extension thereof will bring along with it? For this extended Matter consists of either indivisible points, or of particles divisible in infinitum. Take which of these two you will, (and you can find no third) you will be wound into the most notorious Absurdities that may be. For if you say it consists of points, from this position I can necessarily demonstrate, that every Spear or Spire-Steeple, or what long body you will, is as thick as it is long; that the tallest Cedar is not so high as the lowest Mushrome; and that the Moon and the Earth are so near one another, that the thickness of your hand will not goe betwixt; that Rounds and Squares are all one Figure; that Even and Odde Numbers are Equall one with another; and that the clearest Day is as dark as the blackest Night, And if you make choice of the other Member of the Disjunction, your Fancy will be little better at ease; for nothing can be divisible into parts it has not: therefore if a Body be divisible into infinite parts, it has infinite extended parts: and if it has an infinite number of extended parts, it cannot be but a hard mysterie to the Imagination of Man, that infinite extended parts should not amount to one whole infinite Extension. And thus a grain of Mustard-seed would be as well infinitely extended as the whole Matter of the Universe, and a thousandth part of that grain as well as the grain it self. Which things are more unconceivable then any thing in the Notion of a Spirit. Therefore we are not scornfully and contemptuously to reject any Notion, for seeming at first to be clouded and obscured with some difficulties and intricacies of conception; sith that of whose being we seem most assured, is the most intangled and perplex'd in the conceiving, of any thing that can be propounded to the apprehension of a Man. But here you will reply, that our Senses are struck by so manifest impressions from the Matter, that though the nature of it be difficult to conceive, yet the Existence is palpable to us by what it acts upon us. Why then, all that I desire is this, that when you shall be re-minded of some Actions and Operations that arrive to the notice of your Sense or Understanding, which, unless we do violence to our Faculties, we can never attribute to Matter or Body, that then you would not be so nice and averse from the admitting of such a Substance as is called a Spirit, though you fancy some difficulty in the conceiving thereof.
3. But for mine own part, I think the nature of a Spirit is as conceivable and easy to be defined as the nature of any thing else. For as for the very Essence or bare Substance of any thing whatsoever, he is a very Novice in speculation that does not acknowledge that utterly unknowable; but for the Essentiall and Inseparable Properties, they are as intelligible and explicable in a Spirit as in any other Subject whatever. As for example, I conceive the intire Idea of a Spirit in generall, or at least of all finite created and subordinate Spirits, to consist of these several powers or properties, viz. Self-penetration, Self-motion, Self-contraction and Dilatation, and Indivisibility; and there are those that I reckon more absolute; I will adde also what has relation to another, and that is the power of Penetrating, Moving, and Altering the Matter. These Properties and Powers put together make up the Notion and Idea of a Spirit, whereby it is plainly distinguished from a Body, whose parts cannot penetrate one another, is not Self-moveable, nor can contract nor dilate it self, is divisible and separable one part from another; but the parts of a Spirit can be no more separated, though they be dilated, then you can cut off the Rayes of the Sun by a pair of Scissors made of pellucid Crystall. And this will serve for the settling of the Notion of a Sprit; the proof of its Existence belongs not unto this place. And out of this Description it is plain that a Spirit is a notion of more Perfection then a Body, and therefore the more fit to be an Attribute of what is absolutely Perfect then a Body is.
4. But now for the other two hard terms of Eternall and Infinite, if any one would excuse himself from assenting to the Notion of a God by reason of the Incomprehensiblenesse of those Attributes, let him consider, that he shall whether he will or no be forced to acknowledge something Eternall, either God or the world, and the Intricacy is alike in either. And though he would shuffle off the trouble of apprehending an Infinite Deity, yet he will never extricate himself out of the intanglements of an Infinite Space; which Notion will stick as closely to his Soul as her power of Imagination.
5. Now that Goodnesse, Knowledge and Power, which are the three following Attributes, are Attributes of Perfection, if a man consult his own Faculties, it will be undoubtedly concluded; and I know nothing else he can consult with. At least this will be returned as infallibly true, That a Being absolutely Perfect has these, or what supereminently contains these. And that Knowledge or something like it is in God, is manifest, because without Animadversion in some sense or other it is impossible to be Happy. But that a Being should be absolutely Perfect, and yet not Happy, is as impossible. But Knowledge without Goodness is but dry Subtilty or mischievous Craft; and Goodness with Knowledge devoid of Power is but lame and ineffectuall. Wherefore whatever is absolutely Perfect is Infinitely both Good, Wise and Powerfull.
6. And lastly, it is more Perfection that all this be Stable, Immutable and Necessary, then Contingent or but Possible. Therefore the Idea of a Being absolutely Perfect represents to our mindes, That that of which it is the Idea is necessarily to exist: and that which of its own nature doth necessarily exist, must never fail to be. And whether the Atheist will call this absolute Perfect Being God or not, it is all one; I list not to contend about words. But I think any man else at the first sight will say that we have found out the true Idea of God.