ESSAY VI. 405 that some where must be your body, because it acts upon your body; for no being can act upon any thing at a distance, accord- ing to the old maxim, Nihil agit in distans. Anew. It is time, I think, that this axiomor maxim should be now exploded by men of learning, since the philosophy of Sir Isaac Newton has prevailed in the world. We find in his system, the sun and the planets, which are at prodigious dis- tances, act upon each other by an attractive force, which is called the law of gravitation ; which force is incessantly influencing all parts of matter to act upon all other parts of matter in their proportions, be they never so distant. But what is this force of attraction or gravitation, but a powerful appointment of the Creator ? Now, if bodies can act upon each other, without con- tact or proximity of place, and that by the powerful and general volition or appointment of God, we may well allow spirits to act upon bodies, without any proximity to them, by the same divine appointment or volition. It is granted, that the soul, though it be supposed to have its chief residence in the brain, yet moves the limbs only mediatelt by nerves or strings which go from the brain to those limbs which are moved ; but it moves the origin or extremities of those nerves, or some spirituous parts about them, which are in the brain im- mediately by its will ; that is, when tite soul wills to move a limb, those nerves are first moved. Now I would enquire, does it move these extremities of nerves ever the easier for being placed near them? Not at all : for the soul of a ploughman knows themnot, and yet moves them as regularly and as well as a phi- losopher. None of our souls are conscious of these nerves, or the extremities of them, though your philosophy should place the soul never so close to them ; nor does its power of motion extend to any of the atoms or fibres which compose those nerves which are so near the soul, so as to be able to replace them, if discomposed ; and yet as soon as the soul wills to move the dis- tant limbs, according to the laws of animal nature, which God has ordained, these distant limbs obey and move, the soul being ignorant whether there are any such nerves or no, though it be supposed to reside among them, or close to them. You see then, this supposed situation or residence of the soul, in any part of the body whatsoever, attains no manner of advantage towards its putting those parts of the body into motion, nor towards its J et- ter knowledge of that part where you suppose it to reside, as shall be proved immediately. But at present I would endeavour to make this matter yet plainer concerning the soul's power, or rather impotence, to move bodies ; andto that end let me put this question, viz. whether a separate soul or spirit must be locally and actually spread through a whole mountain, and co-extended with it, if God cc 3
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