A26976:166
Of the immortality of mans soul, and the nature of it and other spirits.…
Of the immortality of mans soul, and the nature of it and other spirits. Two discourses, one in a letter to an unknown doubter, the other in a reply to Dr. Henry Moore's Animadversions on a private letter to him, which he published in his second edition of Mr. Joseph Glanvil's Sadducismus triumphatus, or, History of apparitions by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for B. Simons, 1682
OF THE NATURE OF SPIRITS: › Section 20-21: Ad SECT. XX. XXI.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
To your question, Is it material or immaterial?] I still answer, material is a word of larger or narrower sense, ambiguous: I know that it hath the aforesaid Actions: And by them I know that it hath the Power so to act: and by both I know it is a substance capable of such power & Acts: And I know that the substance is invisible in se, but seen in its Effects. And my brain is too dark to be confident of more: Let him that knoweth more boast of it.
§ 3. You say [A material Fire distinct from the flame of a Candle, or Fire-stick, or red hot Iron, there is no more ground for, ⟨p. 71⟩than material Water distinct from Wells, Rivers, Seas, &c.]
Ans. Do you not take Cartesius materia subtilis, if not globuli aetherei, to be invisible, & not always appearing in Candles or Fire-sticks? If a Soul may be a sensitive and intellective Substance, and yet not be always feeling or understanding, why may there not be Fire where it shineth not. It seemeth you take not the illuminated Air to be Ignite, because it is not a Candle or Fire-stick: I doubt not but Fire is a Substance permeant and existent in all mixed Bodies on Earth; & in ipsa tellure; in Minerals; in your Blood it is the prime part of that called the Spirits, which are nothing but the Igneous Principle in a pure aerial Vehicle, and is the Organ of the Sensitive Faculties of the Soul: And if the Soul carry away any Vehicle with it, it's like to be some of this. I doubt you take the same thing to be the Spirit of the world, while you seem to vilify it.
Ans. Do you not take Cartesius materia subtilis, if not globuli aetherei, to be invisible, & not alwaies appearing in Candles or Fire-sticks? If a Soul may be a sensitive and intellective Substance, and yet not be alwaies feeling or understanding, why may there not be Fire where it shineth not. It seemeth you take not the illuminated Air to be Ignite, because it is not a Candle or Fire-stick: I doubt not but Fire is a Substance permeant and existent in all mixt Bodies on Earth; & in ipsa tellure; in Minerals; in your Blood it is the prime part of that called the Spirits, which are nothing but the Igneous Principle in a pure aerial Vehicle, and is the Organ of the Sensitive Faculties of the Soul: And if the Soul carry away any Vehicle with it, it's like to be some of this. I doubt you take the same thing to be the Spirit of the world, while you seem to vilifie it.