The oracles of reason ... in several letters to Mr. Hobbs and other persons of eminent quality and learning / by Char. Blount, Esq., Mr. Gildon and others.

To the Right Honourable and most Ingenious Strephon, being a Discourse of Sir H. B's. De Anima.

Ludgate-hill, Febr. 8th 1679.

My Lord,

Nothing less than the Honour of your Com∣mands, could have inspired me with a Confidence sufficient to trouble your Lordship with this undigested heap of my Father's Thoughts concerning the Soul's acting, as it were, in a state of Ma∣trimony with the Body: But since it is your Lordship's pleasure, as also to have them in his own very words, I have here set them down accordingly, and shall plead only your Lordship's Fiat for my Pardon.

SPiritus in Nobis non manet in Identitate, sed rec••ns ingeritur per renovationem conti∣••••••m, sicut slamma, sed velociore transitu, quia ••word ••st spiritualior. Nos quotidie facti sumus 〈…〉〈…〉 ••••seunt in nos: morimur & renas∣〈…〉〈…〉, neque iidem hodie & heri su∣mus,

& personam quam transeuntem non senti∣mus, tandem pertransisse agnoscimas.

Nulla est rerum transitio in nos, nisi per viam alimenti; omne alimentnm respectu alimentandi est consimile & debilius: Alimentantis corpus succrescit nobis in corpus; spiritus in spiritum. Non tamen proportio utriusque fit nobis ad propor∣tionem Cibi & Potus, aut aeris nisi à nobis bene superantur; aliter etenim non alunt ingesta, sed opprimunt si fortiora sunt, corrumpunt si dissi∣milia, idque plus minusve pro gradu in utroque: Ideoque quo melius res procedat multa fieri opor∣tet: primum prudens electio & moderatio eorum, quae ingerenda sunt; & deinceps debita praepa∣ratio per artem, ut nobis similiora & debiliora fiant: ex parte Nostri praecipuum est exercitium ••requens sed modicum quo calor naturalis vi∣geat.

Credibile est homines prout in iis pollet spi∣ritus corpusve, alios melius in se convertere ali∣mentantium spiritum, alios corpus: ideoque in∣ter gulones & potores nonnulli minus stupidi red∣duntur quam alii, & nonuulli minus morboso & oppleto corpore evadunt quam alii: plaerumque tamen ingenio plus obest excessus in potu, quam in cibo; quia potus spirituosior est, corpus verò magis apprimitnr esculentis, quoniam ea ut magis corporea plus gravant.

Anima sapiens lumen siccum: corpus sanum temperies sicca & pervia: ideoque siccare sed deobstruere convenit: idque fit victi exercitio & aere idoneis sed parum sagaciter plaeraque

solum ut calida, frigida, humida vel sicca nota∣mus: in illis qualitatibus non est rerum energia: longe divinius magisque intrinsecum quiddam est in rebus, quo rei cardo vertitur quodque solum experientia & effectu agnoscitur: est Deus in rebus; est que omnia, & omnia agit: illius nam∣que infiniti corpus est omne & spiritus: ex eorum Vnione oritur creatura; quae etiam disperditur dissolutione istius Vnionis: cum autem omnia perpetuo sunt in motu de una conjectura in aliam, Mundi autem corpus & Spiritus aeterna sed no••as continuo conjuncturas ineunt; ideoqa•• nos crea∣turae sumus aeterni Dei apparitiones momentaneae, quas tantum terris ostendunt fata, nec ultra esse sinunt, veluti effigies in Auleis.

Dei opus sumus nos parentibus instrumentis; actionesque nostrae Dei sunt opera instrumentis nobis, sed per electionem nostram agentibus: ist a verò electio per aptas conjuncturas & Ideas adeo immissas invitatur & regitur.

Per Condensationem & Rarefactionem partes Mundi corporeae fiunt Spiritus, & spirituales siunt corpora: sicque aeternè retro aguntur omnia: Lumen Jovi, tenebrae Plutoni; Lumen Plutoni, tenebrae Jovi: ut Hippocrates habet; cum Microcosmus à Mundo trahit, vivit Micro∣c••smus: cum Mundus à Microcosmo trahit, de∣ficit Microcosmus.

These, my Lord, are only such twilight Conjectures as our human Reason (where∣of we yet so vainly boast) can furnish us with: this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or Divinum Aliquid, (as Hippocrates terms it) is that which does all things; but our Capacity not be∣ing able to discern it, makes us fasten either upon elementary Qualities, as Hippocrates and Galen do: or upon Geo∣metrical Proportions, as our modern Descartes doth; so that (indeed) all Philosophy, excepting Sceptism, is little more than Dotage. Pardon, I beseech you, this Boldness from

(My LORD)

Your Lordship's most faithful humble Servant, BLOUNT.