Bulk and Selvage of the World, Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
THe next to this, is the Room that the World takes up; which body-haunter of roomthineſs, that we may rightlieſt know, we ſhall do by it as we did by laſtingneſs; (time and Room being fellows,) which as we brought for that end before Gods Everlaſtingneſs, ſo we ſhall ſearch what this will be, as it ſtands towards Gods All-fillingneſs.
As then the abiding of the World from firſt to laſt, was nothing but a now to Gods everbeingneſs, ſo the bulk of the World from leaſt to greateſt, will, I think, fall out to be but a cleavleſs thing to his All-fillingneſs: For as Gods Eternity is not endleſs longſomneſs, ſo neither is his Immenſity unbounded outſtretchedneſs; but as his everneſs is all at once without before and after, ſo his unmeetſomneſs is altogether, without here and there: and ſo ſtill, as the Worlds abiding being long, makes no length in his Everlaſtingneſs, but 'tis yet as to that all at once, ſo its bulk being wide, makes no wideneſs in his All-fillingneſs, but 'tis nevertheleſs, as to that, altogether: For, 'tis as impoſſible that God ſhould be in Room, which is one of the hangers on to Body, as that he ſhould be in Time, which is another. When therefore we ſay that God is every where, it muſt have the ſame reſpect to Place, that his being paſt, at hand, and to come, has to Time. As then God does as truly abide, after the way of his everlaſting nowneſs, as other things do after the guiſe of their timeſom running on and on, without being himſelf timeſom, like them: So God is as truly every where, after wayes becoming his altogetherneſs, as other things are by the way of their bulkineſs, without being himſelf extended, like to them. And as to thoſe other ſtainings of the word as 'tis given to Body, we are wholly to forewarn them in this buſineſs; for whereneſs is a word, which though the Schools have markt for another thing than locality, yet betokens too much ex analogiâ nostri, and, as 'tis often made to ſpeak, is almoſt quite embrew'd in Body if not altogether, our ſouls in the meaning of it, can hardly be ſaid to be any where; and I believe, if we were all Ghoſt, and nothing elſe in the world were Body, we ſhould not readily know what to do with it, or ever well reach the meaning of it; for ſo much does it hang to motion, which I think is altogether befaſted to Body, that 'tis thought by thoſe that can beſt brook the word, that a thing may move from one whereneſs to another, as eaſily as Body may from one place to another. Although I can frame in my mind as eaſily as others, that ten thouſand Angels as well as one, may be altogether on a needles point, (they being all throwfareſom alike), yet it would crack my brain to find ſo many wherneſſes there, to ſtow each of them in. Had there never been any bodies, but only ſouls, made, I cannot yet think there would ever have been ſuch a queſtion, as where are your thoughts? they being only ſaid there to have a whereneſs where bodies have a room.
Thus a Mathematical point or Geometrical figure are no where, good and evil are no where, this Treatiſe, before written here, was no where; yet it as truly was before the writing, (and ſo the others before the doing,) as 'tis now, whilſt written; the words are only here, the meaning's by them ſet forth, as much no where as before: ſo true is it, that whatever is, is ſomewhere, is untrue.
Now everywhereneſs, which is the word by which we ſet out Gods All-fillingneſs, ſounding as if it were a gathering together of all the rooms that may be taken up in the World, or in unbounded boak without the World, ſeems no more fit to mete out Gods Immenſity by, than a chain of the nows of Time are, by which to mete out Gods Eternity; the one ſpeaking as much diviſion, as the other does ſucceſſion. When therefore we ſay that God is every where, we muſt mean that he is not ſo ſomewhere, as not to be elſewhere; and that there is nothing there, but all things here to his unmeteſomneſs, as there is nothing paſt or to come, but all now to his everlaſtingneſs.
A thing is only there, to me, in behalf of my being here, and not there; for when I am there, the thing is clothed with hereneſs: ſo becauſe God cannot be now here and not there, or now there and not here, 'tis clear that the thereneſs or hereneſs was nothing belonging unto God, but grounded in the things here or there; for in cloſe ſpeaking whilſt God is every where, he cannot be there, becauſe there would be here to him, we are then ſpeaking of two things, by ſome ſuch words as are bounded by one of them. And indeed whereneſs is a word of ſo much narrowneſs, that it does not reach the All of thoſe things which it moſt cleaves to, that is, of bodies: foraſmuch as it may rightly be ſaid the whole world is no where; for becauſe we can't ſtep out of the world and becken it or point to it, as there; nor while we are in it, ſay, 'tis here, becauſe 'tis as much there or yonder as here; nor can we ſay 'tis every where, 'tis as much too little for that as too big for the other, and God alone is, or can be ſo; it muſt then be remarkably no where, if ſo be, that which is neither to be ſhown here nor there, nor to be underſtood every where, be aſſignably no where.
What we gather hence, is not that the words are not to be uſed, or that 'tis blameworthy in them that ſpeak ſo, but only that we remember when we do, that ſuch words don't anſwer the thing ſpoken of ſo as they do bodies, though we muſt not forſake them, only becauſe we cannot frame others that will come nearer; though they be not the beſt that were to be wiſht, they are for ought is known, as good as any we can come at. Thus, if I ſay I love ſuch a thing at my heart, I do not mean you ſhould underſtand me as if my love were ſeated any where in the middle belly, as my heart is; if you rend out my heart 'tis not to be found there, becauſe it was a thing rooted in my manhood, not placed in my body: ſo do but unſtring my ſoul and body, though you leave my heart in the ſame place, the thing is gone, and ſo gone as to be no where elſe too; and yet I cannot ſpeak plainer Engliſh, nor be better underſtood.
And this way of ſpeaking has ſo good footing, that in the Book of books it ſelf, we find not only the ſame oftentimes, but even a ſtep beyond it ſometimes; whilſt not only the things of body are given to things not body, but even bodyhood it ſelf is. Thus we read of the body of ſin, and the limbs of it, or members upon earth, as uncleanneſs and worldly-mindedneſs; which nevertheleſs are ſuch moral beings, whoſe kind of exiſtence is not a being any where in the world, but according to, or ſwerving from a Law, which when they do they only are, and when they do not are not, vvhichwhich fills up the whole of their Being, without any further being any vvhere.
Our ſouls are indeed ſo far ting'd with body, that as 'tis hard for us to think hovv there ſhould be an abiding ſo unlike to ours, as we are creatures, as not to be lengthned out after the rate that vve are; ſo 'tis hard to think there ſhould be a vvhereneſs ſo unlike to ours, as we are creatures vvith body, as not to be boakt out after the vvay that vve are. Time not being vvrought out into any outvvard ſhape or roomthineſs, vvherevvith to ſmite the ſenſe, vve can more eaſily think it ſvvallovved up in Gods Everlaſtingneſs, in vvhichwhich vve alſo frame nothing of ſhape or bulk, than to have the vvorlds vvhole throng of hard, vvide, and off-ſtanding bodies, ingulfed in ſuch an immenſity as has nothing at all of bulkineſs in it.
Whereas now, vve ought to mend this thought, by remembring that the things that are hard, ſoft, vvide, off, ſtirr'd, and ſuch like, are only ſo among themſelves; as all things touching ſenſes, are only ſo to thoſe that have them: ſo that vvere all ſeeing things ſightleſs, there vvould be no colours nor ſhovvs; all hearers deaf, no ſounds nor dins; all feelers numb, nothing handleſom; all taſtleſs, nothing reliſhing; all unſmelling, nothing ſcented.
Beſides, were they all Ghoſt who are now body and ghoſt, there would be to them nothing impenetrable, or that could not be drill…d through, nothing hard, ſoft, bulkie or ſtirr'd; as there are no ſuch things now either to God, Angels or Devils, how ſtrong ſoever it may be rooted in our minds, that a thick, hard, ſtirr'd Being is ſo in it ſelf, as well as to ſome other Beings.
To cloſe up this, we are to witt, that thoſe things that we get knowledge of by the help of our ſenſes, we know by ways more off from their kindly draughts or ideas, than thoſe we take in, by the workings of reaſon upon experiments wiſely made, and remarks heedfully laid: Thus the knowledge of heat that we have from the feeling of it, is far more off from the right knowledge of it, or ſuch as may likelieſt become God, than the notion of it according to the great Lord Bacon, in his forma calidi; inaſmuch as body, and the cleavers to it, are further off from the God-like nature, than the ſoul is, and its ways of working are.
Senſe has ſo much to do in the miſ-ſhewing or diſguiſing of things to us, that if there be but a great or little change in us, 'tis all one as if there were ſuch in them. Were we but ſo long clear of body, as to furniſh an idea or draught of all the laws of doing, ways, and powers of the Beings, to be ſet awork in the framing of a Watch, ſuch as we may beſt think a Ghoſt has; and upon embodying again ſhould find it of ſome hiew and bulk, with ſuch and ſuch motions, hard, cold, dry, ſmooth or rough, and the like; hear it beat, ſmell to it, and the like; the thing, though the ſame, would ſurely ſeem much another thing to us, thus chang'd at home: Or did we but ſo take in things with the naked eye only, as we do by the ſundry ground glaſſes, or Teleſcopes, Microſcopes, Multiplying-glaſſes, Priſms, or through died glaſſes, the late Empty Tubes, through the hollow of the hand, upon a piece of Perſpective, we muſt then hold, that which is now no bigger than a mite, to be as big as a ſpider; what is far off, to be at hand; what of one colour, to be of another; what is flat, to be hollow; what is one, to be two or ten; eſpecially if helpt on by ſuch a ſenſe of feeling as we have, when, laying one finger upon another, we roll a pea upon a board; and ſuch an hearing by ſome inward ſleight, as in an eccho, by an hollow without: ſo that we muſt needs then reckon the world another thing from what 'tis, and as rightly too as we reckon it otherwiſe now, inaſmuch as we go upon the very ſame grounds.
Nor does reaſon miſtake only when it builds upon ſenſe, but when it deals too with thoſe liſts and cravings that keep the lower houſe of the ſoul. Thus ſhe that is the darling of the Lovers heart, be ſhe what ſhe will, is the beſt in nature; the more he loves, the better ſhe is and does, and, as long as the fire burns, holds on to be and do: but as ſoon as ever it begins to be winter with the heat, 'tis ſpring with the faults, and as the one grows on to cold, the other grows up to great: and all this, not becauſe ſhe is another ſhe, but becauſe the love is another love. Now if we may be thus benighted in our petty likes and diſlikes, notwithſtanding we have the light of reaſon to ſhine within, and the whole World beſides to ſet us right without, who are we that we ſhould take upon us to ſay, This wide World is that very ſame thing that ſenſe ſayes 'tis?
And further, to beget warineſs about ſenſe; we may find that as 'tis too low and ſcant to give us the marks of Ghoſt, or becauſe its tools or organs are ſluggiſh, and, taking up room, can bring home no errands of moments or atoms, it asking time and place, it ſeems, for the doing every thing in, that it does: So on the other ſide, the ſoul is too high bred to give us any rational accounts of the awarings of ſenſe, as heat, cold, wetneſs, dryneſs, hardneſs, ſoftneſs; which had never been known by us, if we had only had that reaſon which makes us men, and not thoſe ſenſes that make us animals or earthly feelers.
Thoſe things we feel, we don't know, nor can we by the ſenſe we have of them, give another to know, unleſs we could alſo make another to feel them as we do: So that a blind man may talk as knowingly of colours, and be as well underſtood, as one that can ſee; for that which I talk of colour is quite another thing than that which I ſee. A world of men have ſeen colours ſince the beginning, but, for ought we know, no man could ever yet tell another what they were; till to the brightning of our Iſland, our happy wonder of ingenuity, and beſt broacher of new light, Mr. Iſa. Newton, hit upon the thing that 'tis indeed: and now we do know (which no man would ever have gheſſed before,) that white is a medly mingling of beams differently breaking or refrangible; we ſee it no better than we did before. I remember that I once asked a blind man, who had been ſo from his Infant-baptiſm (the ſame water that God in goodneſs allotted to waſh away ſin, hapning through cold and careleſneſs to waſh away his eye-ſight,) what kind of thing he thought whiteneſs to be? he anſwered warily, That ſure it muſt be a bright lightſom colour: and what blackneſs was? he ſaid, That muſt be a dark colour; which two took in all that he had to ſay of colours, and that little too was utter'd from the glimmerings of ſight in him; he having ſo much of the Moles eye, that if he held his face to the South and lookt up, he would ſay whether it were day or night. And if all our eyes had been of that make, we ſhould have known no more than thoſe two, nor no more of them neither. And what we do feel of them as we are, ſets ſo cloſe to us as we are ſuch or ſuch, that whatever wants the tools that we have ſhall never feel the things that we feel, the things being wholly begotten between the organ and the object, the tool and that it works upon. Now God having no ſuch bodily organs by which to take in things ſecundum habitudines noſtri, and ſuch an have-likeneſs being as needful on the behalf of the organ and object both, for the begetting of a ſenſation or feeling, as the make of ſuch a ſcrew is, to wind in to ſuch another, or the mutual fitneſſes and yernings of kind are, to the begetting of the like in thoſe that do ſo, 'tis clear he can no more be brought down to do the one, than to that other. So that, that which to us is World (ſeen or unſeen,) to him is Being, life, might, ſpringſomneſs, ſelf-entwining, law of doing, ſeed, teemingneſs, and ſuch like. Thus day and night, light and darkneſs, are both alike to him; 1000 years as one day, 1000 years to come as yeſterday when it is paſt, paſt and to come as now, impenetrable or unthroughfareſom as penetrable, body as emptineſs, hot, cold, wet, dry, hard, ſoft, cleaveſom, and the like nothing at all (no more than they would be to our own ſouls out of the body), heaven and earth not far and wide aſunder (nor to our own thoughts that can be now in heaven and the next now on earth); laſtly, all bodiſhip, with thoſe its belongers which make it ſenſible unto us, coming not at all into that idea that God Almighty frames of them, any more than his idea of them comes into our feeling; and his idea or likeneſs of them being nearer to that analogy they would bear to us were we all ghoſt, inaſmuch as he is ſo; it follows that there are no ſuch things as we may think belonging to extended bodies, ſundred from our gheſſes at them ſecundum analogiam hominis, or the buſineſs they have to do one with another ſecundum analogiam ſui; bodies being one thing to us and themſelves, another thing to God and Ghoſt. So the wide, thick, all-to-be deckt heap of viſible beings may be ſwallowed up in the altogetherneſs of Gods All-fillingneſs, as well as the long chain of ages from the worlds firſt to its laſt, in the only one now of his Everlaſtingneſs.
And this ends the ſecond Head, wherein we were to ſhew, How the Worlds vaſtneſs behaves it ſelf towards Gods Immenſity. In both which, having ſeen what the Worlds laſtingneſs and roomth is, as it concerns that boundleſs Being which is neither timeſom nor roomthy, and vvhat its bulk is to the ſame being as immenſe, & to thoſe ghoſtly beings vvhichwhich though they are in time are not yet in any room; where 'tis found, that time has no length but as it looks to timeſom beings, nor has bulk vvideneſs or thickneſs but as it ſtands to body: we have perhaps open'd a fair gap, for the better knovving vvhat the World is unto our ſelves, vvho as vve are men and made up of ghoſt and body both, are even a part of it, and take up time and room in it.