therefore naturally immortals 2 45

powers of matter , is (like chance) only aname for our ignorance, or at least for our

inat-

" different forts there are under each of these general** heads. Nay, every fly and infect must on this fup-“ position have some fort of immaterial foul, even down“ to the cheefe-mite; and what is yet more absurd is,

“ that there must be an infinite variety of immortalities“ imagined to suit the rank and condition of every in-“ dividual, living, sensible creature.” No certainly(fay I) not one species of immortality needs he ima-gined, but all left to the wisdom and power of the Crea-tor, who, as hath been observed before, doth not dis-dain to manifest the wonders of his knowledge and pow-er in the narrow bounds of these infect-bodies, nay, toactuate their surprizing mechanism continually. We arenot so much as certain of their immortality; for the im-materiality, from which it is here inferred, is not conclu-sive ; unless this Author strews how. And when he hathdone that, he will have done no harm to philosophy. Last-st, why is the absurdity so much heightened by differentspecies of immaterial fouls, more than by different species°f material bodies ? There is really no absurdity here butthis, that we chalk out a method for Omnipotence; andthen reckon every deviation from that method absurd :and so, if matter of fact did not convince us, we mightprove the existence of so many different species of ma-terial bodies impossible. What is here said to heightenthe absurdity, viz. that men must distinguish a great va-riety of immaterial fools both in nature and degree,for infects, fifties, birds and beasts, ought rather per-R 3 haps