128 An Essay on the

of the body could never affect It thus ;That could Only limit its faculties fartWand farther , or deaden its activity, (Se$«IV. Vol. I.) but not animate it after sucha terrible manner. Hence there is no othc sway of accounting for its being affected ^this manner, but by the cause I have alrea-dy assigned; unless men would run up to thevery Firs Cause for effecting the present phe-nomenon. See the argument in N° 29.them chuse. Thus these material sensorie$*to which, in the opinion of some, we ov^the perfection of rational thinking, fubje$the soul to terrible accidents («.)

XXXIX. But

(n) Some things, only transiently hinted at in this Pa-ragraph, would carry one a great way in speaking intel-ligibly concerning the disorders our reason is subjected t0from some external cause-, but any man, who is notheadstrong in ascribing disproportionate effects to cer-tain , imaginary powers in matter and mechanism, tn»ffrom what is said, reason consistently concerning th 6several cases that might be objected, without sufferMhimself to be entangled with sceptical arguments. Ther eis indeed a great difference, and variety, in the feversphœmmma of reason disturbed ; but universally, the difiease could not be lodged in the soul itself; nor coul^the matter of the body affect it any other way than b/

deadeni^S