21. God immoveable, because infinite. If it be said by any one
that it cannot change place, because it hath none, for the spirits are
not in loco, but ubi; I suppose that way of talking will not now be of
much weight to many, in an age that is not much disposed to admire, or
suffer themselves to be deceived by such unintelligible ways of
speaking. But if any one thinks there is any sense in that
distinction, and that it is applicable to our present purpose, I
desire him to put it into intelligible English; and then from thence
draw a reason to show that immaterial spirits are not capable of
motion. Indeed motion cannot be attributed to God; not because he is
an immaterial, but because he is an infinite spirit.
22. Our complex idea of an immaterial spirit and our complex idea of
body compared. Let us compare, then, our complex idea of an immaterial
spirit with our complex idea of body, and see whether there be any
more obscurity in one than in the other, and in which most. Our idea
of body, as I think, is an extended solid substance, capable of
communicating motion by impulse: and our idea of soul, as an
immaterial spirit, is of a substance that thinks, and has a power of
exciting motion in body, by willing, or thought. These, I think, are
our complex ideas of soul and body, as contradistinguished; and now
let us examine which has most obscurity in it, and difficulty to be
apprehended.
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