Chapter XXX: Madam,

In your last, you were pleased to express, that some men, who think themselves wise, did laugh in a scornful manner at my opinion, when I say that every Creature hath life and knowledg, sense and reason; counting it not onely ridiculous, but absurd; and asking, whether you did or could believe, a piece of wood, metal, or stone, had as much sense as a beast, or as much reason as a man, having neither brain, blood, heart, nor flesh; nor such organs, passages, parts, nor shapes as animals? To which, I answer: That it is not any of these mentioned things that makes life and knowledg, but life and knowledg is the cause of them, which life and knowledg is animate matter, and is in all parts of all Creatures: and to make it more plain and perspicuous, humane sense and reason may perceive, that wood, stone, or metal, acts as wisely as an animal: As for example; Rhubarb, or the like drugs, will act very wisely in Purging; and Antimony, or the like, will act very wisely in Vomiting; and Opium will act very wisely in Sleeping; also Quicksilver or Mercury will act very wisely, as those that have the French disease can best witness: likewise the Loadstone acts very wisely, as Mariners or Navigators will tell you: Also Wine made of Fruit, and Ale of Malt, and distilled Aqua-vitæ will act very subtilly; ask the Drunkards, and they can inform you; Thus Infinite examples may be given, and yet man says, all Vegetables and Minerals are insensible and irrational, as also the Planets and Elements; when as yet the Planets move very orderly and wisely, and the Elements are more active, nay, more subtil and searching then any of the animal Creatures; witness Fire, Air, and Water: As for the Earth, she brings forth her fruit, if the other Elements do not cause abortives, in due season; and yet man believes, Vegetables, Minerals, and Elements, are dead, dull, senseless, and irrational Creatures, because they have not such shapes, parts, nor passages as Animals, nor such exterior and local motions as Animals have: but Man doth not consider the various, intricate and obscure ways of Nature, unknown to any particular Creature; for what our senses are not capable to know, our reason is apt to deny. Truly, in my opinion, Man is more irrational then any of those Creatures, when he believes that all knowledg is not onely confined to one sort of Creatures, but to one part of one particular Creature, as the head, or brain of man; for who can in reason think, that there is no other sensitive and rational knowledg in Infinite Matter, but what is onely in Man, or animal Creatures? It is a very simple and weak conclusion to say, Other Creatures have no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no tongues to taste, no noses to smell, as animals have; wherefore they have no sense or sensitive knowledg; or because they have no head, nor brain as Man hath, therefore they have no reason, nor rational knowledg at all: for sense and reason, and consequently sensitive and rational knowledg, extends further then to be bound to the animal eye, ear, nose, tongue, head, or brain; but as these organs are onely in one kind of Natures Creatures, as Animals, in which organs the sensitive corporeal motions make the perception of exterior objects, so there may be infinite other kinds of passages or organs in other Creatures unknown to Man, which Creatures may have their sense and reason, that is, sensitive and rational knowledg, each according to the nature of its figure; for as it is absurd to say, that all Creatures in Nature are Animals, so it is absurd to confine sense and reason onely to Animals; or to say, that all other Creatures, if they have sense and reason, life and knowledg, it must be the same as is in Animals: I confess, it is of the same degree, that is, of the same animate part of matter, but the motions of life and knowledg work so differently and variously in every kind and sort, nay, in every particular Creature, that no single Creature can find them out: But, in my opinion, not any Creature is without life and knowledg, which life and knowledg is made by the self-moving part of matter, that is, by the sensitive and rational corporeal motions; and as it is no consequence, that all Creatures must be alike in their exterior shapes, figures, and motions, because they are all produced out of one and the same matter, so neither doth it follow, that all Creatures must have the same interior motions, natures, and proprieties, and so consequently the same life and knowledg, because all life and knowledg is made by the same degree of matter, to wit, the animate. Wherefore though every kind or sort of Creatures has different perceptions, yet they are not less knowing; for Vegetables, Minerals, and Elements, may have as numerous, and as various perceptions as Animals, and they may be as different from animal perceptions as their kinds are; but a different perception is not therefore no perception: Neither is it the animal organs that make perception, nor the animal shape that makes life, but the motions of life make them. But some may say, it is Irreligious to believe any Creature has rational knowledg but Man. Surely, _Madam_, the God of Nature, in my opinion, will be adored by all Creatures, and adoration cannot be without sense and knowledg. Wherefore it is not probable, that onely Man, and no Creature else, is capable to adore and worship the Infinite and Omnipotent God, who is the God of Nature, and of all Creatures: I should rather think it irreligious to confine sense and reason onely to Man, and to say, that no Creature adores and worships God, but Man; which, in my judgment, argues a great pride, self-conceit, and presumption. And thus, _Madam_, having declared my opinion plainly concerning this subject, I will detain you no longer at this present, but rest,

Madam,

_Your constant Friend_

_and faithful Servant._