That the 



go ATREATISE 



which it is impoflible'fliould proceed from a body, it is evident, 

 that in him there is feme other thing befides that one which we 

 fee : and confcquently we may conclude, that fee is compofed of 

 a body and of fome what elfe that is not a body : which fomerehat 

 tlfe y being the fpring from whence thofc? actions flow, that are of 

 a different ftraine from them that are derived from the body,tnuft 

 neceflarily be a fpirituallfubftance. 



- 1 But whiles we arc examining, how far our prefent confielera- 



i nai the foulc tions, and fhort difcourfes may carry us, as it were expcrimen- 

 dothfubfiftofit tally to confirme this truth, we muft not omit what Avicenna'm 

 felfe indepsn- |jj s b 00 k J) e Anim* & Almahad, and Monficur dcs Cartes in his 

 Me hod, doe prefle upon the fame occafion. Thus they fay, or to 

 like purpofe : If I caft with my (cite, who I am that walk, or 

 fpeak,or think, or order any thing; my reafon will anfwer me, 

 that although my legs or tongue were gone, and that I could no 

 longer walk or fpeak, yet were not 1 gone, and I ftiould know & 

 fee with my underftanding, that I were ftill the very fame thin^, 

 the fame Ego as before. The fame as of my tongue or legs, would 

 reafon tell me of my eyes 5 my eares,my faielling, tafting, and fee- 

 ling, eythcr all of them together ,or every one of them fingle,that 

 were they all gone,ftill fliould 1 resiaine : As when in a dreame, 

 ( where I ufe none of allthefe) I both am, and knew my felfe to 

 be. Reafon will tell me alfo, that although I were not nouri&ed, 

 fo I were not wafted, (which for the drift of the argument may 

 be fuppofedj yet ftill I fhould continue in being. Whence it 

 would appeare,that my heart, liver, lungs, kidney s,ftomach, 

 mouth,and what other parts of me foever, that ferve for the nou- 

 rifament of my body,might be fevered from me,and yet I remain 

 what I am. Nay , if all the beautif ull and ayrie fantafmes, which 

 fly about fo nimbly in our brain,be nothing elfe but fignes unto in 

 our foule,of what it is without us it is evident, that though pcr- 

 adventnre fhe would not without their fcrvice, excrcife that 

 which by errour we mif-nanae Thinking; yet the very lamefbulc 

 and thinker mightbe withoutthem all : and confequently, with- 

 out braine alfo feeing that our braine is but the play-houfe and 

 fcene,where all thefe faery masks are acted : fo that in conclufion 

 Reafon aflureth us,that when all body is abftracted in us,there ftil 

 remaineth a fuftancc,a thinker, an Eg9 s or 7, that in it felfe is no 

 whit diminifhed,by1}cing(as I may fay)ftrippcd out of the cafe it 

 wasinclofcdin. And 



