12. Of finite spirits there are probably numberless species, in a continuous series or gradation.
It is not impossible
to conceive, nor repugnant to reason, that there may be many species of spirits, as much separated and diversified
one from another by distinct properties whereof we have no ideas, as the species of sensible things are
distinguished one from another by qualities which we know and observe in them. That there should be more
species of intelligent creatures above us, than there are of sensible and material below us, is probable to me from
hence: that in all the visible corporeal world, we see no chasms or gaps. All quite down from us the descent is by
easy steps, and a continued series of things, that in each remove differ very little one from the other. There are
fishes that have wings, and are not strangers to the airy region: and there are some birds that are inhabitants of the
water, whose blood is cold as fishes, and their flesh so like in taste that the scrupulous are allowed them on
fish-days. There are animals so near of kin both to birds and beasts that they are in the middle between both:
amphibious animals link the terrestrial and aquatic together; seals live at land and sea, and porpoises have the
warm blood and entrails of a hog; not to mention what is confidently reported of mermaids, or sea-men. There are
some brutes that seem to have as much knowledge and reason as some that are called men: and the animal and
vegetable kingdoms are so nearly joined, that, if you will take the lowest of one and the highest of the other, there
will scarce be perceived any great difference between them: and so on, till we come to the lowest and the most
inorganical parts of matter, we shall find everywhere that the several species are linked together, and differ but in
almost insensible degrees. And when we consider the infinite power and wisdom of the Maker, we have reason to
think that it is suitable to the magnificent harmony of the universe, and the great design and infinite goodness of
the Architect, that the species of creatures should also, by gentle degrees, ascend upward from us toward his
infinite perfection, as we see they gradually descend from us downwards: which if it be probable, we have reason
then to be persuaded that there are far more species of creatures above us than there are beneath; we being, in
degrees of perfection, much more remote from the infinite being of GOD than we are from the lowest state of
being, and that which approaches nearest to nothing. And yet of all those distinct species, for the reasons above
said, we have no clear distinct ideas.