IMMEDIATE.--From what has been said,
it is plain that we cannot know the existence of other spirits
otherwise than by their operations, or the ideas by them excited
in us. I perceive several motions, changes, and combinations of ideas,
that inform me there are certain particular agents, like myself,
which accompany them and concur in their production. Hence, the
knowledge I have of other spirits is not immediate, as is the
knowledge of my ideas; but depending on the intervention of ideas, by me
referred to agents or spirits distinct from myself, as effects or
concomitant signs.

146. But, though there be some things which convince us human agents are
concerned in producing them; yet it is evident to every one that those
things which are called the Works of Nature, that is, the far greater
part of the ideas or sensations perceived by us, are not produced by, or
dependent on, the wills of men. There is therefore some other Spirit that
causes them; since it is repugnant that they should subsist by
themselves. See sect. 29. But, if we attentively consider the constant
regularity, order, and concatenation of natural things, the surprising
magnificence, beauty, and perfection of the larger, and the exquisite
contrivance of the smaller parts of creation, together with the exact
harmony and correspondence of the whole, but above all the
never-enough-admired laws of pain and pleasure, and the instincts or
natural inclinations, appetites, and passions of animals; I say if we
consider all these things, and at the same time attend to the meaning and
import of the attributes One, Eternal, Infinitely Wise, Good, and
Perfect, we shall clearly perceive that they belong to the aforesaid
Spirit, "who works all in all," and "by whom all things consist."

147. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD MORE EVIDENT THAN THAT OF MAN.--Hence,
it is evident that God is known as certainly and immediately as
any other mind or spirit whatsoever distinct from ourselves. We may
even assert that the existence of God is far more evidently perceived
than the existence of men; because the effects of nature are infinitely
more numerous and considerable than those ascribed to human agents. There
is not any one mark that denotes a man, or effect produced by him, which
does not more strongly evince the being of that Spirit who is the Author
of Nature. For, it is evident that in affecting other persons the will of
man has no other object than barely the motion of the limbs of