Extension of Bodies in Relation to the Testimony of our Eyes let us imagine that God had created a Heaven and an Earth of a Portion of Matter as little as a Hand Ball and Men upon this Earth in the same Proportions with those in our Great World These little Men would see one another and the parts of their own Bodies as also the little Animals which would be capable of incommoding them or else their Eyes would be useless as to their Preservation Upon this Supposition it is Evident that these little Men would have Idea's as to the bigness of Bodies very different from those that we have of them since they would have Relation to their Little World which tho' as a Ball in respect of ours they would look upon as surrounded with infinite Spaces such as we imagine about ours Or if it may more easily be conceiv'd let us suppose that God had made a World infinitely greater than ours so that this New World should be in respect of ours as ours was in comparison of that which we suppos'd before Let us also suppose that God had observ'd the same Proportion in all the Parts of this New World as he had done in ours It 's manifest that the Men of this last World would be greater than is the Space betwixt our Earth and the most distant Stars that we see this being suppos'd if they had the same Idea of the Extension of Bodies as we have they could not distinguish even some parts of their own Body and would see some others of prodigious greatness So that 't is ridiculous to think that they would see things of the same bigness as we see them 'T is evident from these two Suppositions that the Men of the Great or Little World would have very different Notions about the greatness of Bodies to what we have supposing only that their Eyes gave them Idea's of the Objects that were about them proportionably in bigness to their own Bodies Now if these Men were much assur'd upon the Testimony of their own Eyes that Bodies were as big as they saw them it 's evident they would be deceiv'd and no body can doubt of it yet it 's certain they would have full as much reason as we to defend their Opinion let us therefore at least by the Example of this Error apprehend our selves to be very uncertain of the greatness of those Bodies that we see and that all we can know by sight is the proportion that they have to our Bodies In a word that our Eyes are not given us to Judge of the Truth of things but only to discern those things that may either Profit or Injure us But Men do not only trust their Eyes in Judging of Visible but also of Invisible Objects they even conclude that nothing exists which they see not thus arrogating to their Sight a certain infinite perspicacity 'T is this which hinders them from knowing the true Causes of many Natural Effects If they attribute them to certain Faculties and imaginary Qualities the common Reason is because they do not see the real ones which consist in the different Configurations of these Bodies For Example They see not the Particles of Air and Flame much less those of Light or of other Matter yet more Subtile and this inclines them to believe they do not exist or at least to judge they have neither Power nor Action they have recourse to occult Qualities or imaginary Faculties to explain all the effects whereof these imperceptible Particles are the Natural Cause They choose rather to have recourse to the Horrour of a Vacuum for explaining the Elevation of the Water in Pumps than to the Weight of the Air to the Qualities of the Moon for the Flux and Reflux of the Sea than to the pressure of the Air which environs the Earth to attractive Faculties in the Sun for the Elevation of Vapours than to the Simple Motion or Impulsion caus'd by the parts of Subtile Matter which are continually dispers'd by the Sun They look upon that as an Impertinent Opinion which has recourse to Flesh and Blood to solve the Motions of Animals their Habits or the Corporeal Memory of Man which is owning in part to this that they conceive the Brain to be very little and consequently insufficient to conserve the traces of an almost infinite number of things which are there they are willing to believe tho' they know not how to conceive it that Beasts have a certain Soul which is neither Body nor Mind as also that there are Qualities and Intentional Species to solve the Habits and Memory of Men and such other like things of which they have no particular Notion in their Minds It would take up too much time to enumerate the Errors which this prejudice begets in us almost all the Errors in Physicks are owing to it and whoever attentively considers it will be amaz'd thereat Altho' I 'm unwilling to insist much upon this head yet I can't but take notice of the Contempt which Men commonly have for Insects and other little Animals which are generated as they say out of Corrupted Matter this is an unjust Contempt which is founded only upon the Ignorance of the thing despis'd and the prejudices already mention'd There is nothing Contemptible in Nature all the Works of God are worthy our respect and admiration especially if we consider the admirable ways by which God makes and preserves them The least Flies are as perfect Animals as the biggest Creatures the proportion of their Members is as Just as those of the others and it even seems that God has given them more Ornaments to recompence the littleness of their Bodies they have Crowns Helmets and other Curiosities on their Heads which outdo the most Luxuriant Fancies of Men and I may confidently aver that they who have never seen any thing but with their naked Eye have never beheld any thing so fine so exact and even so magnificent in the Houses of the greatest Princes as what we discover with Microscopes upon the Head of a silly Fly It 's true these things are very small but yet the more surprizing because there are so many Beauties crouded in so small a Space and altho' they are very common yet they are not the less valuable nor less perfect in themselves on the contrary the Wisdom of God is more apparent who hath with so much Magnificence and Profusion perform'd almost an infinite number of Miracles in Creating them Nevertheless our Sight reaches not these Beauties but makes us despise the Works of God so worthy our admiration and because these Animals are little in comparison of our Bodies it makes us consider them as absolutely little and contemptible because of their smâ—llness as if Bodies could be little in themselves Let us then endeavour to distrust the Impressions of our Senses in Judging about the bigness of Bodies and when we say for Example that a Bird is little let us not absolutely
nothing yet the difficulty is not solv'd by this Subterfuge For we ought to consider that it is not more difficult to produce something out of nothing than to produce one thing out of another which cannot at all contribute to its Production For example it is not more difficult to Create an Angel than to produce him from a Stone because a Stone being of another sort of Being wholly different it cannot in the least be useful to the Production of an Angel But it may contribute to the Production of Bread Gold c. for a Stone Gold and Bread are but the same thing differently configur'd and are all Material It is even more difficult to produce an Angel of a Stone than to pronuce him out of nothing because to make an Angel out of a Stone so far as it can be done the Stone must be annihilated and afterwards the Angel Created But simply to Create an Angel nothing is to be annihilated If therefore the Mind produces its Idea's from the material Impressions which the Brain receives from Objects it must always do the same thing or a thing as difficult or even more difficult than if it Created them since Idea's being Spiritual they cannot be produc'd of material Images which have no proportion with them But if it be said that an Idea is not a Substance I consent to it yet it is always something that is Spiritual and as it is impossible to make a Square of a Spirit although a Square be not a Substance so it is also impossible to Form a Material Substance from a Spiritual Idea although an Idea was no Substance But although we should grant to the Mind of Man a Soveraign Power to Annihilate and Create the Idea's of things yet it would never make use of that Power to produce them for even as a Painter how skilful soever he be could not represent an Animal which he had never seen and of which he never had any Idea So that the Picture which he should make should be like to this unknown Animal Thus a Man cannot form the Idea of an Object if he knew it not before that is if he has not already had some Idea of it which does not depend upon his Will and if he already had an Idea of it he certainly knows this Object and it would be unnecessary for him to Form it anew It is therefore in vain to attribute to the Mind of Man the Power of producing his Idea's It might be said perhaps that the Mind of Man hath general and confused Idea's which it does not produce and that those which it produces are particular more clear and distinct but it is always the same thing For even as a Painter cannot draw the Picture of a particular Person so as to be sure that he hath perfected it if he had had no distinct Idea of him and even if the Person had not been present Thus the Mind for example which could only have the Idea of a Being or an Animal in general could not represent to its self a Horse nor Form a distinct Idea of one and be assured that it is perfectly like a Horse if it had not already the first Idea with which it might compare this second Now if it had a first it is unuseful to Form a second and the Question respects this first Therefore c. It 's true that when we conceive a Square by pure Intellection we can also imagin it that is perceive it in our selves by tracing an Image of it in the Brain yet it must be first observ'd that we are not the true nor principal Cause of this Image But it will be too long to explain it here Secondly So far is the second Idea which accompanies this Image from being more distinct and more exact than the other that on the contrary it is not so Exact because it resembles the first which was only a pattern for the second For indeed we must not believe that the Imagination and Senses represent Objects more distinctly to us than the pure Understanding but only that they apply them more to the Mind for the Idea's of the Senses and Imagination are not distinct but only so far as they are conformable to the pure Intellection The Image of a Square for example which the Imagination Traces in the Brain is not exact and perfect but only so far as it resembles the Idea of the Square which we conceive by pure Intellection It is this Idea which regulates this Image 't is the Mind which Conducts the Imagination and which Obliges it if we may so say to behold from time to time whether the Image it Paints be a Figure of four right and equal Lines whose Angles are alike In a word whether what it Imagins is like to what it Conceives After what has been said Tanto meliora esse judico qua oculis cerno quanto pro sui natura viciniora sunt iisquae animointelligo Aug. 63. de Vera Religione I do not believe it can be doubted but those are deceived who affirm the Mind is able to Form the Idea's of Objects since they attribute the Power of Creation to the Mind and even of Creating with Wisdom and Order although it has no knowledge of what it does for that is not Conceivable But the cause of their Error is that Men always Judge that a thing is the Cause of some Effect when both are joined together supposing the true Cause of this Effect be unknown to them That makes all the World conclude that a Bowl put in Motion and meeting another is the true and principal Cause of the Motion that it communicates to it as the Will of the Soul is the true and principal Cause of the Motion of the Arm and other the like prejudices because it always happens that a Bowl is shaken when it is met by another that runs against it As our Arms are moved almost always when we Will and we do not see any other apparent Cause of this Motion But when an Effect does not so often follow something which is not the Cause of it there is nevertheless a great many Men who believe this thing is the Cause of the Effect which happens yet every Body is not guilty of the same Error For instance if a Comet appears and after this Comet a Prince Dies Some Stones lie exposed to the Moon and they are eaten with Worms The Sun is joined with Mars at the Nativity of a Child and something extraordinary happens to this Child All this is enough to perswade a great many Men that the Comet the Moon and the Conjunction of the Sun with Mars are the Causes of these Effects and others like them and the reason why all the World does not believe it is that they do not always see these Effects follow these Causes But all Men having commonly the Idea's of Objects present to their Minds as soon as they wish it and it happening many
Infallibility without any present Pretensions to it We ought not to imagine any great Toyl in an Enquiry after Truth 't is but opening our Eyes becoming attentive and exactly observing the * Book VI. following Rules Exactness of Thought has not that Trouble and Slavery in it that the Imagination represents Nay though we should meet some little Uneasiness at first yet the attending Satisfaction will abundantly recompence our Pains for in fine 't is that which produces Light and discovers Truth But to spend no more time in preparing the Reader 's mind to a Search after Truth which we are willing to believe is already sufficiently dispos'd thereto let us examine the Causes and Nature of our Errors And since the Method of examining things in their Original is more regular and clear and helps us to a deeper Knowledge of them than any other Process let us Essay to put it in practice here The Mind of Man having nothing of Matter or Extension in it I. Of the Nature and Properties of the Understanding is undoubtedly a simple and indivisible Substance and without any Composition of parts yet it has been usual to make a distinction of two Faculties in it Vnderstanding and Will which we shall soon explain for it seems the Notions or Idea's that Men have of them are not so clear and distinct as they ought to be But because these Idea's are very abstract and not the proper Objects of the Imagination perhaps it will not be amiss to express them by their Relation to those Properties which are agreeable to Matter which being easie to be imagin'd will render the Notions which 't is fit to apply to these Expressions Vnderstanding and Will more distinct and familiar to us We must only take heed to remember that these Relations betwixt Mind and Matter are not truly adequate and that the Comparison of these different kinds of Beings serve only to make the Mind more attentive and as it were sensible of the Subject we Discourse upon Matter or Extension includes in it two Properties Receptibility of different Figures and Capability of Motion even so the Mind of Man has two Faculties Vnderstanding which is receptible of different Idea's and Will which is capable of different Inclinations or of willing different things We shall explain in order the Relation that the first Property of Matter has to the first Faculty of the Mind Extension is capable of receiving two sorts of Figures External as Roundness in a piece of Wax Internal as that which is proper to all the Particles whereof the Wax is compos'd for 't is certain that all the Particles which make up a piece of Wax are very different in Shape from those which compose a piece of Iron I call then for distinction sake that simply a Figure which is External and that Configuration which is Internal and which is necessary to all the Particles whereof the Wax is compos'd so as to be what it is Thus also the Idea's of the Soul are of two Sorts taking the name Idea in general for every thing that the Mind immediately perceives the first represents something without us as that of a Square a House c. the second that which passes within us as Sensation whether of Grief Pleasure c. And we shall see hereafter that these last Idea's are nothing else but a Manner of the Mind's Existence and therefore I shall call them the Modifications of the Mind We might also call the Inclinations of the Soul the Modifications thereof For 't is evident that the Inclination of the Will is a Manner of the Souls Existence and therefore it might be call'd the Modification of Soul as motion in Bodies being a Manner of their Existence might be call'd a Modification of Matter However I neither call the Inclinations of the Will nor Motions of Matter Modifications since these Inclinations and these Motions have ordinarily relation to something External for the Inclinations have relation to Good and Motions have relation to some External Body But the Figures and Configurations of Bodies and the Sensations of the Soul have no necessary relation to any thing without For even as a Figure is round when all the External parts of a Body are equally distant from the Center without any relation to things External so all the Sensations of which we are capable could subsist if there were no Object without us their Existence includes no necessary relation to Bodies which seem to cause them as shall be proved elsewhere and they are nothing else but the Soul modified after such or such a manner so that they are properly the Modifications of the Soul I shall then take the Liberty to call them so to explain my self The first and principal agreement betwixt that Property that matter has of reserving different Figures and different Configurations and that Faculty which the Soul has of receiving different Idea's and different Modifications is this even as the Property of receiving different Figures and different Configurations is entirely passive and includes no action so also the Faculty of receiving different Idea's and different Modifications in the Mind is entirely passive and includes no action I call this Faculty or Capacity which the Soul has of receiving all things VNDERSTANDING Whence we must conclude that 't is the Vnderstanding which perceives since there is nothing else that receives the Idea's of Objects for 't is the same thing for the Soul to perceive an Object as to receive the Idea which represents it 'T is also the Understanding which perceives the Modifications of the Soul for I mean by the word Vnderstanding that passive Faculty of the Soul by which it receives all the different Modifications whereof it is capable For 't is the same thing to the Soul to receive that manner of Existence which is call'd Pain as to perceive Pain since it can receive Pain no other way but by perceiving it whence we must conclude that 't is the Understanding which imagines absent Objects and perceives those that are present and that the Sense and Imagination are only the Understanding perceiving Objects by the Organs of the Body as shall be explain'd hereafter Because when Men feel Pain or any thing else they perceive it ordinarily by the means of the Organs of Sense they commonly say that 't is the Senses which perceive it without knowing distinctly what they mean by the Term Sense they fancy there 's some Faculty distinct from the Soul which makes it of the Body capable of feeling for they believe the Organs of Sense do really participate of our perceptions They imagine that the Body does so far assist the Mind to perceive that if the Mind was separated from the Body it could perceive nothing at all But these thoughts are the effects of Prejudice and of judging according to our present State of Life in which we perceive nothing without the Help of the Organs of Sense as shall be explain'd more at
occasionally deceive us fince they are able to incline us to precipitate and rash Assents Now since 't is necessary first to convince the Soul of its Weakness and Errors to create in it just desires of being delivered from them and that it may more easily lay aside its Prejudices we shall endeavour to make an exact Division of all its Modes of Perception which will be as so many Heads to every one of which we shall hereafter refer the different Errors we are subject to The Soul can perceive things three ways by the pure Vnderstanding by the Imagination and by the Senses It perceives by the pure Understanding Spiritual and Universal Things common Notions the Idea of Perfection and of an Infinitely perfect Being and generally all its Thoughts when it knows them by Self-reflection It also perceives some Material Things by the pure Understanding as Extension with its Properties for 't is only the pure Understanding which can perceive a Circle a perfect Square a Figure with a thousand Angles and such like things These kinds of Perceptions I call pure Intellections or pure Perceptions because 't is not necessary for the Mind to form Corporeal Images in the Brain to represent all those things The Soul perceives only Material Things by the Imagination which represents them when absent as if they were present by forming Images of them in the Brain 'T is thus that we imagine all sorts of Figures as a Circle a Triangle a Face a Horse Cities Campaignes c. whether we have ever seen them or not These sorts of Perceptions I call Imaginations because the Soul represents these things by forming Images of them in the Brain and because we cannot form Images of Spiritual Things it follows that the Soul cannot imagine them which ought to be well observed In fine the Soul only perceives sensible and gross Objects by the Senses which when present make an Impression upon the External Organs of its Body Thus it sees Plains and Rocks when presented to its Eyes and feels the hardness of Iron the point of a Sword and such like things and these sorts of Perceptions I call Sentiments or Sensations The Soul then only perceives things after these three ways which is evident if we consider that all things we perceive are either Spiritual or Material if they are Spiritual 't is only the pure Vnderstanding which can know them but if they are Material they will be either present or absent if they are absent the Soul perceives them only by the Imagination if present by the Impression which they make upon its Senses and thus as we said before our Souls only perceive things after three ways by the pure Vnderstanding by the Imagination and by the Senses We may then look upon these three Faculties as certain Heads to which we may refer Mens Errors and the Causes of these Errors and so avoid the Confusion wherein their great number would infallibly involve us if we should speak of 'em without any Method But our Inclinations and Passions act also very strongly upon us they dazle our Minds by their false lights they cover and fill it with darkness Thus our Inclinations and Passions engage us in an infinite number of Errors when we follow this false light which they produce in us We must then consider them with the three Faculties of the Mind as the Sources of our Errors and Miscarriages and to the Errors of the Senses Imagination and pure Vnderstanding also join these that may be attributed to the Passions and Natural Inclinations Thus we may refer all the Errors of Men and the Causes of these Errors to Five Heads of which we shall Treat as follows First we shall speak of the Errors of the Senses secondly of the Errors of the Imagination thirdly of the Errors of the pure Vnderstanding fourthly of the Errors of the Inclinations fifthly of the Errors of the Passions In fine after having essayed to free the Mind from these Errors to which it is subject we shall give a General Method to conduct it in a Search after Truth Let us first Explain the Errors of our Senses or rather the Errors which we fall into for want of making a right Use of our Senses We shall not insist so much upon particular Errors which are almost infinite as upon the General Causes of these Errors and of such things as we believe necessary for the Knowledge of the Nature of Mans Mind CHAP V. OF THE SENSES I. Two ways of Explaining how they are corrupted by Sin II. That 't is not our Senses but our Liberty which is the true Cause of our Errors III. A Rule not to be deceiv'd in the Vse of our Senses WHen we seriously Examine the Senses and Passions of Man we find 'em so proportion'd to the end for which they are given us that we are not of their Opinion who say they are wholly corrupted by Original Sin But to shew that 't is not without Reason that we dissent from them 't is necessary to explain in what Order the Faculties and Passions of our first Parent were whilst in a State of Righteousness and the Changes and Disorders which happen'd in them after his Sin These things may be conceiv'd two ways the first of which is this It appears Two ways of Explaining the Corruption of the Senses by Sin if we consider the Genuine Order of things that the Soul is sensible of greater pleasure proportionably to the greatness of the Goods which it enjoys Pleasure is an Instinct of Nature or to speak more intelligibly 't is an Impression of God himself inclining us towards some Good which must be so much the stronger as the Good is greater According to this Principle I think we cannot doubt but that our first Parent coming out of the Hands of God and before his Sin found the greatest pleasure in the most solid Goods Since therefore he was Created to Love God and since God was his true Good it may said that he was inclined to delight in God who induc'd him to his Love by a Sensation of Pleasure and gave him such Internal Satisfactions in his Duty as counterbalanc'd the greatest Pleasures of Sense and such as since the Fall Men are insensible of without a particular Grace Nevertheless as he had a Body which God would have him preserve and look upon as part of himself he also made him perceive such Pleasures by his Senses as we taste in the use of things that are proper for the Preservation of Life We dare not decide whether the first Man before his Fall could avoid agreeable or disagreeable Sensations in the very moment that the Principal part of his Brain was mov'd by the Actual use of Sensible Things perhaps he had this Command over himself because of his Submission to God yet the contrary appears more probable for tho' Adam could stay the Emotions of the Spirits and Blood and the Shaking of the Brain which Objects excited in
as Judges because that by their Meditation they have acquir'd to themselves such a Right of judging of the Merit or Demerit of the Cause that it cannot but in Justice be submitted to them CHAP. XX. The Conclusion of this first Book I. That our Senses are only given us for our Bodys II. That we must doubt of their Testimony III. That it is not an inconsiderable thing to doubt as we ought to do WE have in my Opinion I. That our Senses are only given us for the preservation of our Body sufficiently discover'd the General Errors into which our Senses betray us both in respect of their proper Objects as also of those things which are not perceiv'd but by the Understanding I believe there is no Error we are subject to upon their occasion whose Cause may not be discover'd in some of those things which have been already mention'd if they be well examin'd We have also seen that our Senses are very faithful and exact to Instruct in the Relations which all Bodies that are about us have to one another but that they are incapable of informing us what Bodies are in themselves that a right use of them tends only to the Preservation of our Health and Life that we cannot sufficiently despise them when they arrogate Dominion over the Mind This is the thief thing which I wish may be well remembred in all this first Book viz. That we conceive well that our Senses are only given us for the preservation of our Body that we six this Thought in our Mind and that to be deliver'd from the Ignorance we are now involv'd in we seek for other assistances besides those which our Senses afford â—s But if there are some Persons as certainly there will be too many who are not perswaded of there last Propositions from what I have here advanc'd II. We must distrust the Testimony of our Senses I would at least desire this of them That they would only learn a little to distrust their Senses and if they will not wholly reject their Testimony as false and deceitful that they will not refuse to doubt of it And indeed it appears to me that enough has been said to create at least some scruple in the Mind of reasonable Persons and consequently to excite them to make use of their Liberty otherwise than they have yet done For if they begin to doubt whether the Testimony of their Senses are true they will more easily refrain their assent and so keep themselves out of those Errors unto which they have hitherto been subject Especially if they well remember that Rule in the beginning of this Treatise Never to give an entire assent but to things intirely evident and to which they cannot refrain consenting without knowing certainâ— that they should make an ill use of their Liberty if they did not consent Besides III. Thâ—â— it is not an inconsiderable thing to doubt as one ought to do let no one imagine that he has made but a small advancement if he has only learn'd to doubt To doubt with Judgment and Reason is not so small a thing as People imagine for here it may be said that there 's a great difference betwixt doubting and doubting we doubt through Passion and Brutality through Blindness and Malice and lastly through Fancy and only because we would doubt But we doubt also with Prudence and Caution with Wisdom and Penetration of Mind Academics and Atheists doubt upon the first grounds true Philosophers on the second The first doubt is a doubt of darkness which does not conduct us into light but always removes us from it The second doubt is begot of Light and assists us in some manner to produce it in its proper place Those who doubt only after the first manner do not apprehend what it is to doubt with Judgment they laugh at what Defeartes teaches us about doubting in the first of his Metaphysical Meditations because it appears to them that he would only have them doubt out of fancy that he would only have them say in general that our Nature is infirm our Mind is full of blindness that we must take great care to deface these prejudices and other like things It is not sufficient to say the Mind is weak we must be sensible of its weaknesses It is not enough to say it is subject to Error we must discover in what our Errors consist This is what I believe has been begun in this first Book by explaining the Nature and Errors of our Senses I shall in the second prosecute the same design by explaining the Nature and Errors of our Imagination The End of the first Book A SEARCH AFTER TRUTH BOOK II. Of the Imagination The First Part. CHAP. I. I. A general Idea of the Imagination II. That it includes two faculties the one Active and the other Passive III. The general Cause of the changes which happen to the Imagination of Man and the design of this second Book IN the preceeding Book we have treated of the Senses and have endeavoured to explain their Nature precisely observing what use ought to be made of them We have discovered the chief and most general Errors which they make us subject to and have attempted so to limit their power that we may expect much and fear nothing from them if they are always kept within these limits we have prescribed In this second Book we shall treat of the Imagination Natural Order obliging us to it for there being so great a Relation between the Senses and the Imagination we ought not to separate them It will afterwards appear that these two Powers differ amongst themselves only as to more or lest This is the order we shall observe in this following Treatise It is divided into three Parts In the first we shall explain the Physical Causes of the disorder and Errors of the Imagination In the second we shall make some application of these Causes to the most general Errors of the Imagination and shall also speak of what may be call'd the Moral Causes of these Errors In the third we shall speak of the contagious Communication of strong Imaginations If the generality of those things that are contain'd in this Treatise are not so New as what has been already said in explaining the Errors of the Senses they will not however be of less use Thinking Persons are sensible enough both of the Errors and even of the Causes of the Errors whereof I treat but very few make a sufficient reflexion thereon I pretend not to instruct all the World 't is the Ignorant I wou'd teach and only inform others or rather I endeavour here both to instruct and inform my self We have said in the first Book I. A general Idea of the Imagination that the Organs of our Senses were composed of little Fibres which on one side terminate in the outward parts of the body and skin and on the other at the middle of the Brain Now these
to speak meerly for Talkings sake like many that speak boldly of every thing that comes next 'em they are therefore concern'd to find out Words proper to express as they ought to do their thoughts which are not common Though we have a great Veneration for Persons of Piety Divines Old Men and generally for all those who have justly acquir'd great Authority over other Men nevertheless we thought our selves oblig'd to say this of 'em it often happens that they believe themselves infallible because all other Men hearken to 'em with Respect because they make little use of their Reason in the discovery of Speculative Truths and for that they condemn with too much freedom whatever they dislike before they have seriously consider'd it Not that they are to be blam'd for not applying themselves to many Sciences of little use for they are allow'd both to let 'em alone and to despise them if they think convenient but they are not to judge of 'em rashly as their fancies lead 'em nor upon ill grounded suspitions For they are to consider that the Gravity of their Delivery the Authority which they have acquir'd over the Minds of Men and their common custom of confirming what they say by some Passage of the Holy Scripture will infallibly lead into Error all those that listen to 'em out of Respect and who being incapable throughly to examine things suffer themselves to be surpriz'd by Manners and Appearances When Error hath the appearance of Truth it is oftimes more respected than Truth it self and this false Respect is attended with dangerous Inconveniencies Pessima res est errorum Apotheosis pro peste intellectus habenda est si vanis accedat veneratio Thus when certain Persons either out of false Zeal or out of a Love for their own thoughts have made use of Scripture to establish false Principles of Natural Philosophy or any other Science they have oft been listen'd to as Oracles by Men that have believ'd 'em upon their Words because of that Veneration which they owe to Sacred Authority but it has likewise happen'd so that Vicious and Corrupted Minds have hence taken an occasion to despise Religion So that by a strange Inversion the Holy Scripture has been the Cause of Error to some and Truth has been the Motive and Original of Impiety to others We ought therefore to be careful as the Author above cited well observes how we seek for dead things among the living and never to pretend by the strength of our own Wits to discover in Sacred Scripture what the Holy Ghost hath not thought fit to reveal Ex divinorum humanorum malesana admixtione continues he non solum educitur Philosophia Phantastica sed etiam Religio Haretica Itaque salutare admodum est si mente solâ—ia fidei cantum deatur quae fidel sunt All Persons then who have Authority over others ought to be so much the more cautions in their Decisions by how much they find 'em to be most adher'd to Divines especially ought to take care how they being Religion into contempt through their false Zeal out of vain glory either to exalt themselves or disseminate their Opinions But because it is not for me to tell 'em their Duty let 'em bear St. Thomas Opuse 9. who being interrogated by his General what he thought of some Articles answered him out of St. Austin in the following manner Multum autem nocet alia que ad pietatis Doctrinam non speclant vel asscrere vel negate quasi pâ—â—tinentia ad sacram doctrinam Dicit enim in 5. Confâ—ss cum audio Christianum aliquem fratrem ista quae Philosophi le caeâ—â— aut stellis de Solis Lunae motibus dixerunt nescientem aliud pro alio sentientem patienter intucor opinantem hominem nec illi obesse video cum de te Domine Creator omnium nostrorum non credat indigna si forte sitûs habitûs Creaturae Corporalis ignoret Obest autem si haec ad ipsam doctrinam Pietatis pertinere arbitretur pertinacius affirmare audeat quod ignorat Quod autem obsit manifestat August in 1. super Genesin ad Litteram Turpe est inquit nimis perniciosum ac maxime cavendum ut Christianum de his rebus veluti secundum Christianas literas loquentem ita delicare quilibet Infidelis audeat ut quemadmodum dicitur toto Coelo errare conspiciens risum tenere vix possit Et non tamen Molestum est quod errans homo videatur Sed quod Auditores nostri ab eis qui foris sunt talia sensisse creduntur cum magno eorum Exitio de quorum salute satagimus tanquam indocti reprehenduntur respumtur Vnde mihi videtur tutius esse ut haec que communes Philosophi senserunt nostrae Fidei non repugnant neque esse sic asserenda ut dogmata Fidei licet aliquando sub nomine Philosophorum introducantur neque sic esse neganda tanquam Fidei contraria ne Sapientibus hujus Mundi contemnendi Doctrinam Fidei occasio praebeatur It 's very dangerous to speak decisively upon Matters which do not belong to Faith as if they did St. Austin tells us in his 5th Book of Confessions When I see says he a Christian that is not acquainted with the Opinions of Philosophers concerning the Heavens the Stars and the Motions of the Sun and Moon and would take one thing for an other I let 'em alone in these Opinions and Doubts For I don't see that Ignorance in the situation of Bodies the different ordering of Matter can injure 'em provided he has not unworthy Sentiments of thee our Lord who art the Creator of us all But it does him an Injury if he is persuaded that these things concern Religion and if he is so bold as obstinately to affirm what he knows not The same Saint explains his Thoughts yet more clearly upon this Subject in the first Book of the Literal Explication of Genesis in these Terms A Christian must take a great deal of Care that he does not speak of these Things as if they were Holy Scripture for an Infidel who should hear him speak Extravigances that should have no appearances of Truth could not forbear laughing at him so the Christian is only Confounded and the Infidel would be very little Edified Yet what is more mischievous in these Encounters than a Man's being deceiv'd is that these Infidels that we endeavour to Convert imagine falsely and to their inevitable ruine that our Authors have very extravigant Sentiments so that they condemn and despise 'em as ignorant Men it is therefore in my Opinion more proper not to affirm the common receiv'd Opinions of Philosophers as Matters of Faith which are not contrary to our Faith although we may sometimes make use of the Authority of Philosophers to make 'em be receiv'd We must not also reject these Opinions as contrary to our Faith that we may give no occasion
among Men not only in what concerns the Nature of the Mind but in every thing else For since there is an Essential Difference between Knowing and Doubting if the Academics speak what they think when they assure us they know nothing we may justly say they are the most ignorant of all Men. Nor are they only the most ignorant of all Men but they are also the most obstinate Assertors of the most Irrational Opinions For they not only reject whatever is most certain and most universally received that they may be accounted great Wits but by the same violence of the Imagination they please themselves with talking after a decisive manner of the most uncertain and improbable things Montagne apparently labours under this Distemper and therefore of necessity we must conclude that he was not only ignorant of the Nature of Mans Mind but also that he was intangled in many gross Errors in reference to that Subject granting that he spoke what he thought as it became him to do For what may we say of a Man who confounds Mind and Matter together who recites the most extravagant Opinions of the Philosophers upon the anture of the Soul yet so far from condemning 'em that he rather approves 'em though most repugnant to Reason who sees not the Necessity of the Immortality of our Souls who believes that Human Reason is not capable of understanding it â— 2. c. 12. and looks upon all the Prooss that are brought to confirm it as so many ' Dreams which the desire of Immortality produces in us Somnia non decentis sed optantis who is angry with Men because they separate themselves from the Croud of other Creatures and distinguish themselves from Beasts which he calls our Fellow Brethren and our Companions and which as he believes discourse together understand one another and laugh at us as we speak understand each other and deride them who believes there is a greater difference between a Man and a Man than between a Man and a Beast and who attributes even to Spiders Deliberation Thought and Conclusion and who after he has asserted that the Frame of Mans Body has no advantage over that of Beasts willingly embraces the following Sentiment That it is not Reason nor Ratiocination nor the Soul that renders Mâ—n more Excellent than Beasts but our Beauty our Complexion and the Structure of our Limbs above which Prerogatives we ought not to prefer our Vnderstanding our Prudence and other Vertues c. Can a Man who relying upon these Whimsical Opinions conclude That 't is not for his Ratiocination but his Pride and Obstinacy that Man Extolls himself above Beasts Can such a Man I say have an exact knowledge of the Mind of Man or is it to be thought that he can persuade others he has it But we must do Justice to all the World and give a faithful Character of Montegne's Parts He had a bad Memory and a worse Judgment 't is true but those two Qualities together do not compose that which usually the World calls the Beauty of the Mind 'T is the Elegancy the Vivacity the Extention of the Imagination that procures a Man the Reputation of being a good Wit The Common sort of People admire that which glitters not that which is solid because they have a greater value for that which affects their Senses than for that which informs their Reason And therefore mistaking Elegancy of Imagination for Elegancy of Wit it may be said that Montagne had an Elegant and Extraordinary Wit His Idea's are false but splendid his Expressions irregular or bold but pleasant his Discourses ill supported by Reason but well imagin'd There is throughout his Book a Character of an Original which pleases infinitely Though he be an Usurper of others Mens Draughts it may be said that his Bold and Strong Imagination gives the Turn of an Original to every thing he Copies Lastly he has all those things ready at hand which are necessary to please and allure nor have I obscurely demonstrated as I am apt to believe that he has acquir'd Admiration among so many Men not by convincing their Reason by Evident Arguments but by subduing their Minds by the Commanding and Victorious power of his Imagination CHAP. VI. I. Of Imaginary Wizards and Lycanthropi or Wolf-Men II. A Conclusion of the Two First Books THere is nothing wherein the force of the Imagination more prodigiously shews it self than in the hideous number of Goblines Apparitions Witchcrafts Characters Inchantments Charms and generally of all those things which are thought to depend upon the Power of the Devil There is nothing more terrible or formidable to the Mind or which produces in the Brain deeper Traces than the Idea of an Invisible Power which we are not able to resist and which meditates nothing but to do us Mischief All Discourses which revive that Idea are listen'd to with Fear and Curiosity Men adhering to every thing that is extraordinary take a Phantastic delight to tell surprizing and prodigious Stories of the Power and Malice of Wizards as well to frighten others as to terrifie themselves So that 't is no wonder that Wizards are so common in some Countreys where the Belief of those Nocturnal Meetings of Wizards called Sabbaths has too much prevail'd where all the most extravagant Tales of Witchcrafts are heard as so many Authentic Histories and where real Madmen and Visionaries whose Imagination was at first disordered as well by the rehearsal of such Tales as by the Corruption of their own Hearts are burnt for Wizards I know that many People will blame me for attributing the greatest part of Witchcrafts to the force of Imagination because there are some Men who delight in terrifying things and are angry with those that go about to disabuse 'em and who are like those that are sick through the power of Imagination who listen most awfully to their Physicians that foretell some dismal thing that is to befall 'em and obey their Prescriptions exactly Superstition is not easily destroy'd and when ever it is attacqued it finds a great number of Champions and this same proneness to believe all the Dotages of Daemonographers is produc'd and cherish'd by the same cause that renders the Superstitious obstinate as may be easily prov'd However it will not be amiss to set down in few Words how in my Judgment such Opinions as these came to get footing in the World A Shepherd in his Cottage after Supper tells his Wife and Children what was done at the Convention of Wizards called the Sabbat Now when his Imagination comes to be heated by the Vapours of the Wine and that he begins to believe himself to have been present at that Imaginary Assembly he fails not to speak of it after a strong and vigorous manner His Natural Eloquence together with the Proneness of his Family to give Ear to so new and terrible a Story could not but produce strange Traces in their weak Imaginations Nor is it otherwise
that External Objects emit the Species or Images which represent them And 't is only upon this Foundation that they multiply their Faculties and defend their active intellect So that this Foundation having no Solidity as shall soon be shewn it will be unnecessary to spend any time to overturn the Superstructure We are assur'd then that it is improbable that Objects should emit their Images or Species which represent them for these reasons 1. From the impenetrability of Objects All Objects as the Sun Stars and all such as are near the Eyes cannot emit Species which are different from their respective Natures Wherefore Philosophers commonly say that these Species are Gross and Material in which they differ from express'd Species which are Spiritualised These impress'd Species of Objects then are little Bodies they cannot therefore be penetrated nor all the Spaces which are betwixt the Earth and the Heaven which must be full of them Whence it 's easie to conclude they must be bruis'd and broken in moving every way and thus they cannot render Objects visible Moreover one may see from the same place or point a great number of Objects in the Heavens and on the Earth therefore the Species of these Objects can be reduc'd into a Point But they are impenetrable since they are extended Therefore c. But one may not only see a multitude of very great and vast Objects There is no Point in all the great Spaces of the World from whence we cannot discover an almost infinite number of Objects and even Objects as large as the Sun Moon and the Heavens there is therefore no Point in all the World where the Species of all these things ought not to meet which is against all appearance of Truth The Second Reason is taken from the Change which happens in the Species Such as would know how all impressions of Visible Objects however epposite may be communicatedwithout being weaken'd may read Monsicur Descartes his Dioptricks it 's evident that the nearer any Object is the greater its Species ought to be since we see the Object 's greater But what is yet more difficult to conceive according to their Opinion is That if we look upon this Object with a Telescope or a Microscope the Species immediately becomes Six Hundred times as great as it was before for 't is yet more difficultly conceiv'd from what Parts it can grow so great in an instant The Third Reason is when we look upon a perfect Cube all the Species of its Sides are unequal nevertheless we see all the Sides equally Square So when we consider Ellipses and Parallelograms in a Picture which cannot but emit like Species yet we see Circles and Squares This manifestly shews that it is not necessary that the Object beheld should emit Species like it self that it may be seen In fine it cannot be conceiv'd how it can be that a Body which does not sensibly diminish should always emit Species on every Side which should continually fill all the great Spaces about it and that with an inconceivable swiftness For an Object that was hidden in that Instant that it discovers it self may be seen many Millions of Leagues on all Sides and what appears yet more strange is that Bodies in great Motion as Air and some others have not that power of pushing outwards these Images which resemble them as the more gross and quiescent Bodies such as the Earth Stones and generally all hard Bodies have But I shall not stay any longer to enumerate all the contrary Reasons to their Opinion there would be no end a very ordinary Judgment would raise innumerable Objections Those that we have brought are sufficient though they were not so necessary after what has been said upon the Subject of the First Book where the Errors of the Senses were explain'd But there are so great a number of Philosophers wedded to this Opinion that we believe it will be necessary to say something to encline them to reflect upon their own Thoughts CHAP. III. That the Soul has no power of producing Idea's The Cause of Mens Error in reference to this Subject THe Second Opinion is that of those who believe our Souls have any power of producing the Idea's of such things as they will think upon and they are excited to produce them by the Impressions which Objects make upon Bodies although these Impressions are not Images like the Objects which cause them they believe that 't is in this that Man is made after the Image of God and participates of his Power That even as God Created all things out of nothing and can reduce them to nothing again and then Create them anew so Man can Create and Annihilate the Idea's of all things as he pleases But there is great Reasons to distrust all these Opinions which extol a Man these are the Common Thoughts which arise from a vain and proud Original and which the Father of Light hath not inspir'd This participation of the power of God which Men boast of having to represent Objects and of doing many other particular actions is a participation which seems to relate to something of independance as independance is commonly explain'd it is also a Chimerical Participation which Mens Ignorance and Vanity make them to imagine They depend much more than they think upon the Goodness and Mercy of God But this is not a place to explain these things It 's enough if we endeavour to shew that Men have not the Power of forming the Idea's of things which they perceive No one can doubt that Idea's are real Beings since they have real Properties since they differ from one another and represent all different things Nor can we reasonably doubt that they are Spiritual and very different from the Bodies which they represent But it seems reasonable to doubt whether Idea's by whose means we see Bodies are not more Noble than the Bodies themselves for indeed the Intelligible World must be more perfect than the Material and Earthly as we shall see hereafter Thus when we affirm that we have the Power of Forming such Idea's as we please we shall be in danger of perswading our selves to make more Noble and Perfect Beings than the World which God hath Created However some do not reflect upon it because they imagin that an Idea is Nothing since it is not to be felt or else if they look upon it as a Being 't is a very mean contemptible one because they imagin it to be annihilated as soon as it is no longer present to the Mind But supposing it true that Idea's were only little contemptible Beings yet they are Beings and Spiritual Ones and Men not having the power of Believing it follows that they cannot produce them for the production of Idea's after the manner before explain'd is a true Creation and although Men endeavour to palliate and mollifie the hardness of this Opinion by saying that the production of Idea's presupposes something else but Creation
not disposed to conceive Neither must obscure and uncertain Explanations of the Mysteries of Faith serve us as a Rule and Principle to reason in Philosophy in which nothing but Evidence ought to perswade us We must not change the clear and distinct Idea's of Extension Figure and Local Motion for these general and confuse Idea's of Principles or of the Subject of Extension of Form and of Quiddities of real Qualities and of all those Motions of Generation of Corruption of Alteration and the like which differ from Local Motion Real Idea's produce a Real Science but the general Idea's of Logick will never produce any thing but a rambling superficial and barren Science Therefore it behoves us to consider attentively those distinct and particular Idea's of things in order to discover the Proprieties they include and thus to study Nature instead of losing our selves in Chimera's which only exist in the Opinion of some Philosophers CHAP. IX I. The last General Cause of our Errors II. That the Idea's of things are not always present to the Mind as soon as 't is desir'd III. That all Finite Minds are liable to Error and why IV. We ought not to judge that there are only Bodies or Spirits nor that God is a Spirit as we conceive Spirits WE have hitherto spoken of Errors I. The last General Cause of our Errors for which we can assign some occasional Cause in the Nature of the Pure Understanding or of the Mind consider'd as acting of it self and in the Nature of Idea's that is in the manner how the Mind perceives External Objects There now remains only to explain a Cause which may be call'd a Universal and General Cause of all our Errors because we conceive no Error but what depends in some measure on it That Cause is That Nothing having no Idea to represent it the Mind is induc'd to believe that things it has no Idea of do not Exist It is certain that the general Source of our Errors as we have already often declar'd is because our Judgments have more Extension than our Perceptions For when we consider some Object we commonly behold it only on one side and we are not contented with judging of so much as we have consider'd but we also judge of the whole Object Therefore it often happens that we are deceiv'd because though the thing be true on that part we have examin'd it it commonly proves false on the other and that which we believe to be true only proves likely Moreover it is evident that we should not judge absolutely of things as we do if we did not think we had consider'd them on all sides or if we did not suppose them answerable to those we have examin'd Therefore the general Cause of our Errors is That having no Idea of the other sides of our Object or of their difference from that which is present to our Mind we fancy that those other sides are not or at least we suppose that they have no particular difference This manner of proceeding seems pretty reasonable to us For Nothing forming no Idea's in the Mind we have some reason to believe that those things which form no Idea's in the Mind while they are examin'd resemble Nothing And that which confirms us in this Opinion is That we are perswaded by a kind of Instinct that the Idea's of things are due to our Nature and that they are submitted to the Mind in such a manner that they ought to present themselves before it as soon as it desires it Nevertheless if we did but reflect on the present State of our Nature II. The Idea's of things are not present to the Mind as soon as 't is desir'd we should not be so ready to believe that we have all the Idea's of things as soon as we desire them Man as I may say is only Flesh and Blood since the Fall The least Impression of his Senses and of his Passions breaks the strongest Attention of his Mind and the Course of the Spirits and of the Blood draws it away and drives it continually towards Sensible Objects It often strives in vain against the Torrent which drives it along and 't is but seldom that it makes any Opposition for there is too much Delight in following it and too much Fatigue to oppose it Therefore the Mind is disgusted and sinks as soon as it makes the least Effort to take hold of and to six upon some Truth It is absolutely False in the State in which we are that the Idea's of things are present to our Mind whenever we have a Mind to consider them Therefore we ought not to judge that things are not only because we have no Idea's of them But though we should suppose Man to be absolure Master of his Mind and of his Idea's III. All Etnite Minds are liable to Error he would nevertheless be subject to Error by his Nature For the Mind of Man is limited and a Mind that is limited is Naturally liable to Error The reason of it is the least things have many Relations among themselves and nothing but an Infinite Mind can apprehend them Therefore a limited Mind not being able to imbrace or to apprehend all those Relations whatever Effort it makes is induc'd to believe that those which it perceives not do not exist particularly when we do not reflect on the Weakness and Limitation of our Mind which is very usual Thus the Limitation of the Mind alone infers a Capability of falling into Error Nevertheless if Men even in the State of Weakness and Depravations in which they are did always make a good use of their Liberty they would never be deceiv'd And therefore all Men that fall into Error are justly blam'd and deserve to be punish'd For if we would not be deceiv'd we must only judge of what we see and never make entire Judgments but on such things which we are sure we have examin'd in all their parts which we can do But they had rather submit to Error than to the Rule of Truth They will decide without much difficulty and Examination Therefore we need not wonder if they fall into many Errors and very often make uncertain Judgments Men for Example IV. We ought not to judge that there are only Bodies and Spirits created nor that God is a Spirit as we conceive Spirits have no other Idea's of Substance than that of the Mind and Body that is Of a Substance that Thinks and of a Substance that is Extended And from thence they pretend to have a Right to conclude that whatever Exists is Body or Spirit Not that I pretend to affirm that there is any Substance that is neither Body nor Spirit For we ought never to affirm that things Exist which we have no Knowledge of since it is to be thought that God who does not conceal his Works from us would have given us some Idea's of them Nevertheless I am of Opinion that we ought not to
us well to remember that the Violent Inclinations we have for Divertisements Pleasures and generally for all that does affect us throws us into a great number of Errors Because the Capacity of our Mind being Bounded that Inclination withdraws our Mind continually from the Attention we should give to the clear and distinct Idea's of the Understanding which are proper to discover Truth to apply it to the false obscure and deceitful Idea's of our Senses which Influence the Will more by the hope of Good and Pleasure than they Instruct the Mind by their Light and Evidence CHAP. XII Of the Effects which the thought of Future Bliss and Sufferings is capable of producing in the Mind IF it happens often that the little Pleasures and slight Pains which we actually feel nay more which we have a Prospect of strangely disturb our Imagination and hinder us from judging of things according to their true Idea's we have no reason to believe that the prospect of Eternity cannot act upon our Mind But it will be necessary to consider what it may be capable of producing there We must observe in the First Place that the hopes of an Eternity of Pleasures does not Act so powerfully upon the Mind as the fear of an Eternity of Torments The Reason of it is Men do not Love Pleasure so much as they Hate Pain Moreover by the Internal Knowledge they have of their Disorders they are sensible that they deserve Hell and they see nothing in themselves to Merit such great Rewards as to participate of the Felicity of God himself They are sensible when they please and even sometimes against their Will that far from deserving Rewards they are worthy of the greatest Chastisements for their Conscience never leaves them but they are in the like manner continually convinc'd that God is willing to shew his Mercy upon Sinners after having satisfy'd his Justice upon his Son Therefore the Just themselves have more Lively Apprehensions of the Eternity of Torments than Hopes of an Eternity of Pleasures The prospect of Pain then consequently is more prevailing than the prospect of Reward and here is partly that which it is capable of producing not alone but as a principal Cause It produces an infinite number of Scruples in the Mind and confirms them so much that it is almost impossible to get rid of them It Extends as it were even Faith to prejudices and makes us pay the Worship which is only due to God to Imaginary Powers It obstinately fixes the Mind on vain or dangerous Superstitions It makes Men earnestly and zealously Embrace Human Traditions and Practices that are useless for Salvation Judaick and Pharisaick Devotions which have been invented by servile Fear Finally it sometimes throws Men into a blindness of Despair Insomuch that looking confusedly on Death as an Annihilation they foolishly hasten to make away with themselves to be freed of the Mortal Disquiets which possess and frighten them There is often more Charity than Self-Love in the Scrupulous as well as in the Superstitious but there is nothing but Self-love in the desperate For taking the thing rightly those must needs Love themselves extreamly who chuse rather not to be than to be uneasie Women Young People and Weak Minds are the most subject to Scruples and Superstitions and Men are more liable to Despair It is easie to know the reason of these things For it is Visible that the Idea of Eternity being the greatest the most terrible and the most frightful of all those that surprise the Mind and strike the Imagination it is necessary it should be attended with a long Train of Accessory Idea's to make together a considerable Effect upon the Mind because of the Relation they have to that great and terrible Idea of Eternity Whatever has any relation to Infinity cannot be Little or if it is Little in itself it receives an immense greatness by that Relation which cannot be compar'd to any thing that is Finite Therefore whatever has any relation or even what we fancy to have any relation either to an unavoidable Eternity of Torments or Delights which is propos'd to us must needs frighten those Minds that are capable of any Reflection or Thought The Fibers of the Brains of Women or young People and of weak Minds being as I have said elsewhere Soft and Flexible receive deep Marks of one of these two And when they have abundance of Spirits and are more capable of Thought and Just Reflection they receive by the Vivacity of their Imagination a very great number of false Impressions and Accessary Idea's which have no Natural Relation to the Principal Idea Nevertheless that Relation though Imaginary maintains and fortifies those False Impressions and Accessary Idea's which it has created When two Lawyers are ingag'd in some great Cause which wholly takes up their Mind and yet do not understand the Case they often have vain Fears being in dread that certain things may Prejudice them which the Judges have no regard to and which experienced Lawyers do not fear The Affair being of very great Consequence to them the Motion it produces in their Brains diffuses it self and is communicated to distant traces which have naturally no relation to it It fares just in the same manner with the Scrupulous they unreasonably form to themselves Subjects of Fear and Disquiet and instead of examining the Will of God in the Holy Scriptures and of relying on those whose Imagination is not tainted their Mind is wholly taken up with an Imaginary Law which disorderly Motions of Fear impress on their Brains And though they are inwardly convinc'd of their Weakness and that God does not require from them certain Duties which they prescribe to themselves since they hinder them from serving him they cannot forbear preferring their Imagination to their Understanding and from submitting rather to certain Confused Sentiments which frighten and plunge them into Error than to the Evidence of Reason which gives them Assurance and leads them again into the right way to Heaven We meet often with a great deal of Charity and Virtue in Persons that are afflicted with Scruples but there is not near so much in those that are addicted to some Superstitions and who imploy themselves chiefly about some Judaick or Pharisaick Practices God will be ador'd in Spirit and in Truth He is not satisfied with Gestures and External Civilities as kneeling in his Presence and being Praised by the Motion of the Lips when the Heart has no share in it Men indeed are satisfied with those Marks of Respect but 't is because they cannot search into the Heart for even Men would be serv'd in Spirit and in Truth God requires our Mind and our Heart he has only made it for himself and he only preserves it for himself But there are many People who unfortunately for themselves refuse him those things over which he has absolute Right They harbour Idols in their Hearts which they adore in Spirit
by some violent passion for then as we have already explain'd this communication charges the conformation of the body of the Child and the Mother is so much the more apt to miscarry of the the Foetus as it has more resemblance to the desired Fruits and as the Spirits find less resistance in the Fibres of the Infants body Now it cannot be deny'd but that God without this Communication was able to have disposed all things in so exact and regular a manner as would have been necesary for the Propagation of the Species for insinite Ages that Mothers should never have Miscarried and even that they should always have had Children of the same bigness of the same Colour and that would have resembled in all things For we must not measure the power of God by our weak Imagination and we know not the Reasons he had in the construction of his work We see every day that without the help of this Communication Plants and Trees produce their kinds regularly enough and that Fowls and many other Animals have no need of it to cherish and bring forth other Animals when they sit upon Eggs of different kinds as when a Hen sits on a Partridges Eggs. For although we may reasonably conclude that the Seeds and Eggs contain in themselves the Plants and Birds which proceeds from 'em and that they may produce the little bodies of these Birds having received their Conformation by the Communication we have spoke of and the Plants theirs by another Equivocal Communication yet we cannot be certain of it But although we cannot discover the reasons why God has made every thing as it is we must not conclude from thence that he could make 'em no otherwise If we consider further that Plants who receive their growth by the action of the Female Plant resemble her much more than those which come from the seed as Tuleps for instance which come from the Root are of the same Colour as the Tulep it self and yet those that proceed from the Seed thereof are almost very different we cannot doubt that if the Communication of the Female Plant with the Fruit is not absolutely necessary to form the same kind yet it is always requisite to make the Fruit intirely like her So that although God foresaw that this Communication of the Mothers Brain with that of the Infants would sometimes destroy the Foetus and produce Monsters because of the Irregularity of the Mothers imagination yet this Communication is so admirable and so necessary for the Reasons before-mentioned and for many others that I could yet add that this knowledge that God had of these inconvencies ought not to have hindred him from executing his design We may say in one sense that God never had a design to make Monsters for it appears evident to me that if God should create one Animal only it would not be Monstrous But designing to produce an admirable work by the most simple ways and unite all these Creatures one to another he foresaw certain effects that would necessarily follow from the Order and Nature of things and this hath not diverted him from his design For although a Monster simply considered be an imperfect work yet when it is joyn'd with the rest of the creatures it does not render the World imperfect We have sufficiently explain'd what power the Imagination of a Mother has over the body of her Child let us now examine the power it hath over its Mind and that way discover the first Irregularities of the Mind and Will of Men in his Original For this is our chief design It is evident that the traces of the Brain are accompanied with Sentiments and Ideas of the Soul IV. An Explanation of some irregularities of the Mind and of the inclinations of the Will and that the emotion of the Animal Spirits have no effect in the Body but what the Motions in the Soul answer to and in a word it is certain that all the Sensations and Passions of the Body are accompany'd with true Sentiments and Passions in the Soul Now according to our first supposition Mothers first communicate the traces of their Brain to their Children and afterwards the Motions of their Animal Spirits and so produce the same passion in the mind of their Children with which they themselves are affected and by consequence they cortupt both their affections and reason in several respects If so many Children are observed to bear upon their Faces the Marks and Traces of the Idea that affected their Mother although the Fibres of the skin make much more resistance against the course of the Spirits than the soft parts of the Brain and thô the Spirits are much more agitated in the Brain than towards the Skin we cannot reasonably doubt but that the Animal Spirits of the Mother produce in the Brain of the Infant many traces by their irregular emotions Now the great traces of the Brain and the emotion of the Spirits which answer to them continuing a long time and sometimes all the life it is certain that as there are few Women who have not some weaknesses and who have not been moved with some Passion during their being with Child it cannot be expected but that there will be very few Children who are not ill inclined to something and who have not some predominant passion We have only too much experience of these things and all the World is sensible that there are whole Families who are afflicted with great weakness of Imagination which they have drawn from their Parents but it is not necessary here to give any particular Examples thereof On the contrary 't is more proper for the consolation of some Persons to assure 'em that those weaknesses of the Parents not being Natural or proper to the Nature of Man the traces and impressions of the Brain which are the cause of them may be effaced by time We may yet add here the Example of King James I. of England of whom Sir Kenelm Digby speaks in his Book which he writ of the Sympathetic Powder He tells us that Mary Stuart being with Child of King James some Scotch Lords entred her Chamber and in her presence killed her Secretary who was an Italian altho' she cast her self before him to hinder them that this Princess received some slight hurts by them and the frights she had made so great an impression in her Imagination that she communicated it to the Child in her Womb So that King James cou'd never endure to see a Naked Sword He says that he himself was a witness of it for when he was Knighted this Prince coming to lay the Sword upon his Shoulder run it strait at his Face and had wounded him if some body had not directed it aright where it ought to be There are so many instances of the like Nature that 't would be needless to search Authors for them I believe there is no body that will dispute these things for we see a
great number of Persons that can't suffer the fight of a Rat of a Mouse a Cat a Frog and particularly creeping Animals as Serpents and Adders who know no other cause of these extraordinary aversions but the fear their Mothers had of these several Animals whilst they were with Child of them But what I chiefly desire should be observed is An Explanation of Concupiscence and of Original Sin that there is all possible probabilities that Men retain in their Brain to this day the traces and impressions of our first Parents For as Animals produce their own likeness and with the like traces in their Brain which is the cause that Animals of the same Species have the same Sympathies and Antipathies and that they perform the same actions in the same occurrences Thus our first Parents after their Sin received such great impressions and profound traces of sensible things in their Brain as they might very well communicate to their Children so that this great propensity we have from the Womb to all sensible things and the great distance from God we are in by our present state may in some manner be explained by what has been said For as it is necessary according to the established order of Nature that the thoughts of the Soul should be conformable to the traces that are in the Brain We may say that as soon as we are formed in the Womb we are polluted with Sin and infected with the Corruption of our Parents since from that time we are strongly inclined to the pleasures of our Senses having in our Brain traces resembling those of the Persons who hath given us being it is necessary also that we shou'd have the same thoughts and the same inclinations which have any relation to sensible objects Rom. ch 6.5.12 14. c Thus it is impossible but that we should be born with Concupiscence and Original Sin We must be born with Concupiscence if Concupiscence is only the Natural effort that the traces of the Brain make upon the Mind to engage it to sensible things and we must be born in Original Sin if Original Sin is nothing else but the Dominion of Concupiscence and that these efforts become Victorious and Masters over the Mind and Heart of the Child Now it is very probable that the dominion or victory of Concupiscence is what we call Original Sin in Children and actual in Men. Objections and An ∣ swers This difficulty seems only to recur that contrary to Experience we might conclude from the principles I have established that the Mother would always communicate to her Child Habits and Inclinations resembling her own and a facility of imagining and learning the same things as she knows for all these things depend as has been already said only upon the traces and impressions of the Brain and it is certain that the impressions and traces of the Mothers Brain are communicated to the Child This has been proved by the Examples that has been brought concerning Men and is also confirmed by the Example of Animals whose young ones have their Brains filled with the same impressions which is the reason that all those that are of the same kind have the same Voice the same manner of moving their Members and also the same craft to take their Prey and defend themselves from their Enemies Therefore it must from thence follow that since all the traces of the Mothers Brain are imprinted in that of the Childs that the Children must be born with the same Habits and all the other qualities that the Mothers are possessed of and even commonly so to preserve them all their Lives since the Habits they have from their Infancy are those that are the longest kept which nevertheless is contrary to experience To answer this Objection it is requisite it should be known that there are two sorts of traces in the Brain the one Natural or proper to the Nature of Man the other acquired The Natural are very deep and it is impossible to esface them perfectly but on the contrary the acquired may be easily lost because commonly they are not deep Now although the Natural and acquired differ only as to the More or Less and that often the first have less force than the second since we every day accustom Animals to do things perfectly contrary to what they are inclined by these Natural traces for Example we use a Dog not to touch Bread nor to run after a Partridge although he sees and smells it Yet there iâ— this difference between these traces that the Natural ones have if we may so say secret alliances with the other parts of the body thus all the Springs of our Machines assist one the other to preserve themselves in their Natural state All the parts of our bodies mutually contribute to all necessary things for the preservation or re-establishment of these Natural traces Thus we cannot wholly efface them and they begin to revive when we believe we have destroyed them On the contrary the acquired Traces although greater more profound and stronger than the Natural are lost by little and little if they are not carefully preserved by a continual application of those things that produced them because the other parts of the body contribute nothing to their preservation but on the contrary continually endeavour to efface and loose them We may compare these traces to the common Wounds of the body they are wounds that our Brains receive which heal of themselves as these wounds of the body do by the admirable construction of the Machine As then there is nothing in all the body which is not conformable to the Natural traces they transmit themselves into Children with all their force So Parrots hatch little ones which have the same or Natural voices with themselves but because acquired traces are only in the Brain and not dispersed through the rest of the body except some few of 'em as when they have been imprinted by the Motions that accompany violent Passions they must not be transmitted into Children Thus a Parrot who gives the good Morrow and good Night to his Master will not make his little ones as Learned as himself and so Wise and able Persons will not have Children which resemble them Thus although it be true that all which passes in the Mothers Brain passes also in the same time into that of the Child and that the Mother can see nothing feel nothing imagine nothing that the Child does not likewise see feel and imagine and that aâ— the false traces of the Mother corrupt the Imagination of the Child Yet those traces not being Natural in the sense before explained it must not be wonder'd at if they are commonly effaced as soon as the Child is born for then the cause that formed and maintained these traces no longer subsists the Natural Constitution of the â—worldâ— contributes to their destruction and sensible 〈…〉 in their room others that are new deeper 〈…〉 greater Number which efface almost