Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A33913
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Miscellanies upon moral subjects by Jeremy Collier ...
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Collier, Jeremy, 1650-1726.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing C5257; ESTC R7117
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78,515
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191
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hold Hyl. Yes or else we have nothing to trust to If clear and distinct Perception is not the infallible Mark of Truth 't is impossible to know any Thing For all Reasoning is at last resolved into Self-evident Principles Now these Magisterial Propositions don't dispute for Belief but demand it They flash Conviction so powerfully that 〈◊〉 there is no resisting them unless you will suppose our Faculties are false And then it will be Madness to argue about any Thing To return Don't you think the Whole is greater than any Part of it Luc. I allow it an indisputable Axiom what follows Hyl. Why as plain and as primary a Truth as it appears 't is but a Consequence of what I mentioned before Luc. What that a Distinction of Ideas infers a Distinction in Things Hyl. Yes For do but attend and you 'll find that the reason why you pronounce the whole bigger than a Part is because the first takes up a greater room in the Notion and includes a more comprehensive Reality than the later Luc. It seems then the Functions of Life and Reasoning proceed from an immaterial Substance and that the Body and Spirit are perfectly distinct Hyl. Nothing more certain And if a Spirit has no Extension it can have no Parts from hence it becomes indivisible and thence immortal Luc. I own these Consequences are very clear but then they are embarrassed with some appendant Difficulties which shock a Man's Understanding Hyl. Look you We must not let go manifest Truths because we cannot answer all Questions about them Objections are no good Evidence against positive Proofs This scrupulous way would make us deny our Senses For there is scarcely any thing we meet with but puts our Reason to a stand in some Circumstance or other But pray where does the Pinch lye Luc. Why by this Scheme all Communication between Soul and Body is cut off and yet nothing is more certain than that These two maintain a large Correspondence You see we move our Limbs at our Pleasure and receive various Impressions according to the Objects of Sense and the Habits of Constitution But how the Soul can move the Body or be affected by it without Extension is past my Comprehension For all Motion is perform'd by Resistance and Resistance supposes Contact and Contact requires a Superficies and this implies Extension so that where Extension is absent the other Requisites must fail of Course At this rate a Soul may as soon push down a Church Steeple as stir a single Atom Hyl. I confess I can't tell you how this Affair is managed 'T is possible the Soul does not move the Body at all Luc. How then comes it to pass that Motion is so perpetually consequent to our Will For the Purpose When I have a Mind to walk the Muscles are immediately put into a Posture of Travelling and do their Office at the least Notice imaginable Hyl. I believe this mysterious Correspondence depends on the Laws of the Union which by Sovereign Appointment are order'd to consist in a certain Reciprocation of Thoughts and Motions and so vice versa Luc. You mean when I would move my Finger God directs the Organ for such a Performance And on the other hand gives me Ideas suitable to the Presence of sensible Objects and to the State of the Union Hyl. Right Luc. But why do you make use of this Supposition Do you believe the Power of Exciting Motion exceeds the Force of the Soul Hyl. 'T is not improbable it may For if this Privilege lay within our reach one would imagine we should know something more of the Manner of using it But I don't pretend to determine any Thing Luc. You don't think it impossible for a Spirit to move Matter Hyl. By no means If it were there would be no such Thing as Motion For Extension implies no Necessity of being Moved It supposes no more than a bare Capacity for such an Event Now that Power which brings this Possibility into Act must be something distinct from Matter Besides The Regularity of Motion visible in the great Variety and Curiosity of Bodies and the constant and even Revolutions of some of them is a Demonstration that the whole Mass of Matter is under the Conduct of a Mighty Intelligence Luc. By your Reasoning I conceive you believe that the Power of Motion is either an incommunicable Perfection of the Supreme Being or else a sort of Prerogative Royal which he is pleased to keep in his Hands that we may be the more sensible of our dependance Hyl. I think that Opinion not improbable You know the Apostle tells us That in Him we Live Move and have our Being Which Words 't is likely will bear a more Literal Sense than is usually imagined Luc. May be so But to return If Matter be so uncapable of Thinking as seems to have been proved How comes it about that the Operations of Sense and Reason vary so much according to the Disposition of the Organs For if the Musick does not depend on the Instrument what 's matter whether 't is in Tune or not Now you know any considerable Degrees of Sickness or Age flat the Senses extinguish the Memory and weaken the Understanding So that the Vigour of the Mind seems almost stifled under these Corporeal Oppressions Hyl. I grant the Powers of Sensation are contracted or enlarged made keen or languid according to the Temper of the Body But 't is likely these Circumstances are no more than occasional Causes of this Variety My Meaning is That there is no natural Connexion between Thought and Matter and Motion Or that the Soul and Body do not act by direct Force upon each other 'T is true Sensations and Passions seem to depend upon a particular Set of Motions And the Body on the other hand seems to fall into different Postures by the Orders of the Mind yet these Effects may not result from any mutual Agency but meerly from the Will of a third Power That this Supposition is possible needs no proof ' That 't is matter of Fact seems likely because the two Parties are so essentially foreign and dissimilar that they seem uncapable of entertaining any Commerce by virtue of their own Strength Luc. If the Operations of Life have no immediate dependance on the Quality of the Organ why are our Senses worn up with Age and decay with the visible Parts of the Body Hyl. When the common Period of the Union is almost expired 't is likely Providence gives us notice of it by such sensible Declensions that we may disengage from the World by degrees and prepare the better for so great an Alteration Luc. Why does Pain follow from Obstructions Dislocation Discontinuity c. and Pleasure from those Actions which support the Frame Hyl. To encourage us to keep the Body in repair and to prevent Dissolution Luc. Your answering in the Final Cause makes me believe you are at a Loss for the Efficient Hyl. As to that 'T is
Epicureans were all agreed in the folly of forbidden Pleasure They thought the very Question scandalous and that it was in effect to dispute whether 't were better to be a Man or a Beast The general Division of Pleasure is into that of the Mind and the other of the Body The former is the more valuable upon several Accounts I shall mention some of them 1 st The Causes of these Satisfactions are more reputable than the other Corporeal Pleasures are comparatively Ignoble They seem founded in Want and Imperfection There must be something of Uneasiness to introduce them and make them welcom When the Pain of Hunger is once over Eating is but a heavy Entertainment The Senses are some of them so mean that they scarce relish any thing but what they Beg for But Rational Delights have a better Original They spring from noble Speculations or generous Actions from Enlargements of Knowledge or Instances of Virtue from something which argues Worth and Greatness and Improvement 2 ly The Satisfactions of the Mind are more at command A Man may think of of a handsom Performance or a Notion which pleases him at his leisure This Entertainment is ready with little Warning or Expence A short Recollection brings it upon the Stage brightens the Idea and makes it shine as much as when 't was first stamp'd upon the Memory Thoughts take up no Room When they are right they afford a portable Pleasure One may Travel with it without any trouble or Incumbrance The Case with the Body is much otherwise Here the Satisfaction is more confin'd to Circumstance of Place and moves in a narrower Compass We cannot have a pleasant Taste or Smell unless the Object and the Sense are near together A little Distance makes the Delight withdraw and vanish like a Phantosm There is no Perfuming of the Memory or regaling the Palate with the Fancy 'T is true we have some faint confused Notices of these absent Delights but then 't is Imagination and not Sense which giveth it I grant the Eye and Ear command farther but still these have their Limits And besides they can only reach an Object Present but not make it so Whereas the Mind by a sort of natural Magick raises the Ghost of a departed Pleasure and makes it appear without any dependence upon Space or Time Now the almost Omnipresence of an Advantage is a Circumstance of Value it gives opportunity for Use and Repetition and makes it so much the more one's own 3 dly Intellectual Delights are of a nobler kind than the other They belong to Beings of the highest Order They are the Inclination of Heaven and the Entertainments of the Deity Now God knows the choicest Ingredients of Happiness He can command them without Difficulty and compound them to Advantage Omnipotence and Wisdom will certainly furnish out the richest Materials for its own Contentment 'T is natural for every Being to grasp at Perfection and to give it self all the Satisfactions within Thought and Power Since therefore Contemplation is the Delight of the Deity we may be assured the Flower and Exaltation of Bliss lies in the Operation of the Mind To go no higher than the Standard of Humanity Methinks the Satisfactions of the Mind are of a brighter Complexion and appear with a distinguishing Greatness There is a nothing of Hurry and Mistiness in them The Perceptions are all clear and stay for Perusal and Admiration The Scene is dress'd up like a Triumph the Fancy is Illuminated and the Show marches on with Dignity and State If the Senses have any Advantage it lies in the Strength of the Impression But this point may be fairly disputed When the Mind is well awaken'd and grown up to the Pleasures of Reason they are strangly affecting The Luxury of Thought seems no less than that of the Palate The discovery of a great Invention may be as moving as Epicurism The Entertainments of Plato were as high-season'd as those of Apicius And Archimedes by his Behaviour seems to have passed his time as pleasantly as Sardanapalus The Charms of Authority made Cato aver that Old Age was none of the most undiverting Periods of Life And in all likelihood the Victory at Pharsalia transported Caesar beyond all the Delights of the Roman Court. The Senses seem not to be built strong enough for any great Force of Pleasure A sudden Excess of Joy has sometimes prov'd Mortal 'T is as dangerous as Gun-powder charge too high and you split the Barrel It flashes too hard upon the tender Organ and stupifies more than pleases To look upon the Sun strikes us blind Thus a glorious Appearance from the other World has often over-set the best Men. Nature sunk under the Correspondence and was too weak to bear the Lustre of the Object The Body was not made to be Master in this Affair This may appear from Self-denial which has a mixture of something agreeable 'T is a Pleasure to refuse one To arrest an importunate Appetite to silence the Clamour of a Passion and repel an Assault upon our Virtue is a noble Instance of Force a handsom proof of Temper and Discretion A brave Mind must be entertain'd by surveying its Conquests and being conscious of its Soveraignty And thus by frequent Resistance and generous Thinking the Forbearance grows an Equivalent to Fruition And that which at first was almost too big for Opposition is at last too little for Notice These Satisfactions of Restraint are a fair proof of the Distinction of Soul and Body And that we are made up of something greater than Matter and Motion For that Atomes should Discipline themselves at this rate check their own agreeable Progress and clap one another under Hatches is very unconceiveable Atomes don't use to be so cross as this comes to Pleasure of what kind soever is nothing but an Agreement between the Object and the Faculty This Description well applied will give us the true Height of our selves and tell us what size we are of If little Things will please us we may conclude we are none of the biggest People Children are as well known by their Diversions as their Stature Those Satisfactions which require Capacity and Understanding to relish them which either suppose Improvement or promote it are of the better sort On the other side To be pleased with Gawdiness in Habit with Gingles and false Ornament in Discourse with antick Motions and Postures is a sign that the Inclinations are trifling and the Judgment vulgar and unpolish'd There should be some what of Greatness and Proportion and Curiosity in Things to justifie our Appetite To be gain'd by every little pretending Entertainment does but shew our Meaness 'T is some what surprising to observe how easily we are some times engag'd and one would think when we were least in Humour For the purpose Here 's a Man that has lately buried his only Son and is embarrass'd with Debts and Disputes in his Fortune How comes it about that he is so airy and unconcern'd on the sudden No longer ago than this Morning he was extreamly sensible of his Misfortune what has made him forget it in so short a time Why nothing but he is just chop'd in with a Pack of Dogs who are Hunting down a Hare and all Opening upon the View The Man needs no more to change his Passions This Noise has drown'd all his Grief He is Cured and made Happy Extempore And if it would last 't was something But alas 't is quickly over 'T is a Happiness without a Fond 'T is no more than a little mantling of the Spirits upon stirring A Childish Exultation at the Harmony of a Rattle It proceeds not from any thing rich or solid in Nature 'T is meer Levity of Mind which snatches him a little from his Misery The Cause of the Intermission is uncreditable The Entertainment is not big enough for the Occasion 'T is true the trouble is remov'd and so far the Point is gain'd But then the Satisfaction is so Fantastick and Feaverish that the Cure it self is an ill Symptom and almost worse than the Disease Upon the whole I think we ought to be concern'd that such Trifles can provoke our Appetite And that we may be toss'd from one State to another by so weak a Motion The truth is as we manage the Matter our Diversions are oftentimes more uncreditable than our Troubles However since Health is kept up and Melancholy discharg'd by these Amusements they may be tolerable enough within a Rule But to pursue them with Application to make them our Profession and boast of our Skill in these little Mysteries is the way to be useless and ridiculous