necessary that in the order of Grace there be some occasional cause which establishes these Laws and determines the efficacy of them and this is that cause which we must endeavour to find out IV. Tho we never so little consult the Idea of Intelligible order or consider the sensible order which appears in the works of God we clearly discover that the occasional causes which determine the efficacy of the general Laws and establish them must necessarily have relation to the design for which God appoints these Laws For example we see by experience that God has not and Reason convinces us that he ought not to have made the motions of the Planets the occasional causes of the union of soul and body He could not have willed that our Arm shou'd be moved after such and such a manner nor the soul suffer the pain of the Tooth-ach at the time of the Moons conjunction with the Sun if this conjunction does not act upon the body The design of God being to unite the Soul to the Body he cou'd not give to the Soul the sentiments of grief but when some changes happen in the body which are contrary to it Thus we ought not to seek any where else but in the Soul and in the Body the occasional causes of their union V. Hence it follows that God having a design to form his Church by J. C. could not according to this design seek any where else but in J. C. and the Creatures united by reason to J. C. the occasional causes which serve to establish the general Laws of Grace by which the spirit of J. C. is shed upon his Members and communicates unto them his Life and Holiness Thus Grace is not showered down upon our hearts according to the divers scituation of the Stars nor according to the meeting of several bodies nor even according to the different motion of the animal spirits which give unto us motion and life No bodies can excite in us any motions and sentiments but what are purely natural for all that comes to the soul by the body is only for the body The Angels themselves are not made occasional causes of inward grace They are as well as we Members of that body of which J. C. alone is the Head they are Ministers of J. C. for the salvation of the Saints I grant that they may produce some change in the bodies which surround us and even in that which we animate and that thus they may remove some impediments of the efficacy of Grace But certainly they cannot distribute to men such a precious gift they have not immediate power over the minds of men which by their nature are equal to them To conclude St Paul teaches us Heb. 11.5 to believe that God has not subjected to them the future World or the Church of J. C. Thus the occasional cause of Grace cannot be found but in J. C. or in man VI. But seeing it is certain that grace is not granted to all those that desire it nor as soon as they desire it and it is often given to those who do not ask it it follows that even our desires are not the occasional cause of Grace For this kind of causes always have readily their effect and without them the effect is never produced For example the striking of bodies upon one another being the occasional cause of the change which happens in their motion if two bodies do not meet one another their motions are not changed and if they be changed we may be assured that they did The general Laws by which Grace is poured into our hearts do find nothing in our wills which may determine their efficacy like as the general Laws which govern the rains are not founded upon the dispositions of the places where it rains For whither Lands lye Fallow or whither they be cultivated it rains indifferently in all places even upon Sands and in the Sea VII We are then brought to maintain that since none but J. C. cou'd merit grace there is likewise none but he who cou'd give the occasions of the general Laws according to which it is given to men For the principle of the foundation of general Laws or that which determines their efficacy being necessarily either in us or in J. C. since it is certain it is not in us for the reasons above mentioned it must needs be found in J. C. Thus it was necessary that God after sin should have no regard to our wills Being all in disorder we cou'd no more be the occasion of Gods giving us Grace A Mediator therefore was necessary not only to give us access to God but also to be the natural or occasional cause of those favours we hope to receive from him VIII Since God designed to make his Son the Head of his Church it was convenient he should make him the natural or occasional cause of Grace which sanctifies it for it is from the Head that Life and motion ought to be given to the members And it was even with this foresight that God permitted sin for if man had continued in his Innocence without being assisted by the Grace of J. C. seeing his wills wou'd have merited Grace and even Glory God should have established in man the occasional cause of his perfection and happiness The inviolable Law of order requires this so that J. C. wou'd not have been the Head of his Church or such an Head whose influences the Members wou'd have had no need of IX If our soul had been in our body before it was form'd and all the parts which compose it disposed of according to our different wills with how many divers sentiments and motions wou'd she have been affected by all the effects which she would have known ought to have followed from her wills especially if she had had an extream desire to have made a more Vigorous and better form'd body Eph. I. 22 23. IV. 16. Col. 11.19 Act. IX 5. Col I. 24. 1 Cor. XII 27. c. Now the Holy Scripture does not only say that J. C. is the Head of the Church but it also teaches us that he begot it that he form'd it that he nourishes it that he suffered in it that he merits in it that he acts and influences it without ceasing The zeal which J. C. has for the glory of his Father and the love he bears to his Church inspires him continually with a desire of making it the most ample the most magnisicent and the most perfect he can possibly Thus seeing the soul of J. C. has not an infinite capacity and yet desires to give infinite beauties and ornaments to his Church we have all the reason to believe that there is a continual succession of thoughts and desires in his Soul in respect of his Mystical body which he continually forms X. Now these continual desires of the Soul of Jesus which sanctifie the Church and render it worthy of the Majesty of his Father
which accompany certain effects that there is an occasional cause established to produce them it is sufficient to know that they are very common and relate to the principal design of the general cause to judge that they are not produced by a particular will For example the Rivers which water the Earth relate to the principle of Gods designs which is that men should not want necessaries for life This I suppose Moreover Rivers are very common therefore we ought to think that they are formed by some general Laws For as there is more wisdom required in executing designs by simple and general ways than by ways compounded and particular as I think I have sufficiently proved elsewhere we ought to give this Honour to God as to believe that his manner of acting is general uniform constant agreeable to the Idea which we have of his infinite wisdom These are the marks by which it may be judged whether an effect be or be not produced by a general will I shall now prove that God dispences Grace to Men by general Laws and that J. C. was the occasional cause of determining their efficacy I begin with the Proofs drawn from H. Scripture XI St. Paul teaches us Col. 2.19 that J. C. is the Head of the Church that he continually dispences to her the Spirit which quickens her that he forms the Members thereof and animates them as the Soul does the Body or to speak yet more clearly the H. Scriptures teaches us two things First That J. C. Prays continually for his Members Heb. 7.25 9.24 John 11.42 Second That his Prayers and Desires are always heard Whence I conclude that he is appointed by God the occasional cause of Grace and also that Grace is never given unto Sinners but by his means Occasional causes do always and very readily produce their Effect The Prayers or divers Desires of J. C. relating to the formation of his Body do always readily obtain their Effect God refuses nothing to his Son as J. C. himself has taught us The occasional causes don't produce their effect by their own efficacy but by the efficacy of the general cause It is also by the efficacy of the power of God that the soul of J. C. operates in us it is not by the efficacy of the humane will For this reason 't is that St. Paul represents J. C. as Praying continually to his Father for he is obliged to Pray that he may obtain The occasional causes are established by God to determine the efficacy of his general wills and J. C. according to the Scripture was appointed by God after his Resurrection to Govern the Church which he had purchased with his own blood For J. C. was the Meritorious cause of all Graces by his sacrifice but after his Resurrection he enter'd into the H. of Holies a Sovereign Priest of good things to come that he might appear in the presence of God and shed upon us the Graces which he had merited for us Thus he himself applyes and distributes his gifts as the occasional cause He disposes of all things in God's House as a well beloved Son in the House of his Father I think I have demonstrated in the Search after Truth that God only is the true cause or acts by his own proper efficacy and that he doth not communicate his Power unto Creatures but by making them the occasional causes of producing certain effects I have proved for example that Men have no power to produce any motion in their bodies but because God hath made their wills the occasional causes of these motions and that fire has no power to cause pain in me but because God hath made the striking of one body upon another the occasional cause of the communication of motions and the violent shaking of the nerves of my Flesh the occasional cause of my Pain I may here suppose a Truth which I have largely proved in Chap. III. Part 2. of Book IV. of the Search c. And in the Explication of the same Chapter and which they for whom I chiefly write do not deny Now 't is certain by Faith that Power is given to J. C. for forming his Church Mat. 28.18 Data est mihi omnis potestas in Coelo in terra This cannot be understood of J. C. according to his Divinity for in this respect he never received any thing 'T is certain therefore that J. C. according to his humanity is the occasional cause of Grace supposing it proved that God only can act upon Minds and that second causes have no efficacy of their own which they who would understand my Sentiments and judge of them ought first to examine XII I say moreover that no Person is sanctified but by the efficacy of the Power which God has communicated to J. C. by establishing him the occasional cause of Grace For if any sinner was Converted by Grace of which J. C. was not the occasional cause but only the meritorious the sinner having not received his new Life by the influence of J. C. he would not be a Member of the Body of which J. C. is the Head after that manner in which St. Paul expresses it Chap. 4.16 See Col. 11.19 in these words of the Epistle to the Ephesians That we may grow up into him in all things who is the Head Christ from whom the whole Body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh encrease of the body unto the edifying it self in love Which words do not meerly say that J. C. is the Meritorious cause of all Graces but do more distinctly express that Christians are the Members of the Body of which J. C. is the Head and that it is in him we encrease and live a life altogether new and that it is by his inward operation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that his Church is form'd that he was appointed by God the only occasional cause who by his divers desires and applications distributes those Graces which God as the true cause sends down upon men 'T is for this reason St. Coloss 2.7 Paul says that Christians are united to J. C. as to their root Radicati super aedificati in ipso 'T is for this reason likewise that J. C. compares himself to a Vine and his Disciples to the Branches who receive their life in him Ego sum vitis vos palmites 'T is for this reason that St. Paul assures that J. C. lives in us and we in him that we are risen in our Head that our Life is hid with God in J. C. In a word that we already have eternal life in J. C. These and several other Expressions clearly shew that J. C. is not only the meritorious but also the occasional physical or natural cause of Grace and that as the Soul informs animates and perfects the Body so J. C. as the occasional Cause distributes to his Members those Graces which by his sacrifice he hath merited for his Church For my part I cannot comprehend how any one can doubt of these Reasons nor
infinite Wisdom of its Author Additions I use the example of the irregularity of ordinary rain to prepare the mind for another rain which is not given to the merits of men no more than the common rain which falls equally upon Lands that are Sown as well as those that lie Fallow I suppose it to be easily comprehended that it is because the rain falls in consequence of natural Laws that it is so ill distributed in relation to the necessities of the Earth But I think I ought to advise that they who don 't distinctly remember the proofs which I have given in the Search after Truth that it is God who does all that he does not communicate his power unto Creatures but by making them the occasional causes of determining the efficacity of the general Laws by which he executes his designs in a way worthy of him I think I say I ought to advise these persons to read and meditate upon at least the first explication which is at the end of the third discourse for to do it well recourse ought to be had to those places wherein I demonstrate my Principles XV. In truth I am perswaded that the Laws of motion necessary to the production and conservation of the EARTH and of all the STARS in the HEAVENS are reduced to these two The first that Bodies in motion endeavour to continue their motion in a right Line The second that when two Bodies meet one another their motion is distributed from one to another proportionably to their bulk so that afterwards they may be mov'd with an equal celerity These two Laws are the cause of all the motions which make that variety of form which we admire in nature XVI I confess nevertheless Search after Truth in the last C. of Method that the second does not always seem to be observ'd in the experiments which may be made upon this subject but this is because we see only that which happens to Bodies that are visible and that we think not at all upon the Invisible that surround them which by the efficacy of the same Law make the spring of visible Bodies thereby obliging them to recoil and not observe this same Law I must not in this place explain this any further XVII Now these two Laws are so simple so natural and at the same time so fruitful that tho there were no other reasons to judge that nature observes them yet we should have cause to believe that they are appointed by him who always acts by the most simple wayes in whose Action there is nothing irregular and who proportions it so wisely with his Work that he does infinite marvels by a very few Practical Resolutions Additions It would require a whole Book to prove that which I say here concerning the fruitfulness of these two general laws of the communication of motion It will be easily seen that I speak not at all adventures by those who are exactly well acquainted with the Physical principles of Mon. des Cartes But this is not essential to my subject It is sufficient that the Laws of Nature are general These three Articles may be looked upon as a kind of parenthesis XVIII We must not judge of the general cause as of particulars of the Infinite Wisdom as of limited understandings God foreseeing all that should follow the natural Laws even before their establishment could not have established them to overturn them The Laws of Nature are constant and Immutable they are general for all times and all places Two Bodies of such a magnitude and such a swiftness striking upon one another will be reflected after the same manner now as heretofore If the rain falls upon certain grounds and the Sun burns up others if a season favourable to the Fruits of the Earth be succeeded by a Prost which destroys them if a Child comes into the world with a monstrous and useless head which grows out of his breast and makes him miserable it is not because God intended to produce these effects by particular wills but because he has established the Laws of the communication of motions of which these effects are necessary consequences Laws otherwise so simple and withal so fruitful that they produce all that we see beautiful in the world and in a little time repair the greatest Mortality and Dearth XIX He that having built an house and then undermines the Foundation discovers his ignorance he that plants a Vineyard and immediately pulls up that which had taken root shews his folly Because he that wills and wills not wants either understanding or constancy of mind But it can't be said that God acts either by caprice or thro' Ignorance when an Infant comes into the world with superfluous members which hinder him from living or when an Hail-Storm destroys the Fruit almost ripe Thus if God makes the Fruit to fall by a Storm before it is ripe it is not because he wills and wills not For God acts not by particular wills as particular causes do He has not established the Laws of communication of motions with a design to produce Monsters or to make the Fruits Fall before they be ripe he appointed these Laws by reason of their Foecundity and not their Barrenness Thus that which once he willed he wills still and in general the world for which he made these Laws shall subsist eternally Additions I have not here proved a Posteriori or by the effects that the general cause acts by general Wills or Laws whose efficacy is determined by the action of occasional or particular causes tho' these sorts of proofs are very many and undeniable 1. Because I supposed in the Advertisement to the Reader that he had read what I have written against the pretended efficacy of second causes 2. Because none can want these sort of proofs for every one knows that a body is never mov'd before it be struck and that it is never stricken without being mov'd Every one knows it is day when the Sun is risen and that it is night when it is set and that thus God produces the motion and the light in consequence of the general laws of nature 3. To conclude because the proofs a priorit taken from the nature of the cause tho more abstracted appear to me clearer stronger and more proper to the subject I Treat of For if I had not proved only by the effects that God does all that we see in nature by simple general uniform and constant ways it might be answered 'T is true but in grace he does quite otherwise he there does all by particular wills Whereas having proved by the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect that he does all that we see by simple ways since God does not bely himself this proves that he does by the like wayes all that we do not see Thus men begin to reflect that God must act after such a manner as comports with his Divine Attributes Nevertheless at the end of this first Discourse
by his Body as the occasional or natural cause receiving a great number of divers sentiments he might sacrifice himself as an Holocaust in Honour of the true good by suffering afflictions and the privation of sensible Pleasures XXXIV That I may not leave in some Persons an imperfect Idea of the Grace of J. C. I think I ought further to say that it doth not consist in delectation alone for all Grace of sentiment is the Grace of J. C. Now of this sort of Grace there are several kinds and of each kind infinite degrees God sometimes gives disgust and bitterness to the objects of our passions he weakens their sensible perswasives or causes us to have an horror of them and this kind of grace of sentiment has the same effect as delectation It re-establishes and fortifies our Liberty it puts us almost in Equilibrio so that by this means we are in a condition of following our Knowledge in the motion of our love For to put a Ballance in a perfect Equilibrio or to change the inclination it is not necessary to increase the Weights which are too weak it is sufficient to take something from those which weigh too much Thus there are Graces of Sentiment of several kinds and each kind is capable of infinite degrees for there are Pleasures Horrors and Disgusts greater and lesser to infinity That which I have hitherto said of delectation may be easily applyed to other kinds of Graces of Sentiment I only took pleasure or delectation as a particular example that I might explain my self more clearly and without equivocation If there be any other principle of our determinations to good besides the Grace of Sentiment and that of Knowledge I confess to me they are altogether unknown and it is upon this account that I have explained the effects which are necessary to the conversion of the heart only by these two Principles lest I should have been accused of having spoken in general terms and such as only excite confused Ideas which I have avoided with all possible care But tho I have explained my self only in such terms as all Men understand since there is no person who knows not that Knowledge and Sentiment of good are the principles of our determinations nevertheless I don't pretend to oppose those who not making use of these clear Ideas say in general that God works in the souls of Men their Conversion by a particular action different perhaps from all that I have said here * First Explicat of the Search after Truth and elsewhere that God doth in us Since I experience nothing in my self but Motion towards good in general and Knowledge or Sentiment which determines this Motion I ought to suppose nothing else if by this alone I can give a reason of all that which the Scripture and the Councils have defined concerning the subjects of which I treat In a word I am sure that Knowledge and Sentiment are the Principles of our determinations but I declare that I know not whether there may be something else of which I have no knowledge XXXV Beside Grace efficacious in it self and the Grace the effect of which depends intirely upon the good dispositions of the Mind besides the Grace of Sentiment and the Grace of Knowledge the Just also have Habitual Grace which makes them agreeable to God and puts them in a condition of doing actions Meritorious of Salvation This Grace is Charity the Love of God the Love of Order Love which is not properly Charity if it be not stronger and greater than all other Loves As it is Pleasure which ordinarily produces the love of the object which cause it or seems to cause it so it is the delectation of Grace which produces the love of God It is the enjoyment of sensible pleasures which encreases Concupiscence It is also the Grace of Sentiment which augments Charity Concupiscence diminishes by the privation of sensible Pleasures and then Charity is easily preserved and encreased Charity also diminishes by the privation of the actual Grace of J. C. and Concupiscence is easily encreased and fortified For these two loves of Charity and Concupiscence continually engage one another and strengthen themselves by the weakness of their Enemy XXXVI All that proceeds from Charity is agreeable to God but Charity does not always act in the just themselves To the end it may act it ought at least to be enlightned for Knowledge is necessary to determine the motion of Love Thus the Grace necessary for every good work relating to Salvation is the Grace of Sentiment in those who begin their Conversion it is the Grace of Knowledge it is some motion of Faith and Hope in those who are animated by Charity For the Just may do good works without the Grace of delectation yet they have always need of some actual succours to determine the motion of their Charity But tho Charity without Delectation is sufficient to vanquish many temptations nevertheless the Grace of Sentiment is necessary in many occasions For Men cannot without the continual assistance of the second Adam resist the continual action of the first They cannot persevere in righteousness if they be not often assisted by the particular Grace of J. C. which produces augments and sustains Charity against the continual efforts of Concupiscence XXXVII The effects of Pleasure and all the sentiments of the Soul depend a thousand ways upon the actual dispositions of the Mind The same weight has not always the same effects Its action depends upon the machine by which it is applyed with respect to the contrary weights If a ballance be unequally hung the force of the weights being unequally apply'd the weaker may turn the stronger It is the same of the weights of pleasure they act one upon another and determine the motion of the Soul as they are differently applyed Pleasure must have more effect in one who has already a love to the Object which causes the pleasure than in him who has an aversion to it or who loves the opposite goods Pleasure forcibly determines him who clearly sees or lively imagines the advantages of the good which seems to produce it and it acts weakly upon the mind of him who knows this good only confusedly or contemns it In conclusion pleasure acts with all its force in him who blindly follows that which flatters Concupiscence and may perhaps have no effect in him who has attain'd to some habit of suspending the Judgment of his love XXXVIII Now the different degrees of Knowledge Charity Concupiscence and the degrees of Liberty being every moment combin'd after infinite ways with the different degrees of actual pleasures and these pleasures not having their effect but according to the relation which they have to the dispositions of the mind and heart It is plain that no finite mind can judge with any assurance what effect any particular Grace will produce in us For besides the Combination of all that which concurs to make it efficacious
or to produce its effect contains something infinite This Combination is not like the springs and machines whose effects are always infallible and necessary Thus no spirit can discover what passes in the heart of man but God being infinitely wise it is plain that he clearly knows all the effects which may result from the mixture and combination of all things and that diving into the heart of man he insallibly discovers even the effects which depends upon the free act or rather consent of our wills Nevertheless I confess that I cannot conceive how God can discover the Consequences of those Actions which have not their infallibility from his absolute degrees But I cannot prevail with my self to engage in Metaphysicks at the expence of morality and to maintain Opinions contrary to my inward sentiment as undeniable Truths or to speak to the ear a certain Language which in my Opinion says nothing clearly to the mind I know very well that Objections may be made which I may not be able clearly and evidently to Answer but this perhaps may be because even these Objections themselves may be full of obscurity and darkness Because they are grounded upon our ignorance of the properties of the Soul because as I have * Expli of the 7. Ch. lib. 2 part 3. elsewhere proved we have not a clear Idaea of what we are and because that which is in us which suffers its self to be overcome by those determinations which are not invincible is altogether unknown to us To Conclude if I cannot clearly Answer these Objections * First Explicat I can Answer them by other which yet seem more difficult to resolve I can from the principles opposite to mine draw more hard and invidious Consequences than those which are pretended to follow from that Liberty which I suppose to be in us But I will not enter particularly upon this because I take no pleasure in walking in the dark and leading others into precipices The First Explication OF THE TREATISE OF Nature and Grace What it is to Act by General Wills and what by Particular I. I Say that God acts by General Wills when he acts in consequence of the General Laws he has established For Example I say that God acts in me by General Wills when he makes me feel pain by the prick of a pin because in consequence of the general and efficacious Laws of the Union of Soul and Body which he hath established he makes me feel grief or pain when my body is indisposed In like manner when one bowl strikes upon a second I say God moves this last by a General Will because he moves it in consequence of the general and efficacious Laws of the communication of motions God having in general appointed that whensoever two bodies strike upon one another the motion should be divided betwixt them in certain proportions and 't is by the efficacy of this General Will that bodies should move one another II. On the contrary I say that God acts by particular wills when the efficacy of his will is not determined by any general law to produce the effect Thus supposing that God makes me feel the pain of the pricking of a pin tho there happens not in my body or in any other Creature any change which determines him to act in me according to general Laws I say that then God acts by particular wills Likewise supposing that a body begins to move without being struck upon by another or without any change happening in the will of any Spirits or any other Creature which determines the efficacy of any general Laws I say then that God moves this body by a particular will III. According to these definitions it appears that I am so far from denying providence that on the contrary I suppose that it is God who acts all in all that the nature of the Pagan Philosophers is a Chimaera and that properly speaking that which is called Nature is nothing else but the general Laws which God has establish'd for the making or preserving his Work after the most simple ways by an action always uniform constant perfectly worthy of infinite wisdom and the universal cause That which I here suppose tho certain for reasons which I have elsewhere given is not absolutely necessary to prove what I intend For if it be suppos'd that God has communicated his power to Creatures and that bodies which are about us have a real and true force by which they may act upon our soul and render it happy or miserable by pleasure or grief and that bodies in motion have in themselves a certain entity which is called a Quality imprinted which they give to those they meet and give it with that readiness and uniformity which they suppose it will be equally easie for me to prove that which I design for then the efficacy of the action of the Concourse of the general cause will be necessarily determined by the action of the particular cause God for example will be oblig'd according to these principles to afford his concourse to a body at the moment wherein it strikes upon others But this body may communicate motion to them and this is certainly to act by vertue of a general Law Nevertheless I don't reason according to this supposition because I believe it altogether false as I have shewed in the Third Chapter of the Second Part of the Sixth Book of The Search after Truth in the Explication of the same Chapter and elsewhere These Truths supposed I here subjoyn the Marks by which it may be known whether an effect be produc'd by a general will or by a particular Marks by which it may be judged whether an effect is produced by a General or by a Particular Will IV. When we see an effect immediately follow the action of an occasional cause we ought to judge that this effect is produced by the efficacy of a general will A Body is immediately moved after it is struck the striking of bodies upon one another is the occasional cause therefore this body is mov'd by a general will A Stone falls upon the head of a Man and kills him and this stone falls as others do I mean that its motion is continued almost according to Arithmetical Proportion 1 3 5 7 9 c. This supposed I say that it is moved by the efficacy of a general will or according to the Laws of the communication of motion as it is easie to demonstrate V. When we see an effect produc'd and yet the occasional cause which is known to us is not concern'd therein we have reason to think that this effect is produc'd by a paticular will supposing that this effect be not visibly unworthy of its cause as I shall shew hereafter For example when a body is mov'd without being struck upon by another it is very probable that this body is moved by a particular will nevertheless we are not altogether assur'd thereof For supposing there should
be a general Law that bodies should be moved according to the different wills of Angels or any other such like it is plain that this body might be moved tho it was not struck since the particular will of any Angel according to this supposition might determine the will of the general cause to move it Thus we may be often assured that God acts by general wills but we can never be assur'd that he acts by particular wills even in the best attested miracles VI. Since we don't sufficiently know the divers combinations of occasionalc auses to discover whether such and such effects happen in consequence of their actions since we are not for example knowing enough to discern whether such a shower of rain be produc'd by the necessary consequence of the communication of motions or by a particular will we ought to judge that an effect is produced by a general will when it is plain that the cause is not designed for a particular end For the wills of intelligent beings have necessarily some end general wills one general end and particular a particular end Nothing is more evident For example tho I can't discover whether the rain which falls in a meadow falls there in consequence of general laws or by the particular will of God I have reason to think that it falls there in by a general will if I see that it falls as well upon the neighbouring Lands or into the River which runs by this Meadow as upon the Meadow its self For if GOD caused it to rain upon this Meadow by a particular good will which he has for the owner thereof this rain would not fall into the River where it is useless since it could not fall therein without a cause or a will in God which necessarily has some end VII But it is still much more reasonable to think that an effect is produced by a general will when the effect is contrary or else useless to the design which faith or reason teaches us the cause proposes to himself For Example the end which God proposes in the divers sensations which he gives to the soul when we taste different fruits is that we should eat those which are proper to nourish the body and reject others I suppose this to be so Therefore when God gives us a grateful sentiment at the time when we eat poison or fruits that are poisoned he does not act in us by particular wills We ought to judge thus for this grateful sentiment is the cause of our death and God does give us our sentiments that he may preserve our life by a suitable Nourishment I say again I suppose it thus for I onely speak in relation to Grace which God gives us doubtless for our Conversion so that it is plain that God does not dispence it to men by particular wills since it often renders us more culpable and more criminal and God cannot have such a fatal Design God therefore does not give us a grateful sentiment by particular wills when we eat poison'd fruit But since poison'd fruits excite in our brain motions like unto those which good fruits produce there God gives us the same sentiments by the general Laws which unite the soul to the body to the end that she may take care of its preservation In like manner God does not give to those who have lost an arm sentiments of grief relating to this arm but by a general will for it is useless to the body of this man for his soul to suffer grief in relation to an arm which he has not The same may be said of the motions which are produced in the body of a Man which commits any crime In short supposing we are obliged to think that God sends rain upon the Earth to make it Fruitful we cannot think that he distributes it by particular wills since it rains upon the Sands and the Sea as well as upon Cultivated ground and it often rains so much upon sound Land that the Corn thereby is spoiled and Mens labours made useless Thus it is certain that the rain which is useless and hurtful to the Fruits of the Earth are the necessary consequences of the general Laws of the communication of motions which God hath established to produce in the World the best effects supposing that which I here repeat that God intended not that the rain should make the Earth to become barren VIII In short when any thing happens which is very singular there 's reason to think that it is not produced by a general will nevertheless it is impossible to be assur'd thereof For Example * Supposing there was any Reason for the Author 's high Esteem of that Ceremony the Example serves his Purpose well enough In a Procession of the H. Sacrament it rains upon the Company but not upon the Altar-Cloath or those that carry it there is reason to think that this happens by a particular will of the universal cause Nevertheless we cannot be certain thereof since an occasional intelligent cause may have this particular design and thus determine the efficacy of the general Law to execute it IX When the marks which preceed are not sufficient ground for judging whether any effect be or be not produced by a general will yet we ought to think that it is produced by a general will if it be evident that an occasional cause is established for such like effects For example it rains to very good purpose in a Field we don't inquire whether it rains upon the High-ways We know not whether it be hurtful to the neighbouring grounds or no we also suppose that it does nothing but good and that the circumstances which accompany it are altogether agreeable to the design for which God would have it rain Nevertheless I say that we ought to suppose this rain produced by a general will if we know that God has established an occasional cause for such like effects For we ought not without necessity to have recourse unto Miracles We should suppose that God acts by the most simple ways and tho the owner of the Field ought to give thanks to God for this favour yet it ought not to be imagined that God has vouchsafed it to him after a Miraculous manner by a particular will The Master of the Field is bound to give thanks to God for the good which he has received since God foresaw and intended the good effect of this rain when he established the general Laws whereof it is a necessary consequence On the contrary if rain be sometimes hurtful to our Lands since God did not establish the Laws which make it rain to render them unfruitful a great drought being enough to make them barren it is plain that we ought to thank God and adore the wisdom of his providence even then when we do not feel the effects of the Laws which he hath appointed for our benefit X. In short tho we should not be assured by the circumstances
upon what foundation a Truth so very edifying and as ancient as the Religion of J. C. can be treated as a dangerous Novelty I grant my Expressions may be new but this is because they appear'd to me very proper distinctly to explain a truth which I could only have confusedly demonstrated by too general terms The words Occasional Causes and General Laws appear to me necessary to make those Philosophers for whom I wrote the Treatise of Nature and Grace distinctly comprehend that which the generality of Men are content to know only confusedly Since new Expressions are not dangerous but when they cover something which is equivocal or may occasion some thought contrary to Religion to arise in the mind I do not think that any candid persons and who are skill'd in St. Paul's Divinity will be offended because I explain my self after a particular manner since it tends only to make us adore the Wisdom of God and to unite us strictly unto J. C. Objection I. XIII It is objected against what I have said That neither Angels nor Saints of the Old Testament received Grace in consequence of the desires of the Soul of Jesus since this Holy Soul was not as yet and thus tho J. C. be the meritorious cause of all Graces he is not the occasional which distributes them to Men. Answer In respect of Angels I answer That there is some probability that Grace was given to them once only So that if we consider things in this respect I confess that nothing oblig'd the Wisdom of God to establish an occasional cause for the sanctification of Angels But if these blessed Spirits be considered as Members of the Body whereof J. C. is Head or if it be supposed that they were unequally assisted I believe there is reason to think that the diversity of their Graces came from him who-is Head of Angels as well as Men and that in this capacity he by his sacrifice not only merited all Graces which God gave to his Creatures but also diversly applied these same Graces to them by his different desires Since it cannot be denied that J. C. along time before he was born or could merit was the meritorious cause of Graces which were given to the Angels and Saints of the Old Testament it must in my opinion be granted that by his Prayers he might have been the occasional cause of the same Graces a long time before they were ask'd For there is no necessary relation between occasional causes and the time of their producing their effects and tho ordinarily these sorts of causes do produce their effects at the very time of their action nevertheless since their action is not efficacious in its self seeing its efficacy depends upon the will of the universal cause it is not necessary that it should actually exist that they may produce their effects Suppose for example That J. C. to day asks of his Father that such an one may receive such an assistance at certain times of his life the Prayer of J. C. will infallibly determine the efficacy of the general Will of God which is to save all Men in his Son This person shall receive these assistances tho the Soul of J. C. actually thinks of quite another thing and tho it should never more think of that which it desired for him Now the Prayer of J. C. which is already pass'd is not more present to his Father than the future for whatsoever happens in all times is equally present to God Thus since God loves his Son and knows that his Son will have such desires in respect of his Ancestors and the People of his own Nation and also in respect of Angels who were to enter into the Spiritual Edifice of his Church and compose the Body of which he is the Head he seems to have been obliged to accomplish the desires of his Son before they were made to the end that the Elect who were before his birth and whom he purchased by the merit of his sacrifice should as particularly belong to him as others and he should be their Head as truly as he is ours I confess it is convenient that meritorious and occasional causes should go before their effects rather than follow them and even order its self requires that these causes and their effects do exist at the same time For 't is clear that all merit should be presently rewarded and that every occasional cause should actually produce its effect provided that nothing hinder but that this may and ought to be so But since Grace was absolutely necessary to the Angels and to the Patriarchs it could not be differ'd As for the Glory and Reward of the Saints of the Old Testament seeing it might be delay'd it was expedient that God should suspend its accomplishment till J. C. was ascended into Heaven and made an High-Priest over the House of God and began to use the soveraign power of an occasional cause of all Graces which he had merited by his Labours upon Earth Thus we believe that the Patriarchs did not enter into Heaven till J. C. himself their Head their Mediator and their Fore-runner was therein entred Nevertheless tho it should be granted that God should not have appointed an occasional cause for all Graces given to the Angels and the Patriarchs I do not see how it can be concluded that at present J. C. does not dispense to the Body of the Church that Spirit which gives it increase and nourishment that he prays not for it or that his Desires or Prayers do not infallibly obtain their effect or in a word that he is not the occasional cause which applies those Graces to to Men which he has merited for them Before J. C. God gave Grace by particular Wills This I grant if it be desired the necessity of Order requires it the occasional Cause could not regularly be so soon establish'd the Elect were but very few But at present when the rain of Grace is generally sent upon all the World when it falls not as heretofore upon a very few Men of one chosen Nation when J. C. may or ought to be establish'd the occasional cause of the goods which he has merited for his Church what reason is there to believe that God should still work Miracles as often as he gives good Sentiments For certainly all that God does by particular Wills is a Miracle since it happens not by the general Laws which he has established and whose efficacy is determin'd by occasional causes But how can we think that to save Men he should work all those Miracles which are useless to their salvation I mean that he should give all those Graces which they resist because they are not proportioned to the actual strength of their concupiscence St. John teaches us that Christians receive
of J. C. John 1.17 abundant Graces because says he the Law was given by Moses but true Grace by Jesus Christ. For in truth the Graces which were before J. C. ought not to be compared to those which he distributed after his triumph If they were miraculous it must be thought they were very rare Even the Grace of the Apostles before the Holy Spirit was given to them was not to be compared with those which they received when the Soveraign Priest of good things to come being entred by his Blood into the Holy of Holies by the strength of his Prayers obtain'd and by the dignity of his Person sent the Holy Spirit to animate and sanctifie his Church The strange Blindness of the Jews their gross and carnal Sentiments their frequent relapses into Idolatry after so many Miracles do sufficiently shew they had scarce any love for true goods and the fearfulness of the Apostles before they received the Holy Spirit is a sensible mark of their weakness Thus Grace in this time was very rare because as yet our Nature was not made in J. C. the occasional cause of our Graces as yet J. C. was not fully consecrated a Priest according to the Order of Melchisedech and his Father had not yet given him that immortal and glorious Life Heb. 5.5 10. Heb. 7.16 17. which is the particular character of his Priesthood For it was necessary that J. C. should enter into the Heavens and receive the glory and power of being the occasional cause of all goods before he sent the Spirit according to the words of St. John John 7.39 John 16.7 The Spirit was not yet given because J. C. was not yet glorified And according to these words of Christ himself It is expedient for you that I go For if I go not the Comforter will not come But if I go I will send him unto you Now it is not to be imagined that J. C. considered as God is the Head of the Church He has obtain'd this honour as Man the Head and the Members ought to be of the same nature It is as Man that J. C. interceeds for Men it is as Man that he has received of God soveraign power over his Church For since God does not interceed at all he as God has not received that Name which is above every Name he is equal to the Father and absolute Master of all things by right of his birth These Truths are evident and J. C. himself assures us of them John 5.22 to 27. since he says that his Father gave him power to judge Men because he was the Son of Man Thus we must not think that those Expressions of Scripture which teach us that J. C. is the Author of Grace ought to be understood of J. C. considered according to his Divine Person For if this was so I confess I should not have demonstrated that he is the occasional cause of it he would have been only the true cause thereof But since it is certain that the three Persons of the Trinity are equally the true causes of Grace seeing all the outward Operations of God are common to the three Persons my Arguments cannot be denied since the Holy Scripture says of the Son and not of the Father nor of the Spirit that he is the Head of the Church and that under this character he communicates Life to all the Members which compose it Object II. XIV It is God who gives to the Soul of J. C. all Thoughts and Motions which it has in the formation of his Mystical Body So that if on one hand the Wills of J. C. as natural and occasional Causes determine the efficacy of God's general Will on the other hand it is God himself who determines the divers Wills of J. C. Thus it comes to the same thing for assuredly the Wills of J. C. are always conformable to those of his Father Answer I confess that the particular wills of J. C. are always conformable to those of the Father but this is not because the Father has particular wills which answer to those of the Son and determine them This is only because the wills of the Son are always conformable to Order in general which is necessarily the rule of the divine wills and of those which love God For to love Order is is to love God it is to will what God wills it is to be Just Wise Regular in his love The Soul of J. C. would form to the Glory of his Father the most Sacred Magnificent and Perfect Temple that can be Order requires this for nothing can be made too great for God All the divers desires of this Soul ever intent upon the Execution of its design come also to it from God or the Word to which it is united But the occasional causes of all these thoughts most certainly are its divers desires for it thinks on what it will Now these divers desires are sometimes altogether free probably the thoughts which excite these desires do not always invincibly determine the Soul of J. C. to form and resolve to execute them It is equally advantagious to the design of Jesus Christ whether it be Peter or John who does that which the regularity of his work requires It is true that the soul of Jesus Christ is not indifferent as to what respects the glory of his Father or that which Order necessarily requires but it is altogether free in every thing else nothing out of God invincibly determines its love Thus it ought not to be wonder'd if it have particular wills tho there are no such wills in God which determine those of the soul of Jesus Christ But I grant that the wills of Jesus Christ are not free I grant that his knowledge determines him to will and always to will after a certain manner in the construction of his Church But it must be Eternal Wisdom to which his soul is united which determines these wills if it is not necessary for this end to suppose particular wills in God It must be observ'd that the wills of the soul of J. C. are particular or have not any occasional cause which determines their efficacy no not the will of God For the soul of J. C. not having an infinite capacity of thinking his knowledge and consequently his wills are limited Thus 't is necessary that his wills be particular since they change according to his divers thoughts and applications For it seems to me that the soul of J. C. otherwise employ'd in contemplating the beauties and tasting the infinite sweetness of the true good ought not according to the rule of Order to think at the same time upon all the Ornaments which it designs to bestow upon his Church and the different means of executing each of his intentions J. C. desiting to render the Church worthy of the infinite Majesty of his Father he desires also to adorn it with infinite beauties and that by such means as are most
conformable to Order It is therefore necessary that he continually change desires infinite wisdom is only able to prescribe general Laws for executing his designs Now seeing the suture world must subsist eternally and be infinitely more perfect than the present World it was expedient that God should establish an intelligent occasional cause and enlightned with divine wisdom to the end that it might correct the defects which necessarily happen in works formed by general Laws The striking of Bodies upon one another which determines the efficacy of the general Laws of Nature is an occasional cause without Understanding and without Liberty Thus it cannot be but there must be Defects and Monsters in the World which Defects it would be unworthy of the Wisdom of God to correct by particular wills But J. C. being an intelligent occasional cause enlightned by Divine Wisdom and capable of particular wills as the particular necessities of his work require it is plain that the future World will be infinitely more Perfect than the present that the Church shall be without deformity as Scripture teaches us and that this work will be altogether worthy of the esteem of GOD himself After this manner it is that the Eternal Wisdom renders as I may say to the Father that which it had taken from him for not permitting him to act by particular wills it seems as if it rendred him impotent But being incarnate it left God to act as became him by the more simple and general ways Ut innotescat principalibus potestatibus in coelestibus per Ecclesiam multisormis Sapientia Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet produced a work in which the most enlightned understanding shall never be able to observe the least defect XV. After having proved by the Authority of Scripture that the divers motions of the Soul of J. C. are the occasional causes which determine the general efficacy of the Law of Grace by which God would save all Men in his Son 't is necessary further in general to prove by reason that we ought not to believe that God in the Order of Grace acts by particular wills For tho by Reason without Faith it cannot be demonstrated that God has established the wills of a God man as the occasional cause of his gifts it may nevertheless be known that he does not distribute them to Men by particular wills and that by two ways a Priori and a Posteriori that is to say by the Idea which we have of God and by the effects of Grace for there is nothing but proves this Truth See the proof a Priori A wise Being must act wisely God cannot falsifie himself His actions must bear the Character of his Attributes Now God knows every thing and foresees every thing his understanding has no bounds Therefore his manner of acting must bear the character of an infinite understanding Now to chuse occasional causes and establish general Laws for executing any work denotes a knowledge infinitely more extended than to change wills every moment or to act by particular wills God therefore executes his designs by general Laws the efficacy of which is determined by the occasional causes Certainly it requires a more comprehensive understanding to make a Watch which according to the Laws of Mechanism shall go always and regularly whether a Man carries it about with him or hangs it up or gives it what shake he will than to make one which cannot go truly if he who made it does not every moment change something in it according to the different postures in which he puts it For surely when there are a great many relations to compare and combine with one another there needs a greater understanding To see all the consequences which may happen from a general Law an insinite understanding is requisite but nothing of all this is to be foreseen when one changes his wills every moment Therefore to establish general Laws and chuse the most simple and at the same time the most fruitful is a way of acting worthy of him whose Wisdom has no bounds On the contrary to act by particular wills shews a limited understanding and which cannot compare the consequences or effects of causes less fruitful The same truth may further be demonstrated a Priori by some Attributes of God as his immutibility by which Mr. de Cartes proves that every thing in motion describes a right line and that there is always an equal quantity of motion in the World and other Truths But these proofs a Priori are too abstract to convince the generality of Men of the truth which I propose It is expedient to prove it by the signs which I have heretofore given for discerning the effects which are produced by particular wills from those which are the consequences of some general Law XVI God being infinitely wise neither wills nor does any thing without end Now Grace often falls upon hearts so disposed that it is unfruitsul Therefore it does not fall upon hearts by a particular will but only by a necessary consequence of general Laws for the same reason that rain falls upon the Sand and on the Sea as well as on Sown ground Tho God may punish sinners or make them more miserable than they are he cannot design to make them more culpable or more criminal Now Grace sometimes renders Persons more culpable and more criminal and God certainly knows that according to their actual dispositions the Grace which he gives them will have this sad effect Therefore these Graces do not fall upon corrupted hearts by the particular will of God but by a necessary consequence of general Laws which he has established to produce better effects for the same reason that too much rain sometimes spoils and putrifies the Fruits of the earth tho God by his general will causes it to rain to make them grow and encrease XVII If God intended that certain Lands should be barren he need only to cease to will that the rain should water them In like manner if God would that the hearts of some sinners should be hardned it would suffice that the rain of grace did not water them he needed only to leave them to themselves they would soon be corrupted Why should we attribute to God a particular will to make so severe a use thereof and so irreconcileable with the price of the Blood of his Son But some may say God never had this design when he gave his Grace to sinners This doubtless will appear more reasonable but if God gives his Grace by a particular will he has a particular design Now seeing his Grace has this sad effect God is frustrated in his intention since he gave it with a particular design to do good to this sinner For I speak not here of the Graces or rather of the Gifts which St. Paul explains in 1 Cor. Chap. 12. Ver. 9. I speak of the Grace which God gives for the Conversion of him to whom it is given and not
as 't is written in the book of wisdom of a Saint dying in his Infancy Let every one seek after the best reasons of this and if he shall find any other besides this which I have given which renders a reason that is probable and according to the Analogy of Faith let him embrace it and if it shall be imparted to me I shall embrace it with him The Author of the calling of the Gentiles Lib. 1. c. 13. seq observes the same way of proceeding that St. Augustine doth He every where says that the Judgments of God are unsearchable because he opposes the same errors and that Faith doth not suffer us to give a reason of Gods choice of Men from the difference of their natural Merits * Lib. 2. c. 23. If for example he asks himself whence it is that all Children are not Baptized He is not afraid to say that if this came from any ill use of the general Grace given to the Parents that * C. 24. if all received Baptism the Parents were too negligent not fearing lest their Children should be surprized with Death He says that such answers would give some ground to believe that the grace of Baptism was due to the innocence of age and to deny original sin When the question is about excluding natural merits he cries out that the Judgments of God are unsearchable but yet he nevertheless doth not fail to give some general Reasons thereof upon other occasions * Lib. 2. c. 30. His principle is that a Reason of all the Designs and Works of God cannot be given Tertia Definitio temperanter sobrie protestatur non omnem voluntatis Dei comprehendi posse rationem multas divinorum operum causas ab humana intelligentia esse subductas An undeniable principle But neither he nor St. Augustine nor I believe any of the Fathers ever maintain'd that the Judgments of God were so unsearchable as that it should be a crime to seek and give some general Reasons of them They never forbad Men to represent God Amiable and Adorable by justifying his Conduct by that Idea which we have of a Being infinitely Perfect and by the Truths Faith teach us That which I have endeavoured in The Treatise of Nature and Grace The Last Explication The frequent Miracles of the Old Law do by no means shew That God often acted by particular Wills I Do not well understand how Persons who grant that God does all and that therefore he communicates not his power to Creatures but by making them the occasional causes of producing certain effects can Imagine that the Conduct which he observed in respect of the Jews should be contrary to that which I think I have demonstrated several ways viz. That God acts not by particular wills but when the necessity of Order requires him They are always saying as a thing extraordinary that the Old Testament is full of Miracles that God had promised to the Jews Plenty and Prosperity proportionably to their sidelity and obedience and that it was not possible that nature and morality should be so exactly combin'd together that the Holy-Land should abound in fruits proportionably as its Inhabitants did in virtue and good works For my part I willingly grant all this But I do not yet see how this opposes my sentiments if it be not supposed that I acknowledge no other general Laws by which God executes his designs but those of the communication of motions How troublesome is it for a Man not to be able to explain his thoughts but by words which popular use has introduced and which every one interprets according to his prejucices and temper and above all to have for ones judges such Persons who tho they are nimble and quick yet often want equity and penetration of mind Certainly they do not do me justice who say that I think Manna fell every day of the Week among the Israelites except Saturday by a necessary consequence of the Laws of the communication of motions He who is of this opinion must needs be very foolish and impious I am perswaded that the greatest part of the miraculous effects of the Ancient Law was done in consequence of some general Laws since the general cause ought not to execute his purpose by particular wills and for many more Reasons which I might add to those already mentioned But I am far from believing that these extraordinary effects were only the consequences of the natural Laws of the communication of motions I grant that they may be looked upon as Miracles and that there are more such in the World than we imagine But I must explain my self after what manner that I may not be thought to have changed J. C. as Man received all Power in Heaven and in Earth because God executes all the desires of his holy Soul by the general Law of Grace by which he would save all Men in his Son The Father has given to the Son after this manner all the Nations of the World as Materials which he is to employ in the Building of his Church as I have said elsewhere Supposing then that J. C. for the executing of his designs desires a certain degree of Grace for one of his Members or rather that he desired that the fire which sacrificed St. Lawrance should lose its heat it is certain this would be what we call a Miracle nevertheless God would not work this Miracle by a particular will but in consequence of the general Law the efficacy of which is determined by the actual desires of the Soul of J. C. According to the general Laws of the communications of motions heavy bodys fall towards the Earth my arm is heavy yet nevertheless I lift it up to Heaven whensoever I desire it Certainly God who determines the motion of the Animal spirits for the lifting up my arm according to my desires does not then act but in consequence of the general Law of the union of the Soul and Body by which Law I have power to move my arm nevertheless this motion wou'd be accounted miraculous if we did not own some other natural Laws than those of the communication of motions Now I think I am able to demonstrate by the Authority of the Holy Scripture that the Angels have received from God Power over the present World and that thus God executes their desires and by them his own designs according to certain general Laws so that all which appears miraculous in the Old Testament does no wise prove that God may often act by particular wills St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews intending to exalt J. C. above Angels says that God had not subjected the World to come to them as he had to J. C. He believed then as a thing whereof those to whom he wrote had no doubt that God had subjected the present World to Angels If the Angels had had power over nothing it would have been much more easy for
God by particular wills did again form Plants and Animals in the Seas which the first Proposition of the proposed Objection imports the difficulty would be more considerable But I maintain and always have maintained that the Germes of Animals increase and Plants are unfolded in consequence of the general Laws of Nature I hold that all organized Bodies were formed at the beginning of the World so as to draw their nourishment and come to perfection by the Laws of the Communication of Motions and that it is for this reason and the relations which God hath made betwixt the Mother's Brain and that of the Fruit she bears in her Womb. It is plain enough that I here speak only of the primitive parts for which we have no name and which are unknown to us Upon these accounts I say it is that there are to be found so many Irregularities and Monsters among Animals For I never said or thought that God by particular wills forms every day the Bodies of Animals and Plants That which follows viz. That according to my Principles God ought to have formed a World without any other organized Bodies but those of Men that he might have made it by the most simple ways shews that the Objector doth not comprehend my meaning For besides that God might have great reason to form such bodies by particular wills I hold that it being at that time necessary to determine the first motions of matter by such like wills the conduct which he then observed became nevertheless simple by this way of acting and doubtless his work is thereby made more perfect for the wisdom of the Creator is most visible in organized bodies The Objector doth not observe that the difference of bodies proceeds from the various motion of the neighbouring parts and that therefore to form all organized Bodies it was enough for God to give divers motions to the divers parts of matter from the beginning of the World But to do this 't was necessary he should act by particular wills 't is true but it was likewise necessary for him to imploy such like wills to begin the Chaos and divide matter into such parts as would have been fit to have form'd a World without Animals Thus it comes to the same thing as to the simplicity of the ways But on the other side to have formed all organized bodies at once for all ages shews an infinite wisdom whereas to have moved the parts of matter indifferently on all sides to have form'd a World without Animals successively and by little and little would have been no sign of knowledge In a word I affirm and it ought well to be observed that there needs no more particular wills to form Animals than to divide the parts of matter But tho infinitely many more were requisite besides that these wills were necessary when the World was formed they could not disturb the simplicity of God's ways since they preceded the general Laws and the striking of bodies upon one another which is the occasional cause of them But the general Laws being once established God cannot without great reasons cease to observe them Thus we see that God in consequence of his Laws kills an infinite many Animals and that he preserves none of them by particular wills Lastly Tho it should be proved that God doth yet at this day form Insects by particular wills this would make nothing against the main Principle of the Treatise For St. Paul teaches us that Men do not receive Grace but by the intercession of J. C. in consequence of the general Law by which God would sanctifie and save all in his Son and by his Son as I think I have proved in several places and chiefly in the Second Discourse of this Treatise Object VIII The Author says that the passages of Scripture which destroy the efficacy of Second Causes should be taken literally Now these very passages so understood prove that God doth all by particular wills Therefore God for example clothes the Lillies and feeds the young Ravens causes it to rain and preserves even the least Hair of our Heads by particular wills For this is the greatest contradiction in the World that the same words of the holy Spirit should be explained strictly and according to the Letter where Second Causes are to be discarded and that they should not then be taken literally but look'd upon as Anthropologies when we would have it believed that God acts not by particular wills Answer This Objection is surely the weakest in the World For why is it the most plain contradiction in the World that the same passage ought and ought not to be explained strictly and according to the Letter in divers respects The Scripture tells us that God makes the Lillies to grow and clothes them Why may not this and many such like passages be explained literally against the self-efficacy of Second Causes and favourably and not so as to exclude the necessary condition of these same Causes God makes the Plants to grow he forms the Children in the Mother's Womb says the Scripture The rigour of the Letter therefore signifies that God doth this by his own proper efficacy but it doth not exclude the Conditions which he hath prescribed unto himself that he may act after an uniform manner God makes the Plants to increase by his own power but it is in consequence of his Laws by the heat of the Sun and a great deal of Rain This passage and several such like neither speak of natural Laws nor the Sun nor the Rain but if they be rigorously interpreted as if God made the Plants to grow by particular wills and not in consequence of his Laws a Man must renounce common sense and the Scripture it self which in a thousand places speaks of Second Causes as the ordinary means of Providence It is objected That we sind no places of Scripture which prove that God acts ordinarily in consequence of his Laws and I am seriously blamed for producing no such Texts But it seemed to me that I should have rendered my self ridiculous should I have concern'd my self to shew that which no person doubts of For supposing only that the Philosopher's Nature is but a Chymera as I have often proved there is no truth more confirmed in the Holy Scripture For all those passages which seem to favour the efficacy of Second Causes are certain proofs thereof I have if I am not deceived demonstrated in the Explication of the Efficacy of Second Causes that my Opinion perfectly well agrees with the Holy Scripture and that it agrees much better with Religion than that which the prejudices of the Senses and Pagan Philosophy has introduced into the World FINIS
suffer all men to be engaged in Sin that he might have mercy upon them all in Jesus Christ XXXV Thus since the first man was able by the strength of his Love to persevere in original righteousness it was not necessary that God shou'd keep him to his duty by preventing pleasures he having no concupiscence to overcome it was not fit that God shou'd prevent his free will by the delectation of his grace In short having all that was necessary for meriting his reward God who does nothing that is useless ought to have left him to himself tho he foresaw his fall since he intended to raise him up in Jesus Christ to confound free will and to make his mercy Illustrious Let us endeavour at present to find out the ways by which God executes his eternal purpose of Sanctifying his Church XXXVI For tho in the establishment of the future World God acts by ways very different from those by which he preserves the present nevertheless we ought not to imagine that this difference is such as that the Laws of grace do not carry in them the character of the cause which has established them Since God himself is the Author of the Order of Grace and of that of Nature it is necessary that these two Orders agree with one another in respect of all that which they have in them relating to the Wisdom and other Attributes of their Author Thus since God is a general cause whose wisdom has no limits it is necessary for reasons which I have already mentioned that in the Order of Grace as well as in that of Nature he should act as a general cause that having for his end his own glory by the raising of his Church he should establish the most simple and general Laws and which compared with their effect have the greatest proportion of Wisdom and Fruitfulness XXXVII The more any Agent has of knowledge the more extensive is his will A mind much limited every moment takes up new resolutions and when he undertakes to execute any one of them he uses several means some of which are always useless In a word a stinted mind does not sufficiently compare the means with the end the strength and the Action with the effect which they shou'd produce On the contrary anextensive and penetrating spirit compares and weighs all things He does not take up his resolutions but by the knowledge which he has of the means of executing them and when he sees that these means wisely relate to their effect he employs them The more simple any Machines are and the more different their effects the more Spiritual they are and more worthy of Esteem The great number of the Laws of any State often shews the want of penetration and comprehension of mind in the Law-Makers It being rather experience of the want of 'em than a wise foreknowledge which has ordained them God whose Wisdom has no bounds must make use of the most simple and most fruitful ways in the formation of the future World as well as for the conservation of the present He ought not to multiply his wills which are the executing laws of his purposes but so far as necessity obliges him thereunto He must act by general wills and thus establish a constant and regular order according to which he foresaw by the infinite comprehension of his Wisdom that such an admirable work as his is might be form'd Let us see the consequences of this principle and the application which may be made thereof for the explaining those difficulties which may appear sufficiently entangled Additions I don't think that any one can read this Article and those which go before with attention without granting that seeing God cannot be false to himself nor act by those ways which do not agree with his Attributes he is obliged to perform his designs by the most simple means the most general uniform and constant ways Therefore I shall net spend time to prove this in particular by the Idea of a being infinitely perfect and by all the natural effects of causes which we know Besides all that I am to say I have proved this principle several ways in the Search after Truth by overthrowing the pretended efficacy of second causes in the Med. Christ from the fourth to the eighth inclusively and also in the Explications which are at the end of this Treatise But let us see if the use which I am about to make of this principle for explaining the truth which faith teaches us does not at once demonstrate both this principle and these truths XXXVIII The H. Scripture teaches us on the one side that God wills that all men shou'd be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth and on the other that he doth all that he wills and yet nevertheless Faith is not given to all the World and that the number of those who Perish is even greater than of the Predestinated how shall we make this agree with his Power Additions It is because his Wisdom renders him unable For since it is that which obliges to him to act by the most simple ways it is not possible that all men shou'd be saved by reason of this simplicity of his ways XXXIX God from all eternity foresaw Original Sin and the infinite number of Persons whom this sin wou'd carry down to Hell Nevertheless he created the first Man in an Estate from which he knew he wou'd fall and also made such a relation between this Man and his Posterity as must communicate to them his sin and render them all worthy of his Aversion and his Anger How does this agree with his goodness Additions It is because God more loves his Wisdom than his work For since his Wisdom prescribes unto him the ways which best suit with his Attributes and since his ways require that Adam being otherwise able to persevere should not have had preventing Grace that which did happen ought to have happened to him XL God often communicates his Graces tho they have not the effect for which his goodness obliges us to think they were given He makes some persons to encrease in Piety till towards the end of their life and then sin reigns over them to their death and throws them into Hell He makes the dew of grace to fall upon hardn'd hearts as well as upon prepared Souls men resist it and render it useless for their Salvation In a word God unmakes and renews continually it seems as if he will'd and will'd not the same thing How can this agree with his Wisdom Additions It is because since God ought not to Sanctify men by particular wills he does not give Grace to such an one upon such an occasion to the end that it should have such a certain effect and nothing more It becomes limited Vnderstandings to act after this manner But God having an infinite understanding it became him to establish general Laws for the executing of his designs This is what I have
already so often said and shall further say in the following Articles XLI Behold as I think the great difficulties all the Oeconomy of Religion the Idea which we have of a good wise and powerful God constant in his designs regular in his actions a thousand places of Scripture supplying us with many more against that which we see come to pass every day in the order of Grace and tho very able men have answered them yet it seems to me they cannot be so easily resolved by their principles as by that I shall lay down XLII As for my self I have always believed that God in truth wills in general that all men should be saved Both Reason and Scripture has always hindred me from doubting thereof And tho some Authors for whom I have a great respect have in the foregoing Ages publish't divers explications of this Truth I never could easily admit of those which seem'd without any necessity to set bounds to the infinite goodness and mercy of God Thus consulting the Idea which all men have of God I entertained the Sentiment which I at present expose to the censure of all those who examine it with Attention and judge of it with Equity Additions We tempt God when we desire him to do that which he ought not to do that is to say that he should act after a particular manner and not in consequence of general Laws otherwise what harm wou'd it be for one to cast himself headlong as Satan desired J. G. to do If it be as wise for to sustain an heavy body in the Air as to make it fall upon the Earth we should not tempt him we should not engage him to do a thing unworthy of him when trusting in his goodness we should throw our selves out of the windows In a word provided a man has always a good design he can never want prudence XLIII God being obliged alway to act as becomes him by simple general constant and uniform ways in a word such as are agreable to the Idea which we have of a general cause whose Wisdom has no bounds it became him to establish certain Laws in the Order of Grace as I have prov'd he has done in that of Nature Now these Laws by reason of their simplicity have necessarily woful consequences in respect of us but these consequences do not oblige that God should change these Laws for those that are more Compounded For these Laws have a greater proportion of Wisdom and Fruitfulness to the work which they produce than all those which he could ordain for the same purpose since he always acts after the most wise and perfect manner It is true that God might prevent these sad consequences by an infinite number of particular wills but his Wisdom which he loves more than his Work the immutable and necessary order which is the rule of his will do not permit it The effect which wou'd happen from each of his wills wou'd not be worth the Action which shou'd produce it And consequently we ought not to find fault because God does not confound the order and simplicity of his Laws by miracles which wou'd indeed be very convenient for our necessities but very much opposite to the Wisdom of God which it is not lawful to tempt XLIV Thus seeing we ought not to be displeased that the rain falls into the Sea where it is useless and not upon Sown-grounds where it is necessary because the laws of the communication of motions are very simple fruitful and perfectly worthy of the wisdom of the Author and that according to these Laws it is not possible that the rain should fall rather upon the Land than the Seas so that we ought not to complain of that apparant irregularity whereby Grace is given to men It is the regularity wherewithal God acts it is the simplicity of the Laws which he observes it is the wisdom and uniformity of his Conduct which is the cause of this seeming irregularity It is necessary according to the Laws of Grace which God has established in favour of the Elect and for the building of his Church that this Heavenly rain should fall sometimes upon hardned Hearts as well as upon prepared Souls If therefore Grace is given sometimes to no purpose it is not because God acts without design much less that he acts with an intention to render Men more culpable by the abuse of his favours It is because the simplicity of the general Laws permits not that this grace inefficacious in respect of a corrupted heart shou'd fall upon another heart where it wou'd be efficacious This Grace not being given by a particular will but in consequence of the immutability of the general order of Grace it is sufficient that this order shou'd produce a work proportionable to the simplicity of his Laws to the end it might be worthy of the wisdom of its Author For to conclude the order of Grace wou'd be less Perfect less Admirable less Amiable if it was more Composed XLV If God should have given Grace by particular wills without doubt for the Conversion of a sinner who had four degrees of Concupiscence he would not have resolved to have given but three degrees of Spiritual pleasure supposing that these degrees of grace had not been sufficient to convert him He wou'd have deferred his bounty till the sinner should not have been in the presence of the Object that tempted him Or rather he wou'd have given this same grace of three degrees of strength to such an one whose Concupiscence should have been less active For what an odd design would it be to give three degrees of Spiritual delight to one to whom four are necessary and refuse them to him whom they wou'd have Converted Does this agree with the Idea which we have of the wisdom and goodness of God Is this to love Men Is this to will that all shall be saved Is this to do all that can be done for them Yet God crys out by his Prophet Inhabitans of Jerusalem and men of Judah Isa V. 3 4. judge between me and my Vineyard What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it Wherefore had I not reason then to look for good Grapes when it brought forth wild Grapes What wisdom is it by particular wills to give so many inefficacious Graces to sinners supposing that God wills their Conversion as Scripture teaches us and that he has not that fatal design of rendring them by his gifts more Culpable and blame Worthy XLVI But if Grace be given to men by most simple and general Laws all these great difficulties vanish away The order of Grace which God hath establish't having more Wisdom and fruitfulness in respect to the work which it produces than any other God was obliged to chuse it for the establishment of his Church Thus we may be assured that God truly wills the salvation of all men that he hath done all for them that he
God hath made the occasional causes of the efficacy of the general Laws of Grace For Faith teaches us that God hath given to his Son an absolute power over Men by making him the Head of his Church and this cannot be conceived if the different wills of J. C. be not followed by their effects For it is visible I should have no power over mine arm if it should move it self whether I would or no and if when I desire to move it it should remain as if it was dead and without motion XI J. C. has merited his Sovereign power over men and this quality of Head of the Church by the Sacrifice he offered upon Earth and after his Resurrection he took full possession of this right Ioh. VII 39. 'T is upon this account that he is now Sovereign Priest of future good things and that by his many intercessions he continually prays unto the Father in the behalf of men Heb. 7.25 Rom. 8.34 1 Joh. II. 1. Joh. XI 42. And seeing his desires are occasional causes his prayers are always heard his Father denies him nothing as the Scripture teaches us Nevertheless he must pray and desire that he may obtain For the occasional physical natural causes for all these words signifie the same thing have no power of themselves to do any thing and all creatures even J. C. himself considered as man are in themselves nothing but weakness and impotence Additions I don't think that hitherto there is any difficulty if it be not in this last Article where I say that J. C. prayeth unto his Father for there are some Persons whom this very much offends For I speak as St. Paul to the Romans and to the Hebrews and as Jesus Christ himself I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter which is to be understood of J. C. after his resurrection according to these words of St. John The spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified For the Spirit fell not upon the Apostles till Ten days after J. C. was entered into the Holy of Holies a Sovereign Priest of true good things In all these Articles I speak only of J. C. as to his humanity according to which he received all power in Heaven and Earth because all his prayers or his desires which certainly are in his power or otherwise he has no power are executed in consequence of his qualities as Sovereign Priest of the House of God King of Israel Architect of the Eternal Temple Mediator betwixt God and men Head of the Church or to speak like the Philosophers for whom I chiefly write this Treatise the occasional natural or distributive cause of Grace The cause which Determines the Efficacy of the general Law by which God wou'd save all men in his Son XII J. C. having then successively divers thoughts in relation to the divers dispositions whereof Souls in general are capable these divers thoughts are accompanyed with certain desires in relation to the Sanctification of these Souls Now these desires being the occasional causes of Grace they must pour it down upon those persons in particular whose dispositions resemble that upon which the Soul of J. C. actually thinks And this Grace must be so much the stronger and more abundant as these desires of J. C. are greater and more lasting XIII When a person considers any part of his body which is not form'd as it ought to be he has naturally certain desires in relation to this part and the use he desires to make of it in common life and these desires are followed by certain insensible motions of the animal Spirits which tend to give that proportion or disposition to this part which we desire it shou'd have When the Body is altogether form'd and the flesh firm the motions change nothing in the construction of the parts they can only give them certain dispositions which are called Corporeal habits But when the body is not altogether form'd and the flesh is very soft and tender these motions which accompany the desires of the Soul do not only give the body certain particular dispositions but may also change the construction thereof This sufficiently appears by Children in the Womb for they are not only moved with the same passions as there Mothers but they also receive the marks of these passions in their bodies from which yet the Mothers are always free XIV The Mystical body of J. C. is not yet a perfect man Eph. IV. 13. it will not be so till the end of the world J. C. forms it continually for it is from the Head the whole body joyned together receives nourishment by the efficacy of his influence according to the measure which is proper to every one to the end it may be form'd and edified in love These are the truths which St Paul teaches us Now since the soul of J. C. has no other action but the divers motions of its heart 't is necessary that these desires be succeeded by the influence of grace which only can form J. C. in his Members and give them that beauty and proportion which must be the eternal object of the divine Love XV. The divers motions of the soul of J. C. being the occasional causes of Grace we ought not to be surprised if it be sometimes given to great sinners or those who make no use of it For the soul of J. C. designing to raise a Temple of vast extent and infinite beauty may desire that Grace may be given to the greatest sinners and if in this moment J. C. thinks actually for example upon Covetous persons the Covetous shall receive Grace Or else J. C. having need of Spirits of a certain merit for the construction of his Church which is not ordinarily acquired but by those who suffer certain persecutions of which the passions of men are the natural principle In a word J. C. having need of Spirits of a certain character for bringing to pass certain effects in his Church may in general apply himself to them by this application bestow upon them the Grace which sanctifies In like manner as the mind of an Architect thinks in general upon square stones for example when these sort of stones are actually necessary for his building XVI But as the soul of J. C. is not a general cause there is reason to think that it often has particular desires in respect of certain particular persons When we pretend to speak exactly of God we ought not to consult our selves and make him act as we do we ought to consult the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect and make him act according to this Idea but when we speak of the action of the soul of Jesus we may consult our selves we may suppose it to act as particular causes would act which yet are joyned to eternal wisdom We have reason for example to believe that the calling of St. Paul was the effect of the efficacy of a particular
may be inferred from these Truths XLV It must be observed that J. C. who alone is the meritorious cause of the good things which God gives us according to the order of Nature is sometimes the occasional cause of knowledge as well as of sentiment Nevertheless I believe that this is very rare because in truth it is not necessary J. C. as much as is possible makes Nature serve Grace For besides that Reason teaches us that order requires this as being the most simple way this sufficiently appears by his management upon Earth and by that order which he has founded and still preserves in his Church J. C. made use of preaching the Word for to enlighten the World and sent forth his Disciples two by two to prepare the people to receive him Luke X. 1. Eph. IV. 12. 12. He hath appointed Apostles Prophets Evangelists Doctours Bishops Priests for the Edification of the Church Is not this to make Nature serviceable to Grace and to communicate the knowledge of Faith to the minds of Men by the most simple and natural ways In truth it did not become J. C. upon Earth to enlighten Men by particular wills since he might instruct them as inward Truth and eternal Wisdom by the most simple and most fruitful Laws of Nature XLVI That which seems most dark in the order which God hath observed in founding his Church is doubtless the times the place and other circumstances of the Incarnation of his Son and the preaching of the Gospel For why should J. C. for whom the world was created be made man 4000. years after its creation Why should he be born among the Jews who was to reprove this miserable Nation Why chosen to be the Son of David when the House of David was fall'n from its Glory and not the Son of any of the Emperours who commanded all the Earth since he came to convert and enlighten all the World Why did he chuse low mean and ignorant persons for his Apostles and Disciples Preach to the Inhabitants of Bethsaida and Corazin who were resolved to continue in their incredulity and pass by Tyre and Zidon who would have been converted if they had had the same favour Hinder St. Paul from Preaching the word of God in Asia and command him to pass into Macedonia These and a thousand other circumstances which attended the preaching of the Gospel doubtless are Mysteries whereof 't is not possible to give clear and evident reasons neither is this my design I would only lay down some principles which may give some light to these and such like difficulties or at least make it appear that from them nothing can be concluded against what I have hitherto said concerning the Order of Nature and of Grace XLVII It is certain that natural effects are combined and mixed after infinite ways with the effects of Grace And that the order of Nature encreases or lessens the efficacy of the effects of the order of Grace according to the different manners by which these two orders are mixed one with another The Death which according to the general Laws of Nature sometimes happens to a good or evil Prince to a good or an evil Bishop causes a great deal of good or evil to the Church because such like accidents make great change in the consequence of effects which depend upon the order of Grace Now God would save all men by the most simple ways Therefore it may and it ought to be said in general that he hath chosen the times the place the manners which in succession of time and according to the general Laws of Nature and Grace will caeteris paribus cause the greatest number of the Predestinated to enter into the Church God does all for his Glory Therefore amongst all the possible combinations of Nature with Grace he by the infinite extension of his knowledge has chosen that which must make the Church most perfect and most worthy of his Majesty and Wisdom XLVIII It seems to me this already suffices to answer all difficulties relating to the circumstances of our Mysteries For if it be said that J. C. ought to have been born of a Roman Emperour and have wrought Miracles in the Capital City of the World that so the Gospel might have been more easily spread in the farthest distant Countries to this it may be answered boldly that whatsoever men think thereof this combination of Nature with Grace would not have been so worthy of the Wisdom of God as that which he hath chosen I grant that Religion would thus at first have been spread with more ease but its establishment would not have been so divine and so extraordinary and consequently not such an invincible proof of its solidity and certainty Thus according to this combination Religion perhaps would have been at present either destroyed or less spread in the World Moreover when it is said that God acts by the most simple ways an equality is always supposed in all things else especially in the glory which must redound to God by his Work Now the Church would not have been so perfect nor so worthy of the greatness and holiness of God if it had been form'd with so much ease For the Beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem consisting in the different rewards due to the different combate of Christians it was expedient that the Martyrs should shed their Blood as well as J. C. to enter into the glory which they possess In a word this principle that amongst all the infinite combinations of the orders of Nature and Grace God has chosen that which would produce an effect most worthy of his Majesty and Wisdom is sufficient in general to answer all the difficulties which may be made concerning the circumstances of our Mysteries In like manner to justify the orders of Nature and Grace in themselves it s enough to know that God being infinitely Wise he does not form his designs but upon the admirable relation of Wisdom and fruitfulness which he sees in the ways capable to execute them as I have already shewn in the first Discourse XLIX Since the generality of men judge of God by themselves they imagine that he first resolves upon a design and afterwards consults his Wisdom how to bring it to effect for our wills every moment go before our reason so that our designs are scarce ever perfectly reasonable For God does not act as Men do Behold how he acts if I have well consulted the idea of an infinitely perfect being God by the infinite knowledge of his wisdom and in the same wisdom sees all possible works and at the same time all ways of producing each of them He sees all the relation of the means to their ends he compares all things by an eternal immutable necessary foresight and by the comparison which he makes of relations of the wisdom and fruitfulness which he discovers betwixt his designs and the ways of executing them he freely forms the design But the
natural strength or by the ordinary graces for in short Nature may be made serviceable to Grace a thousand ways THE SECOND PART Of Grace XVIII THE inequality which is to be found in the liberty of different persons being clearly understood it will not in my opinion be difficult to comprehend how Grace acts in us if to the word Grace we joyn clear and particular Ideas and if the difference between the Grace of the Creator and the Grace of the Redeemer be observ'd I have already said in the foregoing Discourse that there is this difference betwixt Knowledge and Pleasure that Knowledge leaves us intirely to our selves but Pleasure makes an attempt upon our Liberty For Knowledge is without us it does not touch or modifie our Souls it does not push us on towards the Objects it discovers it only makes us capable to determine our selves or to consent with freedom and reason to the impression which God gives us towards Happiness The knowledge of our Duty the clear Idea of Order separated from all sentiment the dry abstracted altogether pure and intelligible sight of good that is to say without taste or foretaste leaves the Soul in a perfect liberty But Pleasure is in the Soul it touches and modifies it Thus it lessens our liberty it makes us love good rather by the love of Instinct and unaccountable Passion than by the love of Choice and Reason it transports us as I may say towards sensible Objects Nevertheless this is not to be understood as if Pleasure was the same thing with Love or the motion of the Soul to good but because it produces it or determines it towards the object which renders us happy Since none but those Truths whereof we have clear Ideas can be demonstrated and since we have none such of our inward sentiments it is impossible that I should demonstrate that which I here maintain as the consequences which depend upon common Notions are demonstrated Every one therefore must consult the inward sentiment which he has within himself if he would be convinc'd of the difference there is betwixt Knowledge and Pleasure he must also carefully observe that ordinarily Knowledge is accompanied with Pleasure from which nevertheless it ought to be separated that we may judge solidly thereof XIX If then it be true that Pleasure naturally produces Love and that it is as it were a weight which makes the Soul incline to the good which causes it or seems to cause it it is visible that the Grace of J.C. or the Grace of Sentiment is efficacious in its self For tho the preventing delectation when it is weak may not wholly convert the Hearts of those who have very lively Passions nevertheless it always has its effect in that it always carries Men towards God it is always efficacious in some sense but it has not always all the effect which it might have because concupiscence opposes it XX. For example In one of the Scales of a Balance there is a Weight of ten Pounds and a Weight of six Pounds only in the other this last Weight truly weighs for if enough be put therein or taken out of the other Scale or lastly if the Balance be hung nearer the Scale which has more weight in it this weight of six Pound will turn the Balance But tho this Weight weighs it is plain that its effect always depends upon the Weights which resist it and the manner after which they resist it Thus the Grace of Sentiment is always efficacious in its self it always lessens the effort of Concupiscence because Pleasure naturally excites Love for the cause which produces it or seems to produce it But tho this Grace be always efficacious in its self it depends or rather its effect depends upon the actual dispositions of him to whom it is given The Weights of Concupiscence resist it and sensible Pleasures which tie us to the Creatures which seem to produce them in us hinder the Pleasures of Grace from uniting us strictly to him who is only capable to act in us and render us happy XXI But it is not the same of the Grace of Knowledge or of the Grace of the Creator It is not efficacious of its self it does not transport the Soul it does not give it any motion it leaves it freely to its self But tho it be not efficacious of its self it fails not to be attended with many effects when it is great and animated with some grace of sentiment which gives it vigour and strength or else when it finds no contrary pleasure which do much resist it This is the difference betwixt the Grace of the Creator and the Grace of the Redeemer betwixt Knowledge and Pleasure betwixt the Grace which doth not suppose Concupiscence and the Grace which is given to counter-balance the Pleasures of Concupiscence The one is sufficient to a Man perfectly free and fortified by Charity the other is efficacious in a weak Man to whom Pleasure is necessary that he may be drawn to the love of the true good XXII But the strength and efficacy of Grace ought always to be compar'd with the action of Concupiscence with the light of Reason and especially with the degree of Liberty that Person hath to whom it is given And it ought not to be imagined that God dispenses it by particular Wills with a design it should produce in us certain effects and nothing more For when it is said that Grace always produces in the Heart the effect for which God gave it we are deceived if we suppose that God acts like Men with particular designs God dispenses his Grace with a general intention that it may sanctifie all those who receive it or as the occasional cause determines him to dispense it nevertheless he sees very well that in some Persons it will not have all the effect it will have in others not only by reason of the inequality of strength in respect of Grace but also the inequality of resistance in respect of Concupiscence XXIII Since Concupiscence has not altogether destroy'd Humane Liberty the Grace of J.C. as efficacious as it is is not absolutely invincible Sensible Pleasure may be overcome whilst it is weak The judgment of Love may be suspended when a Man is not hurried along by some violent Passion and when he yields to the courtship of this false Pleasure he is to be blamed for the ill use of his liberty In like manner the delectation of Grace is not ordinarily invincible the good Motions which it inspires and which separate us from the false good we love may be oppos'd This Grace does not so sill the Soul as to draw it along towards the true good without choice without understanding without free consent Thus when a Man resigns himself to its motion when a Man goes faster as I may say than it invincibly drives when he sacrifices the pleasures which lessen its efficacy or in short when he acts by reason or loves the true
Son MOses in the second Chapter of Genesis thus relates the Marriage of the first Man The great Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof And the rib which the Lord God had taken from Man made he a Woman and brought her unto the Man And Adam said This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man Therefore shall a Man leave his Father and his Mother and cleave unto his Wife and they shall be one flesh St. Paul assures us that this Carnal Marriage is a great Mystery that it is the Figure of the Spiritual Marriage of J. C. with his Church and also that married persons ought to conform themselves to J. C. and his Church in the Duties which they are to pay to one another See his words in the Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. V. Wives submit your selves unto your own Husbands as unto the Lord. For the Husband is the Head of the Wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the Body Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ so let the Wives be to their own Husbands in every thing Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish So ought Men to love their Wives as their own Bodies he that loveth his Wife loveth himself For no Man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church For we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones For this cause shall a Man leave his Father and Mother and shall be joyned unto his Wife and they two shall be one flesh This is a great Mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church We are the Members of the Body of J. C. formed of his Flesh and of his Bone as Eve was of Adam The Man shall leave Father and Mother and be joyned to his Wife and with her shall make but one Body This is a great Mystery and I explain it of J. C. and his Church * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacramentum hoc magnum est ego autem dico in Christo in Ecclesia The Letter which kills because it does not raise the Mind up towards him who only gives Life applies that solely to the first Adam which is said chiefly to figure the second But St. Paul inspired with the same Spirit that Moses was clearly explain'd the Mystery which the other had only darkly proposed He assures us that what seems to have been written of the first Man and the first Woman ought to be understood of J. C. and his Church The first Marriage is a great Secret for it figures the greatest of our Mysteries the Eternal Covenant betwixt J. C. and his Church a Secret hid in God from all eternity and revealed to Men in the fulness of times This is the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations but is now made manifest to his Saints To whom God would make known what is the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory Col. I. 26 27. I confess that ordinary Marriages are indissoluble that married persons leave their Father and Mother and make together one strict Society and one Body but these words of the first Man Wherefore Man shall leave Father and Mother may be applied to them for J. C. proves by the same words that the Husband ought not to forsake his Wife because it is God who has joyned them together But I maintain that God has joyned them to figure the greatest of our Mysteries that Marriages cannot be broken because J. C. will never forsake his Church of which he is the Spouse that the Marriage of Christians is a * Because it figures Jesus C. it may be called a SACRAMENT in the large unrestrain'd Sense but not according to the strict and limited Sense of the Word as it signifies an Outward Visible sign which not only signifies but dispences Grace Sacrament which dispenses Grace to those who are contracted because it figures J. C. who communicates Spirit and Fruitfulness to his Church In a word that the first Marriage and all which have been since are transient figures of the eternal and indissoluble Marriage of J. C. with Men. Now the first Marriage was celebrated before Sin God cast Adam into an ecstatical and mysterious sleep he formed out of one of his sides or to speak as the Scripture he built up his Wise which he designed to give him he inspired into him words prophetical of J. C. and as yet Adam had not sinned for doubtless all that the Scripture relates concerning the first Man before his sin doth much more sensibly and expresly represent J. C. than that which is written of him after his fall Doth not this shew that J. C. and his Church is the first and chief of God's designs since 't is evident that the Figure must be for the sake of the Reality and not the Reality for the Figure When God created the first Man he made him according to his Image because he thought of him who is the Image of the invisible God he animated him with his Breath * Tertul. de Resurrect Carnis Cyril Alex. Thes p. 153. A. thanas Orat. 3. in Arianos because he then had the design of uniting his Word to our Nature which he foresaw would become altogether earthly and carnal by sin he made him Lord of all Animals because he intended to subject all things to J. C. God by the sleep into which he cast the first Man express'd the death or sleep of his Son upon the Cross and by the Woman whom he drew out of his Flesh and his Bones the Spouse which J. C. received after he awoke or was risen and which he purchased by his Blood If Adam sinned it was not according to St. Paul because he was tempted but through his fondness to his Wife 1 Tim. II. 14. J. C. likewise was not subject to sin and if he was made sin as the Scripture speaks 2 Cor. 5.21 it was in love to his Church If Adam sinned and communicated his sin to all his Posterity he is even in this tho in a contrary sence the figure of J. C. who only dispences Grace to Men. Where fore as by one Man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin Rom. 5.12.14 and Death passed upon all Men. Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them who had not sinned after Adam's transgression who is the * 〈◊〉
these Miracles but by general wills for if they had been performed by particular wills the Angels could not have wrought them by a power which God gave them of conducting his people Thus St. Michael and his Angels were to the Jews that which J.C. is to the Christians The Angels gave the old Law J.C. is the Angel of the new Law as the Prophet Malachy calls him Chap. III. 1. The new Convenant promises true goods therefore the Mediator of this Covenant must be the occasional or distributive cause of that Grace which gives a right to the possession of these goods But the Old Covenant promised only Temporal goods because the Angel the Minister of the Law could only bestow these goods All that relates to Eternity both goods and evils ought to be reserved to J.C. The Angels who are pure Spirits ought according to Order to have power over Bodies inferiour substances and by them upon the minds of Men For since sin the Soul depends upon the Body they may prepare for Grace as in St. John and remove the occasions of falling Lastly the Angel or rather the Arch-Angel St. Michael represented J.C. as the Old Law represents the New the Synagogue the Church Temporal goods Eternal Thus it appears that to prove the New Covenant more excellent than the Old St. Paul was obliged to prove as he has done in the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews that J.C. who is the Minister thereof is infinitely exalted above the Angels It must therefore be granted from the arguments which I have drawn from the Idea of a Being infinitely Perfect from a thousand a thousand experiences that God executes his designs by general Laws But it is not easie to demonstrate that God acts upon such and such occasions by particular wills tho the H. Scripture which accommodates its self to our weakness represents God sometimes as a Man and often makes him act like Men. For tho all that which I have said of Angels should be absolutely false I might nevertheless suppose and should even have all reason to believe that God wrought the Miracles of the Old Law by certain general Laws tho I had no knowledge of them for we ought not to reject a truth clearly known because of some objections which may be drawn from our ignorance of many things Thus God forms and preserves the purely material World by the Laws of the communication of motions and makes the Bodies themselves the occasional causes which determine these Laws for 't is the striking of bodies upon one another which determine their efficacy A Body is never moved but when another strikes upon it and a Body is always moved when it is struck upon God preserves the life of Men and likewise Civil Society by the general Laws of the Union of Soul and Body and makes something in these two substances the occasional causes which determine the efficacy of these Laws Mine Arm is moved according to my desires my Soul suffers pain when a Thorn pricks me God builds up his great Work by the general Laws of Grace according to which he would save all Men in his Son and because all Men are born sinners God draws the occasional causes which determine the efficacy of his general Laws only from J.C. who is the Head which influences his Members the Mediator betwixt God and Men the Sovereign Priest of good things the true Solomon who has received Wisdom without measure to make a Work whereof the Jewish Temple was but the figure how Magnificent soever it was To Conclude God governed the Jews by general Laws the efficacy of which was determined by the Action of St. Michael and his Angels In truth intelligent Beings are necessary to conduct Men to reward and punish them that by the Laws of the communication of motions the Hail knocks down the Fruit which the Rain had made to grow this is not properly a disorder Bodies are not capable of good or evil of happiness or misery But to adjust Rewards and Merits one with another intelligent Beings are necessary In a word God has established all Powers second Causes visible and invisible Hierarchies immediately by himself or by the mediation of other powers that he may execute his designs by general Laws whose efficacy is determined by the action of these same Powers For he acts not like the Kings of the Earth who give out their Orders and do nothing else God in general doth all that which second causes do Matter has not in it self any moving virtue upon which depends its efficacy and there is no necessary connexion betwixt the wills of spirits and the effects which they produce God doth all but he acts by Creatures because he was pleased to communicate his power to them that he might accomplish his work by ways most worthy of himself Thus has God done all things with Wisdom I say with Wisdom for an infinite Wisdom is requisite to understand all the consequences of general Laws to rank and combine them one with another after the exactest manner and foresee that from thence would proceed a work worthy of himself 'T is an evidence of limited understandings to be able to do nothing but by compounded ways But a God who knows all things ought not to disturb the simplicity of his ways an immutable Being must always be uniform in his conduct a General Cause ought to act by particular wills God's Conduct must carry in it the Character of his Attributes if the immutable and necessary order of Justice do not oblige him to change For Order is an inviolable Law in respect of God himself He invincibly loves it and will always prefer it to the Arbitrary Laws by which he executes his Designs THE END THE Author's Idea of Providence SEcond causes of what nature soever have no proper efficacy of their own But All their power is communicated unto them by God in consequence of those general Laws which he has establish't Now All Philosophers and Divines agree that God governs the World and takes care of all things by second causes Therefore The Providence of God is Executed by general Laws Nevertheless his Providence is not blind and subject to chance For by his infinite Wisdom he knows the consequences of all possible general Laws And As Searcher of Hearts He foresees all the future determinations of free causes Therefore He proportions the means with the end free Causes as well as necessary with the effects which he intends they shall produce Therefore He combines Nature with Morality and with Divinity after the wisest manner that can be So that the effects of the combination and connection of causes may be most worthy of his Wisdom Goodness and other Attributes for God wills in particular all the good effects which he produces by general ways Nevertheless the immutable Order of Justice which God owes to himself and his own attributes requires or permits that he should sometimes act by particular wills But
an invincible manner by particular and practical wills to the end that he may leave to him more of the glory of his work and make the infinite Wisdom of his Father shine more brightly as he is the Searcher of Hearts that glorious attribute which no spirit can comprehend Now if God acts by general Laws it is visible that we ought to ascribe unto occasional causes to the limitation the dispositions and sometimes the malice of Creatures all those mischievous effects which Piety and the Idea we have of a good wise and just God oblige us to say that he rather permits than has any design to effect For example if a Woman brings forth a Monster or a dead Child or if she lets her Child fall and kills it carrying it to the Church to make it a Christian it is because God observes the general Laws which he hath prescribed We ought to ascribe this dismal effect to natural or occasional causes Super defectum causarum secundarum says St. Thomas God hath permitted this evil since there is none but he can be the true cause of it it may be said in some sence that he hath not done it because it is not for such like effects but for better that he hath established natural Laws and if he follow these Laws it is because he owes this to himself that his Conduct may be uniform and carry the character of his Attributes This is not in the least to blaspheme against the Divine Power as some ignorantly object but it is rather to blaspheme against the Divine Wisdom and Goodness of God to maintain that he wills directly and positively these dismal effects A Man whose Arm is cut off feels grief in his Arm We all of us sleeping have a thousand thoughts in relation to objects which are not at all before us This is because God always acts in consequence of his Laws and gives to the Soul the same thoughts and the same sentiments when there are the same motions in the brain whether we have an Arm or no whether objects are present or absent The DEVIL tempts just Men the wicked solicite good Men to evil Thieves and Soldiers Pillage and Massacre the innocent as well as the guilty God permits this this therefore ought to be attributed to the malignity of occasional causes For tho God doth often from thence draw great advantages by the Grace of J.C. since injustice it self enters into the order of his providence Ordinat peccata says St. Augustine yet these sad effects considered in themselves are unworthy of his goodness There is nothing but good which he wills positively and directly And if he makes use of the injustice of Men to speak as Scripture doth it is because it becomes him to obey his own Laws which were not at first established for such effects In short the greatest number of Men are damned and yet God would save all for he would and can hinder them from offending him God wills the conversion of sinners and certainly he can give them such grace that they shall infallibly be converted Whence is it then that sinners dye in their sin Infants without Baptism whole nations in the ignorance of truths necessary to their Salvation should we rather maintain that God would not save all meerly because of these things Or rather should we not in general seek out the reason in that which he owes to himself to his wisdom and his other attributes Is it not visible or at least is it not a sentiment agreeable with Piety that those ruful effects ought to be attributed to the simplicity in a word to the divinity of his ways and limitation of occasional causes For seeing that God acts by general Laws since he makes use of his Creatures in bringing about his purposes and that he doth not communicate to them his Power but by the establishment of his Laws it is clear that all this proceeds from the nature and action of occasional causes But why has not God established other general Laws or given to the finite action of J.C. an infinite Virtue The Reason is he ought not because his Wisdom exacts from him that he do great works by the most simple ways and that he proportion the action of causes to the beauty of the works And I fear not to say that the Eternal Temple which is the great design of God and the end of all his works is the most beautiful that can be produced by ways so simple and so wise as those are which God makes use of to effect it For I am certain that God loves Men that he would save all and therefore if he doth not so it is because he loves all things in proportion to their amiableness it is because he loves his Wisdom more than his Work 'T is because he does more honour to his attributes by the divinity of his ways than the Perfection of his Creatures In a word 't is because he has the Reason of his Conduct in himself for there is nothing out of God which can hinder him from executing his will And if he should have a will absolutely to save all Men without having respect to the simplicity of his ways 't is certain that he would save all because it is certain that there is an infinite number of means to execute all his designs and that likewise he can execute them by the absolute efficacy of his will without the help of his Creatures I thought my self obliged to represent in few words the Idea which I have of the Divine Providence to the end that it may be easily judged whether it is not more worthy of the Wisdom of God more agreeable to all that experience teaches more useful to answer the Objections of the Libertines better fitted to make us love God and unite us to J.C. our Head and Lastly more according to the Scripture taking it in its full meaning than that humane providence which supposes that God acts always by particular wills and would only save the lesser part of mankind and this simply and precisely because his will is so Objections against the foregoing Discourse With the Author's Answers Objection I. THat cannot evidently be seen in the Idea of GOD which has no necessary relation to him Now there is onely an Arbitrary and not any necessary relation betwixt God and the observation of the general Rules of nature This is one of the Author's Principles Therefore it is not evident that the general cause ought not to produce its effect by particular Wills Now according to this Author we ought not to believe any thing that he says if evidence doth not oblige us thereunto Therefore we may stop here This overturns his new System Answer 'T is true I have said that the general Laws by which God executes his designs are Arbitrary and this is true in two senses First Because God might have produc't nothing For the World is not a necessary Emanation of the Divinity Secondly
Because God might have dispensed with himself from observing the Laws which he hath established for its preservation provided that Order would permit But supposing that God resolved to act I maintain that he will do it after the wisest manner he can or after such a manner as best comports with his Attributes I hold that this is not arbitrary or indifferent to him For God necessarily loves himself he cannot belye himself The immutable Order which consists in the necessary relation which is betwixt his Divine Perfections is his inviolable Law and the Rule of all his wills because God cannot will or act but by the love which he bears unto himself Love in God is not as in us an impression which comes from without or carries him to any thing without himself He is as I may say the Eternal and Necessary Principle of it he is also the end thereof by the necessity of his Being This is clearly seen in the Idea of a Being infinitely Perfect which I have consulted and which I think ought to be Consulted least we should speak of the Divine providence too much after the manner of men Thus in this Idea we clearly see that God can neither will nor act but according to order but by the love which he bears to himself and his eternal attributes but according to what he is but after such a manner as best suits with his Wisdom his Immutability his Prerogative of being the searcher of hearts and his other attributes as I have elsewhere explained It is indeed indifferent to him to act or not but by no means to act well or ill He may indifferently chuse his ways of acting when order permits it that is to say when the ways of acting equally agree with his attributes the different relations of which make that order which is his inviolable Law because he necessarily loves himself but he cannot chuse those ways of acting which are less wise or less worthy of his attributes there being an equality in other things because he cannot falsisie himself because he infinitely loves his Wisdom and after such a manner that it renders him happily impotent that is uncapable of making an ill choice which it may blame a choice which may not be worthy thereof which shall not be infinitely wise nor perfectly worthy of his divine attributes See the 50 51 52 53 and 54 Article of the Second Discourse of this Treatise the 3d Explication the 11th Christian Meditation the 1st Chapter of the Treatise of Morality See also the 19 20 and 21 of this Treatise with the Additions It would be to no purpose to send the Reader to other places of my Books to make it appear that they who make this Objection do not take my Sentiments aright It must be observed that God is not free or indifferent as Men are He is free in a quite opposite sense Men are free in the choice of the means of their Happiness They may take the worse This argues a want of understanding And they are not free as to the end They invincibly seek after their Happiness from without This is because they are not self-sufficient But God is fully sufficient to himself it is indifferent to him to act or not outwardly And seeing his Understanding has no bounds and he sees his own Law in himself supposing that he resolves to act he cannot but resolve also to act like himself because he invincibly loves his Wisdom and his other Attributes against which he cannot offend He is not indifferent in his choice but when there is on all sides a perfect equality in the relations of the different ways with their different works When I said That sometimes tho very rarely the general Laws of Motions ought not to produce their effect I gave this reason thereof Because the Order of Grace to which that of Nature ought to be subservient requires that Miracles should be wrought upon some occasions And I only add by way as it were of Subscription Besides that it is expedient Men should know that God is so much Master of Nature that if he submits to the Laws which he hath established 't is rather because he willingly doth so than by any absolute necessity I did not mean by these last words that the observation of the Natural Laws was arbitrary in God in this sense that he could without reason neglect them that he might work Miracles but that it was expedient God should make Nature serviceable to Grace and let Men know that he is superiour to that which they call Nature For Men look upon Nature and its Laws as something necessary and independent The Mind of Man is naturally disposed towards Manichism The reason of which is because natural or occasional Causes are visible whereas the continual Operation of God in them has nothing in it which strikes the Senses Thus when God works Miracles which astonish the World one reason amongst others is to vindicate himself and hinder Men from being deceived and from having a mean Idea of his power as I have said in the Addition to Art 21. This he doth also to teach them who know that the nature of things is nothing but the will of their Author that God is not absolutely necessitated to do what he doth and that if he follows his Laws 't is because he chuses to do so For the only Law which is not arbitrary to God is immutable Order and whether he follows his Laws or dispenses with them it is because Order requires it It is because God always acts after such a manner as most honours his Perfections the intelligible Relations of which make that which I call immutable Order as I have explain'd it in several places Object II. God acts not as Men. He doth not well consult the Idea of God who judges of his Conduct by theirs Men indeed are to govern their Designs according to their Strength they must compare the Means with the End the Ways with the Works but this is because they are weak It is enough for God to will that things may be The Ways of God are his own Wills So that he doth not compare the Ways with the Works that he may determine his choice after he has compared the simplicity of the Ways with the perfection of the Work But he resolved to give to the World what Perfection he pleased without troubling himself about the Ways because his Ways are nothing but his Wills and all his Wills are efficacious To understand this Objection well I desire the Reader to consult the 13th Article of the first Discourse against which it is made Answer I grant that God doth not form his designs as Men do He doth not as they do compare the means with the end through weakness He is not like unto an Architect who has not Money enough to finish his Edifice He compares the designs with the ways in wisdom with respect to his attributes and in that love which he
impossible viz. That God gives to the parts of Matter such a motion as is fit to form the World without acting by particular wills for 't is evident at the first such like wills are necessary to determine the first motions which presently ought to be very different some towards the right others to the left these moving upwards those downwards to divide matter into an infinite number of parts It is upon this oversight his difficulty is grounded Let us suppose that the World as yet is no more than a rude heap of matter it is plain that Heaven Earth the Stars c. may be formed by a little and little as this Libertine pretends God must needs at first put all the parts of matter into motion or into a tendency to move in a right line some on one side and some on another Thus before bodies could strike upon one another that is before there could be any occasional cause of the communication of motions it was necessary that God should move the parts of matter after infinitely different manners by particular wills Now if it be clearly conceiv'd that it is the diversity of motions which make the different forms of Bodies it will easily be apprehended that God might form the World all at once by moving the parts of matter towards different sides without imploying therein more particular wills than he would have imployed therein had he moved it after another manner which might have been more proper to have made it by little and little Thus it became God to form at once the parts which compose the World not to expect till it should have made it self gradually by little and little as this Libertine argues Moreover it became him to give it the same form which it would have had in time by the necessary consequence of the Laws of the communication of motions because it is certain that the World would presently have been destroyed if God had made it after such a manner as had been contrary to the Laws which might have produced it successively Distinctly to explain all these things to those who have not considered the principles upon which the objection is founded wou'd require a whole Book but I don't think I ought to stay any longer upon it because they who clearly conceive the objection will also easily see that what I have said is sufficient for the solution of it For it is enough to know 1. That God cannot act by the most simple ways or which is all one by general Laws before there are any occasional causes and that therefore the first motions of the parts of matter on all sides ought to be made and determined by particular wills For Bodies cannot hit upon one another before they are moved 't is this hitting or striking upon one another which is the occasional cause of motions 2. That God might have formed the World such as it is only by at first determining the motion of the parts of matter which surround and penetrate Bodies on all sides and that also it was necessary that God should move all the parts of matter on all sides that the World might be formed by little and little in consequence of the natural Laws and that therefore it comes to the same thing only there would have been very little signs of wisdom and a great deal of useless action and lost time if God had formed the World by degrees in consequence of the natural Laws after he had moved the parts of matter indifferently and as it were at all adventures 3. That absolutely speaking God might have made the Heavens the Earth and all things else successively by observing the same natural Laws which he still observes at this day for that which Moses says in Genesis might perhaps be as well reconciled with the Cartesian Principles as with the Opinions of other Philosophers Several Persons have already composed Books upon this Subject and tho they may not perhaps have succeeded therein I know not but that some others may perform it better To conclude Above all things it ought to be observed that God doth not establish general Laws but that his way of acting may be the same and not to govern the beginning of hiâ— action for as I have said it is even a contradiction that God should begin to move matter by the general Law of the communication of motions since before he removes Bodies it is impossible they should strike upon one another Thus God was obliged at first to move the parts of matter and consequently to give to the World all at once by particular wills that form which it was convenient it should have with respect to his designs It became him to form it so as by the natural Laws of motion it would necessarily have been formed that it might be preserved by the same Laws when he had established them that is so as it would have been formed gradually by little and little by removing the parts of matter in a right Line and afterwards observing the natural Laws of the communication of motions Object VII According to the Author God has formed Organized Bodies by particular wills Now the Salvation of one Man is more worth than all the Insects in the World Therefore if God does not save all Men 't is not because he ought not to act by particular wills If it was true that it becomes not God to act but by general Laws he would have made a World without Animals and Plants seeing such a World might have been produced by general Laws whereas particular wills must be imployed to produce Plants and Animals Answer It is certain that God wills that all men should be saved and that he doth not give them his Grace but to save them But it is yet more certain that if God gave them his Grace with a particular intent to save them all they all would be saved Therefore God doth not dispense his Grace by particular wills I have elsewhere explained and proved all the propositions of this argument there must therefore needs be an error in the objection and tho I could not discover it I ought not therefore to quit a Truth proved by every thing which we know of Gods Conduct because of an objection grounded upon that which we do not know Nevertheless it is easie to resolve the difficulty For the Reason why I maintain that God ought not to act by particular wills is that his Conduct may be uniform and thereby carry in it the Character of his Wisdom and Immutability Now tho God when he created the World did form the Bodies of Animals by particular wills it is evident that this doth not disturb the simplicity of his ways it cannot be said that herein he changed his Conduct Therefore God might by particular wills form Plants and Animals and in their Seeds Iodge that which might propagate their Species in consequence of the general Laws without doing any thing unworthy of his Attributes If
love the true good by Reason because Order requires that the true good should be loved after this manner and because Knowledge alone does not transport or invincibly carry us towards the good which it discovers We do no wise Merit when we love the true good by Instinct or so far as Pleasure invincibly transports or determines the Mind because Order requires that the true good or the good of the Mind should be loved by Reason by a Free love by a love of Choice and Discretion and because the love which Pleasure alone produces is a Blind Natural and Necessary love I confess that when a Man goes further than he is carried by Pleasure he Merits but this is because he acts by Reason and as Order requires he shou'd act for that love which he has above the Pleasure is a Pure and a Reasonable love XXX In like manner it must be Concluded that a Man always demerits when he loves false goods by the instinct of Pleasure provided that he loves them more than he is invincibly engaged to love them For when we have naturally so little Liberty and Capacity of Mind that Pleasure invincibly transports us tho we be irregular and our love be bad and against Order we do not demerit For to demerit I mean to deserve to be punish'd a Man must run after false goods with more earnestness or go farther than Pleasure invincibly carrys him For it must be observed that there is a great deal of difference betwixt a Good action and a Meritorious Action betwixt an irregular action and an action which deserves to be punished the love of a Just Person is often irregular in sleep and yet deserves not to be punished Whatsoever is conformed to Order is good and all that is contrary thereunto is bad but nothing Merits or Demerits but the good or ill use of Liberty or that wherein we have some share Now a Man makes a good use of his Liberty when he follows his Knowledge when he goes on as I may say freely and of himself towards the true good whether he be at first determined by the preventing delectation or by the light of Reason When he sacrifices sensible Pleasures to his duty and conquers grief by the love of Order On the contrary he makes an ill use of his Liberty when his Pleasure is his Reason when he sacrifices his duty to his passions his perfection to his present happiness his love of Order to Self-love and does all this at the time when he is not really forced thereunto I shall still explain this more clearly XXXI When two Objects present themselves to the mind of Man and he will chuse one of them I confess that he will never fail to determine himself on that side where he shall find most Reason and Pleasure on that side where he 'll see most good Since the soul cannot will or love but by the love of good the will being nothing but the love of good or the natural motion of the soul towards good she infallibly loves that which has most conformity with that which she loves invincibly But it is certain that when sensible Pleasures or some such like thing does not disturb the Mind a Man may always suspend the judgment of his love and not determine himself especially in respect of false goods for the soul can have no evidence that false goods are true goods nor that the love of these false goods does perfectly agree with the motion which carrys us towards the true good Thus when a Man loves false goods at the time when his senses and passions do not altogether disturb his Reason he demerits because then he may and ought to suspend the judgment of his love For if he had staid a while to have examined what he ought to have done this false good would soon have appeared much the same as it is Remorse of Conscience and perhaps even the delectation of Grace would have changed all the dispositions of his mind and heart For the condition of a Traveller has nothing fixed a thousand different objects present themselves continually to his mind and the life of Man upon Earth is only a continual succession of thoughts and desires XXXII It seems at first that in respect of the true good Man cannot suspend the judgement of his love for we cannot suspend our judgment but when the evidence is not full Now we cannot but see that it is most evident that God is the true good and that also none but he can be good to us we know that he is infinitely more Amiable than we can comprehend But it must be observed that tho we cannot suspend the judgment of our Reason in respect of speculative truths when the evidence is full yet we may suspend the judgment of our love in respect of good what evidence soever there is in our Ideas For when Sentiments fight against Reason when Taste opposes Knowledge when we sensibly find that to be bitter and ungrateful which Reason clearly represents as sweet and agreeable we may chuse whether we will follow our Reason or our Senses We may act and indeed often do act against our Knowledge because when we attend to Sentiment Knowledge is lost if we do not use violence to retain it and because we ordinarily attend more to Sentiment than to Knowledge because Sentiment is more lively and agreeable than the most evident Knowledge XXXIII It is pleasure which makes minds actually happy Upon this account we ought to enjoy Pleasure when we love the true good the mind thinks upon God if it draws near to him by its love and tastes no other sweetness On the contrary God sometimes fills it with bitterness and desolation He forsakes He rejects it as I may say not that it should cease to love him but rather that its love may be more Humble more Pure and more Meritorious In short He commands it to do some things which makes it actually Miserable But if it draws near to Bodies it finds it self happy proportionably happy as it is united to them certainly that is a temptation what Knowledge soever one may have for we invincibly desire to be happy So that a Man Merits very much if fixing upon his Knowledge he denies himself notwithstanding all uncomfortable desertions if he sacrifices his actual happiness to the love of the true good if living by Faith and trusting in the Promises of God he continues inviolably true to his duty It therefore plainly appears that J. C. might Merit his Glory tho he most evidently knew the true good because having a great love for his Father he intirely submitted himself to his orders without being carried thereto by preventing Pleasures Because altogether complying with his Knowledge he suffered very great Asslictions and sacrificed all the most lively and sensible Pleasures to the love of God For he took a Body as we have that he might have a * Heb. 8.3 victim to offer unto God and