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
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
of the knowledge communicated to his mind Otherwise his distraction would not have been Voluntary nor his attention Meritorious Now Nature although corrupted is not destroyed God has not ceased to will that which he once willed the same Laws still remain Thus our different wills are still at this day the occasional or natural causes of the presence of Ideas to our minds Search after Truth 1. explic That God is not the Author of our concupiscence But because the union of the Soul with the Body is changed into a dependance by the natural consequence of sin and the immutability of the will of God as I have * elsewhere explained our Bodies at present disturb our Ideas and speaking so loudly in behalf of the goods which respect them that the mind rarely asks and distractedly hears the inward TRUTH XXXVIII Experience further teaches us every moment that our conversation with knowing Persons is capable of instructing by exciting our attention that Sermons reading converse and many such like occasions may raise in us good sentiments The death of a friend doubtless is able to make us think of Death if some great passion does not wholly imploy us And when an able Preacher undertakes to demonstrate a very plain truth and convince others of it it must be granted that he may perswade his Auditors thereof and even move their Conscience excite their hope and fear and such like passions in them which disposes them less to resist the efficacy of the Grace of J. C. Men being made to live in society one with another it was necessary that they might mutually communicate their thoughts and motions It was needful that they should be united by the Mind as well as the Body and that speaking by the Voice to the Ears and by writeing to the Eyes they should communicate knowledge and understanding to attentive minds XXXIX Now Knowledge what way soever it is produced in us whether by our particular desires or whether some accidents be the occasion thereof it may be called Grace especially when it very much concerns our salvation tho it should only be a consequence of the order of Nature because since sin God owes us nothing and all the good we have is only what J. C. has merited for us For even our very Being subsists not but by J. C. But this kind of Grace tho merited by J. C. is not the Grace of J. C. 'T is the Grace of the Creator because J. C. not being ordinarily the occasional cause thereof the cause of it must be sought for in the order of Nature XL. There are a great many natural effects which may reasonably be accounted Graces For example two Persons at the same time have very different desires of Curiosity The one would go to an Opera the other hear a fam'd Preacher If they satisfie their curiosity he who shall go to the Opera will find such objects as considering the present disposition of his mind will excite in him passions which will ruine him The other on the contrary may find in the Preacher so much clearness and strength that the Grace of Conversion being given at this moment may be very efficacious in him This being supposed a shower of rain or some other accident interveens which keeps them at home this rain doubtless is a natural effect since it depends upon the natural Laws of the communication of motions Nevertheless it may be said to be a Grace in respect of him whose Ruine it prevents and a Punishment to him whose Conversion it hinders XLI Grace being joyned with Nature all the motions of our Souls and of our Bodies have some relation to our Salvation Such a man is saved for having whilst he was in the state of Grace made a step which happily caused him to break his neck And is damn'd for having at some time unluckily escaped the ruines of an house ready to fall We know not what is beneficial for us but we very well know nothing is so indifferent in its self but that it has some relation to our salvation by reason of the mixture combination of the effects which depend on the general Laws of Nature with those of Grace XLII Since then Knowledge discovers the true good the means of obtaining it our duty towards God in a word the ways which we ought to follow since it is sufficient also for those who are animated with charity to make them act well merit new Graces vanquish certain temptations as I shall elsewhere Explain I think it may very deservedly be called by the name of Grace tho J. C. be only the meritorious cause of it And since the outward Graces which act not immediately upon the mind nevertheless enter into the order of predestination of Saints I also look upon them as true Graces In a word I think the name of Grace may be given to all natural effects when they relate to salvation when they are subservient to the Grace of J. C. and remove some impediments of its efficacy Nevertheless if any deny this I have no design to dispute upon words XLIII All these sorts of Graces if we will allow unto them this name being Graces of the Creator the general Laws of these Graces are the general Laws of Nature For it must be observed that sin hath not destroyed nature tho it has corrupted it the general Laws of the communication of motions are always the same and those of the union of soul and body are not changed excepting in this only that what was but a union in respect of the mind is changed into a dependance for reasons I have mentioned elsewhere For at present we depend upon Bodies to which by the institution of Nature we were only united XLIV Now the Laws of Nature are always very simple and very general For God acts not by particular wills except when order requires a Miracle I have sufficiently proved this truth in the first discourse Thus when a stone falls upon the Head of a good man and kills him it falls in consequence of the Laws of motions this happens not because God is just and would by a particular will reward him When a like accident knocks out the brains of a sinner this is not because God would actually punish him For God on the contrary would save all men but it becomes him not to change the simplicity of his Laws to suspend the punishment of a Criminal In like manner when knowledge is conveyed to the mind it is because we have desires which are the occasional causes thereof 't is because we hear some knowing Person and because our brain is supposed to receive the impressions of him that speaks 'T is not because God has any particular will in respect of us but because he follows the general Laws of Nature which he has prescribed to himself I see nothing mysterious in the distribution of these kinds of Graces and I shall not stand to draw the consequences which
ordinarily it is then only and in those circumstances when one only Miracle i. e. an effect which cannot be the consequence of natural Laws doth happily adjust a great many events and the most that can be For his prescience being infinite he doth not work two Miracles when one will suffice So that in the Divine Providence there is nothing that is not Divine or which doth not bear the character of the Divine Attributes for God acts according to what he is He is wise his foreknowledge is infinite Now to establish general Laws and to foresee that from thence a work will arise worthy of these Laws is a mark of such a Wisdom as hath no bounds and to act by particular wills is to act as Men who can foresee nothing Therefore God acts by general Laws God is the Searcher of Hearts Now to make use of free Causes for the execution of his designs without determining these Causes after an invincible manner is to be the Searcher of Hearts and it is not necessary to have this quality for the execution of his designs if he did determine causes after an invincible manner Therefore God ordinarily leaves J.C. Angels and Men to act according to their natures He doth not communicate to them his power that he may destroy their liberty He gives them part in the glory of his work and thereby augments his own For leaving them to act according to their natures and nevertheless executing by them designs worthy of himself he makes it admirably appear that he is Searcher of Hearts Nevertheless the limitation of Angels the malice of Devils and both these qualities in good and evil Men and many other reasons may oblige God to act sometimes by particular wills For a limited spirit tho perfectly united to Order cannot foresee the connection of free causes which is necessary to bring the work of God to its perfection So that where Order permits God must determine Angels by particular wills and make even the sins of Men and the malice of Devils to enter into the order of his Providence And proportionably the same must be said of Jesus Christ considered as Man and Head of the Church and as Architect of the Eternal Temple God is immutable now immutability in his Conduct imports immutability in his nature to change Conduct every moment is a mark of inconstancy So that God must follow general Laws with respect to this attribute if none of his other attributes do otherwise require that he cease to observe it For God acts not but for himself but for that love which he bears unto himself but to Honour his attributes both by the Divinity of his ways and the Perfection of his work In a word the immutable Order of Justice which he owes to himself and his own perfections is a Law with which he never can dispence Thus experience teaches us that God governs the purely Corporeal World by the general Laws of the communications of motions By these it is that he makes the admirable Vicissitude of Night and Day Summer and Winter Rain and Fair weather By them also it is that he covers the Earth with Fruits and Flowers that he gives to Animals and Plants their growth and nourishment Experience also teaches us that God governs Men by the general Laws of Union of Soul and Body For by these Laws he doth not only unite the Soul to the Body for the conservation of Life but thereby he also diffuses it as I may say over all his works and so makes it admire the beauties thereof It is by these that he forms Societies and makes as I may say but one body of all People It is by them that he teaches Men the truths of Religion and Morality And Lastly by them it is that he makes Christians absolves Penitents Sanctifies the Elect and makes them merit all those degrees of glory which makes up the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem When I say that it is by them he doth all this it is easily perceived that I mean they are subservient thereunto in the Order of Divine Providence For it is cheifly by the general Laws which give power to J.C. and the Angels that GOD doth build his Church Further Faith teaches us that it is by general Laws that God punishes and rewards men since Angels who are the distributers of Temporal goods have no efficacy of their own It is by them that God provides for the necessities of his Elect and resists the pernicious use which Wicked Men and Devils make of that Power which they have to tempt and afflict us in consequence also of certain general Laws But all Powers are submitted to that which J.C. has in consequence of the general Laws of the Order of Grace for at present the Angels themselves who command others for there is a certain subordination among them according to the most probable and received opinion are submitted to J.C. their Head and Lord. It is under him that they labour in the building of his Temple They do not now as under the Law proportion Rewards to Merits For the treasures of Grace are opened by the entrance of J.C. into the Sanctuary For it is true that by afflictions the Saints are purified So that it is better that J.C. give unto Men true goods than that Angels should deliver them from their miseries for if good Men were not afflicted in this World J.C. could not give them the form they must necessarily have to be placed in his building Lastly further yet it is by general Laws that God exercises his Providence over his Church that is to say by the Laws which make the Order of Grace Laws which give unto J.C. as Man Sovereign power in Heaven and in Earth It is by J. C that God hath established the different orders which do externally govern his Church 'T is by him that he spreads abroad inward Grace in Souls It is by him that he sanctifies his chosen people that he will govern them in Heaven and recompence them according to their deserts It is by him that he will judge the Devils and the Damned and condemn them to that fire whose eternal efficacy shall only be the effect of general Laws which shall be observed for ever more By him I say enlightned to this end by eternal wisdom and also subsisting in this wisdom by him being advertised by a revelation whose Laws are unknown of all that which Order requires that he should know and of all that he desires to know of what passes in the World to bring his work to its perfection by him lastly acting by practical desires by prayers by endeavours or actions of an infinite merit but of a limited virtue and proportionable to a finite and a stinted work but by him perfectly free absolutely Master of his desires and actions submitted only to immurable Order the inviolable rule of his will as well as of his Fathers and if I be not deceived very rarely determined after
Philosophers according to their principles That God doth all that is real in the Creatures and that he permits nothing according to vulgar Ideas Principles which in my opinion it is impossible to overthrow and which I should be sorry to see overthrown because they are infinitely advantageous to Religion May I not make it appear that the word Permit bears a sense worthy of God which is not contrary to their Principles and yet destroys their Errors I cannot do it without taking another Method than St. Augustine has done May I not ought I not to quit the Reasons which he gives to silence the Manichees seeing that they are made use of by some Persons in defence of their Errors and insinuate them into the minds of Men provided that otherwise I use clear Principles and which at one blow overturns the Heresie of the Manichees as well as Libertinism For this I appeal to all equitable persons as Judges what esteem soever they have for St. Augustin I also appeal to * Epist 143 148. De Trin. Lib. 3. c. 1. St. Augustin himself when he directs his Readers how they ought to judge of his Writings Now 't is evident by my Principles that nothing is more ridiculous than the Manichees way of reasoning who pretended to prove the necessity of an Evil Principle by all those dismal effects which a beneficent and a wise God cannot directly and positively will and which he is said to permit rather than to have designedly brought them to pass tho ordinarily Men do not too well understand what they say when they assure us that God permits and doth not do them But if my Principles overturn the very Foundation of Manichism they also undeniably confute if I am not deceived the most dangerous Errours which the World is at present much more ready to embrace I say then without fear of blaspheming against the Power of God and in honour of his Wisdom that he doth not directly and positively will Monsters and that he doth not produce them but in consequence of his Laws the simplicity uniformity generality of which he ought not to disturb I boldly affirm with the Scripture that God hath no need of the wicked and that if he suffered the first Man to fall and to communicate to us his sin it is because * Treat of Nature and Grace Art 29 30 34. of the 2d Discourse Explicat of the 5th Chapter of the Search c. and of Original Sin Order required that he should not prevent it by the grace of sentiment seeing Adam had no concupiscence to overcome It is because God was obliged to cause Men to be born by the most simple ways of ordinary Generation that so his Conduct might agree with his Attributes and all his Works might have admirable relations to one another but by no means that Sin might be communicated and Monsters produced 'T is true it may be said against the Manichees that Monsters give a kind of Beauty to the World and that God makes use of the wicked and even Devils themselves for the execution of his purposes For all things even Disorder it self set forth the Order of Providence But Disorder always continues what it is God permits it because he can make it serve divers uses But he wills it not because he hath not established his Laws that it should happen and because he hath not made Man free that he should not love him Shadows are necessary in Painting and Dissonances in Musick Therefore Women ought to be abortive and bring forth Monsters What a Consequence is this I can confidently answer the Philosopers That these Monsters ordinarily come from modest Women and subsist but a few days So necessary are they to the beauty of the Vniverse There are many more wicked than good Men reprobate than elect So many Consonances are there in the Harmony of the Creatures Shall there be any Monsters in the future Church and wicked Men in the holy City Doubtless not Behold then the Painter's Cloth without Shades and an Harmony without Dissonances Thus all those dismal Effects which God permits in the World are not at all necessary to it And if there be Black with White Dissonances with Consonances this doth not give more * Force Boldness to the Picture or Sweetness to the Musick I mean this doth not at the bottom render the Work of God more perfect This on the contrary disfigures it and makes it disagreeable to all those who love Order For tho it may be said that Monsters give a kind of beauty to the World nothing is more evident than that this is only a beauty in appearance and that in truth the World is less perfect The weak sighted or the blind make the most stupid observe that they have two good eyes Thus blind Men serve to illustrate the perfection of Man But they do not I hope render Mankind more perfect Vice in respect of us makes Vertue more conspicuous but surely it neither adds to its perfection nor its merit God makes use of wicked Men for the tryal of the good but 't is because as I may say he finds them already made so to his hands for they are no ways necessary to him God did never positively and directly will such Shadows and such Dissonances tho he positively and directly wills that they shall be subservient to his Glory These are pretty Comparisons which please the Imagination but do not enlighten the Mind they are proper enough to inculcate that which is already believed but assuredly they cannot be used as a Principle whereby Libertinism may be destroyed with what Eloquence soever they may be laid forth This is what I should answer not to St. Augustin whose meaning was right and who deserves to be respected for his edifying Answers and such as were fitted to the capacity of those he desired to undeceive But this is what I would answer to those who abuse his Authority and draw from his Writings such Consequences as are fitted to overturn the very Foundations of Religion I grant with this holy Doctor that there is no Evil Principle which notwithstanding all the endeavours of a gracious God to the contrary proproduces all the irregularities of the Universe whether he will or no which was that which he designed to prove against the Hereticks of his time But I am not afraid to give new Proofs to convince the Hereticks of this Age that God sincerely wills that all Men should be saved that he is not the Author of Sin in a word that Monsters whether in Nature or Morality lessen the perfection of his Work that he wills them not and that if he permits them 't is because he wills that his Conduct should bear the Character of his Attributes I will never say that God had a direct and positive will to produce all those dismal effects which Piety and the Idea of a good wise and just God oblige us to say that he permits