Of Old Men. with more Reason ought to be understood of Old Men because the Fibres of their Brain are still more inflexible and that for want of Animal Spirits to trace out new Footsteps their Imagination becomes altogether languishing And because the Fibres of their Brain are usually intermixt with many superfluous Humours therefore they loose by little and little the memory of things past and fall into Infirmities that are common to Children So that in their decrepit Age they have those Defects which depend upon the Constitution of the Fibres of the Brain which are to be met with both in Children and grown Men though it may be said that they are Wiser than either because they are no longer so subject to their Passions which proceed from the vehement Agitation of the Animal Spirits We shall not undertake any farther Explanation of these things because it is easie to make a judgment of this Age by the others that we have spoken of before and to conclude from thence that Old Men with much more difficulty conceive what is said to 'em than those that are younger that they are more obstinately tied to their Prejudices and long receiv'd Opinions and consequently that they are more harden'd and confirm'd in their Errors and Ill Habits Though this ought to be observed that the State of Old Age does not happen precisely at Sixty or Seventy years that all Old Men do not doat nor are all those who are past Sixty always free from the Passions of young People and that we should proceed too far to draw General Consequences from Establish'd Principles CHAP. II. That the Animal Spirits usually observe the Traces of Idea's which are most familiar to us which is the Reason that we never make a sound Judgment of things I Suppose I have sufficiently explain'd in the foregoing Chapters the various alterations that are to be met with in the Animal Spirits and in the Constitution of the Fibres of the Brain according to the several Ages of Man So that but a little Meditation upon what has been said will help us to a distinct Knowledge of the Imagination and of the most common Natural Causes of the Differences that are to be observ'd among Wits since all the Alterations that befall the Imagination and the Mind are but Consequences of those in the Animal Spirits and in the Fibres of which the Brain is compos'd But there are several Particular Moral Causes of the Alterations that befall the Imagination of Man viz. their different Conditions Employments and manner of Living to the Consideration of which we must oblige our selves since these sorts of Alterations are the Causes of almost an infinite number of Errors every one judging of Things according to the relation they have to his Condition We do not think it necessary to spend time in Explaining the Effects of some indifferent Causes as great Sicknesses surprising Misfortunes and other unexpected Accidents which make most violent impressions upon the Brain and extreamly disturb it because these things but rarely happen and for that the Errors into which such sort of Persons fall are so palpable that they are no way contageous seeing they are so easily found out and rejected by all the World Now for the more perfect apprehending all the Alterations which Different Conditions produce in the Imagination 't is absolutely necessary to remember that we never imagine Objects but by first forming Images of 'em and that these Images are nothing else but the Traces which the Animal Spirits delineate in the Brain that we imagine things so much the more strongly the deeper and more plainly these Traces are impress'd and the oftner and more violently the Animal Spirits have past through them and that when the Spirits have past through several times they enter in more easily than into other parts adjoining through which they never past or at least not so often This is the most usual Cause of the Confusion and Falshood of our Idea's For the Animal Spirits that are directed by the Action of External Objects or else by the Orders of the Soul to produce certain Traces in the Brain many times produce others which in truth resemble 'em in something but which are not altogether the Traces of the same Objects nor those which the Soul desired to represent to it self for that the Animal Spirits finding some Resistance in those parts of the Brain through which they ought to have past readily turn aside and croud into the deeper Traces of those Idea's which are more familiar to us And here we shall produce very manifest and sensible Examples of these Things When they who are not extreamly short sighted behold the Moon they see two Eyes a Nose and a Mouth in a word it seems to them as if they saw a Face Nevertheless there is nothing at all in the Moon of what they imagine there Many Persons behold there quite another Thing And they who take the Moon to be such as she seems to be to them may be easily undeceived if they look upon her with a small Prospective Glass or if they consult the Descriptions which Hevelius Riccioli and others have publish'd Now the Reason why Men generally behold a Face in the Moon and not the Irregular Spots which are there is this because the Traces of the Face which are in the Brain are very deep for that we frequently and with great Attention look upon Faces So that the Animal Spirits finding some Resistance in other parts of the Brain easily turn aside from the Direction which the Light of the Moon imprints and enter into those Traces to which the Idea's of a Face are naturally affixt Besides that the Appearing Bigness of the Moon not being much different from the largeness of an ordinary Head at a certain distance the Impression of it forms those Traces which have a great Affinity with those that represent a Nose a Mouth and Eyes and by that means determines the Spirits to take their Course in the Traces of a Face Some there are who see a Man a Horseback in the Moon or any thing else which is not a Face because their Imagination having been strongly affected by certain Objects the same Traces are open'd by the least things to which they have any Relation For the same Reason it is that we imagine we behold Chariots Men Lions and other Animals in the Clouds when there is the least resemblance between those Creatures and their Figures and that all Men but chiefly they who are accustomed to Designing and Drawing many times see Heads of Men upon the Walls where there are several Irregular Spots 'T is for this Reason also that the Spirits of Wine entring without any direction of the Will into Traces most familiar to us help to discover Secrets of the greatest Importance and that in our sleep we most commonly dream of those Objects which we have seen in the day time and which had form'd the largest Traces in the
by Conversion to the Phantasmes or Traces of the Brain So soon as the Soul would have the Arm to move the Arm is moved tho' it does not so much as know what it ought to do to make it move and so soon as the Animal Spirits are agitated the Soul finds it self mov'd tho' it does not so much as know there are Animal Spirits in the Body When I come to treat of the Passions I shall speak of the Connexion between the Traces of the Brain and the Motions of the Spirits and of that between the Idea's and Emotions of the Soul for that all the Passions depend upon it My business here is only to treat of the affinity between Idea's and Traces and the Connexion of the Traces one with another There are three very considerable Causes of the Connexion of the Idea's with the Traces Three considerable Causes of the union between the Idea's and Traces the first and most general is the Identity of Time For frequently it suffices that we had certain Thoughts at such time as some new Traces came into our Brain so that those Traces cannot be produced again without renewing the same Thoughts If the Idea of God present it self to my Mind at the same time that my Brain was struck with the sight of these three Characters Iah or with the sound of the Word it self 't is enough if the Traces which those Characters have produc'd be excited to make me think of God And I cannot think of God but there will be produc'd in my Brain some confused Traces of the Characters or Sounds which accompany'd the Thought which I had of God for the Brain being never without Phantasmes there are always such as have some Relation to what we think tho' many times these Phantasmes are very imperfect and very confus'd The second Cause of the Connexion of the Idea's with the Traces and which always supposes the first is the Will of Man This Will 〈◊〉 necessary that this connexion of the Idea's with the Traces may be regulated and proper for Use For if Men had not Naturally an Inclination to agree between themselves to affix their Idea's to Sensible Signs not only this Connexion of Idea's wou'd be absolutely unprofitable for Society but it would be also very Irregular and Imperfect First because Idea's are never strongly united with the Traces but when the Spirits being agitated they render those Traces deep and durable So that the Spirits being never agitated but by the Passions if Men had no such Union to communicate their Sentiments and participate of those of others 't is evident that the exact Union of their Idea's with certain Traces would be very weak because they do not subject themselves to those Exact and Regular Connexions but to render themselves Intelligible Secondly the Repetition of the Meeting of the same Idea's with the same Traces being necessary to form a Connexion that may be of long continuance since the meeting unless it be accompany'd with a violent Motion of the Animal Spirits suffices not to make strong Connexions 't is clear that if Men should refuse to assent it would be the greatest Chance in the World if the same Traces and Idea's should meet together so that the Will of Man is necessary to regulate the Connexion of the same Idea's with the same Traces tho' this Will of Agreement be not so much an effect of their Choice and Reason as an Impression of the Author of Nature who has made us altogether one for another and with a strong Inclination to unite in Mind as well as in Body The third Cause of the Connexion of the Idea's with the Traces is the Constant and Immutable Nature or Will of the Creator For example There is a Natural Connexion and which depends not upon our Will between the Traces produc'd by a Tree or Mountain which we behold and the Idea's of a Tree or Mountain between the Traces which the Cries of a Man or Beast that suffer Pain beget in our Brain the Air of one who threatens us or of whom we stand in fear and the Idea's of Grief of Strength or Weakness as also between the Sentiments of Compassion of Fear and Courage which are excitedin us These Natural Bands are the strongest of all they are generally alike in all Men and they are absolutely necessary for the Preservation of Life For which reason it is that they depend not upon our Will for if the Band or Connexion of Idea's with certain Sounds and Characters be but feeble and very different in several Countries 't is because it depends upon the weak and changeable Will of Men. And the reason why it depends upon it is because this Connexion is not absolutely necessary for Life but only for living like Men that are to form among themselves a Rational Society Here we must observe that the Connexion of Idea's that represent to us Spiritual Things and such as are distinct from us with the Traces of our Brain is not nor can be Natural and by consequence it is or may be different in all Men for that it has no other Cause than their Will and the Identity of Time of which I have spoken before On the other side the Connexion of the Idea's of all Material Things with certain particular Traces is Natural and hence there are certain Traces that stir up the same Idea in all Men. For Example there is no question but that all Men have the Idea of a Square upon the sight of a Square because that Connexion is Natural but 't is to be doubted whither all Men have that Idea when they hear the Word Square pronounced because that Connexion is entirely voluntary The same thing may also be thought of all Traces that are tyed to the Idea's of Spiritual Things But because the Traces which have a Natural Connexion with Idea's do affect the Mind and consequently render it attentive the greatest part of Men do easily enough comprehend and retain Sensible Truths that is the mutual Relations that are between Bodies On the other side because the Traces that have no other Connexion with the Idea's then what is voluntary do never vigorously strike the Mind 't is not without a great deal of trouble that all Men Comprehend and with much more difficulty retain abstracted Truths that is the mutual Relations between things that fall not under the Imagination But when these Relations are never so little compounded they appear absolutely Incomprehensible especially to those that are not accustomed to them in regard they have not fortify'd the Connexion of those abstracted Idea's with their Traces by continual Meditation and tho' others have perfectly comprehended them they forget them in a short time because this Connexion is seldom or never so strong as the Natural one It is so true that all the trouble Men have to comprehend and retain Spiritual and Abstracted Things proceeds from the difficulty of fortifying the Connexion of their Idea's
Sensation p. 64 Chap. 11. I. Of the Error we are subject to in respect of the Action of Objects upon the External Fibres of our Senses II. The Cause of that Error III. An Objection and Answer p. 71 Chap. 12. I. Of the Errors concerning the Motions of the Fibres of our Senses II. That either we perceive not these Motions or else confound them with our Sensations III. Experience which proves it IV. Torâ—e sorts of Sensations V. The Errors which accompany them p. 73 Chap. 13. I. Of the Nature of Sensations II. That we know them better than we believe we do III. An Objection and Answer IV. Why we imagine we know nothing of our Sensations V. That we deceive our selves in believing that all Men have the same Sensations of the same Objects VI. Objection and Answer p. 80 Chap. 14. I. Of the false Judgments that accompany our Sensations and which we confound with them II. Reasons of these false Judgments III. That Error is not in our Sensations but only in these Judgments p. 90 Chap. 15. An Explanation of the particular Errors of Sight which may serve us as an Example of the General Errors of our Senses p. 95 Chap. 16. I. That the Errors of our Senses are the most general and fruitful Principles whence we draw all the false Conclusions which in their turns also serve us for Principles II. The Origine of Essential Differences III. Of substantial Forms IV. Of some other Errors in the Philosophy of the Schools p 97 Chap. 17. I. Another Example drawn from Morals which shows that our Senses only offer us false Goods II. That 't is God only who is our true Good III. The Origine of the Errors of the Epicureans and Stolcks p. 102 Chap. 18. I. Our Senses deceive us in things which are not Sensible II. An Example drawn from the Conversation of Men. III. We must not confide in Sensible Habits p. 105 Chap. 19. Two other Examples I. The first of our Errors concerning the Nature of Bodies II. The second of these that relate to the Qualities of these Bodies p. 109 Chap. 20. The Conclusion of this first Book I. That our Senses are only given us for our Bodies II. That we must doubt of their Testimony III. That it is not an inconsiderable thing to doubt as we ought to do p. 113 BOOK II. Of the Imagination The First Part. Chap. 1. I. A General Idea of the Imagination II. That it includes two Faculties the one Active and the other Passive III. The general Cause of the Changes which happen to the Imagination of Man and the design of this second Book p. 117 Chap. 2. I. Of the Animal Spirits and the Changes to which they are subject in general II. That the Chyle goes to the Heart and thereby produces some change in the Spirits III. That Wine has the same effect p. 122 Chap. 3. That the Air one breaths causes likewise some change in the Spirits p. 126 Chap. 4. I. Of the Change wrought in the Animal Spirits by the Nerves that go to the Lungs and Heart II. Of that which is caused by the Nerves that pass from the Liver to the Spleen and so into the Bowels III. That all this is done without the assistance of out Will but cannot be effected with out a Providence p. 128 Chap. 5. I. Of the Memory II. Of Habits p. 134 Chap. 6. I. That the Fibres of the Brain are not subject to such quick Changes as the Spirits are II. Three different Changes in the three different Ages p. 139 Chap. 7. I. Of the Communication which is between the Brain of a Mother and that of her Child II. Of the Communication that is between our Brain and the other parts of our Body which carries us to Imitation and Compassion III. An Explanation of the Generation of Monstrous Children and of the Propagation of the Species IV. Some Irregularities of the Mind and some Inclinations of the will explained V. Of Concupiscence and Original Sin VI. Objections and Answers p. 141 Chap. 8. I. The Changes that happen to the Imagination of a Child after it is Born by the Conversation it has with its Nurse its Mother and other Persons II. Advice how to Educate it well p. 160 The Second Part. Of the Imagination Chap. 1. I. OF the Imagination of Women II. Of that of Men. III. Of that of Old People p. 161 Chap. 2. That the Animal Spirits usually observe the Traces of Idea's which are most Familiar to us which is the Reason that we never make a sound Judgment of things p. 168 Chap. 3. Of the Mutual Connexion between the Idea's of the Mind and the Traces of the Brain and of the Mutual Connexion between Traces and Traces and between Idea's and Idea's p. 172 Chap. 4. I. That Studious Men are the most subject to Error II. The Reason why they rather choose to follow Authority than make use of their Judgment p. 182 Chap. 5. Of the Ill Effects that Reading has upon the Imagination p. 187 Chap. 6. That Studious Persons are usually prejudic'd in favour of some Author so that their Principal Alm is to know whathe believ'd without minding what he ought to believe p. 190 Chap. 7. Of the Prejudices of Commentators p. 196 Chap. 8. I. Of the Inventers of New Systems II. The last Error of Studious Persons p. 204 Chap. 9. I. Of Esseminate Wits II. Of Superficial wits III. Of Persons of Authority IV. Of those that make Experiments p. 209 The Third Part. Of the Contagious Communication of Strong Imaginations Chap. 1. I. OF our Inclination to imitate others in all things which is the Original of the Communication of Errors that depend upon the Power of Imagination II Two Principal Causes that increase this Inclination III. What a Strong Imagination is IV. That there are several sorts of it Of Mad Men and of such who have a Strong Imagination according to the Sense which is here meant V. Two considerable Defects of those that have a Strong Imagination VI. Of the Power they have to Perswaâ—e and Impose p. 219 Chap. 2 General Examples of the Force of the Imagination p. 232 Chap. 3. I. Of the Force of the Imagination of certain Authors II. Of Tertullian p. 241 Chap. 4. Of Seneca's Imagination p. 244 Chap. 5. Of Montagne's Book p. 253 Chap. 6. I. Of Imaginary Wizards and Lycanthropi or Wolf-Men II. A Conclusion of the Two First Books p. 263 BOOK III. Of the Vnderstanding or Pure Mind Chap. 1. I. THought only is Essential to the Mind Sensation and Imagination are only its Modifications II. We know not all the Modifications our Souls are capable of III. They are different from our Knowledge and Love and are not always the Effects of them p. 1 Chap. 2. I. The Mind being limited cannot comprehend any thing that relates to Infinity II. Its limitation is the Original of many Errors III. And chiefly of Heresies IV. We must submit our Minds to Faith p.
any other Liquors do It gives us the Foil to speak with Plautus and produces many effects in the Mind which are not so advantageous as those that Horace describes in these Verses Quid non ebrietas designat Operta recludit Spes jubet esse ratas in praelia tendit inermes Sollicitis animis onus eximit addocet artes Faecundi Calices quem non fecere disertum Contracta quem non in paupertate solutum It would be easie enough to give a reason of the principal effects that the mingling of the Chyle with the Blood produces in the Animal Spirits and afterwards in the Brain and even in the Soul it self As why Wine rejoyces us and gives a certain Vivacity to the Wit when it is taken with Moderation and for sometime besots Men when 't is drank to Excess From whence proceeds the heaviness after Meals and many other such things for which generally very ridiculous reasons has been given But though we shall not here make a Book of Natural Philosophy yet it will be necessary to give some Idea of the Anatomy of the Brain or make some Suppositions as Mr. D'Cartes has done in his Treatise of Man without which 't will be impossible to explain our selves But if one reads this Treatise of Monsieur D'Cartes with attention we may satisfie our selves upon these questions because he explains all these things or at least gives a sufficient light to discover them as he has done by Meditation provided one has some Knowledge of his PRINCIPLES CHAP. III. That the Air one breaths causes likewise some change in the Spirits THE second general Cause of the changes which happens in the Animal Spirits is the Air we breath for altho' it does immediately make as sensible impressions as the Chyle nevertheless in some time it produces the same effect as the Juice of our Food does presently This Air enters from Branches of the Wind-pipe into that of the Venous Artery and from thence it mingles it self and ferments with the rest of the Blood in the Heart and according to its particular disposition and that of the Blood it produces great changes in the Animal Spirits and by consequence in the faculty of Imagining I know that there are some Persons who do not believe that the Air mingles it self with the Blood in the Lungs and Heart because by their Eyes they cannot discover in the branches of the Wind-pipe and those of the Venous Artery the passages whereby the Air is communicated But we must not confine the Action of the Mind to that of the Senses it can penetrate what is impenetrable by them and apply it self to such things which they cannot 'T is certain that some parts of the Blood continually pass from the branches of the Venous Artery into those of the Wind-pipe as the smell and moistness of the breath sufficiently proves and yet the passages of this communication are imperceptible why therefore cannot the subtile parts of the Air pass from the branches of the Wind-pipe into the Venous Artery altho' the passages of this communication are not so visible In short more humours are evacuated by transpiration from the imperceptible Pores of the Arteries and Skin than by any other passages of the Body and even the Pores of the most solid Metals are not so small but that there are Bodies in Nature small enough to find a free passage for otherwise these Pores would be clos'd up It is true that the Gross and branchy parts of the Air cannot pass through the ordinary Pores of Bodies and that even Water altho' very gross can glide through those passages where this Air is sometime forced to stop But we are not speaking here of those gross and branchy parts of the Air they are it seems unuseful enough for fermentation 't is only of the smallest parts such as are swift and sharp that we speak of and which have none or very small branches to stop them because they are the most proper for the fermentation of the Blood I might nevertheless affirm upon the Relation of Silvius that even the grossest part of the Air pass from the Wind-pipe into the Heart since he assures us that he hath seen it pass thither by the help of M. de Swamerdam for it is more reasonable to believe a Man who says he has seen it than a thousand others who only speak of it by chance It is then certain that the most subtile parts of the Air which we breath enters into our Heart and with the Blood and Chyle maintains there that fire which gives Life and Motion to our Bodies and that according to their different Qualities they produce great changes in the fermentation of the Blood and in the Animal Spirits The truth of this is every day made evident by the divers Humours and different Characters of Persons dispositions that are of different Countries For Example the Gascons have a more lively Imagination than the Normans those of Roan Diep and Picardy differ very much among themselves and that much more from the Lower Normans Nunquid non ultra est sapientia in Teman Jer. c. 49. v. 7. altho' they be very near together But if we consider Men whose Countries are at a greater distance we shall meet with differences still more strange as an Italian and German or a Dutchman In fine there has in all times been some places that have been renowned for the Wisdom of their Inhabitants as Teman and Athens and others for their Stupidity as Thebes Abdera and some others Athenis tenue coelum ex quo acutiores etiam putantur Attici crassum Thebis Cic. de fato Abderitanae pectora plebis habes Mart. Boeotum in crasso jurares aere natum Hor. CHAP. IV. I. Of the Change wrought in the Animal Spirits by the Nerves that go to the Lungs and Heart II. Of that which is caused by the Nerves that pass from the Liver to the Spleen and so into the Bowels III. That all this is done without the assistance of our Will but cannot be effected without a Providence THE third Cause of those changes that happen to the Animal Spirits is the most general and most active of all because it is that which produces maintains and fortifies all the Passions To apprehend which well it 's necessary that we know that the fifth sixth and eighth pair of the Nerves have most of their branches extended through the Breast and Belly where they are very useful for the preservation of the Body but extreamly dangerous to the Soul because the action of these Nerves do not depend upon the Will as those do which serve to move the Arms Legs and other external parts of the Body I. of the change of the Spirits caus'd by the Nerves which go to the Lungs and Heart for they act much more upon the Soul than that does upon them It must therefore be consider'd that many branches of the eight pair of the Nerves cast themselves amongst
the chief Fibres of all the Muscles which is the Heart that they encompass its Orifices Auricles and Arteries that they spread themselves even in the substance of the Lungs and so by their different motions produce very considerable changes in the Blood For the Nerves which are dispersed through the Fibres of the Heart cause it somerimes to extend and then again to contract with too much force and precipitancy pushing with much violence a great quantity of Blood towards the Head and all the external parts of the Body yet sometimes these Nerves produce an effect directly contrary And the Nerves which encompass the Orifices Auricles and Arteries of the Heart cause very near the same effect with those Spiracles or breathing Holes with which the Chymists moderate the heat of their Furnaces and as the Spouts do which are made use of in Fountains to diminish or encrease the force of the stream For the use of these Nerves is diversly to contract or dilate the Orifices of the Heart and so to hasten or retard the filling and evacuation of the Blood and thereby to augment of diminish its heat Thus the Nerves which are dispersed through the Lungs have also the same use for the Lungs are compos'd only of the branches of the Wind-pipe of the Venous Artery and Arterious Vein interwoven one with another it is visible that the Nerves which are extended throughout the whole substance by contracting of them hinders the Air from passing with so much liberty through the branches of the Wind-pipe and likewise impedes the motion of the Blood through the Venous Artery into the Arterious Vein and so into the Heart Thus these Nerves according to their different agitation still augment and diminish the heat and motion of the Blood In all our Passions we have very sensible Experiments of these different degrees of heat in our Heart Sometimes we feel it manifestly encrease and diminish all of a sudden and as we falsely judge that our Sensations are in the parts of our Bodies and so by that means excite our Soul as it was explained in the first Book so almost all our Philosophers have imagined that the Heart was the principal seat of the Passions of the Soul and this is still the most commonly received Opinion Now because the faculty of Imagining receives great changes by what happens to the Animal Spirits and that the Animal Spirits differ very much according to the different fermentation of the Blood which is made in the Heart it is very easie to discover why passionate Persons imagine things quite after another manner from those who consider them in cold Blood The other Cause which contributes very much either to the augmenting or diminishing these extraordinary fermentations of the Blood in the Heart consists in the action of many other branches of the Nerves which we have already spoke of These branches spread themselves in the Liver II. Of the change of the Spirits caus'd by the Nerves which go to the Liver to the Spleen and the rest of the Bowels which contains the most subtile part of the Blood or what is commonly called the Bile and in the Spleen which contains the more gross or Melancholy in the Pancreas which contains an acid Juice very proper for fermentation In the Stomach Bowels and other parts which contain the Chyle And indeed they are dispersed through every place which can contribute any thing to the varying the fermentation of the Blood in the Heart Also the Arteries and Veins are united to these Nerves as Willis has discovered of the lower Trunk of the great Artery which is ty'd to them near the Heart of the Axillary Artery on the right side the Emulgent Vein and of some others Thus the use of the Nerves being diversly to act those parts to which they are join'd it is easie to conceive how the Nerve which environs the Liver may in contracting it cause a great quantity of Bile to run into the Veins and into the Duct of the Bile which being mingled with the Blood in the Veins and with the Chyle enters into the Heart through the Duct of the Bile and there produces a more violent heat than ordinary Thus when we are mov'd with certain Passions the Blood boils in the Arteries and Veins and this heat spreads it self through the whole Body the Head is inflamed and filled with so great a number of Animal Spirits which being too brisk and too much agitated by their impetuous course hinder the Imagination from representing any other things than those whose Images they form in the Brain that is from thinking of any other Objects besides those of the Passion which Rules It is the same of the little Nerves that go to the Spleen or to other parts which contain a thicker Matter and less susceptible of Heat and Motion it renders the Imagination altogether languishing and dull in causing some gross Matter and such as is difficult to be put in Motion to run into the Blood As for those Nerves which environ the Arteries and Veins their use is to hinder the Blood from passing and by contracting them compel it to run into such places as it finds the freest passage to So that part of the great Artery which supplies all the parts above the Heart with Blood being connected and compressed by these Nerves the Blood must necessarily enter into the Head in great quantities and this way produce a change in the Animal Spirits and by consequence in the Imagination But it must be well observed III. That these Judgments happen without the concurrence of our Will by the order of Providence that all this is performed meerly by Mechanism I mean that all the different Motions of these Nerves in all the different Passions are not produced by the Command of the Will but on the contrary are made without nay even contrary to its Orders So that a Body whose Soul is not so well disposed as that of a healthful Man shall be capable of all the Motions which accompany our Passions Thus even Beasts may have the like altho' they should be only pure Machines And indeed this ought to make us admire the incomprehensible Wisdom of him who hath so well ordered all these Springs that it is sufficient for an Object to move the Optick Nerve after such and such a manner to produce so many different Motions in the Heart the other parts of the Body and even in the Face it self for it hath lately been discovered that the same Nerve which extends some of its branches into the Heart and into the other interior parts also communicates some of its branches to the Eye to the Mouth and to the other parts of the Face So that it cannot raise any Passion within us but it also appears outwardly because there can no motion happen to the branches which go to the Heart but it also communicates it self to some one of those which are dispersed through the Face The
Brain for that the Soul always represents to her self those things of which she has the largest and deepest Traces To these we may add other Examples more Compos'd A Distemper is a Novelty it makes such Havock as surprizes the World This imprints such deep Traces in the Brain that the Distemper is always present to the Mind Suppose this Disease for Example be call'd the Scurvy all Distempers will be the Scurvy The Scurvy is new therefore all Distempers shall be the Scurvy The Scurvy is attended with several Symptoms many of which are common to other Diseases That 's nothing to the purpose if it happen that the Sick Person has any one of those Symptoms he shall be sick of the Scurvy and they shall not so much as think of other Distempers that are accompanied with the same Symptoms they will expect that all the Accidents that they have known Scorbutic Persons labour under befal them also They shall prescribe the same Remedies and shall wonder why they do not work the same Effects as they have wrought in others An Author applies himself to one sort of Study upon which the Traces of the Subject of his Employment make so deep an Impression and irradiate so vigorously over all the Brain that many times they confound and deface the Traces of such things as are very different one from another There was one for Example who compil'd several Volumes upon the Cross this made him see Crosses where ever he came Nor was it without reason that Father Morin derides him for believing that a Medal represented a Cross when it represented quite another thing And by Vertue of such a sort of Imagination as this it was that Gilbert and several others after they had study'd the Loadstone and admir'd its Properties would needs apply to Magnetick Qualities a great Number of Natural Effects which have not the least Correspondence with them The Examples here cited are sufficient to prove that from this extraordinary easiness of the Imagination to represent to it self the Objects which are most familiar to it and the difficulty which it undergoes to imagine those which are new and unusual it come to pass that Men are always forming Idea's which may be call'd Mix'd and Impure and that the Mind never Judges of things but with reference to it self and its first Thoughts Thus the different Passions of Men their Inclinations their Conditions their Employments their Qualities their Studies in a word all their various Manners of Living producing very great differences in their Idea's And this it is that makes them fall into an Infinite number of Errors of which we shall discourse more at large hereafter This was it that made the Lord Chancellor Bacon utter these Judicious Expressions All Perceptions as well of the Sense as of the Mind are Ex analogia Hominis not ex analogia Vniversi estque intellectus humanus instar speculi inequalis ad radios rerum qui suam naturam naturae rerum immiscet camque destorquet inficit CHAP. III. Of the Mutual Connexion between the Idea's of the Mind and the Traces of the Brain and of the Mutual Connexion between Traces and Traces and between Idea's and Idea's AMong all Material Things there is none more worthy the serious Study of Men than the Structure of their Bodies and the Correspondence between all the Parts that Compose it and of all Spiritual Things there is none of which the Knowledge is more Necessary than that of the Soul and how it is Related indispensably to God and naturally to the Body 'T is not sufficient to perceive or know confusedly that the Traces of the Brain are united one to another and that they are attended by the Motion of the Animal Spirits that the Traces being stirred up in the Brain likewise stir up the Idea's in the Mind and that the Motions excited in the Animal Spirits excite the Passions in the Will 'T is requisite therefore as much as may be to understand distinctly the cause of all those different Unions and chiefly the Effects which they are capable of producing We must understand the cause of them to the end we may attain to the Knowledge of Him who is only able to act within us and to make us Happy or Miserable and it becomes us to understand the Effects because we should know our selves as much as in us lyes and other Men with whom we Converse For then we shall understand the ways and means of Conducting Governing and Preserving our selves in the most Happy and Perfect condition to which it is possible for us to attain according to the Order of Nature and the Rules of the Gospel and we shall be able to live with other Men when we know how to make use of them in our Necessities and assist them in their Miseries I do not pretend to explain in this Chapter a Subject of so vast and so large an Extent Nor do I pretend to it altogether in the whole Work There are many things of which I am Ignorant as yet and which I never hope to understand exactly there are other things which I believe I know but which I cannot for all that Explain For there is no Wit how mean soever it be that by Meditation cannot discover more Truths than the most Eloquent Man in the World can relate I. We are not to imagine Of the Union of the Soul with the Body as the greatest part of Philosophers do that the Soul becomes Corporeal when it is united with the Body and that the Body becomes a Spirit when it is united with the Soul The Soul is not diffus'd into all the Parts of the Body to give it Life and Motion as the Imagination fancies nor does the Body become capable of Sensation by its union with the Soul as our deluding Senses would seem to convince us Every Substance remains what it is and as the Soul is not capable of Extension and Motion neither is the Body capable of Sensation and Inclinations All the Alliance of the Body and Soul which is known to us consists in a Natural and Mutual correspondence of the Thoughts of the Soul with the Traces or Phantoms of the Brain and the Emotions of the Soul with the Motions of the Spirits So soon as the Soul receives some new Idea's it imprints new Traces in the Brain and so soon as the Objects produce new Traces the Soul receives new Idea's Not that it considers those Traces for it has no knowledge of them nor that those Traces include those Idea's because they have no Relation one with another Nor lastly that the Soul receives her Idea's from those Traces for as we shall show in another place it is not to be conceiv'd that the Soul can receive any thing from the Body or that it becomes more Knowing or more Enlightned by adverting to it as the Philosophers pretend who would have it that the Soul should perceive all Things per conversionem ad Phantasmata
I hate Evil and Pain I would be Happy and I am not mistaken in believing that Men Angels and even Devils have these Inclinations I know moreover that God will never Create any Spirits but what will desire to be Happy or that can ever desire to be Unhappy But I know it with Evidence and Certainty because God tells me so For who but God could give a Knowledge of the Designs and Will of God But when the Body has any Share in what passes within me I am for the most part mistaken in judging of others by my self I feel Heat I see such a Magnitude such a Colour I relish such a Taste at the approach of certain Bodies I am deceiv'd when I judge of others by my self I am subject to certain Passions I have a Kindness or Aversion for such or such things and I fancy that others are like me my Conjecture is often False Thus the Knowledge we have of other Men is very liable to Error when we judge of them by the Sensations we have of our selves If there be any Beings different from God from our selves from Bodies and from Pure Spirits it is unknown to us We have much ado to perswade our selves that there are any such And after having examin'd the Reasons of certain Philosophers who pretend the contrary we have found them False which has confirm'd us in our former Opinion that being all Men of the same Nature we had all the same Idea's because it behoves us all to know the same things CHAP. VIII I. The Intimate Presence of the Wandering Idea of Being in General is the Cause of all the Irregular Abstractions of the Mind and of the greatest part of the Chimera's of common Philosophy which hinder many Philosophers from discovering the Solidity of the True Principles of Moral Philosophy II. Example concerning the Essence of Matter THE clear intimate necessary Presence of God I mean the Unlimited Infinite and General Being with the Mind of Man acts with more Force upon it than the Presence of all Finite Objects It is impossible that it should absolutely lay aside that general Idea of Being because it cannot subsist out of God Perhaps some might urge that it may wander from it because it may think on those particular Beings but they would be mistaken For when the Mind considers any Being in particular it is not so far from removing from God that it rather draws near if I may so speak to some of his Perfections in removing from all others However it removes from them in such a manner that it never wholly loses the sight of them and it is for the most part in a Condition to seek them out and to draw near to them They are always present to the Mind but the Mind only perceives them in an inexplicable Confusion because of its smallness and the greatness of its Idea of Being We may chance sometimes not to think on our selves but I believe we cannot subsist one Moment without thinking on Being and even at that very time when we fancy we think on nothing we are of necessity full of the wandering and general Idea of Being But whereas those things that are very usual in us and which do not concern us do not excite the Mind with any force nor oblige it to make any Reflection upon them this Idea of Being so Great so Vast so Real and so Positive as it is is yet familiar to us and touches us so little that we almost believe we do not see it that we do not reflect upon it that we afterwards judge there is but little Reality in it and that it is only form'd by the confus'd mixture of all particular Idea's Though on the contrary it is in that alone and by that alone that we perceive all Beings in particular Although that Idea which we receive by the immediate Union we have with the Word of God does never deceive us in it self like those which we receive from it by means of the Union we have with our Body which represent things to us different from what they are Yet I am not afraid to say that we make so ill a use of the best things that the indelible Presence of that Idea is one of the principal Causes of all the Irregular Abstractions of the Mind and consequently of that Abstracted and Chimerical Philosophy which explains all Natural Effects by general Terms of Act Power Cause Effect Sustantial Forms Faculties occult Qualities Sympathy Antipathy c. for it is certain that all those Terms and many others never excite any Idea's in the Mind but such as are Wandering and General that is of those Idea's which present themselves to the Mind of their own accord without Pain or any Application on our part Let Men read with all Attention imaginable all the Definitions and Explications which are given of Substantial Forms Let them carefully inquire wherein the Essence of all those Entities does consist which Philosophers fancy as they please and in so great a Number that they are oblig'd to make several Divisions and Sub-divisions of them and I am confident that they will never stir up any other Idea's in their Mind of all those things than that of Being and of Cause in General For this is what commonly happens to Philosophers They see some new Effect they immediately imagine a new Being to produce it Fire warms therefore there is some Being in the Fire which produces that Effect that is different from the matter which composes the Fire And whereas Fire is capable of several different Effects as of separating Bodies of reducing them to Ashes and into Earth of drying them hardning them softning them dilating them purifying them c. they liberally allow Fire as many Faculties or real Qualities as it is capable of producing different Effects But those that reflect on the Definitions they give of those Faculties will easily discover that they are only Logical Definitions and that they excite no other Idea's than that of Being and of Cause in General which the Mind compares with the Effect which is produced So that Men are not the more Learned after having studied them very much for all they get by that kind of Study is that they imagine they know better than others what they notwithstanding do not know near so well not only because they admit many Beings which never were but also because being prejudiced they make themselves incapable of conceiving how it can be possible that matter alone as that of Fire being moved against Bodies differently disposed should produce all the different Effects which we see Fire does produce It is Notorious to all those that have read a little that most of the Books of Sciences particularly those that treat of Natural Philosophy Physick Chymistry and all the particular things of Nature are full of Arguments grounded upon Elementary Qualities Second Causes as Attractive Retentive Digestive Expulsive and such like upon others they call occult
of my Imagination and the Illusion of my Senses The Inward Man which is in me will deride the Animal and Earthly one which I carry about me Lastly The New Man shall increase and the Old Man shall be destroy'd provided I always obey the Voice of him who speaks so clearly to me in the most Secret Recesses of my Reason and who having made himself Sensible to condescend to my Weakness and Infirmity and to give me Life by those very means by which he gave me Death speaks yet to me through my Senses after a very strong lively and familiar manner I mean by the preaching of his Gospel And if I interrogate him in all the Metaphysical Natural and pure Philosophical Questions as well as those which regard the Regulation of Manners I shall always have a Faithful Master which will never deceive me I shall not only be a Christian but a Philosopher I shall make a good Judgment of things and in a word I shall follow both by Grace and Nature the way which will guide me to all the Perfection I am capable of It must then be concluded from what I have said That to make the best use that we can of the Faculties of our Soul our Senses Imagination and Mind we must only apply them to those things for which they have been given us We ought carefully to distinguish our Sensations and Imaginations from our pure Idea's and judge according to our Sensations and Imaginations of the relation that External Bodies have to ours without making use of them to discover Truths which they always confound And we must make use of the pure Idea's of the Mind to discover Truths without ever attempting to judge by them of the relation that External Bodies have to ours because these Idea's never have Extension enough to represent them perfectly to us It is impossible that Men should have a sufficient Knowledge of all the Figures and Motions of the little Particles of their Body and Blood and of those of a certain Fruit in a certain time of their Sickness to be able to discover the relation of Agreement betwixt this Fruit and their Body and that if they should eat of it it would recover them Thus our Senses alone are more useful to the Preservation of our Health than the Rules of Experimental Physick and Experimental Physick than the Theoretick But Experimental Physick which allows much to Experience and still more to the Senses is the best because all these things ought to be joyn'd together We may then use our Reason in all things and 't is the Privilege which it has above the Senses and Imagination which are limited to Sensible Things but we ought to use it with Circumspection for though it is the chief part of our selves it often happens that we are deceiv'd when we permit it to go too far because it cannot act sufficiently without wearying it self I mean it cannot know sufficiently how to make a good Judgment and yet it will not forbear Judging A SEARCH AFTER TRUTH BOOK IV. Of the Inclinations and Natural Motions of the Mind CHAP. I. I. It 's necessary the Mind have Inclinations as well as the Body Motions II. God acts the Humane Mind only for himself III. Mens Minds are only inclin'd to Particular Good through the Motion they have to Good in General IV. The Origine of the Chief Natural Inclinations which will make up the Division of this Fourth Book IT would not be necessary to Treat of Natural Inclinations as we are going to do in this Fourth Book nor of the Passions as we shall do in the following in order to discover the Causes of the Errors of Mankind if the Understanding did not depend on the Will in the Perception of Objects But whereas it is the Will that directs it which makes it resolve and applies it to some Objects rather than others it is absolutely necessary to apprehend its Inclinations well to penetrate into the Causes of the Errors to which we are liable If God I. It 's necessary the Mind have Inclinations as well as the Body Notions when he Created this World had produced Matter infinitely extended without giving it any Motion there would have been no difference in Bodies All this visible World would still have been a meer Mass of Matter or of Extension which indeed might serve to discover the Grandeur and Power of its Author but there would not be that Succession of Forms and that Variety of Bodies which compose all the Beauty of the Universe and which incline Mens Minds to admire the Infinite Wisdom of the Governour thereof Therefore I am of Opinion That the Inclinations of the Mind are in the Spiritual World what Motion is in the Material World and that if the Mind were without Inclinations or if it never had any Desire we should not meet with that Variety in the Order of Spiritual Things which not only makes the World admire the Profoundness of the Wisdom of God approve the Variety of Material Objects but also his Mercy his Justice his Goodness and generally all his other Attributes Thus then the Difference of Inclinations produces in the Mind an Effect much like unto that which the Difference of Motions produces in the Body and the Inclinations of Mens Minds and the Motions of Bodies together constitute all the Beauty of Created Beings Thus all Spirits must have some Inclinations as well as Bodies have different Motions But let us endeavour to discover what Inclinations they ought to have Were not our Nature Corrupted it would not be necessary to seek out by Reason as we are going to do what the Natural Inclinations of Created Spirits ought to be It would be sufficient in order thereunto to consult our selves and we should discover by the Inward Sentiments we have of what passes within us all the Inclinations we ought Naturally to have But whereas we know by Faith that Sin has destroy'd the Order of Nature and that Reason informs us that our Inclinations are Irregular as it will appear in the Sequel we are obliged to go another way to work Since we cannot trust to what we feel we are obliged to explain things in a more Sublime Manner but which without doubt will seem to have but little Solidity in it to those who only esteem what relates to the Senses It is an undeniable Truth II. The Principal End of the Actions of God is himself and he only acts Mens Minds for himself that God can have no other Principal End for his Operations but himself and that he may have several Ends less Principal which tend all towards the Preservation of the Beings which he has created He can have no Principal End but himself because he cannot Err nor place his Final End in Beings which are not Perfect But he may propose as a less Principal End the Preservation of Created Beings because as they all participate of his Goodness they are necessarily Good and even
they do not pretend to Judge of them It is no defect in a limited Mind not to know certain things it is only a defect to pretend to Judge of them Ignorance is a necessary Evil but we may and ought to avoid Error Therefore I do not condemn Men for being Ignorant of many things but only for giving rash Judgments about those things When things have a great relation to us are sensible V That our Ignorance is exceeding great in respect of abstracted things or such as have but little relation to us and fall easily within the Compass of our Imagination we may say that the Mind applies it self to them and may have some knowledge of them For when we know that things have a relation to us we think upon them with some Inclination and when we find that they concern us we apply our selves to them with pleasure So that we should be more Learned than we are in many things if the uneasiness and tossing of our Will did not Disturb and Fatigue our Attention continually But when things are abstract and not very sensible it is difficult to attain any certain knowledge of them Not that abstracted things are very intricate but because the Attention and Sight of the Mind begins and Ends commonly with the sensible Prospect of Objects for we seldom think on any thing but what we see and feel and only as long as we see and feel it It is most certain that if the Mind could easily apply it self to clear and distinct Idea's without being any-wise byass'd by Opinion and if the uneasiness of the Will did not continually disturb its Application we should meet no great difficulties in many Natural Questions which we look upon as not to be Explain'd and we might easily be deliver'd of our Ignorance and Errors in relation to them For Example It is an undeniable Truth to any Man of Sense that Creation and Annihilation are things which surpass the common force of Nature Therefore if Men did remain Attentive to that pure Notion of the Mind and Reason they would not so easily admit the Creation and Annihilation of an infinite Number of New Beings as of Substantial Forms real Qualities and Faculties They would look into the distinct Idea's we have of Extension Figure and Motion for the reason of Natural Effects which is not always so difficult as People imagin all things in Nature are so connected together and prove each other The Effects of Fire as those of Canon and of Mines are very Surprising and their cause not very well known Nevertheless if Men instead of relying on the Impressions of their Senses and on some false or deceitful Experiments did firmly fix on that bare Notion of the Mind alone That it is not possible for a Body that is very little agitated to produce a violent Motion since it can communicate no more moving Power than it has its self it would be easie from that alone to conclude that there is a Subtle and Invisible Matter that it is very much agitated and dispers'd int h all Bodies and several other like things which would teach us the Nature of Fire and also be of great use to us to discover other Truths yet more conceal'd For since Canons and Mines have such great Motions and all the Visible Bodies about them are not in a sufficient Agitation to produce them it is a certain proof that there are other Invisible and Insensible Bodies which have at least as much Agitation as the Canon Ball But with being very Subtle and Thin may alone freely pass and without breaking through the Pores of the Canon before it is Fir'd that is as Monsieur Descartes has explain'd it more at large before their having surrounded the hard and gross parts of the Salt-petre of which the Powder is Compos'd But when the Fire is put to it that is when those subtle and extreamly agitated Particles have surrounded the gross and solid Parts of the Salt-petre and have thus Communicated their very strong and violent Motion to them then all does Burst of necessity because the Pores of the Canon which left an open passage on all sides for the subtle Parts before mention'd while they were alone are not large enough to make way for the gross Parts of the Salt-petre and some others of which the Powder is Compos'd when they have receiv'd into themselves the Agitation of the Subtle Parts which surrounds them For as the Water of Rivers which flows under Bridges does not shake them by reason of the smallness of its Particles Thus the very subtle and very thin Matter I have mention'd passes continually through the Pores of all Bodies without making any sensible Alterations in them But then likewise as the said River is capable of breaking down a Bridge when carrying along with it some great Flakes of Ice or some other more solid Bodies by forcing them against it with its own Motion so subtle Matter is capable of producing the surprising Effects we see in Canons and in Mines when having communicated to the Parts of the Powder which Float in the midst of it its Motion which is infinitely more Violent and more Rapid than that of Rivers and Torrents the said Parts of the Powder cannot freely pass through the Pores of the Bodies which enclose them by reason they are too gross so that they violently break them to force them a free Passage But Men do not easily apprehend those subtle small Particles which they repute Chimera's because they do not see them Contemplatio ferè definit cum aspectu says Bacon The greater part even of Philosophers invent some New Entity rather than not to talk upon those matters which they are Ignorant of And if any Body objects against their false and incomprehensible Suppositions that Fire must needs be compos'd of Parts that are in very great Agitation since it produces such Violent Motions and that a thing cannot Communicate that which it has not which is undoubtedly a most clear and most solid Objection They confound all by some frivolous Imaginary distinction as that of Equivocal and Univocal Causes in order to seem to say something though in reality they say nothing For it is a general Notion among Men of Sense and Learning that there can be no real Equivocal Cause in Nature and that it has been invented meerly by the Ignorance of Men. Therefore Men must apply themselves more to the consideration of clear and distinct Notions if they have a mind to understand Nature They must check and stop the Inconstancy and Levity of their Will a little if they design to penetrate deeply into things for their Mind will ever be weak superficial and discursive while their Will remains Light Inconstant and Roving It is true it requires some Fatigue and Men must constrain themselves to become Attentive and to search into the bottom of things for there is nothing to be got without pains It is shameful for Men of Sense and
9 Chap. 3. I. That Philosophers dissipate their Mind by applying it to Subjects which include too many Relations and which depend upon too many things without keeping any Order in their Studies II. An Example drawn from Aristotle III. That Geometricians on the contrary proceed well in an Enquiry after Truth especially those who make use of Algebra IV. That their method increases the power of the Mind and that Aristotle's Logick weakens it V. Another defect of studious Persons p. 15 Chap. 4. I. The Mind cannot long apply it self to any Object which neither relates to it self nor to Infinity II. The Inconstancy and consequently the Error of the Will proceeds from this Defect of Application III. Our Sensations affect us more than the Pure Idea's of the Mind IV. What is the Original Cause of the Corruption of Manners V. And the Ignorance of the Generality of Mankind p. 20 The Second Part of the Pure Understanding Of the Nature of IDEA'S Chap. 1. I. WHat is meant by Idea's That they truly Exist and that they are necessary to perceive all material Objects II. A division of all the Modes by which External Objects may be seen p. 29 Chap. 2. That material Objects do not emit Species which resemble them p. 33 Chap. 3. That the Soul has no power of producing Idea's The Cause of Mens Error in reference to this Subject p. 35 Chap. 4. That we do not sie Objects by the means of Idea's which were created with us And that God does not produce them in us so often as we have occasion for them p. 41 Chap. 5 That the Mind neither sees the Essence nor Existence of Objects in considering its own Perfections That none but God sees them in that manner p. 44 Chap. 6. That we see all things in God p. 46 Chap. 7. I. Four different ways of seeing things II. How we know God III. How we know Bodies IV. How we know our Soul V. How we know the Souls of other Men and pure Spirits p. 55 Chap. 8. I. The Intimate Presence of the Wandering Idea of Being in General is the Cause of all the Irregular Abstractions of the Mind and of the greatest part of the Chimera's of common Philosophy which hinder many Philosophers from discovering the Solidity of the True Principles of Moral Philosophy II. Example concerning the Essence of Matter p. 6â— Chap. 9. I. The last General Cause of our Errors II. That the Idea's of things are not always present to the Mind as soon as 't is desir'd III. That all Finite Minds are liable to Error and why IV. We ought not to judge that there are only Bodies or Spirits nor that God is a Spirit as we conceive Spirits p. 71 Chap. 10. Examples of some Physical Errors into which Men fall because they suppose that things which differ in their Nature Qualities Extension Duration and Proportion are alike in all things p. 77 Chap. 11. Examples of some Errors of Morality which depend on the same Principle p. 87 The Conclusion of the Foree first Books p. 91 BOOK IV. Of the Inclinations and Natural Motions of the Mind Chap. 1. I. IT 's necessary the Mind have Inclinations as well as the Body Motions II. God acts the Humane Mind only for himself III. Mens Minds are only inclin'd to Particular Good through the Motion they have to Good in General IV. The Origine of the Chief Natural Inclinations which will make up the Division of this Fourth Book p. 1 Chap. 2. I. The Inclination for Good in General is the Principle of the Disquiet of our Will II. And consequently of our Negligence and Ignorance III. First Example Morality little known to many Men. IV. Second Example The Immortality of the Soul disputed by some Men. V. That our Ignorance is exceeding great in respect of abstracted things or such as have but little Relation to us p. 7 Chap. 3. I. Curiosity is natural and necessary II. Three Rules to moderate it III. Explanation of the first of these Rules p. 20 Chap. 4. A Continuation of the same Subject I. Explanation of the Second Rule of Curiosity II. Explanation of the Third p. 27 Chap. 5. I. Of the Second Natural Inclination or of Self-Love II. It is divided into the Love of Being and Well-Being or of Greatness and Pleasure p. 31 Chap. 6. I. Of the Inclination we have for every thing that raises us above other Persons II. Of the false Judgments of some Pious Persons III. Of the false Judgments of the Superstitious and Hypocrites IV. Of Voetius an Enemy to Monsieur Descartes p. 35 Chap. 7. Of the desire of Science and of the Judgments of pretenders to Learning p. 42 Chap. 8. I. Of the Desire of being thought Learned II. Of the Conversation of pretenders to Learning III. Of their Works p. 48 Chap. 9. How the Inclination we have for Honours and Riches lead us to Error p. 56 Chap. 10. Of the Love of Pleasure in relation to Morality I. We must shun Pleasure though it make us Happy II. It must not incline us to the Love of Sensible Delights p. 58 Chap. 11. Of the Love of Pleasure in relation to Speculative Sciences I. How it hinders us from discovering Truth II. Some Examples p. 65 Chap. 12. Of the Effects which the thought of Future Bliss and Sufferings is capable of producing in the Mind p. 79 Chap. 13. I. Of the Third Natural Inclination which is the Friendship we have for other Men. II. It induces us to approve our Friends Thoughts and to deceive them by False Praises p. 85 A SEARCH AFTER TRUTH BOOK I. Of the Errors of the Senses CHAP. I. I. Of the Nature and Properties of the UNDERSTANDING II. Of the Nature and Properties of the WILL and wherein its Liberty consists ERROR is the Cause of Man's Misery the corrupt Principle that has produc'd Evil in the World 't is this which begets and cherishes in our Souls all the Evils that afflict us and we can never expect a true and solid Happiness but by a serious Endeavour to avoid it Holy Scripture teaches us that Men are miserable only because they are Sinners and Criminals and they would be neither if they did not make themselves the Slaves of Sin by assenting to Error If it be true then that Error is the Origin of Men's Misery how very just is it that they should endeavour their Deliverance from it and certainly an Effort towards it would not be vain and unrewarded though perhaps it might not have all the effect that could be desired admit we could not arrive at Infallibility and accomplish an absolute Victory yet we should be less deceiv'd and subject to fewer Evils We are not to expect an entire Felicity in this Life because we cannot pretend to Infallibility but our Endeavours to avoid Error must be as continual as are our Aversions for Misery In a word as we earnestly desire Happiness without Hopes of attaining it here so we must vigorously pursue
large 'T is to accommodate my self to the common way of speaking that I shall say hereafter the Senses perceive but by the word Sense I only mean that passive Faculty of the Soul just mention'd that is the Understanding perceiving something by means of what passes in in the Organs of the Body according to the Institution of Nature as shall be elsewhere explain'd Another agreement between the passive Faculty of the Soul and that of Matter is that as Matter is not truly chang'd by an alteration of its Figure for Instance Wax receives no considerable Change for being round or square so the Mind receives no Change by the Diversity of Idea's which it has I mean the Mind receives no considerable Change although it receives an Idea of a Square or a Circle in perceiving a Square or a Circle Farther as it may be said that Matter undergoes considerable Changes when it looses the Configuration proper to the parts of the Wax to receive that which is proper to Fire and Smoke when the Wax is chang'd into Fire and Smoke so it may be said that the Soul receives very considerable Alterations when it changes its Modifications and suffers Pain after having felt Pleasure Whence we must conclude that Idea's are to the Soul very near what Figures are to Matter and that Configurations are much the same to Matter that Sensations are to the Soul There are yet other agreements betwixt the Figures and Configurations of Matter and the Idea's and Modifications of the Mind for it seems that Matter is an Image of the Mind I only mean there are Properties in Matter which have betwixt themselves Relations much like those which are found amongst the Properties belonging to the Mind although the Nature of the Mind is very different from that of Matter as shall be clearly shewn hereafter From all that I have said I would have it well remembred that by the Understanding I mean that passive Faculty which the Soul has of perceiving that is of receiving not only different Idea's but also innumerable Sensations even as Matter is capable of receiving all Manner of External Figures and Internal Configurations The other Property of Matter is that 't is capable of receiving several Motions and the other Faculty of the Soul is that 't is capable of receiving several Inclinations let us compare these together As the Author of Nature is the Universal Cause of all Motions which are found in Matter so is He also the General Cause of all the Natural Inclinations in our Minds and even as all Motions are made in a Streight Line if they do not meet with some particular and foreign Causes which determine and change them into Curve Lines so all the Inclinations we receive from God are right and could not have any other End but the possession of Good and Truth were there not some Extraneous Cause which determines the Impression of Nature towards evil ends Now 't is this foreign Cause which is the Origin of all our Evils and which Corrupts all our Inclinations To understand this well we must know that there is a very considerable Difference betwixt the Impression or Motion which the Author of Nature produces in Matter and the Impression or Motion towards Good in General which the same Author of Nature continually Impresses on the Mind for Matter is wholly unactive it has no power to stop it's Motion or to determine or turn it self one way rather than another Its motion as I have said before is made always in a Strait Line and when diverted from this motion it describes a Curve the nearest to a right line that 's possible because 't is God that impresses on it its Motion and regulates its Determination But 't is not to with the Will * See the Explanations it may be said in one sense to be active and to have in it self a Power of determining differently the Inclination or Impression that God gives it for tho' it cannot stop this Impression it may in a sense be said to turn it which way it pleases and thereby cause all the disorders that are in its Inclinations and all the Miseries which are the certain and necessary Consequences of Sin So that by the Word WILL I wou'd be understood to mean the Natural Impression or Motion which carries us towards indetermin'd and universal Good And by the Word LIBERTY I only understand the Power which the Mind has of turning that Impression towards agreeable Objects and so sixing our natural Inclinations on some particular Object which before were loose and indetermin'd to Vniversal Good that is to God who comprehends in himself all that 's Good Whence 't is easie to discover that tho' our Natural Inclinations are voluntary yet they are not always free with that Liberty of Indifference that I am speaking of which includes the Power of Willing or not Willing or of Willing the contrary to what our Natural Inclinations carry us for tho' 't is voluntarily and freely that Men love Good in General since they can't love against their Will and 't is a Contradiction to suppose the Will should ever suffer Constraint however they love it not freely in the sense that I have just explain'd since 't is out of the Power of our Will not to wish to be Happy But it must be well observ'd that the Mind consider'd as push'd on towards Good in General can't determine its Motion towards a particular Good if the same Mind consider'd as susceptible of Idea's has not the Knowledge of this particular Good that is in the common way of speaking the Will is a blind Power which can only desire those things that the Understanding represents to it So that the Will can't differently determine the Impression it has for Good and all its Natural Inclinations but by commanding the Understanding to represent to it some particular Object The Power then that the Will has of determining its Inclinations necessarily includes an ability of carrying the Understanding towards agreeable Objects I will explain by an Example what I have said concerning Will and Liberty A Man represents to himself a Preferment under the Notion of a Good which he can hope for immediately the Will wills this Good that is the Impression that the Mind continually receives towards Indetermin'd and Universal Good inclines it to this Preferment But as this Preferment is not the Universal Good and is not consider'd in a clear and distinct view of the Mind as Universal Good for the Mind never sees clearly that which is not the Impression that he had receiv'd of Vniversal Good is not wholly stopt by this particular Good the Mind has some motion to go yet farther it is not necessarily nor invincibly in Love with this Dignity but is at Liberty in respect thereof Now its Liberty consists in this that being not fully convinc'd that this Dignity includes all the Good which he is capable of loving he may suspend his Judgment and Love
Extension of Bodies in Relation to the Testimony of our Eyes let us imagine that God had created a Heaven and an Earth of a Portion of Matter as little as a Hand Ball and Men upon this Earth in the same Proportions with those in our Great World These little Men would see one another and the parts of their own Bodies as also the little Animals which would be capable of incommoding them or else their Eyes would be useless as to their Preservation Upon this Supposition it is Evident that these little Men would have Idea's as to the bigness of Bodies very different from those that we have of them since they would have Relation to their Little World which tho' as a Ball in respect of ours they would look upon as surrounded with infinite Spaces such as we imagine about ours Or if it may more easily be conceiv'd let us suppose that God had made a World infinitely greater than ours so that this New World should be in respect of ours as ours was in comparison of that which we suppos'd before Let us also suppose that God had observ'd the same Proportion in all the Parts of this New World as he had done in ours It 's manifest that the Men of this last World would be greater than is the Space betwixt our Earth and the most distant Stars that we see this being suppos'd if they had the same Idea of the Extension of Bodies as we have they could not distinguish even some parts of their own Body and would see some others of prodigious greatness So that 't is ridiculous to think that they would see things of the same bigness as we see them 'T is evident from these two Suppositions that the Men of the Great or Little World would have very different Notions about the greatness of Bodies to what we have supposing only that their Eyes gave them Idea's of the Objects that were about them proportionably in bigness to their own Bodies Now if these Men were much assur'd upon the Testimony of their own Eyes that Bodies were as big as they saw them it 's evident they would be deceiv'd and no body can doubt of it yet it 's certain they would have full as much reason as we to defend their Opinion let us therefore at least by the Example of this Error apprehend our selves to be very uncertain of the greatness of those Bodies that we see and that all we can know by sight is the proportion that they have to our Bodies In a word that our Eyes are not given us to Judge of the Truth of things but only to discern those things that may either Profit or Injure us But Men do not only trust their Eyes in Judging of Visible but also of Invisible Objects they even conclude that nothing exists which they see not thus arrogating to their Sight a certain infinite perspicacity 'T is this which hinders them from knowing the true Causes of many Natural Effects If they attribute them to certain Faculties and imaginary Qualities the common Reason is because they do not see the real ones which consist in the different Configurations of these Bodies For Example They see not the Particles of Air and Flame much less those of Light or of other Matter yet more Subtile and this inclines them to believe they do not exist or at least to judge they have neither Power nor Action they have recourse to occult Qualities or imaginary Faculties to explain all the effects whereof these imperceptible Particles are the Natural Cause They choose rather to have recourse to the Horrour of a Vacuum for explaining the Elevation of the Water in Pumps than to the Weight of the Air to the Qualities of the Moon for the Flux and Reflux of the Sea than to the pressure of the Air which environs the Earth to attractive Faculties in the Sun for the Elevation of Vapours than to the Simple Motion or Impulsion caus'd by the parts of Subtile Matter which are continually dispers'd by the Sun They look upon that as an Impertinent Opinion which has recourse to Flesh and Blood to solve the Motions of Animals their Habits or the Corporeal Memory of Man which is owning in part to this that they conceive the Brain to be very little and consequently insufficient to conserve the traces of an almost infinite number of things which are there they are willing to believe tho' they know not how to conceive it that Beasts have a certain Soul which is neither Body nor Mind as also that there are Qualities and Intentional Species to solve the Habits and Memory of Men and such other like things of which they have no particular Notion in their Minds It would take up too much time to enumerate the Errors which this prejudice begets in us almost all the Errors in Physicks are owing to it and whoever attentively considers it will be amaz'd thereat Altho' I 'm unwilling to insist much upon this head yet I can't but take notice of the Contempt which Men commonly have for Insects and other little Animals which are generated as they say out of Corrupted Matter this is an unjust Contempt which is founded only upon the Ignorance of the thing despis'd and the prejudices already mention'd There is nothing Contemptible in Nature all the Works of God are worthy our respect and admiration especially if we consider the admirable ways by which God makes and preserves them The least Flies are as perfect Animals as the biggest Creatures the proportion of their Members is as Just as those of the others and it even seems that God has given them more Ornaments to recompence the littleness of their Bodies they have Crowns Helmets and other Curiosities on their Heads which outdo the most Luxuriant Fancies of Men and I may confidently aver that they who have never seen any thing but with their naked Eye have never beheld any thing so fine so exact and even so magnificent in the Houses of the greatest Princes as what we discover with Microscopes upon the Head of a silly Fly It 's true these things are very small but yet the more surprizing because there are so many Beauties crouded in so small a Space and altho' they are very common yet they are not the less valuable nor less perfect in themselves on the contrary the Wisdom of God is more apparent who hath with so much Magnificence and Profusion perform'd almost an infinite number of Miracles in Creating them Nevertheless our Sight reaches not these Beauties but makes us despise the Works of God so worthy our admiration and because these Animals are little in comparison of our Bodies it makes us consider them as absolutely little and contemptible because of their smâ—llness as if Bodies could be little in themselves Let us then endeavour to distrust the Impressions of our Senses in Judging about the bigness of Bodies and when we say for Example that a Bird is little let us not absolutely
as to that which is in the Hand or in the Fire Now this Judgment is Natural or rather it is a Compounded Sensation But this Sensation or this Natural Judgment is almost always follow'd by another free Judgment which the Soul is so accustom'd to that it can scarce refrain from it These four things are very different as may be shewed however Men do not carefully distinguish them but are inclin'd to confound them by reason of the strict union betwixt the Soul and Body which hinders us from separating the Properties of Matter from those of the Mind Yet it is easie for any Man to know that of these four things which pass in us when we perceive some Object the two first are proper to the Body and the two last to the Soul provided he consider a little the Nature of the Soul and Body as he ought to do which I have suppos'd But these things must be explain'd in Particulars CHAP. XI I. Of the Error we are subject to in respect of the Action of Objects upon the External Fibres of our Senses II. The Cause of that Error III. An Objection and Answer IN this and the three following Chapters we shall Treat of these Four Things which are confounded and taken for pure Sensation and shall only in general explain the Errors we are subject to because if we should enter into particulars it would be endless Yet I do not doubt but I may so assist the Mind of such as will seriously Meditate upon what shall be said as to make them capable of discovering with great facility all the Errors that are caused from our Senses but it will be requisite then that they shou'd think with fome application both upon the preceding and following Chapters The first of these things which we confound in all our Sensations I. Of the Erro we are juâ—ject to in respect to the Objects acting upon the Fibres of our Serses is the Action of Objects upon the External Fibres of our Body It is most certain that there is hardly any distinction made between the Sensation of the Soul and this Action of the Objects of which there needs no proof for Example almost all Men imagine that the heat they feel is in the Fire which causes it that Light is in the Air and Colours upon Coloured Objects they have no thoughts upon the Motions of fome imperceptible Bodies which cause these Sensations It is true II. The Cause of the Error that they do not imagine that pain is in the Needle that pricks them as they judge heat to be in the Fire the reason is because the Needle and its Action are visible but the Particles of the Wood which go out from the Fire and their Motion against our Hands are not seen so that seeing nothing that strikes our Hands when we warm our selves and feeling heat we naturally judge this heat to be in the Fire because we see nothing else there So that 't is commonly true that we attribute our Sensations to Objects when the Causes of these Sensations are unknown to us and because Pain and Tititation are produced by sensible Bodies as with a Needle a Feather which we see and touch and therefre we do not judge that there is any thing like to these Sentiments in those Objects that cause them in us It is certain indeed III. Objection that we do not imagine that the burning is in the Fire but only in the Hand although it is caused by Particles of the Wood as well as the Heat which we always attribute to the Fire But the reason of it is the burning is a kind of Pain and having many times judged that Pain is not in the External Body which Causes it we are induced also to make the same Judgment of Burning What further persuades us to judge after this manner is that Pain or Burning does strongly apply our Soul to the affected parts of our Bodies and that diverts us from thinking on other things Thus the Mind unites the Sensation of burning to that Object that is nearest to it And because we soon after perceive that the burning hath left fome visible Marks in that part where we felt the Pain this confirms us in the Judgment we have made that the burning is in the Hand But this must not hinder us from receiving this general Rule that we use to attribute our Sensations to Objects every time they act upon us by the Motion of fome invisible Particle This is the reason that we generally believe that Colours Light Odours Taste Sound and fome other Sensations are in the Air or in the External Objects which cause them because all Sensations are produced in us by the Motion of fome Imperceptible Bodies CHAP. XII I. Of the Errors concerning the Motions of the Fibres of our Senses II. That either we perceive not these Motions or else confound them with our Sensations III. Experience which proves it IV. Three sorts of Sensations V. The Errors which accompany them THE second thing that may be observed in each of our Sensations I. Errors concerning the motions or shaking of the Fibres of our Senses II. That we confound them with the Sensaâ—on of our Soul and sometime again do not perceive them is the shaking of the Fibres of our Nerves which is communicated unto the Brain and we deceive our selves in this that we confound this shaking with the Sensation of the Soul and judge there is none when we perceive it not by the Senses We confound for instance the Motion that the Fire excites in the Fibres of our Hands with the Sensation of Heat and we say that the Heat is in our Hand But because we feel not the shaking that visible Objects produce in the Optick Nerve which is in the bottom of the Eye we think that this Nerve is not shaken and that it is not cover'd with the Colours that appear to us on the contrary we judge that 't is only external Objects upon which these Colours are dispersed yet we may see by the following Experiment that Colours are almost as strong and lively in the bottom of the Optick Nerve as upon visible Objects Take the Eye of an Ox that is newly killed III. Experience which proves it and strip the Skins from it that are opposite to the Apple of of the Eye in the place where the Optick Nerve is and put in their room a little bit of Paper that is very thin and place this Eye in the hole of a Window so that the Apple be in the Air and the back part of the Eye be in the Chamber which must be shut close so that it may be very dark and then all the Colours of the Objects which are without the Chamber will appear upon the bottom of the Eye but represented upside down And if these Colours shou'd happen not to be very lively if the Objects which are painted at the bottom of the Eye are too near the
use of our own Wit and so accustom it of it self to discover truth then to suffer it to be spoiled with idleness by only applying it to such things as are already well known and discover'd Besides there are some things to be observed in the difference of Peoples Genii that are so fine and so delicate that althô we may be able to discover and perceive them well our selves yet we cannot represent them to nor make others sensible of them But to explain as much as possible all these differences that are to be observed in Dispositions and that very one may the more easily observe in himself the Cause of all the changes that he feels at different times it seems very proper in general to examine the Cause of these Changes which happen in the Animal Spirits and in the Fibres of the Brain because thereby we shall discover all that are found in the Imagination Man never continues very long in the same Mind every one hath sufficient inward proofs of his own inconstancy he judges of the same Subject sometimes after one manner and sometimes after another In a word the Life of Man consists only in a Circulation of Blood and in another Circulation of Thoughts and Desires and it seems the best way of imploying his time would be in seeking after the Cause of these Changes which happen to us so that way to know our selves CHAP. II. I. Of the Animal Spirits and the Changes to which they are subject in general II. That the Chyle goes to the Heart and thereby produces some change in the Spirits III. That Wine has the same effect 'T IS agreed by every on I. Of the Animal Spirits that the Animal Spirits are only the most subtile and active parts of the Blood which subtilises and agitates it self chiefly by the Fermentation that it receives in the Heart and by the violent Motion of the Muscles whereof this part is composed that the Spirits are conducted with the most of the blood through the Arteries into the Brain and that there they are separated by some parts that are destined to this use which are not yet agreed upon From hence may be concluded that where the Blood is very subtile there are much Animal Spirits but where it is gross there are but a sew that if the Blood is composed of such parts as are easily received into the Heart or very proper for Motion the Spirits which are in the Brain will be extreamly heated or agitated and if on the contrary the Blood ferments not sufficiently in the Heart the Animal Spirits will be languishing without action and without strength so that according to the solidity which shall be found in the parts of the Blood the Animal Spirits shall be more or less solid and consequently have more or less strength in their Motion But these things must be explained more at length by Examples and incontestible Experiments to make the truth evident The Authority of the Antients has not only blinded the Minds of some Men II. That the Chyle goes to the heart and causes some change in the Spirits but we may say it has shut their Eyes also For many Persons have still such a respect for their opinion or it may be so opinionative that they will not see some things which they could no longer contradict if they would only please to open their Eyes We may see every day Persons that are much esteemed for their Learning who write Books and publish Conferences against the visible and sensible Experiences of the Circulation of the Blood against that of Weight the Exastick power of the Air and others of the like Nature The discovery that Mr. Pecquet has made in our time which we make use of here is in the Number of those that are unfortunate only because he discover'd it before he had grey Hairs and a venerable Beard But we shall nevertheless make use of it not fearing but there will be some Judicious Persons who will not find fault with it According to this discovery the Chyle goes not immediately from the Bowels into the Liver by the Mesaraick Veins as the Antients believed but passes from the Bowels into the Lacteal Veins and afterwards into certain receptacles where they meet and from thence it goes by the Thoraick Duct or Canal along the Vertebres of the Back and so mingles it self with the Blood in the Axillary Vein which enters into the upper part of the Vena Cava and thus being mingled with the Blood it meets in the Heart From this Experiment may be concluded that the Blood thas is mingled with the Chyle being very different from the other Blood which has already Circulated many times through the Heart the Animal Spirits which are only the most subtile parts thereof will be also very different in Persons that are Fasting and others who have just Eat Moreover because that amongst Meats and Drinks which are generally used there is great variety and even those Persons that use them have bodies diversly disposed two Persons that have just Dined and at the same Table will feel in their faculties of Imagination so great a variety of changes that it would be impossible to describe It is true that those who are in perfect health digest so quick that the entring of the Chyle into the Heart scarcely augments or diminishes any of its heat and hinders not the Blood from fermenting there almost the same manner as if it entered only by it self so that their Animal Spirits and by consequence their faculty of imagining receives very little if any change But for Old and infirm People they observe in themselves very sensible changes after they have Eat they grow very dull and sleepy or at least their imagination becomes very Languishing and they have neither Vivacity or quickness left they no longer conceive any thing distinctly nor can they apply themselves to any thing whatsoever in a word they are perfectly altered from what they were before But that the most healthful and strongest may also have sensible proofs of what we have already said III. That Wine produces the same effect they need only reflect upon what happens to them when they have drunk more Wine then they are accustomed to or else by observing what would be the effects if they drink Wine one Meal and Water another For 't is certain that if they are not entirely stupid or if their bodies are not composed after a very extraordinary manner they shall soon perceive a gayety of temper some little drowsiness or some other like accident Wine is so Spiritous that it comes near the nature of our Animal Spirits but are these a little too luxurious to submit to the command of the Will because of their Solidity and excessive Agitation Thus even in the strongest and most vigorous Men it produces greater changes in the Imagination and in all the parts of the body Vinum Luctator delosus est then Meat or
Correspondence and Sympathy which is found between the Nerves of the Face and some others that answer to other parts of the Body and which want a Name is yet more remarkable and that which produces this great Sympathy is that as in the other Passions the little Nerves that go to the face are only branches of that which descends lower When we are surprized with any violent Passion if we carefully reflect upon what we feel in our Bowels and the other parts of the Body where these Nerves infold themselves as also upon the changes which accompany it in the face and if we consider that all these diverse agitations of our Nerves are wholly involuntary and that they happen notwithstanding all the resistance our Will can make against them we shall not find it so difficult to suffer out selves to be perswaded of this plain Exposition that has been made of all those Relations the Nerves have one to another But if we examine the reasons and end of all these things we shall find therein so much Order and Wisdom that but a little serious attention will be requisite to convince those Persons that are the most Wedded to Epicurus and Lucretius that there is a Providence which rules the World When I see a Watch. I have reason to conclude that there is an Intelligence since it is impossible that Chance shou'd have produc'd and dispersed all its Wheels into order How then can it be possible that Chance and the meeting together of Atoms shou'd be able so justly and proportionably to dispose all those divers Springs as appear both in Man and other Animals And that Man and all other living Creatures shou'd beget others which bear such an absolute resemblance to them So it is ridiculous to think or say with Lucretius that 't is Chance that has form'd all the parts whereof Man is composed that the Eyes were not made to see but Men were induced to see because they had Eyes and so of the other parts of the Body These are his Words Lumina ne facias oculorum clara creata Prospicere ut possimus ut proferre viai Proceras passus ideo fastigia posse Surarum ac feminum pedibus fundata plicari Bâ—achia tum porro validis exapta lacertis Esse manusque datus utrâque ex parte ministras Vt facere ad vitam possimus quae foret usus Caetera de genere hoc inter quaecumque pretantur Omnia perversà praepostera sunt ratione Nil ideo natu'est in nostro corpore ut uti Possimus sed quod natum est id procreat usum Must not one have a strange aversion for a Providence thus voluntarily to be blinded for fear of acknowledging it and endeavour to render our selves insensible to proofs so strong and convincing as those that Nature has furnished us with It is true that if once we come to affect being thought great Wits or rather Impious as the Epicureans have done we shall immediately find our selves surrounded with darkness and perceive only by false Lights boldly deny those things that are most clear and arrogantly and magisteriously affirm what is most false and obscure This Poet may serve for a proof of the blindness of these mighty Wits for he boldly determines tho' contrary to all appearance of Truth upon the most difficult and obscure Questions and it seems that he did not perceive even those Idea's that are most clear and evident If I shou'd stay to relate some more passages of this Author to justifie what I say I shou'd make too long and tedious a digression altho' it may be permitted to make such reflections as may for a moment divert the Mind from more essential Truths yet is it never permitted to make such digressions as for a considerable time take off the Mind from giving attention to the most important Subjects to apply it to trivial things CHAP. V. I. Of the Memory II. Of Habits WE have already explain'd the general Causes as well external as internal which produce any change in the Animal Spirits and by consequence in the faculty of Imagining we have show'd that the external are the Food which nourishes us and the Air we breath and that the internal consists in the involuntary agitation of certain Nerves We know of no other general Causes and even dare affirm there are none So that the faculty of Imagining depending in respect to the Body only upon these two things the Animal Spirits and the disposition of the Brain upon which they act there remains nothing more in order to the giving a perfect knowledge of the Imagination but only to shew the different changes that can happen in the substance of the Brain We will examine them after we have given some Idea of the Memory and of Habits that is of the faculty that we have of thinking of those things that we have before thought of and of acting things over again which we have already done Order requires this Method For the Explanation of the Memory I. Of the Memory 't is necessary to remember what has already been repeated so many times that all our different Perceptions depend upon the changes that happen to those Fibres that are in that part of the Brain in which the Soul more particularly resides This only supposed the nature of the Memory is explained for even as the Branches of a Tree which have continued sometime bent in a certain form still preserve an aptitude to be bent anew after the same manner So the Fibres of the Brain having once received certain impressions by the course of the Animal Spirits and by the action of Objects along time retain some facility to receive these same dispositions Now the Memory consists only in this facility since we think on the same things when the Brain receives the same impressions As the Animal Spirits act sometimes with more and sometimes with less force upon the substance of the Brain and that sensible Objects make a much greater impression than the Imagination alone it is easie from thence to discover why we do not equally remember all things we perceive For example why what one often perceives is commonly represented more lively to the Soul than what one perceives but once or twice why we remember more distinctly what we have seen than what we have only imagined and so likewise why one shou'd know better how the Veins are dispersed through the Liver after having but once seen a dissection of this part than after having many times read in a Book of Anatomy and other like things But if we shou'd reflect upon what hath been before said of the Imagination and the short discourse made on the Memory supposing us once delivered from this prejudice that our Brain is too small to preserve a very great number of traces and impressions we shall have the pleasure to discover the cause of all these surprizing effects of the Memory whereof St. Austine speaks with so much
with the Traces of their Brain that when they find a way to explain the Analogies of Spiritual Things by the Relations of Material Things they are easily apprehended and imprinted after such a manner in the Mind that we are not only strongly convinced of them but they are also much more easily retain'd The General Idea which we have given of the Mind in the first Chapter of this Work is perhaps a sufficient Proof of this On the contrary when the Relation between Material things are express'd in such a manner that there is no Connexion requir'd between the Idea's of the Things and the Traces of their Expressions 't is a difficult matter to apprehend them and they are easily forgot For Example They who begin the Study of Algebra or the Analytic Art cannot but with great difficulty apprehend the Algebraic Demonstrations and when they have once understood them they never remember them long because the Squares for Example the Parallelograms Cubes Solids c. being express'd by aa a3 abc c. whose Traces have no Natural Connexion with their Idea's the Mind is not able to six the Idea's of them and examme their Relations But they who begin plain Geometry do presently and clearly conceive the Demonstrations that are explain'd to them provided they distinctly understand the Terms that are made use of because the Idea's of a Square a Circle c. are Naturally ty'd to Traces of the Figures which they see before their Eyes It also frequently happens that the Exposition of the Figure alone which serves for the Demonstration causes them sooner to apprehend it than the Discourses that explain it because the Words not being united to the Idea's but by an Arbitrary Institution they do not excite those Idea's with sufficient quickness and clearness to afford a ready apprehension of their Relations for this is the principal Reason why it is so hard a matter to understand the Sciences It may be observ'd by the By and from what has been already said that those Writers who Coyn a great many new Words and new Figures to explain their Sentiments many times spend their time to little or no benefit they think to render themselves Intelligible when indeed they make themselves Incomprehensible We define all our Terms and Characters say they and others ought to agree to them 'T is true others agree to them in their Will but their Nature is repugnant thereto Their Idea's are not joyn'd to those new Terms because there is requir'd both Use and great Practice for that The Authors perhaps have been accustom'd to that Practice but the Readers have not When a Man goes about to Instruct the Mind 't is requisite to understand it because he ought to follow Nature and not to provoke or hurt it Nevertheless we ought not to condemn the Care that Mathematicians take in defining their Terms for 't is evident they ought to define them to prevent the trouble of Equivocal Words But as much as may be they ought to make use of Terms that are received or whose signification is not very remote from that which they go about to introduce and this is that which Mathematicians do not always observe Nor do we pretend by what we have said to condemn Algebra more especially that which M. Descartes has re-establish'd For tho' the Novelty of a few Expressions in that Science gives the Mind some little trouble at first yet there is so little variety and confusion in the Expressions and the Assistance which the Mind receives by them so far surpasses the difficulty it meets with that we can hardly think it possible to find a better way of expressing his Reasoning or which better suits with the Nature of the Mind so as to carry it farther into the Discovery of unknown Truths The terms of that Science have no share at all in the Capacity of the Mind they do not burthen the Memory they wonderfully abridge all our Idea's and Reasonings and render them in some measure sensible by Practice In short their Benefit is much greater than that of Expressions tho' Natural or of Figures design'd by Triangles Squares and the like which cannot be serviceable to the searching after and unfolding Truths which are but a little Mysterious But let this suffice for the connexion of Idea's with the Traces of the Brain 'T is necessary now to say something of the connexion of the Traces one with another and by consequence of that agreement which is between the Idea's that answer to the Traces This connexion consists in this II. Of the mutual connexion of the Tracâ— that the Traces of the Brain are so well united together that they can no longer be excited but all those that were imprinted at the same time will be also excited For Example when a Man happens to be at some publick Ceremony if he observes all the circumstances of it and all the principal Persons that were present the Time the Place the Day and all other particulars 't will be enough that he remembers the Day or some other circumstance of the Ceremony less remarkable to represent to himself all the rest For this reason it is that when we cannot call to mind the principal Name of a Thing we sufficiently design it by making use of the Name that signifies some circumstance of that Thing As when we cannot call to mind the proper Name of a Church we may make use of another Name which signifies a Thing that has some Relation to it We may say 't is that Church where there was such a Croud where Mr. Preaches or whither we went last Sunday And not being able to remember the proper Name of a Person or it being more convenient to design it after another manner we may denote it by saying such a one that has a Face pitted with the Small-Pox such a tall Man well Proportioned or a little Crook-back'd Man according to the Inclinations we have for the Man tho' he is to blame that makes use of Scornful Expressions Now the Mutual Connexion of the Traces and consequently of the Idea's one with another is not only the foundation of all the Figures of Rhetorick but of an infinite number of other things of greater Impertance as in Morality Politicks and generally in all Sciences which have any Relation to Man and by consequence of many things which we shall treat of in the sequel of this Discourse The cause of this Connexion of several Traces is the Identity of Time when they were imprinted in the Brain for 't is sufficient that several Traces were produc'd at the same time to renew them altogether For the Animal Spirits finding the way of all the Traces open that are made at the same time they continue their way because they pass more easily through it than other parts of the Brain This is the cause of Memory and of the Corporeal Habits which are common to us with Beasts These Connexions of the Traces are not always
accompanied with the Emotions of the Spirits because all things which we see do not appear to us always either Good or Evil. These Connexions also may alter and break off because not being always requisite for the Preservation of Life they ought not always to be the same But there are Traces in our Brains that are Naturally united one with another as also with certain Emotions of the Spirits because such a Connexion is necessary for the Preservation of Life and their Connexion cannot be broken off or at least not very easily because it 's convenient that it should be always the same For Example the Trace of a Precipice which a Man sees under himself and from which he is in danger of falling or of some great Body which is ready to fall upon us and crush us to Death is Naturally join'd to the Trace which represents Death as also to an Emotion of the Spirits which disposes us to fly or desire an Escape This Connexion of Traces never changes because it is necessary that it should be always the same and it consists in a Disposition of the Fibres of the Brain which we have from our Birth All those Connexions which are not Natural may and ought to be broken because the various Circumstances of Time and Place ought to alter them so that they may be useful to the Preservation of Life 'T is convenient for Example that Partridges should fly from Men with Birding-Pieces in their Hands especially at such times and in such places where Men are accustomed to Hunt after them but it is not necessary that they should fly at other times and in other places Thus for the Preservation of all Creatures 't is necessary that there should be certain Connexions of Traces which may be easily form'd and destroy'd and that there should be others which may not be broken without great difficulty And lastly others which are never to be broken 'T is very useful to enquire carefully into the different Effects which these different Connexions are capable of producing for they are very numerous and of great importance for the Understanding of Man and of all things between him and which there is any Relation We shall find in the sequel of this Discourse that these Things are the Principal Cause of our Errors But 't is time to return to what we promis'd to treat of and to explain the different Changes that befal the Imagination of Men by reason of their various Manner of Living CHAP. IV. I. That Studious Men are the most subject to Error II. The Reasons why they rather choose to follow Authothority than make use of their Judgment THE Differences that are in the various Manners of Mens Living are almost Infinite There are a great Number of different Conditions Employments and Societies These Differences are the reason that almost all Men pursue different Designs and argue upon different Principles It would be very difficult to meet with several Persons who have absolutely the same Prospects in one and the same Community wherein particular Persons ought to be all of the same Spirit and have the same Designs Their different Employs and Conversation do necessarily give a different Turn and Humour in the way of Managing the Execution of those Things in which they agree This shews that it would be an impossible Undertaking to particularize the Moral Causes of Error But besides it would be of no use to do it here 't is our business only to speak of such Manners of Living as betray Men into the greatest Number of Errors and to such as are of the highest Importance When we shall have Explained those we shall have open'd a Way sufficient to enable the Mind to proceed farther and every body may be able to Survey at once and very easily the most bidden Causes of several particular Errors which cannot be explain'd but with a great deal of Time and Labour When the Mind sees clearly it delights it self with pursuing Truth which it does with an inexpressible swiftness I. That Studicus Persons are the mst subject to Error The Employment which seems most necessary to be treated of in this place because it produces the most considerable changes in the Imagination of Men and which lead us most into Error is the Employment of Studious Persons who make more use of their Memory than Wit For Experience always shews us that they who apply themselves most eagerly to the Reading of Books and to Search after Truth are those who have lead us into the greatest number of Errors 'T is the same thing with those that Study as with those that Travel When a Traveller by misfortune has taken the wrong Road the farther he advances the more remote he is from the Place whither he designs to go and the more diligent and hasty he is to arrive to the end of his Journey the more he wanders out of the way In like manner those ardent desires which Men have for Truth cause 'em to precipitate themselves into the Reading of Books where they think to find it or to frame to themselves a Chimerical Systeme of things which they desire to know for which they have a strong fancy and which they endeavour by the vain Efforts of Wit to make others relish to the end they may receive the Honour which is usually due to the Inventors of Systemes Now let us explain these two Defects 'T is a difficult thing to apprehend how it comes to pass that Men of Sense should rather choose to make use of other Persons Judgment in the Search of Truth than of that which God has bestow'd upon ' em Without doubt there is infinitely much more pleasure and honour for a Man to guide himself with his own than other Men's Eyes nor does any Man who has good Eyes ever dream of shutting 'em or of putting 'em out in hopes of one to guide him nevertheless 't is the same thing with the use of Judgment as with the use of the Eyes for as the Judgment is â—â—â—nitely above the Eyes the use of it is accompanied with satisfactions far more solid and which content it after another manner than Light and Colours do the Sight However Men always make use of their own Eyes to be their Guides but they seldom or never make use of their own Judgment to discover the Truth But there are several Causes which contribute to this same Perturbation of the Mind II. Reasons why they rather choose to follow Authority than make use of their own Judgement First the Natural Sloath of Men that will not give themselves the Trouble of Meditation Secondly Their Inability of Meditating into which they are fallen for want of applying themselves to it in their Youth as has been shew'd in the Ninth Chapter In the third place the little Love Men have for Abstracted Truths which are the foundation of every thing that is to be known here below In the fourth place the Satisfaction that Men
receive from the Knowledge of Probabilities which are very agreeable and very sensible because they are built upon Taking Notions In the fifth place that foolish Vanity which makes us covet to be esteem'd Learned For we call those Learned who have Read most The knowledge of Opinions is of more use in Conversation and to be able to puzzle the Minds of the Common Sort than the knowledge of true Philosophy which is attain'd by Meditation In the sixth place because Men without any Reason imagine that the Ancients were more enlightened than we can be and that there is nothing farther for us to Search after but what they have already been successful in finding out In the seventh place a certain false Respect intermix'd with foolish Curiosity causes us more to admire Things that are most remote the most ancient and that come from Countreys unknown and even the most obscure Books Clarus ob obscuram Linguam Lueres Thus was Heraclitus heretofore admir'd for his Obscurity Men enquire for old Medals though all defac'd with Rust and preserve as the Apple of their Eye the Lanthorn or Slipper of some ancient Philosophers though almost eaten up with Worms their Antiquity enhaunces their Price Some apply themselves to Read the Rabbies because they wrote in a strange Language very corrupt and very obscure Men have a high Esteem for Ancient Opinions because Time has remov'd 'em at a great distance from us And doubtless had Nimrod wrote the History of his own Reign all the most refin'd Politicks all the Sciences had been contain'd in it even as there are some who discover that Homer and Virgil had the Knowledge of all the Secrets of Nature Antiquity is to be respected they crie How could Aristotle Plato Epicurus those Great Men be deceiv'd They never consider that Aristotle Plato and Epicurus were Men as we are and of the same Mould and Shape and that now the World is grown Two thousand years older Veritas filia temporis non autheritatis that it has more Experience that it ought to be more enlighten'd and that it is the Age of the World and Experience that enable us to discover the Truth In the Eighth place because that when a new Opinion or an Author of the time is cried up it seems that their Fame ecclipses ours because it shines too near it but they are afraid of no such Injury from the Honour which they pay the Ancients In the Ninth place because Truth and Novelty can never concur together in Matters of Faith For Men not being willing to make a distinction between Truths that depend upon Reason and those that depend upon Tradition never consider that they ought to be apprehended after a very different manner They confound Novelty with Errors and Antiquity with Truth Luther Calvin and others have introduc'd Innovations and have been mistaken therefore Galileo Harvey and Descartes are mistaken in their Discoveries The Impannation of Luther is new and likewise false therefore the Circulation of Harvey is false because it is new For this Reason it is that they indifferently bestow that Odious name of Innovators both upon Hereticks and new Philosophers The Idea's and Words of Truth and Antiquity of Falshood and Novelty have been joined together There 's no remedy the Common sort never separate 'em and Men of Sense find difficulty enough in it In the Tenth place because we live in a Time wherein the Knowledge of the Ancient Opinions is still in vogue and because there are none but those that make use of their Judgment who can by Force of their Reason wrest themselves from the Contagion of Depraved Customs When we are in the Throng and the Croud 't is a hard matter not to give way to the Impetuosity of the Torrent that carries us along with it In the last place because Men act only upon tho score of Interest and this is the Reason that even they who deceive themselves and who perceive the vanity of these sorts of Studies cease not to apply themselves to 'em for all that because Honours Dignities and Benefices are annexed to 'em and for that they are always more capable of 'em who excel in those sorts of Studies than those that are ignorant of ' em All these Reasons in my Opinion sufficiently shews us why Men blindly follow the ancient Opinions as True and why without any Judgment they reject the new ones as False In a word why they make none or very little use of their Judgment There are without question a great number of Reasons more particular which contribute to it but if those which we have produced be but attentively consider'd there will be no cause of surprize to see how some People are prejudic'd with the Authority of the Ancients CHAP. V. Of the Ill Effects that Reading has upon the Imagination THis same False and unworthy Respect which Men have for the Ancients produces a great number of most pernicious Effects which it is convenient to observe The first is that want of using their own Judgment does by little and little really disable Men from making any use of it at all For it is not to be imagin'd that they who grow old over the Volumes of Plato and Aristotle make use of their Judgment they commonly spend so much time in the Reading of those Books only to endeavour to know the Sentiments of their Authors and their principal aim is to know certainly what Opinions they held without ever troubling themselves much whither they be consentaneous to Reason or no as we shall prove in the following Chapter Thus the Science and Philosophy which they learn is properly a Science of Memory and not a Science of Judgment They only understand Histories and Matters of Fact not evident Truths and they are rather Historians than true Philosophers The second Effect which the Reading of the Ancients produces in the Imagination is that it puts a strange confusion into all their Idea's who apply themselves to it There are two different ways to read Authors the one very good and very prositable the other very useless and even dangerous 'T is very profitable to read when we meditate upon what we read When Men endeavour to find out by some effect of their Wit how to resolve the Questions which they meet with in the Titles of the Chapters before they begin to read them When they digest and compare the Idea's of things one with another In a word when they make use of their Reason On the other side there is no Profit in Reading when Men understand not what they read but 't is dangerous for Men to read and conceive what they read when they never examine it sufficiently to make a good Judgment of it especially if they have Memory enough to retain what they have conceiv'd and do not unwarily assent to what they have read and understood The first way enlightens the Mind it fortifies it and enlarges its Capacity The second contracts
their Masters For as those Persons do as much as in 'em lies never permit any but such as are devoted to their Interests or such as they are no way afraid of to speak to their Masters so the Prejudices of these Men will not permit the Mind to behold with a fixed Eye the Idea's of Objects that are wholly pure and unmix'd but they disguise 'em they cover 'em with their Liveries and present 'em in that manner all masqu'd so that 't is a difficult thing for 'em to undeceive themselves and acknowledge their Errors CHAP. IX I. Of Effeminate Wits II. Of Superficial Wits III. Of Persons of Authority IV. Of those that make Experiments WHat we have said is sufficient in my Opinion to set forth in general what are the Defects of the Imagination in Studious Persons and the Errors to which they are most subject Now in regard there are none but these Persons who trouble themselves with Searching after Truth and because all the rest of Mankind depends upon them for it it might be thought that we should here conclude this Second Part. Nevertheless 't is convenient to say something more concerning the Errors of other Men because it will not be amiss to know what they are Of the Effeminaâ—e Wits Whatever flatters the Senses extreamly affects us and to whatever affects us we apply our selves proportionably to the pleasure we take in it Thus they who give themselves up to all manner of the most sensible and pleasing Divertisements are incapable of penetrating Truths that include any considerable difficulty because the Receptacle of the Mind which is not infinite is wholly taken up with their Pleasures or at least they have a very great share therein The generality of Great Men Courtiers Rich Men young People and they that are call'd by the name of fine Wits being taken up with continual Pastimes and only Studying the Art of flattering their Concupiscence and Voluptuous Appetites by degrees acquire such a Delicacy of Skill in these things or rather such a Softness that they may be often said to be rather Effeminate than fine Wits as they pretend to be For there is a great difference between Fineness and Softness of Wit though they are generally confounded one with another Fine Wits are they who discern by the Conduct of Reason the most minute differences of things who foresee the uncommon and almost imperceptible Effects that depend upon Hidden Causes In short these are they who penetrate into the Subjects which they consider But soft Wits have nothing but a false Delicacy they are neither lively nor pierceing they discern not the Effects from the Causes even of the most gross palpable thing Lastly they neither apprehend nor penetrate into any thing but are extreamly nice as to Manners A Clownish Word the Accent of a particular County a little Grimace provokes 'em more than a torrent of confus'd and frivolous Arguments they cannot know the Defect of Reasoning but are immediately very sensible of a false Measure or an irregular Gesture In short they understand sensible things perfectly because they keep their Senses in continual Exercise but they want the true understanding of things that depend upon Reason because they seldom or never make use of their own Nevertheless these are the Persons who are most esteemed in the World and easily acquire the Reputation of Curious Wits For when a Man speaks with a free and disengag'd Air when his Expressions are pure and well chosen when he makes use of Simile's that flatter the Senses and move the Affections after an imperceptible manner though he utter nothing but trivial things though there be nothing found nothing true in all his fine Words He according to the Common Opinion shall be cried up for a Curious Wit a Refin'd Wit a Polish'd Wit They never perceive that he is only a Soft Effeminate Wit and shines only by false Lights that never enlighten the Mind and that his persuasions prevail only because we have Eyes but not because we have Reason Lastly We do not deny but that all Men are in some measure guilty of this weakness which we have observ'd in some There is not any Man whose Mind is not touch'd by the Impressions of his Senses and Affections and who by consequence is not a little sway'd by outward Formalities and Language As to this all Men differ but in the more or the less But the reason why this defect is attributed to some particularly is this because there are some who acknowledge it to be a fault and strive to reform it Whereas they who have been mentioned by us look upon it as a very advantageous Accomplishment Far from acknowledging this same false Delicacy to be the Effect of an Effeminate Softness and the Original of an Infinite number of the Diseases of the Mind they imagine it to be an Effect and Mark of the Beauty of their Genius To these of whom we have spoken Of Superficial Wits we may join a very great number of Superficial Wits who never dive into any thing and who never apprehend unless it be confusedly the differences of things Not through their own fault as in those before mentioned for their Minds are neither fill'd up nor contracted by their Divertisements only they have naturally Slender Wits However this same Slenderness of Wit proceeds not from the Nature of the Soul as may be well imagin'd but it is caus'd sometimes by the great scarcity or the more than ordinary slowness of the Animal Spirits sometimes through the Inflexibility of the Fibres of the Brain sometimes also through an immoderate abundance of Spirits and Blood or for some other Reason which it is not worth while to examine There are then two sorts of Wits Some readily observe the difference of things and these are True Wits Others imagine and suppose a Resemblance between 'em and these are Superficial Wits The first have a Brain proper to receive clean and distinct Traces of the Objects which they consider and because they are very attentive to the Idea's of the Traces they see those Objects as it were near at hand and nothing escapes ' em But Superficial Wits receive none but feeble or confus'd Traces of their Objects They see 'em only as it were cursorily at a distance and very confusedly so that they seem alike to 'em like the Faces of those which we see afar off because the Mind supposes always Likeness and Equality for the Reasons which I shall give in the Third Book The greatest part of those that speak in Publick all those that are call'd great Talkers and many of those who are fluent of Speech though they speak but little are of this sort For they who meditate seriously and accurately are very rarely known to have a Copious Utterance of their own Meditations Usually they hesitate when they begin to speak because they are somewhat cautious of making use of Terms that excite in others a false Idea being asham'd
they cannot be joined to the rest Oderunt hilarem tristes tristemque jocosi Sedatum celeres agilem gnavumque remissi It requires a larger Portion of Vertue than Men are aware of not to break with those that no way sympathize with our Passions but whose Sentiments are in all things contrary to ours Nor is it altogether without Reason For when a Man has good cause to be Sad or Joyful 't is in some measure an Affront not to correspond with him in his Sentiments If he be Sad 't is not proper to appear before him with a brisk and jolly Air which argues Gladness and which strongly imprints the Motions of it in his Imagination for this is to put him out of that Condition which is most convenient and pleasing to him Sadness being the most delightful of all the Passions to a Man in Misery All Men therefore have a certain Disposition of the Brain Two Principal Causes that increase our Inclination to imitate one another which naturally inclines 'em to be affected after the same manner as some of those with whom they Converse Now there are two Principal Causes that foment and increase this Disposition the first is in the Soul the second in the Body The first consists in the Natural Propensity of Men to Grandeur and Advancement This Propensity it is which imperceptibly excites us to imitate Persons of Quality in their manner of Speaking Walking Dress and Outward Air. This is the Original of New Modes of the Instability of living Languages and of certain general Corruptions of Manners This is the chief Origine of all Extravagant and Fantastick Novelties which are not supported by Reason but Human Fancy and Pleasure The other Cause which much incline to imitate others and which we ought chiefly to Discourse of here consists in a certain Impression which Persons of a Strong Imagination make upon Feeble Minds and upon Tender and Delicate Brains What a Strong Imagination is I understand by a Strong and Vigorous Imagination that Constitution of the Brain which makes it capable of Traces extreamly deep and fill the Receptacle of the Mind in such a manner that it cannot attend to other things than such as the Images themselves represent to it There are two sorts of Persons who have a Strong Imagination in this Sense Two sorts of it The first receive these deep Traces by an Unvoluntary and Irregular Impression of the Animal Spirits and the others of whom we intend principally to Discourse here receive 'em from a certain Disposition which is observ'd in the Substance of the Brains 'T is visible that the first are absolute Mad Men seeing they are constrain'd by the Natural Connexion which is between their Idea's and their Traces to think upon things not thought of by others with whom they Converse which renders 'em incapable of speaking to the purpose and answering directly to Questions that are ask'd ' em There are an infinite number of this sort of People who only differ in the more or the less and it may be said that all such as are agitated with some violent Passion are of their number since at the time of their Emotion the Animal Spirits so forcibly imprint the Traces and Images of their Passion that they are incapable of thinking upon any thing else But 't is to be observ'd that all these sort of Persons are not capable of corrupting the Imagination of any Man let his Mind be never so weak and his Brain never so soft and delicate and this for two Reasons The first Because they are not able to answer conformably to the Idea's of others they can perswade 'em to nothing And secondly Because the Disturbance of their Mind being altogether manifest whatever they say is hearken'd to with contempt Nevertheless 't is true that Passionate Persons put us into Passions and make Impressions in our Imagination like those with which they themselves are affected But in regard their Transports are manifestly visible we resist those Impressions and get rid of 'em soon after They rub out of themselves when they are not fomented by the Cause that produc'd 'em that is to say when the Transported Persons are departed out of our presence and when the sensible sight of the Characters which Passion form'd in the Countenance produces no farther Alteration in the Fibres of our Brain nor any Agitation in our Animal Spirits I only Examine here that sort of Strong and Vigorous Imagination which consists in a Disposition of the Brain proper to receive very deep Traces of more feeble and less active Objects 'T is no defect to have a Brain proper for a Strong Imagination of Things and for the Reception of the most distinct and lively Images of the most inconsiderable Objects provided that the Mind be always Mistress of the Imagination that these Images be imprinted by her Orders and that they may be defac'd when she pleases for hence arises sagacity and strength of Wit But when the Imagination over-rules the Soul and these Traces form themselves by the Disposition of the Brain and by the Activity of the Objects and Spirits without expecting the Orders of the Will this is a most Mischievous Vice and a kind of Madness We shall therefore endeavour to set forth the Character of those who have a Strong Imagination of this sort To that purpose it behoves us to remember that the Receptacle of the Mind is confin'd to narrow limits 2. That it is fill'd with no Object more easily than with the Sensations of the Mind and generally with the Perceptions of Objects that affect us very much 3. That the deep Traces of the Brain are always accompanied with Sensations or other Perceptions that vigorously affect us For thereby 't is easie to know the Genuine Characters of their Wit who have a Strong Imagination The first is Two considerable Defects in those who have a Strong Imagination that these Persons are not capable of giving a sound Judgment of things that are a little difficult and perplext because the Receptacle of the Mind being fill'd with Idea's that are by Nature connex'd with those very deep Traces they have not the Liberty to think of several things at the same time But in Compound Questions 't is requisite that the Mind should survey with one quick and suddain motion the Idea's of many things and discover at one single view the Correspondencies and Connexions that are necessary for the resolving of those Questions All Men know by their own Experience that they are not capable of applying themselves to the Search of any Truth at such time as they are afflicted with any violent Pain because then there are in the Brain those deep Traces which take up the Capacity of the Mind Thus those Persons of whom we speak having deeper Traces of the same Objects as we suppose they cannot have so great an Extension of Mind nor comprehend so many things together as the others The first Defect of
in Imagination have the advantage to please to affect and perswade because they form the most lively and sensible Images of their thoughts But there are other Causes that contribute to their easie gaining upon the Mind For they never Discourse but upon easie Subjects and such as are within the reach of Vulgar Apprehensions They never make use of other Expressions and Terms than such as only excite the Confus'd Notions of the Senses which always most vehemently affect us They never talk of Sublime and Difficult Matters but after a Rambling manner and by way of Common Places For they dare not venture themselves to dive into Particulars and stick close to Principles whither it be because they do not understand those Matters or whether they are afraid lest they should for want of Terms intangle themselves and tire the Minds of those that are not accustom'd to a serious Attention From what has been said it is easie to judge that the Vieâ—s of an Irregular Imagination are extreamly Contagious and thâ—â— they very easily insinuate and dispeâ—â—e themselves into the Minds of most People But they who have a Strong Imagination being usually Enâ—â—â—es to Reason and good Sense because of their want of Wit and the Phantomes of their Brain to which they are subject it may be thence readily inferr'd that there are few Causes of our Errors more universal than the Contagious Communication of the Disorders and Distempers of the Imagination But we ought to prove these Truths by Examples and Experiments Familiar to all the World CHAP. II. General Examples of the Force of the Imagination THere are frequent Examples of this Communication of the Imagination in Children in respect of their Parents more especially in Girles in respect of their Mothers in Men Servants in respect of their Masters and Maid Servants in respect of their Mistresses in Scholers in respect of their School-masters Courtiers in respect of their Princes and generally in all Inferiors in respect of their Superiors Provided that Parents Masters and other Superiors be endued with something of a Strong Imagination otherwise the Weak Imagination of Parents or Masters will make no considerable Impression in Children or Servants The Effects of this Communication are also to be observ'd in Persons of Equal Conditions but that is not so usual because there is not that Veneration among them which disposes the Mind in such a manner as to admit the Impression of Strong Imaginations without any Examination Lastly these Effects are to be met with in Superiors in respect of their Inferiors For many times Inferiors are endu'd with an Imagination so lively and imperious that they bend the Minds of their Masters and Superiors which way they please themselves It will be an easie thing to apprehend how Fathers and Mothers make very strong Impressions upon the Imaginations of their Children if we consider that these Natural Dispositions of our Brain which inclines us to imitate those with whom we Converse and to be affected with the same Sentiments and Passions are far stronger in Children in respect of their Parents than in other Men For which several Reasons may be given and the first is because they are of the same Blood For as Parents frequently transmit to their Children a Disposition to certain Hereditary Distempers as the Gout the Stone Madness and generally all those Diseases which do not come by accident or from some extraordinary Fermentation of the Humours as Fevers Agues c. for it is visible that as those Diseases cannot be communicated so they imprint the Dispositions of their own upon the Brains of their Children and bend their Imaginations in such a manner as to render 'em capable of the same Sentiments with themselves The second Reason is because that Children have very little Familiarity with other Men who might sometimes else impress other Traces in their Brains and in some measure frustrate the continual Effort of Paternal Impressions For as a Man that never stirr'd out of his own Country usually imagines the Manners and Customs of Foreign Nations to be altogether contrary to Reason so a Child that never stirr'd out of his Fathers House imagines the Sentiments of his Parents and their manner of living to be the Standard of Universal Reason or rather he does not believe there are any other Principles of Reason or Vertue than what he has imbib'd from his Parents He therefore believes whatever he hears his Parents say and conforms himself in whatever they do But this Imagination of Parents is so strong that it not only acts upon the Imagination of Children but also upon other parts of the Body A Son imitates the Gate the Speech and Gestures of his Father A Daughter imitates the Dress the Pace and Voice of her Mother If the Mother Lisps the Daughter Lisps if the Mother have an ill Habit of holding her Head awry the Daughter does so too Lastly Children imitate their Parents in every thing in their Defects and their ill Gestures in their Errors and their Vices There are several other Causes which augment the Effect of this Impression Of which the chiefest are the Authority of Parents the Dependency of Children and the mutual Affection both of the one and the other But these Causes are common to Courtiers and Servants and generally to all Inferiors as well as to Children We shall now Explain the Matter by the Example of Courtiers There are some People who judge of what they see by what is conspicuous before their Eyes as of Sublimness Power and Capacity of Mind which lie conceal'd from their Knowledge by that Nobility those Dignities and that Wealth which is known to ' em They frequently measure one by the other And our dependance upon Great Men so much above us our desire to participate of their Grandeur and the vast Splendour that environs 'em incline us frequently to pay Divine Honours to Mortal Men if it may be lawful for me to say so For if God confer Authority upon Princes Men ascribe Infallibility to 'em an Infallibility so universal as not to be circumscrib'd within any bounds in any thing or upon any occafion nor tied to any Ceremonies Great Men know all things naturally Though they decide Questions of which they have no knowledge yet they have always Reason on their side He that dares adventure to Examine what they say is ignorant and knows nothing He that raises any doubts derogates from that Veneration which is due to 'em He that condemns 'em is guilty of Rebellion or at least is a Sott a Madman and fit for nothing but to be made a Laughing Stock to all the World But if Great Men vouchsafe us their Favours then if we do not approve all their Sayings we are not only Obstinate Headstrong and Rebellious but Ungrateful and Perfidious this is a fault beyond repairation that renders us unworthy of their Favours which is the Reason that Courtiers and by a necessary Consequence almost all other People without
any Consideration swear to the Sentiments of their Sovereign and frequently surrender themselves even in Matters of Religion to their Humours and Capricio's France and Germany furnish us with too many Examples of these Irregular Submissions to the Impious Commands of their Princes The Histories of later Ages are full of ' em Nor were there wanting some Persons well advanced in years who chang'd their Religion 4 or 5 times in compliance with the Inconstancy of their Princes in that Particular The Revolutions of Religion in Sweden and Denmark may serve us for a Proof of the Dominion which some Minds have over others But there were also other very considerable Causes of these Revolutions And these surprizing Changes are so many Proofs of the Contagious Communication of the Imagination But these Proofs are too general and great they rather astonish and dazle the Mind than illuminate it because there are too many Causes that concur to produce these great Events If Courtiers and other Men many times abandon Truths that are Essential and not to be forsaken but with the hazard of Eternity 't is visible that they will venture less to uphold abstracted Truths less certain and of little use If the Religion of the Prince be the Religion of his Subjects the Reason also of the Prince must be the Reason likewise of his Subjects And so the Sentiments of the Prince will be always Alamode His Pleasures his Passions his Words his Habit and generally all his Actions will be imitated For the Prince is himself the Essential Rule of Manners And it rarely happens that he does any thing but what is absolutely modish Now as all the Alâ—â—rations of the Mode are no more than so many various Ornaments and Graces 't is no wonder that Princes act so strongly upon the Imagination of other Men. If Alexander hangs his Head on one side all his Courtiers do the same If Dionysius the Tyrant applies himself to Geometry upon the arrival of Plato at Syracuse Geometry presently becomes Alamode and the Kings Palace says Plutarch is immediately cover'd with a Mist of Dust through the great number of those that draw Figures upon the Ground But so soon as Plato is offended with the Prince and that the Prince indulging his Pleasures begins to be weary of Geometry the Courtiers also lay it quite aside A Man would think In Moral Works How to distinguish a Flatterer from a Friend continues the same Author that they were inchanted and that some Circe had transform'd 'em into other Men They pass from their Love of Philosophy to their Inclination to Debauchery which before they abhorr'd Thus 't is in the Power of Princes to change Vertues into Vices because they are able to change all Idea's with a Word only There needs no more than the least Nodd of their Heads or the least motion of their Bodies their Eyes or their Lips to make Knowledge and Learning pass for contemptible Pedantry Rashness Brutishness and Cruelty for greatness of Courage and Impiety and Libertinism for Strength and Liberty of Wit But in this as well as in other things I would have it presuppos'd that Princes excell in Strength and Vigor of Imagination For had they an Imagination Weak and Languishing they could never enliven 'em with that Turn and Energie that invincibly subdues and vanquishes feeble Minds If the force of Imagination alone without the assistance of Reason be able to produce such wonderful Effects there is nothing so Fantastick or Extravagant which is not sufficiently powerful to perswade let it be only supported by some Appearance of Reason I thus prove it by Examples An Ancient Author reports Diodorus Siculus Biblioth Hist l. 3. that in Ethiopia the Courtiers made themselves Lame and Deformed nay that they even dismember'd and laid violent hands upon themselves that they might resemble their Princes They look'd upon it as Ignominious to appear with two Eyes or to walk upright in the Train of a Prince that was blind of one Eye or halted of one Leg in like manner they durst not appear at Court but with a little indented Hat with White Buskins and Gilt Spurs That Fashion of the Ethiopians was very Fantastical and Inconvenient nevertheless it was the Mode They follow'd it with a World of Joy and defying the Pain which they were to endure minded only the Honour which they did themselves in shewing their Generosity and Affection for their King Lastly this False Argument of Friendship supporting the Extravagance of the Fashion has made it pass into a Custom and a Law that has been a long time observ'd The Relations of those who have Travell'd into the East inform us that this Custom is still observ'd in several Countreys But what necessity of twice crossing the Line to fetch from thence the Religious observation of unreasonable Laws and Customs or to find out People that follow inconvenient and Fantastical Modes we need not go any farther than France For wheresoever Men are indulgent to their Passions wherever the Imagination is Mistress of Reason there is also a prodigious Fantasticalness and Inconstancy of Manners What think you of our Women that during the most bitter Frosts and Snow in Winter display their Naked Breasts but in the Excessive Heats of Summer they hide their Necks and Bosoms and go so streight Lac'd that they can hardly Breath Certainly if by that Custom they suffer not so much Pain as the Ethiopians they ought at least to be more asham'd The Pain is not so great but their Reason for enduring it is not so apparent and there is at least an equal Fantasticalness An Ethiopian may alledge that 't is out of Generosity that he digs out one of his Eyes but what can a Christian Lady say for her self that makes a vaunting shew of that which Nature and Religion oblige her to conceal Only that 't is the Mode and nothing more But this Mode is Fantastick Inconvenient Undecent and Unworthy the Manners of a Christian It has no other Original but a Reason manifestly depraved and a secret Corruption of the Heart 't is scandalous to observe it 't is openly to side with the Irregularities of the Imagination against Reason to revolt from Purity to Impurity from the Spirit of God to the Spirit of the World In a Word 't is a violation of the Laws of Reason and the Gospel to follow this Mode 'T is no matter 't is the Mode that is to say a Law more Sacred and Inviolable than that which God himself wrote upon the Tables of Moses or which he engrav'd by his Holy Spirit in the Hearts of Christians In truth I know not whether the French have any Reason to Laugh at the Ethiopians and Savages 'T is true that the first time a Man should happen to see a Lame and One-Eyed Prince attended by a Company of Cripples and Single-Eyed Persons 't would be a hard matter to abstain from Laughter However time would familiarize the Sight
Thousand sides or a Circular or Ecliptick Figure which may be consider'd as made up of an Infinity of Angles and Sides There is an infinite number of different Species of each of these Figures an infinite number of Triangles of different kinds besides other Figures of four six ten or Ten Thousand sides and infinite Poligons For the Circle the Ellipsis and generally every regular or irregular curve-lin'd Figure may be consider'd as an infinite Poligone The Ellipsis for example as an infinite Poligone but whose Angles or sides are unequal being greater towards the lesser Diameter than the other And thus of infinite other Poligones more compounded and irregular A simple piece of Wax is capable of infinite or rather infinitely infinite different Modifications which no Mind can comprehend What reason then is there to imagine that the Soul which is more noble than the Body is not capable of more Modifications besides those which it has yet receiv'd If we had never felt Pain nor Pleasure if we had never seen Colour or Light or if we had been as Blind or Deaf in relation to Colours and Sounds ought we thence to conclude that we were incapable of all the Sensations which we now have of Objects since these Sensations are only Modifications of our Soul as we have proved in the Treatise of the Senses We must then grant that the Capacity which the Soul has of receiving different Modifications is probably greater than the Capacity which it has of conceiving I mean as the Mind cannot draw out or conceive all the Figures whereof Matter is capable so it cannot comprehend all the different Modifications which the powerful Hand of God can produce in the Soul even though we should as distinctly know the Capacity of the Soul as that of Matter Which is Absurd from the Reasons brought in the Seventh Chapter of the Second Part of this Book Our Soul therefore receives very few Modifications here because it is united to the Body upon which it depends All its Sensations carry it to its Body and whereas it cannot enjoy God it can have no other Modifications besides what the other Enjoyments produce Matter which our Body is composed of is capable of very few Modifications in this Life this Matter cannot be resolv'd into Earth and Vapour till after Death it cannot now become Air Fire Diamond Metal it cannot be Square Round Triangular it must be Flesh and have the Figure of Man that the Soul may be united to it It is even so with our Soul it is necessary that it have Sensations of Heat Cold Colour Light Sounds Odours Sapors and many other Modifications that it may be united to its Body All these Sensations engage it to the Preservation of its Machine they agitate it and terrifie it so soon as the least Spring is loosed or broken And thus the Soul must be subject thereto as long as the Body shall be subject to Corruption but as soon as it shall be invested with Immortality and there shall be no farther Fear of a Dissolution of its Parts it 's reasonable to believe that it will no longer be affected with these Incommodious Sensations which we unwillingly feel but with an Infinity of all other different Things of which we have now no Idea which shall surpass all our Thoughts and be worthy of the Greatness and Goodness of God whom we shall enjoy 'T is therefore against all Reason that Men imagine to penetrate so into the Nature of the Soul as to be well assur'd that it 's only capable of Knowing and Loving This indeed might be maintain'd by those who attribute their Sensations to External Objects or to their own Body or who pretend that their Passions are in their Heart For indeed if we retrench from the Soul all its Passions and Sensations whatever can be known in that which is left behind is only a Chain of Knowledge and Love But I cannot apprehend how those who have taken their leave of the Illusions of their Senses can be perswaded that all our Sensations and Passions are only Knowledge and Love I mean the confused kinds of Judgments which the Soul draws from Objects relating to the Body which it Animates I do not apprehend how it may be said That Light Colours Odours c. are Judgments of the Soul for on the contrary it seems to me that Colours Odours and other Sensations are Modifications very different from Judgments Let us choose some of the quickest Sensations which most affect the Mind and let us see what these Men can say of Colour or of Pleasure They think according to many very Famous * St. Aug. Book 6. De Musica Descartes dans son homme c. Authors that these Sensations are only Consequences of the Faculty which we have of Knowing and Willing and that Pain for Example is nothing else but a certain Sollicitude Repugnancy and Aversion of the Will against things which it knows to be Hurtful to its Dear Body But it 's evident to me that this is to confound Pain with Sadness and make Pain a Consequence of the Knowledge and Action of the Will whereas on the contrary it precedes both For Example If a hot Coal was put into the Hand of a Person that was asleep or should hold his Hands behind his Back no one I believe with any probability of Truth would affirm that this Person would forthwith know that there were some Motions in his Hands contrary to a good Constitution of Body that afterwards his Will would oppose it and that this Pain would be a Consequence of this Knowledge of his Mind and this Opposition of his Will But rather on the contrary the first thing that this Person would conceive when the Coal touch'd his Hand would be Pain and this Knowledge of the Mind and Opposition of the Will would be only Consequences of Pain though indeed they were the Cause of Sadness which followed the Pains But there is much difference between the Pain and the Sadness which it produces Pain is the first thing which the Soul feels it precedes Knowledge and can never be agreeable in it self But on the contrary Sadness is the last thing which the Soul feels Knowledge always precedes it and it is always pleasant in it self This is evident from the Pleasure we perceive at the Lamentable Representations of Tragedies for this Pleasure increases with the Sadness but Pleasure never increases with Pain Comedians who study the Art of Pleasing know well that the Stage is not to be imbru'd with Slaughter because the Image of a Murder is rather Terrible than Pleasant But they are not afraid to affect the Spectators with too great a Sadness because indeed Sadness is always agreeable when there is a proper Subject of Sadness there is then an Essential Difference betwixt Sadness and Pain and one cannot say that Pain is only a Knowledge of the Mind joyn'd to an Opposition of the Will As for other Sensations such as
that External Objects emit the Species or Images which represent them And 't is only upon this Foundation that they multiply their Faculties and defend their active intellect So that this Foundation having no Solidity as shall soon be shewn it will be unnecessary to spend any time to overturn the Superstructure We are assur'd then that it is improbable that Objects should emit their Images or Species which represent them for these reasons 1. From the impenetrability of Objects All Objects as the Sun Stars and all such as are near the Eyes cannot emit Species which are different from their respective Natures Wherefore Philosophers commonly say that these Species are Gross and Material in which they differ from express'd Species which are Spiritualised These impress'd Species of Objects then are little Bodies they cannot therefore be penetrated nor all the Spaces which are betwixt the Earth and the Heaven which must be full of them Whence it 's easie to conclude they must be bruis'd and broken in moving every way and thus they cannot render Objects visible Moreover one may see from the same place or point a great number of Objects in the Heavens and on the Earth therefore the Species of these Objects can be reduc'd into a Point But they are impenetrable since they are extended Therefore c. But one may not only see a multitude of very great and vast Objects There is no Point in all the great Spaces of the World from whence we cannot discover an almost infinite number of Objects and even Objects as large as the Sun Moon and the Heavens there is therefore no Point in all the World where the Species of all these things ought not to meet which is against all appearance of Truth The Second Reason is taken from the Change which happens in the Species Such as would know how all impressions of Visible Objects however epposite may be communicatedwithout being weaken'd may read Monsicur Descartes his Dioptricks it 's evident that the nearer any Object is the greater its Species ought to be since we see the Object 's greater But what is yet more difficult to conceive according to their Opinion is That if we look upon this Object with a Telescope or a Microscope the Species immediately becomes Six Hundred times as great as it was before for 't is yet more difficultly conceiv'd from what Parts it can grow so great in an instant The Third Reason is when we look upon a perfect Cube all the Species of its Sides are unequal nevertheless we see all the Sides equally Square So when we consider Ellipses and Parallelograms in a Picture which cannot but emit like Species yet we see Circles and Squares This manifestly shews that it is not necessary that the Object beheld should emit Species like it self that it may be seen In fine it cannot be conceiv'd how it can be that a Body which does not sensibly diminish should always emit Species on every Side which should continually fill all the great Spaces about it and that with an inconceivable swiftness For an Object that was hidden in that Instant that it discovers it self may be seen many Millions of Leagues on all Sides and what appears yet more strange is that Bodies in great Motion as Air and some others have not that power of pushing outwards these Images which resemble them as the more gross and quiescent Bodies such as the Earth Stones and generally all hard Bodies have But I shall not stay any longer to enumerate all the contrary Reasons to their Opinion there would be no end a very ordinary Judgment would raise innumerable Objections Those that we have brought are sufficient though they were not so necessary after what has been said upon the Subject of the First Book where the Errors of the Senses were explain'd But there are so great a number of Philosophers wedded to this Opinion that we believe it will be necessary to say something to encline them to reflect upon their own Thoughts CHAP. III. That the Soul has no power of producing Idea's The Cause of Mens Error in reference to this Subject THe Second Opinion is that of those who believe our Souls have any power of producing the Idea's of such things as they will think upon and they are excited to produce them by the Impressions which Objects make upon Bodies although these Impressions are not Images like the Objects which cause them they believe that 't is in this that Man is made after the Image of God and participates of his Power That even as God Created all things out of nothing and can reduce them to nothing again and then Create them anew so Man can Create and Annihilate the Idea's of all things as he pleases But there is great Reasons to distrust all these Opinions which extol a Man these are the Common Thoughts which arise from a vain and proud Original and which the Father of Light hath not inspir'd This participation of the power of God which Men boast of having to represent Objects and of doing many other particular actions is a participation which seems to relate to something of independance as independance is commonly explain'd it is also a Chimerical Participation which Mens Ignorance and Vanity make them to imagine They depend much more than they think upon the Goodness and Mercy of God But this is not a place to explain these things It 's enough if we endeavour to shew that Men have not the Power of forming the Idea's of things which they perceive No one can doubt that Idea's are real Beings since they have real Properties since they differ from one another and represent all different things Nor can we reasonably doubt that they are Spiritual and very different from the Bodies which they represent But it seems reasonable to doubt whether Idea's by whose means we see Bodies are not more Noble than the Bodies themselves for indeed the Intelligible World must be more perfect than the Material and Earthly as we shall see hereafter Thus when we affirm that we have the Power of Forming such Idea's as we please we shall be in danger of perswading our selves to make more Noble and Perfect Beings than the World which God hath Created However some do not reflect upon it because they imagin that an Idea is Nothing since it is not to be felt or else if they look upon it as a Being 't is a very mean contemptible one because they imagin it to be annihilated as soon as it is no longer present to the Mind But supposing it true that Idea's were only little contemptible Beings yet they are Beings and Spiritual Ones and Men not having the power of Believing it follows that they cannot produce them for the production of Idea's after the manner before explain'd is a true Creation and although Men endeavour to palliate and mollifie the hardness of this Opinion by saying that the production of Idea's presupposes something else but Creation
nothing yet the difficulty is not solv'd by this Subterfuge For we ought to consider that it is not more difficult to produce something out of nothing than to produce one thing out of another which cannot at all contribute to its Production For example it is not more difficult to Create an Angel than to produce him from a Stone because a Stone being of another sort of Being wholly different it cannot in the least be useful to the Production of an Angel But it may contribute to the Production of Bread Gold c. for a Stone Gold and Bread are but the same thing differently configur'd and are all Material It is even more difficult to produce an Angel of a Stone than to pronuce him out of nothing because to make an Angel out of a Stone so far as it can be done the Stone must be annihilated and afterwards the Angel Created But simply to Create an Angel nothing is to be annihilated If therefore the Mind produces its Idea's from the material Impressions which the Brain receives from Objects it must always do the same thing or a thing as difficult or even more difficult than if it Created them since Idea's being Spiritual they cannot be produc'd of material Images which have no proportion with them But if it be said that an Idea is not a Substance I consent to it yet it is always something that is Spiritual and as it is impossible to make a Square of a Spirit although a Square be not a Substance so it is also impossible to Form a Material Substance from a Spiritual Idea although an Idea was no Substance But although we should grant to the Mind of Man a Soveraign Power to Annihilate and Create the Idea's of things yet it would never make use of that Power to produce them for even as a Painter how skilful soever he be could not represent an Animal which he had never seen and of which he never had any Idea So that the Picture which he should make should be like to this unknown Animal Thus a Man cannot form the Idea of an Object if he knew it not before that is if he has not already had some Idea of it which does not depend upon his Will and if he already had an Idea of it he certainly knows this Object and it would be unnecessary for him to Form it anew It is therefore in vain to attribute to the Mind of Man the Power of producing his Idea's It might be said perhaps that the Mind of Man hath general and confused Idea's which it does not produce and that those which it produces are particular more clear and distinct but it is always the same thing For even as a Painter cannot draw the Picture of a particular Person so as to be sure that he hath perfected it if he had had no distinct Idea of him and even if the Person had not been present Thus the Mind for example which could only have the Idea of a Being or an Animal in general could not represent to its self a Horse nor Form a distinct Idea of one and be assured that it is perfectly like a Horse if it had not already the first Idea with which it might compare this second Now if it had a first it is unuseful to Form a second and the Question respects this first Therefore c. It 's true that when we conceive a Square by pure Intellection we can also imagin it that is perceive it in our selves by tracing an Image of it in the Brain yet it must be first observ'd that we are not the true nor principal Cause of this Image But it will be too long to explain it here Secondly So far is the second Idea which accompanies this Image from being more distinct and more exact than the other that on the contrary it is not so Exact because it resembles the first which was only a pattern for the second For indeed we must not believe that the Imagination and Senses represent Objects more distinctly to us than the pure Understanding but only that they apply them more to the Mind for the Idea's of the Senses and Imagination are not distinct but only so far as they are conformable to the pure Intellection The Image of a Square for example which the Imagination Traces in the Brain is not exact and perfect but only so far as it resembles the Idea of the Square which we conceive by pure Intellection It is this Idea which regulates this Image 't is the Mind which Conducts the Imagination and which Obliges it if we may so say to behold from time to time whether the Image it Paints be a Figure of four right and equal Lines whose Angles are alike In a word whether what it Imagins is like to what it Conceives After what has been said Tanto meliora esse judico qua oculis cerno quanto pro sui natura viciniora sunt iisquae animointelligo Aug. 63. de Vera Religione I do not believe it can be doubted but those are deceived who affirm the Mind is able to Form the Idea's of Objects since they attribute the Power of Creation to the Mind and even of Creating with Wisdom and Order although it has no knowledge of what it does for that is not Conceivable But the cause of their Error is that Men always Judge that a thing is the Cause of some Effect when both are joined together supposing the true Cause of this Effect be unknown to them That makes all the World conclude that a Bowl put in Motion and meeting another is the true and principal Cause of the Motion that it communicates to it as the Will of the Soul is the true and principal Cause of the Motion of the Arm and other the like prejudices because it always happens that a Bowl is shaken when it is met by another that runs against it As our Arms are moved almost always when we Will and we do not see any other apparent Cause of this Motion But when an Effect does not so often follow something which is not the Cause of it there is nevertheless a great many Men who believe this thing is the Cause of the Effect which happens yet every Body is not guilty of the same Error For instance if a Comet appears and after this Comet a Prince Dies Some Stones lie exposed to the Moon and they are eaten with Worms The Sun is joined with Mars at the Nativity of a Child and something extraordinary happens to this Child All this is enough to perswade a great many Men that the Comet the Moon and the Conjunction of the Sun with Mars are the Causes of these Effects and others like them and the reason why all the World does not believe it is that they do not always see these Effects follow these Causes But all Men having commonly the Idea's of Objects present to their Minds as soon as they wish it and it happening many
times in a day almost all conclude that the Will which accompanies the production or rather the presence of Idea's is truly the Cause of them Because they see nothing in the same time that they can attribute it to and they imagin the Idea's no longer Exist when the Mind sees them no longer and that they revive again anew when they are again represented to the Mind 'T is for these Reasons some Judge that External Objects emit Images which resemble them as we have mention'd in the precedent Chapter For it being impossible to see Objects by themselves but only by their Idea's they judge the Object produces the Idea because as soon as it is present they see it and as soon as absent they see it no longer and because the presence of the Object almost always accompanies the Idea which represents it to us Yet if Men were not prejudiced in their Judgments from this that the Idea's of things are present to their Mind as soon as they Will them they should only conclude that according to the Order of Nature their Will is commonly necessary for them to have those Idea's Not that the Will is the true and principal Cause which presents them to the Mind and much less that the Will produces them from nothing or after the manner they explain it Nor ought they to conclude that Objects emit Species resembling them because the Soul commonly perceives them only when they are present but only that the Object is for the most part necessary in order to the Idea's being present to the Mind And lastly that a Bowl put into Motion is the principal and true Cause of the shaking of another Bowl that it meets in the way since the first had not the power of Motion in its self They can only determin that the meeting of two Bowls is an occasion to the Author of the Motion of Matter to execute the Decree of his Will which is the Universal Cause of all things See Ch. 3. Of the Second Part of Method in communicating to the other Bowl a part of the Motion of the first that is to speak more clearly in willing that the last should acquire so much more Motion as the first lost for the moving force of Bodies can proceed only from the Will of him who preserves them as we shall shew elsewhere CHAP. IV. That we do not see Objects by the Means of Idea's which were created with us And that God does not produce them in us so often as we have occasion for them THE Third Opinion is That of those who say all Idea's are created with us To discover the Improbability of this Opinion it will be necessary to consider that there is many different things in the World of which we have Idea's But to speak only of simple Figures it is certain that the Number of them is Infinite Nay even if we consider but one only as the Ellipsis we cannot doubt but the Mind conceives an infinite Number of different Kinds of them when it considers that one of the Diameters may be lengthened out to Infinity and the other always continue the same So the heighth of a Triangle may be augmented or diminished infinitely the base being always the same we may conceive there is an infinite Number of different Kinds of them And also which I desire may be consider'd here The Mind in some manner perceives this infinite Number although we can imagine but very few of them and that we can at the same time have particular and distinct Idea's of many Triangles of different Kinds But what must chiefly be observed is That this general Idea that the Mind has of this Number of Triangles of different Kinds is sufficient to prove That if we do not conceive each of these different Triangles by particular Idea's And in short If we comprehend not their Infinity 't is not the Defect of the Idea's or that Infinity is not represented to us but only the Defect of the Capacity and Extension of the Mind If a Man should apply himself to consider the Properties of all the diverse Kinds of Triangles although he should eternally continue this sort of Study he would never want new and particular Idea's but his Mind would be unprofitably fatigued What I have said of Triangles may be applied to five six a hundred a thousand or ten thousand sided Figures and so on ad infinitum Now if the sides of a Triangle which have infinite relations one with the other make Triangles of infinite Kinds it is plain that four five or a thousand sided Figures are capable of admitting much greater Differences since they are capable of a greater Number of Relations and Combinations of their sides than simple Triangles are The Mind then sees all these things it hath Idea's of them and these Idea's would never fail it although it should employ infinite Ages in the Consideration of one Figure only And if it perceived not these infinite Figures all of a sudden or comprehended not their Infinity 't is only because its Extension is very much limited It hath then an infinite Number of Idea's Do I say an infinite Number It hath as many infinite Numbers of Idea's as there are different Figures to be consider'd So that since there is an infinite Number of different Figures it 's necessary that to know the Figures the Mind have an infinitely infinite Number of Idea's Now I ask If it 's probable that God should Create so many things with the Mind of Man For my part it does not appear so to me chiefly since that might be made in a more simple and easie manner as we shall soon see For as God always acts by the most simple ways it does not seem reasonable to explain how we know Objects by admitting the Creation of an infinite Number of Beings since we can resolve this Difficulty in a more Easie and Natural way But although the Mind should have a Magazine of all the Idea's which are necessary for it to see things it would be yet more difficult to explain how the Soul should make choice of them to represent them For instance how it can represent the Sun to it self whilst it is present to the Eyes of its Body For whereas the Image which the Sun imprints in the Brain resembles not the Idea we have thereof as has been elsewhere proved and since the Soul perceives not the Motion that the Sun produces in the bottom of the Eyes and in the Brain it 's inconceivable how it should exactly guess amongst these infinite Number of Idea's that it has which it must represent to it self to imagine or to see the Sun We cannot therefore say That the Idea's of things were created with us it is sufficient that we see the Objects that are about us Nor can we say that God produces as many of them every Moment as we perceive different things this has been sufficiently refuted from what has been said in this
upon Specifick Vittues and upon several Beings which Men compose out of the General Idea of Being and that of the Cause of the Effect which they see which seems not possible to happen unless by the Faculty they have of considering the Idea of the Being in General which is ever present to their Mind by the Infinite Presence of him that includes all Beings If common Philosophers would content themselves with publishing their Natural Philosophy barely as a Logick which would furnish proper Terms to speak of the things of Nature and if they would let those alone that fix distinct and particular Idea's to those Terms in order to be understood no body would find fault with their proceeding But they even pretend to explain Nature by general and abstracted Idea's as if Nature were Abstracted And they will needs have it that their Master Aristotle's Natural Philosophy is a real Natural Philosophy which throughly explains things and not meerly a Logick though it contains nothing that is tolerable besides some wandering Definitions and some Terms that are so general that they may serve for all sorts of Philosophy Lastly They are so strangely conceited with all those Imaginary Beings and wandering undetermined Idea's which naturally arise within their Mind that they are Incapable of fixing their Mind long enough to consider the real Idea's of things II. Of the Essence of Matter If that Definition is receiv'd of the word Essence all the rest is absolutely demonstrated If it be not receiv'd it only remains a question of Name to know wherein consists the Essence of the Matter or rather it cannot be question'd so as to discover the Solidity and Evidence of them And this is the true Cause of the extream Ignorance they are in as to the true Principles of Natural Philosophy It is convenient to give some Proofs of it Most Philosophers do partly agree That we ought to look upon that as the Essence of a thing which we acknowledge to be the first in that thing that which is Inseparable from it and on which the Properties that agree to it do depend So that to discover wherein the Essence of Matter does consist we must look upon all the Properties that are agreeable to it or which are included in the Idea we have of it as Hardness Softness Fluidity Motion Rest Figure Divisibility Impenetrability and Extension in order to consider which of all these Attributes is Inseparable from it Therefore since Fluidity Hardness Softness Motion Rest may be separated from Matter since there are several Bodies that are without Hardness Fluidity or Softness that are not in motion or lastly that are not in Rest It follows clearly that all those Attributes are not Essential to it But there still remains four which we do conceive to be Inseparable from Matter viz. Figure Divisibility Impenetrability and Extension So that in order to see which is the Attribute that is to be taken for the Essence we must no longer think of dividing them buâ— only to examine which is the first and which supposes no other It is easily apprehended that Figure Divisibility and Impenetrability supposes Extension and that Extension supposes nothing but as soon as it is given Divisibility Impenetrability and Figure are given Therefore we must conclude That Extension is the Essence of Matter supposing it has only the Attributes we have mentioned or others like them and I do not believe that any body in the World can question it after serious Consideration But the Difficulty is to know whether Matter has not some other Attributes different from Extension and from those that depend on it So that Extension it self is not Essential to it but supposes something that may be the Subject and Principle of it Several Persons after having attentively consider'd the Idea they had of Matter by all its known Attributes and after having likewise meditated on the Effects of Nature as much as the Powers and Capacity of the Mind will permit have been strongly perswaded that Extension supposes nothing in Matter whether it be that they have not had a distinct and particular Idea of that thing which may be believed to precede Extension or whether they have seen no Effect to prove that thing For as to be perswaded that a Watch has no being different from the Matter whereof it is composed it is sufficient to know how the different disposition of the Wheels can produce all the Motions of a Watch without having any distinct Idea of that which might be the cause of those Motions though several Logical ones might be given So because those Persons have no distinct Idea of that thing which might be in matter if Extension were taken from it because they see no Attribute to discover it and because if Extension be given all the Attributes which we conceive to belong to Matter are given and also that Matter is the cause of no Effect but such as we may conceive Extension differently configur'd and diversly agitated may produce from whence they perswade themselves that Extension is the Essence of the Matter But whereas Men have no certain Demonstration that there is no Intelligence or new Being created in the Wheels of a Watch So no body can without a particular Revelation assert as a Geometrical Demonstration that there is nothing in a Stone besides Extension diversly consigur'd For Extension may absolutely be joyn'd with something else which we do not conceive because we have no Idea of it Though it seems very unreasonable to believe and affirm it since it is unreasonable to affirm what we neither know or conceive Nevertheless though we should suppose that there is something besides Extension in Matter that would not hinder if rightly observ'd Extension from being the Essence of it according to the Desinition we have given of that word For it is absolutely necessary that whatever is in the World should be either a Being or the manner of a Being an attentive Mind cannot deny it Now Extension is not the manner of a Being therefore 't is a Being But whereas Matter is not a Composition of several Beings like Man who is composed of Body and Mind since Matter is but one Being only it is evident that Matter is only Extension Now to prove that Extension is not the manner of a Being but that it is really a Being we must observe that the manner of a Being cannot be conceiv'd unless the Being of which it is the manner be conceiv'd at the same time It is impossible for Example to conceive Roundness without conceiving Extension because the manner of a Being is nothing but the Being it self so modified The roundness of Wax for instance being nothing but the Wax it self so modified it 's evident that we cannot possibly conceive the manner without the Being Therefore if Extension were the manner of a Being we could not conceive this Extension without that Being of which this Extension should be the manner Nevertheless it is easily
determine any thing about the Number of Species of Beings which God has Created by the Idea's we have of them since it is absolutely possible that God may have Reasons to Conceal them from us which we do not know if it were only because those Beings having no Relation to us it would be useless for us to know them By the same reason as he has not given us Eyes good enough to tell the Teeth of a Hand-worm because it is not very material for the preservation of our Body to have such a piercing Sight But though we think no body ought to Judge rashly that all Beings are Spirits or Bodies we think nevertheless that it is directly contrary to Reason that Philosophers in order to explain Natural Effects should use other Idea's than those that depend on Thought and Extension since indeed they are the only we have that are distinct or particular Nothing can be more unreasonable than to imagin an Infinity of Beings upon bare Idea's of Logick to impute an Infinity of Proprieties to them and thus to endeavour to explain things we do not understand by things which do not only conceive but which is not possible for us to conceive 'T is just as if the Blind having a mind to speak of Colours among themselves and to maintain a Thesis about them should in order thereunto make use of the Definitions which Philosophers give them and draw several Conclusions from the same For as those Blind could only give pleasant and ridiculous Arguments upon Colours because they could have no perfect Idea's of them and yet would argue about them upon General and Logical Idea's So Philosophers can never argue solidly upon the Effects of Nature when to that end they only make use of general Logical Idea's of Act Power Being Cause Principle Form Quality and the like It is absolutely necessary for them only to rely on distinct and particular Idea's of Thought and Extension and those they include as Figure Motion c. For it is in vain to pretend to understand Nature but by the Consideration of the distinct Idea's we have of it and it is better never to meditate than upon Chimera's Nevertheless we cannot affirm that there are only Bodies and Spirits Beings that think and that are extended because we may be deceiv'd in it For though they are sufficient to Explain Nature and consequently we may conclude without fear of being deceiv'd that the Natural Things we have some knowledge of depend on Extension and Thought yet it is certainly possible that there may be others of which we have no Idea and of which we see no Effects Men therefore Judge rashly when they Judge as an Infallible Principle that all Substances are Bodies or Spirits But they also infer a rash Conclusion from thence when they conclude by the bare Testimony of Reason that God is a Spirit It is true that since we are Created after his Image and Likeness and that Holy Writ teaches us in several Places that God is a Spirit we ought to believe it and to call him so But Reason alone cannot teach it us That tells us only that God is a Being infinitely Perfect and that he is rather a Spirit than a Body since our Soul is more perfect than our Body But it does not assure us that there are no Beings besides more perfect than our Spirits and more above our Spirits than our Spirits are above our Bodies Now supposing that there were such Beings as it undeniably appears that it was in the power of God to Create such it is clear that they would participate more of the likeness of God than we do The same Reason teaches us that God would sooner have the Perfections of their Beings than ours which would only be Imperfections compar'd to them Therefore we must not Judge rashly that the word Spirit which we use to express what God is and what we are is an Equivocal Term which signifies the same things or things that are very like God is more above Created Spirits than those Spirits are above Bodies and we ought not so much to call God a Spirit to shew positively what he is as to signifie that he is not Material He is a Being infinitely Perfect no body can question it But as we must not imagin with the Anthropomorphites that he must have a Human Figure because it seems to be most perfect although we should suppose him Corporeal neither must we imagin that the Spirit of God has any Human Thoughts And that his Spirit is like unto ours because we know nothing that is more perfect than our Spirit We must rather believe that as he possesses the Perfections of Matter without being Material since it is certain that Matter has a relation to some Perfections that are in God he also possesses the Perfections of Created Spirits without being a Spirit in the manner as we conceive Spirits That his Name is He that is that is the unlimited Being the All-Being the Infinite and Universal Being CHAP. X. Examples of some Physical Errors into which Men fall because they suppose that things which differ in their Nature Qualities Extension Duration and proportion are alike in all things WE have seen in the preceding Chapter that Men Judge rashly when they Judge that all Beings are only of two sorts Spirits or Bodies We will shew in the following that their Judgments are not only rash but also very false which are the principles of an infinite number of Errors when they Judge that Beings are not different in their Relations nor Manners because they have no Idea's of those differences It is most certain that the Mind of Man only looks for the relations of Things first those which the Objects it considers may have with it and in the next place those they have towards one another For the Mind of Man only seeks its Good and Truth In order to find its Good it carefully considers by Reason and by Taste or Sensation whether Objects have a Relation of agreement with it To discover the Truth it considers whether Objects have a Relation of Equality or of Likeness one with another or what is the exact measure of their Inequality For as Good is only the good of the Mind because it is convenient for it So Truth is only Truth by the Relation of Equality or of Likeness that is found between two or many things Whether between two or many Objects as between a Yard and Cloth for it is true that this Cloth holds out a Yard because there is an Equality between the Yard and the Cloth Whether between Two or many Idea's as between the two Idea's of Three and Three and that of Six for it is true that three and three are Six because there is an Equality between the two Idea's of Three and Three and that of Six Lastly Whether between Idea's and Things when the Idea's represent what the Things are For when I say that there is a Sun
my proposition is True because the Idea's I have of Existence and of the Sun represent that the Sun does really Exist So that all the Action and all the Attention of the Mind upon Objects is only in order to endeavour to discover the Relations of them since Men only apply themselves to Things that they may discover the Truth or Goodness of them But as we have already noted in the preceding Chapter Attention Fatigues the Mind It is soon tir'd with resisting the Impression of the Senses which removes it from its Object and leads it to others which the Love it has to its Body renders agreeable to it It is extreamly limited and thus the differences which are between the Subjects which it Examins being Infinite or almost Infinite it is not capable to distinguish them The Mind therefore supposes Imaginary Resemblances in which it observes no positive and real differences The Idea's of Resemblance being more present to it more familiar and plainer than others For it is plain that Resemblance includes but one Relation and that one Idea is sufficient to Judge that a Thousand Things are alike Whereas in order to Judge without fear of being deceiv'd that a Thousand Objects are different among themselves it is absolutely necessary to have a Thousand different Idea's present to the Mind Therefore Men imagin that things of a different Nature are of the same Nature and that all things of the same Species scarce differ from one another They Judge that unequal things are Equal that those that are Inconstant are Constant and that those that are without Order and Proportion are well order'd and proportion'd In a word they often think that Things that are different in Nature Quality Extension Duration and Proportion are alike in all those things But that deserves to be explain'd more at large by some Examples because it occasions many Errors The Mind and Body the Substance which Thinks and that which is Extended are two kinds of Being altogether different and directly opposite What is proper for the one is improper for the other Nevertheless most Men reflecting but little on the Idea they have of Thought and being continually affected with Bodies look upon the Soul and Body as one and the same thing Imagining a Resemblance between two things that are different They fancy the Soul to be Material that is Extended throughout the whole Body and Figur'd like the Body They impute that to the Mind which only suits with the Body Moreover Men being sensible of Pleasure Pain Odours Tastes c. and their Body being more present to them than their Soul That is easily imagining their Body and not being able to imagin their Soul they attribute to it the faculties of Feeling Imagining and even sometimes of Conceiving which can only belong to the Soul But the following Examples will be more sensible It is certain that all Natural Bodies even those that are call'd Species differ one from another that Gold is not absolutely like Gold and that one drop of Water is different from another It is with all Bodies of the same Species as it is with Faces All Faces have Eyes a Nose a Mouth they are all Faces and Mens Faces and yet there never were two perfectly alike So a piece of Gold has parts like unto another piece of Gold and a drop of Water has undoubtedly a great Resemblance with another drop of Water Nevertheless one may affirm that it is impossible to give two drops of it though taken out of the same River perfectly alike And that Philosophers inconsiderably suppose Essential Resemblances between Bodies of the same Species or Resemblances which consist in Indivisibility for the Essences of Things consist in an Indivisible according to their False Opinions The Reason of their falling into so gross an Error is because they will not consider those things carefully upon which they nevertheless compose large Volumes For as Men do not allow a perfect Resemblance between Faces because they observe them nearly and the habit of distinguishing them makes us observe the least differences in them So if Philosophers would consider Nature with some Attention they would discover a sufficient number of Causes of Diversity in those very things which produce the same Sensations in us and which for that reason we say are of the same Species nor would they so easily suppose Essential Resemblances Blind Men would be to blame in supposing an Essential Resemblance between Faces which should consist in Indivisibility because they do not sensibly perceive the differences of them Therefore Philosophers ought not to suppose such Resemblances in Bodies of the same Species because they observe no difference in them by the Sensations they have of them The Inclination we have to suppose a Resemblance in Things inclines us also to believe that there is a determin'd number of Differences and Forms and that those Forms are neither capable of more or less We Fancy that all Bodies differ one from another as it were by degrees That those very Degrees observe certain Proportions among them In a word we Judge of Material Things as of Numbers It is clear the Reason of all this is that the Mind loses it self in the Relations of Incommensurable Things such as Infinite Differences are which are not within Natural Bodies and that it pleases it self when it imagins some Resemblance or some Proportion among them because then it represents several things to it self with a great deal of Ease For as I haue already said one Idea is sufficient to Judge that several things are alike and there must be several to Judge that they are different from one another For instance if the Number of Angels be known and there are Ten Arch-Angels for every Angel and Ten Thrones for every Arch-Angel and thus forward keeping the same proportion from One to Ten unto the last Order of Intelligences the Mind may easily know the Number of those Blessed Spirits nay even Judge of them partly at one Prospect by a strong Attention which delights it infinitely And perhaps it is that which has induc'd some Persons to Judge thus of the Numbers of Celestial Spirits Which is the Case of some Philosophers who have put a Decuple proportion of Weight and of Lightness among the Elements supposing Fire to be Ten times Lighter than Air and so of the rest When the Mind finds its self oblig'd to admit differences between Bodies by the different Sensations it has of them as also by some other particular Reasons it always puts the least it can For that reason it is easily perswaded that the Essences of Things consist in an Indivisibile and that they are like Numbers as we said before because one Idea is sufficient to Represent to us all the Bodies which are call'd of the same Species For example if you put a Glass of Water in an Hogshead of Wine Philosophers will have it that the Essence of the Wine still remains the same and that
The Inclination for Good in General is the Principle of the Disquiet of our Will II. And consequently of our Negligence and Ignorance III. First Example Morality little known to many Men. IV. Second Example The Immortality of the Soul disputed by some Men. V. That our Ignorance is exceeding great in respect of abstracted things or such as have but little Relation to us THat vast Capacity which the Will has for all Good in General I. The Inclination for Good in General is the Principle of the Disquiet of our Will because it is only form'd by a Good which includes all Good in it self cannot be satisfied by all the things which the Mind represents to it and yet that continual Motion which God imprints in it towards Good cannot stand still This Motion never ceasing puts the Mind of necessity into a continual Agitation The Will which seeks what it desires obliges the Mind to represent all sorts of Objects to it self The Mind accordingly does it but the Soul does not relish them or if it does is not satisfied with them The Soul does not relish them by reason that often the Perception of the Mind is not accompanied with Pleasure for it is through Pleasure that the Soul relishes its Good And the Soul is not satisfied with it by reason that nothing can stop the Motion of the Soul but him that gives it Whatever the Mind represents to it self as its Good is Finite and whatever is Finite may withdraw our Love for a while but it cannot fix it When the Mind considers very new and uncommon Objects or that have some relation to Infinity the Will permits the Mind to examine them a while with some Attention in hopes of finding what it is in search of because whatever appears Infinite bears the Character of its real Good but in time it grows weary of it as well as of the rest Therefore the Will is always disquieted because it is inclin'd to seek for that which it can never find and which it always hopes to find It Loves whatever is Great and Extraordinary and resembles Infinity for not having found its real Good in Common and Familiar things it hopes to find it in such as are unknown to it We will demonstrate in this Chapter that the Disquiet of our Wills is one of the principal Causes of our Ignorance and of the Errors into which we fall in many things And in the two following we will explain what it is that produces in us the Inclination we have for every thing that has something Great or Extraordinary in it It is something evident by what has been said II. And consequently of our Negligence and Ignorance First That the Will seldom makes use of the Understanding unless on Objects that have some Relation to us and that it very much neglects all others for being ever earnestly desirous of Felicity by the Impression of Nature it only turns the Understanding towards such things as seem to be of use to us and which do in some measure please us Secondly That the Will does not permit the Understanding to apply it self long even to such things as it is delighted with Because as we have already said all things that are created may indeed please us for a while but we are soon disgusted with them and then our Mind lays them by to seek for that which can satisfie it elsewhere Thirdly That the Will is excited thus to make the Mind run from Object to Object because it never ceases to represent consusedly to it or as at a distance that which includes all Beings in it self as we have declared in the Third Book For the Will being desirous as it were to draw its real Good near to it self to be pleased with it and to receive from it the Motion which animates it it excites the Understanding to represent that Good in some measure But then it is no longer the General the Universal the Infinitely Perfect Being which the Mind perceives it is something that is Bounded and Imperfect which not being able to stop the Motion of the Will nor to please it long it forsakes it to turn after some other Object And whereas the Attention and Application of the Mind are absolutely necessary to discover abstracted Truths it is evident that the common sort of Mankind must live in a gross Ignorance in respect even of such things as have some relation to them and that it is impossible to express their Blindness in what relates to abstracted Truths and which have no sensible relation to them But we must endeavour to prove these things by Examples Amongst all Sciences Morality has most relation to us It teaches us all our Duty towards God III. First Example Morality little known among many Men. towards our Prince towards our Friends and Relations and generally towards all that are about us Moreover it teaches us the way to be Eternally Happy and all Men lie under an Essential Obligation or rather Indispensible Necessity to apply themselves wholly to it And yet though there have been Men on Earth these Six Thousand Years that Science is still very Imperfect That part of Morality which relates to our Duty towards God and which undoubtedly is the chief since it relates to Eternity has hardly been known by the most Learned and even in our days we find Men of Sence who are unacquainted with it and yet it is the easiest part of Morality For in the first place Where lies the Difficulty to discover that there is a God Whatever God has made proves it Whatever Men or Beasts do proves it Whatever we think whatever we see whatever we feel proves it In a word There is nothing but what proves the Existence of God or that may prove it to attentive Minds who apply themselves seriously to the Knowledge of the Author of all Things Secondly It is evident that there is a Necessity to follow the Commands of God to be Happy for as he is Powerful and Just we cannot disobey him without being Punish'd nor obey him without being Rewarded But what is it he exacts from us That we should Love him That our Mind should be taken up with him That our Hearts should be turned towards him For wherefore has he Created our Minds Certainly he can do nothing but for himself Therefore he has made us for himself only and we are Indispensibly obliged not to apply elsewhere the Impression of that Love which he continually preserves in us in order that we should continually Love him These Truths are easily discovered with little Application And yet this only Principle of Morality which teaches us that to be Vertuous and Happy it is absolutely necessary to Love God above all Things and in all Things is the Foundation of all Christian Morality Neither does it require an extraordinary Application of Mind to draw from thence all the Consequences we stand in need of to settle the general Rules of our Conduct
they have read in Books written by the Enemies of his Person and of his Religion The Book written by that Heretick intitled Desperata causa Papatus sufficiently shews his Impudence his Ignorance and his Passion and his desire to appear Zealous in order thereby to acquire some Reputation among those of his Party Therefore he is not a Man to be credited upon his Word For as there is no reason to believe all the Fables he has Collected in that Book against our Religion so neither is there any to Credit the Injurious Accusations he has invented against his Enemy Rational Men will not suffer themselves to be perswaded that Monsieur Descartes is a dangerous Man because they have read 〈◊〉 in some Book or other or because they have been 〈◊〉 so by Persons whose Piety they have a Respect for It is not lawful to believe Men upon their bâ—re Word when they accuse others of the most Enormous Crimes It is not a sufficient proof to believe a thing because we hear it affirm'd by a Man who speaks with Zeal and Gravity For it is impossible for any Person to relate Falsities and Foolish Stories in the same manner as he would relate good things particularly if he has suffer'd himself to be impos'd upon out of Simplicity and Weakness It is easie to discover the Truth or Falsity of the Accusations that are form'd against Descartes his Writings are Extant and easie to be understood by those that are capable of Attention Therefore I would advise People to Read his Works in order to get better Proofs against him than bare Report and I do not question but after they have read and examin'd them they will no longer Accuse him of Atheism and that on the contrary they will pay him the Respect that is due to a Man who has plainly and evidently demonstrated not only the Existence of a God and the Immortality of the Soul but also a World of other Truths which were unknown until his time CHAP. VII Of the desire of Science and of the Judgments of pretenders to Learning THe Mind of Man has without doubt very little Capacity and Extent and yet he desires to know every thing All Human Sciences cannot satifie his Desires and yet his Capacity is so confin'd that he cannot perfectly apprehend any one particular Science He is in a continual Agitation and desires always to know whether he be in hopes of finding what he looks for as we have said in the preceding Chapter or whether he perswades himself that his Soul and Mind are extended by the vain possession of some extraordinary Knowledge The unruly desire of Happiness and Grandeur makes him study all manner of Sciences hoping to find his Felicity in the Science of Morality and looking for this false Greatness in speculative Sciences What is the reason that some Persons spend all their Life in reading of Rabbi's and other Books Written in Foreign Obscure and Corrupted Languages and by Authors without Judgment and Knowledge But that they perswade themselves that when they are skill'd in the Oriental Languages they are greater and higher than those who are Ignorant of them And what is it that can encourage them in their ingrateful painful useless Labour unless it be the Hope of some Preferment and the Prospect of some new Grandeur Indeed they are look'd upon as extraordinary Men they are Complimented upon their profound Learning People are better pleas'd to hear them than others And though it may be said that they are commonly the least Judicious if it were only for employing all their Life in a very useless Study which can neither make them Wiser nor Happier Nevertheless most People fancy that they have a great deal more Sense and Judgment than others And as they are more Larn'd in the Etymology of Words they also fancy that they are Learn'd in the Nature of Things The same reason induces Astronomers to spend all their Time and Estate to get an exact Knowledge of Things which are not only useless but also impossible to know They endeavour to find an exact Regularity in the Course of the Planets which is not in Nature and to Form Astronomical Schemes to foretel Effects of which they do not know the Causes They have made the Selenography or Geography of the Moon as if People design'd to Travel thither They have already divided it among those that are Famous in Astronomy There are few of them that have not already some Province or other in that Country as a Recompence for their great Labour and I question whether they are not Proud of having been in Favour with him that has so magnificently distributed those Kingdoms among them What is the reason that Rational Men apply themselves so much to this Science and yet remain in gross Errors in respect to Truths which they ought to know unless they Fancy thas it is a great thing to know what passes in the Heavens The knowledge of the Vast Things that passes above seems to them more Noble Greater and more worthy of their great Wit than the knowledge of Vile Abjects Corruptible Things as Sublunary Bodies are in their Opinion The Nobleness of a Science is deriv'd from the Nobleness of its Objects It is a great Principle Therefore the knowledge of the Motion of unalterable and incorruptible Bodies is the highest and most sublime of all Sciences And for that reason it appears to them worthy of the Greatness and Excellency of their Mind Thus Men suffer themselves to be blinded by a false Idea of Grandeur which pleases and moves them As soon as their Imagination is struck by it they fall down before that Phantasm they Reverence it it destroys and blinds their Reason which should be the Judge of it Men seem to Dream when they Judge of the Objects of their Passions to have no Eyes and to want Common Sense For in fine where lies the Excellency of the knowledge of the Motions of the Planets and have we not a sufficient knowledge of it already since we know how to regulate our Months and our Years What does it concern us to know whether Saturn is surrounded by a Ring or by a great number of little Moons and why should we Dispute about it Why should any one be proud of having foretold the greatness of an Eclipse which perhaps he has hit better upon than another because he has had more Luck There are persons appointed by the King's Order to observe the Stars let us rely upon their Observations They may reasonably apply themselves to it for they do it out of Duty It is their business They do it with Success for they employ all their Time about it with Art Application and all the Exactness imaginable They want nothing in order to succeed in it Therefore we ought to be fully satisfy'd upon a matter which concerns us so little when they impart their Discoveries to us Anatomy is a very good Study since it is a thing of
that is Because they shall be Happy Those that suffer Persecution for Justice are thereby Just Virtuous and Perfect because they are in the Order that God has prescrib'd and Perfection consists in following him but they are not Happy because they Suffer A time will come when they will Suffer no more and then they will be Happy as well as Just and Perfect However I do not deny but that the Righteous may be Happy in some measure even in this Life by the strength of their Hope and Faith which render those future Felicities as it were present to their Mind For it is certain that when the Hope of some Happiness is strong and lively it draws it nearer to the Mind and gives it a taste thereof before-hand And thus it makes us Happy in some measure since it is the taste and possession of Good and of Pleasure which makes us Happy Therefore it is unreasonable to tell Men that sensible Pleasures are not Good and that those that enjoy them are never the Happier since it is not true and at the time of Temptation they discover it to their misfortune We must tell them that those Pleasures are good in themselves and capable to make them Happy in some measure Nevertheless they ought to avoid them for the Reasons beforementioned but they cannot avoid them of themselves Because they desire to be Happy through an Inclination which they cannot overcome and those transitory Pleasures which they ought to avoid satisfie it in some measure Thus they are in a miserable Necessity of losing themselves unless they are assisted It is necessary to tell them these things that they may distinctly know their Weakness and the want they have of a Redeemer We must speak to Men like Jesus Christ and not like the Stoicks who neither understand the Nature nor Distemper of Human Minds They must continually be told that they must hate and despise themselves and not look for an Establishment or Happiness on Earth That they must daily carry their Cross or the Instrument of their suffering and that they must lose their Life at present in order to preserve it Eternally They must be taught that they are oblig'd to act contrary to their desire to make 'em sensible of their inability to good For Men wou'd be invincibly Happy and they cannot be actually so unless they do what they please Perhaps being convinced of their present Evils and knowing their future sufferings they may humble themselves on Earth Perhaps they may invoke the Assistance of Heaven and seek a Mediatour be afraid of sensible Objects and timely abhor whatever flatters their Senses and Concupiscence And it may be they may thus obtain that Spirit of Prayer and Repentance which is so necessary to obtain Grace and without which there is no Power no Health nor no Salvation to be expected We are inwardly convinc'd that Pleasure is Good II. It must not incline us to the Love of sensible Delights and that the inward Conviction thereof is not False for Pleasure is really Good We are Naturally Convinc'd that Pleasure is the Character of Good and that Natural Conviction is certainly true for that which Causes Pleasure is certainly very Good and very Lovely But we are not convinc'd that either sensible Objects or our Souls themselves are capable of producing Pleasure in us for there is no reason to believe it and there are a Thousand against it Therefore sensible Objects are neither Good nor Lovely Were they necessary toward the Preservation of Life we ought to use them But as they are not capable of Acting in us we ought not to Love them The Soul must only Love him that is Good who only is capable to make it Happier and more perfect Therefore it should only Love that which is above it since it can receive its Perfection from nothing that is either below or equal to it But whereas we judge that a Thing is the Cause of some Effect when it always attends it we fancy that they are Sensible Objects which act in us because at their approach we have new Sensations and because we do not see him that produces them really in us We taste a Fruit and we find a Sweetness we impute that Sweetness to that Fruit we conclude that it causes it and even that it contains it We do not see God as we see and as we feel that Fruit we do not so much as think on him nor perhaps on our selves Therefore we do not conclude that God is the real Cause of that Sweetness nor that the said Sweetness is a Modification of our Soul we impute both the Cause and the Effect to that Fruit which we eat What I have said of Sensations which have a relation to the Body is also to be understood of those that have no relation to it as those which are found in pure Intelligences The Mind considers it self it sees that nothing is wanting to its Happiness and Perfection or else it sees that it does not possess what it desires At the sight of its Happiness it feels Joy at the sight of its Misfortunes it endures Sorrow It straight fancies that it is the sight of its Happiness which produces in it self that Sentiment of Joy because the said Sentiment always attends that sight It also imagines that it is the sight of its Misfortune which produces in it self that Sentiment of Grief since the said Sentiment is the Consequence of this sight The real Cause of those Sentiments which is God alone does not appear before it It does not so much as think on God for he acts in us without our knowing it God rewards us with a Sentiment of Joy when we know that we are in the Condition in which we ought to be that we may remain in it that our Disquiet may cease and that we may fully enjoy our Happiness without suffering the Capacity of our Mind to be filled with any thing else But he produces a Sentiment of Grief in us when we are Sensible that we are not in the State in which we ought to be so that we may not remain in it and that we might earnestly seek after the Perfection that is wanting in us For God pushes us continually toward Good when we are Sensible that we do not possess it and he fixes us powerfully upon it when we find that we possess it fully So that it seems evident to me that the Intellectual Sentiments of Joy or of Grief as well as the Sensible ones are no voluntary Productions of the Mind Therefore we ought continually to acknowledge by our Reason that Invisible Hand which fills us with Bliss and which disguises it self to our Mind under Sensible Appearances We must Adore it we must Love it but we must also Fear it for since it fills us with Pleasures it may also overwhelm us with Grief We ought to Love it by a Love of Choice by a Sensible Love by a Love worthy of God when
us well to remember that the Violent Inclinations we have for Divertisements Pleasures and generally for all that does affect us throws us into a great number of Errors Because the Capacity of our Mind being Bounded that Inclination withdraws our Mind continually from the Attention we should give to the clear and distinct Idea's of the Understanding which are proper to discover Truth to apply it to the false obscure and deceitful Idea's of our Senses which Influence the Will more by the hope of Good and Pleasure than they Instruct the Mind by their Light and Evidence CHAP. XII Of the Effects which the thought of Future Bliss and Sufferings is capable of producing in the Mind IF it happens often that the little Pleasures and slight Pains which we actually feel nay more which we have a Prospect of strangely disturb our Imagination and hinder us from judging of things according to their true Idea's we have no reason to believe that the prospect of Eternity cannot act upon our Mind But it will be necessary to consider what it may be capable of producing there We must observe in the First Place that the hopes of an Eternity of Pleasures does not Act so powerfully upon the Mind as the fear of an Eternity of Torments The Reason of it is Men do not Love Pleasure so much as they Hate Pain Moreover by the Internal Knowledge they have of their Disorders they are sensible that they deserve Hell and they see nothing in themselves to Merit such great Rewards as to participate of the Felicity of God himself They are sensible when they please and even sometimes against their Will that far from deserving Rewards they are worthy of the greatest Chastisements for their Conscience never leaves them but they are in the like manner continually convinc'd that God is willing to shew his Mercy upon Sinners after having satisfy'd his Justice upon his Son Therefore the Just themselves have more Lively Apprehensions of the Eternity of Torments than Hopes of an Eternity of Pleasures The prospect of Pain then consequently is more prevailing than the prospect of Reward and here is partly that which it is capable of producing not alone but as a principal Cause It produces an infinite number of Scruples in the Mind and confirms them so much that it is almost impossible to get rid of them It Extends as it were even Faith to prejudices and makes us pay the Worship which is only due to God to Imaginary Powers It obstinately fixes the Mind on vain or dangerous Superstitions It makes Men earnestly and zealously Embrace Human Traditions and Practices that are useless for Salvation Judaick and Pharisaick Devotions which have been invented by servile Fear Finally it sometimes throws Men into a blindness of Despair Insomuch that looking confusedly on Death as an Annihilation they foolishly hasten to make away with themselves to be freed of the Mortal Disquiets which possess and frighten them There is often more Charity than Self-Love in the Scrupulous as well as in the Superstitious but there is nothing but Self-love in the desperate For taking the thing rightly those must needs Love themselves extreamly who chuse rather not to be than to be uneasie Women Young People and Weak Minds are the most subject to Scruples and Superstitions and Men are more liable to Despair It is easie to know the reason of these things For it is Visible that the Idea of Eternity being the greatest the most terrible and the most frightful of all those that surprise the Mind and strike the Imagination it is necessary it should be attended with a long Train of Accessory Idea's to make together a considerable Effect upon the Mind because of the Relation they have to that great and terrible Idea of Eternity Whatever has any relation to Infinity cannot be Little or if it is Little in itself it receives an immense greatness by that Relation which cannot be compar'd to any thing that is Finite Therefore whatever has any relation or even what we fancy to have any relation either to an unavoidable Eternity of Torments or Delights which is propos'd to us must needs frighten those Minds that are capable of any Reflection or Thought The Fibers of the Brains of Women or young People and of weak Minds being as I have said elsewhere Soft and Flexible receive deep Marks of one of these two And when they have abundance of Spirits and are more capable of Thought and Just Reflection they receive by the Vivacity of their Imagination a very great number of false Impressions and Accessary Idea's which have no Natural Relation to the Principal Idea Nevertheless that Relation though Imaginary maintains and fortifies those False Impressions and Accessary Idea's which it has created When two Lawyers are ingag'd in some great Cause which wholly takes up their Mind and yet do not understand the Case they often have vain Fears being in dread that certain things may Prejudice them which the Judges have no regard to and which experienced Lawyers do not fear The Affair being of very great Consequence to them the Motion it produces in their Brains diffuses it self and is communicated to distant traces which have naturally no relation to it It fares just in the same manner with the Scrupulous they unreasonably form to themselves Subjects of Fear and Disquiet and instead of examining the Will of God in the Holy Scriptures and of relying on those whose Imagination is not tainted their Mind is wholly taken up with an Imaginary Law which disorderly Motions of Fear impress on their Brains And though they are inwardly convinc'd of their Weakness and that God does not require from them certain Duties which they prescribe to themselves since they hinder them from serving him they cannot forbear preferring their Imagination to their Understanding and from submitting rather to certain Confused Sentiments which frighten and plunge them into Error than to the Evidence of Reason which gives them Assurance and leads them again into the right way to Heaven We meet often with a great deal of Charity and Virtue in Persons that are afflicted with Scruples but there is not near so much in those that are addicted to some Superstitions and who imploy themselves chiefly about some Judaick or Pharisaick Practices God will be ador'd in Spirit and in Truth He is not satisfied with Gestures and External Civilities as kneeling in his Presence and being Praised by the Motion of the Lips when the Heart has no share in it Men indeed are satisfied with those Marks of Respect but 't is because they cannot search into the Heart for even Men would be serv'd in Spirit and in Truth God requires our Mind and our Heart he has only made it for himself and he only preserves it for himself But there are many People who unfortunately for themselves refuse him those things over which he has absolute Right They harbour Idols in their Hearts which they adore in Spirit
of our Prince and even the new Discoveries of the new World seem to add something to our Subsistance Being united to all these things we rejoyce at their Grandeur and Extension we could even wish that this World had no Limits and that thought of some Philosophers that the Works of God have no Bounds does not only seem worthy of God but also very agreeable to Man who feels a Secret Joy at his being a part of Infinity because as little as he is in himself he fancies that he becomes as it were Infinite by defusing himself into the Infinite Beings that are about him It is true that the Union which we have with all the Bodies that move in those great Spaces is not very strict and therefore it is not Sensible to most Men And there are some who matter the new Discoveries that are made in the Heavens so little that one might believe they are no-wise united to it by Nature if it were not known that it is either for want of Knowledge or because they are too much engag'd to other things The Soul though united to the Body it Animates does not always feel the Motions of it or if it does it does not always apply it self to them The Passion which moves it being sometimes greater than the Sensations which affects it it seems to be more powerfully engag'd to the Object of its Passion than to its own Body For it is principally by the Passions that the Soul defuses it self upon External Objects that it feels it is really united to every thing about it as it is chiefly by Sensation that it defuses it self in its own Body and is Sensible that it is united to all the Parts that Compose it But whereas one cannot conclude that the Soul of a Passionate Person is not united to his Body because he is prodigal of his Life and takes no Care for the Preservation of it So there is no reason to imagine that we are not naturally engag'd to all things because there are some for which we are not concern'd Would you for Example know whether Men are united to their Prince or their Country Seek out some who understand their Interest and have no particular Affairs to take up their Mind Then you will see how Earnest they are for News their Disquiet for Battles their Joy for Victories their Affliction in Defeats There you will clearly see that Men are strictly united to their Prince and their Country In like manner Would you know whether Men are united to China Japan or the Planets and fix'd Stars Seek out some or else imagine some whose Country and Family enjoy a profound Peace that have no particular Passions and that do not actually feel the Union that unites them to things that are nearer us than the Heavens and you will find that if they have any Knowledge of the Greatness and Nature of those Stars they will rejoyce at the Discovery of any of them they will consider them with Pleasure and if they are Ingenious they will willingly take the Trouble to observe and Calculate their Motions Those who are busied with Assairs seldom mind whether any Comet appears or whether there is an Eclipse But those who are not so closely united to the things that are near them are very fond of these sort of Events because there is nothing to which we are not united though we do not always feel it as we do not always feel that our Soul is united I do not say to our Arm or to our Hand but to our Heart and to our Brain The strongest Natural Union which God has put between us and his Works is that which united us with those Men we live with God has commanded us to Love them like our selves and that the Love of Choice by which we love them may be Firm and Constant he upholds and strengthens it continually by a Natural Love which he imprints in us In order thereunto he has laid upon us some Invisible Tyes which necessarily oblige us to Love them to watch their Preservation like our own to look upon them as necessary parts to the whole which we compose with them and without which we cannot Subsist There is nothing more Admirable than those Natural Relations which are found betwixt the Inclinations of the Minds of Men between the Motions of their Bodies and between these Inclinations and Motions All this Secret Chain is a Wonder which can never be sufficiently admir'd and which can never be apprehended At the sight of any Pain which Surprises or that is felt for example we cry out that Cry which often comes out before we are aware of it by the Disposition of the Machine Infallibly strikes the Ears of those that are near enough to afford us the Assistance we stand in need of It penetrates through them and makes it self understood to People of all Nations and of all Qualities whatever for that Cry is of all Languages and of all Qualities as indeed it ought to be It moves the Brain and in a Moment changes the whole Disposition of the Body of those that are struck by it Morcover it makes them run to assist before they are aware of it But it is not long without acting upon the Mind and without obliging them to be willing to relieve them and of thinking of Means to secure those that have made that Natural Prayer provided always the said Prayer or rather this pressing Command be Just and according to the Rules of Society For an Indiscreet Cry made without a Cause or out of a vain Fear produces Indignation and Scorn in the Assistants instead of Compassion because in crying without a cause we abuse things establish'd by Nature for our Preservation That Indiscreet Cry naturally produces Aversion and the Desire of revenging the Abuse that has been offer'd to Nature I mean to the Order of things provided he that made it did it voluntarily But it ought only to produce the Passion of Laughter mix'd with some Compassion without Aversion and a Desire of Revenge when it proceeds from Fear that is from a false Appearance of a pressing Necessity which has induced any one to cry out For Laughter or Jest is necessary to repel their Fear and to correct them and Compassion is necessary to Succor them as Weak It is impossible to conceive any thing better order'd I do not pretend to explain by Example which are the Springs and the Relations which the Author of Nature has placed in the Brains of Men and all Animals to maintain the Consent and Union which is necessary for their Preservation I only make some Reflections upon those Springs that People may think upon them and may carefully inquire not how those Springs move nor how their Motion is communicated by the Air by the Light and by all the little Bodies that surround us for that is almost Incomprehensible and is not necessary but at least to know what are the Effects of it One may